Mariss rowed quickly, moving them across the water in swift strokes, her muscles bulging beneath the strain. Her face was set in grim determination, her usual easy grin nowhere to be seen. Elisabeth knew the other woman possessed enough magic to sense that there was something amiss with the eruption. As they crossed the open water between the two ships, more fireballs rocketed through the air above them. One by one, they winked out and dropped harmlessly into the sea, their energy absorbed by Roger.

  Elisabeth wished she knew the fire-witch better. Without a true sense of his strength, aside from the display yesterday, and no sense of his knowledge, she couldn’t assess how long he was able to continue, or if he knew what to do with the energy he was consuming. He might still go up in an inferno of his own making, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. The longboat bumped against the hull of the Silence, pulling Elisabeth from her contemplation of the fire-witch and launching her into action. She jumped at the rope ladder, and climbed as quickly as possible, funneling strength from one of her trinkets to get her to the deck of her ship faster.

  With a push of magic, she vaulted over the rail, then turned back to survey the bay. A jet of flame sprung from the Jester---Roger unleashing the pent up magic to knock two fireballs off their course and away from the ship. A grin stole onto her face at the sight. The fire-witch was proving to be an asset, after all. Assured that they were safe from the meteors, at least for the moment, she brought her attention to assessing the condition of her own ship.

  Sailors were running in every direction, tightening ropes, securing loose items, crawling into the rigging, checking the supports they’d built for the cracked mast. The lumber that reinforced it was sturdy, but it wouldn’t hold in a storm. Everywhere she looked, someone was working hard to get them ready to leave the now dangerous bay. The crew was still diminished, and she saw one or two men among her women—either Mortimer sent some of his own to help them get to Driftwood Bay, or they’d been spending the night. It didn’t matter, it was clear they needed the help.

  “Moira!” She called for the quartermaster, unable to locate the woman in the activity on deck.

  “Captain!” The woman’s response boomed over the sailors, and Elisabeth spotted her as she pushed her way through to the rail, dodging around scurrying women. “Hope you’ve got something up your sleeve to get us out of here.”

  Elisabeth didn’t like the woman’s tone. “Is the ship ready to go?”

  “She is, but we’re against the tide and the wind’s confused. The eruption’s got it all gone topsy-turvy. We’ll need a nudge.”

  Elisabeth considered the information, tested the air with a quick sailor’s spell that sat in the hem of her coat. It confirmed that the breeze blew in different directions every few minutes. The volcano’s eruption displaced enough energy to alter the normal flow of air in the area. She turned to face the island, the glow of lava evident behind the bound of trees, embers sparking in the palms as she watched. Without a bit of help, they were stuck in the bay.

  “Get Lotte and Leni in position. They can get us back out onto the open sea. And whatever hands we have, put them on the oars.” She chewed on her lip, worrying at the tender flesh. The Jester didn’t have a wind-witch. Damnit, Henry, she cursed the other captain silently for the lack of depth in his crew. Getting out of the bay with just a rowing crew was going to take too long. If it was even possible. “Belay that.” She ordered. “Get Lotte in position, send Leni to the Jester. They don’t have a way to get out otherwise. Mariss’ll stay with us, send someone else to bring her over.”

  “Aye, captain.” Moira hurried across the ship in search of the two wind-witches.

  “Mariss, lend a hand,” the quartermaster shouted as she passed the woman.

  “Aye, quartermaster.” She pushed away from the rail where she’d been resting, looked around, and climbed into the rigging to assist with unfurling the sails.

  Only Cressia remained with Elisabeth, shadowing her captain, as always. They watched as Lotte and Leni said a swift farewell, the two women embracing for a few brief seconds, before Leni made her way to the rope ladder. She disappeared over the side of the ship with a swift climb, and a moment later, Elisabeth saw the longboat making its way to the Jester.

  “I didn’t feel tremors, or smell gas.” Cressia’s observation broke into Elisabeth’s thoughts. “It’s as if the volcano just…appeared.” The She-Wolf rolled her shoulders, thinking how best to answer the unspoken question in the assassin’s words. She didn’t want to acknowledge the truth, not even to her most trusted companion: she feared that the eruption was another obstacle placed in their path by Rowan’s Shroud. Its defenses reached far and wide, and were more aware of the world beyond the Shroud’s boundary than anyone guessed. She wondered if a human consciousness controlled it, or if it was a curse so strong that it was bordering on being sentient. The only certainty she had was that if they lived to see the place and return with the Atlas Stone, all of them would have tales to tell for the rest of their lives.

  “Captain?” Cressia prompted, and Elisabeth realized she’d been silent too long. Years of trust won over her misgivings.

  “Aye. It’s the Shroud, Cress,” she confided in the bodyguard. “It’s trying to keep us away.”

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  “That’s…impossible.”

  “Aye, but it’s true. The creature and kraken at Hag’s Rock, the Sargasso, this volcano, they’re all meant to either dissuade us from continuing, or to kill us so we can’t continue. Either way, the curse is reaching for us, because it knows we’re looking for the Shroud.” She shrugged. She didn’t have any answers, only her own conjectures, but based on recent events, she felt confident in her conclusions. An explosion sounded beyond the small island, and a geyser of lava shot into the air. The palm trees were on fire, and smoke blew around the bay, circling like a snake, and covering the ships from the direction of the open sea—the unnatural movement was more evidence that this eruption was no coincidence.

