Ready for the Storm

The storm rose up to meet them. It was like an old friend that was half-remembered, the face familiar but the details uncertain. The twins had ridden the storms before but rarely had the situation been dire. And this, with the clouds bearing down on them and the flicker of raw ‘mancy overhead, was dire.

Langley cut the sloop in close to the fishing boat. A green aura surrounded their hull and behind her Langley could hear her brother murmuring over the wards that staved off the effects of the storms. An ancient Stormrider poet had once written a few stanzas that were carved around the bow of ever sloop the family built.

Wind, guide these sails homeward. Waves, carry this child upon thy breast. Sun, let me see thee one more day.

And these three objects became the very curse that Langley was now uttering from between clenched teeth.

“Sabreur!” she called, “Take the sloop. I’ll steer that ship home myself.”

He ducked under her arm and grabbed the wheel. She checked to see that her rapiers were secure, that her jacket was fastened, and hoisted herself onto the edge of the sloop. Then, taking her hat under her arm and with Sabreur bringing the ship as close as he dared, she leapt.

The timing was right. The twins had boarded ships many times in their lives, mostly when they and their cousins were playing pirates in the harbor. Just wait until the sloop was on the crest of a wave and then leap. Catch the rail of the other ship and pull. It would have worked too, had her fingers not slipped. With a cry of surprise she let go of her hat, flailed with her other hand, caught, and then felt hands wrap around her wrist and pull her onboard. She turned and watched as her hat was caught and whipped away from them by the waves. Sabreur made a half-hearted grab for it but it was quickly out of reach.

“My hat!” she wailed, “My hat! Sun, wind, and waves!”

The crew of the fishing vessel were gathering about her, fearful and asking what they should do. She ignored them all and marched to the helm, still cursing about her hat.

The captain of the ship was at the wheel. He looked at her and his jaw set.

“Good to see you, Stormrider, but we’ve got this under control,” he said.

She glanced up at the sky. Down at the waves. They were on the edge of the storm and the worst was quickly moving in.

“Step aside, Captain,” she said evenly, “I’ll tell you once.”

“To the underworld with you, miss. I ain’t giving up my ship to someone a third of my age.”

Langley decided that the time for arguing was over. She stepped behind him, drew her rapier, and before he had a chance to turn brought the hilt down on the back of his head. He crumpled.

“Right,” she said, kicking him away, “and if you were a third as clever as me you would have seen that coming.”

The crew just stared. She put her hands on the wheel and called for them to raise sails. No one moved.

“Don’t just stand there, you idiots!” she shouted, “That storm? It’s mancy-spawn, got it? It’ll destroy this ship and everyone on it because it carries more than just waves and lightning in its wake. We either outrun it or we all die. NOW RAISE SAILS.”

That got them moving. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sabreur, following in their wake. He waved, then leaned over and trailed his rapier in the water. Held it up. The tip was glowing purple.

“Oh yes,” Langley whispered, “A hell of a lot more than just waves and lightning.”

On the upside, this would make their own ‘mancy all the more potent. On the downside, well, it’d be best not to be submerged in the water for very long.

The sails were up. They filled with wind instantly and the ship groaned as it lurched across the waves, the masts creaking with protest. This was not a skimmer and so Langley could feel every wave as it smashed against the front of the boat. Sweat was beading on her forehead. Up ahead, where the land curved in to enclose the harbor, Langley could see other sloops of the Stormrider family. They too would help ride this in and bring the fishing vessel to safety. Further in people were gathering on the dock. ‘Mancers, Stormriders, and anyone else that could help protect the town. There was no telling what the storm would bring when the full force of it hit.

“Oh, I hope its not monsters this time,” Langley muttered under her breath, “I really hate that.”

The wood beneath her feet was groaning horribly from the strain. This ship was not built for this kind of torment. With a shriek like a banshee one of the masts split, splinters shooting out like bullets and the thing toppled, the edge dipping into the waves and Langley was almost thrown aside as the wheel tried to jerk out of her hands in response to the sudden pull at the side.

“Cut it off! Get if off! Idiots!”

They were moving too slow, hampered by their own fear. Then fire flickered at the base of the break and the weight of the mast was suddenly relieved by an explosion that shot it up in the air, off to the side, to land with a splash in the water behind them.

“Good save brother,” Langley whispered in relief and straightened the course.

With one mast gone the ship started to slip back into the storm. The edge overtook them again but by now they had reached the entrance to the harbor. The Stormrider sloops crowded in behind them as an escort and Langley started to breath easier. They were going to do it. They were going to bring it in.

The dock was in sight. They’d get it close, tie it down, get the crew off, and then time to face the wrath of the storm trailing them. Just minutes away now.

That was when everything went wrong. A wave surged up behind them and Langley completely lost control of the ship. It spun like a top and the Stormrider sloops were thrown aside as everyone had to suddenly fend for themselves. Then the ship was thrown down onto the ocean again, sideways, and everything became a mass of darkness, noise, and Langley lost all sense of what was up. She tucked herself into a ball and pulled out a stick of iron from her jacket pocket. It jerked in her fingers, the notched end pointing, and she swam in the direction it indicated. Her head broke through the surface and she gasped for air, treading to stay aloft in the waves and looking for the dock. There. The wave had thrown them mere yards away. Already the crew was paddling towards safety amidst the wreckage of the ship. No one on shore was paying attention to the people in the water though. The Stormrider sloops were nowhere to be seen and Langley turned to see what all the commotion was about.

“Of course its monsters,” she sighed.

At least the kraken was distracted by all the gunfire and ‘mancy being flung at it from the deck. Langley started swimming towards shore. There was an explosion behind her that sounded suspiciously like one of Sabreur’s firebombs. Her hand closed on a post. She pulled. Something wrapped around her leg and pulled back.

“GYAHAGH!” she cried, trying to curse and call for help at the same time and failing at both.

Her arms wrapped around the post and she held on. The monster pulled back and it felt like her shoulders were going to be pulled out of her arms. Red flashed across her vision from the strain.

There was a roar like the world was ending, quickly replaced by a dizzying ring in her ears. The pull on her legs vanished and Langley opened her eyes. Stared at the pair of feet before her face. Her gaze traveled up to see her mother standing there, a smoking pistol pointing down towards the water around her daughter.

“Well,” Neria said, “Don’t just stand there gawking. Get up here and help.”

“Told you I’d be back,” Langley said as she hauled herself out of the water.

“Yes, but you neglected to mention that you’d be dragging all this with you.”

“Oh, well, you know. I thought you would be expecting it, what with us being Stormriders and all.”

Langley grinned and pulled her own pistol. Her mother was reloading. They both turned towards the kraken, which was waving about one of the sloops in one tentacle – the Stormrider that had been in it swimming madly for the dock – and wondering if maybe following the storm here had been a bad idea after all. Langley grinned. This was mother-daughter bonding at its finest. And both pulled their triggers together.

It would have been very dramatic, if not for the fact that being in the water resulted in Langley’s pistol making only a soggy clicking noise.

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