“Only a small crew,” Leo mused, “but a good plan. I liked the powder arrows in the fire, we should remember that one. I’m looking forward to meeting the man behind their tactics.” I looked at Leo in surprise: he sounded nervous, but of course if Frazer wasn’t in control of Valkyrie, we had no defense from her guns. “Come on, Capitana, let’s go and see who dared to attack your new boat.”
“Ship.” I repeated the joke dryly, my mind on what would happen next. What’s happening on my decks?
*
So far so good. Valkyrie’s new gunports remained closed, and as we approached I saw that Frazer and the others held two people on deck at gunpoint. Valkyrie was safe. We climbed aboard and Frazer reported directly to Leo.
“We had ourselves some visitors, Captain. What do you think, throw them to the sharks? Or maybe we could find some crocs. Shooting at all our hard work, I reckon they deserve a wee bitty torturing afore they die.”
The tall pirate spoke with a Danish accent: ‘There’s no need for that, gentlemen. You should take our attack as a compliment, she’s a beautiful boat.”
I stared—she was a woman! I had found another woman pirate captain, and she’d attacked my ship! Tall, blonde and muscular, probably in her mid-twenties, and dressed in the usual sailor’s short-clothes of shirt and breeches, she also wore a bright emerald-green sash wound around her middle. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I wanted to hug her: there was someone else out there like me; but I also wanted to push her overboard for trying to steal my ship—the ship I’d been through so much to take for myself and keep. I smiled to myself; whatever else she was, she was proof that women could not only live, but command at sea. I straightened my face before she saw my smile.
Frazer was disgusted. “Another bloody woman. I’m plagued by deviling skirts.”
Leo laughed at his quartermaster’s discomfort. “Nobody’s dying tonight—at least I hope not, but if any of my men have perished there’ll be a score to reckon.”
The other pirate spoke: ‘If they have, it’ll be as a result of their own poor shooting.” He didn’t sound quite so friendly. “We don’t kill unless we have to.”
“Introductions seem like a good idea, if not overdue. I’m Leo Santiago, Captain and Master of Sound of Freedom yonder. The one that seems to be trailing her fore-topmast overboard.” He smiled tightly, enjoying his little performance and victory, but I could see he was hurting to see his ship injured.
The woman turned back to Frazer. “So that makes you captain of this little beauty, I suppose?”
“No, that would be me. Gabriella Berryngton. You’d better not have hurt my ship!”
“Not a splinter. As I said, she’s a beauty, we were careful with her. It’s good to meet another lady captain at last.”
Leo and Frazer looked at each other and laughed. “I don’t know about ‘lady’, not many ladies find employment as pirates.”
Ignoring them, I carried on. “It’s your turn for introductions.”
“Ah yes. Carmen Elvström. Captain and Master of Awilda, or I was until you sank her. This is my quartermaster, Andy Fowler—she’s the expert with fire and powder.”
Another woman. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been told. She was shorter and stockier than her captain, with dark hair and eyes, and an even darker scowl, which I suspected may be a permanent feature.
“Impressive. Very impressive. It would be a shame to waste that skill and ingenuity, I’m surprised to find it in a woman. How many more of you are there out there?” Leo said, looking at me.
“Another four,” Carmen said, misunderstanding. “All women, and a successful crew at that. Or at least we were when we had a boat. I really had my heart set on this one.” She perked up. “Maybe the night doesn’t have to be a total loss after all, do you need any more hands? As you’re aware, we find ourselves free of a deck at present.”
I ignored Frazer’s grumbling and thought. We did need more crew, especially aboard Valkyrie, but I was not ready to make a decision yet, even if signing on a bested crew was a tradition of the Carib Sea. How could I possibly live and sail with any of the women who had attacked Valkyrie?
“There’s no denying your experience and ingenuity would be useful, but would I be able to trust you on my decks?” I asked.
“You can trust our work. We’ll sign your articles and abide by them. We’ve never mutinied yet, and don’t intend to. We’ll sail with you, assuming the others agree.”
“Let me think on it,” I said, and looked at Leo when he put his hand on my arm.
