The Pyrate

by Michael Aye

  A girl with long black hair and torn clothes came over. “Who are you looking for?”

  “Faith, Faith Anthony or her daughter, Maddy,” he said.

  “I will see if she’s here, some have been taken out by the pirates,” the girl told him.

  “Oh God, please don’t let it be either of them,” Cooper prayed.

  It seemed like forever when Faith walked up. Cooper had just about given up, not knowing when another guard might be making his rounds. Cooper put his hand out as Faith walked up.

  “Thank God, it’s you, Cooper.” Tears flooded her face and her voice trembled as she tried to speak, anguish in her voice. “They took Maddy, Coop, to the big tent. You’ve got to help her.”

  “I will,” he promised. “Keep the women quiet.”

  He went back to the edge of the trees and told the men what he had discovered. “Mac, you take half the men one way and Spurlock, you take the other half the opposite way. Quang, get inside the palisade and don’t let anymore harm come to the women there. Banty, you go with him.”

  “Where you going, Coop?” Mac asked.

  “To the big tent; I will attempt to keep things quiet but if I set off the alarm, you men give them hell. Make enough noise to bring the Raven in. It’s just now one thirty, but I can’t leave Maddy with the cutthroats another half hour.”

  The men drifted off like fog over the water. No one mentioned waiting. They just went to get in position. Quang and Banty cut a few ropes and squeezed in between the palmetto logs.

  Cooper spoke once more to Faith, “I’m going after Maddy. Get the women on the ground if shooting starts.”

  Deciding a bold approach was best, Cooper pulled his hat down and walked past a fire where two drunken sailors were pulling pieces of overcooked pork from the spit. One of the sailors grunted a greeting. Cooper replied with a grunt. Seeing a discarded rum bottle, Cooper bent and picked it up. The men at the fire were watching him but when he picked up the bottle, their attention went back to the roasted pig.

  The flap to the tent was on the ocean side. Cooper could hear voices inside, several voices. He recognized Maddy’s quickly. It was the only woman’s voice. She was cursing up a streak, calling the pirates names Cooper hadn’t heard. This only made the pirates laugh. Another voice, a man’s voice, begged the bastards not to hurt the girl.

  Cooper had to duck back from the flap as a man walked over and cussed the person begging for mercy for Maddy. He could also hear chains rattle and then ‘wham’. The begging man had received a blow. Was he dead? What was he hit with? Taking another look inside, Cooper couldn’t believe his eyes. Maddy was stripped naked. Two pirates were holding her down, squeezing and pinching her breasts. No way to do this quietly, Cooper thought to himself. He grasp the neck of the rum bottle and threw it with all his might. It hit the pirate who’d positioned himself to rape Maddy at the base of the skull. Down he went, but for how long?

  “What the hell,” one of the rogues snapped.

  Cooper pulled his pistols, praying Maddy would stay down and his aim would be true. Bang…bang, dead center. With surprise on their faces and curses on their lips, the men fell. Crimson poured from their chest wounds before they hit the sand. Cooper rushed over to Maddy but just as he got there, the pirate he’d hit with the rum bottle stood up. He blinked a time or two to clear his head, all the time drawing his sword. Instantly, Cooper pulled his from its scabbard, the blade making a rasping sound. Outside, the sound of gunfire seemed to be coming from all directions.

  “So you’ve come to save the wench, have you?” the man spat. “I’ll have your head and then pleasure myself with the tart while she stares at your headless body.”

  “Words,” Cooper threw back. “Words from a sodomite so used to the windward passage of boys, he can’t do proper service to a woman.” What was it Jean-Paul had said? Anger your foe. Anger him so he makes mistakes.

  The man was big…big and bald, with an earring in his ear. He’d taken his shirt off and the man’s muscles stood out in the lantern light. If the brute chose, he could kill Maddy before Cooper could do anything. I have to keep his attention and mind on me, Cooper decided.

  “No little boys around tonight. I’ll show you a boy,” the pirate said, as he charged.

