The Pirate Queen

Chapter 11

The storm hit late into the afternoon. Ariel braced herself for it like she did everything difficult in her life: with grit and steel-backed determination. No one on the boat was nervous or panicking because she wasn't. Ariel hadn't panicked sailing through a storm since seven years ago when Edward had sailed them through a category four hurricane. Someway, somehow, he'd brought them all out alive. 

The rain stung as it hit her cheeks as she stood at the helm next to Alastair, shouting down instructions and orders to her crew. Only the most experienced men were on deck to keep the Dauntless upright and afloat. Everyone else, those with little amounts of experience or other necessary jobs, were tucked below deck making sure none of the ropes broke on the canons and the gunpowder stayed dry. 

The only exception was Jora, and by default, Eric, who was proving more competent than he'd let on about his sailing abilities. He was climbing the ropes and sliding across the deck more sure-footed than some of the men she'd sailed with for ten years. Even Seb had given grudging admiration. 

After sailing through the storm for four hours now, Ariel had devised that it wasn't a hurricane but it was damn well trying to be. The winds were threatening to burst open their sails, stirring up ten and fifteen-foot waves that washed over the deck every thirty seconds or so. The Dauntless was pitching violently but it wasn't under a threat of tipping yet. It would take a lot more than a thunderstorm to bring her down. 

"Hard to starboard!" She snapped to Alastair, whipping a piece of hair out of her eyes. The ship careened to the left, bobbing along the waves. "Trim the mainsail and release the jibbing! Eric! Port!" She pointed to the shortened sail tied tight to foremast at the bow of the ship and he paused tying up a rope to nod to her, indicating he'd heard her instructions over the roaring of the wind. He passed the rope off to another crewman and darted off down the deck. 

Ariel watched him run for no longer than two seconds before turning her attention back to Alastair wrestling with the helm, his muscles straining with the effort. Flounder appeared beside him and gripped two handles on the right while Alastair took the left, keeping the Dauntless on a steady course forward. 

"When do you think we'll sail out of this?" Flounder panted, adjusting his stance on the slick wood decking. 

Ariel squinted up at the clouds, blinking rapidly to keep the raindrops out of her eyes. Thunder sounded above them and she waited, counting the seconds before the next notes of the sky bass rolled across the clouds. Lightning didn't follow, and for that she was grateful. Lightning would make this so much trickier. 

"Morning, I'd say. The thunder is getting further apart." Twice in that sentence thunder had sounded but the hesitation was there. They were approaching the eye of the storm but they'd be through the worst of it soon enough. Enough to at least give them a break through the darkest parts of the night. 

Seb pinched his lips together and watched the pitching and rolling waves around them. "It doesn't bode well to face a storm so soon in our journey." 

Ariel ground her teeth together, clenching her jaw hard. She knew it was a terrible omen but the only way it could get worse would be if the ship was struck by lightning and someone was injured or died as a result. If that happened, she was turning around and sailing right back into the port of Romee, Darmken. Screw endless wealth, screw stopping a war, screw figuring out why Eric was really on her ship she didn't care. If someone died it was an omen from whatever God or gods watching over them that this wasn't her adventure, not her treasure to find. 

"My job is always to keep my crew alive, Sebastian," she snapped. "And this ship intact. We will be fine." 

At the bow of the ship Eric dropped the first of two jib sails, short but strong sails meant for harsh storms like this. He scrambled to the other side and let the second drop, clinging to the mast as the ship jumped over a twenty-foot wave and landed heavily on the other side.