Blacksouls

by Nicole Castroman

  “Did you have them when you went against the Deliverance?”

  “Aye.”

  “But you didn’t use them.”

  “It wasn’t our intent to send you to your deaths.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the Triumph. “But that’s exactly where they’re going. Fire when ready!” Easton yelled.

  The ship jumped beneath the explosions, and Teach held on to an overhead rafter as more smoke filled the air. Still pale from blood loss, Easton’s eyes were focused, his expression unforgiving. Gone was the flippant air of the rogue pirate. He was clearly a man intent on survival.

  Teach’s men, now prepared to launch their own cannonballs, looked to him for permission. “Show them no quarter, for they’ll give you none!” Teach braced himself for the volley sure to come from the Triumph. Easton called out more preparations to his gunners.

  “Fire!”

  With teeth-rattling intensity, the cannons shattered the air once more. As the smoke cleared, Teach realized that there had been no answering strike from the Triumph. Easton raised a brow and made a motion with his hand. The men paused. Had the Killorn inflicted enough damage that the others had already given up?

  One minute passed and then another, but the cannons of the Triumph remained silent. Leaning forward, Teach peered through the nearest gun port, careful not to expose himself to the enemy muskets. The Triumph had several broad holes in her hull. They’d managed to inflict significant damage.

  The hair on the back of Teach’s neck stood up as he saw the men of the Triumph scrambling on her deck. But they were scrambling to the other side of the ship, out to the open water and away from the Killorn.

  “Something’s not right,” Teach said, straightening. He headed for the stairs, but Easton reached out and stopped him.

  “It could be a trick on their part.”

  Teach shook him off. “I don’t think so. I’m going up.” With Easton following close on his heels, Teach reached the top, careful to keep low. Debris covered the deck, bits of canvas and chunks of wood. Easton growled, but the sound died in his throat when they saw the oncoming sails of an approaching ship.

  “That’s the Fortune,” Easton said. “It belongs to Webb.”

  As more of the sails and rigging came into view, Teach recognized the same simple lines and curves that matched the Killorn. The Fortune was the sister ship that had taken part in the attack on the Deliverance.

  The knot in Teach’s stomach tightened. The assault on the Killorn would now be doubled, unless they sank the Triumph where she lay, preventing the Fortune from entering the shallow waters of the inlet. But that would leave them trapped as well.

  A white cloud of smoke erupted from a gun port of the Fortune, sending a cannonball slicing through the air and hitting the Triumph with a resounding crack.

  Teach and Easton shot each other confused looks.

  “Did they just fire on their own ship?” Easton asked. He’d no sooner finished his question when another gun erupted, followed by another, with both balls hitting the Triumph.

  Raising the spyglass to his eye, Teach scoured the deck of the Fortune, and he gave an exultant shout when he saw John’s face amongst his familiar crew.

  Turning, Teach raced back down the steps to his own gun deck, calling out commands to prepare the cannons.

  When the men were ready, Teach raised his arm. “First and third guns, on my command. Fire!” he yelled.

  The world exploded at the eruptions.

  “Fifth and seventh. Fire!” Teach was astounded at the detonation that rocked the Killorn beneath his feet. Even his men froze and paused, until they heard an exuberant shout.

  Easton crouched on the stairs between the gun and upper deck, a jubilant smile on his face. “Well done, lads! We live to see another day! The Triumph will plague us no more!”

  Leaning forward, Teach saw the burning remains of the Triumph. Most of the ship had been blown apart, with only the stern remaining. The Triumph hadn’t stood a chance against two well-armed vessels.

  Bounding toward the captain’s cabin, Teach found Anne where he’d left her. Benjamin sat on the table, holding a rag up to his ear and Anne stood by his side, a beautiful smile lighting her face. In two steps, he reached her. Mindful of her back, his lips met hers. Her arms went around his neck, her fingers sliding into his hair. His desire to be alone with her overwhelmed him in every way.