  The slash barely missed Cooper’s head. It was so fast it almost ended the fight before it began. But Cooper was not without skill. His long hours with Jean-Paul were now to be tested. He’d never crossed swords with such a brute. Never had he faced an opponent so large and with so much strength. He realized he had no fear. After his foe slashed out, his weight carried him forward. Cooper whipped his sword about. The man had moved just enough that the strike was not true. Instead of cutting the man’s carotid artery, he cut off the lower portion of his ear. The ear and its earring landed on the sand.

  “There’s one ear, now for the other,” Cooper taunted.

  This time his foe didn’t rush. Blades clanged, the jolt went all the way down Cooper’s arm. The pirate advanced. He beat at Cooper’s blade, and then thrust with his sword. Cooper parried each attack as steel grated on steel.

  After the initial attack, the man slowed his pace. He gave up the bull-like rush, determined to save his strength. His anger was now in check. A smile crossed the brute’s face. “You are smart,” he said. “But Greekor is smart, too. I not fall for your tricks.”

  “You did once,” Cooper responded. “Look at the blood running down your arm.”

  As Greekor looked at his arm, Cooper bore in. He attacked with a vengeance. Once again blades clashed; clang, clang, clang. Cooper thrust and then countered Greekor’s riposte, and then thrust again. He was starting to tire but his blade had drawn blood in several places. None of the wounds were serious, but all were bleeding, and would soon cause his opponent to lose strength and let his guard down.

  Seeing his many wounds, Greekor went on the offensive. He pressed Cooper hard, beating his blade with all his strength. Cooper parried and countered but Greekor kept pressing. Backing up, Cooper stepped in a spot where the sand was unlevel and almost lost his balance. Sensing victory, Greekor’s eyes grew wide in triumph. He reared back and cut down with all his might. Cooper could feel the whoosh of air from Greekor’s blade as he dove under and forward. Off balance now, Greekor was turning when Cooper thrust his blade. He felt it sink in and he shoved with all his might. The sword had gone in under the armpit and into the top of Greekor’s lungs. The man fell, pulling the sword from Cooper’s grasp. Blood and bubbles came from his nose and mouth as death took the man.

  Exhausted, Cooper had to put his foot on the body of his enemy to pull his blade out. All his exhaustion seemed to be swept away as his gaze fell on Maddy. Damn, he thought, this is one hell of a woman. Different from Sophia, but where Sophia was exotic, Maddy was beautiful.

  Her voice broke his revive, “Am I that hard to look upon that you must frown?”

  “No, my beautiful lady,” he responded. “Were I not a married man, I would fight a hundred such as him, if I thought it would gain me favor in your eyes.”

  Maddy smiled, “Well said, sir, but would it not be proper for you to find something to cover me. It would be embarrassing for Sir Robert to come to and see me like this.”

  Cooper took off his coat and put it on Maddy as she held out first one arm and then the other. Not knowing why, he took Maddy’s hand and kissed it. “They didn’t hurt you, did they, my beautiful lady?”

  “No, you got here in time. It seems you always show up on time,” Maddy replied.

  The commotion outside was now sporadic. Most of the voices Cooper recognized as his men. Maddy and Cooper were freeing Sir Robert from his shackles when Faith, Mac, and several other men burst into the tent.

  Maddy rushed to her mother, “You should have seen it, Mother. Cooper killed them all.” Faith continued to hug her daughter, tears of joy running down her face. She mouthed ‘thank you’ to Cooper.

  ***

  “But I don’t understand,”
Sir Robert Basnight was saying. He’d been taken aboard Raven as soon as she anchored and boats were sent ashore. Beau Cannington had looked at his wounds, sutured up a scalp laceration, and advised Sir Robert that he’d be sore a few days but should have no lasting effects from his head trauma.

  The doctor then turned his attention to the wounded crew. There were not that many and no deaths.

  “Surprise was on our side,” Spurlock had said.

  “That and good rum,” Banty added.

  Sir Robert, Faith, Maddy, Cooper, Mac, and Johannes were all crowded into the captain’s cabin. Sir Robert was doing his best to talk Cooper into providing passage for all those rescued, which Cooper agreed to do. He’d take them to Savannah. There, they could get another ship to transport them to Antigua or wherever they wanted to go. But time was of the essence to Sir Robert.

  “I will pay you, sir. You will lose nothing if you provide passage, sir, you have my word on it.”

