Page 52 of Long Live the Elf Queen

Fella lifted a shoulder, but interest flashed across her face. “I don’t have any, lassy. The ropes will have to suffice. There’s some in the chest over there.” She tilted her head to the left where a huge reddish-brown chest with gold buckles and trim waited. “We have about ten minutes before we’ll hear the sirens’ songs.” She then shouted down to the main deck. “Prepare to be boarded!”

Layala shoved up the lid to the chest. “These sirens comeonthe ship?”

“With this many males?” Fella said with a crazed grin. “Certainly! They’ll be in a frenzy. They exist to hunt and kill men. Don’t know why. I hope you know how to fight with those daggers on your waist.”

Layala jerked a long thick rope out of the trunk. “You’ve seen this?”

“They did it to my own father.” Her grin turned almost sadistic. “A right nasty bitch took him down when I was fifteen. She gave me this when I tried to save him.” Fella jerked up her sleeve to four long red rakes across the otherwise porcelain skin on her forearm. “I take joy in killing as many of the soul-sucking wenches as I can and today shall be glorious.” She jerked her sword from her hip and raised it into the air. “To battle, ladies!”

“Hooza!” they shouted back in unison.

Maker above, this womanwasunhinged. Thane’s worried eyes searched Layala’s face as he held out his wrists to her. “It will be alright. These will hold me. You know how to tie a good, strong knot?”

“I do.” That was part of her training back in Briar Hollow. She’d never had use of the skill until now.

“Tie him to the mast or he’ll scoot to the edge,” Fella said over her shoulder, turning the helm slightly to the right.

How could this be happening? A song, a voice of some creature would take Thane from her? Steal her Ravens? With hurried steps, they rushed to the upper deck mast. Thane pressed his back against it and wrapped his arms behind him around the pole. Breathing heavy, Layala tied his wrists, then wrapped the rope around his torso, down his legs and around his ankles and knotted it good and tight. She tugged on it several times, walking around him in a circle to make sure he couldn’t slip the rope. “Alright, you should be secure.”

“Did all of you women lose someone to the sirens?” Thane asked.

“Everyone but Keera,” Fella said, hooking a loop around one of the helm’s handles to steady it. “She just enjoys the fight and the spoils the island offers.”

“Laya,” Thane said gently but there was an edge to his tone. “Go make sure the rest of the Ravens are secure, please.”

Her heart thundered like the dark storm cloud that brewed in the distance. A quiet boom of thunder and a streak of lightning stretched across the sky. This couldn’t be a good sign. “I’m not leaving you. If you break through those ropes…” Would she even be capable of stopping him? His physical strength outmatched hers by a large margin.

One of the women from the lower deck shouted, “Siren spotted!”

Layala swallowed hard. What would the siren look like? Black eyes, scaly skin, jagged teeth like the pale ones? Talons like the dragon? Part of her didn’t even want to see what they looked like. Her heart thrummed harder when Fella let out what could only be a war cry. “Come on, you nasty wenches!”Water sprayed in a great white arch over the bow of the ship.

Layala stepped back and bumped into Thane. “Laya, you’re equipped to handle any enemy. Your training will kick in no matter what you see.”

She slowly nodded. Of course, he was right. With a deep breath, she scanned the deck’s edge, waiting for something to pop up. Another boom of thunder and the howl of wind brought goosebumps to her flesh.

“Sirens!” another woman below bellowed. This time Layala dashed to the edge and peered down at the blue-black water. A ghostly, fin-tailed creature, she guessed to be eight feet long, zipped by and disappeared under the shadows of the ship. In the silence of waiting for an attack, her nausea intensified. She gripped the railing until her knuckles turned white.

It started with a single hauntingly beautiful voice. Like the whisperings of the wind in green, lush mountains. The sound of it brought a shiver down her spine. Then another voice joined in, and another, in different octaves and tones but so in sync they could have been one.

“They’re here,” Fella said, quieter now, almost reverent.

Layala backed from the edge and pulled out her new sword, Lightbringer, the one her father crafted. It almost seemed to hum with power in her grip. She turned to tell Thane what she saw but his eyes were unfocused and staring, his expression slack and lost—transfixed. “Thane?” she whispered.

Nothing about his demeanor changed or even registered her at all. Athump, thump, thumpsound drew Layala forward to the railing. She peered down over the main deck. The other’s hands were tied behind their backs attached to metal hooks on the deck near the center. Gunner jerked and kicked wildly. It was terrifying to watch him fight so fiercely against his bonds. Maker above, was he going to break free? Layala noticed Fennan’s hands moving slowly, twisting and tugging, trying to work them loose, rather than outright fighting them. Piper knelt beside Fennan, gripping his shoulders but he stared past her like she wasn’t even there.

Down below, Aunt Evalyn held onto the stair railing with one hand and a short sword in the other.

“Come up here,” Layala said.

Aunt Evalyn shook her head at Layala. “Your Ravens might need me to defend them down here. Catch this.” She tossed a black barb covered in a shiny oil substance.

Layala caught it and her brow furrowed. “It’s katagas serum.” She knew it from the smell.

“If Thane is capable of what I think he is, you’ll need it.”

Layala didn’t have time to wonder why Aunt Evalyn had this and ran to Thane. “Sorry,” she murmured, jabbing the point of it through Thane’s shirt and into his arm.

He was too dazed to even notice.

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