Witch Born(76)

“Senna—” Joshen reached for her. She glanced back at him, and something in her eyes made him drop his hand. “We can’t help them.”

She grunted. “You forget. You have a Creator-touched with you. I can help them.”

Joshen and Reden exchanged glances.

“Are you sure?” Reden asked.

She nodded.

“No! Tartens have no mercy for Witches—especially this Witch!” Cord said as he pointed at her. “We have to get her as far away from here as possible. Now!”

Joshen snorted. “Have you ever tried making her do something she doesn’t want to? I wouldn’t recommend it.” He smiled sadly at Senna. “We can try. If you promise to follow Reden’s orders.”

She nodded eagerly. “I promise.”

Cord cursed them under his breath.

Senna climbed back into the saddle and urged Sunny around the mountain. Their view of the sea opened up. Two ships hemmed the Sea Witch in. Senna jumped as cannons fired from both ships.

Before her disbelieving eyes, the Sea Witch turned into the wind. But that was impossible. Sailing ships couldn’t move against the wind. “What—”

Reden pointed to the shore. “They’ve mounted pulleys to the sides of the ship and anchored them to the shore. They use the ropes to pull them at the angles they need to fire at the other ship.”

Senna watched as the Sea Witch fired at one of the other ships before pulling hard to the side and firing at the other.

“Parknel does have some tricks up his sleeve.” She felt a strange sort of pride in the red-haired captain. It was amazing to watch, but she was distracted from the spectacle by red-orange bursts of musket fire on shore. Sailors had dug in around the pulleys and were defending them from Tarten soldiers.

“Come on.” Senna kicked Sunny. He lunged before twisting around. Why wasn’t he moving? Then she saw Joshen’s hand clamped on the bit. “No closer.”

She kicked her horse. The animal spun in a circle, clearly confused and frightened.

Reden snatched the other side of the bridle. They hemmed her in like the ships below hemmed in the Sea Witch. “We’re outnumbered a dozen to one. You go down there and they’ll capture you.”

She opened her mouth to argue. Didn’t they understand she needed to be closer than this for the sea to hear her song? But then she remembered her promise to listen to her Guardians.

She would just have to do the best she could and hope her song was strong enough to save them. After kicking her foot out of the stirrup, she dropped from the saddle. “No sign of Mistin? She could help with this.”

Cord ground his teeth. “I already told you, I don’t know.”

Part of Senna realized how Desni must have felt. If this was the end, then she would see it through to the last. Senna hiked up the mountain and climbed onto a rocky outcropping. “This will take an incredible amount of control. You can’t break my concentration.”

Cord, Joshen, and Reden were already stocking the ground with muskets and powder horns. Following their lead, Senna loaded the pistol Joshen had given her and stowed it carefully so as not to spill the powder.

Reden settled in, his eyes scanning the dead jungle for signs of their enemy. “If I give the word, you get back on your horse and run for it. You have to agree to this.”

Senna nodded.

Joshen bit off the cork on his horn and filled his frizzen with powder. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Senna spread her arms, listening to the Four Sisters’ sluggish songs. She hummed, changing the threads of music. The Four Sisters grew stronger as her song did. She didn’t call for the wind to lift her—she didn’t want to be that obvious of a target.

Instead, she sang for two enormous waves to rise up on both sides of the Sea Witch. The Tarten ships slid away from her friends. She changed her song to the winds. Their sails filled, pulling them away. Men scrambled up the rigging, tying up the sails, but not before Senna had managed to move them out of the line of fire of the Sea Witch.

With a pang, she realized it wasn’t enough. The ships were already moving back to reengage the Sea Witch. And in the distance, more ships rounded the shoulders of the bay.

The Sea Witch was safe, at least for the moment. Senna turned her attention to the men fighting on the shore. She had the wind channel a song towards them, warning them to be prepared to flee for the ship.

Focusing on a cluster of men wearing red uniforms, she listened to earth song. Using every ounce of her concentration, she manipulated the song, building up a pocket of energy directly below them. The energy naturally wanted to dissipate, ripple outward. She held it tight, keeping it packed. When she couldn’t hold it another moment, she stopped singing. Men and earth flew everywhere.