“Load them in the boat, Frazer, we’ll all go ashore; there won’t be any more trouble tonight.”
We stayed where we were as everyone else crowded around the gate in the bulwark and he added, “Be careful, querida.”
“What do you mean?”
“Signing them onto your crew. That was a daring attack, six women against near on fifty men, and they nearly pulled it off. They’d have succeeded if we hadn’t spotted their boat so often and left such a large and alert shipkeeping party.
“They’d be useful to have fighting alongside us, there’s no doubt about that, but I don’t think you can trust them, whatever she says. There’s more than one way to take a prize, you know, and it’s always easier from the deck. If you do decide to sign them up, at least promise me that we’ll split them between both vessels to lessen the threat of mutiny. But they would be useful,” he mused, “assuming you can keep your authority over those on your decks.”
“That wouldn’t be a problem, they know they’re beaten, and they’d be outnumbered by the existing crew.” Truth be told, I quite liked the idea of more women aboard my ship, despite the way we met. There was also the fact that they’d be my crew—not Leo’s. I led the way to the rail and climbed down to take my place in the longboat. I had a lot to think about.
“Would you mind pulling to Awilda before we go ashore?” Carmen asked. “Two of my crew are clinging to her masthead.”
Chapter 63
“Devil’s bones!”
“More bloody women!”
“What the Devil?”
I couldn’t tell whether the men were more surprised or embarrassed to see who had instilled so much panic in them earlier, and I couldn’t help but smile.
Leo motioned Carmen, Andy, Carrie and Jayde to the fire where they were most visible, and the men crowded around, still grumbling and cursing.
I looked up as Newton, Thomas and Juaquim approached from the treeline, unaccompanied and shrugging their shoulders. They hadn’t been able to find the other Awildas. I looked at Carmen and raised my eyebrows. She grinned—no doubt proud of her crew for evading capture—then raised one hand to her mouth and gave a piercing, complicated whistle. Everybody stopped talking, startled at the noise, and Carmen smiled. Five minutes later, two women, heavily armed with blade, gun and bow, walked onto the beach and stood staring at the Freedom Fighters.
“I’m pleased to introduce the rest of my crew,” Carmen said. “Bess and Annika.”
The women didn’t react, and the Freedom Fighters glared at them. They were no doubt shocked at how few there were.
“Awildas, we’re with friends here. Awilda has foundered, and, with any luck, we’ll be signing onto Captain Santiago and Captain Berryngton’s accounts.”
The beach erupted in fury as the men realized what she’d said.
“No! No, no, no, no, no!” Newton’s was the loudest voice.
“Aye, for once I’m with Newton,” Frazer’s Scottish brogue cut through the babble. “Ye’ll have to take a vote on this one, Captain.”
“Very well.” Leo sighed, and I looked at him in disappointment, wondering why he didn’t stand up for his decision as captain. Then I realized that with the crew, and most especially the quartermaster, asking for a vote, he had no choice; Freedom’s articles were clear. I’d used the same circumstance against him to win command of Valkyrie.
“By a show of hands,” he shouted, quieting the thro
ng. “Votes to allow the Awildas to sign onto Freedom’s account?”
I raised my hand and looked around me—only about a dozen hands were held high.
“Votes against?”
A wave of hands reached for the lightening sky.
“There you are then, sorry ladies, it looks like Sankt Jan Island will be your home for the foreseeable future.”
I had kept my eyes on Carmen’s all through the vote and her expression hadn’t changed.
“Just a moment,” I said. “Freedom has voted—Valkyrie hasn’t.”
“There’s only one vote, Gabriella, and I seem to remember your hand being counted. The women stay here.”
“We’ve only voted for Freedom’s account, we should also vote on whether they join Valkyrie. I could use some more hands, and we’ve all seen how skilled these women are.”
“Aye, she’s right,” someone called, and more voices murmured an assent.
I stared at Leo and he narrowed his eyes. I was doing exactly what he’d cautioned me against. “Very well,” he said. “All those in favor of the Awildas joining Valkyrie?”
