The Mermaids Madness

happened to Beatrice. But any time Danielle had tried to talk to her, Talia brushed her aside. Beatrice was the only one who could get through to Talia when she was this upset.
    What would happen to them if Beatrice didn’t recover? Officially, both Snow and Talia were personal servants of the queen. Danielle could have them reassigned to herself, but she could never take Bea’s place.
    Pushing such thoughts aside, Danielle hurried to the back of the ship and cut the ropes that connected the wheel to the rudder. She hacked through the wheel itself for good measure, then followed Talia below.
    The Hiladi kept their cannons in a lower deck. Dust shimmered in the sunbeams coming through the open gunports. Small pyramids of cannonballs sat in triangular brass frames beside each one. Danielle had to hunch to keep from banging her head on low-hanging beams.
    Talia was already assaulting one of the cannons on the port side with a large hammer, driving an iron nail into the touchhole. Two men stood beside her, leaning out the gunport to better hear Morveren’s song.
    Danielle moved to the starboard side. If the ship came about, she didn’t want them to be able to fire another broadside. Low partitions separated each cannon from the next. She grabbed one of the ramrods and tossed it out through the gunport. If they couldn’t load their guns, they could hardly continue their attack. She threw out the linstocks as well. The iron rods with their slow-burning matches left thin lines of smoke as they arched down into the water.
    At the last gun, as she tugged the ramrod from the man’s hands, he blinked and pulled back. One hand grabbed her wrist. His eyes slowly focused on hers.
    Danielle stomped on his foot. He shouted and swung the ramrod into her arm, knocking her down. He appeared disoriented, still fighting to shake off the effects of Morveren’s spell, but it was clear that the spell was weakening.
    Danielle pulled out her sword and swung two-handed, knocking the ramrod from his hands. On the other side of the ship, two men stumbled toward Talia as she finished spiking another cannon. One raised a club overhead.
    Talia jammed a nail into his gut, grabbed his shirt, and shoved him headfirst into the cannon. The second man wrapped his arms around her from behind, but Talia snapped her head back into his face. He let go, blood dripping from his lip.
    “Time to go,” Talia shouted. She swung her hammer at the nearest stack of cannonballs, sending them rolling across the deck.
    Danielle’s sword was too long a weapon for the cramped gundeck, but most of the crew were still too confused to put up much of a fight. She knocked several men aside with the flat of her blade. Talia cleared two more with well-placed kicks.
    Topside, Snow stood with Lannadae, knife in hand as she tried to fight her way toward the edge of the deck. Talia jumped into the sunlight and threw her hammer. It spun past Snow’s shoulder and dropped one of her attackers. Snow cut a second while he was recovering from the surprise of Talia’s attack.
    Danielle wasn’t sure exactly when Morveren had stopped singing, but the air was strangely quiet.The plugs in her ears muffled the shouts of the crew as they tried to rally against both the intruders and the Phillipa .
    Light flashed from Snow’s chokers, driving the rest back long enough for her and Lannadae to break away. Lannadae leaped overboard, but Snow waited at the rail for Talia and Danielle.
    An explosion cut through the silence, and the ship shuddered beneath Danielle’s feet. The Phillipa had resumed her attack.
    A man in a red sash moved to intercept Danielle. Where some of the crew had decorated the cords on their sleeves with beads and other trinkets, this one wore gold coins with square holes in the center. A sparse beard shadowed his jawline.
    He drew a short, curved saber, which he pointed at Danielle. Though his blade was shorter, his size made his reach a match for her own. His broad shoulders suggested greater strength as well.
    “Surrender the mermaid and you may live.” Between his heavy, rolling accent and Danielle’s blocked ears, he repeated himself twice before she understood.
    Danielle answered by raising her own sword. She had worked with Talia over the past year, but she was no match for a trained swordsman. She tried to circle past him, but there was no clear path. The rest of the crew were shaking off the effects of Morveren’s song. Some hurried to their posts,