Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy (6 page)

“Just get me close enough to see for myself that those villains have not left anyone behind. They’ll have been interested only in her cargo of wool and hides.”

“I doubt they thought of aught but their
own
hides, sir.”

“If Orkney knew the ship was sinking, he’d have done everything possible to get his young charge out of danger,” Jake reminded him. “Sakes, what the devil… Coll, do you see that? There
is
someone aboard, and if my eyes do not—”

“Your vision be as good as ever,” Coll said grimly. “That be a female, and by the way she moves, a young one.”

“Bring us alongside the ship,” Jake said in a tone that
would brook no argument. He was already scanning the ship’s side, seeking a way up.

The man he had sent for his sword returned with it, and Jake slung it on.

“Someone’s cast a rope over the side yonder near the stern,” Coll said. “But she’s sinking fast. I’d wager that their cannon shot farther and more accurately than they expected, or them villains damaged her when they grappled onto her.”

“The latter, I think,” Jake said, pointing. “That gash there dips below the waterline. But we’ll climb up here. ’Tis a shorter climb, and in this wind and these seas, we’ve no time to try aught else.”

“Sir, with respect, she’s like to go under afore ye can get back to us.”

“We’ll just have to move faster than she does,” Jake said. “Mace, to me!” he shouted. “Bring your sword!”

A fair-haired oarsman on the first bench, nearest the stern, relinquished his oar to another man. Grabbing his sword and sling from under his bench, he stepped to the gangway down the middle of the deck between the two banks of oarsmen, and moved swiftly along it to Jake.

“Aye, Cap’n?” he said as he slung his own longsword across his back.

“You and I are going to board her. At least one person is still on her. But there may be others, and the ship is sinking. Coll, get us near enough to catch that rope. Wait only to see us aboard, and then haul off a safe distance. It is indeed beginning to rain and may soon come down in buckets. Whether it does or not, in the increasing darkness, you’ll likely lose sight of us. If you do, turn back to Filey Bay.”

“Northward, sir? Won’t we be a-following them villains then?”

“We’ll certainly try to learn where they’re going if they take Orkney and his charge with them,” Jake said. “But even if they do, they’ll likely have a lair nearby. They turned back toward Flamborough Head, that great promontory you can still make out yonder to the northwest. I’m thinking they’ll seek shelter until they can sort things out for themselves. I doubt they’ll keep innocent men and boys aboard. Nor are they likely to risk killing them.”

“Sakes, why not?” Coll demanded.

“Because Orkney will identify himself if he must, to protect his charge. He will doubtless say that James is his son and claim that returning them alive will fetch those villains an enormous ransom from the Sinclair family.”

“If he thinks of that,” Coll said.

Mace was silent, eyeing the dangerously listing merchantman narrowly as the
Sea Wolf
sped toward it, and Jake didn’t blame him.

“Don’t fret,” Jake said. “That rope may have been a wee bit short for us before. Now it’s well within our reach. You go first.”

“Aye, sir,” Mace said.

Jake saw something else. Chuckling, he said, “We’ll be safe enough, Coll. They’ve left their coble on the deck. And with the ship at the angle it is now, Mace and I should be able to launch it ourselves. Then we’ll be fine. Mind you don’t go too far north if we lose you,” he added. “Filey Bay has a long reef at its north end. Check the rutter. Seek a barren patch of sand midway, and we’ll find you in a day or two.”

“Aye,” Coll said, shaking his head at them, indicating—
and not for the first time—his firm belief that his master was daft and took too many risks.

They were close enough now for Mace to grab the rope. He went up it without hesitation and hauled himself over the railing.

Jake followed and saw that Mace had gone straight to the coble. He saw no sign of the lass. Then he heard her voice: “Help us! Over here!”

He saw her, half in and half out of a hatchway between the forecastle cabins. Praying that “us” included the prince, he shouted to Mace and ran toward her.

Chapter 3

Minutes earlier

H
aving forced herself to ignore the unknown pirate’s opinion that the ship was sinking, Alyson focused her mind on finding a way out of the locked kist. Since he had begun to pull the pin from the hasp, mayhap she could rattle it loose.

Curled in the kist as she was, she could not exert her full strength against the resistant lid. However, after painful maneuvering, she managed to twist at the waist enough to press her shoulder blades flat against the bottom.

By pushing hard and banging on the lid, she managed only to bruise the heels of her hands. Even so, angry, frustrated, and frightened out of her wits, she continued to hit the unrelenting lid with the sides of her fists.

The ship went on tossing throughout. But she realized after a time that her body pressed harder against the kist wall to her right, as if the
Maryenknyght
were listing that way. Remembering the cannon fire, the ship’s shuddering, and the awful crashing sounds, she feared that while the pirates boarded the
Maryenknyght
, their flanking ships had crashed hard against her.

How much damage they might have done to the storm-battered ship, she did not want to imagine. What if it
was
sinking? What if everyone else had got off?

Sakes, but where was Niall? Surely, Mungo or no Mungo, pirates or no pirates, he would come and find her.

Feeling utterly abandoned, she called herself sharply to order.
Think; listen for footsteps so you can shout. You are where you are; do what you can.

Time crept as if hours were passing instead of minutes.

At last, with profound relief, she heard running feet, then Will’s voice surprisingly near, shouting, “Lady Alyson, be ye still in one o’ them kists?”

“In this one, aye, Will! Pull the pin from the hasp.”

Moments later, the lid opened to admit faint light, and she gratefully drew a deep breath. The air in the cabin still reeked of untanned hides and damp wool.

“We must hie ourselves tae the deck,” the boy said, trying to pull her out. “Near everyone’s got off and them other four ships be already away. Only the lead boat stays, but I had tae hide m’self whilst the last ’uns were a-boarding it, and I waited till I could hope nae one might see me. But they’ve taken our Jamie on the biggest ship, m’lady! I should be wi’ him. Can ye no get yourself out the noo?”

