“Fire!” I shouted—it was my only option.
Chapter 68
The next ball splashed into our wake. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were out of range. I turned my attention from the cliff above and astern, and looked forward once again. Eckerstad would have heard the guns. We were no longer attacking a sleeping port. The men at the fort to the south of the town would be at the ready with primed guns. Any ships in the harbor would be ready to fire. The people of the town would be running to safety. I had no doubt van Ecken would be the first to hide. Still I could not wear round. Blackman was working as fast as he could, I could hear him cursing his assistants clearly—I couldn’t rest until the sound of his voice had been muffled by lead.
“Ready bow and larboard guns,” I shouted, trying to sound sure of myself to instill some confidence in my men; already knowing my plans were doomed.
“Bow cannon find your targets!” I wanted the six-pounders in the bow to target the biggest ships in the roads—the ones most likely to be carrying armaments.
“Bows—fire!”
The largest ship in the harbor was hit by both ball. She fired back, but her crew were no master gunners. She missed.
“Bow—fire again!”
No return fire—her crew were busy trying to save their ship, and themselves, from foundering. I didn’t think any of the other smaller vessels posed a threat to us, so concentrated on the town itself.
“Larboard guns, fire!”
Shorefront buildings crumbled.
Boom!
The fort had opened fire. I had thought we’d be well out of range here in the northern reaches of the bay, but they had big guns, maybe even a thirty-two-pounder. Their first ball hit the water to starboard and a cable length ahead. Too close. My own guns kept up the bombardment on the town, my six-pounders wouldn’t trouble the fort from here, and I shouted at my crew to harden up—to sail as close as possible to the wind—to delay entering the range of those guns for as long as possible.
“Blackman! What’s taking you so long? Get that patch fixed pronto!”
“Nearly there, Capt’n!”
His voice was not nearly muffled enough, and in the meantime, we were sailing closer to the fort and her guns. We’d soon be within their range.
“Fire larboard guns!”
There was nothing else I could do but cause as much mayhem as possible. I listened to the screams just audible from the shore. Is van Ecken’s amongst them?
Then a scream from my decks, a cry I realized had originated in many throats—including my own. A ball from the fort had found our main-topsail—the biggest and most powerful sail of our rig. Not only had it shredded the sail, it had knocked Thompson off his perch on the maintop—I’d find out later if he was dead—and destroyed the rigging holding the topmast aloft.
A tangle of wood, hemp and canvas descended on our heads. Frazer shouted at men to get aloft and cut away the topmast and attendant rigging—shrouds, ratlins, braces, sheets and the like—but I knew Sound of Freedom had never been more vulnerable.
Chapter 69
“Twin sail to the west!”
My heart lurched at Juaquim’s shout, but I spun to starboard and brought my glass up. I would not have believed things could get worse: holed, maintop sprung, mainmast itself in danger of following, fired on by Eckerstad’s fort. The only course Freedom was able to lay was dead ahead toward Eckerstad itself, and now two ships were approaching. Both flew blood-red flags: Blake and Hornigold.
I recognized Freyja, Hornigold’s boat, easily enough, but this was the first time I’d seen Blake’s new vessel, the Dutch Pride. My heart sank. Although I’d heard the Carib sailortown gossip of Blake’s survival, part of me hadn’t believed it. I hadn’t wanted to believe it, but I couldn’t deny it now. My glass picked out the familiar, heavily bearded figure on the quarterdeck of the three-masted ship. A little smaller than Edelweiss, the Dutch Pride was just as heavily armed. Both vessels headed our way.
“Blackman!” I roared, by way of encouragement.
“Nearly there, Captain!” came the muffled reply.
I looked up at the mess atop my mainmast and winced.
I looked to starboard at the fort—we couldn’t bear off in that direction. There were too many big guns.
I looked ahead—the shore was coming up fast, too fast, even with the loss of the main-topsail.
Now that we were past the headland and had water, my only option was to tack soon, and pray my hull and rigging would stand up to the strain.
