Cutthroat Crusades (The Plundered Chronicles Book 4)

by Alex Westmore

  Grace had already explained to the crew what had transpired between her and Elizabeth, and Grace gave every man the option of being released from any further obligations to her or the ship.

  Not one man opted to leave.

  “They’d follow you to the depths of hell,” Quinn said to Grace as they stood on the bow with their faces toward the sea. Quinn knew Grace enough to know she was checking the weather ahead, looking for seagulls or changes that would require sail adjustments.

  “That’s just it, Callaghan. I do not wish for them to have to. They are a good crew on a great ship. The Spanish galleons Elizabeth wants plundered will not be so easy to defeat, especially if their intent is to eventually attack England.”

  “You sound worried.”

  “Not worried. Cautious. Philip and Spain make me nervous. It would not behoove Ireland fer us to make an enemy of him.”

  “Then how can we do as Elizabeth has bade us without incurring his wrath?”

  Grace sighed. “I’m thinkin’ we run an English flag on the Fortune Teller. Though she has no capacity to attack, should the Spaniards even manage to retreat or elude, they might report that an English ship was also in the skirmish. What do ya think?”

  Quinn thought for a moment. “I think it’s the best chance we have to make an approach.”

  “The key will be to never allow a galleon to get out of our grasp.”

  “And what of our cannons and arms?”

  Grace ran her hand through her thick mane. “I think we need to add a half dozen more and secure them to the deck.”

  “The deck?”

  “Aye. Since we’ll be sittin’ higher, it will give us a chance to drop some volleys on their deck. That will cause quite a commotion and give us a slight advantage.”

  Quinn bristled at the word slight. It was the first time she’d heard Grace doubt the Malendroke’s fighting ability. “Should we retrieve more fighters?”

  Grace shook her head. “Not more fighters. More arrows and bolts. The fire we took from that fort immediately put us on the defensive. A ship without sails can’t maneuver away. I want our archers to have that fire power as well. In the past, we’ve not used it enough.”

  “We didn’t really have to, sir. Scuttling ships hasn’t been on our agenda.”

  “Not anymore. Don’t worry, Callaghan, things are gonna have to be different from here on out, aye?”

  Quinn closed her eyes and let the air wash over her. She understood just how different things were going to be from here on out. Swearing fealty, a fact Grace had not shared with the crew, would forever alter the way Grace captained.

  “Callaghan?”

  “Sir?” Quinn kept her eyes closed.

  “Evverathin’ is going to be just fine. I know ya mighta been a bit surprised to hear I would agree to her conditions, but that woman is far away, and plunder is plunder, right?”

  Quinn sighed. It was never as simple as that. Surely Grace couldn’t believe that. Fealty to a woman as powerful as Queen Elizabeth meant something. It wasn’t something Elizabeth would take lightly. If she expected Spanish gold and swords from Grace, then gold and swords she would get.

  “Like I said, Captain, the men are behind ya all the way. Spanish gold spends as easily as English.”

  Grace clapped her hand on the back. “That’s what I mean, Callaghan! I knew ya’d understand. Now, can ya keep yer ears to the ground if the crew gets restless?”

  “Aye, Grace. You never have to doubt that.”

  They stood in silence a little longer before Grace bent her head low. “She was somethin’ else, was she not?”

  Quinn grinned. “I think she liked you, sir.”

  Grace chuckled. “Let’s just keep this to ourselves, shall we?”

  “Of course.”

  Grace inhaled deeply. “I didn’t wish to like her, but I found her to be most pleasant company.”

  “And the English?”

  “Can still rot in hell. And ya may quote me on that.”

  “Sir?” Fitz said, pointing to a ship just outside the mouth of the Thames. “I don’t have yer telescope, but I believe that ship out there is none other than––”

  “That bastard Drake!” Grace did not need her telescope to know every contour and detail of the ship of a man she had vowed vengeance against.

  Quinn leapt up the stairs. “Captain––”

  Grace waved her away. “Stow it, Callaghan. Fitz, bring her round, don’t give him a side to aim for!” Grace began ordering the men here and there ,and the ship came to life as every crew member took his place in preparation for battle.

