Snake Heart (Chains of Honor #2) -Lindsay Buroker Page 0,52

Yanko hoped that meant Dak had made it through the pirates, that he was leading Arayevo and Lakeo out the hole and to the safety of the Kyattese vessel.

Pey Lu strode toward Yanko. He braced himself, not sure if he could handle a third blast of energy. If his barrier failed, he knew that much power would kill him.

“Captain,” called a voice from the deck above them. “They’re going to ram us. It’s the ironclad. We can’t outrun it. We’re too sluggish.”

Hoping the words would distract her, Yanko lunged for the stairs. He imagined himself sprinting down them and diving into the water, swimming through the hole to join his friends. But an invisible grip fastened around his neck, holding him in place as surely as an iron shackle chained to a wall.

Pey Lu reached him and grabbed his arm with her hand. She carried a cutlass in her other hand, and he fully expected her to cut off his head with it. He threw all of his remaining energy at her, an unfocused blast that had no finesse or thought behind it.

She stepped back with one leg, as if bracing herself against a great gust of wind. Yanko might have felt a modicum of satisfaction that he had affected her, but neither her physical grip on his arm nor her magical grip on his throat lessened. Still holding him, she stepped to the edge of the stairs. Once again, he noticed that she was shorter than he was. How little that mattered in this battle.

Her eyes narrowed, and she glared at the hold full of water. No, she did more than glare at it. The water started swirling in a circle, as if it were being sucked down a drain in a sink. It picked up speed, spinning around the hold, dead pirates, clothing, and broken bits of wood rushing past. Yanko hoped Dak and the others had already fled out the hole and weren’t under the surface, caught up in that current.

The water level lowered, draining much faster than it had entered. Yanko was caught up in staring at it and wondering if he could ever do such a thing. It took him a moment to realize that the force around his neck had disappeared. As powerful as Pey Lu was, she could not concentrate on multiple tasks at once, either. He eyed the fingers wrapped around his arm and the sword in her other hand. Was it possible that he could grab it while she was concentrating, and do something effective with it? His mind shied away from the idea of killing her, but if he could surprise her long enough to get away, maybe he could catch up with the others.

He was a half second from trying when something smashed into the ship so hard that it hurled both of them against the wall.

“Pie-Face, Jorgan,” Pey Lu yelled. “Get down here and plug up this hole.”

As Yanko staggered to his feet, several pirates poured into the passageway. A few carried hammers and nails and buckets of pitch or some other adhesive. Pey Lu had released Yanko when they had been rammed, and he stepped toward the stairs, still thinking of escape.

Pey Lu frowned at him and waved two fingers. He felt the attack coming but couldn’t defend himself in time. He wasn’t sure he had the strength left to do so, anyway. He was flattened against the wall and could do nothing but watch as the pirates ran down into the hold. Pey Lu stood at the top of the stairs and went back to draining the water.

Shouts and gunshots came from the deck above, once again. The pirates attacking a boarding party? Yanko had been focusing on his problems and had no idea how the overall battle had been going.

As the last of the water drained, the pirates covered the hole and sealed it. With each bang, Yanko knew his chances of escaping were diminishing. Maybe they had already ceased to exist, disappearing as soon as his mother had shown up.

She grabbed his arm again and pushed him toward the sunlight pouring down from the steps leading to the upper decks. Yanko sent a long look over his shoulder as they walked, but he had to accept the inevitable. He had been taken prisoner, and he had no idea if his captors were winning or losing the battle.

Chapter 12

Yanko did not make trouble for Pey Lu as she led him onto the main deck. For