Tacking was the hardest, and—in this situation at least—the riskiest maneuver a square-rigged ship could undertake. She had to turn through at least ninety degrees, with her bows passing through the wind. For a time we’d be going backwards. Away from the waiting shore, yes, but straight toward Blake and Hornigold, and we only had two-pounders mounted on the sternrail. The manoeuvre would put a great deal of strain on Blackman’s patch, and I had no way of knowing just how securely he’d been able to fix it. He was the bo’sun, not carpenter, the sails and rigging were his area of expertise, and I had no time to check his work myself. If only Gaunt . . . No, I could not think like that, could not get distracted. I had to focus on the moment, on this situation, and try and get us all out of it.
I looked up at the rigging again. If I tacked too soon, I could lose the mainmast—we’d be at Blake and Hornigold’s mercy.
“Mierda!”
Even if we made it, we’d still have to run the gauntlet of Brisingamen’s headland gun, this time with Freyja and Dutch Pride in hot pursuit.
Mierda!
“All clear for going about!” I gave the first command to prepare the crew for the tack. I noticed a number of wild glances aft, but they all ran to sheets and braces, ready to haul the sails round. They all knew the stakes, especially as ball now hit the water both astern and close to starboard. Hardening up earlier had kept us at the limit of the fort’s range, although the current was slowly and inevitably dragging us into it. At least Blake and Hornigold were not quite near enough—yet.
I had no hands spare for the guns now, I needed all hands to trim the sails and do it perfectly. Our bombardment of Eckerstad stopped.
“Helm a’lee!” Thomas thrust the tiller to leeward to push the bows into wind.
“Mainsail haul!”
Men shouted heaving chants as they hauled on mainsail sheets. I watched the rigging, trying not to show my crew my tension. The yards swung round. We all held our breath as we drifted backwards. If we were going to get stuck, this was when. If we were going to lose the mainmast, this was when.
“Let go and haul!”
We made it. All we had to do now was set the sails on the new tack. I heaved a sigh of relief, we were round and the mainmast had held. Now I only had Blake and Hornigold to worry about—and the gun on the cliff top, of course. I pointed my glass toward my enemies and prepared my gunners to fight.
Chapter 70
GABRIELLA
13th February 1687
Seven Leagues West of Dominico
I woke to find Klara in the cabin with hot chocolate, fresh bread and meat.
“You don’t have to do that, I’m not your mistress.”
“No, you’re my captain,” she replied, smiling. “And you need to eat.”
I sighed and heaved myself out of the cot. Yes, I was a pirate captain, but at what price? Why did I have to lose Leo? What else would I have to lose to be free in this world?
“Drink, you’ll feel better.” Klara shoved the beaker of hot chocolate at me. “You have a boatful of confused people out there; they need to know what your plans are.”
I nodded, and made a huge effort to suppress my desolation and fear. I was the captain of this vessel, that had been my choice, and it was time to act the part. I had a quick wash, gulped my breakfast down, used the privy ledge and went topside just as the bell rang five times. It was midway through the morning watch, about six of the clock. The sun was climbing rapidly, we had a gentl
e breeze and Valkyrie was sailing well. I went aft to Carmen, who was standing her trick at the tiller, to check the course, then walked down the deck to hear Mr. Gaunt’s report. He was at the mainsheets instructing the crew on the set of the sails.
“Morning, Mr. Gaunt,” I interrupted. “Is all well?”
“As well as can be, I reckon,” he grumbled. “I hope thee knows what thee’s doing. Thee should never have left the Cap, lassie, never. Who knows what’ll happen now. I don’t like it. I tells thee, I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I, Mr. Gaunt, but I had no choice, I couldn’t stay, not after what he did. I couldn’t stay, so let’s just make the best of it shall we?”
“Aye, lassie,” he muttered.
“Aye what?” I asked sharply. He looked at me. “Captain. Aye, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gaunt. I’m relying on you, you know. I’m going to need your help to get Valkyrie through this. I’m sure Leo would expect it.”
He looked at me and I wondered if I’d gone too far, but if my quartermaster wouldn’t respect me as captain and show it, why would the rest of the crew?
