Ill Wind and Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure (Valkyrie) (44 page)

Almost three months and six prizes. My Valkyries were forging one hell of a reputation for themselves, and my flag of falchions, heart and wings was feared all around the southerly Caribbees. I should have been satisfied, but there was something missing. Well, someone. But there was nothing I could do about that, it was too late. He was dead. I would never see him again. Unless . . . unless Blanchard was wrong and he still lived. But no, it wasn’t just Blanchard, Carmen had heard the tale too, although wasn’t treating it seriously, but then she didn’t care one way or the other, did she? I put my hands to my head and grabbed fistfuls of my hair. I couldn’t stand not knowing. I wanted to scream – in both frustration and terror. I felt tears threaten.
What if he’s really dead?

‘I don’t like it.’

I turned to Carmen. ‘What?’ I snapped.

‘Hornigold,’ she elaborated. ‘The skraeling’s been looking for us for all this time, telling every ship and port he wants us, but we’ve not seen even a flash of his sails, and I don’t like it. He’s got something planned.’

‘Whatever he’s planning, we’re ready. The Valkyries are working well together. Andy has the gunners drilled to perfection and we’re more than a match for him now.’

‘I know that, but I still don’t like it. He’s been at this game a long time and I don’t trust him; he’ll turn up when we least expect it and when we’re not ready. We should search out
Freyja
, and take
him
by surprise.’

I looked at her. I knew her well enough now not to disregard her advice out of hand, but where would we start? The Carib Sea was big and he had friends – many more than we had.

‘What do you suggest?’ I asked.

Her eyes narrowed and she squinted to windward. ‘Sail,’ she said, then shouted up to Annika in the tops. ‘Sail to windward! What do you see?’

‘Twinmaster, topsail on the fore. Main gaff-rigged!’ Annika shouted back. ‘Hull down!’

I looked at Carmen with new respect. She had good eyes.

‘You don’t think,’ I said. ‘
Freyja
?’

She shrugged. ‘Hard to say, we’ll know soon enough. Andy?’ She raised her voice. ‘Ready your guns!’ Then, quieter, to me. ‘It won’t hurt us to be prepared.’ She knocked the contents of her pipe overboard and I nodded. In these waters it was more likely a slaver or merchantman, but Carmen was right, we’d find out soon enough.

‘Break out the Cross of Saint George,’ I ordered. If it was
Freyja
, we may as well pretend to be friendly and give ourselves some time.

‘Annika!’ I called up the mast. ‘Steady reports please! Identify her as soon as you can!’ I didn’t want to shout
Freyja’s
name across the decks yet, just in case it was a false alarm.

Butler hoisted the white flag with its vertical red cross and pulled on the line to free the silk. If the other vessel was English, she may well decide to intercept us for gossip or trade.

‘She’s changing course!’ Annika shouted down. ‘And she’s flying a George Cross of her own!’ Whoever she was, pirate or prize, she was coming. ‘It’s
Freyja
! I’m sure of it!’

I moved to the ratlins to go up and have a look for myself, but stopped before I started to climb and smiled ruefully at Klara’s worried look at my belly. I couldn’t risk my child’s life.
Leo’s child
. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders.

‘Out of the way, Captain.’ Carmen laughed, took the glass from my hand, and reached the tops in record time. ‘Ja, that’s
Freyja
!’ She slid down the shroud and landed next to me, still laughing. ‘Great! A fight with the skraelings!’ She rubbed her hands together. ‘Time to show him exactly what we think of him.’

‘Let’s just concentrate on surviving this,’ I tempered, not quite as excited at the prospect. Our usual targets were merchants, not warriors. This would be different. ‘They’re still over a league off, any ideas?’

*

We knew
Freyja
was fast downwind – she carried a lot of canvas for her size, just like
Valkyrie
– but she wouldn’t manoeuvre quite as well, and needed more hands to work those square sails on her foremast. For the moment, we needed to get her off the wind. Not only was she running on her fastest point of sailing, she was to windward of us, giving her too much of an advantage and
,
if I could get her working her sails, we might get a better idea of the size of her crew and even pull some of them away from her guns.

‘Let him come to us,’ was Carmen’s advice. ‘He thinks he’s stronger than we are and we ran last time we met, he’ll remember that.’

I agreed and shouted, ‘Get in the tops’l! Stow the forecourse!’ I turned back to her as the quiet deck erupted into action and thumping feet. ‘Just in case he hasn’t recognized us, we don’t have to make it obvious who we are. What would a merchantman trying to get away do?’

Carmen smiled. ‘Harden up and try to sneak past.’

