Chapter Nine
When I was sure Elena was safe below the deck of the newly made Fortuna, I turned from the stairwell and back towards the main deck, surveying the damage carefully. A man had fallen to his sudden death on the deck near the main mast. Both his legs splayed out awkwardly from beneath him at odd angles, and his face was a bloddy mask of horor. His was the only death on board, however.
Men were still picking themselves up from the deck, pulling sharp shards of woods from their arms and legs like giant splinters, and wiping the remnants of ashes from the smouldering sail that had taken the brunt of the canon fire. Beyond the sails and the wooden railings of the port side, naught else was damaged. I hurried to the helm to set the direction, towards the incoming fog bank with all haste. If we were to survive with the governor's own ships after us, it wouldn't do to meet them in battle, three to one. Outrunning the brigades was much more plausible, and as long as the wind stayed in our favor we would fare well.
I strode the deck nervously, calling to the men who had taken posts as helmsmen, the ship falling into a natural order that only men who made a trade of sailing knew how to form. Still it all felt odd without Smythe by my side; the old Irishman was worth ten of the soldiers around me. After the loss of my ship to Callahan only days ago I hadn't expected he survived. Smythe would go down with his ship like any captain should, and like I hadn't. But for my cowardice I had been awarded a goddess by the gods who sat on high, and for that I was thankful. After all, no one ever bet on a pirate's honor.
An hour later, two of the pursuing ships had gained nearly a dozen boatlengths, and soon would be within firing range for at least their forward cannons. I considered a plan of action alone, and called to two of my new helmsman to join me.
Callahan's Relentless had been known for its manuverability on the high sea. As a point of style Callahan would appear out of nowhere and then fire off repeating rounds of cannon fire, aiming to disable the ship with blows to its steering. But the governors own would be second rate sailors at best, and if the governor himself were aboard and in command, he no doubt would be too proud to retreat from an attack. I hoped I could use this to my advantage.
Jamison and Holmes stood before me with wide grins. Both I had known since they were lads too short to see over the sidewalls of the Fortuna. "Glad to see you made it out alive,Captn Remy," said Holmes with a wink. "After Callahan destroyed the Lady we all thought you was a goner."
"Come now Mr. Holmes," I scoffed, "You know good and well it'll take more then a surprise attack to be rid of me. Now tell me, how many guns do we have?"
"I counted sixty on either side last I was below deck, Captn," answered Jamison. Holmes gave a nod.
"And the crew? Have we enough men for each?"
"More'n enough, Captn," Holmes answered, "We can be ready to fire in twenty minutes I reckon."
"See to it then, Mr Holmes. I want every man not tending to rigging below deck on a cannon. I mean to spill the wind from her sails until they've caught us and then spin around give them hell. Prepare three teams of twenty spaced evenly along the port side, and have lads ready to run the cannons back and reload them. Hurry now."
"Aye!" Holmes called with a tip of his cap. He turned away, calling the names of several dozen men as he quickly disappeared below deck.
"Mr. Jamison, can you fight?" I asked the young standing before me. He was in his prime, maybe twenty or twenty one, his sun tanned skin and dark flashing eyes confident. I shook the curls out of my eyes and looked .
"Aye Captn, I'm as good with a musket as any man and can grapple against three men unarmed. Don't think I would stand a chance against your sword, though."
"Pray you will never come to find that out," I told him with a smile, placing a palm on the hilt of my rapier. "Gather some strong men and arm them, be ready in the rigging to board. We aren't going to get out of this without a fight. Wait for my command."
"Aye, Captn Remy!" Jamison also gave a tip of his cap and was gone.
I called to slow the ship and listened to the creak of the vessel as she slowed, coming to a float in the middle of the sea. The governor would be upon us in half an hour. I peered through a spyglass at either shop, counting the guns and men aboard each. The Fereon and the Raider both bore thirty cannons and two masts, and sat much higher in the water then the Fortuna now did. Each had a dozen marines along with the ship hands, officers and captains of each. No doubt the governor of Oporto was either safe ashore on safe aboard the third vessel which wad hanging back, far out of range of our guns and the battle. I cursed, wishing I could pay the man back for my swollen right eye.
"Hard to starboard!" I called several minutes later, feeling the shop shift beneath me. We came around in a fury of movement, poised to fire on my command. "Fire!" I called at the top of my lungs, feeling the boom of a dozen explosions as the Fortuna gave hell to each ship in turn. "Fire!" I called again, and the second crew let fly, splattering the hull of the Fereon with cannon shot and leaving her a cloud of smoke and debris.
A moment later the Fortuna was between either ship, having turned full circle in the sea to one at either man of war quickly. "Steady now lads," I called to Jamison, tensed with his men ready on both masts. No sooner did the gut wrencahing sound of ship against ship hit our ears then I called for the attack, my men swinging from the sails to board either ship, waging two battles at once. Grappling hooks and long wooden spikes landed across to grasp on to either ship with sharp talons.
