Captain Fariz was at the helm, his eyes glued on the pirate ship. It was almost upon them, so close that the merchant seamen could hear the threats being hurled at them. Fariz waited until the last moment to throw his full weight into the helm wheel, giving everything he had to turn the bow of his own ship towards the pirate vessel. This audacious manoeuvre meant the Ra’magulsha avoided the full impact of the ugly-looking ram at the front of the brigands’ vessel and instead glanced off it. Even so, the damage sustained was devastating. Heavy timbers were smashed, sending lethal, jagged splinters flying through the air in every direction. The crew of the Ra’magulsha were thrown around like dolls, and three men up in the rigging lost their grip. Two were swallowed up by the sea; the other’s screams came to a terrible and abrupt stop as he plummeted down on to the wooden deck.

The two ships, side-on now, shrieked like living things as their bulwarks ground against each other. The pirates sprang into action, readying ropes and grappling irons to board the other ship. Seeing this, Fariz leaned into the helm wheel again, this time in the opposite direction, desperate to move the ships apart.

Lann looked down at the body of his aunt in his arms. It was like an empty husk, and he knew the thing the kurgyres had tried to take from her in the forest that night – her essence – was gone. Where was she?

A loud thunk next to him made Lann look up to see a grappling hook being dragged back across the deck and coming to a stop when it bit into the wooden gunwale. Up and down the port side of the ship more hooks and ropes appeared, pirates straining against them in an effort to bring the two ships together. Standing, Lann pulled his sword free and moved to cut the rope. As he did so the strangest thing happened. In a motion that had little to do with him, the black blade quickly swung up and around in front of him, deflecting an arrow that had been fired directly at his heart.

Looking across at the other ship, he spotted the archer, the man already nocking another arrow from the quiver at his waist. The sword had saved his life.

Other members of the crew were not so lucky. Hearing a scream, Lann spun about to see a man struck in the chest with an arrow, the force of the impact knocking him back off his feet. Lann’s first thought was to protect Fleya. He dragged her as best he could towards the bulwark, hoping it would offer some protection from the lethal missiles. Glancing over the edge, he saw how close the ships now were. Pirates readied themselves to swarm across the narrowing gap.