  But someone gave a low whistle, reminding Teach that they were so very far from being alone.

  Easing Anne away with a quiet murmur, Teach saw that Benjamin had turned his head politely. But Easton leaned against the door frame, a smile stretching his thin face.

  “If that’s the prize you’re awarded, what will the real hero receive? Since it was my ship that saved us—”

  Teach stepped forward, prepared to inflict bodily harm, but Anne stopped him, rounding on Easton. “Your reward is your life. If you make one more comment like that, I won’t stop him from coming after you. You might be entertained by your own wit, but the rest of us are not.”

  Easton looked between the two of them. Something in Teach’s expression must have convinced him that Anne spoke the truth, for he gave them a brief nod. “All right, then. I’ll consider myself thanked. Shall we go up on deck and see where your men are?”

  CHAPTER 35

  Anne

  Teach sent a skiff to shore, bringing Kitts and the rest of his men to the Killorn. Some of them were already collecting planks of wood that dotted the water’s surface from the destroyed Triumph. They could be used to repair Easton’s ship.

  By the time John pulled up in a longboat, the deck of the pirate ship was teeming with men. Kitts, Easton, and Teach had formed some kind of uneasy truce, at least for the moment.

  As John’s grinning face appeared over the railing, relief unfolded in Anne’s chest and she met his smile with one of her own. John had left the Fortune anchored out in the open water.

  Striding toward Anne, John took her hands in his. “Happy to see me?”

  Teach slapped John on the back, slightly harder than necessary. “Of course we are! But how did you get from the Triumph to the other ship?”

  Kitts’s astonished voice cut through the celebration. “You’re a woman!”

  Anne turned to see everyone staring at a slight figure wearing a hat pulled low. Reva’s dark brown hair was long and pulled back in multiple braids.

  “Muy bien.” Shaking her head, Reva looked in Easton’s direction. “Are they all this intelligente, Easton?”

  “Only the ones that survive. What are you doing here?”

  “Saving your life, querido.”

  Anne smiled at the expression on Easton’s face as he gaped at Reva. The girl certainly enjoyed surprising people.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  Reva gave Anne an exasperated look. “Los hombres,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  “She means she is the reason we’re all still alive. After I took Anne and Benjamin ashore,” John said, purposefully avoiding Teach’s eyes, “I returned to the ship and saw the Fortune from a distance. I’d hoped that they would sail past, or if they did stop to offer help, we could simply tell them to move along. But when they arrived, they didn’t offer any warning, opening musket fire on our ship, and taking out two of ours before we knew what they were about. Their captain said that if we came without a fight, they’d let us live.”

  Teach stiffened at Anne’s side, his hand tightening momentarily around hers.

  “They took us to the Fortune and set off on the Triumph to catch you off guard. I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that Webb sent them after us,” John said.

  “How do you know for sure?” Kitts asked.

  “They were only too happy to tell us.” John gave Kitts a cold stare. “Apparently, Webb never planned for any of us to return to Nassau. Or anywhere else, for that matter. They were told not to leave any survivors.”

  “I told you,” Easton said grimly. “Anyone who
comes in contact with me and the information I have is considered a threat.”

  Anne shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. “But how did you overtake their ship?”

  “Reva and her men were already part of their crew. They were the ones left to guard us. They set us free and we sailed here as fast as we could.”

  “Why were you part of the crew?” Easton demanded.

  “And how did you hide the fact that you were a woman?” Anne asked, fascinated.

  “Los hombres son estupidos. They only see what they want to see. The captain needed more sailors for the Fortune and I needed a way to leave Nassau and come after Easton. I slept during the day and kept to the crow’s nest during my watch at night.” Reva pointed a finger at the pirate. “You stole my ship.”

  “No, I borrowed it.”

  “I want it back.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

  “You sank the Maldicion?” Reva’s lips twisted into an ugly snarl as she let loose a string of Spanish curses, accompanied by rapid hand gestures.

