Fengel smiled at her. "That's pretty much the gist of it. Clouds gather around it for some reason, and there are rocks below. But it's not a real storm, so I wouldn't worry overmuch about it. We'll keep the skysails out, and use them to tack around the edges of the Maelstrom without losing any momentum. Otherwise we'd drop half a day getting back up to speed." He patted her shoulder like a fond parent and moved past to speak with Lucian. Lina blushed at the touch and hid her face.
Once he was gone she looked up to see if Maxim had noticed. He hadn't. Lina made her way back up the deck amidships where one of the delicate skysails fluttered beyond the hull of the ship.
The Maelstrom grew closer. Though she couldn't see the aether, the bank of swirling, churning clouds ahead was visible enough. It was odd, watching them roil. There was almost no wind at the moment and the day was warm and easy.
Small islets appeared just below the perpetual storm. As Fengel had said, they were a collection of rocky crags jutting up out of the water. They weren't big enough to land on or even shaped for it, being barely two dozen feet across with sharp, knife-blade peaks rising up some fifty feet from the water. White dung coated them, with small sprigs of greenery growing hardscrabble from the cracks and crannies.
The Dawnhawk sped closer. Lina thought she spied the eye of the storm through the swirling clouds. The crew shouted reports back to the helm, where the captain and his officers conferred. Alongside the ship the skysails stretched and rippled, pulled tight by the invisible force of the aether. They were speeding up.
Lina watched in fascination. She felt herself grinning like a little girl. This is amazing. Her attention was split between the strange, stately roil of the Maelstrom, the airship itself as the crew raced about, and the knife-like rocks below. People couldn't live on them, but maybe there were other things, seabirds and such. She took another quick glance at the rocks, the first of which they were just passing above.
Dark shapes wriggled beneath the foliage as the shadow of the ship fell over the islets. Lina frowned, bending farther over the gunwales to get a better look. Beside her the skysail flapped and rippled.
A shudder shook the front of the ship. Lina glanced back up toward the bow reflexively. The Maelstrom loomed hugely now. All about the clouds swirled, a giant vortex hanging in the sky. She could see its eye through the mist, a hole in the quiet fury of the vortex. Another shudder shook the ship as the Dawnhawk picked up speed. They were being sucked in. Their prow touched the edge of the vortex and the skysails there went taut like an umbrella caught in a strong wind. The whole ship shifted, almost violently. They were listing a bit to starboard.
"Hard to port!" cried Captain Fengel. "Take us hard to port. Skirt the edge of the eye or we'll never get out!"
A raucous cry rang out from below the ship. Lina glanced back over the side. Below, the creatures on the rocks were taking flight, bursting out from under the foliage and flinging themselves into the air. They stretched, unwrapping to reveal wide sinuous tails and thick, manta-ray bodies.
Scryn.
Others joined them. Dozens and dozens of the things emerged from the cracks and crannies of their roost. The rocks below were covered with the creatures. "Scryn!" she cried out, turning back out to the deck. "The rocks are covered in scryn!"
The crew nearest her glanced up, too focused on dealing with the Maelstrom to understand quickly. Their looks of confusion turned to startled comprehension, just as the first of the flying creatures swooped up over the gunwales onto the deck.
Shouts of alarm rang out. The crew drew daggers and swords. The scryn didn't seem to care. They descended in an angry flock, hissing and spitting poison at whichever pirates were nearest. Their bellies blazed red like the one Lina had fought earlier, illuminating the normally shadowed deck with an infernal glow.
Lina ducked down low behind the gunwales and took cover below the exhaust-pipe as the ship gave another shudder. The flying monsters aboard were larger than the one she'd seen earlier that day. Her daggers wouldn't do a thing to protect her. Lina looked about for something better.
The airship listed again, shaken the other way now by the churning of the Maelstrom. Forced away by the furious swarm of scryn, crewmen and officers left their posts. Without their guidance the ship was whirling, shaking, and spinning like a toy boat going down the drain. Through the cloud of black monsters, Lina spied the skysails at either side of the ship. They rippled and shook, their armatures groaning and twanging. If something wasn't done soon they'd be torn away.
Nearby a pirate stumbled, the usually silent Geoffrey Lords. He cursed and lashed wildly about with a saber. That earned him a brief respite, just long enough to notice another scryn swooping up from behind. The pirate whirled to defend against it and slammed up against the exhaust-pipes. Something broke free of his belt and clattered against the deck next to her.