Secrets of the Realm (11 page)

Annie's heart pounded. "Two ships off to larboard. One is listing on her starboard side. The foremast and mainmast are down. There is another ship, a brigantine!" Annie shouted.

Captain Hawke summoned Perry. He sent the sailor aloft to verify Annie's sighting.

After climbing the shrouds, Perry stood next to Annie and gazed through the glass.

"Do you see it?" Annie asked.

"Our eyes often play tricks on us when we are out at sea, Andrés" he said. 

"I didn't imagine it, Perry, if that is what you are implying. I know I saw two ships."

Perry continued searching. "Well, I'll be," he said. "Captain! Two ships. One's adrift."

"Is one a brigantine?"

"Aye, Captain!"

"Perry, hand Andrés the glass."

Annie peered through it again.

"The two ships, what are their colors?" the Captain shouted.

 "Can't see either of their colors, Captain," Annie yelled back. "But the brigantine's coming about."

Annie waited. It seemed like an eternity. Then she saw it. "Skull and crossbones! She's a bloody pirate ship!"

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"All hands on deck!" The captain roared, "Mr. Montgomery, assemble a boarding party."

The Realm changed course.

Annie handed the glass back to Perry and scrambled down the ratlines. She wasn't about to miss any opportunity that would put her in the good graces of her shipmates. She needed to be in that boarding party.

No sooner had she landed on the deck, Captain Hawke stopped her.

"Tell me about the ship in full sail," he said.

Not being able to think of anything more to tell him, she instead asked, "The brigantine, Captain, could she be…" Annie knew if ever there was a time to mention the unmentionable, this was it. "Could she be the Crimson Revenge?"

Captain Hawke's eyes narrowed, but not at her. He looked in the direction of the two ships. "A distinct possibility."

 "Then shouldn't we be heading away from her and not toward her?"

"We are heading to the crippled vessel, not the pirate ship, Andrés. That one will be long gone before we get there. You are dismissed."

Now that was a waste of time, Annie thought, as she dashed off to find Mr. Montgomery assembling his men for the boarding party.

"I want to be in the boarding party, sir," she said.

"Sorry, lad, I have already chosen my men."

 "I spotted the ship, sir. It seems only fitting that I should board her."

Mr. Montgomery mulled it over and said, "Only because you're the one who spotted the ship, Andrés, will I ask the men if any of them are willing to give up their place for you. But don't get your hopes up."

"Sir, Andrés can take my place on the boarding party." Barrette offered.

Mr. Montgomery looked from Barrette to Annie. "Very well then, Andrés, you can take Barrette's place. This is serious business. You will follow orders. Is that understood?"

 "Aye, sir."

"If the ship hasn't sunk by the time we get there, you are paired with me."

*     *     *

When the Realm came a safe distance alongside the drifting ship, the longboat was lowered into the sea.

Mr. Montgomery commanded, "Man the boat!"

As the sailors clambered aboard, Annie looked around at the crew. Seeing their grim faces, she wondered if she had made the right decision.

Once the men pushed off, head oarsman Ainsworth, ordered, "Together, pull!" 

While the oars sliced through the sea, salt water sprayed Annie's face. With each stroke, the gap narrowed between the two ships.

"Andrés, pick up the stroke!"

Annie pulled harder. She glanced over her shoulder. Not anchored, the ship's position had changed. She saw painted on the stern in bold letters its name, the Margaret Louise.

Approaching the starboard side, Mr. Montgomery shouted, "Ahoy!" He waited, but only the groans of a dying ship greeted him.

After he hurled a grappling hook over the ship's railing, Mr. Montgomery put his full weight on the rope. Confident the line was secure, he sent Rodrigues up the side while Ainsworth and his oarsmen kept the boat steady. It took Rodrigues no time to scale the side of the ship. As soon as he was aboard, he disappeared from view. When he reappeared, he held the Margaret Louise's rope ladder in his hands.

Mr. Montgomery shouted, "Any survivors?"

Dropping the ladder over the side, Rodrigues yelled down, "I saw only one sailor and he's dead, looks about Christopher's age."

Despite the chill in the air, Annie wiped sweat from her palms onto her trousers. She looked over at Christopher. All color had drained from his face.

