Lions of the Sea

44

They both brushed their way toward each other among the fighting men, oblivious to everything else.

Castillano flashed a fierce smirk as he raised his sword, intending to deliver a blow that would rip her chest open. But she dodged it. They traded a few stabs, and only then he thought that maybe his wounded arm in the sling might play against him. An odd he hadn't foreseen, rashly seeking her out. He tried to overcome her but she locked his sword and yanked it off from his hand. Then she took the steps between them, hit him just below his left shoulder with the hilt of her sword and sank her knee up his crotch.

He bent over himself, stunned with pain, his good hand going from his crotch to his wound and back.

She grasped the chest of his coat and shoved him backwards, away from the fight. He staggered back until he hit a pillar. She let him crouch down there. Castillano could only worry about breathing, and trying to stay conscious despite the blinding pain.

The child crouched down by him and grabbed his hair, forcing him to look up. He found her face closer than he expected, and her apologetic grimace puzzled him.

"I'm sorry, Castillano. Tonight I have no time to play fair," she said. She made him rest his head against the pillar behind him, still grabbing his hair to keep him from trying to move it, and put her sword to his throat. "Look, Spaniards!"

Her loud words caught the gunners' attention and they turned to her.

Sore and panting, Castillano would've liked to be furious, but he had to set his jaw to keep from smiling. Damned child! Once more she'd caught him at his own game, and he'd fallen for it like a damn fool. What was it he'd thought that very morning? Oh, yes, "men didn't kick each other in the crotch." Well. He should've kept in mind it was no man he was dealing with. And there he was, his men's faces blurred behind the myriad of stars pain painted before his eyes. Which didn't keep him from noticing the dogs had surrounded them.

"Drop your weapons or the Lion dies!" she said, and the threat in her voice was as real as his pain.

Castillano managed to nod without slicing his throat open against her blade. He didn't want any of them to die because of him. He heard the clatter of knives and swords dropping.

"Maxó, Oliver!" she called.

Two men approached her. Dogs. One of them had an ugly scar across his face. He looked familiar. His first battle against the Phantom. That dog was among the men with the child on his bridge. And also at the battle against the Sovereign. He was pretty sure that dog had been the one who'd helped Wan Claup, already wounded, to reach the Royal Eagle.

They grabbed his arms and the child stopped them, saying something in French. Careful with his wound? Had he gotten that right? Apparently, because they dropped his left arm and grabbed the collar of his coat instead, forcing him to his feet roughly.

"Take them to the hold and lock the hatches," the child said to the other dogs, and turned to him. "I hope you can walk, Castillano, 'cause you're coming with me."

The dogs grabbing him pretty much dragged him to the aft hatch. The fresh cold air of the night revived him as they pushed him up the companionway. The child wrapped her arm around his good one and put her sword to his throat again. In case he were in any shape to try to resist, the sturdy hands on his shoulder and the back of his neck told him the dogs were still there.

"Spaniards!" the child shouted when they stepped out of the hatch.

The soldiers around them did just like the gunners below: they paused their fight and turned to her in surprise. The pirates paused too, expectant. Like an rippling wave, the fight stopped all over the Trinidad's deck. The blond giant pushed his way to them and gave her a loaded pistol. She sheathed her sword, grabbed the gun and pointed it at Castillano's head. She looked around and up at the bridge, where Alonso and Lorenzo watched them in shock.

"Let us go or I'm killing Captain Castillano!"

She didn't wait for an answer, and tugged at his arm to take him with her to the larboard gunwale. The pirates surrounded them as they retreated, while soldiers gave them way, growling curses and threats.

She had his men jump back to the Phantom, keeping Castillano by her side until the last wounded dog left the Trinidad. He looked up at the bridge and his sign stopped Lorenzo from ordering his men to attack and set him free.

He wasn't about to miss a chance to board the Phantom and see her with his own eyes. And try to find out how come the child had turned that gang of lowlifes into such an efficient troop. Despite his sore crotch, he was sure his life wasn't in danger. Which amounted to the best irony he'd ever come across.

"Come, Castillano," she said.

He turned his back to his people. He didn't get to wonder how he was supposed to climb the gunwales: his escort shoved him over to the pirate ship.

While the seadogs hurried to cut the ropes tying both ships together and make sail, the child kept Castillano against the gunwale, face to the Trinidad.

"Try anything and I'll kill him!" she shouted to Lorenzo and Alonso. "Let us go and you'll have him back tomorrow!"