But the creature recovered fast, swinging a massive stroke with his sword that would have taken Ethan’s head had he not anticipated and ducked beneath it. Ethan struck the body of his opponent. His blade penetrated the demon’s abdomen. A flash of light burst through Ethan’s blade into the demon. The demon reeled backward, falling to the deck of the Maelstrom. His blade fell away from his hand as he clutched his wound.
Ethan noticed there was no blood-not a drop. Still, Ethan’s weapon had done damage. To his knowledge, an angel could not die, but something was happening. The demon reeled from some form of pain inflicted by the wound. He sneered at Ethan saying, “This is not over, Deliverer!”
The body of the demon began to vaporize like smoke on the wind. His weapon faded with him until there was nothing left of the creature. Ethan watched in amazement. Would the creature be back? He did not even know what had happened to it. Whatever the case, the demon seemed to believe that this was not his end. Ethan kept that knowledge tucked away in his mind. If he could wound them, then at least for a while, he could dispatch them from a fight. The demon he had wounded while inside of the old woman had been thrust from her body by his strikes. There were rules of engagement here he needed to learn quickly. I wonder what would happen to me if they wounded me in this way. If they kill me in this realm, will I die physically? The thought was too awful to contemplate. Just don’t get hit, he told himself.
BOOM!
The railing in front of Ethan exploded. Wood splinters sprayed outward and upward as Ethan watched the cannonball pass right through his body. The projectile from the enemy ship continued unabated across the surface of the deck and disappeared into the roiling Azure Sea on the other side of the Maelstrom.
Ethan clutched his chest checking for injury. He didn’t have a scratch on him. The liquid metal armor he wore had not repelled the shot. Instead, the shell had passed through him as if he wasn’t there. Then it occurred to him. He wasn’t there, at least not in the physical realm where the cannonball was. That could be useful, he thought.
Then he remembered the enemy had fired upon the Maelstrom. Bonifast’s crew scrambled back and forth, preparing to retaliate. Ethan found Gideon among the frantic crew. The priest stood at Bonifast’s side again, watching the enemy vessel. The captain sounded the order. “FIRE!”
A terrible volley of cannon fire erupted from the port side of Bonifast’s ship. Ethan watched as iron cannonballs flew through the air toward the enemy vessel still bobbing with the ocean swells. Ethan tracked each one of the shots.
Several of the heavy balls struck the slaver in the aft end at different heights, as the vessel lifted up on the storm surge. Most of them splashed into the side of a blue wave, scattering plumes of sea spray into the air before disappearing. The gap had not been closed with the slaver. Bonifast had intended to do so before starting his attack. But the other ship had fired first and he would return their fire in even greater amounts.
I’ve got to get over there before Bonifast blows it out of the water! An urgency to save his sister boiled inside of him. But how can I get over to the slaver? Lightning struck in the distance ahead of them. They were sailing into the worst part of the storm. Ethan had to act now.
The demon had leaped from ship to ship in order to attack him moments ago. He had seen them float through the trees as a child while he and Elspeth were escaping the massacre at Salem. There was no reason to suppose his abilities to operate contrary to the physical laws were any different. If I’m really this Deliverer everyone keeps talking about then Lord Shaddai please help me to know what to do.
Ethan ran to the railing and jumped up on it. The crew still buzzed about like bees as cannon fire erupted between the ships. Fortunately, the storm surge caused a great deal of inaccuracy on the part of both crews, giving him more time to act.
Ethan noticed, as he stood on the railing of the tossed vessel, his body did not sway back and forth. He might as well have been a statue fastened to the wood with nails. As he watched the slaver in the distance, Ethan caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his right and found a gull sitting on the railing looking directly at him. The bird seemed to be gauging the boy’s intentions.
“I’m going,” Ethan said, although he was not sure why he talked to the bird.
The bird cocked its head sideways, regarding him. “I’m just not quite sure how to go about it is all,” he said.
The bird, as if in response to his query, lifted its wings and then stood there looking at him. Ethan watched the bird. Then the gull hopped up into the wind and sailed across the expanse toward the slaver ship. For some reason, Ethan felt like he was being told what to do.
Cannonballs pounded into the rolling waves just beneath the hull of the ship, sending spray into the air. Ethan hunched down like a spring, then released. His body rocketed away from the railing of the Maelstrom. He felt like a bird in flight, careening through the air toward his target. The slaver ship surged upward on a wave, coming to meet him as he landed safely on the deck.
When Ethan turned to look back, Ethan saw the gull perched upon the railing next to him. It regarded him once more, seeming to nod its approval before taking flight again. Ethan turned his eye to the heavens and whispered, “Thank you,” unto the Almighty.
SECRET IN THE HOLD
The crew onboard the slaver ship desperately tried to get away from the larger vessel pursuing them. Cannon fire continued to erupt from both ships. Everyone on deck threw themselves to the ground as another volley smashed through equipment and rigging, sending showers of splintered wood through the air.
Ethan flinched as things popped and smashed around him. He knew the physical dangers could not harm him. Still, it took getting used to. He’d already seen one demon, but Ethan sensed, somehow, it had not been the only one.
The slaves must be kept in the cargo hold down below, Ethan supposed. He walked across the deck as the men onboard passed through him, trying to keep the ship elusive and remain alive at the same time. It was a curious thing to Ethan. He walked upon the physical deck just as he would in his natural state, but the men passed right through him-even the cannonballs, the ocean spray, and the wind itself simply passed through.
Then Ethan thought about what he had already seen. He remembered the demon, who had appeared in the rented room at the Weary Traveler Inn. The demon had come right through the floor and then stood upon it. Maybe that’s all there is to it, he thought. If I think about what I want to do then perhaps that changes what I can do. If I think I want to pass through this deck then-
Instantly the deck gave way and Ethan descended. He quickly stopped himself, landing below the upper deck of the slaver in a dark hallway. Well it’s down, he reasoned, so I’m going in the right direction.
Men appeared in the hallway, startling Ethan. They ran right through him in the dark without the slightest notion that a fourteen-year-old boy was there. He shook his head at his reaction. It was going to take time to adjust.
Ethan continued down the hallway slowly. He did not have to be concerned with men, but demons were another matter. And they were present somewhere onboard. Ethan felt them like a fog in the air. His body tingled with pricks of darkness in their presence. He wondered if he produced the same sensation in them.
He came to a door. Even in the dark, Ethan’s preternatural eyes saw well. The door was locked with an iron bolt at the top and bottom. He started to gauge its strength. Then he remembered he was in the spiritual. But what if-