Free Heirs of the Fallen: Book 03 - Shadow and Steel by James A. West

bow began to rise precipitously, and battling warriors stumbled down the deck. Deep groans and the rush of water told Leitos he had only moments to reach the hold before the front half of the ship sank.
    Leitos raced forward, flung open the hatch, and jumped through. A single guard, dazed and bleeding, staggered drunkenly in the wavering light of a firemoss lantern. Leitos attacked without hesitation. The sea-wolf blocked his sword stroke, but missed his slashing dagger. Gagging on the blood filling his throat, the slaver plummeted into the hold through the second hatchway.
    Leitos caught the lantern, and clambered down the ladder. He dropped into water deep as his knees. Aft, the splintered hulls of both the Bloody Whore and Night Blade strained against one another in mingled destruction. Seawater boiled into the hold, floating the dead guard, and rats by the score.
    Chasing the lantern’s light, Leitos made for the sound of shouting men. Kicking apart a jammed bulkhead door, he found the prisoners. Filthy, scabbed, and hollow-eyed, they all squinted against the sudden light.
    “Father!” Leitos cried.
    “Leitos?” came the disbelieving response. Then, “Get the key! The guard wears it around his neck.”
    Leitos splashed back through the doorway. The bobbing Kelren now served as a raft for a handful of chittering vermin. Leitos swept them aside, and found the key attached to a leather cord. He ripped it free, and made his way back to the prisoners.
    By now, the rush of seawater had submerged the lower bunks. The Brothers chained to them fought to thrust their faces clear, their eyes wide with terror.
    “There’s no time to free us all!” Ba’Sel shouted. “Unbind those you can, and escape before we sink!”
    Leitos found him, a dark face almost lost amongst the others. Beside him stood Adham.
    Forcing himself to remain calm, Leitos made his way forward, unlocking those Brothers’ shackles who were nearly underwater, then those who were chained to higher bunks. Where other men might have fled in panic, the freed Brothers stood fast, some guarding the doorway, the rest helping find locks for Leitos to unfasten.
    “Fool, boy,” Ba’Sel grumbled when Leitos reached him.
    Leitos unlocked his shackles, then his father’s.
    Adham wrapped him in a fierce hug, then abruptly pushed him to arm’s length. “I take it you are not alone—unless you learned how to sail a ship?”
    “The rest are above.”
    “The sea-wolves said they killed you all, before the storm forced them to flee.” Unshed tears shone in his gray eyes. “I did not believe them. Not for a moment.”
    Ba’Sel caught Leitos’s shoulder. “Weapons?”
    “There is too much wreckage to be sure,” Leitos answered.
    Ba’Sel ordered the hold scoured for anything with which to fight. In short order, the Brothers had armed themselves with iron-headed mauls, a pair of adzes, belaying pins, and splintered pieces of planking.
    Leitos tried to press his sword into Adham’s hand, but his father took the dagger instead.
    “I want to be close to these bastards when I spill their guts,” he growled.
    In the brief time it had taken to arm themselves, the hold had almost become impassible. The Brothers swam to the ladder, and climbed to the rowing deck. Before they could join the battle on the main deck, a tremendous column of seawater shot up through the hatchway they had just escaped. What was left of the Night Blade’s hull shattered around them like an eggshell, and a foaming blast of seawater washed Leitos and the Brothers out of the wreckage, and across a coral reef.
    Another debris-laden wave rolled Leitos off the reef into deeper water. Gasping, he struggled to stay afloat while holding his sword. Brothers bobbed to the surface close by, most coughing and entangled in coils of rope. A few stood on the reef, looking around in astonishment. More still swam away from the grounded ships, making for the distant shoreline.
    “Leitos!” Adham