Page 42 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

Hoist The Sails

LEELA

T he sky was clear, the wind was high, and Rajnanga, leader of the bale, sailed effortlessly, even when asleep. Granted we had to steer and make sure the sails were adjusted accordingly, but the last three hours had been smooth.

Keyton and Araz were on standby in case we needed assistance, but the rules were clear: They were to intervene only if we were in mortal danger.

There was no sign of Bina, Alia, Joe, Eran, and Dharma. Their two Shattiraksha had sailed off in opposite directions to us. We had been given different routes, and it was up to us to navigate them.

“This isn’t too bad,” Priti called out from the wheel.

I finished looping rope around my arm. “I know! And the weather is lovely.”

“Hey, Vick, we on track?” Priti called out.

Vick sat on the bow with the map and a compass, his head down. He raised a hand and gave us a thumbs up.

I scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of land. Bhartina had said that we’d see land after two hours, and it had been closer to three with no sign of it.

I wandered over to Araz and Keyton, who were sitting at the stern. “I think we should be seeing land by now…” I looked out at sea, squinting at the dark clouds to the east of us.

“Yes,” Araz said. “You should.” His mouth formed a thin line.

Oh great. He obviously hadn’t said anything because he wasn’t meant to interfere. I hurried over to Priti. “I think we’re off course.”

Priti frowned. “I was wondering why we hadn’t seen land yet.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Maybe I should have taken navigation.”

“You might have to do it now.”

She exhaled and nodded. “Take the wheel. I’ll speak to Vick.”

Navigation had been Vick’s job the last time he’d done a sea test, a job that he felt he’d failed at. This was his second chance, and now we were about to take it away from him.

My heart sank as Priti crossed the deck and climbed up onto the bow to chat with him. A breeze picked up their words and carried them away from me. Priti smiled, softening whatever she was saying, tucking errant tendrils of hair behind her ear.

Vick’s smile turned into a frown.

He handed her something. It caught the light. The compass. Priti took it, tapped it, then held it out to him and pointed at the map.

He shook his head, his shoulders slumping, then handed the map to Priti and walked away to stand portside, his head in his hands.

Priti studied the map for several beats before coming back to the wheel to join me.

“We are seriously off course,” she said, smoothing the map out across the wheel in front of me. “This is where we are meant to be.” She pointed to a spot on the map where several islands clustered together. “But here is where we are.” East of those islands, far east in an area that was colored red.

“Um…why is that a red zone?”

She shrugged. “No idea.”

Red meant danger. Goosebumps pricked at my skin. “Okay, so we turn around.”

Priti nodded, solemn. “Yeah. I’ll get to work on the sails.”

“No, I need you to navigate. Vick! Sails!”

He straightened quickly, blinking rapidly and wiping at his eyes. I wanted to hug him and tell him it was okay, but that would have to wait till we got out of?—

The ship rocked suddenly, knocking me out of my thoughts. Up ahead, the waters began to churn.

“What the fuck?”

“Leela, turn the ship around. Now!” Araz yelled.

My gut twinged as I twisted the wheel, but it wouldn’t budge. “Araz, it’s stuck!”

Araz took the wheel, and I stepped aside as he strained to turn it, biceps bulging with the effort, but it refused to move.

On the deck, Keyton yanked at the ropes to get the sail to shift. The material snapped and billowed, fighting the sudden rise in wind that refused to release them.

“Something’s coming!” Vick shouted, pointing out to sea.

I followed his gaze to where the water bubbled as if something epic was attempting to rise from beneath. The sky darkened, clouds rushing forward to cover us, and the sky roared.

Araz wrapped his arm around my shoulder, drawing me against him as the ship rocked. Sea spray hit us in the face as Rajnanga raised his head. Alert. Awake. Dripping with sea foam.

“What’s happening?” Priti yelled.

Araz and I fell back as Rajnanga shot forward, a sonic scream emanating from his mouth.

The water ahead erupted, and a serpent emerged—milky white eyes and finlike spines trailing down its head and back. My stomach tightened, and my breath snagged in my throat.

Its head had to be five feet wide.

Rajnanga attacked, snapping and screaming.

The serpent dodged.

The boat rocked violently.

Araz and I fell to our knees. He kept his arm around me, grabbing hold of the post that held the wheel to anchor us and urging me to do the same.

I spat sea water and blinked salt from my eyes. “We need to get Rajnanga to back off, to turn around!”

Araz shook his head. “He’s gone into a blood frenzy at the sight of a sea revenant. He won’t stop till it’s dead.”

