Shia was the first to react. There were no windows in the kitchen. Taking three steps as if they were two, she passed through the narrow cabin and saw the chaotic sailors moving back and forth on the deck, their shouts intermingling with the booming of cannon fire, immediately transporting her back to the battlefield.
Bang—
A whistling sound approached her, and Shia saw a dark lead cannonball speeding past the gunwale, carrying some wood splinters with it, heading towards the mainmast at a sharp angle.
If the cannonball hit the mainmast, it was highly probable, perhaps nine times out of ten, that the ship was done for. In this era, powered by sails, a broken mainmast was usually a death sentence; the only option would be to abandon ship.
There was no time to react. Shia stood still, and some invisible force immediately bound the cannonball.