Mark Read

Chapter l - The Privateer

The hull rumbled. Mary stirred from a shallow sleep. Her hammock rocked gently, hanging the ship's rafters above her. The damp room was dully illuminated by a lantern that rested on top of crates of food and grog. Without the lanterns the room would be pitch black. Mary rubbed her sleep groggied eyes, still blurry in the lantern light. She could hear the other privateers snoring in the hammocks and cots surrounding her. They were still fast asleep as far as she could tell. Mary wondered what time it was. There, in the sleeping quarters below deck, there was of no way of knowing what the sun or stars were doing on the other side of the boards.

Mary stretched her arms above her head releasing the stiffness from her spine. A hammock isn't the most ergonomic way to sleep, but Mary couldn't complain too much. She had experienced worse throughout of much her life. However the aches in her joints made her miss the creature comforts she experienced during her brief life in the Netherlands. Her Netherlandish self was now a stranger. She was a fool to believe that it could've lasted long. Everything passes. Pain, comfort, everything. She was born into what she was born into.

Her hammock rocked, and she repressed her thoughts. She couldn't go soft. From her time in the navy, she knew that survival meant existing in the present. If she lost herself in thoughts of the past, she could be killed or lose her mind. She'd seen both happen to brave men. She still wasn't sure which was a worse to go. She began to think of the tasks she would start working on once her feet hit the floor. The deck needed washing. The privateering ship she was on had managed to acquire some food off of the Spanish ship they ransacked yesterday. She would need to take an inventory of what they had stolen. The English crown didn't provide well for its privateer ships. The crown provided the crew and enough rations to get you to the West Indies, but not enough to continue to sustain the crew after arrival. The ship itself was privately owned by a wealthy land owner, who was still back in Essex. A donation to the crown.

The hull vibrated violently. Mary heard the unmistakable sound of the mast snapping and falling onto the main deck. The ship was immobilized. She whipped out of the final dregs sleep stupor. Another vibration rocked the hull so hard that she was thrown to the floor alongside a few other crew mates and some of the gas lanterns. Fire caught on the straw cots where the lanterns cracked open. The lantern oil spread from the cots to the floor, carrying pools of fire where it spilled.

Another impact. The sound of hull boards breaking filled the ablaze room like lightning cracks ripping and reverberating all around. Moon beams began streaming in through newly established holes in the ship. The sea water gathered on the floor and around Mary's hands and knees. Mary grabbed her holster and cutlass and fastened the leather strap around her waist. The water was now almost two inches deep. It spread the oil. The oil ferried flames. Mary's eyes stung from the smoke which filled the top half of the room. Mary squinted through the dull orange smoke. She could see the disoriented shadows of the crew around her. They were scrambling to put their boots on and arm themselves for whatever was waiting for them above deck.

Mary reached out to the closest silhouette. She grabbed his arm, yanking him towards ladder. As he began climbing the rungs, Mary yelled, "Get you arses to the main deck!" She continued to pull the crew members she could reach to the exit in the ceiling boards. Mary raced the billowing smoke as they both climbed up the ladder.The fire below had started catching the walls on fire.

Mary's hands reached the lip of the main deck. She pulled herself up. The smoke was too dense for her to see her surroundings, but the clanging of swords and the snapping of flintlocks was hard to mistake. Mary ran headlong into the commotion, drawing her cutlass from her hip as she strode forward. The smoke thinned around her the farther she ran from burning room. She raised her sword and slashed it downwards on the first stranger's face she saw. The man fell to the deck. Pirates. Mary's first interaction with pirates as a privateer.

Mary lunged at another stranger. He caught her sword with his. Mary pressed forward. The crossed blades pushed towards his face. Mary could see the white around his dark brown eyes. His eyes looked rabid, but his complexion was smooth. Mary hesitated. After years working on a boat, Mary's skin was wrinkled and scarred from the sun. The pirate took the opportunity and pushed Mary backwards. She quickly regained her footing. The pirate closed the space between them. The pirate went straight for her throat with his blade, eyes blazing. Mary stepped aside, causing the man to stumble. Off-balance from the lack of impact. Mary broke the little balance he maintained when she kicked the leg he had his weight on out from under him. The young pirate fell to the deck, dropping his sword in the process. Mary saw smoke rising up from the seams in the main deck's boards. Mary was standing directly above the powder room.

She grabbed the pirate up off the deck and dragged him to the railing. "Abandon ship!"she yelled to whoever could hear. She pushed the pirate she had been sparring with up and over the railing. He was her height, but had a small frame. She hoped he could swim. Still drowning was better than burning. She threw her leg up and over the railing. She paused before leaping into the water to look back at the ship. The smoked was now obscuring the entirety of the main deck. Mary saw the edges of swords swinging, making currents in the smoke.

Mary swung her other leg over the railing to face the ocean. She pushed off and fell into the sea below. Under the surface she saw a glowing orange light above. She swam up and gasped for air in the smoke that floated above the water. The ship burst. The boards and nails of the hull became shrapnel. Mary felt something strike her forehead. A tunnel of black choked her vision. She slipped from consciousness and into the inky depths of the ocean.