"De Saviola!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, flinging myself down the stairway and to the Fereon's main deck, running across a thin plank in three steps and a jump. I landed nearly on top of the burliest of men, wrapping a sharp side of my rapier across his neck. In a singe motion he was no more, and I let his corpse slump to the ground before me. Another man turned and drew a sawed off shotgun from his belt, pulling back the pin just as I dashed forward and swiped, knocking the clumsy weapon from his hands. He stammered and drew a cutlass but I hacked him down without another glance, searching the ship for the captain. By the god's he would surrender his sword to me or I would kill him, and the Fereon would soon be mine.
A dance of blades whirled through the air and met with the bite of steel against steel as a group of soldiers advanced with bayonettes affixed to the front of their mustkets. I was able to cut down the slowest of these and dance around the rest, parying and blocking what thrusts I could, dodging and avoiding the gunfire. It wasn't until I made my way past the marines that I realized what kind of captian I was looking for. Certainly the governor of Oporto entrusted a third of his marines to only the best of captains, and that title fell to few men in Oporto, the city of a thousand boats.
The captain would surely be cowering in his quarters, ordering the attack from the safest place.
I sliced and diced my way down to the belly of the ship and went after the man with the navy captain's obnoxious hat balanced precariously atop his balding head. He seemed to pale when I stepped forward, a look of indignation spread across his features.
"You!" He shouted, pointing to me with a bold forefinger. "How dare you presume to attack a representative of the king!"
I had no time for small talk. The most important thing was to retrieve the man's sword and then cut him down, and take what men I could with me if the ship went down. Hopefully my men would find me before the battle found an end. And then I remembered Elena, and took a step backwards, realizing what I had almost done. Elena was waiting for me in the Fortuna. Dying was not an option. I sprang forward, kicking down the first broad door that I came to, drawing my sword against whoever was inside.
A dark man with the look of the men of my own country eyed me silently. It was easy to tell that he was in control. "Signore," I gave a small bow, leveling my blade with his throat. "Do you submit?"
"You come alone, De Saviola?" the captain asked, motioning to the guards around us. I advanced on him with two steps. "I am offended."
A trickle of blood ran down his neck where the sharp point of my blade cut him harshly. "Yeild, signore, or I will be forced to cut your throat."
In an instant, two of the soldiers attacked from either side of the room. I withdrew my sword from the captains neck to block the first attack and then kicked out to stop the man from completing the second. He flew back into the oak paneling of the cabin wall with a thud, stunned for a moment, long enough for me to turn back to the first man and disable him with a blow.
"Remy!" I heard a voice I knew well call across the room and I turned in time to see Elena with a crossbow in hand, letting loose a bolt that killed the man who had snuck up behind me with a knife. He had dropped his weapon and stood in shock, as a bloody stain grew on the front of his shirt.
"Elena," I breathed, more thankful to be alive then angry she had disobeyed me. She lowered the crossbow and smiled.
"I had a feeling you'd need my help," she told me. I turned back to the captain.
"Come now, I haven't got all day," I encouraged him to surrender, standing over the dead soldiers who no doubt had been sworn to protect him. Aside from the three of us the cabin was now empty, and from the sounds above our heads and the continuing cannon fire, it would not be long before the Fereon was overtaken.
With a scowl the captain lowered his own sword to the ground, and then offered me the hilt, the ultimate sign of surrender. Elena stepped over the dead men to stand beside me, her crossbow aimed at the sea captain.
"I don't usually make it a practice to offer mercy to my enemies," I told the captian, who was watching Elena warily. She did look rather crazed. "But I offer you a high position on board my ship, in exchange for your loyalty. I'm leading a ship of criminals, and could use a knowleged man aboard.
The captain's scowl deepened and without a pause he spat on the ground between us, the ultimate gesture of ill will. "I would never be a pirate, you soulless vagabond. Your mere offer offends me greatly."
"Well then, sir, if that is your final decision, we shall have our leave," I told him, unaffected by his words. Without a second thought I turned the hilt of his cutlass against his head, rendering him unconscious with a single blow. I hadn't the time to kill him.
Elena dropped the crossbow and fell into my arms, still panting. "Are you alright?" I asked her, holding her at arms length to check her body as best I could.
"I'm alright," she told me, half a smile playing across her face in her relief. "I couldn't stay put, not with you fighting."
I nodded, having known as much from the moment I asked her below deck. As much as I wanted her safe, I also had learned long ago that Elena St. Christoph would never be one for obedience. "Come, we must see how the crew faired against the Raider and make haste." Elena nodded and followed me up out of the bowels of the decimated Fereon, swinging back across the open sea to the Fortuna, which waited patiently, somewhat scathed, for my return. Beside the Fortuna the Raider was sinking. Already her hull sat three feet lower in the water then any ship should, great fathoms of water rising to lap against her damaged walls and overtaking her main deck.
The hardest work was already done.
"To me!" I called at the top of my lungs, several of my crew having followed me across the gap between the Fereon and the Fortuna. Those who could swim, did, and we threw ropes to our fellow pirates and criminals, hauling them aboard even as I prepared the Fortuna for a swift escape.
The rising fog provided enough cover for us to disappear from any sight on shore or the governor's own vessel, which had avoided the battle by fifty boat lengths or more.