Almost every hand was raised.
Leo nodded, but didn’t look pleased. Carmen nodded to me, and I held her gaze.
“Be very careful, Gabriella,” Leo said quietly. “There are too many of them, they could still take Valkyrie from you and I may not be able to stop them—especially after you’ve challenged me and my authority in front of them.”
I glanced up at him and saw he was extremely angry and only just managing to contain it. I wondered if I would regret this.
Chapter 64
GABRIELLA
6th February 1687
I had hardly slept after all the excitement of the night before, and left the group slumbering around the fire at dawn to wander down to the water’s edge. That was twice I’d almost lost Valkyrie already. I knew I couldn’t tolerate another threat, and now I’d agreed to sign all her attackers onto my crew, against Leo’s advice.
I looked at the carnage in the bay. Freedom’s fore-topmast hung overboard and Awilda’s single mast just topped the sparkling pink-tinged turquoise waves off her lee. Valkyrie, despite everything, was the only vessel undamaged off Sankt Jan Island.
I brought my attention back to the stinking beach, littered with charred turtle shell from last night’s feast and thought back. What had they used to set the sea afire? I poked at some of the sludge washed up on shore with a stick.
“Pig bladders and whale oil.”
I looked up, startled, at Carmen who had walked up behind me, lighting her pipe.
“Effective, wasn’t it?” She grinned.
I relaxed. “You’re not joking, you had those pirates running round the beach screaming like frightened babes!”
“A particular talent of Andy’s.” As she spoke, Andy joined us carrying beakers of hot chocolate. I took one and received a nod in response to my thank you. Andy did not seem to talk much. “She doesn’t hear so well,” Carmen explained around her pipe, “because of all the powder. She finds it easier to stay silent.” She smiled at her friend and held her hand a moment after taking her drink, then they sat down to face the sea and enjoy the dawn. I watched them for a moment: one tall and friendly, with hair scorched white from the relentless sun, the other dark, strong and silent. The sun’s pink light touched their left cheeks and I wondered what had brought them both to the sea.
“My mother was Spanish—I was named for her—but she died young and my Danish father had been a seaman all his life, there was nowhere else for us to go. For Andy, the sea was the lesser of two evils and it turns out she’s happy wherever there are guns. Why Valkyrie?” Carmen changed tack. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the name, she almost called to me. I’m from an old Viking family.” She laughed at my unspoken question. “Hence Awilda—a Viking pirate princess.”
I laughed, liking her in spite of my misgivings, and told her about my life on Sayba and how I’d escaped. “Valkyrie was the only name for her, nothing else would be good enough.”
“Sayba?” Carmen asked, her laughter gone now, and she puffed furiously on her long, white clay pipe. “You introduced yourself as Berryngton, not van Ecken.”
“Berryngton’s my maiden name. Would you use van Ecken’s name if you didn’t have to?”
“Bastard!” I looked at Andy in surprise. Her scowling face was red with fury and Carmen put her hand on her arm to calm her.
“The Dutchman and his pirates killed my father,” she explained. “I met Andy soon after it happened, and she’s very protective.” She paused, drew on her pipe, then used it to point southeast.
“We swore revenge on them and have sunk a few of their ships, but the place is a fortress and we haven’t found a way in yet.” She stopped, wary of saying too much.
“I can get in,” I said, “and I think I can get out again too, with help. I may still have friends there,” I added.
“It’s not a place to leave friends,” Andy observed. She obviously heard more than she wanted people to realize.
“No, it’s not,” I agreed.
“Any plans?”
“I’m working on it, and I think they may have just got a little stronger.”
“Does Captain Santiago share your ambitions?” Carmen asked.
“He does—he has his own scores to settle.”
“Not to mention having his eye on Dutch gold.” Carmen laughed.
“There’ll be enough to keep the men happy, that’s for sure,” I agreed.
Carmen nodded. Andy had lapsed back into silence.
“Do I take it Valkyrie hasn’t been in your possession long?” Carmen asked with a smile.
I looked at her and smiled back. “Don’t get any ideas, she’s mine and she’s staying that way.”
