Page 86 of Hot Zone

Twenty-One

Rustam’s energy surged so violently that she could scarcely hang on as it burst out of him. An answering explosion of power from somewhere deep within her stunned her. She felt as if her body were tearing apart, into millions and millions of individual cells connected only loosely by a net of violet energy that grew and grew. The two storms merged, and an indigo tornado built around them, whirling faster and faster as it swelled to encompass the entire ship.

And then, with a great mental gathering of strength, she felt Rustam wrap his mind around the entire vortex and form it into a massive lightning bolt of power that he flung, in its entirety, at the Karanovo fragment.

The ship’s deck heaved beneath Tessa’s feet as the vessel lifted partially out of the water until its hull seemed to barely skim the surface of the sea. They shot forward like a high-powered motorboat, surging out of the deadly vise created by the other ships, with a grinding, screeching noise of wood scraping wood. And then they were free, shooting forward at twice the speed of the rest of the fleet.

How long they maintained that breakneck pace, she had no idea. Time ceased to have any meaning as raw power surged from her and through her, passing into and through Rustam. It was exhilarating. Beyond exhilarating.

It was the same feeling she’d experienced when the two of them made love and leaped to that dark place full of stars, but more. So much more. She’d never felt anything like this.

This must be what it was like to be a star navigator. And now that she’d experienced it, she instinctively knew that she would be able to call it forth again. She was changed. More alive than she’d ever been before. And she loved it.

She became vaguely aware of something ahead of them, blocking the neck of the strait. More ships. But not moving, not the Persian fleet. Waiting in a solid mass. The Athenian armada.

If they didn’t slow down, Artemesia’s ship was going to slam into that line of vessels like a battering ram.

“Rustam,” Tessa urgently called aloud, and sent mentally. “Stop!”

His eyes fluttered open, and he saw the obstacle ahead. All of a sudden, their ship slowed, settling heavily into the water, rocking hard over its own bow wave. Rustam sagged in her arms, supporting himself heavily against the ship’s rail before him.

“You okay?” she murmured.

“I’ll live. I haven’t drained myself like that since my first jump.”

She turned to glance behind them. The Persian fleet was well to the rear now in complete chaos as the first rank of ships jammed the strait in a mass of broken wood, tangled canvas and tilting masts, and the rest of the fleet bore down helplessly upon them. It was not a pretty sight. Here and there, the largest vessels were pushing through and pressing forward, but they were only a small fraction of the overall fleet.

“Uh, my lady queen? We have a problem.”

That was the ship’s captain. Tessa whirled to face where he was pointing. A group of Greek vessels had split away from the others and was approaching fast.

It was too late to run. Their flanks were unprotected. Various military options flew through Tessa’s mind, and she discarded each with lightning speed. In an instant, only one truth remained. The best defense was always a good offense.

As she opened her mouth to suggest an attack, Artemesia ordered decisively, “Full speed ahead on the oars. Deploy the battering ram. Let us show these Greeks what we think of their puny navy.”

The queen’s crew sprang into action, ferocious grins on their faces. Bloodthirsty bunch. But then, Tessa expected no less of any sailors who served this formidable woman, who was such a lioness herself.

The Athenian ships arrayed themselves in a line before the Persian one, daring it to come and get them.

Artemesia’s captain bellowed, “Which target, my lady?”

Tessa glanced at the choices. She would choose the big one in the middle. It appeared as if orders were being shouted from that vessel to the others. Cut the head off the beast and maybe its limbs would cease to function effectively.

Beside her, Artemesia hissed, and Tessa looked over at her. The queen was just pulling a spyglass from her eye. “The middle ship,” she snarled.

Blindly, Artemesia held the spyglass out, all but punching Tessa in the gut with it. Tessa snatched the piece before it could drop to the deck, then, curious, put it to her eye and focused on the middle ship ahead.

Ahh. No wonder Artemesia was so furious. The Greek general Hippoclides stood wide-legged and arrogant on the deck. The queen’s lover had come out to destroy her.

Red fury radiated off of Artemesia, infecting the rest of the crew within moments. Tessa was stunned. Was Artemesia a potential star navigator, too? She had the kind of personal energy field that might easily be an indicator. But there was no more time to wonder about it as the enemy ship’s oars came out and the two vessels began to charge one another.

It suddenly dawned on Tessa that Rustam was still leaning heavily on the front rail. He would be thrown out of their vessel when the two collided! Racing forward as the Greek craft loomed, she threw an arm around him.

When she looked down at the water, where he was staring, she saw a wooden flap open just below their feet. Two massive pointed logs armored with metal of some kind emerged. Those must be the battering rams. An interesting innovation. Her studies of military history indicated that ancient sailors merely rammed their ships into one another, and the strongest vessel generally sailed away intact while the other sank. Artemesia, in her zeal to design a better ship, must have come up with this idea of an actual battering ram. Even if those logs shattered on impact, the vessel would still be seaworthy. Clever.

Rustam shifted beside her, pulling her attention back to the battle at hand.

“C’mon, you’ve got to move,” she insisted. “We’re about to ram the Greek ship and you’ll get tossed overboard. You’ll never guess who’s commanding it.”

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