“Now ’ang on a minute, lass . . .” Gaunt said.
“There are no slaves aboard Valkyrie, and Leo is not my husband,” I started, but she hadn’t finished.
“We’ve no business being out here with this crew, you should’ve run for shelter as soon as the wind started getting up.” This from the woman who hadn’t wanted me to take in the topsails.
“If you carry on like this you’ll kill us all! You’ve already killed one man, who’s next? If it’s one of mine I promise you there’ll be trouble. You’ve no business being out here!”
“Are you challenging me?” I was cold. I had suspected this was coming, I’d have had to be blind and simple not to, but I’d been hoping for a bit more time.
“Lass . . . Captain . . .” Gaunt cautioned us.
“Damn right I am!” Carmen ignored him. “This boat deserves a better captain—so far you’ve left her sister ship and the strength and opportunity Sound of Freedom lent us, you’ve killed Cartwright, risked all our lives, and we’ve not taken an ounce of gold or a single coin. This is not what I signed on account to! I call for a vote. I’d make sure the crew worked together and pulled their weight out there!”
“Stop this now, the pair o’ you! Leo Santiago’s captain, whether he’s ’ere or not! This boat is still under his command! Thee can’t change his crew without his say so! Settle down!” Gaunt tried again.
“How can the crew work together if we can’t?” I retorted, ignoring him myself now. “If you’re arguing with your captain, how can there be any discipline or unity out there?”
“Then put it to a vote. As he said, Santiago isn’t here.” She glanced at Gaunt, then glared at me again, “You’ve left him and his protection—and his command. You’ve mutinied. You’re on your own, so let the crew vote. If you’re voted captain, you’ll have no more trouble from me, and if I am, we’ll all live longer and get rich in the process!”
“And what would you have done differently? We haven’t spotted a prize to take, and you’d have kept the tops’ls flying out there—how would that have kept us alive and rich? You know what? Yes,” I said. “Make course for the lee of St Vincent, let the wind drop and everyone rest. We’ll hold a crew council, make a decision and get on with it.” I realized the first step for the crew to come together was to elect their leaders in the tradition of the Carib Sea, and I had to accept whatever and whomever they chose. Listening to Carmen rant and abuse her crewmates, I thought I had a good chance of winning and would take that whilst I could, and before she and the men realized I was with child. With any luck, Carmen had played her hand too soon. “In the meantime, get back out there and sail my ship.”
Her lips pursed in a tight smile and she left the cabin. I looked at Gaunt in dismay as he shook his head in silent yet obvious disapproval.
Chapter 74
We spent the best part of three watches drifting to leeward under small canvas until we were in a good position to seek shelter in St Vincent’s lee, and the storm still raged. It had been an exciting sail, but we were all relieved to be at anchor and nursing our aches and pains, out of danger. Cartwright’s death had shocked us all, and I knew Carmen was right. As captain, his death was on my hands.
The sails were furled, those that hadn’t been struck for patching, anyway, and Valkyrie was pumped nearly dry. My crew were hard at work repairing the rigging. The new topyards had chafed against the shrouds, and some seams had worked loose in the hull as she’d ridden the waves, but all in all Valkyrie had weathered the storm well. All my own pains were in my arms and legs, not my belly, thank Neptune, although that didn’t keep Klara from fussing. There was no sun and the charts gave me my parallel, so I made up the log early, then went up to the damp, windy and fresh deck to face my challenger.
All looked snug aloft, and the gray cloud raced above my mastheads. I looked with pride at my colors whipping overhead, and which let the inhabitants of this island know we were as much outcasts as they were. I hoped they’d stay exactly where they were—I had no fight with them, and didn’t want to take up arms against the Black Caribs. A community of Carib Indians and escaped Africans, they were known to guard their island fiercely—especially against Europeans.
I looked at my crew gathered on the maindeck under the awning rigged against the rain. Klara doled out chunks of roast goat, calming the grumbling about being called out on deck as everyone gorged on the delicious meat and drank their rum. It was too cramped below for this, and anyway, I wanted to enjoy the freshness before the sun baked us again. I looked around at my motley crew.
