WHEN THEY REACHED their deck level, Krysty hesitated, staring at the door to the stormy outside. “Would like to take a look there,” she said, voice raised against the screaming of the wind. “Sounds a sight worth the seeing.” Ryan shook his head. “Let’s go back inside, lover.”
Mildred and J.B. were already at their own cabin door, hanging on to each other against the pitching of the deck. Jak was steadying Doc, who was jingling the jack in his pocket.
“Thanks for your help, my dear Ryan,” he called. “Incidentally did I show you that I had the winning hand?”
“You did, Doc, you did.”
Krysty tugged at his arm. “Come on, love, get a life. Don’t always have to play it safe. We can hold on to the rails if it’s too bad.”
Somewhere a door was slamming remorselessly back and forth. And it felt as if the Golden Eagle was slip-sliding in a half circle, her bow pointing toward the starboard shore of the Sippi.
The other four had all made their minds up, retreating into their cabins, leaving Ryan and Krysty alone in the shadowy corridor, where the polished oil lamps swung and clattered on their brass gimbals.
“Come on. Just for a minute. We can wash up and get dry in the cabin. Be fun.”
Ryan closed his eye for a moment, knowing in his heart that this was a bad idea, but not feeling quite strongly enough to stop Krysty from going out onto the deck.
As she turned the white handle, the door was ripped out of her hand, crashing back, letting in a wave of wind-torn spray that flattened her hair, tugging at her clothes. Krysty laughed exuberantly at the violence of the storm, turning to beckon to Ryan. “Come on, lover!” The words were mimed against the bedlam of the hurricane.
She vanished and he followed her, ducking and blinking against the driven water. The sky was like pewter, with no trace of light, making the river look supernatural and menacing, its muddy surface whipped with the crests of white waves a dozen feet high. The banks were invisible through the drenching rain and spray. Though the massive stern-wheel was only a few feet away from them, it was both invisible and inaudible.
Ryan felt that the boat was drifting sideways, and he realized for the first time that she was actually out of control, a toy of the raging storm.
Krysty was on the starboard side, clinging to the rail, beneath a canvas canopy that was blowing wildly, looking as if it were about to tear to shreds at any moment.
Ryan flattened himself against the superstructure, beneath the overhanging balcony of the stateroom where he guessed Wolfram and the Magus would be sheltering, maybe even watching Krysty and himself in this stupe venture.
“Come back in!” he yelled, but her face was turned away, eyes squeezed shut against the primal force of nature. Her head was thrown back, relishing the power and the danger.
He took a half step toward her, reaching out against the wind, when there was a deafening crack, screaming over the typhoon’s raging. The canvas ripped across, flapping loose from its mooring above Krysty, plunging down on her with a malevolent intent, like a giant manta ray.
It wrapped around her head and shoulders, plucking Krysty off balance, tipping her against the rail, her legs flailing for a moment as she tried to grab for support.
But the storm had her in its thrall, whirling her up and over, toppling back toward the churning wheel at the stern of the helpless vessel.
Ryan was after her, feet skidding on the wet planks, blinded by the spray. One hand reached for the slippery rail while the other grabbed helplessly at the torn canvas shroud that held his lover.
His fingers brushed it, and he saw it snag for a moment on a stanchion on the edge of the stern. The one-eyed man snatched the moment to lock his hand in the rough, soaked material, steadying it for a couple of seconds on the brink of the drop, feeling Krysty’s weight tugging against him.
Agonizingly it was shifting him, as well, lifting him, pulling him up and over the rail, following Krysty toward the thrashing, whirling paddle, and Ryan knew that they would be both sucked and crushed into the dark water.