Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy (5 page)

Alyson jumped up, steadying herself against the roll of the ship as she headed toward the door. Chessboard and pieces lay forgotten on the table.

Pulling the door open, she stepped into the passageway just as a crash and instant darkness told her someone had slammed the hatchway shut.

As she struggled to collect her wits, Jamie said in a carefully calm voice, “Do you think those pirates will capture us?”

“Whether they will or not remains to be seen,” she said. Knowing that the boys had explored the ship, she added, “It may be wise for us to hide, in case they do, though. Do you know of a place where you and Will might conceal yourselves?”

“We
could
go into the hold,” Jamie said, frowning. “Orkney did say that we were no tae go down there, because there will likely be rats. And the captain said we’d no see anything anyway, ’cause he has strict rules against lanterns unless someone else goes along wi’ water tae douse any fire. But with all this wind—”

“Aye,” Will said, nodding. “The way the sea be a-tossing o’ this ship, even a grown man would ha’ trouble staying upright down there wi’ a lantern in hand.”

Eyeing them both, Alyson suspected that the only way either would descend to the hold would be if she and Ciara went with them. Recalling the older woman’s terror of the dark, the possibility of the ship’s sinking if a cannonball struck it, and the way that Ciara’s eyes had widened at Jamie’s mention of rats, Alyson knew she’d have trouble persuading any of them to seek refuge in the hold.

Her usual common sense stirred sharply then.

“I expect that the hold is the first place the pirates would go,” she said. “Whatever else they may do, they’ll surely take what stores we carry and our cargo of hides and wool. Can you think of anywhere else to hide?”

“We’ve a big kist in our cabin like them two yonder,” Will said, pointing to two wooden chests by the wall opposite the shelf bed. “If we climbed in and ye threw a dress or two over us—I’ve me doots any pirate would touch a dress.”

“Aye, sure,” Jamie said. “We might both fit inside ours if we take our things out and scatter them about.”

“Go and do that, then,” Alyson said. “Do you need help?”

“Nay, we’ll do it,” Jamie said, dashing out with Will right behind him.

“Ciara will throw clothing over you and latch the kist,” Alyson shouted.

“I’ll be right along,” Ciara added. She had opened one of Alyson’s kists and was flinging clothing from it onto the bed. As she did, the whole ship shuddered.

“What was that?” Alyson said.

“I been hearing more o’ them booms. Mayhap a cannonball hit the ship.”

“I doubt they’d risk damaging the ship,” Alyson said.
“They must want its cargo, after all. Why else would pirates attack us?”

Ciara glanced toward the door that the boys had gone through.

Following her thoughts, Alyson felt a shiver. Nevertheless, she said firmly, “Don’t be daft, Ciara. English pirates could not possibly know who is aboard this ship. I would remind you that it sailed to Edinburgh from France and that we are still flying a French flag. Moreover, England and France are enjoying a truce.”

“France is our ally, m’lady. But for most o’ my life and surely all o’ yours, the French have been at war with England. We should never have got so close to shore.”

“In such awful weather as we’ve had, the captain surely thought it safer,” Alyson said. “You know as well as I do that he could arrange only hasty repairs after the great storm that damaged this ship on its journey to Scotland. He dared not fight the force of the heavy winds and inflowing tides any more than necessary.”

“Get into this kist, m’lady,” Ciara said. “I’ve left a few things at the bottom so ye’ll no be lying on hard wood, and I’ll drape summat over ye. Then I’ll see to the two lads afore I climb into that other kist.”

Alyson nearly protested. But, again, common sense intervened. She and Ciara would be no safer than the boys were if enemies boarded the ship.

Thanks to the
Sea Wolf
’s rutter, the invaluable record in which Jake noted details learned from experience or from other seamen about every mile of coastline that he or they had sailed, he had identified the outcropping from behind
which the five ships had come as Flamborough Head. It jutted from England’s Yorkshire coast some twenty miles south of Scarborough.

He wished he could know what was happening aboard the
Maryenknyght
. That the merchantman had submitted after the lead English ship fired its cannon told him only that the merchantman was as unarmed as the
Sea Wolf
was.

He knew Henry of Orkney well enough to be certain that the young earl was reacting strongly to this turn of events. But Henry was no fool and would do nowt to endanger his charge. He and Jamie would be traveling as ordinary passengers, not as a great nobleman and a prince of the Scottish realm.

Even if Henry should so far forget himself as to think of declaring his identity, he would surely realize before he did so that even the powerful Earl of Orkney could not fight off five shiploads of greedy pirates, if that’s what they were. Henry would also understand that identifying himself would suggest to pirates or anyone else that the Almighty had sent them a wealthy earl they could hold for ransom.

Jake also wished he could be sure that the English attackers
were
just pirates. No one would care for the loss of hides and wool, least of all Henry. Nor would he care if pirates stole the ship’s stores or anything else aboard, as long as they left the young prince alone and the ship seaworthy. And why should they not?

