The Plight of the Arshion

by J.M.D. Reid

edited by Poppy Reid

Rhione was awakened by the Bosun's shrill whistle screaming through her skull.

Groaning, she snapped her eyes open, staring at the hammock swinging above her head. Her body didn't want to move, but she forced herself to sit up in her own hammock, brushing strands of her white-blonde hair from her brown face. “Theisseg's scrawny feathers,” she muttered, cursing the Storm Goddess for interrupting her sleep. She had been up past the midnight watch patching the starboard hold of the Arshion. A small skyreef had struck the whaler near sunset. Thugri Sound was rife with the obstacles and the lookout should have been paying more attention. They were lucky that it had only been a small reef that had collided with the ship, a small boulder instead of a massive rock. It didn't damage any of the ship's frames—the ribs of the ship that ran along the hull from port to starboard—and only cracked a few of the hull's planks.

Rhione rolled out of her hammock, trying to blink the weight of sleep from her eyes, the deck cold on her bare feet. She forced herself to stand up, joining the rest of the night watch as they struggled out of their hammocks, men and women cursing and grousing.

“What minnow's crawled up the Cap'n's skirt?” muttered Dhith, his portly face flushed red, as he stepped out of the quartermaster's stores.

“Don't know, dear, I was sleeping,” Rhione muttered to her husband. She just wanted to lean against Dhith's solid frame, close her eyes, and drift off into...she shook her head, trying to make her mind work.

“Pirates,” muttered Three-Finger Tharsh, the oldest sailor on the Arshion, his face as wrinkled as a year-old prune. “It's gonna be pirates.”

The grime of sleep fell off Rhione as her heart thudded to life. Agerzak Pirates. They haunted the Thugri Sound, riding on their strange beasts across the skies. After two years of plying the Great Empty hunting for whales, the Arshion was heading home to Shuutan and passing through the most dangerous part of their voyage—the stretch through Thugri Sound. The Sound was the border between the Autonomy of Les-Vion to the south—Rhione and the rest of the crew's nation—and the Agerzak Kingdom of Estapf to the north. Every year, Agerzak pirates took a few whalers out of the hundreds that plied the Sound, forcing their crews to fly the captured ships to the nearest Agerzak port.

Lucky crews were ransomed. Most weren't. The pirates just wanted the whale oil.

She formed the sun with her thumb and pinkie. “Riasruo defend us,” she muttered as she climbed up the steep steps out of the hold and onto the well deck, the Goddess's feathery rays falling on her slim shoulders.

“Take your battle stations!” bellowed the beefy Bosun, thrusting a crossbow and leather quiver full of bolts into Rhione's calloused hand. “We got an unfriendly ship behind us.”

She actually felt relieved. The Agerzak pirates never had ships. At least they didn't two years ago. A lot could've changed.

Sailors scrambled through the rigging, unfurling the sails to full. A great gust whipped down the ship as the Windwarden increased the breeze, propelling the Arshion faster through the skies. Grioch, the slimy Windwarden, had been lucky when he'd received his Blessing. Riasruo, the Sun Goddess, had granted him Major Wind.

There were four different categories of Blessing—Mist, Wind, Pressure, and Lightning—that could come in three different strengths—Minor, Moderate, or Major. Every worshiper of Riasruo was granted a combination of Blessings at seventeen. Rhione was blessed with Moderate Mist, allowing her to see through thick clouds and precipitate moisture from the air, and Minor Lightning, granting her immunity to electricity. Thanks to Grioch's Blessing of Major Wind, Grioch could power the Arshion's engine, allowing her to fly, and could generate the breezes to propel her across the skies.

“Don't just stand there!” the Bosun bellowed at her. Rhione glowered at the squat-faced man—she was the ship's chief carpenter and equal to the Bosun and the Quartermaster. Only the First Mate and the Captain stood higher than her. “I don't care that you ain't under my command. You get your backside to the gunwale and prepare to defend the ship!”

“Aye,” she muttered, shrinking from his boarish rage. Her hands shook as she clutched the crossbow—she had never used one before.

The Bosun thrust one into her husband's hands. Dhith's jowls paled. This can't be how it ends. We didn't just spend two years plying the Great Empty for it to end just a week out from home.

“Ma!”

Rhione's son raced up, his skinny face thick with fear. Chev was the cabin boy on the Arshion, learning his parent's trade. It was his first voyage and he had grown so much, sprouting into gangly youth, his brown face sporting a few, red pimples. He'd soon have a man's height and build. Rhione's spine stiffened; she couldn't afford to be afraid.