Carmen stood in the middle of the maindeck surrounded by her Awildas and smoking her pipe, looking confident. Gaunt, Davys and Obi were on the quarterdeck, and Butler and Greenwoode flanked the rum cask, all sucking hard on their own pipes. Baba had joined Carmen’s group. I sighed; it was only to be expected, and I understood the women had been working toward this since we had left Leo. The captaincy probably rested in the hands of that one man.
I took a beaker of rum from Klara and held it up in a salute. “To Cartwright,” I toasted. “He was a brave man and will be much missed.”
I drank and the crew followed my example. “Cartwright,” they all murmured.
“We’ll say goodbye when we head out to sea again, he would not want to be buried so close to shore.” Everyone nodded and drank again, then looked at me expectantly. I took a deep breath. There was only one way to do this and that was to dive straight in.
“As you all know, a challenge has been made for captain. Everyone on this vessel has chosen to be here, and it’s time to decide how we sail forward. At the moment we’re strangers, but we need to start living and working together as shipmates. We’ll vote on captain and ship’s officers, agree and sign new articles and make plans to take some gold!”
A muted cheer went up and I smiled. I didn’t know if I’d be addressing them like this again, and I determined to make the most of it.
“Valkyrie is my ship and she always will be, but I am only her captain with your blessing, and I hope you will continue to trust me with that responsibility today. It’s time we stopped being Awildas and Freedom Fighters. From this day on we will all be Valkyries, we will all have our place on the crew and will be shipmates—family.” I paused and looked around again at the men and women on deck.
“Nowhere else in the world can we live like this. Women, maroons, outlaws. Nowhere else do we have so much choice, so much power over our own lives and decisions. Today we will all exercise that power of choice.”
I walked forward and jumped onto the rum cask on the maindeck.
“I am asking you to elect me your captain today. I know I haven’t been at sea long, but in my short time in this life I have taken this beautiful, handy ship and not only led a successful raid on a French merchantman, but defended this very vessel against surprise attack.” Laughter rippled around the deck, the Awildas laughing hardest of all. Even Carmen smiled around her pipe.
“I promise you I will fill this boat with gold and coin, and I’ll do my utmost to keep you in one piece while we do it. Everything I’ve learned about captaining a pirate ship, I’ve learned from Captain Leo Santiago, and I won’t forget what he has taught me. But if you think I’m soft—a lily-livered landlubber.” I looked at Carmen. “I remind you that I’ve also learned at the hands of Erik van Ecken. Do not doubt that I am a pirate captain.” I pointed to the masthead and my flag whipping in the wind, and met every eye in turn.
“Those colors threaten broken hearts and death by our blades. But look at the wings supporting them—they symbolize me through the angel I’m named for. Those colors will be feared the length and breadth of the Carib Sea by the time I’m done.”
“I’m sure they will, but you’re not the only pirate captain aboard this boat.” Carmen stepped forward to stand next to me, but I didn’t relinquish my higher position. “And I’ve been proving it for years. I know better how to win gold, and a lot more than the measly shares we took from tha
t French ship and left behind!” She glared at me. “I know better how to keep a boat above the waves, and I know better how to fight. And the only way you defended this boat against surprise attack was with the help of the Sound of Freedom, whom you mutinied against. You cannot do this on your own. You don’t know how.
“Oh, and I don’t have the distraction of an expanding belly,” she added and looked at me in triumph. I met her eyes and kept my face impassive.
“I’m not one for long speeches,” she continued, looking back at the crew and meeting every eye. “There’s only one thing I have to say—you will live longer and richer if you choose me as your captain.”
I was surprised at her brevity until I remembered that she’d been preparing for this, probably since she first came aboard, certainly since we’d parted ways with Leo. She’d already done all her talking, every day, and her Awildas had helped. I remembered again how they’d been paying attention to the men.
“Are there any more contenders?” I asked.
“Aye,” Butler shouted. “Mr. Gaunt for captain!”
“Nay, nay. I’ve nay ambitions there, Butler. I’m happy as quartermaster. We shouldn’t be voting on captaincy anyhow, not without Santiago ’ere.”
“You’ve hit the nail on the head, Mr. Gaunt, Leo isn’t here—we have to do what’s right for Valkyrie in our present circumstances.”
