The Sons of Masguard and the Mosque Hill Fortune by Vivienne Mathews
Author:Vivienne Mathews [Mathews, Vivienne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, mystery, animals, fantasy, pirates, sailing, swashbuckling, treasure hunting, junior fiction, anthropomorphic characters
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
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The ocean responded violently to the blast. Bursting onto the main deck, McKinley saw half-aware sailors scrambling for a topside anchor as the ship careened beneath them. Despite the chaos, two things were immediately apparent.
One, Chimmy the Leech was boarding an escape raft to his left.
And two, Amelia Ling was far too near the railing to catch herself in time. She was pitched into the sea to his right.
Depending on the damage to the Negvar, any head start could spell success for the possum’s efforts to betray them. He would escape with no repercussions, no reckoning, and no regrets. It would be a simple choice if only Amelia could swim.
But he knew that she could not.
He looked to his right.
Then to his left.
His decision had already been made, whether he liked it or not.
“Blast!” McKinley snarled through whiskers and bared teeth before turning right and darting for the rail.
His back arched into a dive as he cut through the air. He barely had time to see Chimmy’s mouth part in gleeful triumph before plunging beyond the prow, slicing the surface of the water with a precision that would make even the dolphin regulators green with envy. Adept hands propelled him with impossible speed toward Amelia’s convulsing form. When she saw him, she opened her mouth in an instinctive cry for help, sucking water into air-deprived lungs. She coughed and spasmed. Even as he closed his arms around her for rescue, her terrified struggle seemed beyond all rational control with flailing limbs striking at him in desperation. For a moment, she broke from his grasp and was ripped by rushing current toward a dark shadow along the belly of the boat.
Panic would drown her in seconds.
Forcefully, he launched himself after her, grabbing her by one wrist, then the other. Pinning her arms to her sides to keep her from thrashing, he muscled her through the water until they broke the surface, where she gasped in relief and clung to his chest, some semblance of her sanity restored.
Father Faiz was already at the rail, a lifeline in his hands.
The moment they appeared, the ready fox tossed the rope around Amelia’s waist.
McKinley secured her tightly, then gestured for the exhausted cat to be towed onboard before submerging himself yet again with a roll of his tail.
In the darkness below, he moved toward the shadow and rush of current.
A massive hole grinned back at him from the keel of his ship. Vital beams parted with splintered edges to gnaw upon the water rushing into the hold like the teeth of a monstrous beast. He followed the tides through what was once the outer hull and only found air after he’d broken through the hatch to the middle deck. There, he gasped and slammed his fists into the floor. Water coursed in angry rivers from his cloak. His ship – his beloved Negvar – had been mutilated beyond repair.
Which left him without a means of moving forward.
Which meant his quest for Maya’s cure… was over.
McKinley choked back a cry of despair, then shook his head, adamant and unremitting.
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