Page 22 of The Twisted Throne

“Ahnna, it’s too risky!” Jor shook his head. “You’re going to get us all killed.”

“If it were Aren standing before you with this plan, you wouldn’t hesitate,” Ahnna shouted. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

His jaw tightened, but it was Taryn’s voice that said, “If it were Aren, we’d already be sailing east. But unlike him, Ahnna’sneverled us astray.”

Ahnna met her cousin’s red-rimmed eyes, and then rounded on James, who was the only one present with the power to overrule the captain. “I’ve spent my life on the Tempest Seas. Storms are what I know best.”

James was watching her with a strange, distant expression, like he was caught in a memory, but then he nodded. “They say the tempests defend Ithicana, so let us pray they will defend its princess tonight,” he said, then shouted at the crew. “Follow her orders! I’ll personally toss anyone who argues into the sea, and he can try his luck with the Amaridians!”

Ahnna was already running. “Give her to me!” she shouted at the helmsman, then grabbed the wheel and spun it, the ship rotating east. “I need every sail you have!”

For a heartbeat, no one moved, and then the crew leapt into action.

“They’re putting on pursuit,” someone shouted.

Good,Ahnna thought, remembering all too well the sight of the Amaridian fleet besieging Eranahl on Silas’s orders.I hope the storm claims every last one of you.

James joined her at the helm, the rising winds ruffling his hair, his eyes on the flashing lightning to the north.

“We need to keep as close to the front as we dare,” she said, straining to hold the wheel in place, the ship already beginning to lean at a deadly angle. “They’ll keep farther south on the belief we’ll lose our nerve, and they’ll be able to run us down when the storm loses power. Which means we can’t lose our nerve. Holdthe course, then swing around the eastern side of the storm and head north. We should have enough of a head start to get to the mainland before they catch us.”

“How close do we dare?”

“Close.” She braced her boot against the deck, seeing him do the same. “Everything needs to be tied down, and everyone who doesn’t need to be on deck should go below. This will be rough.”

No sooner had she spoken the words than the rain began.

Vicious cold droplets stung her cheeks, and Ahnna squinted to protect her eyes, gaze fixed on the churning mass of clouds to her left. The wind was howling now, screaming its fury like an angry beast, the seas writhing beneath the onslaught. The ship rose and fell with violence that increased with every swell, waves washing over the main deck and forcing the sailors to catch hold of whatever they could to keep from being swept overboard.

Ahnna tuned out their shouts, her ears all for the groans of the ship, the rigging straining against the ferocity of the wind. “You’re all right,” she whispered to the ship. “You can do this.”

“Two are moving south and east, but the other is on our tail,” a lookout cried, though how he could see much of anything in the growing darkness and driving rain, Ahnna didn’t know.

“Ahnna,” Jor roared from where he clung to a rail. “Back off! You’re going to tear the ship apart!”

She ignored him, her attention all for the wind and the ship, the vessel moaning in agony as it crashed through the towering waves. TheVictoriamight not be fast, but she wasstrong,and she’d outlast the Amaridian ship in this violence.

The main deck disappeared beneath a wave, and Ahnna clenched her teeth when the water cleared and several sailors were gone.You can’t help them,she told herself.They are already lost. Save who you can.

“Get below!” she shouted at James, her arms shuddering from the strain of holding the wheel in place. “It’s not safe!”

He ignored her, instead grabbing a rope and looping it around the quarterdeck’s railing and then around himself. Lifting the remaining length, he shouted, “Let me tie you to the rail!”

Before she could answer, a wave exploded over the deck.

It smashed into Ahnna, knocking her away from the helm and sending her flying backward.

Her head slammed into the deck, water choking her, the world spinning. Ahnna clawed at the wood, trying to stop her body from rolling, but she couldn’t get a breath of air. The ship leveled, and she scrambled to her hands and knees, cursing as she saw the wheel spinning, the ship rotating south. “No!”

Stumbling back to the helm, she caught hold of the wheel. Except given the chance to race away from the storm, theVictoriawas taking it. “Come on!” Ahnna heaved as hard as she could, but she wasn’t strong enough. Couldn’t get the leverage on the wet deck.

You’ve killed them all,her conscience screamed.

Then hands closed over the wheel, a solid chest pressing against her back. “Together!” James shouted. “Heave!”

Hurling all of her strength into the task, Ahnna eased the wheel back to position, inch by painful inch, theVictoriagroaning in protest.Please don’t break,she prayed of the rudder.Please be as strong as I need you to be.

The ship rotated perpendicular to the storm, the angle of the deck terrifying, only the press of James’s body and her grip on the wheel keeping Ahnna from sliding off the side of the ship into the murderous sea. Wave after wave rolled over the ship, choking her with seawater and obscuring her vision, forcing her to rely on sound and feel to guide the vessel.

---