I looked at him, is he referring to the ships or to us?
“We’re not asking you for a decision now. Think about it, celebrate our latest victory and we’ll take the vote at noon tomorrow. Gabriella will abide by your decision, as will I.”
He looked at me and I nodded my agreement, albeit reluctantly. It was out of my hands now.
*
The next morning, I could barely look at anyone, terrified of how they would vote. My face ached from smiling, and I jumped at Leo’s suggestion to go for a walk.
“Don’t get upset if they say no, that’d just mean they want to keep you aboard Freedom. But whatever their decision, you know you’ll have to abide by it, as I will.”
“They won’t say no. Well, yes, some will. Newton and his mates will. But most won’t.” I do not know who I was trying to convince, Leo or myself. It was what I had been telling myself all night.
“Even if they do agree, you’ll need to find volunteers to sail with you and that won’t be easy. No man wants to sail under a woman’s command, it’s bad enough being at the command of the seas and winds, and enough of these men came to sea to escape their women, just as you escaped a man.”
“Really? The way I’ve seen some of those men eye that boat, I don’t think it’ll take much to get them working her decks.”
“Maybe you have a point there, querida. We’ll soon see.” He looked up at the sun. Noon. It was time to go aboard the prize and learn our future.
*
“There’s no more for us to say, but what say you? Do you vote Gabriella as captain of this vessel?”
“Aye. Nay. Aye.” It was close.
“Show of hands!” A pause, I had won, I think. I had won.
“The ayes have it.”
I closed my eyes in relief, I hardly dared believe it. I was a pirate captain! Watch out Erik, I’m one step closer.
“Thank you. You won’t regret this. I won’t let you down, and I won’t forget the chance you’ve given me. Thank you.”
“Very well, that’s that then.” Leo did not sound quite so pleased. “Bear in mind that if this doesn’t work, you can be voted back to the foredeck just as easily as you were voted to the quarter. I suppose you’ll need a crew. Frazer, will you sail in her?”
“Devil’s bones, I will not! I’ll not play nursemaid to a woman, even one of yours. I’ve put up with her aboard Freedom, but I’ll not sail under her command. Dinnae ask me again.”
I don’t know who was more taken aback, me or Leo. I knew Mr. Frazer didn’t like me, but I had thought we were starting to understand each other. I was as shocked at his abrupt refusal as Leo.
“I’d be proud to sail with thee, lass,” Gaunt called in the silence.
“Aye, me an’all.”
Bless them. I soon had my crew: Klara and Obi, of course, Gaunt, Davys, Cartwright, Babawande, Butler and Greenwoode. To my surprise, even Ime volunteered, but I hadn’t forgotten his early threat and didn’t want him on my crew.
“Very well, we’d better get to work. I want the gundeck cleared, topmasts stepped and yards made ready.” Leo said. “Gaunt, would you look to see what strengthening her lower decks will need to carry the extra canvas, and George, we’ll need a couple of square topsails. Frazer, can I at least rely on you to get the work started?”
Am I not supposed to be saying all this?
“Yes! That was easy! I thought it would be a hell of a lot harder to get her and that other bitch off our decks! Now all we need to do is wait for hurricane season to sink her landlubbing arse! Who’s for a drink?”
I whirled round at Newton’s words, shocked, and stared at him and his mates in dismay. I knew he hated me, but I’d thought the others had voted in support of me—not to get rid of me. Do the rest of the crew feel the same as Newton?
“Gabriella, can I have a word in the cabin? In your cabin?” Leo corrected himself. He glanced at Newton with a frown, but said nothing.
My cabin. I smiled and led the way. Newton didn’t matter. I was away from him.
“I don’t know whether to be pleased or angry with them. Despite what I said, you know I’m torn over this. However, the decision has been made for me. But I want some promises from you. They are still my crew, and I make the ultimate decisions. However, you decide how you carry them out and are responsible for the men on your decks. Just keep them and yourself safe, that’s all I ask. Stay close by, take the advice of your crew, and heed mine. Do not make me watch you die.”
