Page 15 of Virelai’s Hoard (The Dagger & Tide Trilogy #1)

Riley

A second burst of wind tore through the ship, knocking Riley off balance.

She gripped the wood as her stomach slammed against the edge of the railing, the air bursting from her lungs with a violent gasp.

The water frothed beneath her, a visible current tearing at the hull of the ship and making Riley’s heart jump in her throat.

She was suddenly jerked back, a strong hand clenching the back of her shirt.

“Get a grip on yourself,” Sable barked as she turned Riley to face her, gripping both of her shoulders. “Help the others reef the sails before the storm rips them to shreds. Now! Move! ”

The sharp command cut through Riley’s shock and sent her staggering towards the nearest mast. The first mate dashed past, lunging for the wildly spinning helm. She caught the wheel with a snarled curse, hauling against the storm’s pull. The ship’s sudden veer nearly sent Riley to her knees.

Gadrielle’s shouted orders barely pierced the howl of the wind, and she halted, watching the sailors hard at work as though through a haze.

Nyxen and Maren heaved on the ropes connecting to one of the largest sails, while Kittredge climbed the ratlines to help them from up above, jumping and balancing herself on the rigging as if she’d done nothing else her entire life.

Some distance ahead, Pip and Eryx skirted across the deck, pulling on ropes and re-doing knots and making sure everything was secure.

The two brothers wrestled with the sails tied to the mainmast of the Moonshadow. It was too dark to peer beyond that.

Riley didn’t know where to go, or what to do. She stood paralyzed, her feet taking root on the swaying deck of the ship.

“Riley!”

A cold spray of water hit her right in the face, making her sputter.

The sea water clung to her clothes and stung her eyes, shifting the sight of the scrambling crew into a blurry mess of shouts and bodies.

The words were impossible to make out over the crashing waves, now jostling the ship with every hit.

Everything–the wind, the waves, the shouts, the groan of the wood, and her own erratic heartbeat–built up and fed into the storm’s fury.

She could feel it in her chest, the sheer magnitude of it taking her out of her own body and making her head spin, joined by a sharp, metallic taste on her tongue, as though the air itself was charged and waiting to pop.

“Riley!” Maren’s voice pierced through the haze. “The rope! Tie the rope!”

Riley blinked at him, then at his face, his blue eyes wide and alive and alight with urgency, so different from his usual half-asleep-

“Riley, please , focus! The rope !”

The end of it lay on the wet deck, and Riley stumbled to catch it in her hands, only to lose her grip when someone shoved past her and sent her falling on her knees. She found it again, the trembling in her fingers subsiding as she gripped it tightly.

“Good, good . Now tie it to the bitt. A square knot. Quick, before I lose my grip!” Maren grit through his teeth.

Rope tight in her hand, Riley lurched back on her feet, fighting the strength of the wind as she advanced step by painstaking step to the post where the other ropes were tied off.

She looped the rope around the bitt, a light rain pattering against her fingers as she tied the knot in what she hoped was the right sequence of twists and turns.

Just as she meant to tighten the knot, the rope jerked in her grip, the sudden tension of it scraping the skin of her ungloved hand.

It held.

The knot held.

It was only then that Riley thought to ask, “Where’s Nyxen?” as Maren slumped against the mast, breathing heavily and massaging his rope-burned palms under the light rain.

“Kittredge-”

The rest of his reply was cut off by the sight of a towering wave, rising and rising, until it crested and spilled against the Moonshadow.

The front of the ship rose above the water, and Riley had to grip tightly onto the rope to keep upright.

Her wide eyes locked onto Pip’s as he fell on his stomach and slid down along the deck, caught by one of the brothers in one fell swoop.

As the Moonshadow steadied itself upright, rain started slashing at it, and the rigging snapped in the wind.

Thunder reverberated in Riley’s chest and made the planks under her feet shudder with the force of it.

The rain was so thick she couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead of her, and she pushed through the wind to where she remembered Maren standing last.

“Maren!” Riley shouted for him. Her second shout was more panicked than the first. “Maren!”

She didn’t want to be alone. She didn’t know what to do. She needed someone to tell her what to do .