  “Let’s get this ship moving!” Moira roared , her booming voice effectively ending the conversation between the Captain and her bodyguard. The quartermaster’s hook waved, directing the crew even while hauling on a rope with her remaining hand. Elisabeth saw Lotte take her position on the aft deck, and felt the breeze shift around them as the thrum of magic washed over her skin. They were ready to leave Lobos Beach behind them. She caught the wind-witch’s eye, and gave her a solemn nod. The fate of the Jester was in the woman’s hands. Elisabeth clapped Cressia on the shoulder, and then made her way swiftly across the deck to the helm. The navigator’s face spoke of the stress she felt at steering the ship through the chaos around them. Going against the current was a difficult task.

  “I’ll take her out, Helen,” she informed the helmswoman, who dropped her hands from the wheel and stepped back.

  “Aye, captain, my thanks.” Relief was clear on the sailor’s face.

  “Just help me keep her straight,” the captain asked. “It’s hard to see with all this smoke.” The woman nodded and stood at the rail, where she was able to see ahead a bit more, and made ready to shout adjustments to her captain.

  “Anchor’s up! Sail’s rigged!” Moira’s voice boomed over the ship. They were beginning to move. A shrill whistle cut through the air and a fiery boulder hurtled toward the Silence. Elisabeth cursed as heat washed over the deck, embers burning small holes into the sails. She scrambled through the trinkets in her pockets and clothing, looking for a shield, and then the fireball disintegrated, its flames sucked into a void, the rock following. The pop of its absorption was audible. Elisabeth cracked her jaw in response. Roger was learning fast.

  “Let’s move!” Elisabeth bellowed, afraid that the next projectile would reach the ship. A moment later, the sails filled, billowing and snapping. Lotte did her work well. They were under way. The splash and creak of the oars was barely audible over the noise of the volcano and the rush of the wind. The current fought them, pushing their nose to the side, trying to turn them around and back into the bay. Elisabeth pulled on a strength charm to manage the wheel, holding her steady as they pushed away from the now burning island. Smoke continued to billow around them, and the crew covered their faces with kerchiefs or torn shirts. The sound of their coughing was added to the cacophony of the volcano’s eruption.

  Elisabeth wondered how the Jester fared, but she didn’t dare look back, not until they were at a safe distance from the catastrophe. Ash began to rain down on them, thick as snow in a blizzard. It was difficult to see.

  “Push to starboard!” Helen shouted, able to spot something in their path that wasn’t visible to Elisabeth, and adjusting their course. Elisabeth turned the wheel, drawing more energy from the strength charm.

  “Almost there! Hold her steady!” Moira’s voice cut through the noise, but her figure was lost in the ash and smoke.

  Another minute later, and they broke from miasma into clear air and blue sea, the spit of land that sheltered Lobos Beach to their starboard. They were through the worst of it, beyond the drag of the current that filled the bay, and entering the stream of a wind that wasn’t altered in the eruption’s power. Elisabeth took a few deep breaths of clear air and stepped away from the wheel.

  “The helm’s yours, navigator,” she handed the duty off to Helen. She spared a look behind them, but there was no sign of the Jester.

  Elisabeth found Lotte on the aft deck, still fully engaged in pushing the breeze into the sails.

  “We’re far enough, you can rest now, sailor.” She clapped the wind-witch on the shoulder, relieving her of her duty. They were past the danger zone, the meteors and lava plume couldn’t reach them at this distance. The woman dropped the spell and stumbled, clearly exhausted. Elisabeth caught her arm, and helped her to sit on the deck. “You got us to safety. Take it easy.” She turned from the woman. “Moira!” She called for the quartermaster. While she waited, she activated a small stamina charm and handed it to Lotte.

  “Here, this’ll make you feel a little better.” The wind-witch accepted it and sighed with relief.

  “Aye, that’s good.” She rubbed at a sore muscle in her neck. “Where’s Leni?”

  Elisabeth turned to look out over the rail, scanning the horizon behind them. She caught the flash of sails against the grey and red mass that surrounded the island.

  “The Jester’s just coming out of the smoke. They’re safe, just like us. Thanks to you, and to Leni.”

  “Good, good. We haven’t been apart since we joined this crew. So used to working together. Was hard to do it alone.” The words came in little gasps. Rapid steps approached them.

  “Here, captain.” Moira loomed over them, huffing with exertion.

  Elisabeth squeezed Lotte’s shoulder, then stood to face the quartermaster. “Status report.”

  “We’re out of danger, and the ship’s held up. The mast is still a concern. We’ll need to get it replaced while we’re in Driftwood. They have a shipswright that’s got the magic, so it’ll be fast.”

  “And the Jester?”

  “Came out of the fire behind us, looks to be intact. They’re trailing us.”

  “See if you can get Leni back before we meet up in Driftwood,” Elisabeth instructed. “For now, tend to Lotte. She’ll need rest, water, and food. Add a bonus to her take from the next prize. Have Helen set a course for Driftwood. When everything’s squared away, I want to see you in my quarters. We have a lot to discuss.”