Where Serpents Strike (Children of the Falls Vol. 1) by CW Thomas Page B

dismissal of her
questions, but she didn’t care. Now that he mentioned it, she did
feel exhausted, physically and emotionally, but she knew she’d find
no rest right now. Every time she shut her eyes she saw wild dogs
with scruffy fur coming after her. When she succeeded in pushing
those thoughts away her mind conjured visions of Brynlee and
Scarlett. What torment were they enduring at the hands of the black
vipers?
    A strong wave rocked the vessel. From the
forward deck came some indiscernible shouts from the captain, which
prompted crewmen to hurry about the ship, yanking on weather worn
ropes and rickety pulleys. Lia understood none of it, but after a
second wave hit the ship, sending a spray of water up over the
side, she knew that something was wrong.
    She stood with Khile and scanned their
surroundings. Behind them lay nothing but dark blue water and a red
sunset. Ahead of them, however, in the slate-colored air to the
east, dazzling forks of lightning snaked through the sky,
illuminating bleary sheets of oncoming rain.
    The ship dipped low and rose up on a high
wave. Lia lost her footing and tumbled back into the side rail. It
struck her hard across the back, knocking the wind out of her
lungs.
    “Hang on to something!” came a shout, but
from where she couldn’t tell.
    Khile grabbed her, pulled her down, and
flatted them onto the deck.
    The ship trembled. The sails lurched
forward. Lia heard people screaming all around her, a sound that
was soon overpowered by the deep groaning of the ship’s massive
wooden beams.
    Her stomach hurt, and though she wasn’t
gasping anymore, it still felt as though she couldn’t get her
breath back, or that it had returned but badly out of rhythm.
    Lia and Khile slid across the deck as the
ship pitched to one side from the impact of a massive, immoveable
object. Or was it another, even stronger wave? Crewmen fell over,
one of the ropes snapped, and the ship moaned like a massive beast
lamenting a fatal wound.
    A sailor thumped down the steps next to Lia
and shouted up toward the captain. “Caught us in the port side,” he
said. “She’s taking on water.”
    A new fear flooded into Lia’s gut. “Are we
going to sink?” she asked.
    Khile’s reply was honest. “Maybe.”
    The violent waves continued to push the ship
around while the ferocious winds pelted the sails and whipped the
decks with rain.
    They were sailing the Gulf of Black Rock,
also known as The Shallow Sea. Living in Aberdour, a city that
relied on the nearby fish supply for food, Lia had heard her share
of stories about the shallow waters of the gulf. The voyage from
Edhen to the neighboring continent of Efferous wasn’t a long one, a
couple of days tops, but travelers had to carefully plan the trip
before setting out lest they get caught in hard winds and bashed
against the rocks. For the refugees of Aberdour there had been no
time for such planning.
    “Stay close to me,” Khile said, but he
didn’t need to tell her. When the ship pitched again Lia’s fists
clenched onto his shirt.
    The howling winds grew in intensity. More
ropes snapped, sending heavy blocks of rigging whipping over the
heads of the huddling crowd. A sail tore in half, and when the ship
struck its second rock one of the masts snapped at its halfway
point. The massive beam crashed to the deck, crushing a man at the
pelvis and striking several others.
    Lia’s entire body cringed as a rush of cold
water swept over her.
    “Stay down!” Khile shouted above the chaos.
“Don’t move until I say.”
    His hands grabbed at her calves, searching
for her feet where he tore her shoes off. In one terrifying moment
it occurred to Lia that he was preparing her for the water. The
ship was going down.
    Lia remembered that Khile still had broken
shackles around his ankles. She wondered how much they would weigh
him down.
    “Abandon ship!” the captain yelled.
“Abandon—”
    Lia looked at him just as a swirling mess of
rigging caught him in the