  Quinn watched in silence as the Firsts prepared to board Drake’s ship. The archers reached their bows, and the rest readied themselves for their part.

  All Quinn could think about was Grace’s oath of fealty.

  “Captain––”

  “Not now, Callaghan! I have Drake in my sights, and I’ll not let him go.”

  “You swore, sir. This . . . this aggression is ill-advised.”

  Grace whirled around, fire in her eyes. “Are ya daft? That man nearly fooled me into sinkin’ a ship with all of my crew on board. I told ya what I would do the next time I had him in my grasp.”

  Quinn’s hand shot out and she grabbed Grace’s arm. “I can’t let you do this.”

  Grace fairly sneered at her. “Take. Yer. Hand. Off. Me.”

  “I will not. You are not thinking, Grace. At all. The queen of England just let you leave with your freedom, and less than a day later you’re going to attack an English vessel? Think, Grace! Whatever your feelings, you must not act on them.”

  Grace tore her arm out of Quinn’s grasp. “Drake has had no time to receive notice that we are not to be attacked. I’ll not allow him the first round.”

  “Then let me talk to him.”

  Tavish started forward, but Quinn placed her hand on his massive chest.

  “I could never let ya do that,” Grace said.

  “Of course you can. Can and should. Why risk losing any more than one man? If he blows me outta the water or skewers me when I get on board, then sink him. If nothing of those events happen, then you may be able to spare any and all death. It’s a far better risk than just starting a battle that is certain to cost up lives.”

  Grace glanced over at the ship about two hundred yards away.

  “It’s worth the risk, sir,” Quinn said softly.

  “Fine.” Reaching inside her jerkin, Grace pulled the signed document from Elizabeth out and handed it to Quinn. “If one arrow, one cannon, or one rock is tossed yer way, Callaghan, we’re firing and won’t stop until that rat bastard is at the bottom of the sea.”

  Snatching the scroll, Quinn started down the steps. “I’ll be back in a flash.”

  “Not without me, ya won’t.”

  Turning, Quinn faced Tavish. “Not this time, old friend. This time, it has to be just me.”

  Tavish’s eyes narrowed. “What ha’ ya got up yer sleeve, Callaghan?”

  Quinn grinned. He knew her very well. “You have to trust me, Tavish. I think I have a way to placate Elizabeth and to get Drake off our backs forever.”

  “So . . . yer plannin’ a miracle?”

  Quinn laughed. “Something like that.”

  Quinn wasn’t surprised to find herself standing on the deck of the Golden Hind with Francis Drake coming off the bow toward her.

  “Do you speak the queen’s language?”

  Quinn nodded. “I do. I also speak your queen’s English.”

  Drake grinned.

  He had aged since they last saw him. Aged may not have been the right word. When they first met him he was very green, too arrogant for words, and abrasive as the splintered deck of a ship. Now he wore the manicured facial hair of a respectable captain, bore the marks of too much sea and salt air upon his skin, and had filled out from young man to a more mature male body.

  Quinn had to suppress a grin. He was, in truth, a very handsome blond man with wiser ey
es than the boy she’d first met. Of course, that didn’t make her like him any more, but it was comforting to know she was addressing a man and not the man-boy they had first met.

  “Very well, then. We shall conduct this audience in English.”

  Quinn slowly withdrew the scroll from her vest. “Captain O’Malley sent me with a pass we procured from your delightful queen. She fully expects you to honor it or face the wrath of your monarch.”

  This took Drake by surprise; his eyebrows rose before he could mask his surprise. “A . . . pass? From my queen? Surely you don’t take me for a fool.”

  “Actually, I take you for many things . . . that being just one of them. We have just returned from your court and audience with Elizabeth.” Quinn handed him the scroll. “And we struck an agreement with her. This scroll allows us to sail without fear of attack from English ships. Or you.”

  Drake opened the scroll and read it. “This must be a forgery. Surely my queen would never have allowed the infamous and somewhat graceless Grace O’Malley to return to her freedom.”