“I told you last night, we don’t mutiny. But we have experience, a lot of it. It appears we have the same aims.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” I mused.
“You’ll find a loyal crew in my girls if you’re going after van Ecken, and we’d enjoy sailing alongside the larger ship and her firepower,” Carmen said. “Are you sure about your decision to take us? Your man didn’t look too happy about it.”
I looked at her; enemy of mine enemy and all that. “Yes, I’ll take a chance on you, I’m short on both sailors and gunners, and female ones would be all the better, you’re welcome aboard my ship.” She nodded. “And Andy?” I prompted. “Your firesense will be essential.”
Andy nodded. I gathered she’d follow wherever Carmen led. Pleased, we shook hands, just as Leo joined us.
“Buenos días, ladies, I hope you slept well, there’s a lot of work to be done on my ship.”
“Morning. We’re just discussing Erik and Sayba—Carmen and Andy have their own history with him,” I said in greeting, then turned back to Carmen. “I’m pleased to have you aboard Valkyrie, but do not forget for a moment that she is my ship and I her captain. I will not put up with any nonsense. We sail in company with Sound of Freedom, and if you try and take my ship away from me again I’ll heave you overboard, throats cut, without a second thought—and there are fifty men on this beach who’ll help me do it. Do you understand me?”
“Ja, reckon we do.”
“That’s settled then,” Leo said. “And take note of what Gabriella said. She sails with me and is under my protection, I will not stand any threat to her or to Valkyrie. We’ll sort the articles out after breaking our fast, and then we’ll see how well you work. There’s a mast needs replacing and a tangle of rigging to sort out on my ship. You felled it, you fix it. Your woodwork and rigging skills had best be up to the same standard as your fireworks.”
*
Freedom’s fore-topmast had been felled by chainshot from Awilda’s cannon and hadn’t damaged any of the planking of the ship herself. Carmen and Andy helped Carrie, Annika, Jayde and Bess to clear the rigging, but Freedom’s crew stepped the new mast and handled the re-rigging themselves. It would be their live
s that depended on it, after all, not those of the women. I spent the afternoon in Valkyrie’s longboat directing the salving of Awilda. Andy had more whale oil and other materials which Valkyrie might find useful, and wanted all her guns up before the salt silenced them forever. We also wanted Carmen’s navigational instruments and some other bits and pieces. I was surprised at the lack of gold and other plunder being brought up and wondered where they’d hidden it.
Whilst they dived, I stared at the water and the black silk that swamped Awilda’s masthead. I wanted that too, Valkyrie didn’t have any pirate colors yet.
“You haven’t had her long, have you?” Carmen laughed as we hauled the sodden material aboard.
“A month or so.” I laughed back. “But she’s a beautiful ship!” She deserved more than an anonymous, plain black flag as well and I remembered Leo’s tattoo. Maybe we should have a symbol? It would set Valkyrie apart from the other pirates in these waters, and might help to band the new crew together. We were a bit of a motley mix, and I recognized I had a challenge ahead to bring together the women from Awilda and the old tars from Freedom, Gaunt and Davys, who had seen and done it all before. I knew they’d be instrumental in keeping order and my authority over an experienced captain and her crew, and I recognized that I’d be walking a tightrope between my old friends and my new. Then there was Butler and Greenwoode from the Adelheid, and Cartwright and the others from my slaver. If I was to command this crew effectively, I knew I had to prove myself in battle and profit, as well as seamanship, and I’d done neither yet. I was determined to do everything I could, and not make any more blunders.
*
Finally, we were ready for the off, again. My new crew started to haul up the anchor and the backed jibs swung Valkyrie’s stem toward the open sea. The anchor broke out and Andy and Greenwoode catted it whilst Carmen and Davys supervised the set of the sails. The jib was pulled through to leeward and we were free of the land, new colors at the mainmasthead. I stared up at the flag crowning my sails and grinned at the heart and cutlasses suspended over angel wings.
The Valkyrie Series: The First Fleet - (Books 1-3) Look Sharpe!, Ill Wind & Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure Page 44