I beckoned to Klara, jumped down and took two sheets of paper and writing sticks from her, then spiked both of them to the cask. I wrote Carmen’s name on one, and my own on the other.
“Make your marks and drink your rum. Then we’ll talk ship’s officers!”
Chapter 75
It was close. Baba voted for Carmen and everyone else voted as expected. We had seven votes each—I’d only won by my own, casting, vote. If Cartwright had lived, Carmen may have won.
It wasn’t all bad news for Carmen though. She was elected quartermaster, much to Gaunt’s shock. It seemed the crew wanted a second-in-command who would challenge their captain, rather than encourage and protect me. We’d have to make it work, I could not afford any more mistakes.
We divided the crew into two watches run by Carmen (starboard) and my new second mate Davys (larboard). Jayde was elected bo’sun, Mr. Gaunt ship’s carpenter, and Klara was now officially in charge of the galley she’d more or less taken over anyway. Then we agreed on articles. They were unsurprisingly similar to Freedom’s, but not quite as generous to the captain and officers. I could live with that, Valkyrie was still mine.
So I had my ship’s officers and crew. I wrote out the names as carefully as I could on the swaying deck, with space for each crewmember to sign their name, or make their mark if they didn’t know their letters, and passed the sheet around along with my falchion to swear on.
“Sail oh! Sail to west’ard, twinmaster, no colors!”
I gave the articles and writing implements to Klara to put away and jumped into the rigging to see for myself, just as a plain red flag broke out at her masthead: Freyja. She was making her way round the headland, probably looking for shelter to ride out what was left of the storm. Damn, we weren’t ready to take her on. Bess struck three bells for five of the clock, and I grabbed the bell rope from her grasp and rang it wildly for attention.
“All hands! All hands! Starboard Watch, man the halyards—jibs and mains’l! Larboard Watch, make ready to weigh anchor!
“Andy, not you—stick to the guns.”
I had to laugh at the look on her face—as if she’d be anywhere else with an enemy ship heading toward us. She took Baba and Butler astern and starboard and got ready to fight.
I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my excitement, but couldn’t help grinning when I caught Carmen’s eye as she knocked out her pipe, and I saw the same exhilaration reflected on her face. I turned aft again to check on Freyja. She had tacked inshore, was laid over and gaining on our position fast. We didn’t have time to weigh anchor after all, we had to leave it.
“Mr. Gaunt, go forward with an axe and stand by to slip the cable as soon as the jib’s set. Send the larboards aft to the guns.”
“Tell them to run out the larboard guns first,” Carmen interrupted.
“What good will that do?” I demanded. As we came round off the wind, Freyja would be to starboard not larboard.
“The weight will lay Valkyrie over and help the rudder,” she explained, impatient. “It’ll help us get underway.”
Gaunt nodded agreement.
“Very well,” I agreed, not sure I entirely understood, but realizing I had to start to trust my new quartermaster. “Go ahead, Andy, run out the larboard guns.” I was too late; she was already running across the deck with the larboard watch in tow.
I looked again at Freyja. “Put your backs into it!” The sails were creeping up the masts, but it was a hard job at the best of times. Soaking wet canvas and a new crew did not combine well. A splash nearby told me Freyja was getting too close. Her cannonball would soon do damage, and there was nothing I could do about it trapped and tethered between her and the shore. We needed to get way on, and quickly.
“Mr. Gaunt, stand by!” I shouted into the wind, knowing it was unlikely he’d be able to hear me. Mind you, he knew better than I what was needed. As carpenter he was the most skilled with the axe and would be the one to repair any damage if he missed his target. I could be sure he’d split the cable first time and at the right instant.
Finally the head of the first jib reached its mark and was made fast. Carrie and the others ran to starboard to start hauling the sail in on the wrong side to pull the bows around, and Gaunt raised his axe ready to cut us free.
Carmen shouted something to Andy, and I joined Davys on the tiller, all of us ready for the first bite of wind. There! Davys and I shoved the tiller hard over to larboard, the jib filled, and Gaunt’s axe fell. We were adrift and our bows slowly turned to starboard.
