-Coils-

The danger wasn’t enough to hold back the thrill. The sheer amount of vicious, determined life surrounding her filled Jordan with a demanding desire to understand the beautifully terrifying sulfins.

Creatures of legend. She’d read about them in the academy archives. The sketched-out depictions hadn’t done them justice though—the illustrations of sulfins had shown archaic sea monsters, like giant snakes with serrated fins.

The creatures before her reminded Jordan of the waterstallions she’d played with as a kid on some beach with her parents years ago. She’d loved swimming among the small creatures, animals that looked like seashells, with a curled tail, two fins like wings on either side of the round body, and a miniature stallion head, blue eyes gleaming like stones.

Another cry like crackling trees falling to fire. She straightened, rushing to push aside the shards and wood splinters, scanning her surroundings for a tool, anything to restrain or dissuade the creatures without killing them.

The sunsword would remain sheathed, just like she’d promised.

The deck was mostly bare, even their training swords tucked away. But the thick coil of rope, that she could work with. Keeping her body low and close to the ground, wary of more falling wood, she hoisted the rope over her shoulder and ran to the edge of The Heightened, an idea forming as quickly as the wind rushing through her clothes and loose hair.

As thick-skulled as it probably was, she had to get a better view.

She reached the edge and quickly began tying the rope to the ship in case one of the sulfins knocked her off-balance and she fell into the raging water below. Emerald flashes surrounded the imposing form of Cal, making him little more than a fountain of light and heat on the far end of the ship. Jordan intentionally looked away—the fierce anger of such destructive Orenda pierced through her skull like a dagger, making her head pound.

This was why she’d never flourished in Orenda study. The most powerful form of Orenda crippled her, like being struck with a wave of nausea. Made her feel weak. The opposite of the blade, which held the same destructive potential but could be used to defend, protect.

More than simple destruction.

She’d just finished tying the rope to the vessel’s edge when another sulfin barreled into the ship, rocking her violently. She gripped the rope tightly, ready for the burn that would inevitably follow. As soon as the jostling stopped, she scrambled to finish tying the rope around her waist, stealing a glance over the edge as she did so.

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Her view was surreal, like peering down into the eye of a storm. Glancing up, she saw clouds as thick and black as a river hovering above their heads, bulky streams of lightning coursing down consistently like rays of sunlight. The seven or so forms of the sulfins radiated like a cluster of swords, just as sleek and deadly.

Rain stung her rope burns and wood cuts. Emerald pulses beat against her head like miniature suns blinding her vision.

And then she made the realization.

This was no vindictive attack. The sulfins roared and churned up massive waves, but they seemed determined to thrust the ship out of their territory more than capsize it.

Emerald Orenda hurled itself at an immense sulfin extending its head over the Heightened, a massive battle ax glowing like a comet, coming down on the creature’s serpentine head.

Cal.

The now-familiar cries became sharper, like spears of sound ready to impale the ship’s massive belly in a death strike.

His reputation proceeded him. Orenda as powerful as the storm embracing them in iron arms. Orenda to rival the lineals of old. He was a true Forlorn.

She shuddered before finishing her knot, tying with practiced fingers. Her uncle Byron was one of the laziest and most talented men she knew, and he’d insisted she know the failsafe knot—simple to tie, impossible to work loose. The knot would only come undone with a knife or blade.

Now that she was secure, she removed the sword from her back. Even though it would remain in the scabbard, if her hunch was correct, even revealing a sliver of the blade would be enough to deter the creatures.

***

Another crash of emerald on scales as thick as shields and the sulfin pitched backward, crying out with a shuddering hiss.

Satisfied the sulfin would retreat, at least for a moment, he swung at the next approaching creature, ready to force it back as well. Reaching back with his battle ax, he poured more energy into the weapon, prepared to swing—and dropped the ax in shock, the Orenda-formed weapon fading into mist.

Jordan, on the other side of The Heightened, was suddenly surrounded by a piercing beam of light that cut through the storm more effectively than any mere sun.

“Cal, sail us out of the nest!” she called out, her voice almost lost in the passionate howl of the storm and sea.

That he understood, even if the source of the radiant light and the sulfins’ immediate retreat away from the ship was lost on him.

The sunsword?

It didn’t take long to cross the ship and reach the wheel. Even less time to summon just enough of Flage’s gift to build up momentum to escape the sulfins’ domain. As soon as The Heightened crested through the last of the massive waves the creatures had churned up in their fury, the sea monsters slid back under the surface with a sigh, multiple pairs of bright eyes beaming back at him even as the creatures vanished from view, swallowed by the black.

As soon as they sunk into the deep, the blinding light vanished abruptly, as though it had never been.