“She still has to gather the crew, boy, before she hunts down the Wake Ripper,” Dewitt said. “And it will take days to round the mates.”
“Will they go with her?” Jason asked.
“Aye.” Dewitt’s bad eye went aimless, landing on the window. “They will do anything she asks, for she has never truly asked them to do anything. And it is for the wee lass, and for her…for the wee one, they would all march to a watery grave without question.”
Silent, Killian’s and Devin’s eyebrows arched at Dewitt’s comment.
Dewitt’s face went red as he squinted at their faces, and he jumped to his good foot. “What? You think there be no honor among my kind?”
Killian and Devin remained silent, still.
“There is,” Jason said softly. “There is. They will do anything for their captain.”
“Aye, boy. You understand the way of it.”
Jason turned to Devin. “I have to go after Katalin, but I have to get Josalyn back first. It is the only way she will stop this course of madness. Can you get me in front of Lord Walton?”
“No.” Devin crossed his arms over his chest. “Can I get you in front of Lord Walton—yes. But I will do no such thing. You will kill him the instant you are within reach, and we cannot have that.”
“Do not pull any ridiculous code of honor into this, Devin.” Jason words seethed out. “I do not care if he is titled—this man has no honor. He has stolen my family from me, and he will pay.”
Devin didn’t flinch. “I do not speak of honor, Jason. I speak of a better way.”
Devin glanced at Killian, and Killian offered a quick nod.
“We have spies in his organization. He is our main competitor, and we have spies with him—he has spies with us—it is a game that is played,” Devin continued. “But this is no longer a game, this is our family. And those spies may very well know exactly where he is keeping Josalyn. We also have people that watch his every move. We have since you were drunk at the Horn’s Rooster with him. Let me get to my men before we flat out kill the baron. It will be safer for Josalyn if we get to her before Walton even knows we are searching for her.”
“That will take too long—I have to do this quickly, Devin. Katalin is sea bound and slipping further from me every second.”
“So then you need to trust us to get Josalyn back for you,” Devin said. “You need to go after Katalin and stop her before she reaches the Wake Ripper. Her situation is more dire.”
“I cannot leave with Josalyn in Walton’s clutches.”
“This is when you need to trust me, Jason,” Devin said. “You need to trust someone aside from yourself. It is the only way. We will get Josalyn back. I have no doubt we will find her one way or the other—believe me when I say I hold no honor when it comes to pain and getting what I need from a sniveling coward that would steal a baby.”
“But—”
“Jason, you are in an impossible situation—your wife or your daughter—so it is damn well time you accept help from your family.” Devin stood tall from the desk. “Can you truly afford to stay around here to get Josalyn back, only to have to tell her that her mother is dead? Do you want her to grow up without Katalin? For her to ask you one day why you did not save her mother? Did not protect her?”
Jason’s fist was flying at his brother-in-law before he had a thought to control it. But Killian was just as quick, grabbing Jason’s wrist before it made contact with Devin.
“Devin can do this, Jason,” Killian said, dropping Jason’s wrist. “You know he is in the best position to get your daughter back. And you are in the best position to stop Katalin—do you think she would stop her course of action if anyone but you told her Josalyn was safe?”
Jason heaved a sigh, a sad attempt to rein his anger. Chin jutted out against the truth, he shook his head.
“Trust us, Jason. Trust me,” Devin said, his voice deadly. “What I think you do not understand is that Josalyn is now family. Family. And no one threatens my blood. I will treat getting Josalyn back no different than I would treat going after my own son, were he in that situation. No mercy.”
Only letting it slip for a moment, Jason could see livid fury spill with Devin’s words. It was chilling to see, and Jason was instantly grateful Devin was on his side.
He would have to thank his sister for that when this was all done.
“Fine. You get my daughter back, Devin. You keep her safe.”
Face set in stone, Devin nodded. “I will. No mercy, Jason. None. Trust I will get her back.”
Jason stared at his brother-in-law for a hard moment, and then nodded. “So then, I need a ship.”