  The rest of the group was silent for a moment, watching her.

  Anne chanced a glance at Kitts, trying to determine his thoughts. The governor whose orders he so blindly followed hadn’t thought twice about killing him.

  Eventually Reva stopped, but she continued to glare in Easton’s direction. “I should never have trusted you.”

  “I’ll find you another ship. I promise.”

  Reva let her hands express what she thought of Easton’s pledge.

  For the first time since he’d boarded the Killorn, John took a hard look at Easton. “Who’re you?” John asked.

  “George Easton.”

  “The pirate?”

  “One and the same. And you are?”

  Anne tried to smother a laugh at the shock on John’s face.

  Teach grinned. “This is John Collins, my first mate.”

  Easton gave a slight bow. “Well, John Collins, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  John raked his hand through his hair. Anne could practically see the wheels churning in his head. The pirate they’d been sent to capture had just greeted him as if they were at a simple dinner party. And he wasn’t in any form of restraints, even with Kitts standing right beside him. “We’ll explain later, John. First we have to decide what to do now.”

  “We head back to Nassau.”

  Every head turned in Easton’s direction.

  “What? It’s our only option at the moment.” Although Easton’s voice was light, the look in his eyes was hard.

  “You said you’d never go back to Nassau alive,” Teach said.

  “That was before I knew Webb would try to have me killed twice in one day. We have to go back. Do you think he’ll let me live with the information I have?” Easton asked. “He sent you to find me, that dirty bounder to kill me, and then he sent another ship to make everything and everyone disappear. Once he finds out I’m still alive, I’ll be a hunted man for the rest of my life, constantly looking over my shoulder. If the Fortune doesn’t return, he’ll know immediately that something is wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t already sent another ship after us.”

  “But he thinks we’re dead. If we go back, he’ll know his plans failed,” Kitts said. This was the first time the soldier had voiced anything that remotely resembled insubordination. Perhaps he wasn’t so loyal to the Crown after all.

  “Which is precisely why we need to go back. He’ll figure it out eventually, but if we strike now, we can catch him off guard. We have to take the fight to him.”

  “That would be a suicide mission,” Kitts said.

  Easton gave the soldier a patronizing smile. “If you were in charge, yes. You’d walk through his front door and announce yourself. But that’s not the way I fight.”

  Kitts flushed a dark crimson. “We have to seriously think about this. We can’t just attack the governor of Nassau.”

  “That’s exactly what we’ll do. And we’ll do it now. Remember, he tried to kill each and every one of us today. And he won’t lose a single night of sleep over it.” Easton stepped up to Reva at the same time that she whipped out a long dagger.

  “I’m not going back,” she hissed. “I had to sleep in the belly of that ship for six days. Today was the first time I saw the sun since I left Nassau. When I go after Pelham, I plan to do it with a ship of my own.”

  Wisely, the pirate moved on, motioning to Anne and Teach. “Webb’s holding your friends hostage until you take me back. So go back we shall. But we’ll make it worth our while. Webb is our true enemy. He can’t be allowed to continue destroying lives.”

  “He’s right,” Anne said. “Webb has to be stopped.” She was grateful to Easton. He’d put into words exactly what she’d been feeling ever since she’d first met the governor and his wife. But she knew that as a woman, no one would have listened to her.

  “We can’t all return on the Fortune,” Teach pointed out.

  “Of course not. We’ll need some men to remain here and continue repairing the Killorn.”

  “What about supplies?” Kitts asked.

  John stepped forward. “The Fortune is well equipped. They took the supplies we had left on the Triumph and transported them before they went searching for you. But even if they hadn’t, it’s obvious Webb made sure they were well stocked.”

  “Ah, yes, Webb mustn’t let his mercenaries starve, must he?” Easton muttered, his voice bitter.

  “You were once one of his mercenaries,” Kitts pointed out.