Mr. Montgomery ordered the rest of the boarding party up the side. Annie nervously waited her turn as she watched each sailor ascend the ladder. Her turn came all too soon. Annie gripped the ladder, inhaled deeply, and began her climb.

"Steady as you go," Mr. Montgomery said.

Making her way up, Annie climbed over the railing. She joined the sailors assembled at one of the fallen masts staring down at the crushed body of a sailor. Christopher nudged it with his foot.

"What you expect him to do, mate, get up and dance a jig for you?" Baggott said

"Saints preserve me," Carter whispered while Rodrigues made the sign of the cross.

Mr. Montgomery climbed over the railing. Everyone stepped aside for him to inspect the sailor who looked up with unseeing eyes. Observing that the man was obviously dead, Mr. Montgomery was more concerned with the sharp angle of the deck.

"We don't have much time. Carter, Baggott check the storage areas. Christopher, Rodrigues stay on the upper deck and check under the downed canvass for any sailors who might have survived and are hiding. Andrés and I will make a quick sweep of the fo'c'sle and the quarters below."

"Shouldn't there be blood on the deck?" Christopher asked.

"A sudden squall must have washed it away," Mr. Montgomery replied.

Annie and her shipmates cautiously climbed over what had once been proud masts, now nothing more than splintered wood and canvass. Making their way to the hatch, she and Mr. Montgomery avoided the gaping holes in the deck.

*     *     *

Where men had once shared tall tales and laughter, the fo'c'sle stood in stark disorder. Mr. Montgomery pushed aside an empty sea chest.

"Where are the bodies?" she asked.

"I suspect they were thrown overboard."

Annie searched under blankets and stowed hammocks, hoping to find someone, anyone, alive. "Maybe they escaped," Annie said.

"No, the boats are still lashed to the deck."

"I didn't see any bodies floating in the water."

 "Sharks," Mr. Montgomery replied. "But if it is Godenot's work, don't expect to find any bodies. This is now a ghost ship. Those not thrown overboard became his prisoners to torture or to become members of his crew."

"I would kill myself before I would become one of his pirates."

"Don't judge," Mr. Montgomery said.

Annie skirted around smeared blood, only to have broken glass pierce her bare foot. She grimaced in pain as she pulled out the jagged shard.

"I'll search aft. You go forward," Mr. Montgomery said.

Annie heard noises coming from the far end of the passageway. "A very large rat," Annie said. "But just in case…" She shifted the candlestick to her left hand and drew out her knife to investigate.

With the increased listing of the ship, it became more difficult to stand upright. Annie slid to the door to what she believed was the first mate's quarters. Annie saw a sliver of light under it. As soon as she pushed the handle down with her elbow, the door flew open.

Overturned chairs had shifted to one side of the cabin. The furniture obscured her view, but not enough to hide a figure cowering against the bulkhead, knees drawn to his chest. The smell of urine invaded her senses.

 "I won't harm…" A flash and a thunderous blast ended Annie's sentence. The candle and knife flew out of her hands.

Annie groped for the knife lying inches from her fingertips, but the searing pain in her right arm wouldn't let her grab it. She realized the unthinkable. "I been shot!"

In the glow of the lantern hanging overhead, the shooter clutched a pistol with both hands. He shook so badly, she thought it was only luck that he had hit her.

He looked to be about ten years old. The boy sobbed. "Don't kill me."

To Annie's relief, he made no effort to prime the pistol again with powder and shot. As she pressed the wound with her hand, blood oozed between her fingers. Her teeth chattered. "I won't kill you," she said. "Why did you shoot me?"

"You're a pirate."

"A p-pirate?" Her eyes darted from the boy to her injured arm and back again. "Do I look like a pirate?" She fought to stay alert. "I am a ca-cabin boy, just l-like you."

 No longer speaking in a hushed tone, the boy sat up straight. "I'm not a cabin boy. I am David Palmer, son of Captain Harold Palmer, commander of this ship."

"P-pleased t-to meet…." Annie's world went black.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The moment Mr. Montgomery burst into the cabin, Annie's eyes fluttered open. Immediately he put himself between her and the boy. He raised his pistol, the boy in his sights. "Put your weapon down!" he shouted.

Palmer crossed his hands over his face. "Don't shoot!" But the pistol remained in his hand.

Mr. Montgomery shoved aside a chair with his foot before snatching the empty weapon from the boy. He tossed it in the corner while shoving his own pistol into his waistband.