Dewitt cleared his throat, drawing the eyes of the three men. “For that, boy, I have the perfect ship for you.”
~~~
His forearms cutting into the wooden railing, Jason’s eyes swept across the western seas before them. The ship had reached a decent pace now that they were on open waters and a strong wind had their sails.
The breeze kept a solid chop on the tips of the waves, and Jason sucked in salty air, shaking his head as he tried to calm the rage that had not subsided in the slightest during the last day. The one thing he had sworn to himself years ago was that when he reached England, he would never set foot on a blasted ship again.
Yet here he was.
And not only had he boarded willingly, he was now wishing they were much further into the empty vastness of the ocean.
Katalin had forced him into the one thing he swore he would never do. But then, he had also never thought to have her again. So if fate demanded he prove his love by doing this, then, hell, he’d never set foot on land again if it meant he could keep Katalin safe.
“If we be lucky, an’ the winds keep right like this, we will get her, lad.”
Jason’s eyes didn’t leave the horizon, but he did give a slight nod to Captain Roland as the man grasped the railing next to Jason. It was the Rosewater that Dewitt had requested stay in port after delivering him, Katalin, and Josalyn to England. So it was the Rosewater that Jason had boarded. They had been lucky, just setting sail with the tide after spending hours rounding up the crew.
“Thank you for helping to find her, Captain Roland. It is appreciated more than you know.”
“Aye, no need for thanks, lad. It be for Captain Kat. That is all I needed to know.”
They stood for a moment in silence until Jason turned to Captain Roland, leaning his hip on the railing, arms crossing his chest.
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what, lad?”
“Save me from prison, only to lie to me?”
“I lied?” Roland stroked his beard. “I don’t recall a lie that day. Not that I be above it, matey.”
“You lied about Captain Kat. You said she left me there to die.”
“Hmmm. I be saying that?”
“You did. You said she wanted to be rid of me.”
Roland suddenly nodded, scratching his chin through the thick of his beard. “Aye. I did say that, I reck’n. There be much goin’ on that day, what with the explosions and the pillaging to be had.”
“Yes, I can see where it may have slipped your mind. But in doing so, you set me on a path so very wrong for where I should have been. Away from Katalin. Away from my child.” Jason’s hand swept aimlessly over the sea. “All of this could have been avoided.”
“Ah, I understand now.” Roland laughed, a booming sound that echoed up off the water. “Lots in life can be avoided, matey, but some things ain’t meant to come forth. The lady o’ luck decides that. Plus, you misunderstand me integrity, matey.”
“How so?”
Roland clasped a heavy paw on Jason’s shoulder. “I have no loyalty for what is right, lad. Me loyalty is for the code. And the code tells me I do what Cap’n says.”
“But you are a captain.”
“Aye. But I will always bow to the wishes of me true cap’n, matey. Always.”
“And that is not Captain Kat, is it?�
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“No, matey, it ain’t. Cap’n De will always be me true cap’n. He be the real reason we are headed to hit the Wake Ripper, matey. Orders from me true cap’n. I not be draggin’ yer arse clear cross the ocean were it not for the cap’n. Tis a fool’s erran’ it be. We all know the Wake Ripper is nothin’ but black death for all o’ us.”
Roland’s hand dropped from Jason, and he walked off, voice still booming. “Come death or glory, I follow me cap’n’s orders, matey.”
{ Chapter 23 }
Clipping along the waves, Katalin looked down at the main deck before her, her hands sweaty on the wheel. The crew was silent, and gone was the flurry of preparing for battle. All eyes were trained forward, all hands itchy on the hilts of their steel.
The Wake Ripper had spotted them early—too early. Their sails had unfurled in full force, and now the Windrunner was forced into the unfortunate position of pursuer.
It had only taken a week to find the Wake Ripper once they had found the trail of what waters the ship was currently haunting. Much faster than Katalin had guessed, but still not fast enough.