“Get below deck!” she shouted. “Ain't no place for you up here.”

“But it's my job to run out the crossbow bolts. I gots to do my job.” Fear and pride warred inside her. Chev was such a hard worker, eager to become a full member of the crew. He already knew all the various knots, hitches, bends, splices, loops, and bindings to manage the complicated rigging of the Arshion. Once he had his strength, he'd make a fine sailor.

“You mind your ma,” Dhith snapped.

“Sorry, pa!” he yelled, running down below deck. “I need to fetch another barrel of bolts.”

“To the gunwale!” the Bosun bellowed at Rhione, cracking his scarred knuckles.

She knew the Bosun wouldn't spare hitting her just because of her sex, so she joined her husband at the gunwale, the railing that lined the Arshion's three decks. She kept throwing quick glances over her shoulders, keeping an eye on her son as he lugged a heavy barrel out of the hold, stony points of crossbow bolts sticking out of the top. He set it on the deck, ready to run resupplies to the ship's defenders.

That's me and Dhith.

Rhione leaned her crossbow on the gunwale, her hands shaking as she stared out at the open, blue sky above Theisseg's Storm, struggling to still the tremble in her hands. I'm forgetting somethin'. She looked at the wooden crossbow, a string made of carp guts connected the weapon's arms. I need to load it. Get it together. Don't be no downyheaded fool. She cranked back the windlass, the bone mechanism clicking and clacking before settling a bolt on the cradle and aimed out at the sky.

“Here they come!” roared the Captain from the poop deck, her voice shrill. “Five Agerzak raiders riding across the sky. Hear that! There's only five! We can beat them back. We have more numbers. So just feather them with your bolts and we'll get through this. Just remember the wealth in the tanks! You'll all be rich when we get the oil back.”

“How can the Captain care about the whale oil?” Rhione muttered, trying not to think about five Agerzak raiders bearing down on them.

“It's all the woman cares about,” snorted Dhith. “She's probably happy we're bein' attacked. The more of us them pirates kill before we beat them back, the bigger her share.”

“Get ready!” Captain Rhey's voice was even more shrill, her panic infecting Rhione's heart. “They're coming up on the port side.”

“Great. Why did we choose this side?” Dhith asked.

“Theisseg's scrawny feathers are raining on us today, dear.”

Her husband reached out and touched her arm, his thick fingers giving her a reassuring squeeze. They had shared their fires for over fifteen years, and while it wasn't always the most steady burning flame, their marriage had been more good than bad.

“It'll be fine,” he smiled.

The Agerzaks burst around the side of the ship, galloping across the skies. They were all barbaric, hulking men, barely dressed, their pale chests muscled and covered in blue paint. Their beards and hair were all thick and black, flowing behind them as they rode their strange, wingless pegasi across the skies. Every time the beasts hooves struck the empty air, fire burst as if they were running upon a sheet of flames across the skies.

She aimed her crossbow at the first rider. This pirate clutched a bow, not holding on to his reins as he drew back an arrow. She fired. Her bolt missed him by more than a few ropes, falling uselessly behind him down into the Storm.

“Storm-cursed thing,” she muttered, grabbing the crank.

The pirate released his bow. Agony flared on her temple. Darkness crashed down on Rhione.

---

Pain was the first thing that Rhione felt, a throbbing ache right behind her eyes. Her stomach roiled and bile crept up her throat. Her eyes fluttered open, sunlight stabbing into her mind. She heaved her stomach onto the deck of the Arshion.

“Dhith,” she muttered, spitting out vile vomit from her mouth, pushing herself up. “Dhith. What's happenin'?”

“He's dead, ma.”

Her son's voice was so quiet, a whisper from leagues off even though he knelt right next to her.

“Who's dead?” she asked, her hand going to her temple. Pain flared. Blood stained her hand.

“Pa.”

“That can't be. He was right next to me. Dhith. Where are you?”

Her son hugged her, clinging to her. “Pa's dead. They killed him.”

His tears were hot on her neck. Her husband's body lay crumpled on the deck, missing his head.

Horror seized her mind as she gazed across the well deck of the Arshion. Her husband wasn't the only corpse. The white-yellow well deck of the Arshion was painted red by the Agerzak greatswords. Her stomach rebelled again.