To pirates, Jamie would be just another child—a nuisance to themselves if they took him aboard. The only real danger then would be if they seized the
Maryenknyght
and decided that its captain, crew, and passengers were expendable.

A sense of unease stirred as these thoughts sped through his mind. He was certain that no other ship had followed the
Maryenknyght
. But he could not be as certain that the reason for its journey to Edinburgh and back had remained a secret.

A year ago, almost to the day, Jamie’s older brother Davy had died. If the King of Scots died today, Jamie would succeed him, thus setting off a power struggle to determine who would control the throne. The Scots were tired of governors—or regents, as other countries called them—ruling in place of their rightful King.

Many believed that a full-grown man, a strong one, should rule.

Jamie’s uncle, the Duke of Albany, believed
he
was that man. And Albany stood next after Jamie to inherit the crown. Worse, Albany had a long history of learning things that others did not want him to know.

“May God curse him if he’s arranged this!” Jake growled.

When the five English ships finally disengaged themselves, leaving the
Maryenknyght
to pitch about in the angry waves, apparently uncontrolled, Jake ordered the
Sea Wolf
closer. He wondered why the pirates had not sailed their prize into harbor and, more important, if they had left anyone alive aboard.

Having shut the lid of the kist into which Alyson had curled herself, Ciara had run across the passageway to drape clothing over the boys. Meantime, Alyson listened intently but heard only great crashing sounds that made the whole ship tremble. Trying to ignore both sounds and
fury, she heard Ciara return at last and begin flinging things from the second kist to the shelf bed.

“Did both boys fit in the one kist, Ciara?”

“Aye, m’lady. But I doubt they are comfortable or that such a hiding place will serve if them villains come down here.”

“Pirates will think only about our cargo,” Alyson said, praying that she was right. “They’ll want to offload it to their ships and won’t spare a thought for these two wee cabins before they do that.”

“I’m none so sure o’ that,” Ciara said. “What if they seize this ship?”

Alyson sighed. “I’d hoped that that dreadful thought would not occur to you. You did not share it with the boys, I trust.”

“Nay, nor would I,” Ciara said “But if they do board—”

“If they do, they do, and we’ll cope as well as we can,” Alyson said.

Another crash rattled the ship. “Do hurry, Ciara. These bangs and shudders grow worrisome, because it feels as if other ships are banging into ours. If the pirates are boarding, you
don’t
want them to find you!”

“I should bolt the door. Not that it will keep them—”

“Don’t,” Alyson said urgently. “If you bolt it and someone comes, he will know that someone is here. A bolt cannot shoot itself home.”

No reply other than a rustling sound came to her ears, but it told her that Ciara was climbing into the kist. As Alyson waited to hear the thud of its lid closing, another crashing shudder diverted her.

Heavy footsteps thundered in the passageway.

Yearning to tell Ciara to hurry, she dared not make a
sound, lest it carry into the passage. As the thought flitted through her mind, she heard the door bang back on its hinges, followed by a cry of alarm from Ciara.

“Here now, what’s this?” a deep voice demanded. “What be a female doing aboard this ship?”

“Get ye gone from here,” Ciara snapped. “Ye’ve nae business troubling a decent woman.”

“To me, lads,” the man shouted. “Come see what I’ve found.”

Ciara screamed, and more feet pounded in the passageway.

Alyson tried to push the lid of her kist open but could not. Evidently, Ciara had slipped the steel pin into the hasp that secured the lid in place.

Alyson bit her lip to keep silent, praying they would not hurt Ciara.

Ciara screamed again. Then Alyson heard the last thing she wanted to hear, when Jamie shouted, “Leave her be, ye gallous beast!”

Sounds of more struggle ensued, and she heard Will’s voice along with Jamie’s and Ciara’s. Other masculine voices joined in, followed by more cries and conflict as captors shoved their captives out the door and along the passageway.

Alyson reached to try the lid of her kist again, only to tense every muscle when a footstep sounded right beside her.

The metallic sound of a pin being slowly drawn from its hasp followed.

She held her breath, afraid to let it out.

A voice, clearly English, shouted from the passageway, “Stir your stumps, Geordie. This devilish tub be a-sinking!”

“God-a-mercy,” the man murmured. Then he was gone.

Pushing against the lid as hard as she could, Alyson realized the effort was useless. Ciara had put the pin in, and the villain had not got it all the way out!

Jake saw long before the
Sea Wolf
neared it that the
Maryenknyght
was listing. “Nay, then,” he muttered, amending the thought. “She’s going to go under!”

Beside him, Coll nodded. “She is, aye, sir. But likely they’ve taken all aboard her onto them other ships.” Looking up, he added with a frown, “I think it be starting to rain, but with this wind whipping up the sea as it is, a man cannot be sure.”

“Get us closer,” Jake said. To one of the lads resting nearby, he added, “Fetch my sword from my cabin. I want to see if anyone’s still aboard.”

“She’s like to go under afore ye could search her,” Coll said. “And if we be alongside, she’ll take us down with her.”