The Windrunner cracked a wave hard, and water flew through the air, spraying across the decks. The back of Katalin’s hand dragged against her eyes, clearing the salt water. She blinked away the sting, focusing through the bright sunlight on the far-off ship.
At least now she could see it with the blind eye, and not only with the spyglass. That meant they were still gaining on the Wake Ripper. And that it ran was telling, as it looked to be loaded heavy with some bounty they would rather not have to defend.
Hope sparked. If they had lost crew in the capture of whatever booty they had, that could bode well for Katalin. Her own crew was leaner than she would have liked—she had only gathered the mates that were childless or had grown children, fully avoiding the few men that had wee ones.
She did it, even though she knew it would cause discourse among the men—the ones left behind would be furious, but she was not about to allow their children to grow up without fathers.
That decision left her without the most virile men she could have used in the fight. To a one, the rest had joined her without the slightest cough, without the slightest hesitation. Admirable, for she knew they were sailing into destruction—that death awaited them. Worse, the crew knew it.
But the actions of the Wake Ripper were promising, for Katalin had never heard of the Wake Ripper’s captain not heading straight into a battle with full force.
So Katalin held onto the tiniest nugget of hope, letting it bolster her confidence. She knew very well that confidence could mean all the difference in the upcoming battle.
The gains on the Wake Ripper were slow in coming, but they did gain on it. Five hours had passed. The first four hours the crew had been alive—steel clanking, loading pistols, and positioning ropes. But now, except for the tweaking of the sails, they were still, their knees bucking and swaying with the heavy chop they cut through.
Katalin had planned on a quick attack—the less time for the crew to think of their fates, the better. The less time for her to think of her fate, the better.
She had been on the sea for five weeks now, and she was sick of it. Five weeks away from Jason, away from her girl.
She had been so very close. She had Jason. She had been mere hours away from having her girl back with the two of them. So close to the family she never dreamed she could have, but always needed, deep in her soul.
A soul that had shriveled, day by day, hour by hour, the farther she sailed from England.
And here it was. Destiny to be decided within the next few hours.
Her father had always said she was effective as a captain because of one outstanding trait. She didn’t care. Didn’t care about the squabbles, about the vices, about the pride that brought down so many men.
But now she cared too much. Too damn much, and she had too much to lose. Her life before Jason had been so easy—nothing to lose, and everything to gain. And now she was in the exact opposite position—nothing to gain and everything to lose.
Her only comfort was that, either way it turned out, she would be at peace, or at least she hoped. Her soul could very well end up rotting away in purgatory for all she knew, but at least this would be over. She would either be sailing back to Jason and Josalyn after today, or sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
So on it went for hours. The Wake Ripper ran, taunting them, and the Windrunner pursued.
And then, before her unwavering gaze, a skull and crossbones flag unfurled from the main mast, and the Wake Ripper rounded, heading straight toward the Windrunner. That, Katalin had not expected.
This must be where they rammed head-first into battle, she surmised, and within minutes, the Wake Ripper would be within striking distance.
Katalin steeled herself, but she did not have to order the crew into readiness, the frenzy on the deck below far out-paced her commands.
“Poe—the cannons be ready starboard? We sink her before reaches us—ready them.”
“Aye Cap’n,” Poe yelled, dropping his body half down the opening to the gun deck below. He popped back up. “They all be loaded and right for firin’.”
“We be on approach, ready with the fire.”
Just before she opened her mouth to have the fuses lit, the Wake Ripper cut a sharp south in front of them—well beyond what she guessed the capabilities of the ship were.
“Bloody hell.” Katalin spun the wheel hard, following. Now on the Windrunner’s port side, the damn Wake Ripper just avoided ten cannonballs in its hull. She had taken a chance on approaching them starboard, and now they would be engaged before the crew could ready the cannons port side.
The two ships sailed in tandem for minutes, their speeds now equal, and Katalin slipped the wheel to ease the Windrunner closer and closer to the Wake Ripper.