“What's going on?” she asked, struggling to remember. Everything was so fuzzy. Her head throbbed so badly.

“We lost, ma. The pirates boarded us. They took all the oil onto their ships and...” Her son started, looking up.

“You're alive,” the Bosun grunted, looming over her and her son. “Cap'n wants to see all the officers now. We got plans to make.”

“Not now,” Rhione muttered, clutching her son. She wanted to cry, but her head pounded.

“Now!” he growled, seizing her arm. “The Theisseg-damned pirates took Grioch.”

Grioch. The name penetrated the fuzz paining her skull. “Our Windwarden?”

He nodded, hauling her to her feet.

“But, how are we...?” She shivered in dread, glancing at Chev—her fingers made the sun. “Riasruo defend us.”

“We got about a day to find a skyland before the engine's charge dies and...”

We fall into the Storm Below.

“We're at the mercy of Theisseg and her capricious winds,” he continued as they walked across the deck, passing the stunned crew. Many sported bandages, staring with dead eyes at the deck. Men and women broken by the pirates. In the distance, a pair of ships with black hulls and blue sails dwindled as they sailed away. They looked like a Vaarckthian corvette, but no Imperial warship would be painted in those colors.

If we had put in at Onhur we would've known the pirates got ships now. Damn, greedy Captain. Would a day in port really have ruined the trip?

Captain Rhey waited in her cabin, a map of the Thugri Sound unfurled before her, a compass lying on the parchment along with her other navigation tools. A dotted line drawn with a grease pencil led from the Arshion's position southwest towards the Skyland of Eche. Behind the Captain, the ship's lanky scout lounged against a bulkhead, a frown creasing his weathered cheeks.

“Cap'n,” the bosun said. “Me and Rhione are all the officers I could find. Brele's dead along with the Quartermaster.”

Dhith. Her heart squeezed with pain.

“Sorry to hear, Rhione,” Captain Rhey said, her bony face trying to look sympathetic.

She don't care. One less person that has to split the...

“It's all for naught.” A hysterical laugh bubbled out of Rhione's lips. “The pirates took it all, didn't they? Two years of Storm-damned work gone.”

“Yes. And worse, the wind isn't bowing us south towards Tlele or Tlovis, but southwest towards Eche. That's over a day's sailing.”

“So we're dead,” muttered Xoar Whalesight. The scout straightened up, running his fingers through his blond hair. “You still got that bottle of whiskey in here, Cap'n? Think I want to get drunk.”

“That ain't gonna help!” snapped the Captain, her shoulders swelling, her red eyes darting about as her bony fingers squeezed her arms. “We ain't dead yet. We gots to keep focused. There gots to be a way to squeeze some speed out of the Arshion.” The Captain seized Rhione's hands in a cold, clammy grip. “Right? You know the ship best.”

“We need to lighten the ship,” Rhione whispered.

The Captain's hands squeezed hard. “Right! Right!” She seized on Rhione's words, clinging to them. “Lighten the ship. We run at full sails and lighten the ship. The mast'll hold, right. Running at full sail won't cause any problem.”

“Unless we hit a squall,” Rhione nodded. “She'll hold. Probably. I checked out both masts two days past. They're both still solid and well anchored to the keel.”

“Good, good! I need you and your carpenters to disassemble every bit of the ship we don't need. We're going to dump everything over the side.”

“Doesn't matter, we're dead,” laughed Xoar again, opening up a cabinet. He found the bottle and ripped the cork off with his teeth. “Too far for me to fly Lucky to a skyland. We're so dead.” Lucky Chemy was the ships only pegasus and Xoar was the only one with the right Blessing to fly her.

The Bosun stalked over, seized the bottle from Xoar's hand, then walked over to one of the porthole windows and threw out the bottle. “Everything needs to go. Food. Water barrels. Personal belongings. They'll all have to go, Cap'n.”

The Captain nodded at the Bosun. “Even the dead.”

“But!” Rhione gasped. “If we don't burn them, how can we send them to Riasruo?” How can I send Dhith...? She shook, a ragged sob ripping out of her throat.

“Dhith wouldn't want you or Chev to die just so he could be properly burned,” whispered the Bosun, putting a strong hand on her shoulder. “You got to be strong for your boy.”

She sniffed, pulling away from the Bosun and pushed her grief down for Dhith. Later. When Chev's safe.

