I looked at Jan, sitting in the bows, and smiled. He looked away and my smile faltered. I determined that I would do right by him. It was my fault he’d been left behind that day. It was my fault Klara had been killed. I would do what I could to be mother to him. I owed it to both him and Klara. I would repent and repair my mistakes as best I could.
*
“Leo. Gabriella.” Frazer, understated as always, nodded to us as we climbed aboard.
“It’s good to see you, Frazer,” Leo said warmly, extending his hand. Frazer shook it. “Excellent timing once again.”
“You too, Captain.”
I noticed he didn’t take his eyes off Leo’s throat and the bruises blooming there. I couldn’t blame him, it was quite a sight, and I winced at the memory of his kicking legs.
The conversation, such as it was, was interrupted by Valkyrie’s gunners firing another broadside on Eckerstad in farewell, followed by Freyja, although resistance had ceased some time ago. It was just a little reminder—we were in charge now.
Frazer kept the helm—I was too exhausted to assert command over this melee—I was just relieved to be back aboard. I looked over the decks, crammed full of people, and sighed. I had no idea what to do with everyone. I simply could not think.
“What’s our heading, Captain?” Frazer asked as we prepared to get under way.
“There.” Leo pointed. “The Dutch Pride. Blake may be dead, but he still owes us a ship.
The Scot smiled.
Chapter 103
LEO
We wasted no time, and headed straight for the Dutch Pride, Valkyrie’s bow cannon firing effectively under Jean-Claude’s direction. Carmen and Andy aboard Freyja followed suit. Blake’s ship—or what had been Blake’s ship at least, she had no master now—got off a shot at us. It missed. It seemed she had men enough for only one gun, everyone else was ashore. They were hopelessly outnumbered.
As we drew up alongside, four men appeared on deck, their hands raised above their heads. They were realists, they knew they had no chance, and if they resisted further they would die.
We boarded, put them into the smallest boat and sent them shoreward. I had a ship again.
*
“What now?” Sharpe asked.
“Now we weigh anchor, put off from this godforsaken island, and Gaunt gets to work on the new nameboards.”
“What new nameboards?” Gabriella asked.
“Sound of Freedom. I will not sail about the Carib Sea in a ship called the Dutch Pride. Blake took Freedom from me, now I’m claiming her back.” I hugged her, thrilled at her smile. I’d feared I would never see it again. “Are you staying aboard or returning to Valkyrie?”
“I’m staying with you,” she said, smiling. “I nearly killed you today, I’m not going to abandon you too—Valkyrie’s in safe hands with Frazer and Gaunt, and Freyja will do well with Carmen and Andy.”
“Do you trust them?”
“I do now. Carmen and I spent a month alone in a cell together. Things were a bit fraught at first, but we came to an understanding.”
I hugged her. Truth be told, I didn’t care at the moment if the Dane sailed Freyja away and we never saw her again. I had all I wanted on this deck.
“Slip the anchor!” Davys shouted from the quarterdeck, and Jean-Claude brought a boarding axe down on the anchor warp. We’d had our fill of Sayba, we wouldn’t spend another hour here hauling up an anchor—they were easy enough to come by for a pirate ship in the Caribbees.
We started to drift and Davys shouted for the sheets to be hauled in. The sails filled and we were underway, finally heading to our future, the past avenged. The only thing to spoil our victory was the knowledge that Cheval had got away, and if any man had murder in his heart, it was he. He’d voiced such intentions on the last two occasions we’d met, I would be prudent to beware him.
And what about Sharpe? He’d betrayed van Ecken when he helped Gabriella to escape, and he’d fought against Blake. Could we trust him now? Then there was Magdalena—he’d shared a ship with her, had he mistreated her? I hadn’t forgotten it was he who had appeared at the stern gallery after she’d jumped. I shrugged the thoughts off as Gabriella moved closer to me, hands on her enormous belly, and I embraced her as best I could.
“Where to, querida? The whole Carib Sea is at our bows, and we have no ties left.”
“Not quite true, I want to give the Africans the option of settling on St Vincent—not all of them are happy to be at sea again.” She smiled. “And then . . . hmm, when does the Flôta sail?”
“The Flôta?” I laughed. “You want to attack Spain’s treasure fleet?”
She shrugged, then gasped in pain. “Aye, but it might have to wait a while.”
I raised my eyes in question, then realized. “The child? It’s coming now?”
“Soon.”
“Davys, set a course for La Isla Magdalena, a new Freedom Fighter’s on his way!” I shouted in glee, then panicked. It was too soon. How many knocks had she taken in that square? She could die.
“Hurry!” Gabriella gasped, bending and grasping the rail. “For pity’s sake, hurry!”
“Full canvas aloft!” I shouted. I guided Gabriella to our cabin. We were followed by a couple of the women from Brisingamen. I left her in their hands and went back out on deck to see about sailing my new ship as fast as I could to La Isla Magdalena.
*
Two days later, I stood on my decks, Freedom anchored off La Isla Magdalena, Gabriella standing by my side and our daughter cradled in my arms. I smiled down at Raphaella, and Gabriella leaned against me. I had never been so happy.
THE END
*
Gabriella, Leo and Henry Sharpe’s story will continue in Ready About, please see Karen’s website and/or sign up to her newsletter to receive details of release:
www.karenperkinsauthor.com/valkyrie
Also look out for the free Valkyrie short story Where Away—read on for more details.