  “I can’t,” Cooper repeated.

  “Sir, as a British gentleman, I implore you to do as requested.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why, sir, why after all you’ve done thus far, do you refuse?”

  Cooper took a deep breath and blurted out, “Because, I’m not a British gentleman. I am a pirate. A bloody pirate, sir, that’s why.”

  A silence filled the room. Mac was staring big-eyed at Cooper, not believing his friend had just admitted to being a pirate to a British lord. Surely, they were now all doomed for the gallows.

  The silence was broken as Sir Robert let out a little laugh. “Damme, sir, but that was frankly said. As a British lord and as the next Governor of Antigua, I can promise you safe passage, not only to Antigua but your voyage home as well.”

  A discreet knock was heard at the door. Cooper walked over to it. When he opened the door, Spurlock was there. “All the supplies have been loaded and boats recovered, Captain. I’m thinking maybe we should set sail.” By supplies, Spurlock meant all the plunder they had confiscated. His remarks meant they’d been lucky there was no ship in port to have to battle.

  Now it was time to get the hell out of the area before one or more ships returned. In which case, they’d not get away with as much as they now enjoyed.

  Speaking to the room at large, Cooper said, “We will speak of this later. Now, it’s time we make our departure.” As Cooper followed Mac and Johannes out of the cabin, Maddy brushed by him, as she passed she whispered, “Sir Pirate.”

  ***

  The marine sentry knocked on the door of the admiral’s stateroom, “Flag captain, suh.”

  “Morning, David,” the admiral greeted David, his friend since they were both midshipmen together.

  “Did you hear the cannon go off, Sir Gabe?”

  “Aye, Jake mentioned it was only one gun.”

  “Yes sir, that’s all that was fired, but they have a signal hoisted. To flag, send barge,” David said.

  “Damnation,” Jake Hex exclaimed. “Who’s ordering Sir Gabe to send his barge?” Hex had been Sir Gabe’s cox’n nearly thirty-five years. As such he came and went, and spoke when he pleased. You didn’t mess with the admiral’s cox’n, not if you enjoyed being in the Royal Navy.

  “I wondered the same, Captain,” David offered. “I then put my glass on the approaching ship. Seeing what I did, I ran right down.”

  “What did you see?” Admiral Anthony inquired.

  “I believe Sir Robert Basnight is standing on the ship’s quarterdeck. I wasn’t totally sure, sir, but I’m one hundred percent sure it’s Faith and Maddy standing next to him.”

  “Damnation, call out my barge,” the admiral exclaimed.

  “I have sir, and mine as well.”

  It was a rough looking lot that stood along the rails of the ship as the admiral’s barge came alongside. Sir Gabe Anthony, Vice Admiral, Royal Navy climbed out of his barge, up the battons and through the entry port. Protocol demanded he be greeted by the ship’s captain before rushing his wife. Faith cared little for such things and rushed to meet her husband as soon as he stepped on the deck. His daughter followed her mother.

  All the passengers had been treated well by the crew, but in the time it took to sail from Culebra to Antigua, Maddy had become the crew’s favorite. She even asked to sign the articles so she could be part of Raven’s crew. She was dressed in some seaman’s clothes that were given to her by Banty. But right now, she was daddy’s little girl.

  After Gabe had been greeted by his family, Sir Robert stepped forward. “It’s good to see you again, Sir Gabe.”

  “Aye, and you sir,” Gabe replied.

  “Thank you. Now let me introduce you to our rescuers,” Sir Robert said.

  “What was that?” the admiral asked.

  “These men rescued us from a horde of cutthroats, like you never could imagine. We owe our lives and more to the good men of the Raven,” Sir Robert replied. Introductions were made and invitations were extended.

  ***

  “I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t stay. We are overdue for Savannah,” Cooper said.

  “At least let me arrange to have payment for our passage brought to you,” Sir Robert said to Cooper.

  Shaking his head no, Cooper said, “There’s no charge, Sir Robert, just that letter you mentioned would be fine.”

  “Yes, that you shall have right away. May we, the admiral and I use your cabin for a moment?” Sir Robert asked.

  “Certainly,” Cooper said.