“Okay, I'll get to work on tearing the holds apart.” She took another breath, thinking about the problem. There was a lot of lumber on the ship that could be dismantled, and that didn't even count the spare supplies for repairs: barrels of tar, bone nails, ceramic fittings, spare sail, and hemp rope. There was a lot of weight that could be tossed. Hope dawned inside her. “We need to get started right away. I'll get this ship sailing as fast as a Sowerese rake.”

“What about my pegasus?” Xoar asked.

“We'll keep her,” the Captain decided. “Just in case. Maybe you and another can fly off the ship. Just in case.”

“I'll go saddle her,” Xoar muttered. “And maybe pinch a ration of grog before you toss it over the side.”

“Once you're done saddling that beast,” growled the Bosun, “you'll be joining the crew in tossing everything overboard.”

Xoar gave a mocking salute—two fingers to his bushy, brown eyebrows—and pushed past the big Bosun.

“Okay! Let's do it!” the Captain said, rubbing her bony fingers together. “Let's save my ship.”

Rhione couldn't watch as the bodies were tossed over the side, so she quickly led her three carpenter mates and ten other sailors down into the holds, Chev at her side. She could only hope Dhith and the others were somehow able to ascend to Riasruo's fiery sun and be bathed in her warm light forever.

The Arshion had two holds; the crew slept in the middle of the lowest deck on hammocks slung between beams. The ship's stores of dried food and other goods were kept in the fore of the lower deck while the quartermaster supplies were kept in the aft, where all the spare lumber, tar, and other supplies were stored. Beyond the quartermaster supplies was the engine room where the ship's heart pulsed. The upper hold was taken up by the storage tanks for the whale oil, the rendering ovens, the galley, and the menagerie, which was right under the Captain's cabin in the aft of the ship. Lucky Chemy was stabled in there. The stern of the ship could unfold, opening onto the skies to let Xoar fly his pegasus in and out of the ship.

“Hurhen and Seyele, clear out the food stocks, then disassemble the decking. Sruthech and Arthen, start with the quartermaster supplies. Pitch it all over except a tool barrel. Then start ripping up the decking in there and the engine room. The rest of us, we're going to work on the crew's belongings. Grab every trunk, sack, hammock, and bundle of clothing. All of it is to be pitched over the side. Then we'll rip up the decking towards the stairs and move on to the upper hold.”

A fair wind blew as none of them objected. There wasn't time to spend energy on fighting or bickering. She could see it in their eyes, that burning spark of hope was fueling them. They would work hard and fast, without the usual complaining and lollygagging she normally would expect out of the crew.

Chev was the first to grab a chest, holding it in his arms, carrying the wooden trunk up the stairs, straining to carry the heavy weight. The hammocks were unstrung as Rhione seized another chest, carrying it up the stairs after her son.

He was out of her sight for a moment; her heart beat faster.

“Come on, you mottled ostriches!” bellowed the Bosun as she climbed up on deck. “Pitch it over. Clear the storming deck of everything.”

Chev walked to the gunwale and pitched his chest over the side. She followed, hurtling the box she held down to the churning Storm below. She watched it dwindle then vanish into the dark-gray clouds, joining her husband in Theisseg's tempestuous domain. Dhith deserved better than to spend his days at the Storm Goddess's dark mercies.

“Come on, ma,” Chev said, tugging at her linen shirt sleeve.

“Right.” She didn't have time to grieve. The dead could wait until tomorrow.

The entire crew of the Arshion worked with purpose, tearing down the vast holding tanks that rose up through the well deck from the upper hold, the planks still greasy with traces of whale oil. Even Xoar pitched in, dragging out the frame of the captain's bed and tossed it over the side. The Captain herself manned the wheel, her eye on the compass, keeping them pointed towards safety.

Sweat covered Rhione's lean body. Her muscles ached. She ignored it. They couldn't stop working. More sailors came down after the topside had been cleared, crowding the holds, dragging up sacks of grain, barrels of grog, ceramic pots and pans, and the entire galley stove. Soon the decking was coming up, leaving the bones of the ship exposed. Then the wall compartmenting the engine came down, the Amethyst pulsing like a beating heart, shining pale-purple through the ship's naked frames and supports.

The pulses grew slower as evening approached.

“Let's keep moving!” bellowed the Bosun. “Still plenty of the ship to dump. Keep at it. If I see any of you minnows taking a breather, I'll pitch you over. I'm lookin' at you, Arthen! You want to be dead weight?”