  Easton scowled at him as he held his arms wide, showing his emaciated form. “And we’ve seen how well that went.”

  “We need to make haste,” Teach said. “We’ll leave enough supplies here for the men who stay and make sure we take enough with us to make the trip to Nassau and back. We won’t have time to resupply while we’re there.”

  Excellent. Anne had been about to say the same thing. “The trip there should only take us five or six days, depending on the—”

  “You’re not going,” Teach and Easton said simultaneously.

  Anne scoffed at the two of them. “Why not?”

  “Because it’s too dangerous.” A fierce frown cracked Teach’s face.

  “You’ll be too much of a distraction. And it’s too dangerous,” Easton added, after catching Teach’s eye.

  “This isn’t your decision to make. I have as much right as any of you to go after that man, especially after what he did to me and what his wife did to Beth. And those are my friends he’s holding hostage, not just your men.”

  “I’m sorry, Anne. I understand how you must feel—”

  “Don’t you dare pretend to know how I feel,” she ground out, her face flushing with heat. “This is as much my fight as it is yours.” The governor had threatened to sell her. Teach would never understand how that felt.

  Teach’s mouth thinned, his expression thunderous, but surprisingly it was Kitts who spoke up next.

  “He’s right. It’s too dangerous. You escaped Webb once, but if you go back, and he catches you, you will hang. Webb can’t be trusted.”

  “If any of you go back and are caught, you’ll all hang,” Anne pointed out.

  Easton shook his head. “We won’t get caught.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because we know how to fight,” Easton said, his voice unapologetic. “I meant what I said. You’ll be a distraction. A lovely one, but a distraction nonetheless. If you get caught, Teach wouldn’t hesitate to go after you, which could compromise all our lives. It’s too great a risk.”

  “So you expect me to stay here with a bunch of strangers while you all sail off?”

  “Reva has already said she’s staying,” Easton said. Reva looked as if she wanted to hurl her dagger in his direction. “And I’m sure the two of you will get along.”

  “John and Benjamin will stay behind,” Teach said. “And some of the men from my crew. They’re fit and will be
able to repair Easton’s ship faster. If I didn’t trust them, I wouldn’t leave you here.”

  Frustrated, Anne looked to John for help. Surely he would make them see reason. But her friend only gave her a sympathetic smile, his mouth firmly shut.

  Without another word she stalked off toward the captain’s cabin.

  • • •

  Three separate campfires lit up the night sky. The musky scent of smoke rose in lazy spirals toward the stars. From the windows in the captain’s cabin, Anne watched the men on the shore laughing together. Correction, the men and one woman. Reva sat comfortably on a log, her legs crossed in front of her. Since her men were excellent fighters and in good shape, several of them would sail back to Nassau as well.

  In an effort to help some of Easton’s men gain strength, they’d slaughtered two of the pigs from the Fortune, and Anne’s stomach rumbled, the smell of roasted pork reaching her across the cay.

  An overwhelming feeling of loneliness washed over her. Would she ever find a world in which she belonged?

  “We’re ready to leave,” Teach said.

  Anne maintained a stony silence. She hadn’t heard the cabin door open, but she didn’t turn around.

  “Please don’t be like this.”

  The scent of food had intensified. Teach had brought her something to eat, and Anne’s mouth began to water. His footsteps sounded on the wooden planks behind her, and the plate clanked on the desk as he set it down.

  “I’m not sorry for leaving you behind. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”

  “That’s unfortunate, because I won’t forgive you if you leave me behind.”

  “Anne.”

  “What?” she snapped, whirling on him, the firelight in the distance flickering across his face. “What do you want me to say? I’m not going to make this easy on you.”

  “None of this is easy on me. But I stand by my decision.” He reached for her, but she raised her hands to ward off any contact. He ran a frustrated hand over his jaw. “Do you have any idea of the danger we face in returning to Nassau?”