“Fire at will,” she bellowed forth, and could hear the command repeated up the string of men to the bow of the ship.
And then it happened.
The first shot cracked through the air.
Within minutes, boarding hooks went flying from both ships, flintlock pistols exchanged fire, and with a sufficient cloud of blasted gunpowder, Katalin’s crew started swinging across the chasm and landing on the deck of the Wake Ripper.
Katalin held the wheel hard on course, but the second the ships collided, wood tearing, she was thrown from the wheel half across the quarterdeck.
She scampered to her toes, her feet slipping at the now skewed pitch of the deck. Reaching the wheel, she turned the Windrunner a hard starboard, easing the space between the two ships. She just hoped the Windrunner was not on the losing end of the screeching damage she heard.
At the wheel, Katalin searched her deck, and then through the smoke onto the deck of the Wake Ripper. Most of her crew was now on board the Wake Ripper, engaged in full, bloody battle.
Steel crashing. Screams of pain. Screeches of attack.
Katalin couldn’t see if her crew was holding its own or if it was a massacre.
Checking to make sure the cutlass, three daggers, and two flintlocks strapped to her body were secure, she yelled at Fin, who was still high on the main mast. “Fin, down here. I need you.”
“Aye, Cap’n,” he yelled back, and scampered down the mast like a lithe boy a quarter of his age.
Fin scurried up to the quarterdeck, stopping next to Katalin.
“Fin, take the wheel—keep her solid.”
She gave him a quick glance, and before he could protest, Katalin dropped the wheel, ran to the side of the deck, and grabbed a free rope. She wrapped the rope once around her wrist, jumped to the railing, and swung.
Landing hard on the Wake Ripper’s main deck, she dropped onto her side, skidding across the deck in a tumble. She only stopped when she rammed into the booted calves of a very large man who glanced down at her.
Blast it. Not in her crew. She smiled up him, and before he could react, Frog used the man’s second of confusion to
attack, his sword going high at the man’s head. The brute tried to spin away, but tripped on Katalin, falling backward onto the deck. Frog’s cutlass cut into his arm on the way down, and Frog jumped over Katalin, knocking the man hard on the head with the thick hilt of his cutlass. The man went still.
“Cap’n, ye shouldn’t be o’er here,” Frog yelled at her. “Get back to the Windrunner.”
“And let you all fight my battle?” She jumped to her feet. “I don’t think so, Frog.”
“Dammit, Cap’n. Ye ain’t our kind no more. Ye be a mother.”
She pulled a flintlock, aiming it over Frog’s shoulder at the wild man bearing down on Frog’s head with a scimitar. She pulled the trigger, making Frog jump.
“Which is exactly why I am needed over here. No one will fight harder for my girl than me.”
Frog looked over his shoulder at the man rolling in pain, holding a bloody shoulder. He looked back at Katalin. “That be a might close to me head, don’t ye think?”
“His blade or my bullet?”
Frog shrugged. “Both. But yer still as true a shot as ever, Cap’n.” He picked up the scimitar at his feet. “Now stay by me side, Cap’n, or yer father’ll have me dragged on the ship’s hull.”
Frog stepped in front of her, his body wide against the melee, and he moved forth, picking off pirates that had them outnumbered two to one. So much for hopes of a small crew.
Not five steps into the thick of the battle, Katalin peeled away from Frog, her cutlass coming down hard on a sword that was about to slide across Jay’s throat.
When the pirate finally looked down and found where the cutlass had come from, he sneered a laugh upon seeing her, pulling a long knife from the sash at his slops. He rushed her, swinging both his cutlass and the knife at her. Katalin hopped backward, avoiding the blades, until her backside hit railing.
Snarling in victory, he thrust his long knife straight at her heart, but Katalin dropped, her cutlass swinging in a wide arch. His blade caught her shoulder, but it didn’t stop her motion, and she rolled toward his feet, her cutlass dragging along the skin of his left arm.
Hold Your Breath 03 - My Captain, My Earl Page 23