by Apryl Baker
What she really wanted to do was find Tobias and make sure he didn’t get himself killed. If he died, her answers died with him. Unless she could get the merchant ship under control, though, it would be pointless to try to find him. They’d all be dead. The ship could land without its engines, but the helmsman and the crew had to work together. Pirate cannons firing at them wasn’t helping the situation either.
Val grabbed the first two crewmen she saw and barked in her best captain’s voice. “Grab some men and get those sails unfurled. If we can’t catch some wind to slow our descent, we’re dead.”
They stared at her like she’d lost her mind. Val desperately wanted her whip in that moment. “Do you want to die?”
They shook their heads no. “Then get yer arses in gear and get the square sails lowered so we can catch the downward wind. If we don’t slow down, this ship is going to crash. The pirates will be the least of our worries if we’re dead. NOW MOVE!”
They ran. She grabbed four more of the crew and got them working on the top and mainsail of the vessel. The mainsail needed to come down to work with the square sails to slow them enough to regain control of the vessel—at least enough to allow them to land.
The entire ship shook when a cannonball tore through the hold. Val went down cursing, but managed to catch hold of a rope. She fought her way up and held on while she maneuvered back down the stairs to where the merchant ship’s own cannons were. Women were crying and the men were struggling to figure out what to do.
Val’s swearing became even more violent. It was apparent they’d never used the cannons before. “Quit yer blubberin' and get over here!” she shouted as she ran to the cannons. “We’re not goin’ down without a fight so pull yerselves together!” Val heard herself falling back into her old speech. She’d learned to talk like a sailor so she could get them to move faster. They responded better to that type of speech than anything else.
The men shuffled forward, their faces streaked with soot and their eyes wide with fear. Val showed them how to load the cannons and then how to fire. She missed her mark by a good hundred yards. These cannons were not long range. She silently cursed the Captain for being so cheap.
“They need to be closer to hit,” Val explained. “Load the cannons, and when you see them almost upon us, then fire fer all yer worth. Understand?”
There were nods and the men began to work. Val turned her attention to the females still crying in the corner. “You lot, get yer arses here and help them with the loading. Yer doing no one any good, least ways yerselves. If we plan on livin’ today, we all have to help. Now get o’er there!”
Once Val had everyone working, she staggered back to the top deck. The sails were down and they were finally catching some wind. Their decent had slowed enough so she could focus on something besides plunging to their deaths.
Her old friend, Dom, caught her by her hair when she was rushing past and hauled her against him. His rancid breath nearly caused her to choke. “What do you think yer doing, girl?” he snarled. “This ain’t yer ship.”
Val had no time for him. She slammed her face into his; wincing at the pain managed to twist herself free when his grip loosened. “No, it’s not my ship, but I am not dying because you lot have no clue what you are doing. If you want to live, get those men organized. When the pirates board us—and they will board us—we need to be ready. Get them armed and steady. If you’re lucky, I can land this ship without killing us all. Now. Get. Out. Of. My. Way!”
Without waiting to see what Dom chose to do, Val continued her race to the ship’s wheel. She could land this thing. Land it well? No. But she was fairly sure most of them would live. Another cannonball ripped through the ship and Val held onto the ladder she’d been climbing until the craft steadied. She felt the first wave of cannon fire leave The Apollo and she smiled when she saw two cannon balls hit the attacking pirate vessel. Good men. They’d figured out how to hit the bloody pirates.
“You good, girl?”
Val could have wept with relief when she heard Tobias’s burly, raspy voice. She looked down and saw him covered in soot, a blood trail tracking down his face from a vicious cut on his forehead. He didn’t look too damaged all in all. “You okay, old man?” she asked.
“This?” He swiped at the blood oozing down his face. “Nothing. You going up to the wheel?”
“Aye,” she said. “If we don’t get a hold of it now, we’re all dead. Can you organize the slaves and get them ready to fight? Once we land, the pirates will be on us before we can blink.”
Tobias nodded, then his eyes widened. He grabbed her foot and yanked her down from the ladder. Val put her hands out in front to catch her fall, but Tobias caught her before she could. His hands shoved aside the ripped and burned cloth on her back before swearing enough to make even her blush. He’d seen the birthmark.
“What is this, girl?” he snarled.
“A tattoo,” she said, her voice even and calm. “One exactly like yours.”
“This is no tattoo, this is a birthmark. Is this why you got yourself caught?” he growled. “Think I’d tell you what it means?”
“I know what it means,” she said taking a chance. “It’s a map and you hold the key to it.”
Tobias’s swearing hit a new level. “This isn’t a place to go looking for treasure, girl. You’ll get yourself killed.”
“Will you let me go?” she snapped, her own anger surfacing. She didn’t have time to get into this. The merchant ship was falling and they were going to die if she couldn’t get control of it. “I need to bloody well stop this ship from crashing. We can argue over this later.”
“What do you want, girl?” he whispered in her ear. “Why did you seek me out?”
Val thought for a moment before answering. If she said the wrong thing, Tobias would never tell her anything. “I want answers, Tobias,” she said honestly. “I want a home.”
