In view of updates coming to The Infinity Mantle in the next few days, along with a brilliant new cover, here's an excerpt:
As the Calloway hurtled downward in search of
its grave, her safety line was releases when the rail splintered.
Clueless
how to behave in the water, instinct took over, and she pulled at the dark
water with cupped hands. As she broke surface to draw panicked breath, she was
knocked under to gulp seawater.
Coming
up, she instinctively paddled, and found the swell aiding her away from the
sucking vortex caused by the vanishing sloop.
She
panicked again, before hearing Taranis’ kind voice in her mind, telling her not
to panic, to trust her life jacket. Putting fear aside, she relaxed, and
floated. The ocean battered and betrayed her, but she did not go under for
long. Every time the inflated jacket brought her back to air.
Noticing
a rope twisting on the heaving surface, she grabbed it, and held on despite the
tugging from the ocean.
It
was wound around one of the water barrels that was stored aft of the ship. It
had to be empty to float, and was obviously thoroughly sealed against the
ocean’s advances. It waited for her and she did, for dear life, take it.
She
pulled it closer and painstakingly pulled her pack up. It countered the float
of her jacket, she had to get it out of the water, or balance it. After
countless attempts, she managed to sling it over, and secured the ropes.
The
achievement meant she and her pack were then counter-balanced, the barrel
between them. An added advantage was she floated high enough to dodge mouthfuls
of salty water.
Looking
for the others, she saw only floating debris in a dark, vicious and watery
world. She tried calling, but the thunder was too loud. She paddled, but seemed
to go nowhere.
She
was alone, and she was alive. It was up to her.
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