Page 103 of The Sea Witch
“Those that sail with theSea Witch,” Alys shouted, “to the ship.Now!”
Women began swinging back to theSea Witchin a mad rush.The others, who wished to stay with Olachi and join her mission, remained behind.
Alys winced as Stasia helped her limp to the ropes connecting theAjaxand theSea Witch. She grabbed one of the ropes, but a hand on hers stopped her.
“Ije oma,” Olachi said, her dark eyes warm. “Safe journey.”
“And to you,” Alys answered. “We’ll see each other again.”
“Of that, I do not doubt.”
Olachi stepped back, and Alys hoisted herself up before swinging across the gap between the two ships. As she flew through the air, she looked down at the leviathan. Agitated, its tail lashed the churning water. Its open maw gaped, dark and terrifying. Its sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight. The creature could easily swallow her whole.
A moment later, she landed awkwardly on the deck of theSea Witch. Searing pain shot up her leg but she kept standing long enough to make sure that everyone who wanted back on theSea Witchwas aboard, and those who intended to sail with Olachi were on theAjax.
The leviathan bumped its head against the two ships with greater force, sending both vessels rocking violently. Crew clung to the railings as they fought to stay on their feet and not tumble into the water, where death awaited.
The ropes lashing the ships together were frantically cut just as the leviathan made another pass between the ships. Both vessels shuddered and rolled from the impact. TheAjaxand theSea Witchneeded distance between the two ships.
“Enemy vessel approaching, Cap’n,” Susannah cried. “Off the starboard bow!”
Stasia shoved a spyglass into Alys’s hand, and Alys used it to look starboard. She cursed.
“TheJupiter,” she growled.
The first-rate one-hundred-gun man-o’-war sailed right forthem. The full-rigged sails billowed, the wind charged with a mage’s power. Within moments, the massive ship would be upon them.
Another beast swam beside it.
“A kraken!” Stasia shouted. Fear laced her voice.
“Not possible.” Alys aimed the spyglass and cursed.
The gargantuan beast’s tentacles stretched far, far behind it as it cut through the water. The kraken’s huge reddish bulbous head broke the surface. Even from this distance, there was no mistaking the predatory intent in its yellow eyes.
Alys’s mind whirled. There had to besomethingthey could do. Or else there’d be no surviving the attack of a leviathan, a kraken,andthe naval flagship.
Rage poured into her, hot and acidic. She couldn’t fail her crew, or Olachi and the other freed women.
“All witches,” Alys shouted to the women aboard her ship as well as theAjax. “Send your voices to the bottom of the sea! We’ve been hunted and hounded, made to feel ashamed, killed for who we are. Bought and sold. Now’s the time. Scream. All of your fury, put it into your screams! Send them silently to the bottom of the sea.”
Witches on both vessels opened their mouths. Alys screamed, too, for herself, for Ellen, for Stasia and Olachi and the women of Norham and women everywhere. She screamed her outrage and grief and defiance.
Dozens of women released their fury at a world that refused to understand or accept them.
The witches of both ships shrieked noiselessly, their faces darkening with the venting of centuries of suppressed anger. Even the familiars opened their mouths on silent cries.
Alys clenched her fists as she used her magic to gather the screams and guide them as they sank deep beneath the water. Sweat poured from her as she struggled to shape them into amassive sphere, large as a house. All of their voices collected within the bubble.
TheJupitergrew closer, its guns trained on theSea Witchand theAjax. The kraken’s tentacles rose from the sea, ready to wrap around the hull and masts. The leviathan opened its maw.
Alys and crew braced for the attacks.
The bubble of screams broke the water’s surface and burst, releasing the voices with deafening force. The crew aboard theJupiter, and the sailors in the jolly boats and cutters, covered their ears and grimaced in pain. The creatures halted, frozen in place.
The force of their fury pushed into theJupiter. The naval vessel was swept backward on surges of water, while the leviathan and the kraken were pushed away on the churning sea. A hundred feet separated the flagship and creatures from theAjaxand theSea Witch.
“My witch sisters,” Alys cried, “summon the winds to make our escape.”