Chapter 59
I lay back on the blankets and stretched, then sat up, passed one rumpot to Leo and drank from the other. The rest of the crew were on the beach and we didn’t expect to see any of them again until long after the sun had come up. My new ship was careened so the necessary work could be carried out, and Leo and I had volunteered to keep ship—stay aboard Freedom—in case of problem or attack. We’d brought blankets, cushions and other comforts out onto the quarterdeck where we could see most of the deck, were away from prying eyes and more comfortable than in the stuffy cabin, and had been making the most of this rare time alone aboard an otherwise empty ship.
Leo kissed me and I lay back in his arms. I couldn’t have been happier.
“Salud!” He raised the rumpot in a toast. “To the most beautiful pirate in the Carib Sea!”
“Only the Carib Sea?”
“In all the seas of the world!” he amended, laughing. We’d made rather a lot of toasts throughout the evening.
I laughed with him, and touched my rumpot to his. “And the most handsome pirate captain!” I drank. “You know, I was almost born to be at sea,” I said, not sure why I’d decided to tell him about my childhood.
“What do you mean?”
“My mother carried me in her belly when she sailed from England. She’d been brought to trouble by the bastard she worked for as a housemaid, and he arranged for her passage to the Americas to avoid embarrassment.”
“But you’ve mentioned your father, I thought he lived with you in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?”
“She met the man I call my father aboard the ship. He was young, fell in love and took pity on her situation. They were married by the captain and started a home in Massachusetts as a family.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“Yes, he does.” I paused. “But there was no stopping the gossip, especially in a puritan colony. There were others aboard who knew the truth and disapproved, and it was soon known I was a bastard child, despite Father’s efforts.” I paused as the memories flooded back. I could almost see my father’s face, bright red and spitting in his rage. Furious at I don’t know what, the slightest thing could spark his match, a look or a simple question would be enough. He delighted in telling me that he wished I’d never been born, that his life would have been so much better if I’d never existed. On these occasions I never found out what I’d done to deserve his anger. I didn’t know why he’d pinned me to the wall, all I could do was wonder how often he’d strike me this time as he screamed a torrent of hatred. When would he stop? Would he keep going until he killed me with his fists? Or would he kill my mother first?
“That can’t have been easy,” Leo said, and I was sorry the mood had turned somber, yet relieved to be telling him about my childhood at last.
“No,” I said, then took a deep breath. “His ambitions were curtailed by the scandal and he was an ambitious man, but could not rise in business or join the congregation he coveted. It made him bitter. My parents’ marriage had already dulled by the time I was born, and I’m sure Mam named me Gabriella purely to annoy my father. It was her last rebellion, and I’m grateful to her for it. Can you imagine if she’d called me by a puritan name such as Prudence or Charity or Temperance?”
He laughed and filled the rumpots again.
“He became a customs officer, having recognized that shipping was set to become a major industry, and the position gave him at least a semblance of importance and respect. But it wasn’t what he’d wanted
when he’d set out to the New World, and he took his frustration out on Mam and me.” I took a long drink and was grateful that Leo stayed silent to wait for me to continue.
“He made private business arrangements with a number of merchants including Jan van Ecken, Erik’s father. Their trade was—and is—much more than slaves. Sugar, indigo, cacao, spices, you name it, they trade it, and they need a lot of friendly customs men around the world to do it profitably. I don’t know why they singled out my family, but Jan was looking for a bride for Erik and Father was happy to rid himself of me. I’m certain he benefitted in a mercantile manner from the betrothal. Maybe Jan simply wanted more control over him and thought he could get it through his daughter. If so, I doubt he succeeded.”
I emptied my beaker again and Leo refilled it. “So there I was, married and banished to the Caribbees at fourteen, full of hope for my new life. But of course my husband turned out to be Erik and the rest is history.”
“How bad was it, your new life?”
