A Brother's Price

fire.
    “There’s the Portage River mouth!” the pilot shouted. “But I can’t get past her! She’s forcing us up the Bright River, toward the falls. It runs shallow from here on up! Either we’ll run aground or we’ll be forced under the falls!”
    Ren swore. The ironclad’s steep side offered no purchase for her marines to board, and closing with Kij’s ship would only increase the damage that the grapeshot would do. They were running out of river, though, and soon would be at the foot of the falls itself.
    “Do you hear something?” Raven shouted.
    How can you hear anything over this hellish noise ? Ren tried anyhow. Over the thunder of the cannons and the endless roar of the waterfall, there was a high-pitched sound, ceaseless, growing louder. A steam whistle, she recognized suddenly, blowing without stop, and coming closer.
    “Where is that coming from?” Ren asked.
    “Look!” A marine on the deck suddenly cried, pointing upriver toward the white curtain of water. “The falls!”
    Half a mile upriver, and hundreds of feet up, the underbelly of a boat speared out over the edge of the falls. It came and came, unending, its steam whistle screaming a death keen that was now being caught and echoed back by the granite cliffs of the gorge. A hundred feet of hull showed before the side wheel appeared at the brink, and the whole mass pivoted on its weight. Sluing sideways, the boat started to fall, and the cannon fire picked out the lettering on its side wheel. Destiny .
    Ren shouted in wordless protest. Jerin! Halley !
    With a curse, the pilot swung the wheel hard, turning suddenly without regard to the ironclad. “‘If that hits us after it comes over the falls, it’ll take us under!”
    The ironclad too was turning, trying to escape the massive ship now tumbling over the falls.
    “‘No!” Ren caught the wheel and jerked it back. “Kij’s giving us her broadside! Ram the bitch! End it here! Kill her now!”
    The pilot threw her a panicked look, and then shouted into the tubes, “Full speed ahead! Full speed!”
    The Red Dog leaped forward, its bow arrowing through the dark waters. Ren ducked down low behind the shield, bracing for the impact. They struck with a great splintering crack, the braced bow of the Red Dog cleaving deep into the ironclad. Ren was slammed forward into the shielding, striking her head, eclipsing the world with a flash of dark and pain. Then the fore gun fired, more felt than heard, the muzzle apparently buried in the guts of the ironclad. The ball punctured one of the boiler engines of the ironclad, and the shriek of escaping steam and screaming women joined with the crack of rifles.
    Raven had her by the arm then, and was hefting her up, crying, “It’s going to hit us!”
    Ren turned, and saw the shattered decks of the Destiny rolling toward them, out of the night, tumbled by the fast shallow rapids. Her mind only understood flashes of what she saw: a railing here, an open doorway there, a hanging flight of stairs breaking off in mid-tumble.
    Raven dragged her backward, back along the Red Dog’s top deck to the stern gun. There Raven pushed Ren down and caught her by the foot. “Strip! Get your boots off! We’re going to have to swim for it! The nearest Queens Justice is Annaboro. When you get to shore, stay low. Kij might have backup troops!”
    They went into the dark, fast water then, Ren stripped to only a shirt while Raven was still fully dressed.
    Caught in the icy current, Ren struggled to keep afloat. She looked back. The water was littered with bodies, some thrashing, some still. The wreckage of the Destiny struck where the two ships were joined, and the river forced it up, rearing above the gunboats. Borne down by the weight of its plating and the water filling its bowels, the ironclad sank quickly. The Red Dog , still caught by its ram, rolled as the ironclad sank, the Destiny toppling over its dipping bow.
    Oh, Jerin, love, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I took you away from your mothers’ farm where you were safe. I’m sorry I let Kij take you as bait. I’m so very sorry that I’ve gotten you killed.
     
    Ren came ashore downriver of the Portage River confluence, teeth chattering from the cold, bone weary and heartsick. Raven had vanished into the waters, and Ren could not remember if her captain even knew how to swim. Two guards kept faithfully to her. The sergeant, Buckley, apparently swam like a fish and had helped Ren keep her bearings as