Bloodline (Whyborne & Griffin Book 5) by Hawk Jordan L

Author:Hawk, Jordan L. [Hawk, Jordan L.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Widdershins Press LLC
Published: 2014-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Sharp cries from my companions pierced the fog, accompanied by a horrible grating sound as steel scraped against our hull. The larger ship’s wake shoved against our little launch, tilting us further to port. Surely we would go over—

The boat righted abruptly, slid across the water, and rebounded from the hull of the other ship. Griffin’s hand closed on mine, and I clutched at him. God, that was far too close. My heart pounded, and a cold sweat soaked my shirt.

“Nice spot of water magic there, Fiona!” Theo called. “Is everyone all right?”

“Y-yes.” I swallowed and let Griffin haul me to my feet. His eyes were wide with concern, so I dredged up a small, shaky smile. “I’m quite all right.”

“I’m glad.” Griffin released me with some reluctance.

My legs remained shaky enough to make the short walk to the prow more of a challenge than it should have been. “Thank you, Fiona,” I said, leaning heavily against her seat.

She nodded. “Any time, old chap. Of course, I shouldn’t have had to, if the bloody fool steering the ship hadn’t tried to run us down! No lights and in the fog? Sodding idiot.”

I stared up at the black bulk above us. As Fiona had said, no light showed. Nor did I hear the groan of engines. The ship’s name showed on the prow: Oarfish.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted. “Ahoy! Oarfish!”

Silence. No light, no movement. No answering voices. At the very least, the glancing blow they’d given our boat should have alerted someone to our presence. I might not be a sailor, but I’d grown up in a port town. There should be hands on deck already, calling down to us to make certain we didn’t need assistance.

Griffin’s lantern cut through the gloom as he came to join me. “Abandoned,” he said, shining the light through the fog. “Look—the lifeboats are still in place, at least on this side.”

“Just like the Norfolk Siren,” I said. God. The previous ship had been bad enough, in dock weeks after she’d been found adrift. But here, in the fog, so close to Widdershins… “Whatever happened must have occurred tonight.”

Griffin shivered. “Yes.”

“What are we to do?”

“Only one thing we can do, old boy,” Theo said as he joined us at the front of the launch. “Go aboard.”

~ * ~

Griffin’s carpetbag contained a grapple, which we’d used on at least one occasion to scale a wall. Fiona maneuvered the tug to the leeward side of the ship. Once in position, I stood well back while Griffin swung the grapple, then sent it whistling through the fog at the rail of the Oarfish high above. The first throw tumbled free into the water, drawing a short curse from him. The next throw caught and held.

“I’ll climb up,” Griffin said. He began to strip off his coat. “There should be a pilot ladder aboard. I’ll lower some lines to secure the launch and then let the ladder down.”

I took the coat from him. My

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.