“No, Bosun,” Arthen said, the sailor's back snapping rigid. The Bosun stalked off and Arthen muttered out of the corner of his lips, “Storming shark.”

Rhione didn't say a word, just tossed the pile of lumber in her hands over the side.

Was the Storm going by faster?

It was hard to tell as the sun sank, painting the dark gray cloud below with orange highlights. But it seemed like the writhing Storm was passing by faster than usual. She leaned on the gunwale, looking out to the southwest, trying to see if Eche was on the horizon. There was something dark, partly hidden by the setting sun.

She smiled, straightening and holding her hand before the sun to get a better look at the skyland floating in the sky.

It wasn't Eche.

“Skyreef!” she shouted.

No one was on watch. Every member of the crew was needed to lighten the ship. A floating patch of rocks hung in the air before them, coming up fast as the Arshion knifed through the sky. Thugri Sound was plagued with the floating collections of rocks, some the size of a pig, others as big as the Arshion. They were the reason no ship ran the strait as fast as they were.

The skyreef stretched across the sky, dark splotches coming up fast. If they had a Windwarden, the ship could change altitude, ascending or descending to clear the obstacle, or the Windwarden could turn the ship faster with a cross wind, detouring the ship safely around the reef.

“Skyreef!” she shouted again, racing for the port stairs up to the poop deck .

Ropes creaked, pulleys working as the Captain strained to turn the wheel to port. Rhione reached the top of the deck. She seized one of the pegs-like handles protruding around the outside edge of the wheel, helping the Captain turn the helm. Ropes rasped in pulleys and wood creaked as the mast spars turned. But the strong wind fought them, the wheel bucking in their hands.

“Theisseg-damn those pirates,” the Captain hissed, sweat beading her wrinkled brow. “How am I supposed to turn this ship without a Windwarden?”

“There's a gap in it,” Rhione shouted. “See it?”

“Yes, I see the storming gap!” snapped the Captain. “Why do you think I'm turning the ship to port? But turning the wheel ain't gonna be enough. Not with how fast we're goin'.” She looked down at the deck. “Do you see the channel, Bosun?”

“Aye,” he muttered before blowing on his whistle, signaling the crew to their stations.

Shouts of alarm rang out from the crew as they flooded out from below decks, swarming over to the two masts. Barefoot sailors began climbing up into the rigging with ease.

“Change the rigging!” the Bosun bellowed. “Quarter for a port turn! Now! We need to turn six more points to make that channel!”

“Ma!” Chev looked up at her from the well deck.

“Hold on to something!” Rhione shouted.

The skyreef hurtled closer, the boulders growing larger, filling the sky before them. There was a gap between two large boulders that the Arshion's bow was slowly turning to point towards. But she wasn't a graceful ship, built wide and thick to hold as much whale oil as possible. Even with a Windwarden, she wallowed through the skies.

A grinding sound split the air; two of the boulders collided, scraping past each other. Smaller specks of rocks splintered off, hurtling out from the reef, sending a school of reddish fish scurrying away in a panic.

“Please turn,” Rhione prayed, straining with the Captain to move the wheel even a little bit. She jerked; the wheel slipped another few fingerwidths to port, the pulleys grinding. She strained to keep a tight grip as the wheel throbbed.

“Brace!” the Bosun shouted.

The bow turned another few points as the first boulders began hurtling past. The Arshion was going far faster than any ship Rhione had ever sailed on. She looked ahead; the ship was almost pointed at the channel.

“We're going to miss,” the Captain whispered, her voice high and tight. “I think we're going to miss. I can't lose my ship. We're not going to hit, right, Rhione?”

“I don't know,” Rhione gasped, her entire body a ball of tensed muscles.

The massive boulder on the starboard side slowly spun, the rock pitted and cragged by weather, full of jagged spires. The rigging and spars of the foremast was coming up fast to the side. Rhione seized her breath, holding on to the wheel.

The boulder missed the foremast. The mainmast's spar was coming up next. Rhione closed her eyes—it was wider than the fore. She sucked in her breath, her fingers tight on the wheel's handle.

The boat rocked. A loud, splintering crack resounded. Rhione was thrown forward, her hand slipping from the wheel. She gasped as the railing of the poop deck slammed into her stomach, the air forced out of her lungs. The ship shuddered, wood snapping and grinding, and then they were past the massive boulder.

“That wasn't the mast!” the captain yelled. “It must have hit the hull.”

