“Rhiana can.”

“What do you mean?”

“Take off your elder sign.” The tall captain looked at him as if he was mad.

“I may go down to the Sea Queen’s dungeons this evening and I would have my soul protected if I go.”

“She is a mindspeaker. She can watch from the prow and guide you. She knows ships and she knows navigation.”

Still Zamara looked dubious.

“It is the life of your ship balanced against the risk to your eternal soul.” Zamara grinned. He was a Siderean sea captain and his ship was in peril. There was only one decision he could make. He removed the elaborate elder sign and tossed it to Kormak. “Hold on to it for me,” he said.

Kormak’s fist closed around the talisman. It was heavy and inlaid with gold. He turned and fought his way back up the deck towards Rhiana.

“Speak to Zamara as you spoke to me when we were below the waves,” Kormak said. “Guide him. Tell him what you see.”

Rhiana stared at him. Kormak raised the captain’s elder sign. “He is not warded.”

Rhiana nodded. A flicker of concentration passed across her face. A moment later, Zamara bellowed something and the ship heeled as her course corrected.

***

Another wave roared towards the ship, the largest yet. The bow of the Kraken’s Reach rose at a sickening angle as it began to climb. Kormak imagined the ship overturned as if by a giant’s hand.

Water flooded the deck. It hit Kormak like a hammer, knocking him off his feet, sending him flying. Salt water got into his mouth and his eyes, blinding him. He smashed into something and, dazed, grabbed it, wrapping his arms around what turned out to be the mast. He dreaded more than anything being thrown overboard into the storm-tossed sea. Here his chance of survival was slight. In the water, it was non-existent.

The decks were empty. He hoped that the marines were below. He looked up. The rear mast hung at a strange angle, half-cracked, bent like a broken limb. As he watched it tumbled and fell. He saw no sign of Zamara and the helmsman.

It did not matter. Without anyone to guide the ship it was already turning. If a wave caught them .