Page 19 of Hooked by a Hero (Tales from the Brotherhood #4)

Ten

T he instant Caspian hit the water, he felt completely restored.

As violent as the sea was above, as soon as he dove far enough down, the water was calm enough for him to think.

He fumbled to remove his trousers, tied the legs around his waist, then put everything he had into swimming.

He made a circle around the metal-clad hull of the Fortune to assess whether her structure would hold as the storm tossed it around.

As soon as he was satisfied that the ship and its passengers would survive through the next few minutes, he turned his attention to the water around him.

He could see much farther in the water than he could in the air. Despite the darkness of the skies above and the way they blocked the light, he could make out enough of the area where the Fortune found itself to see the many hidden dangers.

They were in a part of the ocean that contained numerous shoals and underwater hazards.

He’d steered the Fortune this way on purpose in an attempt to bring it closer to any number of small islands he knew of on their way to Hindustan.

He’d hoped that the islands would provide him with exactly this sort of opportunity to waylay the ship and to give those members of its crew who were loyal to their duty a chance to take it back from Tumbrill and Dick, but he hadn’t expected the storm which tossed the ship now.

Navigating around islands in good weather was easy. Finding their way to safety in the middle of a storm would be a much greater challenge.

Caspian was still contemplating how to proceed when a muffled crash sounded from above. He shifted to look up at the bobbing underside of the ship just as bits of yardarm dipped below the surface of the waves. One of the masts had cracked.

Without hesitation, Caspian shot up toward the surface. Elias needed him. The Fortune could be in serious danger. And with half the able seamen aboard drunk on rum, it was as likely as not that chaos reigned on the deck.

The advantage of the mast breaking was that numerous bits of rope and wood dangled into the water, giving Caspian several options for climbing aboard again.

He untied his trousers and clumsily donned them again before grabbing hold of a thick rope that dragged near the stern to pull himself up with his arms at first, then with his restored legs.

Still, it took all of his unnatural strength and dexterity to pull himself up onto the rolling deck.

“You!” the seaman who had pressed Tumbrill to see to the ship instead of drunkenly making Caspian walk the plank said as soon as the two of them were face to face. “But you’re dead.”

“Not yet, I’m not,” Caspian said with a mischievous smile. He grew serious a moment later when a crashing wave tipped the ship dangerously to the side where half the main mast swung sickeningly over the side of the deck, only held in place by rope and sails. “What happened?”

The seaman stared at him in shock for a few more seconds before shaking his head and saying, “The main mast was struck by lightning and snapped. If you ask me, it was the sails as much as the storm that caused the damage.”

Caspian nodded. “Are the passengers safe?”

The seaman gaped at him. “In this storm?”

“It’s not as fierce as the other one,” Caspian said.

It was true, the storm the Fortune limped through now was half the power of the one around the Cape of Good Hope.

The disadvantage they faced now was that the ship had been grossly mishandled, the sails were still full and caught the wind at the wrong angle, and too few of the crew were sober enough to manage what should have been simple tasks to keep them safe.

But strangely enough, there was a chance that could work to their advantage.

“Are you truly a navigator?” the seaman asked Caspian, looking at him with desperate hope, as if he could singlehandedly save the ship.

“I know these seas like the back of my hand,” he answered. “Take the wheel and bring the ship about. Point it that way.” He pointed toward the starboard bow.

The seaman nodded and scrambled for the wheel, dodging a wave as it rushed across the deck, carrying rope and debris with it. Several other members of the crew who had watched the exchange looked to Caspian as if he had suddenly been made captain as well.

“Forget the sails,” Caspian called out. “It’s too late to save them and too dangerous to send men up into the rigging. Release the lifeboats instead.”

“The lifeboats?” one of the men balked. “In seas like this?”

“Release them,” Caspian said, marching past the men toward the hatch. There was no telling if the Fortune would survive the storm or not, but sanctuary was closer than the others could see.

The scene on the middeck was as frantic as on the main deck.

People staggered every which way with the pitching of the ship, half of them tossing up the contents of their stomachs as they did.

The air reeked of alcohol and sick, and Caspian slipped in a patch of something as he marched down the length of the ship, searching for Elias.

