A Mighty Fortress (108 page)

Shield
altered course as well, preparing to swoop down on
Rakurai
and finish her off, but
Bedard
charged forward to intercept her as Captain Krahl interposed his ship between her and his own damaged flagship.

Zhon Pawal staggered, all but knocked off his feet as one of his quarterdeck Marines slammed into him. For a moment he thought the corporal had been hit, but
only
for a moment. Just long enough for the Marine to shove him out of the way of the toppling mizzen.

The falling mast crushed at least three other members of
Dart
’s crew, and the galleon staggered almost as badly as her captain had. Like the upper sections of the mainmast before it, the mizzen plunged over the side, dragging at the crippled ship, and once more axes and cutlasses flashed amid the wreckage.

Pawal took one heartbeat to slap the Marine on the shoulder in ac know -ledg ment and thanks, then turned back to the battle as HMS
Guardsman
and HMS
Prince of Dohlar
charged up to complete
Dart
’s destruction.

Captain Mahrtyn Zhermain couldn’t see what was happening ahead of the Dohlaran flagship. In fact, he couldn’t see much of
anything
through the choking smother of gunsmoke. It was everywhere, blinding watering eyes, tearing at noses and lungs. Despite frequent gunnery practices, he truly hadn’t realized until this moment just how thick and totally obscuring the smoke from so many cannon was going to be. But he could still make out the ghost- like, foggy shape of the target he’d been closing in upon for so long.

“
Fire!
” he shouted, and
Prince of Dohlar
’s first broadside ripped into
Dart
.

An entire section of
Dart
’s midships bulwark disintegrated. Two of her carronades were dismounted, and another twenty- three of her crew were killed or wounded. Captain Pawal staggered into the carnage, shouting orders through a throat that felt ripped raw, lending his own hands to clear away the wreckage.

She can’t take a lot more
, he thought.
She just
can’t.

“Stand to your guns, boys!” he heard himself shouting. “
Hammer
the bastards!”

The enemy’s fire was finally beginning to falter, Mahrdai Saigahn thought, and about damned time, too. Now that his own
Guardsman
and
Prince of Dohlar
had gotten to grips with her, the Charisian galleon had been engaged against all
five
members of Captain Raisahndo’s squadron... and she’d given as good as she’d gotten to all of them.

They may be frigging heretics
, Saigahn thought harshly,
but they’ve got Chihiro’s own guts! Not that it’s going to do them much good very much longer
.

“Pound her!” he shouted. “Pound the bitch!”

Zhermain watched
Dart
’s mizzen crumple and, like Saigahn, he realized it was only a matter of time, now. He still didn’t know what was going on at the head of the line, but with three Dohlaran galleons against a single Charisian, he wasn’t too concerned about that. No, that was up to Raisahndo, Krahl, and Rohsail. He and Saigahn had their own kraken to land, and—

“
Fire as you bear!
”

It had taken far too long, but Ahrnahld Stywyrt felt his lips draw back in a hunting dragon’s grin. The smoke and the Dohlarans’ concentration on
Dart
and
Shield
had concealed
Squall
’s approach. He hadn’t been able to see the enemy much better than they could have seen him—assuming they’d been looking—but he’d steered by what he could see of their mastheads. Now, leaning dangerously to the wind with all sail set to the royals,
Squall
came charging out of the smoke, erupting almost directly across
Prince of Dohlar
’s stern at a range of barely thirty yards.

Gunport by gunport, all down her starboard side, double- shotted new- model krakens and thirty- pounder carronades bellowed. There were eighteen guns in that broadside. They hurled thirty- six carefully- aimed iron balls, each six inches in diameter, down the full length of
Prince of Dohlar
’s decks. The Dohlaran galleon’s stern windows disintegrated, and round shot screamed the full length of her gundeck, killing gunners, dismounting weapons.

Mahrtyn Zhermain never had time to realize what had happened before one of those round shot tore him in half. Another dismounted three of
Prince of Dohlar
’s quarterdeck guns. That single broadside killed or wounded a third of the galleon’s entire crew, and, even worse, one shot smashed into her tiller head, and her wheel spun loosely as her rudder flapped freely.

With no way to steer, she fell off, pivoting to point her bow straight down-wind.

“Hard a larboard!” Stywyrt snapped. “In royals and courses!”

Acknowledgments came back, and the wheel spun to the left as the topmen poised aloft started fisting in the canvas.

Squall
’s rudder kicked to the right, and the ship turned sharp to starboard. Her speed had carried her past
Prince of Dohlar
, and her new heading brought her swinging back around onto a southwesterly heading.

“Hands to sheets and braces! Back the main topsail!”

With so many men tending to her sails,
Squall
had only enough men to man a single broadside, but she slowed abruptly as the main topsail was thrown aback. It reduced her speed even more quickly, steadying her up just as
Prince of Dohlar
fell completely off the wind and pointed her bow into
Squall
’s starboard broadside.

“Fire!”

Another broadside ripped into the staggering Dohlaran. There was no way for Stywyrt to know how devastating his two broadsides had been.
Prince of Dohlar
was obviously badly hurt, yet there was no time to finish her off.
Guards-man
was still furiously engaged against
Dart
— Stywyrt couldn’t even tell if the Dohlaran galleon realized what had just happened to her consort—and
Dart
’s fire was beginning to falter.

“Larboard your helm!” he commanded once more, and
Squall
came sweeping still farther around, taking the wind on her starboard bow. “Brace round the main topsail, Master Mahldyn! Hands to the larboard battery, there!”