by ML Guida
Her father grabbed her arm. “Hold your breath.”
“What? No, please...”
Her father dragged her to the railing and tossed her over. Arms and legs kicking, she plunged into the churning black water. Salt burned her eyes. Cold gripped her and her clothes pulled her down. She gulped more and more and more seawater.
She kicked her legs hard and skimmed her arms back and forth over the churning surface, trying to keep her head above the water. She grabbed a piece of wreckage and clung to its splintered surface.
Bits of burning wood fell into the water. The fiery ship cast an eerie glow onto the water. Hannah and her father swam into the shadow of the hull. Death shrieks from the crew tore at her heart, and she bit back a sob.
What had Father done? She could have saved Spencer. Spencer had risked his life to save them. He was her friend and didn’t deserve to die.
Her fingers clutched the wood. She wanted to help and her father stopped her. Why? Didn’t he care about his crew?
Her father swam toward her, gripping a piece of drifting wood. Glaring at him, she spat out seawater. “Why didn’t you let me save him?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Because you’d have failed.”
She turned away and swallowed hard, tears filling in her eyes. The familiar hollow pain in her chest sucked away her breath. Her father’s lack of faith in her cut her deep. He bragged about her two older sisters, Theresa and Jessica, about their marriages, their God fearing life, but when it came to her, he never uttered one word of praise. “But...,” she stammered.
“Are you daft girl? The pirates were searching for us. They knew our name.”
Her teeth chattered. “How did they know our names?”
“I have no idea,” he grumbled.
Bubbles formed near the bowline, and Hannah held her breath. A dark head peered out of the water. But how could it be? Spencer had shot him and he'd fallen overboard. The bastard should be dead.
The man tossed his head back, his wet hair slapping behind him. As he flew into the air, he transformed into a large bat. The size of a muskrat, he had webbed wings, smooth pointed ears and a flattened and pushed up snout. He spun around and around, screeching. He flew high into the air and circled the glowing moon.
Hannah covered her mouth and bit her palm, and lost her grip on the drifting wood and slipped into the cold ocean. Sucking in water, her lungs burned. She kicked her feet and burst out of the water. Spitting out the sea, she reached for the driftwood and scanned the sky.
The flying bat pirate descended onto the ship. Terrified screams echoed as the marauders tossed dead crew men over the side. Bodies fell, slapping water and pushing Hannah around. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Her lips trembled. She should have held onto the mast and repaired it, giving them a chance to maneuver the ship, instead of giving into her fear.
More bats circled the ship. Flames rose high, illuminating the ocean. Any minute the bastards would spot her and her father.
A cannonball hit the second mast and it broke into two. A piece of the mast rushed toward her father.
“Father,” she yelled.
He glanced up and tried to swim, but the mast hit him with a solid thump. A splatter of blood smearing on his right temple, he slumped over the piece of wood.
Something bumped into her leg under the water. She hung onto her piece of floating wood, afraid to move as a gray fin glided across the water and edged close to a dead crewman. Sharks. Either way, she had condemned herself and her father to a gruesome death.
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A Pirate’s Bane: © 2016 M.L. Guida
Cover design © Kim Killion (Hot Damn Designs)
All rights reserved. Where such permission is sufficient, the author grants right to strip any DRM which may be applied to this work.
Issued 2016