Well, that explained the red zone on the map. I clung to the post, heart pounding, then lifted my head to peer around the wheel cubby. Keyton had Priti trapped between him and the mast, his body acting as a shield, and Vick…Where was Vick?

I spotted him portside, ducked low beneath the barrier of the ship, clutching on to one of the ropes tied to the hull.

“Leela, I have to go!” Araz cried.

“What?”

“Rajnanga won’t back down until the serpent is dead. I must kill it.”

A fist closed around my heart. “With what? You don’t have any weapons and?—”

He kissed me hard on the mouth then pulled back with a smile that bordered on cocky. “I am the weapon, remember? Now stay down. Hold on until I say it’s safe.”

He released me, stepped out onto the deck, and ran straight up Rajnanga’s neck and onto his head then leapt, his body flaring into flame as he landed on the serpent.

The words flame daddy filled my mind, and I shook them off because so not appropriate right now.

The serpent whipped its head back and forth while Araz applied heat, clinging to it like an expert surfer. The distraction gave Rajnanga the opening he needed to clamp his beaked mouth around the serpent’s throat.

The whole boat tipped to one side, and a gust of air rushed over us. I looked up in time to see a scaly blue tail whipping through the air.

Crash.

It hit the mast, and the whole thing splintered.

Keyton and Priti went flying across the deck, and the mast toppled toward Vick, crashing into the hull and knocking him out of the boat.

“Vick!” I left the wheel and slid across the deck, slamming into the portside hull. I grabbed on and looked over Rajnanga’s shell into the water. “Vick!”

A head bobbed a little way away. An arm shot up. “Leela!” He splashed and went under, bobbing up only to go back under again, and it hit me that this wasn’t just the shock of being thrown overboard. He couldn’t swim. Shit!

The first call of action in these situations was to throw something the person could grab hold off. Something buoyant, but there was nothing and he was too far out. Fuck.

“Hold on!” I dove into the sea. Icy water shocked my body for a beat before I found my rhythm and swam toward Vick with sure, fast strokes.

The water raked at me with arctic fingers, stealing each breath and coating it in mist. I needed to approach from behind, to get a grip to stop him grabbing hold of me and taking me under in his panic, but he went under just as I reached him.

Shit! I dove after him, snagging him under the arms from behind, and kicking back to the surface with him. We broke water and he clawed at my arms, kicking and thrashing.

“Stop it. Calm down or you’ll drown us both.” I held on, limbs straining, lungs aching until he stilled enough for me to start back toward the ship.

I caught a brief glimpse of Araz atop the serpent before the serpent’s head dipped out of view and Rajnanga’s rose.

Priti appeared on deck, her body pressed to the railing, a rope in her hands. The end was tied to a buoy. Keyton was behind her, his arms around her waist to anchor her.

The current was strong, pushing us away from the boat, and I had to swim with it, not fight it, but it was exhausting when anchoring another body.

“Come on!” Priti cried, readying to throw the buoy out.

“Leela, I can’t breathe,” Vick said. “My chest…”

“It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re fine. Just relax and let me do the work.”

“Leela!” Priti cried from the ship. “Watch out!” She pointed.

I turned my head as the water to my left erupted with the head of another serpent, momentarily losing my grip on Vick.

He let out a shrill screech and grabbed at me.

“NO!” I swallowed water as he dragged us under, wrapping himself around me in a death grip. I kicked out, desperately trying to rise.

A scream swelled in my chest, panic a fist around my throat as I tried to calm him, to save us both.

A shadow appeared in the water to my left, and I twisted, the bubble in my chest expanding.

Priti’s face emerged from the gloom. She reached for Vick. Keyton appeared at the other side of me. Together they wrestled him free. Keyton took him, dragging him to the surface.

Free of Vick, I began to rise, Priti by my side. We broke the surface to chaos.

The water rolled, and the current grabbed at me, choppy waves hitting with enough force to rattle my bones. But all that came secondary to the epic sight of Araz riding an orange serpent, his flames melding with the scales as he held it firm, burning into it so that Rajnanga could attack.

We swam for the ship, working with the waves that pushed us toward our destination, Rajnanga’s sonic screams rising above the roar of the elements.

Keyton got to the boat first, shoving Vick up onto deck before turning to look back at us. But his gaze tracked to something beyond.

He yelled, words snatched away by the wind, before he dove into the water toward us.

I looked back, and the blood froze in my veins as a serpent’s maw hurtled down, aimed straight at me.