He let out a deep breath and released her. “Well, best get to saving us then, hadn’t you?”
Val said a silent prayer to the wind gods. “Get that lot organized.” Val’s vision narrowed in as she looked off into the distance she could see a second ship chasing the pirate vessel. Behind the pirate ship, moving fast toward them was a royal Navy craft. She closed her eyes and groaned. This was just not her day. If they recognized her, she’d get hauled off in chains. She was one of the most notorious pirates that roamed the airways of DeCadia.
Maybe they wouldn’t look too closely at a slave.
Valeria snorted at the thought. Given the way her day was going, there wasn’t a chance in Hades they wouldn’t recognize her.
Val couldn’t worry about it now. She had to get control of the merchant ship. She jumped back onto the ladder and pulled her way up as another massive volley of cannon balls left The Apollo, several striking the attacking pirate ship. She grinned. Those boys down there had gotten the hang of it quick. Every hit the pirates sustained gave The Apollo precious time.
The helmsman was a raggedy, old man with a gray, stained beard and she could smell him from a good ten feet away. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. The struggle he was having with the wheel spoke to the fact he should have long since retired from the service of helms master.
The wheel was spinning too fast for either of them to even hope to wrestle it to a halt. Val looked around for an object to help foul the wheel, however the upper deck was clear of anything that she could wedge between the wheel spokes. Had the engines been working, this wouldn’t even be an issue. Now they had to manually stop the manic rotation of the wheel. She looked down and saw debris littered on the fore deck and wasted no time in climbing down.
Another explosion rocked the ship and Val’s eyes shot up when she heard the crack. A cannonball had hit the main mast of The Apollo. It was splintering and there wasn’t a thing any of them could do about it. When it came down, all hope they had of landing this beast went with it.
“You three!” Val shouted and hauled the three closest cr
ewmembers along with her. “Grab that board and come with me.”
She scrambled back up the ladder and took the piece of wood so the other three could climb up and then ran to the helm. The helmsman didn’t say a word when he saw her rushing with the wood. He understood what she was trying to do and moved aside so she could push the wood through the wheel spokes. Together, with the helmsman and the three crewmembers, Val began the laborious task of stopping the wheel. It took all their strength, but after a moment, the wheel slowly ceased to fight them and began to stop its agonized turning.
Once Val had complete control, she shouted, “Get yerselves strapped down. The mast is going down and when we lose the rest of our sails, it’s going to get ugly.”
The crew wasted no time in doing as they were told, but the helmsman frowned. “I don’t know who ye are, girl, but I want my station back.”
Val turned the helm, bringing the ship to an about face. She manually set all the levers to land and said a prayer to the wind gods she could do this with no sails. “You ever landed a ship that’s about to go down hard?”
“Well, no…”
“I have,” she lied. “Now, go get yerself lashed to something so you don’t fall overboard.”
A loud snap caused them both to swing their attention to the mast. It was swaying. The helmsman gave her one last look and then ran to find something to tie himself to. Val only hoped Tobias was getting the slaves secured and ready. She’d already witnessed several fall overboard with each hit The Apollo took.
“Come on, girl,” she soothed as she turned the wheel again and set them into a downward motion. “We can do this. You just need to hold out a little more and I’ll get us down. Promise.”
The ship groaned and Val groaned with her, still they were going down. The remaining sails provided enough wind to stop them from hurtling to a certain death; even so, they wouldn’t last long. When the main mast gave out, it was anyone’s guess whether they would make a safe landing or not. Val blocked out the sounds around her and focused on the sole task of steering the wheel and fighting the momentum of their descent.
She felt the vibrations of cannon fire beneath her, felt the wind beating at her body, and the sting of the burn on her back. Val did what she always did; she let herself become an extension of the ship. She let the vibrations soak in, the feel of the wood mold to her hands, and her feet braced, anchoring to the wood of the deck. It was when she was here, at the helm of the ship, that Val truly felt alive. She was Valeria, Captain of The Emerald Queen, and terror of the skies. She would not die today. She knew it.
The wheel tried to force itself to the right, then the left, but Val held it steady, sweat beading her brow. Arms aching from the force required to hold the wheel steady, she refused to give into the burn of her screaming muscles. They were nearing land and she scanned for a relatively flat place to put down the vessel—all she could see were the tops of trees. She’d landed in worse places upon occasion.
Val fought the wheel when the entire ship shook from the force of the mast finally snapping in two and falling. Val’s legs buckled and she went down to one knee. Despite this, she held on tight to the wheel and forced her legs to move. She clung to the helm and pulled herself up. They were falling now. Val used every ounce of strength she had to keep the wheel steady. She dared not take even one hand off the wheel to adjust the levers for their descent. Not that it mattered at this speed, though. Instead, she concentrated on trying to steer the ship away from the densest part of the forest they were falling into.
When they hit the tops of the trees, the entire ship shuddered. Val winced and held on for dear life. Dense foliage broke and bent as they dived, which left a clear path for the pirates to follow. She could hear the screaming below her; could see people flying off the ship. She blocked it from her mind. She’d told everyone to strap themselves in, ordered crewmembers to warn others. Their deaths were not her fault. She’d done all she could.
