A sign, for me.
The silver wings of my brooch dug into my palm. I wanted to fly away and follow the raven so bad my bones hurt.
You. The golden-haired warrior seemed to say. He kept his balance on the ship edge even as the wind picked up and tore at the edge of the white pelt he wore for a cloak.
“You can’t—” my would-be protector started, but the lion-headed warrior leapt.
“No—” I choked and grabbed onto the bench just in time.
The warrior landed perfectly in the center of our craft. A jump farther than most men could’ve made, and he rose strong and steady as if he’d been born with the roiling sea under his feet.
I hung on as the boat rocked and threatened to capsize. Danny did the same, almost flung to the bottom of the boat. As it was, his garments were soaked with bilge when he struggled to his seat.
With our attacker’s bulk, I could not see if the force of the boat’s shuddering knocked Dòmhnall’s warriors to the water, or if the warrior struck and dispatched them to the water. A splash and the two members of my escort were gone.
Danny reared up.
“Nay,” I shouted and stood, the rocking boat making my movements more careful than my temper. Seizing Danny’s arm and forcing him to steady me, I clambered between him and the warrior.
I would not see my father’s man struck down by any warrior, ghost ship or no.
As I neared the intruder, a honeyed scent rose, as if I’d open a casket of ale or one of Nanny’s herbed brews. The warrior’s head shot back, his nostrils flaring as if he scented it too.
Up close he was as large as he first looked. I was small as one of the hill folk compared to him. My head only came up to his chest, but my blood was too hot to notice.
I ripped off my veil and tossed it aside, glaring up at him.
“What do you mean by this?”
The warrior stared.
“Who are you?”
A wolf howled, the sound so loud it must be nearby. On the ship. But why? Who would bring a wolf onto a ship?
The Sea Wolf. My mother’s voice came to me. A warrior cursed to sail until he finds the one who can bring him home.
But that was just a story. This was real.
The warrior held out his hand to me.
“What do you want?” My breath came in sharp gusts. “I don’t understand.”
He beckoned again.
“No, lady!” Danny scrambled to his feet. Our small craft shuddered, and I fell towards the warrior. Strong hands caught my shoulders. I blinked into golden eyes, shining with an eldritch light. This was no ordinary man.
“Danny, stay back.” I didn’t look away. Danu only knew how I found my voice. “Go back to my father and tell him…”
I trailed off as the warrior’s longship loomed over us. In another moment we would crash into the ship’s side.
The warrior tossed me over his shoulder. The world tilted and my hair veiled my face. I cried out and got a mouthful of fur from the pelt the warrior wore.
The muscles of his shoulder bunched under my belly—no!—and the wind rushed over my face. Danny’s frightened shout echoing after me, the sound growing further and further away.
“To the north!” someone cried.
“To the north,” voices roared around me. Great whoops and howling as if this was a wolf pack and not a band of men.
Fog poured over the deck. The air was thick, too thick to breathe. The warrior dropped something heavy over my body before heading to the prow of the boat.
He moved with a powerful, swaying stride. This one has spent too much time at sea, I thought before the blood rushed to my head and I slumped to the deck.
When I woke, I lay hot and heavy on the ship deck. Someone had thrown a fur over me. A thick white pelt, like the one the golden-haired warrior wore.
My head throbbed.
“What...” I mumbled, my words garbled. My arms felt heavy and my chest was full of rocks. My head pounded as if I’d drunk a half barrel of Nanny’s best metheglin.
Voices rumbled in the distance before a pair of boots thumped closer.
“Easy,” someone murmured. Something smooth touched my lips and when I thrashed, water spattered my face.
“Calm yourself. ‘Tis only water.”
My tongue lay thick in my mouth. My head was still filled with clouds. I felt this way sometimes, after I’d had a vision. Was that why I had fainted?
When I opened my eyes, the world was grey. My face was wet and so was the pelt. It must have rained. But I still needed water.
A warrior, dark-skinned with a patterned feather hanging from his ear, set the cup to my lips again. I drank, but when I went to grab the cup the warrior drew back. “Careful.”
The warning surprised me. The feather fluttered as the dark warrior backed away. He refilled the cup and set it by my foot. He retreated before I reached for it.
“He won’t like it if I touch you.”
“Who?”
A pause. Then, reluctantly, “The Sea Wolf.”
Under the heavy, white fur, my body trembled. I turned my head to the prow of the boat where a giant figure gazed straight out into the mist.
“That’s him,” the warrior confirmed.
“Who is he?”
A shrug.
“The Sea Wolf is a legend.”
Another shrug.
“Who are you?”
“They call me Hawk,” he grinned, flashing straight white teeth. “Now calm yourself, lass.
I scooted back to lean against the sturdy mast. The white pelt was large enough to cover most of my body, so I huddled under it. I was not ashamed to hide.
We seemed to be sailing into a storm. Rain lashed the mainsail. The wind rifled the ragged lines. I listened for the wolf howl but heard only ordinary sounds.
How long had I been asleep? How far were we from land? Had Danny gotten back to my father’s holding before the weather turned bad?
Poor Danny.
Poor me, if I did not escape. I could use magic but would prefer not to brave this weather.
For now, I’d rest.
The warriors I’d seen before tromped back and forth, keeping the ship moving in whatever direction we were headed. Other than Hawk, no one paid me any attention. When they came to fiddle with the mainstay, they gave me wide berth.
The Sea Wolf, or whoever he was, did not come back to check on his captive. Why had he taken me?
I fiddled with the silver brooch as I tried to remember the old tale. A warrior cursed by a witch. Forced to sail the open sea. I’d not paid close attention to the terms of the curse, or the story’s end. Something about a raven and a woman.
Apparently, he thought I was the woman. Which was ridiculous. First Dòmhnall, now him. This Sea Wolf.
The longer I leaned against the mast, the angrier I became. When a trio of warriors tromped by, their tattooed faces averted as if I was dangerous to look at, I’d had enough.
I surged to my feet, squinting against the protest of my aching head, and started towards the prow.
That’s when I found I was tied to the mast by a rope secured around my neck. I fought with the knots until Hawk appeared.
I dropped my hands as he loomed over me. I had a knife in my bodice, next to my beating heart. But I didn’t want to use it too soon.
“A precaution,” said Hawk, nodding to the rope. “He doesn’t want you throwing yourself overboard.”