*
If you enjoyed The First Fleet, please consider leaving a few words in review. Reviews are very important to an author and do help me understand what you enjoy, as well as guide other readers to books they would like to read.
Thank you – Karen Perkins
For more information on the full range of Karen Perkins’ fiction, including links for the main retailer sites and details of her current writing projects, please go to Karen’s website:
www.karenperkinsauthor.com/
If you would like to be kept updated with news, upcoming releases and special offers, please join Karen’s mailing list and receive the exclusive Valkyrie short story, Where Away, FREE by clicking the link below:
Fiction by Karen Perkins
Yorkshire Ghost Stories
Parliament of Rooks: Haunting Brontë Country
Knight of Betrayal: A Medieval Haunting
The Haunting of Thores-Cross – Read on for short excerpt
Cursed (Short Story)
The Yorkshire Ghost Stories are also available in a box set at a reduced price:
Ghosts of Yorkshire
To find out more about the full range of Yorkshire Ghost Stories, including upcoming titles, please visit:
www.karenperkinsauthor.com/yorkshire-ghosts
Coming 2018
Jennet (Ghosts of Thores-Cross #3)
Valkyrie Series
Look Sharpe! (Book 1)
Ill Wind (Book 2)
Dead Reckoning (Book 3)
Where Away – Free Short Story – Read on to get your copy
To find out more about the full range of books in the Valkyrie Series, including upcoming titles, please visit:
www.karenperkinsauthor.com/valkyrie
Where Away—A Valkyrie Short Story
A Caribbean Pirate Adventure
Magdalena Ortega is bored. She hates her life in Porto Belo—a town that comes alive every year with the arrival of the Spanish Treasure Fleet, then dies once more until the next visit. T
he thought of marrying, raising children, and spending the rest of her life here terrifies Magdalena and she is determined to escape.
Can she sneak aboard a galleon of the treasure fleet to stowaway?
Will a pirate raid prove to be her making or her undoing?
The books in the Valkyrie Series are character based rather than chronological and can be enjoyed in any order.
Where Away is being offered FREE for readers of the Valkyrie Series and will not be released separately—if you would like to read it, please click the link below:
About the Author – Karen Perkins
Karen Perkins is the author of seven fiction titles in the Valkyrie Series of Caribbean pirate adventures and the Yorkshire Ghosts Series. All of her fiction titles have appeared at the top of bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic, including the top 50 in the UK Kindle Store.
Her first Yorkshire Ghosts novel – THE HAUNTING OF THORES-CROSS – won the silver medal for European fiction in the prestigious 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York, whilst her Valkyrie novel, DEAD RECKONING, was long-listed in the 2011 MSLEXIA novel competition.
See more about Karen Perkins, including contact details, on her website:
www.karenperkinsauthor.com
Karen is on Social Media:
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@LionheartG
Read on for an excerpt from The Haunting of Thores-Cross by Karen Perkins:
Prologue
26th April 1988
‘I dare you to go up to the haunted house.’
I glared at my sister in annoyance, then up at the house. I’d been there plenty of times with Alice and my friends, but never on my own. I did not want to go on my own now.
‘Double dare you.’
‘You little—!’ I lunged at her, but she danced out of my way. She might have been small, but she was quick.
She laughed. ‘Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat, Emma’s a scaredy-cat!’
I eyed the house again, then frowned at Alice. But a double dare was a double dare. And I was not a scaredy-cat. At ten years old, I could do this. I took a deep breath, ignored the butterflies in my stomach and started walking up the hill. I didn’t rush.
I scrambled through the gap in the crumbling dry stone wall that separated the house from the field, using both hands to steady myself. Something caught my eye and I stopped to have a closer look. Curious, I reached into the jumble of stones, and pulled it from the dark recess in the wall.
A little pot. Made of stone, it was rich brown in colour, roughly an inch high and two inches round with a small neck and lip. An old inkpot. I shook my head. How did I know that?
‘My story.’
I froze, then spun round to check behind me. Who said that? I looked back at the house. There was nobody here. Although the stone walls still stood, there were no doors, windows, nor roof. Dark holes gaped in the walls and, I knew from earlier visits, it was knee deep in sheepshit inside. I must have imagined the voice. I glanced back at Alice, braced my shoulders and took a step towards the house.
‘Write my story.’
My breath caught in my throat, then I sucked in a great lungful of air, turned and ran. Dashing past Alice, I didn’t care that she was laughing at me, that I’d lost the dare. I was terrified, desperate to get away from that house, that voice. It was only when I’d stopped running that I realised I still clutched the inkpot.
The Haunting of Thores-Cross is available now
Published in Great Britain by LionheART Publishing House
Copyright © Karen Perkins 2016
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention
No reproduction without permission
All rights reserved.
The right of Karen Perkins to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
LionheART Publishing House
Harrogate
UK
www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk
www.facebook.com/lionheartpublishing
[email protected]
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.
Caribbean, 17th Century, United States, Pirates, Sea Stories, Women Pirates, Adventure, Historical fiction, Colonial history, Caribbean history, African American history, Sailing
Cover Design by Cecelia Morgan
The Valkyrie Series: The First Fleet - (Books 1-3) Look Sharpe!, Ill Wind & Dead Reckoning: Caribbean Pirate Adventure Page 58