He was stopped halfway as Dick propelled himself up from the pile of crates he’d been wedged between. “You!” he wheezed, eyes narrowed. “Tumbrill sent you to your death.”

“Not this time,” Caspian said, pushing Dick aside so he could pass.

“You’re a ghost, you are!” Dick called after him. “You caused this storm! You’re a vengeful spirit, here to take revenge on the man who killed you. It wasn’t me! Tumbrill did it! He insisted!”

Caspian frowned, ignoring the man. He was still drunk, which would lower his chances of surviving what had to happen next.

“Elias!” he called out, continuing down the swaying, creaking deck, searching for his love. “Elias, where are you!”

A few of the cabin doors flew opened as Caspian passed, revealing terrified passengers. All of them looked much worse for wear, and even though, as he’d told the seaman, this storm was not half as bad as the first one, they looked as though their lives were all about to end.

“Elias!” Caspian finally spotted his love at the base of the fore hatch, Hunt and Ruby with him. The three of them huddled in a corner off to one side of the stairs. It looked as though Hunt and Ruby were trying to console Elias.

As soon as Elias heard Caspian’s voice, he snapped his head up so quickly Caspian feared he might hurt himself. “Caspian?” he gasped, eyes going wide with disbelief. “Caspian!”

As if nothing else in the world mattered, Elias leapt to his feet and practically flew down the narrow space between the cabins and the cargo to throw himself at Caspian. Caspian caught him with a grunt. The force of Elias’s impact in his arms knocked the wind out of both of them.

“You’re alive! You’re alive! It is impossible, but you are alive!” Elias sobbed as he threw his arms around Caspian’s neck and buried his face against Caspian’s shoulder.

“I am alive,” Caspian said, squeezing Elias tightly in return. “Did I not tell you that I was well and that all I needed was to bathe in the sea?”

Elias made a sound that was half laughter, half sobbing and clutched Caspian tighter. For his part, Caspian didn’t ever want to let him go. He knew full well that he would be safe in the sea, but that did not mean he hadn’t worried about whether he’d ever get to hold Elias so close again.

“I love you,” he blurted, determined that Elias should hear those words before anything else could happen to them. “Whatever becomes of us next, I want you to know that I love you with my entire soul.”

Elias pulled back, eyes still wide and frantic, but with a wild mix of emotions, only some of which were fear. “I love you, too,” he said, grasping Caspian’s face. “I cannot believe you are truly here, that I can see you and touch you once more, but I love you so much that none of it matters.”

He proved his point by slamming his mouth into Caspian’s, kissing him with a fervent desperation that made Caspian’s soul laugh and his body heat with incongruous desire.

Elias was his and always would be. He knew it as their lips smashed against each other and their bodies pressed together, hot and wet.

They were unable to enjoy anything more of each other, though. The ship rolled again, and another sickening crack sounded from above.

Caspian pulled back, panting, and glanced around at the eerie shadows cast by the swinging lanterns that illuminated the deck.

“Hurry,” he said, including Ruby and Hunt, who clutched at each other, and several of the other passengers, who had poked their green faces out of their cabins to see what was happening, in his command.

“We have to go above and get into the lifeboats.”

“Leave the ship?” one of the gentlemen asked incredulously. “On seas like this?”

“The situation is not as dire as it seems,” Caspian insisted.

Even as he said that, thunder rumbled outside the ship.

“We will all be killed!” another of the passengers, Woburn, sobbed as he braced himself in his cabin door.

“We’ll be killed anyhow,” Ruby wept, still clinging to Hunt. “I would rather face death in the open than drown when the ship sinks.”

Her words swayed at least a few of the others. Even though they were clearly terrified, they looked to Caspian to be told what to do.

“We have to go above,” Caspian reiterated. “Your only chance of surviving depends on leaving the ship. Trust me.”

For a moment, Caspian doubted any of them did trust him. Then Elias nodded grimly and said, “I trust you with my life.”

“Then come,” Caspian said, taking his hand.

Neither he nor Elias cared who noticed the affection between them or what they thought about it.

He pulled Elias toward the stern, knocking on doors and warning the others they needed to leave their cabins and go above.

Ruby and Hunt raced around to the port side of the middeck to follow their lead, knocking on more doors and rousing the passengers.