“Yeah,” Rhione croaked, pushing herself off the rail, coughing and struggling to breathe. “I'll go inspect the damage.”

It was bad.

Rhione stared out the length of the starboard side hull, a massive, jagged hole torn into the ship, leaving splintered planks behind. The ship creaked and groaned as half the hull's strength on the starboard side was gone. She looked down, the ship's frames groaning and bowing, struggling to keep the vessel from ripping to pieces.

The Arshion was dead.

“This is bad, ma,” Chev whispered.

The mainmast flexed before her. The mast was anchored at the keel at the bottom of the boat between two of the ship's frames. And those two frames had been badly damaged in the collision. The stress placed upon the mast was transferred into those frames and spread out into the hull of the Arshion. That whole system had been disrupted by the impact. It was only a matter of time before the mast ripped free of its anchor.

When it ripped free, it would break the keel, the very backbone of the ship. There were too many damaged frames to keep the ship in one piece if that happened. The Arshion was doomed if the main sails weren't reefed. The stress had to be eliminated.

“Get above deck right now!” she barked. “Tell the Captain and the Bosun to get down here!”

“Yeah, ma!”

“And don't come back down!”

The wood creaked again, the mast tearing at the frames and keel.

“What's the problem?” Captain Rhey asked, picking her away across the torn up decking of the upper hold, stepping from truss to truss.

“The mainmast is gonna rip free,” Rhione said. “Between the reef's gouge and how much of the ship we've disassembled, there ain't enough strength to hold it together.”

“Patch it, then!”

Rhione looked at the captain, then at the massive hole in the ship's side. “I can't. Look at that! Riasruo bless us, that's a good sixth of the hull gone. The Arshion's like to rip herself to pieces if we don't furl the mainsail.”

“Patch it!” hissed the captain. “Add more support! Do whatever it takes!”

“I can't! We need to reef the sail right this moment.”

“You're gonna get us killed!” snarled the Bosun. “We need to keep runnin' with full sails or we're not reaching Eche!”

“Can't you hear the creaking? Look at the keel. It's buckling! When that mainmast goes, it's gonna rip the ship in half! Then we're all gonna be plummetin' down into the Storm Below!”

The Captain seized her shoulders. “There has to be a way.” Fingernails dug into her flesh. “You have to do something. We can't die! No, no, no. We can't die. I can't die. My ship can't die. We have supplies. So fix it!”

“We threw the spare lumber overboard already,” Rhione whispered, her shoulders sagging. “And the barrels with the bone nails.”

“How long until the keel snaps?” the Bosun asked.

Rhione opened her mouth to speak.

“It won't! She'll fix it! I'm not losing my ship!” Spittle fell in Rhione's face as the Captain screeched at her. “See that she repairs it now, Bosun. If she don't, throw her off the ship.”

The Bosun looked up. “She's right, Cap'n. Riasruo shine down on us, but she's right. I've seen a mast uproot before. It's bad when a ship doesn't have her guts ripped open. I agree with our carpenter, we need to furl the sails.”

“Nonsense! The Arshion is a sturdy ship. Rhione's just wanting to shirk on her duties! Everyone on this Riasruo-blessed ship wants to shirk!”

“I'm gonna tell them to furl the sails to half,” muttered the Bosun. “Maybe it'll be fine and we'll still make it to Eche.”

“Where do you think you're going?” screeched the Captain.

“To save the ship, Cap'n,” he answered as he climbed up the stairs. “Someone gots to.”

The Captain followed after. “Hurhen, Seyele, seize the Bosun!” she screamed above deck.

“What, Cap'n?” a confused sailor answered.

Rhione gained the deck. Chev's lanky body trembled as he stared at the snarling Captain. The crew was gathered around the Captain and the Bosun. Rhione seized her son, pulling him behind her, trying not to shake. Beyond the crew, the mainmast flexed and torqued as the wind howled past.

“It's not going to be long,” she whispered. She had never seen a mast sway so much. The crow's nest was moving at least three ropes back and forth.

“I gave you an order!” the Captain howled. “Seize the Bosun and throw him overboard. We don't need his dead weight.”

The Bosun rounded on Captain Rhey, his body swelling. “You filthy sow! The ship's 'bout to tear apart and you want to throw me overboard! I'm tryin' to save your Storm-damned ship!”

“He wants to furl the sails!” She pointed a bony finger at him. “If we do that, we ain't gonna make it to Eche! He's mutinying! And that's death! So throw him over!”

