Tide of Shadows Ch 19: Boom
Jos held her spell on the edge of casting, letting the energies course through her. While it was more complex than anything she’d ever done before, she just hoped it would be enough.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t from the magic. Or the disappointing lack of rum in her system.
“Nexx?” Jos’s voice quivered. This close to the lower hull of the ship and that bomb would sink Hiraeth for sure.
The First Mate’s eyes darted back and forth. “I… uh… I think…”
In front of him, the device continued to beep faster and faster. He reached forward then snatched his hands back. Then again.
Jos thought about switching her spell to a portal, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to get the other end open in time. “Nee-eexx!” This wasn’t how it was going to end. She knew it couldn’t end like this.
Danni took a half-step back and glared at Jos. “What did you do?”
“Shut up, Danni.”
“I.. I don’t know what to do!” Nexx blurted.
“At this point, it doesn’t matter!” The skin on Jos’s arms started to itch. “Just do something!”
Danni set her jaw. “You turned on us, didn’t you? Sold us out to the Inquest. For what, some gold and little more of your precious rum?”
Stepping forward, Jos snatched up a stray belaying pin and headed for the device. “I said shut up, Danni.”
Nexx’s eyes flicked to Jos then back to the bomb. Just Jos cocked her arm back to smash the device, Nexx shoved his hand inside and yanked.
The captain froze in mid swing. The beeping stopped.
* * *
49. 48. 47…
High Captain Dreeax let the numbers count down in the back of her mind. Standing on the quarterdeck of her ship, the Imperator, she gazed out ahead at the calm seas. In the distance, she could almost see her destination, the squared stone blocks peeking up over the lapping waves. The gentle wind at her back hinted at their pace. They’d be lucky to make six knots.
37. 36. 35…
Helmsman Bicco adjusted the glowing red ship’s wheel a fraction then turned to the high captain. “Captain, at this rate, we’ll arrive in three days.”
She scoffed. “That is not adequate. Can you coax no more from these sails?”
“We’ve got barely more than the doldrums, sir.”
23. 22. 21...
Giving the helmsman a curt nod, she turned to her bosun, a sharp-jawed asura named Lery who had exceedingly sharp teeth, a half-missing ear and a peg-leg. “I desire more speed. Run out the sweeps.”
“Aye Cap'n.” Bosun Lery’s voice grated as he tipped his tricorn. He limped his way down the stairwell to the main deck and bellowed, “Run out the sweeps, you feckless scabbers! And make it quick, or I’ll feed ya to the krait!”
Long, glowing red oars made of asuran hard light reached out from the sides of the Imperator and touched the water. A second later, the flat ends of the oars lifted up out of the brine, moved forward and dipped back down before straining backward against the waves. Then they rose up and did it again.
12. 11. 10…
Dreeax turned and looked back at where they’d come. In the distance, the idiot human captain’s ship was shrinking away. But soon, she knew it would make a big splash. At that thought, a small smile crept at the corner of her mouth.
5. 4. 3…
She pulled in a long breath and waited.
2.
Her smile grew wider.
1.
Her mouth formed the word for the sound she knew was coming. Boom.
After three long seconds of no explosions, her smile vanished. When still, after several more seconds, nothing happened, her lips curled up in a sneer.
No, this was impossible. She’d made the bomb herself. She’d put in failsafe upon failsafe. There was no way those morons were smart enough to disarm it, much less figure out her little clue that she’d even left it as a gift for them.
And yet, there it was, still sitting on the horizon. Unblemished and un-blown-up.
I’ll see to that.
High Captain Dreeax, rising star in the Inquest Navy, whipped around and snarled. “Bring this ship around. I want to blow that scrap heap out of the wa—”
A massive boom echoed in the distance, startling the captain and nearly making her jump out of her skin. Turning back, she found a column of black smoke rising up from where that foolish human’s ship used to be. Several large pieces of timber fell from the sky and splashed back down around Hiraeth’s remains. Every so often, a flicker of orange flame would peek through the smoke. That is, until the last scraps of the ship sank below the waves.
The captain’s self-satisfied smile returned. Letting out a sigh of contentment, she turned back to the helmsman.
“Belay that order. We’ll have no more trouble from those fools. Take us home.”