With the boy disarmed, Mr. Montgomery turned his full attention to Annie. He dropped to one knee. "That's a nasty wound, lad."

Nestled in the crook of Mr. Montgomery's arm, Annie squinted up into his face. Like a drunken sailor who had imbibed too long at the Black Anchor Pub, she asked in all seriousness, "Why is there t-two of you?"

"Maybe, because one of me is not enough to take care of you," Mr. Montgomery said.

Annie attempted to laugh, but the pain turned it into a groan.

Hoping to stop the bleeding, Mr. Montgomery quickly ripped off a strip of material from his sleeve and wrapped the makeshift bandage around Annie's arm. She pursed her lips together while the red circle grew larger on the cloth. As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she told Mr. Montgomery what had occurred.

Mr. Montgomery steadied himself on the slanting deck. He bent down, picked up Annie, and tossed her over his shoulder. To Palmer, he commanded, "On your feet, boy, to the hatch!"

*     *     *

Annie woke cradled in Mr. Montgomery's arms as the first mate slid to the railing. She expected to see the Crimson Revenge looming over the side, but Captain Hawke was right. The pirate ship was nowhere to be seen.

Palmer climbed down the rope ladder. With no time left to climb down himself, Mr. Montgomery dropped Annie over the side. Christopher leaped across Carter's lap, catching her as she fell through the air. "You're bleeding," he said before he leaned her up against Palmer.

Ainsworth and Rodrigues dove out of the way, as Mr. Montgomery came crashing near the bow of the longboat. Under Ainsworth's skillful guidance,the oarsmen kept the boat from capsizing. 

"Shove off!" Ainsworth shouted.

"Together! Pull smartly!"

"Steady!"

The boat crew briskly rowed until Ainsworth yelled, "That is well!"

Safely away from the sinking ship, the sailors watched the Margaret Louise in her final death throes. Shrouded in a grey mist, she groaned one last time before rolling all the way onto her starboard side. The sound of cracking timber filled the air as the ocean boiled over the Margaret Louise. While the ship descended to her watery grave, Palmer clutched Annie's hand, his nails digging into her flesh.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"Boat your oars!"

The men passed the oars overhead, stacking them down the center, blades toward the bow. Barrette and Perry hauled Annie up to the deck in an improvised sling. Once she was safely on the deck, Barrette held her limp body, supporting her head with his hand.

"Make way!" commanded Captain Hawke.

"Careful!" Doc cautioned.

The men craned their necks as Barrette laid her on the deck. Doc came prepared for all emergencies with his small cabinet full of medicine and equipment. He quickly removed the strip of fabric wound tightly around Annie's arm to examine the wound.

"Is the little maggot goin' to live?" Symington asked.

Thinking she had heard genuine concern in the carpenter's voice, Annie assumed she must surely be delirious.

"Andrés will live. The ball went clear through the arm," Doc said. He took out a bottle of an astringent and rubbed it into the wound to slow the bleeding. 

Mr. Allan piped orders, dispersing the men to their stations.

Doc prepared to sew Annie's arm, first giving her laudanum for the pain.

Captain Hawke knelt beside her. "How's the arm, boy?"

Annie gritted her teeth. "H-hurts."

"Who shot you?"

Annie took hold of the captain's sleeve. "Not his fault."

"Not whose fault?" he said.

 "No more questions. He needs his strength," Doc said.

Captain Hawke stood and scanned the deck. "Who, the bloody hell, shot my cabin boy?"

Mr. Montgomery nodded toward Christopher who was trying to calm Palmer down.

"Him?" the captain said. "He is a mere child."

"He mistook Andrés for a pirate," Mr. Montgomery said.

"Is he blind?" Captain Hawke said.

"From what Andrés was able to tell me, the lad saw his knife. Thinking Andrés was a pirate, he shot him."

Christopher spoke up while the boy cursed at him, "He believes we are all pirates."

Palmer clamped his teeth down on Christopher's hand. Christopher's immediate reaction was to let the boy go. Palmer made a break for it, running for the railing. Before he could jump over the side of the ship, Captain Hawke grabbed the boy and whipped him around. Palmer tried to pull away while kicking out at the captain, but Captain Hawke wouldn't loosen his hold.