Page 63 of The Sea Witch (Salt & Sorcery #1)
Neither she nor Stasia spoke as they ascended the mountain, which was a relief. Stasia seemed to understand that Alys had
no desire to talk, and so the noise of the town faded, replaced by bird calls and animal sounds and wind in the trees, with
nothing else to interrupt the silence, save an occasional twitter from Eris, wheeling overhead.
She glanced back at her friend. Something seemed to preoccupy Stasia, her gaze turned inward even as her feet remained steady on the rocky terrain. Perhaps Stasia thought of her own past, and whomever she left behind in the Mediterranean, and choices which led to heartbreak.
Swallowing the urge to ask her friend, Alys concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other. That was all anyone could
do, keep moving forward in the face of pain, no matter the cost.
They finally reached the top of the mountain. Together, they stared down at the town, now a collection of poppet-sized toys,
and the azure bay full of anchored ships of all sizes. The sight of so many masted vessels, all dedicated to a life outside
the law, briefly lifted the heaviness within Alys. And yet... what did any of it mean, all the plunder and freedom, when
at the end of each day, there was nothing but unwanted solitude? When the person you cared for faced terrible danger, and
you couldn’t do anything to help them?
She turned to face the other side of the island. It was more rugged, lacking a town on its craggy shore, and almost completely
uninhabited. Beyond the rock-strewn beach stretched more cerulean water.
Alys pointed to a lone ship sailing toward the island. “She’s flying a skull and sickle. It’s John Lynne’s ship, the Bold Fortune .”
“A right bastard, that Lynne,” Stasia said dourly. “Always trying to cheat the tavern wenches out of their share of coin.”
“See there,” Alys noted, pointing to a vessel approaching the Bold Fortune with exceptional speed. Guns bristled on its decks, and it flew the Union Jack. “Damn—that’s a naval ship.”
“Saint Bernadine has been safe from the interference of the Royal Navy.”
“Today marks the end of that, and, hell, the ship isn’t unaccompanied.” Alys pulled a spyglass from her belt and pointed it
toward the water beside the naval vessel. A reddish bulbous body broke the surface of the waves, and long tentacles trailed
behind. Judging by the shadow in the water, whatever it was possessed massive size. “A sea creature.”
“Is it the Jupiter ? That is the only naval ship that subjugates beasts.”
For a brief moment, Alys’s heart lifted into her throat, that Ben might be so close. Yet she peered closer. “It’s too small
to be the flagship. This is some other vessel.”
Stasia let out a low curse. “The threat your naval man spoke of, that the navy was adding more creatures to its arsenal, it
is true.”
“God damn it,” Alys bit out. “They’re setting upon the Bold Fortune .”
Within moments, the naval ship was beside Lynne’s vessel. Distant booms thundered as the two ships fired upon each other.
Several gigantic thick tentacles rose up from the water and wrapped around the Bold Fortune ’s masts and hull. The sea creature crushed the timbers of the masts, and the hull collapsed in on itself as if it was a rotten
melon. Through her spyglass, Alys watched members of the pirate crew leap overboard in a desperate attempt to save themselves,
only to be dragged beneath the water by more tentacles.
“By the tides,” Alys breathed. “There’s no stopping the navy now. Not without the fail-safe.”
“We must get aboard the Sea Witch and flee,” Stasia growled. “Fast as we can.”
“And warn everyone else.”
There wasn’t time to summon winds to hasten them down the mountain, so they sped back as fast as the uneven terrain would
allow. At last, they reached the base of the mountain, and raced into town. As they entered the marketplace, Alys grabbed
a pot being sold by a tinner, along with a wooden spoon. She banged on the pot furiously.
“Everyone,” she shouted when people stared at her in confusion, “get to your ships. Have your mages summon every wind to speed
your escape. The navy approaches.”
“We can fight ’em off,” someone yelled. “More of us than those bloody prigs.”
“They have a kraken,” Stasia bellowed.
The entire town went silent. Then, chaos.
People ran in every direction. Pirates poured out of taverns and brothels, some of them barely dressed, and tumbled in terrified
confusion toward the wharf. Alys, Stasia, and the Sea Witch ’s crew joined in the exodus, jostling their way through the crowd to reach their ship.
Alys waited at the foot of the gangplank, making certain that none of her company was left behind, shouting as she waved each
member of the crew onto the ship. Once she was certain that everyone was aboard, she finally slammed up the gangplank. The
rope securing the Sea Witch was untied and the gangplank was drawn back.
“Get us the fuck out of here, Hua,” Alys yelled up to the woman at the helm. “Witches, we need that wind, and no dallying.
Everyone with magic, topside, now .”
Stasia repeated the order at an even greater volume. The members of the crew that possessed magic gathered on the deck and
formed a circle as they concentrated on gathering every wind and breeze available to push their ship out to sea. Different
ships were attempting to do the same, but they had the power of only one mage per vessel.
The Sea Witch shot away from the wharf, slipping through the clogged traffic, while the remaining vessels struggled to sail to safety.
As her ship raced into open water, Alys stood on the quarterdeck, using her spyglass to look back toward the harbor of Saint
Bernadine. The naval ship wheeled around the island toward the vessels still attempting to flee. Beside the Royal Navy vessel
swam the kraken, its eyes dulled by the spell that bound it to a naval mage.
She pitied the creature, but the fact that it acted against its will did nothing to dampen the destruction it was forced to
cause.
Finally, Saint Bernadine disappeared over the horizon.
“Rest now, witches,” Alys ordered. “You’ve done your part.”
The women collapsed to the deck, exhausted from using their magic for such an extended period of time.
“See that they’re balanced immediately,” Alys said to Stasia.
The second-in-command strode about the deck, gathering up crew members to provide the touch necessary to restore the witches’
strength. Spiced rum cakes which had been purchased ashore were handed out, and mugs of lime-spiked ale. The ship soon glowed
with the energy of two dozen witches being balanced.
Anxiety clung to the Sea Witch , heavy as a fever.
“They’ll come for us, too, won’t they, Cap’n?” Dayanna asked uneasily.
“We’ll stop them before that happens.” Alys hoped her voice sounded confident, because inside, she was a mass of kelp, knotted
and stranded upon a beach, left to rot in the sun.
She cast her gaze ahead, toward the beckoning horizon. Somewhere out there, Ben was doing his part to ensure they were successful,
and they could find the means to sever the Royal Navy’s command over sea creatures. If he didn’t achieve his goal, she prayed
the stars were merciful.
Ben was now a candle flame glimpsed through thick and cloudy glass. There was no way of knowing his thoughts, his heart. Whether
he was safe or not. If she could help him.
She stood to lose everything that mattered to her: her crew, her ship, and Ben.