The crew erupted into angry shouts. Hurhen seized the Bosun's thick arm. The big man's fist curled and he smashed it into Hurhen's face; the sailor crumpled to the deck with a ruined nose. “Listen!” the Bosun bellowed over the crew's roar, pushing another sailor off him. “The mast is gonna buckle. We gots to trim the sails to half or the ship's gonna rip apart! Now get movin' and trim them or I'll crack every last one of your down-filled skulls open.”

“We'll die if we don't run at full sails!” cackled Three-Finger Thrash. “The engine ain't gonna last 'til dawn! You want to see us dragged down into Theisseg's storm!”

“The Bosun wouldn't get us killed!” snarled Seyele, pushing the old sailor back. “Look at the Cap'n. She's lost it! I say we throw her overboard!”

“Mutineer!” snarled the Captain. “Another Theisseg-damned traitor. You and the Bosun both. You're trying to see me dead!”

The crew's shouts grew louder, screaming at each other, fear thick in the air. Chev clung to Rhione's side, his body trembling. She had to do something. They were all dead if the crew wouldn't see reason.

“He's right!” Rhione found herself shouting, trying to make her voice heard over the roaring crew. “The hull's badly damaged. The ships gonna rip herself apart. We have to reef the sails! Believe me! I know the ship!”

No one heard her.

“Throw the mutineers overboard!” shrilled the Captain. “Less weight to slow us down!”

The Bosun's fist crashed into another sailor that tried to stop him from reaching the mast. The Bosun strode forward, pushing through the men. “I'll storming do it myself!”

“Stop him! Kill him! Do anything!” The Captain's face was bloodless, her brown skin pulled tight over her bones. “We'll die!”

Three-Finger Thrash's bone dagger sank into the Bosun's lower back. The big man roared, turning about. His fist crashed into the old sailor, knocking rotten teeth out as Thrash crumpled to the deck. The Bosun reached behind him, and ripped out the bloody, hogbone dagger.

“Downyheaded, sow-dung fool,” he muttered, the dagger falling from his fingers. He tried to turn to walk to the mast, but instead he collapsed like a felled tree, crashing to the deck.

“Ma!” sobbed her son.

The crew stared at the dying Bosun as the Captain snarled and cackled, “Back to work. Clear the deck! We keep sailing! We're gonna live.”

“Stupid sow!” Seyele shouted and grabbed the Captain's bony shoulder.

More bone blades flashed. More blood spilled on the Arshion's deck.

A great, shuddering crack snapped through the air ignored by the screaming mob. That sounded like a frame snapping. It won't be long now.

She had to act to save what she could. Rhione pushed her son towards the stairs to the hold. The Arshion was doomed. “Come with me,” she whispered, seizing her son's hand and pulled him below deck.

“Ma?” he asked. “What's happening?”

She didn't answer him. Her hand held his in a death grip, yanking him behind her.

“Please, ma?” He fought her, trying to pull away.

She whirled around, seizing his shoulders. “You're gonna fly off on Lucky Chemy.”

“But, what about the others?”

They're dead. “They'll be fine once they've calmed down. But we need to lose more weight, so the pegasus gots to go. You'll fly her to Eche.”

She pushed her son through the door to the small menagerie. The pegasus greeted them with a nervous whinny, stamping her piebald forelock and rustling her gray-feathered wings. She was a Chuthi, a breed that could cover long distances, but she was small and couldn't bear much weight without the right Blessing; Rhione only had Mist. Pressure was needed to increase the lift the beast generated with her wings, allowing the pegasus to fly through the skies with more weight.

Xoar was the only crew that had Moderate Pressure. But Chev was small and light. The pegasus should be able to bear him. Rhione had to believe that.

“Just me?” Chev asked. “I ain't never flown one, ma. Why not have Xoar fly her?”

“Yes, why not Xoar?”

She spun about. Xoar stood in the doorway, his long, curved bone knife in hand, his eyes hard, green stones. The boat shuddered and groaned as Rhione moved between Xoar and her son, eyeing his dagger.

“Will you fly my son to safety?” she asked him, pleading with his eyes.

He shook his head. “Too far. Even with my Pressure, I can't afford the extra weight. Sorry.”

Anger flared inside her. “Open the rear of the ship, Chev.”

“Ma?” His voice quavered.

Rhione pushed her son back towards the pegasus. “Just do it! Then you fly her southwest. Lucky'll help you out. She'll know how to find a skyland.”

