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36
Fire In the Hole
Katrina
In a whirlwind of confusion, the Widow edged its way carefully alongside us as Bellamy and a handful of his crew crossed over to our boat. His massive ship made our tiny schooner look like a toy sailboat as it cast its looming shadow across the deck.
Bellamy himself landed with a thud, sword drawn, eyeing his surroundings like a soldier in foreign territory. Both crews now erupted in yells and curses, a flurry of attacks flaring up all at once from all sides.
“You followed us all this way. You came to help us?” I called to Bellamy over the noise of the battle. “Why? I thought—“
“Don’t ask me why!” he spat. “I don’t know why I did either.”
His stubbornness didn’t surprise me. I’d given up on expecting him to admit he might care about something more than sailing the seas. Or that he might have feelings for a siren. But his reasons didn’t matter to me right then. I was just more grateful to see him than ever.
Thane’s crew was now evenly matched. Our deck was littered with bodies, some limbless or bleeding, and others already dead. I swallowed down the bile rising to my throat at the sight and cringed at the coppery smell of blood that pierced my nostrils. When I looked over at McKenzie, she seemed frozen in place.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing her wrist and leading her to the bow. “Take a breath,” I said, keeping her facing the water, “Don’t look at it.”
Inwardly, I trembled with horror, but I couldn’t fall apart here. I deeply feared the outcome of this bloody battle at sea. There was nowhere to run. If Thane’s men didn’t kill us all, who knew what would happen when the Spaniards reached us? There was no way to end this chain of attacks but to escape it. And the only escape was a trident at the bottom of sea. A trident that could twist the very thing we were quickly running out of—time.
As I watched Bellamy’s crew rush to Noah and Milo’s aid, I noticed the Spanish frigate looming nearby. It turned, lining its side up with ours. We made the perfect target. Three pirate ships all clustered together in one place, heavily distracted by destroying one another. The pirate hunters would’ve been idiots not to take advantage of this. Looking around at the blood-soaked deck behind us, it was plain to see we’d already done most of the work for them.
“Get down.” I put a firm hand against McKenzie’s shoulder and urged her toward the deck floor. I dropped down and lay on my stomach next to her. I watched the war-ready Spanish frigate as the small windows along its hull slid open to give way to lines of cannons taking aim. Gray metal plates of armor covered its hull. It was so close I could hear it now. The heavy patter of the crew’s boots along the deck, the twinge of ropes and sails, and the structured shouts and commands amongst the sailors. The captain was giving out orders in Spanish, and I understood easily enough.
“Dispara!”
Before I could blink, the side of our ship erupted in an explosion of wood chips and smoke raining down like some kind of apocalyptic piñata. McKenzie let out a wail and covered her head as debris rained down us and the ship shivered beneath us like an earthquake.
I glanced back over my shoulder. Many of the pirates from both Bellamy and Thane’s crew had been knocked overboard from the blast. Milo was just getting to his feet like the rest of the men around him. He locked eyes on Thane, who was busy ripping his sword from the stomach of a squirming man on his back. Noah was still down, but I sighed with relief when I saw him slowly find his footing.
Bellamy appeared from the smoke near the cannon shot. I wondered if he had ever even stumbled when the cannon struck the ship. He walked with a calm assuredness that sent chills fluttering through me. He drew his sword, parrying a blow from an attacking pirate like it was nothing, looking around through focused eyes as if seeking his next target.
The sound of a pistol cracked through the air, followed by a jolt that sent Bellamy staggering backward and gripping his shoulder in agony. The gasp that escaped my lips was much louder than I intended it to be. I worried he would fall, but he only clenched his jaw, glanced at the blood on his hand that had stained from covering his wound. Then he charged forward, a feral look in his eye. He let out a cry, gritty and wild, maneuvering his cutlass with ferocity fitting of a pirate captain, and cut down the man who fired in one swift blow.
Another round of cannon fire from the hunters’ frigate sent more pieces of the ship flying and took a handful of men down for the count. I noticed it was getting harder to keep my balance. Each awkward step to steady myself felt like the floor was shifting beneath my feet. When I glanced around once more, I quickly realized the changing angle of the deck. Barrels rolled to one side of the boat, dropping into the water below. The mast leaned in an uneasy way, threatening to snap at any moment. The Falcon had endured all she could take. We were sinking.
The clang of a sword caught my attention, tearing me from my observation. A pirate rushed at me, blade drawn, and on instinct I pulled out my own. He swung at me, and I stepped back just far enough to miss the blade’s edge, but nearly toppled over. I begged my brain to recall everything Bellamy taught me about sword fighting, however basic. I didn’t want to have to remember, though. I didn’t want to fight.
The next time the man swung, I used both hands to help me brace my sword against his, and with more strength than I realized I had, I shoved forward, keeping the blade away from me just once more.
“McKenzie!” I cried, hoping she was near enough to hear. But I realized she was no longer standing beside me. Somehow, I missed her leaving my side, but now she was on the rigging, climbing up in desperation to escape an attacker of her own.
I gritted my teeth and strained against my opponent. This man would kill me if I didn’t stop him from doing it first. And I couldn’t accept that that may mean I’d have to kill him. Our swords danced, sparking from impacts that nearly knocked my weapon from my grip. And finally, I realized I’d have to find the strength to end it, or he would end me. With the sickest sensation swirling in my core, I recalled Bellamy’s instructions. I remembered one thing he told me. That one stupid thing. Thrust.
I ducked one last time as the man swung at my head. All in the same instant, I closed my eyes and jutted my sword out in front of me like a spear. I should’ve kept my eyes open, but I couldn’t watch myself impale another human.
But when I peeked back reluctantly, I saw that my sword never made much contact with the man. Instead, he stood with the tip of a blade jutting out of his chest—a sword that had entered from the back. When his limp body slid forward off the cutlass that ran him through, the person left standing behind him was Milo, panting and glowering at me with a fierceness in his eyes that made my blood run ice cold.
“Thank you,” the words felt numb rolling off my tongue. It seemed as though a fog had formed in front of me, and I couldn’t see through it. He’d just saved me from having to kill someone, but that didn’t mean it made it any easier for him to add to the guilt he was already fighting.
He nodded in acknowledgement, then gazed out across the deck, scanning the scene. “Thane’s gone. He’s escaped.”
He was right. I didn’t see Thane anywhere. But his ship was missing. He knew we couldn’t sail after him. And he’d left his few remaining men to deal with the hunters and Bellamy’s crew alone. The coward.
The fog around me closed in, freezing time in its place so I could really take a long, hard look around me. But it wasn’t fog. It was smoke. Real smoke that was heavy and burned my lungs and woke me to the hopeless reality surrounding me. My senses tuned in to the intense sound of men shouting, steel clashing, gunpowder exploding, wooden ships groaning and crackling as the relentless cannons roared their deathly booms. McKenzie was still trying to run, Noah didn’t look like he could take much more, and Bellamy and Milo were both covered in blood not their own. This was it. These four ships would go down here. And if I stayed here a moment longer, we’d go down with them.
“I’m going down below. I’m going to get the trident.” I breathed, drawing the courage to believe the words myself.