  After a few minutes, Jake Hex, who had followed the admiral down to the cabin, came on deck. He went down to the barge and handed one of the bargemen a note along with verbal instructions. In a little more than an hour, the Raven was underway with letters from Sir Robert and Admiral Anthony allowing them safe passage by any British ship.

  As Faith and Maddy made ready to leave the ship, they both hugged and kissed Cooper and Mac. “Thank you for all you’ve done. We will always be in your debt.”

  “We’ll not forget you,” Cooper said, as the women made their way to the entry port. Maddy looked at Cooper and said, “I bet you don’t forget me, Sir Pirate.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  The week in Savannah went by so quickly, Cooper and the Raven’s crew had hardly started to enjoy the city’s many wonderful delights. Beau Cannington went along with Cooper and Mac as they went hunting with Jonah Lee and Moses. Horse races were attended and of the five, Beau was the only one who showed any proficiency at the game of golf. Each day was filled with activities, some with Sophia, and some without, but the nights were all hers.

  They attended a play and a concert given by local musicians as a fundraiser for some worthy cause. Cooper had told Eli, Debbie, and Sophia of the rescue, half expecting disapproval from his former captain and mentor.

  “Aye, lad, it’s a good deed you’ve done and I’d like to think I would have done the same. But if any of the blackhearts lived to hear your name or see the name of the ships, it’s a marked man you are. Diabolita or Little Devil, as I’ve heard him called is one of the most violent men that sails the sea. Except for Roberto Confresi, I don’t know of any others who associate with him, not even Gaspar. If he was not at Culebra he was either headed to Cuba to set up a sale for the women or perhaps setting up ransom for Sir Robert. He may have even gone to Mona Island. That’s where Confresi makes his quarters.”

  After much discussion, Eli recommended a quick trip north towards Nova Scotia and if they didn’t run into a British convoy to look at the triangular trade routes. “Just make sure any ship you take is not an American. The Don’s have half a dozen ports where they take their cargo in South America. Most of those are on the eastern coast of Brazil but some will be headed to the West Indies and Cuba.”

  Captain Eli Taylor was not as successful as he was, without gathering knowledge during his entire career. Therefore if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for Cooper Cain.

  Their last night at home, Sophia asked, “Have you thought of a nam
e for our home?”

  “Not really,” Cooper admitted.

  “I don’t want it called the old Oxford place forever,” Sophia said.

  “Do you have a name in mind, dear lady?” Cooper asked.

  Sophia sat up in the bed, letting the covers fall down to her waist. The moon shining through their bedroom window highlighted her chest, her hair, and her cream colored skin, and her perfect breasts. Cooper Cain couldn’t have cared what she wanted to name their home, their land. Her beauty had him in a trance, hypnotized in awe. Her dancing eyes, her lips of fire, and her flashing smile. Truly, he was the luckiest man alive.

  “Falcon’s Trace. Coop…Coop. Did you hear me?”

  “I’m sorry, Sophia, I’m intoxicated.”

  “You’ve not had that much to drink,” she said.

  “It’s not the alcohol, my love, it’s you. I’m drunk on your love.”

  Sophia laughed. “You’ve a glib tongue, Cooper Cain. You think you can lure me into your arms by being so…so flattering. Now do you like the name?”

  It could have been sheep dung and Cooper would have said yes. Nodding, she smiled. “Do you really like it, Coop?”

  “I do,” he responded.

  Sophia pushed him back and lay over on his chest. “I’m glad. I will have a sign made and hung across two poles at the gate. Falcon’s Trace. Cooper and Sophia Cain’s place.”

  “No, Sophia,” Cooper whispered. “Falcon’s Trace, Cooper and Sophia Cain’s home; and one day the Cain family home.”

  “I like that,” Sophia whispered in Cooper’s ear as she inched over and lay on top of him. Her breasts crushing into his chest, the pulse of her heart beating against his. Two hearts beating together.

  “Damn, I love you,” Cooper vowed.

  “Until I die,” Sophia whispered in reply. “Until I die.”

  ***

  The Atlantic was showing its might and the heavy waves crashed against Raven as she climbed one huge wave and then fell into its trough. Water crashed over the bow and sluiced down the channels and out the scuppers. Overhead, the wind whistled through the rigging.