Sins Against the Sea Read Online Free

to surprised to curious.
    Murtagh lifted to his lips the auger shell he used to amplify his voice. “ Ketos , you sail a perilous path,” he called out to the sailors. “Turn back now or you shall know my wrath.”
    A man with a thick ginger beard and a Highlander’s brogue answered through an amplifier of his own: “Who the fuck might you be, eh? And what’s with the Braveheart get ups? Is that blue crap you’ve smeared all over yourselves supposed to strike fear into our hearts?” Sniggering, he added, “Or maybe the cold water has turned you lot as blue as my bollocks!”
    When raucous laughter erupted on deck, Cuan’s bowels knotted. He’d learned enough English from Meredith to recognize impertinence—a foolhardy strategy in the extreme.
    “Which of you is the captain?” Murtagh demanded, his booming voice silencing their mirth.
    “Who wants to know?” replied the red bearded man.
    “I am Murtagh. Chieftain of Clan MacMuir of the Charmed Isles…and the guardian of these waters.”
    “Oh, yeah?” the man retorted. “Well, I’m Red Beard the Pirate, so la-dee-da.”
    “Your presence in these waters violates your own maritime regulations.” Murtagh thrust his trident skyward. “You must turn back at once and go around the other side of the islands.”
    “Have you lost your mind, Blue Boy? We need two bleeding miles to turn this monster around. Not that I have the least intention of doing anything of the kind.”
    “If you do not turn this ship around,” Murtagh said, his countenance darkening. “I shall call a storm to run her aground.”
    Cuan glanced at Shan, who now bobbed beside him. “Why does your father not want these men to pass through our territory?”
    “ Ketos is an oil tanker,” Shan replied. “Not as big as some, but too big for these waters.”
    Oil, Cuan knew, was found under the floor of the ocean. Humans took it the way they took everything else they wanted. Even so, he had no idea what it looked like, what they wanted it for, or what the function of a “tanker” might be.
    Just as he started to ask Shan to explain, a deafening crack rang out, calling Cuan’s attention back to the tanker. The bearded man was pointing something toward the water—a small dark object that glinted in the sunlight. As Cuan squinted, straining to make out what it might be, the device discharged with another ear-splitting bang.
    A high-pitched cry rose from the water. The whales begin to agitate, stirring up the sea. Cuan shifted his tail, fighting the onslaught of waves. Whales were peaceful creatures. Firing upon them was a serious violation. Were these humans utterly unscrupulous?
    Aye, well. Did he really need to ask?
    Murtagh, shaking his trident at the sky, cried out, “In the name of Glauckos, god of the sea and father of our race, I command thee wind to rise!”
    A howling squall kicked up and buffeted the ship. The deckhands scurried about like sand fleas. When the chief gave the signal to attack, the warriors surrounded the ship. Eyes lifted, hair whipping their faces, they called out to Zeus: “Thunder your anger; lightning, your might. Bring to us clouds, darker than night.”
    Thunderheads rolled in, dousing the sun. The sea swelled and churned, tossing the tanker like a skiff. As her hull creaked and groaned, the warriors swam circles around her while chanting: “Louder and louder we call to thee: Strike a deathblow to our enemy!”
    A mighty wave, big as a mountain, rose up and crashed down upon the deck. As the seamen hit the water, the mermen set upon them. Lightning cracked. Thunder boomed. The wind howled.
    Ketos ’ engines bellowed as the helmsman attempted to turn her. The monstrous ship lurched. A deafening crunch reverberated back from the cliffs. The hull shrieked like an injured whale as it scraped along the submerged rocks.
    The ship moaned as she pitched and rolled, exposing flashes of her rust-red underbelly. Black sludge oozed from a fracture in her hull.