AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s happening?” I asked, rushing back above deck. It looked like a battleground already, with men running across the soaked floor to and fro, shifting sails and tying ropes.
Bellamy came storming past, sliding an arm into his captain’s coat as he walked. He didn’t stop as he spoke. “Get your friends and get belowdecks,” he ordered firmly into my ear. I glanced across the water, noticing a massive warship approaching our direction with British flags flying proudly.
Bellamy yelled out to the crew. “She’s too much ship for the Widow in this shape! But she’s coming for us, nonetheless! Man those cannons and tar the barrels! Load them with whatever you can find! We can’t take another hit after that last scuffle! I’ll try to outrun her but be ready just in case!”
In the chaos and confusion, I whipped my head around, looking for my friends. Noah appeared suddenly, hand linked with McKenzie’s, and he grabbed my arm as he led us both downstairs.
“Let’s go!” He yelled, pulling me belowdecks with them. I don’t know why, but I fought to catch one last glimpse of Bellamy before I lost sight of the scene on deck. He was at the wheel, still shouting orders and commanding the crew with a confidence in his voice that I found inspiring. This Bellamy knew who he was. And he loved it.
Tucked away underneath the ship’s hold, we waited in fear of what would happen next. Any minute I expected a hole to be blown in the wall of the ship beside us. The minutes were agony. And eventually, silence fell.
“I think we outran them,” I said.
But at the sound of incoming cannon fire, I immediately knew I was wrong. A distant boom followed by a brief silence warned us to brace. I held tightly to McKenzie and Noah, there kneeling on the floor of the ship’s hold. I wondered if it was a good idea to be this low if the ship were to start sinking.
Within seconds, the impact of multiple cannons shook the boat, tearing holes across the deck and battering the hull to splinters. McKenzie screamed, and I bit my lip so hard I thought my teeth would tear right through it.
Once the rocking of the ship subsided and it seemed we had recovered from the hit, a long pause hung in the air.
“Somebody go check on the captain up on the gun deck! See what’s going on up there.” A crewman behind a cannon suggested.
Before any of them could offer to do the task, my hand shot up and I clambered to my feet.
“I’ll go,” I volunteered. Noah grabbed my sleeve as I stood to walk away.
“What are you doing?” He grumbled. “It’s insane to go up there.”
“I just want to see what happened,” I said. “If we’re going down, we’re going down whether I’m down here or up there.”
I climbed the steps quickly to find Bellamy at the helm, focused with an intense gaze on the open water in front of us. Behind us trailed the British warship, an intimidating sight through the haze of the smoke its cannons had left behind rising from the stern.
“Can you outrun them?” I called, rushing to Bellamy’s side.
“I have no choice. If they hit us again, she’s sunk.” Suddenly, his eyes widened. “Why are you up here? Go back down!”
“I’d rather face it than go down hiding like a coward.”
“It’s not cowardly to keep yourself safe. I’m trying to protect you!”
Something in me stirred again. Bellamy’s words reminded me all too much of Milo. I shook my head to reset my thoughts and fight the fire building within. Bellamy shouted another order to the crew, and the sails lifted higher. The same wind catching the sails caught my hair and swept it behind me, dancing across my neck and shoulders. As if a breath of fresh courage rippled through me, and along with it, a foreign feeling of power and strength. Like I could tear down anything in my path.
I stepped forward, past Bellamy, and planted myself firmly at the bow of the ship as we sailed on. I looked out into the stretch of blue before us and breathed in the briny air. We’d outrun that ship. We had to, if I was going to be able to get any of us out of here. And then with all the force in my voice I could summon, I shouted a command I could never forget as I finally embraced the fact that this was it. This was reality. I was sailing with pirates in 1720, so I might as well act like it.
“Under full sail!”
17
Burn the Ships
Milo
Idreamed of Katrina that same night. If only for a moment, I saw her face, calling to me from across the sea. And no matter how much I swam, I could never get any closer to her. And then nothing.
The next morning my head ached. Perhaps I’d gotten too drunk. I must have, stupidly, because my coin pouch was almost empty. Either someone stole it from me, or I’d spent it all on gambling. It seemed my old habits were quick to return.
Damn.
I pulled on my boots and exited the tavern expecting to see a gray sky, but it appeared the night’s storm had long passed. A bright blue horizon greeted me, the sun high over the Caribbean waters. Leaves littered the streets from the wind and the ground was still damp. But otherwise, it was a beautiful day for sinking a ship.
