On deck, there was bedlam. Jevin and the bo'sun were screaming orders at the crew. Above on the main mast, one sail was torn in half, its shreds flapping in the gale. All around, the seas were huge and Hirad could see the helmsman fighting to turn the ship head-on to the worst of the swell. Rain hammered down on to the deck and, up in the rigging, elves grappled with sail, trying to furl enough to give them back control.
Hirad raced for the wheel deck, making it out in the gloom. There were no lights anywhere on board. They wanted to remain hidden and the elves didn't need them anyway. Halfway up the ladder, another wave struck the forward port side, water pouring across the deck. Hirad lost grip with one hand but clung on with the other, smacking backwards into the wood above the aft hatch.
As the ship righted, he swung himself back on to the ladder and scrambled up the last few rungs.
'What the hell happened?' he shouted, not releasing his grip on the deck rail. The ship lurching, thundering down into a trough.
'It came from nowhere,' answered Jevin. 'Are you ready?'
'Why, how close are we?' The rain became hail, drumming on to the decks and tliudding painfully on their heads. Hirad dragged his furs up over his skull.
'On the sea, more than a day, still. For you on your wings, I don't know. But we'll get barely closer tonight. If the Elm has any sense, she'll have hove to by now, trying to ride it out. I'm dropping all but topsail. Either that or we'll founder.'
Hirad nodded. 'Thank you for all your efforts,' he said.
'Perhaps there'll be bonus pay in this.'
'Count on it,' said Hirad.
Ilkar and Denser were heading up the ladder. Ilkar looked pale but better than he had on the first day, the Lemiir buying him the time to rest and eat what he could keep down. Denser had a savage light in his eyes, a determination edged with desperation. Hirad had seen it before. It would make him powerful, but changeable.
'This is it,' said Hirad, voice barely less than a shout. 'Jevin says we'll get no closer tonight and The Unknown can't wait any longer.'
'Can you see the Elm? Denser asked Ilkar. The Julatsan peered forward, the hail like a sheet in front of them. Hirad could barely see the prow of their ship. Beyond, it was just raging darkness. The wind howled across the open sea.
'No. We'll just have to fly high and hope.'
'Terrific'
'Stay close to me,' said Ilkar. 'I'm your eyes.'
Denser beckoned them both close and put an arm around each shoulder.
'We'll need wings trimmed for speed, not mass, so I'll be unstable with Hirad hanging off me. Don't you take your eyes off me for long because, if he falls, you'll be getting him. And remember, Ren said Erienne's cabin was aft. We'll have to assume she's not been moved.'
'If she has, this could be a very long night,' said Hirad.
They broke. Hirad fetched a length of rope he'd had tied round his waist all night. Ilkar tied one end around his left wrist and then he lay fiat on the deck while the elf attached the other end to Denser's left ankle. One thing Hirad couldn't risk was- fouling Denser's wings.
'Just you get there safe, all right?' said Ilkar.
'Tell him that, he's driving,' said Hirad. 'Have you two got enough weapons? This could be a good night for knives, I think.'
'We're sorted out. Ready?'
'Of course not.'
Ilkar clapped him on the back. 'Then let's go.'
Hirad readied himself. Denser stood with his legs apart enough for Hirad to put his head through them and hang on to both his calves. 'I can't believe I'm doing this,' he muttered.
The hail came down harder. He heard a shout from Denser and a heartbeat later he was airborne and yelling his fear into the teeth of a gale.
'So kill me then!' roared the skipper. 'Kill any one you like. Because if we raise any more sail we'll all die anyway.' He shoved Selik away
from him, the Black Wing steadying himself quickly and coming back, dagger still drawn.
'And what the hell good is that handkerchief you've got fluttering up there going to do for us, eh?' He renewed his grip on the skipper's throat, three of his men in attendance should the elf try to fight him.
The fury of the storm had taken them all by surprise, boiling up from the south under cloud so low they felt they could almost touch it. The skipper had called all hands to the deck and they'd swarmed up the rigging to furl sail as waves crashed across his deck, hurling two Black Wings and a member of bis crew into the water to drown in the merciless ocean. Another of his crew had fallen from the rigging and he too would die, his body broken.
But Selik had stormed up to the wheel deck, demanding he go faster. Faster? They were lucky to be still afloat at all.
'I'll tell you what it'll do, you ignorant fool,' spat the skipper. 'It'll give us just enough manoeuvrability to keep our head to the wind so we can survive this thing. I take it you do want to survive?'
'Your tone will get you very badly hurt.'
The Captain grabbed Selik's hand and dragged the dagger towards his own throat.
'Then do it now, Black Wing, because I am past caring.'
Selik stared at him, jerked his hand away and backed off a pace, letting go the skipper's throat. He nodded.
'And what about them behind us?' he demanded, pointing over the skipper's shoulder into the filthy night.
'If their captain has any sense, he'll be doing exacdy what I'm doing,' said the skipper. 'They won't catch us, Selik, more's the pity. And even should they, what can they achieve? They can't get through Ornouth in a ship that large.' The skipper was telling the absolute truth. The draft of the ship they'd glimpsed was far too deep to ride the reefs into Herendeneth. Fortunately, a ship that large also had single-masted landing skiffs to offload cargo from deep water. Something Selik was probably unaware of. If Ren was aboard, she'd know when to advise dropping anchor. And he'd sign her any way he could.
'Unfortunately for the civilised world,' said the skipper, T know what I'm doing.'
Selik huffed. A contemptuous sound. 'Civilised, Yet you embrace the evil of magic. Elves. Little better than animals in your homy continent, I've heard.'
'Go away, Selik, and let me do my job or you'll be drinking sea water.'
'I will have you, elf,' said Selik as he turned and gestured his men away. 'Yours is a life borrowing heavily from the death.'
The skipper said nothing as Selik left the deck but his mind was ablaze with revenge. He allowed himself a small inward smile. The Black Wing fools had demanded light on deck as soon as night fell so they might walk in greater safety on the pitching deck. The ship would be visible for miles once the rain abated.
'Come on, Ren. Come on.'
The journey to the Ocean Elm was pure torture for Hirad. Clinging on to Denser's legs while the hail lashed into his face and drained his strength, the barbarian could see practically nothing ahead of him. Every now and again, Ilkar would flash into view but apart from that, all he knew was that when he could see the waves and feel the spray on his legs, Denser was too low.
They were heading in the right direction, that much he did know. Ilkar had sighted the ship soon after leaving the deck of the Calaian Sun and hovered in close to tell Denser. But how far away they were, he couldn't begin to guess and, as the wind and rain began to chill him, sending aches through his arms and inexorably numbing his fingers even through his gloves, it was close to being too far.
A sudden gust drove them downwards hard and fast, Hirad yelling as his boots sldmmed the top of a wave. Denser jerked back up quickly, too quickly for Hirad's cold hands and his grip was torn away and he swung like a human pendulum from the mage's left ankle, a couple of feet of rope all that separated him from drowning.
The sudden shift of weight unbalanced Denser completely and he plunged seawards, Hirad looking up to see him fighting for height and direction even as he was plunged into the sea. The cold flashed through his body and he gasped in shock. Water washed over his head and Denser, under the heavy drag, was all but catapulted into the wave in front of him, veering up and away at the last heartbeat, hauling the drenched Hirad with him.