  “I am willing to return to her court with you and that scroll, Captain Drake, if it would prove to you that it is not a forgery.”

  “It is sir now.”

  Quinn frowned. “Excuse me?”

  “It is Sir Francis Drake.”

  Quinn waved this off. “You English and your titles. Whatever they wish to call you, I am here to tell you if you do not believe me, you may take me and the scroll to your queen. I will go willingly, but I cannot believe she will be too happy to see that you are doubting her decision-making skills.”

  He studied Elizabeth’s signature. “It would have to be a very fine forger. This is her exact signature.”

  “Because it is from her. The question is . . . do you believe what your own eyes tell you, or do you risk her wrath by doubting her decision to allow Grace to remain free?” Quinn held her hand out for the scroll. “It is, of course, your decision, but I think we both know how much Captain O’Malley despises you. Don’t you think you’d already have been fired upon by a captain who would slit your throat so soon as look at you?”

  Drake tentatively handed the scroll back. “True. There is no love between the two of us, but that does not make this true.”

  Quinn placed the scroll back in her vest. “Ask me anything about our audience with the queen. Surely, you’ve been in her white and gold chambers.”

  “Pshaw. Everyone knows that.”

  “Do they also know she carries Cambria handkerchiefs in her pocket or that there is a window facing the garden? Perhaps you’d like me to describe the wine decanter she uses or her jewel-encrusted goblet.”

  Drake raised one eyebrow. “Perhaps you speak the truth after all. My question is why would she free a pirate who has cost her so much?”

  “You can take that question up with her if you wish. Or . . . ”

  Drake’s eyes narrowed. “Or?”

  “Or you could hear the arrangement they’ve made that could benefit you.”

  Drake crossed his arms. “Now you have my interest––”

  “Callaghan.”

  “Well, Callaghan, how could I possibly benefit from Grace O’Malley’s freedom? She has done nothing put pillage and plunder from us since the day she could walk.”

  Quinn told him the conditions, omitting the fealty portion. “If you were to follow us to the coast and watch as we attack a galleon, you could be the one to return to Elizabeth with the plundered gold, the one hundred swords, and the news that Grace O’Malley is keeping her end of the bargain. You must believe we have no desire to anger your queen any further. The Spanish are coming for you, and we can help thin the herd before they strike.”

  “And this benefits me how?”

  “Elizabeth only wishes to have the gold and the weapons. Everything else can be yours.”

  Drake rubbed his bearded chin. “Everything else? Well, now, that could prove to be very profitable.”

  “Indeed. The queen, as you know, never truly knows how much gold you have skimmed over the years. We do not know, nor do we care. Grace O’Malley is no longer your enemy, Captain—er, sir. Your queen has seen to that. To attack her now could very well incur the wrath of your monarch.”

  “Well . . . I suppose waiting and watching to see what the Malendroke does against the Spanish might prove interesting, indeed.”

  “You take the plunder, we sink the ship, you go your way, we go ours. The queen gets her gold and weapons, and you get more to line your own coffers. Everyone benefits.”

  Drake licked his lips. “Benefits, indeed. Agreed. You tell your Captain I agree to reporting back to Elizabeth the successful attack of a galleon, and in return, she is to ensure she’ll never fire upon me. You need not return. Just wave your hands over your head. My man will report when he sees you.”

  “Excellent. I’ll tell her.” Quinn turned and rowed her way back to the Malendroke, where Grace accepted Drake’s terms and continued on her way toward the southern coast of Ireland, unmolested by the only man ever to get Grace’s goat.

  “She wants to what?” Quinn fairly yelled in Tavish’s face the next morning.

  “Captain wants to fight the first galleon we come across in order to get Drake off our––”

  “I got that part, Tavish. You mentioned Scotland. What do you mean she wants to go to Scotland first?”

  “She wants to take a small land crew on the Fortune Teller to get word to Mary about why she can no longer aid the queen of Scots. Then she wants to find Lake and let him ken why the glass must stay out of Ireland.”

