___

H

ermia’s fingers ached. Her heart beat heavily and all she could hear in her head was the throb of her own blood. She was going to die. There was no way they could get a rope down to her before her fingers weakened and she fell. That assumed that Lysander was in the mood to even save her life.

Lysander looked over the edge, surprised to see that she was still alive.

He said, “You stupid git, why the hell did you do that?”

Hermia was too busy trying to hold on to the stone. She wedged up her foot but it slipped. She wished she was wearing pants instead of a dress that only got in the way.

The wall shuddered around her and she wondered if the Blazing Blunderbuss had hit the wall with a cannon. All Hermia cared about was that her grip was slipping and the trembling of the wall didn’t help with her grasp. Hot air washed over her and then suddenly she was gripped in a claw.

Hermia yelped as she was yanked off the wall and fell backwards. She only stopped yelling when she realised she was in the clasp of Gideon and that he was flying her away.

He flew over to the Blazing Blunderbuss and held onto the railing with one claw as he dropped her to the deck. He just let go and was off again. Hermia went to her knees, shivering with reaction. She had come so close to death. If she hadn’t caught herself, she would have been splattered.

Once Hermia gathered herself, she rushed to the bridge. Henry jumped in surprise when she rushed in.

She said, “We need to get to that wall. We need to get to Lysander.”

She pointed in the direction that Lysander was standing.

Murphy said, “We would love to but that part of the wall is the best defended.”

“Not for long. Gideon is heading that way.” Murphy swore and the whole ship tilted as Henry spun the helm.