‘You heard the lady,’ I said to Carrie on the helm. ‘Harden up as soon as the square sails are in.’

‘You know she won’t let us get to windward,’ Carmen added.

‘Of course she won’t, but with the gaff sails on both masts we’ll have the advantage over her, and force her to act. Will you let Andy know the plan?’

‘Already done,’ said a voice behind me, and Carmen laughed.

‘She has a sixth sense about upcoming battle, you should know that by now!’

‘Get me in range and we’ll take her,’ Andy said, a rare smile on her face. ‘We’re ready, we’ve been waiting for a proper fight.’

‘Well, you might get one,’ I said, the familiar nerves jumping in my belly. I rubbed my hands over it. I didn’t relish the fight quite as much these days. ‘Launch the longboat, fill it with gold and put two oarsmen in it, but don’t let
Freyja
see. We may need it today.’

‘Fire bow cannon!’

As we expected,
Freyja
hardened up to keep the advantage of the weathergage and we fired at her larboard side from two hundred yards. I realized we were re-enacting our last meeting, only we’d swapped places. And
Valkyrie
had a six-pounder mounted in her bows with a longer range than the two-pound swivel chasers
Freyja
had attacked us with at St Vincent.

‘
Yes
, hit!’ Andy screamed from the bows. ‘Got her amidships.’

‘Stand by to gybe,’ I shouted, and helped Carrie push the tiller over to windward.

‘Let go the sheets.

‘Break out the true colours.’

Valkyrie
circled away from
Freyja
in the breeze – fresh enough to give us speed, yet not too strong to swamp us as we spun away.
Valkyrie
lay over as the main- and foresails slammed across and refilled with wind at the same time as my flag cracked open in celebration. Once again, Andy’s firesense triumphed.
Freyja
was holed. She was still to windward of us, but she couldn’t tack or gybe without taking on water. She had to keep her damaged board to leeward and that meant
we
now had the advantage. We’d need it – though it was unlikely to be enough.

Cannonball hit the water around us as we kept turning. The gunners were all at their pieces, which made it hard work for Carmen and the other three sailors who were working the sheets, but that couldn’t be helped. The sails needed hauling in as we hardened up and we had to do it as quickly as possible. I wanted to keep Hornigold guessing and reacting to us. I knew I couldn’t let him take the lead –
Valkyrie
had to be the aggressor if we were going to live through this.

‘Ready about!’

We came up behind
Freyja
and into the wind. We had to tack, and tack quickly so our bow cannon could fire on her stern. She was already firing her stern chasers (more two-pounders) at us, and there was nothing I could do about that yet. I noticed her own colours were flying now – blood red, la jolie rouge. No quarter.

‘Haul in! Haul in!’

We needed to be quicker, the sails were taking too long to come in; we needed to be faster!

Freyja
fired again and my outer jib shredded; he was using swan shot – canisters of musket balls – and had targeted our sails. We still had the inner jib, which was essential to manoeuvring quickly, but we’d be in big trouble if we lost that one too.

‘Bow – fire!’

Butler and Andy both hit
Freyja’s
stern, but not her rudder.

‘Reload, fire again!’

I heard Klara echo my shouts forward and hoped both gunners could hear, but they knew what to do and fired again within two minutes.

A scream chilled me and I looked up to see Annika crashing down off the maintop and into the sea, she had fallen on
Valkyrie’s
roll to leeward, and missed the deck.
Freyja
had targeted our sails and my sharpshooters. I realized I didn’t know if she could swim. I doubted it.

‘Klara, no! Stay where you are!’ She’d run towards the larboard rail, but Jayde was already there with a line to throw.
Freyja’s
next shot sounded across the deck and knocked Klara off her feet.

‘Klara!’ I screamed again, but could do nothing for her. I had to leave her where she lay. I pushed the tiller to leeward to try and get to windward of
Freyja
, but the other vessel wasn’t having any of it and luffed up herself. I reached for the ship’s bell and clanged it six times. The gunners fired a broadside, then everyone held on to shroud, mast or stay.

‘Ready?’ I asked Carrie. She nodded, we had to time this just right, we wouldn’t get a second chance. ‘Now!’ We heaved the tiller to starboard.

Cannonball bullied their way through the air around us as
Freyja
fired a broadside, but we were soon bow on again and most splashed either side of us. The ones that did find us missed our rig and inflicted only nominal damage to our woodwork.

Butler and Andy worked hard at the bow cannon, and Bess and Greenwoode fired a medley of musket balls and sharp shards of metal through their sails from the swivels, then quickly sheltered behind the bulwarks. I prayed we had enough speed to ram them before they got in a lucky shot. It was a risky manoeuvre, and one Leo had cautioned me never to take, but he wasn’t here, and I thought it was our only chance of besting Hornigold.
Freyja
was bigger, more heavily armed, and had a larger and more experienced crew: we had to risk it all for this slim chance to come out on top.