“Aye, Captain,” he said with a hint of a smile. “That’s more like it, but thee’ll have to do this without calling on the cap’s name, thee knows. But I’ll help thee, don’t fret about that.”
I touched his arm. “Thank you, Mr. Gaunt,” I almost whispered. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear that.”
I looked around and my eyes met Carmen’s at the helm. She couldn’t possibly have heard us, but I didn’t like the small smile I could see around her pipe.
I went back to the quarterdeck and looked over my boat again. The enormity of what I’d done had hit me whilst I had been talking to Gaunt. I had seven men I thought I could rely on, although I was only sure of two of them, and they were all annoyed at my leaving the man they still thought of as their captain. Added to that, five women looked to a sixth and still thought of her as their captain. What had I been thinking? The only person aboard I knew I could trust fully was Klara. She’d never taken to sails or gun and seemed to have taken over the galley, but, thanks to her, I was sure Obi was my ally. And Gaunt, of course. I knew he wasn’t happy and was still loyal to Leo, but I also knew he looked on me as a daughter and I trusted him completely. I realized he’d be the key to my captaincy—if he showed support, then Davys, Butler, Cartwright and Greenwoode would most likely fall into line. I had no idea where Baba’s loyalty lay.
Carmen and the Awildas, however, were my biggest problem, and by the looks of it, the problem was growing. I noticed the men each had an Awilda working closely beside him. Was that coincidence, or was Carmen preparing the way to make a challenge against me? Or did the women just want some male company after sailing together for so long? Bloody hell.
Carmen smiled at me. “A motley crew,” she said.
I looked at her, not sure of her motives, and realized I didn’t like them, whatever they were. I knew she was unhappy at leaving Freedom’s firepower behind, and the tentative friendship we’d enjoyed at first was gone.
“Umm,” I replied. “What’s Andy doing?” She was heading forward with a bag of tools, chased by Gaunt.
“Oh, she’s sorting your guns out for you,” Carmen explained. “It looks like she wants a gunport in the bows. I think your carpenter is going to help her. Now that we’re on our own, we need to be better prepared.”
“Nobody cuts holes in my ship without my say so,” I stormed. “And I doubt very much Mr. Gaunt wants to help.”
I left her smirking at the tiller and headed forward once again.
“Put down the saws,” I ordered, in my best commanding voice. “How dare you cut into Valkyrie without my knowledge or agreement!”
“You told me I was Master of Arms. I cannot be a master gunner without gunports. We’ll be chasing a multitude of ships and need a bigger gun here now that we’re on our own.” Andy turned to continue what she was doing, and the similarity of her words to Carmen’s was not lost on me.
“You still need to report to me before you make any structural changes on this boat, and Mr. Gaunt needs to agree the change.”
“Will a gunport here cause any weakness to Valkyrie?” Andy asked Gaunt.
He examined her marks, then said, “Well, no, but that’s not the point, lass.”
Andy glowered at the epithet. “I am used to being trusted and allowed to get on with my duties,” she stated. “Is that not the case aboard Valkyrie?”
I could feel myself losing this one. “Of course it’s the case, but please let me know before you cut into my ship!”
She nodded and turned back to her work.
“What gun do you want to place here?” I asked.
“I’ll bring up a six-pounder from the waist. We’re hunters—chasers, we need more range forward.”
“But they’re iron guns, there’s too much spray forward—the salt will rot them!”
“I’m a master gunner, Captain, and excel at my craft. I will take care that it does not,” she replied stiffly. I could not think of another reason to stop her and looked at Gaunt helplessly. He shrugged.
“I’m changing the other guns too,” Andy said, her back still to us.
“What?”
She stood and turned. “I’m changing the other guns too. They’re all different sizes and take different balls and powder. I want you to target ships with six-pounders to match those I brought from Awilda. If all our cannon are the same, we’ll be more efficient, and there’ll be fewer mistakes with shot and powder.”