A couple hundred yards from the ground, Val gave up the fight and wrapped her arms as tight as she could around the spokes of the wheel. When the bottom of the ship hit the ground it bounced a little and then skidded. Val’s head connected with the wheel and her vision went blurry. The ship smashed into a thick band of trees and Val’s head again collided with the wheel.
Val’s blurry vision went dark just as the ship stopped and the last thing she saw was the pirate ship barreling toward them.
***
It was clear that someone experienced had maneuvered the wheel of the merchant ship. The way the craft cut through the sky had been amazing. Even its spiraled descent, chased by the smaller, faster pirate ship, spoke of true talent behind the helm.
Nine out of ten ships, when critically damaged the way the merchant ship was, would lose altitude in an instant. It would fall from the sky like a comet, and depending on the terrain below, decimate its sailors. Stephen had seen it a dozen times before. This ship seemed to be the exception to the rule.
Furthermore, the merchant ship actually returned fire. Cannons roared through sky in response to the attacking pirate vessel defiantly yelling at the pirates.
The thunder of cannons and the acrid smoke assailed his senses as he stood near the helm of his ship. Stephen shouted orders to the men and woman of the Royal Navy like he was born for the role. “Cannons fire at the pirate ship. Keep the lead pouring on them. We need to stop them before they destroy what’s left of the merchant ship.”
Amil ran back and forth across the deck. As first sergeant he was responsible for the cannons in the event of an attack. Stephen was more than confident of his friend’s ability to handle the role.
“Steady, Marm,” Stephen shouted to be heard over the cannon fire and the clamor of his own sailors.
“Steady yourself. I know what I’m doing…Captain Cross.”
Stephen bit back a smile. Despite the nervous energy tingling up and down his body from the fight, the woman at his helm always brought a sense of mischievous joy to the conversation. “You only have to call me Captain when others are in ear shot.”
“Right, your shouting doesn’t count as earshot.” The older woman spun the helm to the right, hard. With a blur of wood and arms, The Dragoon complied with her bid as it banked in the desired direction. Marm’s motion avoided a volley of return cannon fire from the pirate ship. “Whoever they have barking orders at them is quick to adjust. They are already losing their interest in the merchant ship and are turning to attack us. As we gain on them, it will be impossible to avoid all their shots.”
As if to punctuate her words, the pirate ship sent another wave of shots in their direction, this time striking the broadside of The Dragoon. Stephen grabbed the rail to steady himself as debris and smoke filled the air.
His ship groaned as the deck trembled and swayed. Perhaps he was taking his first conflict too calmly. “It’s all right: it’s all in the plan. The more time we can buy that merchant vessel to land, the better. Marm, line up a shot for Amil. I want that pirate ship’s engine room taken out.”
The woman nodded an unspoken agreement.
Stephen ran down the steps to the deck below where Amil had everything running like a machine. As soon as shots were fired, sailors were reloading the cannons at a rate that would impress even the most veteran soldier.
As Stephen approached, he heard the familiar sound of incoming cannon rounds. The distant poof sound of shots exiting the pirate cannons, followed by eerie whistling filled the air with their passing.
His instinct took over and told him to get out of the way—quickly. The shrieking cannon balls were getting louder, heralding the impact of the enemy volley.
Stephen was running across the deck toward Amil. The only sailor near him was the blonde soldier Amil had made do pushups only a few minutes earlier. She was frightened, forcing herself to look past the fear and perform her duties. She was in the process of carrying a heavy cannon round to load one of their guns.
The captain of The Dragoon picke
d up speed. His booted feet struck the solid deck underneath him at a steady clip. The sound of the oncoming enemy rounds was all around him. He had seconds, maybe a single second, before the round struck.
As gently as possible, Stephen wrapped his arms around the unsuspecting sailor. Pushing off as hard as he could with his legs, he sent them flying through the air. His timing was impeccable. A moment later, the enemy cannon ball found its mark on the deck of The Dragoon. A smoking crater marked the same location where the female solider had been.
When they hit the deck, Stephen twisted to ensure his body absorbed the brunt of the blow. His right shoulder struck the hard floor first, followed by the rest of his head and body. The sailor, wrapped in his arms, landed on top of him.
Stephen’s first reaction was to look at the spot they had just escaped and release a sigh of gratitude. His second thought was to make sure the soldier he saved was indeed safe.
The blonde sailor looked at him with an expression of shock, then thankfulness as her mind caught up with the events of the past few seconds. “Sir, I mean Captain. Thank—thank you. You just saved my life.”
Stephen nodded, recalling the sailor’s name. “Private Baker, I’m sure you’d have done the same. Now, if you wouldn’t mind getting off of me, we have a fight to win.”
The woman’s face went from a milky flush to pale ivory as she realized she was sitting on top of her Captain. “Oh, of course.”
She scrambled to her feet and pointed a finger at Stephen’s right temple. “Are you all right, Captain?”
Stephen regained his own feet. His hand traveled to the side of his face and came back sticky. Adrenaline was doing its job making pain seem like a forgotten memory. “It’s nothing. Get back in the fight, sailor.”