I felt a sharp pain in my right arm and was surprised to see blood. Freyja had hit us at last and the starboard quarter-rail was in splinters. I flexed my arm. Not a serious problem, just a scratch. She was only at the limit of her range; it had been a lucky shot.
“Haul away on that main halyard! Carrie, I want it reefed, then get ready at the mainsheets!”
There was no time for anyone to rest; the boom swung over as the bows turned, and the mainsail flogged madly as it climbed the mast. The deck heeled and I heard a rumble; the guns were run out and now I understood why Carmen had suggested it. The shape of Valkyrie’s hull at this angle helped to push her bows off the wind, quicker than if we’d had to rely on the rudder and jib alone.
The main was up and being hauled in. I risked another look to leeward and Freyja, and couldn’t help but admire her. She’d be in more sheltered water soon, but at the moment she was full and by (full of wind and by the wind) and there was no better sight at sea, no matter who stood on the quarterdeck. Sails full and bellied, her hull was laid over and water sluiced her windward rail. She was a little bigger than Valkyrie, also with two masts, but was square-rigged on the fore and had a large gaff on her main. That gave her an advantage over us with the wind dead fair, but we had the advantage here; as long as we could get moving, that is. She ignored the two-pound shot Baba and Butler fired at her from the stern gun—she was still too far away for that to be a problem—and I shouted at them to hold their fire until they could make it count.
“Let go the jib and set her to starboard!” I shouted, and immediately the small triangular sail set between mast and bowsprit flogged and filled to leeward, then the mainsail filled and we straightened up on the tiller.
“Haul in larboard guns!” I shouted, and Carmen echoed my words down the deck.
“Ready the starboard guns!” Again, Carmen relayed the order.
We slowly picked up speed, Davys watching the water carefully to make the most of the wind swirling around this sheltered bay. Freyja tacked and was now headed straight for us. It was a straight race, and Freyja was
gaining. At least she was heading into the same windshadow that held us, and which would soon slow her down.
“Stand by to fire,” I screamed, echoed once again by Carmen to the men and women at the guns.
“Fire.”
“Let go the mains’l,” Carmen shouted, then: “Fire,” she repeated. As we lost the wind and the deck leveled off, the guns boomed, their ball traveling much further than they otherwise would have, thanks to Valkyrie’s flatter angle.
“Haul in the mainsheet!” Carmen shouted, and ran to lend her own muscle to hemp, whilst cannon were hauled in, sponged out and reloaded.
I looked back at Freyja. She headed straight for us, presenting a much smaller target bows-on than we did broadside-on, but she only had small guns in her bows, and I laughed out loud remembering the frustration I’d felt when Andy had cut the gunport in Valkyrie’s bow. If Hornigold had done the same, he’d have had us; as it was, we had a good chance of getting away.
I could see him now on his quarterdeck through my glass: a tall, thin bald man, with a long goatee and the usual broad shoulders and bandy legs of a sailor, and I remembered his dark eyes and the thick black eyebrows that I found so startling.
I dropped the glass and glanced at Klara, remembering it had been Hornigold who had hurt her that last night at Brisingamen—and many times before. He wouldn’t hurt her again—ever. She stared at Freyja, her face set, looking more ready for a fight than I’d ever seen her.
“Fire when ready, Carmen,” I shouted forward, knowing she was better placed to decide when to adjust the sails to give the guns their best chance of hitting Hornigold, and happy now to trust her judgement.
We’d almost reached the eastern headland as the mainsail shivered again, Valkyrie flattened and another broadside flew Freyja’s way. Yes, a hit to her bows! Too high above the waterline to cause her much consternation at the moment, but he wouldn’t be able to take her out past the lee of the island in that state. Not in those seas. I looked forward again at what awaited us. The wind might be dropping, but the sea was still high—those waves were twenty-footers at least, and they’d be confused. The waves kicked up by the storm and interrupted by the island would combine with the easterly Atlantic swell in unpredictable and dangerous ways, and it was getting dark, but we had no choice, we had to go.
The Valkyrie Series: The First Fleet - (Books 1-3) Look Sharpe!, Ill Wind & Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure Page 48