She turned back to her saws without waiting for an answer, and I realized she hadn’t actually asked a question. I stared at her back in frustration and clenched my fists. I knew I was in grave danger of losing my temper which would only make things worse. I forced myself to turn and walk away. I’d have to find a way of controlling the pair of them, but at the moment I didn’t have a clue how to go about it.
“Thee’ll have to keep an eye on that ’un, Captain,” Gaunt said. “She’s a law unto hersen, and won’t do a damn thing she’s told. Be careful with the both of ’em. There’ll be trouble there, thee mark ma words. Aye, they’s trouble, them two.”
“Yes, I know, but we’re stuck with them, Mr. Gaunt, so we’ll have to make the best of it,” I managed to say quite calmly. I looked up at the sky. “Nearly noon, time to take a sight, will you accompany me?”
He smiled. “Aye, ’course I will, lass.”
He was teaching me how to carry out the day’s work by dead reckoning, but was kind enough to let me pretend he was keeping me company. I went below to the cabin to get the backstaff, then joined him on the foredeck where we’d get the best view of the sun on this course, Klara’s words ringing in my ears—another warning to beware Carmen. She’d noticed Carmen smiling at my altercation with Andy, and thought she’d set it up in the first place. I was to keep a close eye on her. At least that wouldn’t be a problem on a boat this size, but it didn’t help me to know what to do with either her or Andy. They’d both been at sea a lot longer than I, Carmen on the quarterdeck of her own pirate vessel. She was a more experienced sailor and leader, and was already making trouble. Although without directly threatening my position, I couldn’t accuse her of mutiny. Does she still want Valkyrie for her own? And with a ragtag crew at best, how will I stop the Awildas taking her?
Chapter 71
“We’d do better tacking round and finding Sound of Freedom again, lassie, thee knows that don’t thee?” Gaunt reiterated. He was not going to leave it alone.
I studied the shadow cast onto the unwieldy backstaff by the noon sun behind me, and said nothing. The length of my arm, it had a large arc at one end through which I sighted and used to obtain one reading, and a smaller arc at the other end with a shadow vane which I adjusted to the sun to give a second reading. Our line of parallel, or latitude, was the sum of these two angles, but it wasn’t easy to decide on the right numbers when I was constantly heaved about on deck.
“Whatever went on ’tween thee and Cap, thee can mend it. The both of thee have been through so much and come out the other side, thee can get through this an’all.”
“No we can’t, Gaunt. You don’t know.”
“I knows enough.”
“No you don’t!” I shouted, unable to keep hold of the temper that had been threatening to engulf me since I’d last seen Leo. “He hit me! He threatened to put me in irons! He’s just like my father, just like my husband! I won’t have it! Not from him, not from anyone!”
Gaunt stepped back as I shook the two-foot-long backstaff at him.
“I don’t think it were that simple, lassie,” Gaunt said.
“Gabriella? What’s wrong?” Klara had arrived.
“Of course it was that simple,” I shouted, shaking Klara’s hand off my arm.
“You defied him in front of the whole crew. That were mutiny. He had to show his authority—to thee and to everyone else. Does thee not think that might have summat to do with it?”
“Damn him and his authority!” I screamed. “He knows about Erik and he knows about my father, and he threatened me anyway!”
Memories of my father flooded back and I shook them off. I’d been free of him for years and done so much, why was he in my thoughts now? Erik had been little better. Well, he’d been worse really. He’d looked remarkably similar to my father when his temper was ignited—even though they’d never met. Erik had been worse. He’d used a weapon as well as fists—his cane—although he’d usually been careful enough not to leave any visible bruises larger than the width of his thumb. The times he broke this rule of thumb, I’d been so incapacitated that I couldn’t have shown anyone the evidence of his brutality anyway. Except for Klara of course, and she and the other slaves didn’t count. I should be grateful, he hadn’t really had to take the care, as nobody on Sayba would have done anything about it. He could have killed me at any time, at his leisure. Then Leo had turned on me, and threatened me, and Gaunt was telling me to go back!
The Valkyrie Series: The First Fleet - (Books 1-3) Look Sharpe!, Ill Wind & Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure Page 46