“Bad enough.” I got up and wrapped a length of cloth around myself, then crossed to the rail and stared at the water. I didn’t want to talk about my life with Erik to Leo. Ever. He pulled on his breeches and joined me.
“When you came aboard, you jumped at every creak of the timbers and every squeak of a rat. You don’t have to tell me about your life with him, I think I have a pretty good idea, and I’ll tell you one thing, I want to kill him for what he did to you.”
“But if he hadn’t been such a monster, I would not have been on that slaveship, and we would not be here today.” I turned to him and smiled. I had talked enough; he wanted to kill Erik.
“That’s very true, maybe we have one thing to thank him for.” He bent his head to meet my lips and I shivered when he ran his hands over my skin, but pulled away.
“I can’t stand being married to him, Leo. We’ve harassed his shipping, had run in after run in with Blake and Hornigold, but they won’t die! We even heard that Blake survived Isla Magdalena’s reef—built a new boat from the wreckage of Edelweiss!” According to the rumors, he’d sailed back to Sayba six months after we had left him and taken command of a new ship—the Dutch Pride. “It’s time to put an end to this vendetta once and for all, and we should be the aggressors. We need to best them all.”
“Kill them, you mean.”
I paused. “Yes, and we need to do it soon so we can get on with our lives.”
In answer, he pulled me away from the rail and any prying eyes, then pinned me against the mainmast. He kissed me and fumbled with the cloth wrapped around me, and his breeches, discarding them on the deck. He kissed me again, harder this time, and pressed up against me as I leaned against the timber and cordage of the mast. I held him tight, enjoying the feel of him and lost myself in his touch, and I forgot about the past. I was filled with now, with Leo, his touch and the sensations coursing through my body; first a gentle swell, then crashing surf.
Chapter 60
GABRIELLA
25th January 1687
10 Leagues South of Puerto Rico
Taking the helm of my ship was exhilarating. All her strength and power was in my hands, and she boasted of it with every thundering wave and every spray of spindrift. Every whistle of wind was a scream of delight, and I felt like screaming with her. I thrust the tiller to leeward, taking her upwind a fraction too far, and watched the mainsail as the leech started to tremble, then flutter until the whole sail collapsed, shaking so forcefully that the vibration was sent down the mast to the planking under my feet. We were past the point of no return now, and I gasped as the mainboom swung across, seemingly an inch from my head, and crashed loudly onto larboard, now to leeward. I brought the tiller back slowly to center as the sails settled and calmed, their bellies once again filling with wind.
Our speed, which had slowed almost to nothing, picked up until we were skipping through the white horses galloping all around us. A particularly short wave resulted in my bow diving into the next one, then we burst out the other side, spray flying, singing our way forward. I kept my hands on her reins, aware of an excitement and exhilaration that assured me I was home, and that I never wanted to leave. No other place could compare to this one.
To make it even better, I realized Freedom’s pinnace was approaching, or trying to. Leo had tacked in my wake, and I took pity on him and shouted for the mainsail to be loosed to give him a chance to catch us. Soaked and smiling after his evening sail he finally climbed onto my decks. I gave the tiller to Greenwoode.
“Valkyrie?” he asked.
“Yes, Valkyrie,” I confirmed with a smile. Gaunt had carved the new nameboards on Sankt Jan Island, but I’d kept the new name secret from everyone else until the off. Leo wouldn’t have seen them until we set sail. The name had come from Erik’s books on Norse mythology, and I thought it very appropriate for a ship I wanted to use to finish him. I loved the idea of the Valkyries, Odin’s shield maidens, riding into battle astride winged horses to take their pick of warriors back to Valhalla, and I’d always wished for their strength and courage.
“Valkyrie, as in Viking angels?” Leo asked again.
“More like Nordic demons,” Greenwoode put in from the helm. He wasn’t a fan of the name.
“Warriors. Female warriors who choose their heroes very carefully and well,” I corrected, smiling.