Another wave, even bigger than the previous, crashed with a vengeance against the hull. Then a bolt of lightning tore through the dark of the storm and ripped the sky to pieces, the light so blinding Riley had to cover her eyes until it dissipated.

She barely heard the loud snap of rope tearing over the violent lurch of the ship, followed by barrels rolling like cannonballs across the deck.

One crashed against the mast, pieces of wood splintering at the impact.

Another barrel made straight for Riley. It was only her street-rat instinct that kicked her into jumping out of the way, and she bumped into something solid behind her back.

It– He caught her, keeping her steady on her feet.

“Kittredge got injured,” Maren shouted over another bout of thunder, rain lashing at his face and flowing in fat streaks over his stubbled cheeks and chin. “We need to reef that sail!”

He pointed up, and Riley followed his hand to a sail just beneath the crow’s nest, flapping wildly in the wind, a loose rope slashing through the air above their heads.

With an impatient swipe of her hand, Riley got rid of the heavy drops of water getting tangled in her eyelashes, squinting up at the sail with a knot growing in her throat.

The darkness was too thick for her to make out a path to it, the only glimpses of light coming from the bolts of lightning.

Images of yelling pirates and lost objects sliding on deck came in flashes, imprinting themselves on her eyelids and leaving her more blind to the darkness.

But she didn’t need her eyes to make that climb.

She’d made it every night since they’d set sail.

“I’ll do it!” she shouted over the storm, stumbling over to the ratline and gripping the rope.

Another crack in the sky, louder and closer than the others. Riley’s mouth filled with static.

“Watch out!”

Riley looked up to a loose spar. Its broken, sharp point aimed straight at her eyes. The surrounding sounds dulled until they were swallowed by the pump of her own heart. Her eyes grew wider, her limbs heavy and useless.

Until she was shoved out of the way.

She landed on her ass with a grunt, and the sounds rushed back in.

A wet gurgling, close-by. Another bolt of lightning.

Maren’s wide, panicked eyes locked onto hers, his blood staining the deck beneath him.

It came out gushing from his throat, where the broken piece of wood penetrated his flesh and pinned his body in place.

One arm hung limply at his side, the other scratching weakly at his throat. Even through the booming thunder, Riley made out the one pleading word, spitting red flecks of blood on his lips. “Help…”

Riley just stared at him, her mind refusing to comprehend the sight. Her lips moved, but no words came, swallowed by the storm’s roar.

And then the sea claimed her.

A merciless wave flooded the deck, knocking her head against the mast. Riley struggled to hold on to something– anything through the numbing coldness of the water, but the wave pulled her to the sea.

The storm’s rage dulled beneath the surface, and Riley floated in the vast expanse of water, allowing its icy claws to drag her down. Until a gasp for air tore at her throat, forcing her to remember.

She couldn’t swim. She was going to drown.

Lurching herself out of the numbness with all she had, Riley thrashed towards the surface, uncoordinated movements fighting against the current tearing at her.

Was that even the surface? A flash of light at the corner of her eyes redirected her efforts, orienting her in the endless darkness of the sea.

She could make out the silhouette of the Moonshadow.

Aiming for that, Riley pushed against the currents, the gasp for air pressing harder and harder against her locked throat until it tore through in a gurgle of suffocating water.

Then, suddenly, she was through. Her hands splashed against the frothing waves.

She struggled to stay above, to scream, to spot anything nearby to cling to, but she only managed a pathetic gasp of both air and water before another wave swallowed her.

The force of it made her tumble until her head spun, her limbs thrashing wildly against her fate.

It was no use.

The last of her breath wracked her body with a cough, and Riley numbly watched the air bubbles floating down into the deep. Up? Was that up? Her hand reached for them weakly, fingers curling around one as if she could drag it back inside her lungs.

The water got colder, and darker, sapping sight and feeling from her body. She blinked against the darkness, fighting against the sudden heaviness of her eyelids. Another cough, weaker than the last.

What was she fighting for?

Cold, lonely nights. Days spent begging for scraps. People looking at her as if she was a vermin. A knife hacking at her fingers as the metallic taste of betrayal filled her mouth.

The here and now was almost… peaceful .