Free Scarlet and the White Wolf [02] - Mariner's Luck by Kirby Crow Page B

temporary respite. The schooner was faster and could turn much quicker than the brigantine. She could stalk them for weeks on the water, attacking at any moment of her choosing, picking a little more of the Rshani crew off each 72
    Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]
    by Kirby Crow
    time, until there were not enough mariners to beat the enemy crew back, or until the winds failed the Ostre Sul and she became a sitting target.
    Scarlet's eyes fastened on the billowing sails of the schooner, and he suddenly wished he had Scaja's talent of farcasting his Gift. Scaja had spent many nights teaching his son how to cast the withy on something outside of the house that neither of them could see, a piece of wood in the lane, or a fish deep in the pond. Scarlet had always been able to use his Gift on objects or creatures within arm's reach, but to cast across distance required special skill. A fire on the schooner would solve many things, and if the wind was in their favor, might even do the job for them.
    Scarlet knew it was useless, and the schooner was pulling further away with every second. Yet, even as he thought of setting a withy to the enemy sails, he felt a tingling in his skin, like a ripple through his veins, and a flush of heat flooding his face. I can do it, he thought.
    He had never tried with anything this far away before, but that fact seemed irrelevant. He stared at the sails, his eyes very wide, and thought: fire .
    A curl of smoke huffed from the edge of a white sail.
    Scarlet trembled, for he now felt like he was holding a wild beast by the neck. Flames licked the sail and sent testing fingers to the wood of the schooner's mast. Power surged through Scarlet's body, stirring his blood, hammering his heart, and he recoiled in horror as he felt a man's clothing catch fire on the schooner.
    73
    Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]
    by Kirby Crow
    A shout went up among the Rshani as one of the schooner's mainsails was engulfed in flames, and Scarlet jumped, startled, as Qixa bellowed at his men, giving an order Scarlet could not translate. The ten Rshani archers in reserve on the quarterdeck opened fire, felling the enemy fighters who had dropped their weapons and were attempting to put out the fire on their decks.
    Qixa gave another order, and the archers launched two volleys of oil-soaked arrows. Twenty trails of flame went up.
    Scarlet knew almost nothing of seafaring, yet he instinctively understood that all mariners must have a terror of fire at sea. One look at the blood-soaked deck of the brigantine told him that the Rshani crew could not withstand another assault. There was no other way.
    A sail rigging caught fire on the schooner and then another at the aft, and then a great many of the schooner crew began to ignore the battle to fight the more pressing war on their own deck. The wind chose to shift at that moment, fanning the flames and dragging the brigantine safely away. Scarlet lost sight of the schooner in the fog.
    No doubt they fought it bravely, but not much later, when the screams floated ghostlike over the misty swells, Scarlet knew the schooner crew had lost their battle with fire. In the new quiet, he grabbed the rail in both hands and leaned over, breathing in great gulps of cold air and trying not to vomit.
    His mind was like a fly caught in a web, tearing and flailing at itself to escape. What's happening? he thought in dismay.
    How did I do that? Not even Scaja could have sent a withy like that, and I sent not one, but many, and much stronger 74
    Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]
    by Kirby Crow
    than anything I've ever seen Scaja do! What's happening to me?
    Behind him, Qixa moved among the crew and ship, surveying the damage. The masts were whole and only one sail was damaged, but all the ship's rails was seriously marred and weakened, as well as the deck on the port side.
    They would have to drop men over the side on ropes to inspect the hull and