“Bad luck to change a name like that,” Greenwoode moaned. I ignored him and we moved further down Valkyrie’s decks.
“How are you getting on with the new sail plan? It can take a while to get a new boat balanced, especially when you extend her masts the way we have.”
“The lass is faring well, Cap,” Gaunt answered for me. “There’s no need to fret thysen.”
“Thank you, Robert, take the decks will you,” Leo replied. I bit back my objection. It was up to me who took these decks, not him, but I swallowed it, I didn’t want anything to spoil this. I determined to enjoy walking my decks with my man.
Valkyrie was a lot smaller than Freedom, and livelier. She sailed at a more acute angle, which made her decks hard to walk with any confidence and would take some getting used to, but worse was the rope washing over her decks and getting tangled. Before I could call to Davys to sort them out, Leo beat me to it.
“Stop it. You’re not taking me seriously.”
“Your lines were heading overboard, querida, someone had to do something about them.”
“Not someone. Not you. Me. I may not be as quick as you, but I command these decks, it’s for me to tell my crew what to do, not you.”
“They’re still my crew, you just have command of this vessel on my behalf, but when I’m aboard, they listen to me. I do take you seriously, but you have a lot to learn and I will not stand back and say or do nothing when I see a deadly situation. If anyone caught their leg in one of those lines they’d be overboard and drowned in seconds. If you want to give the orders, spot the problems early and put them right before I do.”
There was nothing I could say to that. I had to prove my worth as captain through deeds not words, so I nodded—my lips tight against my temper.
“You’re doing well, querida. You looked magnificent at the helm, even if you were sailing away from me. You seemed at home there. I can understand that you wouldn’t be happy for long under my command aboard Freedom, and I think this may actually work, but I miss you when you’re not on my decks.”
I smiled and leaned into him. That was better.
“I miss you too, and I do appreciate your help and advice, I just want to be good at this.” I sighed. “There’s a bottle of brandy in the cabin just begging for a toast, will you join me below?”
He laughed. “As if I’d refuse that offer!”
We’d been in the cabin at anchor before, but this was the first time since we’d gone to sea, and it felt different somehow. I leaned my sword against the bulkhead next to the door to warn the crew not to come in, and smiled when Leo followed suit.
“I do take y
ou seriously as a sailor, and you’ve just proved you’re a captain. Anybody else would have driven the tip of their blade into the wood out there. No true sailor would damage their decks in that way. Come here.” He pulled me close and kissed me. He was forgiven.
“I brought you a present. Every pirate captain should have stolen gold in their cabin. Here.”
He gave me a package wrapped in sailcloth. It was the facemask with emerald eyes I’d noticed when I first joined Freedom. I smiled. I had my answer from that day. I wasn’t just an interesting ornament after all, and had started my own collection. I put it on the chart table for the moment until I could find somewhere more deserving, and kissed him before handing him a beaker of brandy, then went to sit down on the bed in front of the stern gallery of windows. I looked out to sea to watch Freedom following behind, suddenly serious, and considered the gentle unrelenting and never-ending power of that water. It would rear up with no warning in a fierce passion, before calming again: a reflection and promise of the life I’ve chosen with Leo? Guilt pierced me again. How can I be so happy when I left my best friend’s son dead at my husband’s home?
*
I woke the next morning alone, and smiled as I stretched, until I realized Leo was outside, running my decks. Again.
“Leo! Have you forgotten already? This is my ship; I give the orders on these decks!” Even as I spoke, I was aware that I wouldn’t be on the quarterdeck without Leo. I wouldn’t have authority over this crew without Leo. I still only had a semblance of independence. But I also knew that if I had more, I’d be alone and I didn’t want that either.
“Well, you’d better get on with it instead of sleeping the watch away and leaving the work to everyone else!”
I glared at him—and everybody else watching and listening.
The Valkyrie Series: The First Fleet - (Books 1-3) Look Sharpe!, Ill Wind & Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure Page 42