“You touch my pegasus and I'll gut you like—”

With a screech, she leapt at Xoar, seizing his knife hand. She had been a sailor for too long not to know how to brawl. Xoar crashed into the door, grunting in surprise, his hand straining to press the knife towards her belly.

“Mount up, Chev!” she screamed as she struggled against the man. Her heart thudded, fear pumping through her veins. Chev was the only part of Dhith left.

“Sow's dung!” hissed Xoar, seizing her blonde hair with his free hand and jerking her head back; pain burned across her scalp. “I ain't dying on this worthless boat!”

“Ma!”

“You do what you're told, Chev! Or I'll whoop you so hard! Now go! Fly!”

Air whistled as the back of the ship opened up, the wall lowering down by a pair of hemp cables.

“I'll kill your ma if you don't stop!” Xoar snarled, pressing harder with his knife, the tip brushing her linen shirt.

Rhione screamed, hooking her foot around his ankle. They fell into a heap on the rush covered floor. Sour dung filled her nose as they rolled and cursed. The pegasus whinnied, her hoofs pounding on the deck.

“I can't leave you, ma!”

“You gots to.” The dagger moved closer to Rhione's stomach, her sweaty hands slipping on Xoar's wrist. “You will mind me! So fly away right now!”

The dagger sank into her stomach.

Cold pain knifed through her. Her hands lost their strength. Xoar rose up, ripping the dagger from her guts, his face twisted into something monstrous. He was going to kill her son. She forced her arms to move, pushing down the lethargy sinking through her, weighing down every bit of her body.

“Let go of my pegasus or I'll give you the same, boy!”

“No!” she shouted, forcing the air out, and lunged her hands for Xoar's ankle, ignoring the pain roaring in her side, and jerked him back. “You got to go, Chev. I love you! Now go!”

Her son scrambled onto the back of the pegasus, staring back at her. His red eyes—like his pa's—were wet with pain. She saw so much of Dhith in his face: his bulbous nose, the cleft chin, his brown hair. But not her son's ears—those were her own small lobes.

“Please, go!”

“Sow's spawn!” Xoar's foot crashed into her face. She held on.

“Go!” she sobbed, her mouth full of blood, her lips split and crack. “Please!”

Xoar kicked her again. She would not relent. She would save her son. Xoar, cursing, stabbed the knife down into her left arm, cutting sinew. She didn't feel the pain as her left arm fell useless from his leg—she only held on even harder with her right hand.

“Don't you hurt her!” Chev shouted, his voice warbling.

She wasn't going to be able to stop Xoar much longer. She stared at her son, pleading with her eyes for him to abandon her. He listened, and began frantically strapping himself into the saddle, cinching the leather straps tight about his legs.

Xoar stepped forward, dragging her body. Darkness danced in her eyes as she struggled to hold on, fighting against blissful lethargy.

“Goodbye, ma!” Chev heeled the pegasus.

Lucky Chemy neighed and galloped forward, falling out of the back of the ship, her gray wings spreading wide. The pegasus and her son dropped out of sight, falling down towards the Storm Below. For a moment, fear gripped her heart, but then the pegasus rose up, banking in the wind. She had one last look at her son on the beast's back and she held onto the memory—brown hair rustling, his gangly legs strapped tight to the saddle, his hands clutching the saddle's pommel. Then he was gone, winging around the ship.

The knife dropped from Xoar's hand, the blade snapping on the deck, then he fell to his knees. She let him go, rolling on to her back. The ship shuddered and groaned beneath her, wood cracking as the keel snapped, the force vibrating through the entire ship.

The crew screamed as the mast crashed down.

She didn't care anymore. Her body was too cold to care about much of anything.

“You killed me,” Xoar whispered.

“I saved him,” she answered.

Xoar looked at her, his green eyes lost, and then he laughed, “Why did the Bosun have to throw out the whiskey? Riasruo Above, but I could use a drink.”

“Yeah,” Rhione croaked. It was getting harder to talk, to think.

The last frames keeping the ship together failed with a mighty, tearing snap. Her body slid along the blood-soaked deck, then everything became strangely weightless. Rhione lifted up from the deck and rotated about in a slow spiral, bits of straw tumbling with her. Out the back of the ship, the dark sky whirled past, stars flashing, then the darkness of the Storm Below filled the opening.

“I saved our son, Dhith,” she whispered as the Arshion plunged into Theisseg's cruel domain.