The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray by Christine Calella

Author:Christine Calella [Calella, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Page Street Publishing
Published: 2024-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

The ship had been swept off course by the storm, and Ophelia knew that as captain, it was her job to get them en route to their next assigned port and deliver the empire’s documents securely. Unfortunately, Ames hadn’t bothered to fill the crew in on their next destination before meeting her demise. Emily sat with Ophelia in the captain’s cabin, helping her to cross-reference Ames’s journal entries with the star maps. “We know we’re meant to cross the Emerald Sea, eastward,” Ophelia said, consulting her father’s compass, “and land somewhere in Cato by the end of the month. But I can’t find record of which port we’re supposed to anchor in.”

Emily shook her head, frowning. “Ames kept a lot of official correspondence in her jacket pocket, where Hale couldn’t spill booze on it. It might have gone overboard with her. Port Ibudo has the largest naval station in Cato, but we’ve no—”

A rapping came at the door. “Captain!”

“Enter,” Ophelia said.

The door burst open and Lawrence, the pimple-faced officer, was standing there, breathing heavily. “Captain, there’s a ship of unknown origin within sight. Two actually. Cannons are sounding.”

Ophelia stood up so fast she almost went dizzy. Pirates. Either they were besieging an innocent merchant vessel, or another naval ship was in need of backup.

“Ready the men for a fight,” Ophelia said, picking her captain’s hat up from the back of her chair and throwing it on her head. “This is the first action we’ve seen in a while.”

And the first action you’ve seen, ever, a needling little voice reminded Ophelia, as Lawrence ran to repeat her orders.

She touched her pistol on her belt. Emily handed Ophelia a saber that had been hanging on the wall. She looked tempted to reach out to Ophelia with some sort of comforting touch, but instead simply said, “It’s part of the job.” That was comfort enough.

“It is the job,” Ophelia said.

Ophelia exited to the deck, where men were readying the cannons. The eyes of the crew were on her, so she raised her chin high and strode toward the wheel of the ship, slipping her compass safely into her breast pocket. Edgar was standing at the wheel when she approached, but the moment she was within reach, he stepped aside for her, casting his eyes down.

Ophelia wrapped her hands around two spokes of the wheel, and gave an odd shiver as a surge of warmth passed through her body. This was where she was meant to stand. She looked out at the deck, at the men and women, almost all older than she, more experienced than she was—all waiting for her to speak.

“Alright, sailors!” Ophelia called out. Her voice sounded stronger than she had expected. “We’re going to hit these bastards fast, and we’re gonna hit them hard. Our first priority is rescuing civilians, understand? Before glory, before spilling pirate blood, before recapturing loot. We’re gonna get the civilians to safety, on this boat if need be. Cannons at the ready. This fight will be over so quickly we won’t have time to know fear.

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