  “Does she have any idea, any at all about how that will appear if word gets back to Elizabeth that she made a beeline to Mary?” Quinn ran her fingers through her hair with one hand while grabbing her boots with the other. “That woman is going to drive me to the drink, I swear to the goddess.”

  “Aye. She is not thinkin’ the way a captain should, Callaghan, and that makes the crew nervous.”

  Pulling on her left boot, Quinn sighed. “I know. I know, but I don’t know what else to do. She seems hell-bent on double-crossing Elizabeth, and that would be a foolish thing to do.”

  “Agreed. So what’ll we do?”

  “Give me a moment, and let me think about it.”

  A moment was all Quinn needed before she approached Grace at the wheel. “Grace, I think I have a good plan that will accomplish two things.”

  “Don’t need a plan, Callaghan. We have one.”

  “Grace, going to see Mary will bring Elizabeth down on your head and on the heads of your crew, and it will possibly cost Tibbott and your brother their lives. Why would you do that? Why on God’s green earth would you turn right around and do something that appears to go against your truce with Elizabeth?”

  “I’ll not have Mary hearin’ rumors about Grace O’Malley and the Irish pirates turnin’ our backs on her. Reputation is still important, Callaghan.”

  “It’s over for Mary. She is suffering house arrest until the day Elizabeth and her cabinet decide it’s time for her to go. Going to her now––”

  “That’s enough, Callaghan. I didn’t ask fer yer council, nor do I need it. We will engage with the first galleon we come to. After that, we sail to Scotland. Ennathin’ else?”

  Quinn shook her head slowly. “No sir.”

  When Quinn went below to talk to Maggie, Fitz, Tavish, One Eye, and Logan all followed her.

  “Callaghan, what in the hell is the captain tryin’ to prove?” Logan asked.

  Quinn held her hands up. “Hold on, hold on. This conversation is a mutinous one and I’ll not be part of that. At least not while we are aboard ship.”

  “Then what are we to do?”

  “That’s what I came down here for. I want to hear what Maggie thinks.”

  “Maggie?” three voices chimed in together.

  “Aye. She has the coolest head of any of us. I need to hear a different perspective.”

  Maggie wiped her hands on her a
pron and smiled. “What can I do to help?”

  After explaining everything that had transpired, Quinn waited as Maggie nodded sagely.

  “So you want to know what I think we should do?”

  “Please.”

  Maggie licked her lips. “Our beloved captain believes she can outsmart the most powerful woman in the world. Her hubris may very well put us all in danger. It is entirely possible it might cause Elizabeth to send more people to Ireland. It is our job to make sure she doesn’t do that.”

  Quinn nodded. “Yes. Angering that queen would seem to be a very bad plan.”

  “Then I suggest we take the Fortune Teller to Scotland, leave the Malendroke to go after the Spanish, and kill two proverbial birds at once.”

  No one said a word.

  “What?” Maggie asked. “Which part of that plan are you having problems with?”

  “You think we oughtta take the Fortune Teller back and go to Scotland ourselves?” Fitz asked.

  Maggie shrugged. “It isn’t stealing if it’s yours, and I believe you procured the ship, Callaghan. Correct?”

  Quinn barely nodded, her stomach was in knots over the idea that she would, once again, be turning her back on Grace.

  “My wife has a good plan,” Tavish said. His upper lip was only slightly swollen from Innis’s punch. “Grace made the deal with Elizabeth, not ya, Callaghan. Perhaps the best thing we can do fer Grace is to force her to do that which she swore to do.”

  Quinn caught Maggie’s eye. “What are you not saying?”

  Maggie barely grinned. “You know. A captain’s job is to keep her crew alive. You, my dear, know how to do that. While you cannot take this ship from Captain O’Malley, you can help her save her crew by taking the Fortune Teller to Scotland.”

  Quinn looked at each man in the face. “If we do this, one of you will have to stay to tell Grace what is happening.”

  No one spoke.

  Finally, it was Logan who spoke. “I will stay back. I am not the strongest fighter amongst us, and ya will need the best of us if ya plan on goin’ to the island. The Scots have their hands full of border crossers. Besides, the captain will need an English speaker in case she runs against any.”