‘Brace yourselves!’ I shouted to my crew as
Valkyrie’s
figurehead made contact with
Freyja
midway between fore- and mainmasts. The way the bow had been carved, with the unicorn in a solid beam of wood, gave the structure a great deal of strength.

As the boats collided, the bowsprit shattered and the remaining jib blew free. The larger sails were left to flog and the Valkyries charged – running full pelt and unimpeded as
Freyja’s
crew were still trying to work out what was happening.

We’d hit them amidships where
Freyja’s
mainmast was secured and it had fallen, bringing down a massive tangle of rigging and sail across her decks and crew, who were scattered and down, having to disentangle themselves and get into better positions before they could fight back. A few had gone overboard at the moment of impact and more were dispatched as they tried to struggle free.

My eyes met Obi’s. We both wanted to go to Klara, but neither of us could leave our posts. The best thing we could do for her now was win this fight, but I could tell his attention was split. I hoped it wouldn’t kill him. Or me.

We’d gathered and loaded all our pistols and muskets, storing some at the bow with Butler and Andy, and the others on the foretop platform with Annika and Baba, ready to pick off as many of our rivals as we could. I took Butler’s place at the bow, freeing him to join the rest of the Valkyries aboard
Freyja
. It would be up to me and Baba to make sure the fight did not stray to
Valkyrie’s
decks, and up to Carmen and the rest of the Valkyries to claim
Freyja
for our own.

Frustrated that I had to stay behind, I watched the two crews fight until I couldn’t make out who was who. I heard only howls of excitement and pain, the clashing of metal blades coming together with full force, the odd pistol shot and the noise of my small cannon as I targeted with grape shot – a canister of small ball – any man who tried to mount the unicorn. This fight had to stay aboard
Freyja.
If I allowed even one buccaneer aboard
Valkyrie,
we were done for.

At last, I saw
Freyja’s
crew pushed back into the tangle of their own dismantled rigging, and suddenly Hornigold was there, right in front me, pulling himself up the hooves of my unicorn. I grabbed a pistol, aimed and fired, hitting him in the face. He fell, and I thought gleefully of telling Leo I’d hit the man I was aiming for, smiling until I remembered he was dead. At least I’d killed one of the men who had taken his life.

I fired another, but not quickly enough. The man who had gone for Butler cut him before he fell. I watched in horror as Butler slowly sank to his knees, his bloodied hand grasping at his belly. I got a glimpse of something grey and slimy, which he caught and pushed back inside. He looked up at me with a look of surprise on his face, then crumpled to the deck.

‘Butler!’ I jumped up to go to him, but realized we had to finish the fight first, and fired again to send a hail of ball and shot over the heads of the writhing mass below me.

The Freyjamen backed up in a huddled group surrounded by Valkyries, with nowhere to go and no captain to lead them. Almost as one, they dropped their weapons in surrender, with Andy the only one left still trying to fight.

*

We’d done it, it had been no easy contest, but we’d bested the bigger, better armed boat and more experienced crew against the odds. Yet it seemed a hollow victory – we’d taken heavy losses and didn’t have
Freedom
to celebrate with. I shook those thoughts off, time enough for that later – there was much to do before we counted the cost of this battle.

I rushed to where Klara lay in a pool of blood, and stroked her face. ‘Klara?’ I whispered.

She moaned, but didn’t open her eyes. I sat back on my heels and let the tears fall. She was still alive. I looked up and shouted for Bess. I only left Klara’s side once Bess had taken my place and I could be sure she would be cared for. Walking away from her when she was so badly hurt was the hardest thing I’d ever done, but I knew I had to check on the rest of the crew.

I carefully lowered myself down to
Freyja’s
deck to walk my latest conquest. Andy was herding the men that were left to the foredeck, and Carmen and Greenwoode checked our wounded and made stretchers from
Freyja’s
downed canvas to get them back to
Valkyrie.
Obi looked at me, but I couldn’t meet his eyes. He rushed back to
Valkyrie
.

I moved to join them, wanting to find out how badly my crew was hurt and if anyone else had died, but a shout rose up.

‘Sail oh!’

I was torn, I wanted to go to Klara and the others, but the whole crew was my responsibility, and I needed to find out what was happening, prepare for what came next. Were they friendly, or more pirates?

‘They’ turned out to be both.

‘It’s
Sound of Freedom!
’ Baba cried.