“I can, aye,” Alyson said, trying awkwardly to do so and finding it harder than it had been to get in. “But surely the pirates won’t abandon this ship.”

“One side o’ her got crunched, and they say she be a-sinking,” Will said as she managed to hoist herself and get her feet under her. Grabbing her near arm to steady her against a lurching movement of the ship, he added, “We must run!”

Needing no more encouragement, she caught up her skirts and stepped out.

The boy turned and ran, his dark figure outlined in the grayer light of the doorway. In the darkness, he tripped over the raised threshold, tried wildly to catch himself, and crashed to the floor of the passageway. Trying to get to his feet, he let out a cry of pain, stumbled forward, and fell to his knees.

“Ay-de-mi,” he muttered as Alyson bent anxiously over him. “I’ve done summat tae me ankle, m’lady. Ye must run ahead. If ye canna stop ’em afore they cast off, we’ll be stuck here tae drown!”

“I’ll stop them, Will. Then I’ll come for you.”

“I’m too big for ye tae carry,” he said. “Getting me up yon ladder—”

She waited to hear no more but snatched up her skirts, ran to the ladder, and climbed swiftly. But she was not quick enough. Nor would they have been had Will not fallen, for as she emerged into gale-force winds, she saw that the lead ship must have cast off before or just when the boy had hurried below. It was well away, its sails full, swiftly distancing itself from the
Maryenknyght
.

Alyson shouted and waved. But the wind whipped her words away, and she knew that no one on the departing ship could have heard her. The sky had grown darker, full of lowering black clouds more ominous than ever. Doubtless, the English pirates thought only of getting themselves and their captives to shelter.

As she turned to go back down, she remembered Will’s mentioning four other ships and wondered if they had all headed in, too. The pirates must have hoped to collect the
Maryenknyght
’s valuable cargo before the ship sank, but
despite her earlier sense that time had crept at a snail’s pace and the fact that the villains would have entered the hold through the stern hatch, they’d not had time enough yet to offload hundreds of bales of hides and wool.

Shouting to Will that she would return shortly, she ran to the portside railing and scanned the open sea, seeing nothing akin to a sail. The roiling, cloud-filled sky hid any distant prospect. And a line of darker, more thunderous-looking low clouds loomed not far away, in the direction that she thought must be eastward.

As she crossed the deck to the steerboard side, she realized that the ship was listing more. She kept sliding awkwardly downhill even as waves made the ship rise. Catching herself at the railing, she discerned a sail at last, moving toward her.

When she was sure that the other ship was approaching the
Maryenknyght
, she rushed back to the hatchway to shout to Will that rescue was at hand. Praying desperately that whoever it was was not of a murderous nature, she waited at the top of the ladder to see what happened next.

Seeing first one man and then a second climb over the railing, she shouted. When she knew they had seen her, she scrambled down the ladder. With the light behind her, she could scarcely make out Will’s shape in the passageway.

“The last ship has gone, but two men boarded this ship from a much smaller one, and they don’t look like pirates,” she told him hastily when she reached him. “Their ship has oars as well as sails—like an Isles galley, only larger. It also has stepped sides rising at each end to a high prow and an equally high stern.”

“I ken what ye mean, for I ha’ seen a ship like that,”
Will muttered. Then, with a sigh, he said, “Me falling were a daft thing tae do, m’lady. I’m no usually sae clumsy. It hurts like fire, but I dinna think anything’s broke.”

“Try to stand,” she said, reaching to take his hand.

From well behind her, a masculine voice called, “Lass, where are you?”

“Here in the passage,” she shouted, knowing he would barely hear her over the screeching wind whipping around the hatchway above him. “I’ve a lad here who cannot walk. He rescued me but fell when we were running to get to the deck.”

“Is anyone else aboard?”

“I don’t think so,” Alyson said as Will said, “I saw nae one else.”

She could see only two large, silent, dark shapes moving toward her against the faint light through the hatchway. But her fear had ebbed.

The leader had very broad shoulders and was taller and lankier than the heavier-looking man behind him. Both had swords slung across their backs.

“How badly are you hurt, lad?” the nearer one asked in a pleasantly deep, definitely Scottish voice. Hearing his accent, Alyson felt the last of her fear vanish. As he stepped past her to take a knee by the boy, the man seemed very tall.

Will said, “I ha’ me doots I did more than twist me ankle. Gave it a good sharp twist and nae mistake, though, tripping over yon devilish threshold piece.” Grimly, he added, “I hope ye dinna be more o’ them wicked pirates.”

“We’re not.”

The second man remained silent but hovered near
Alyson. She wished he would speak and mayhap give her a better idea of who they were. But a more important question still teased her mind.

“Are we sinking?” she asked. “I know the ship is listing. It also feels as if it is shaking apart.”

“We’ll talk later, lass,” the first man said as he rose. He was at least a foot taller than she was. “We must get you both topside straightaway.”

Although she still could not see much, she could tell that he was helping Will to his feet. Since she could imagine no other reason for not answering her question, she decided he did not want to terrify them.

“Try putting weight on that foot, lad,” he said. “I won’t let you fall.”

“She were a-going tae try taking me up herself,” Will told him, obeying the command only to lurch into him as he did and stifle another cry. “I—I’m near as big as she is,” the boy added determinedly. “So I didna think she could carry me. But I dinna think I can walk much yet either.”

Alyson said, “If you will help him, sir, I can see to my own needs. But prithee, be frank with us.
Is
this ship sinking?”

He said, “It is, aye, lass, so we must make haste. Mace and I can sling the ship’s coble over the side and then—”

“
Our
coble? But what happened to your ship?”

“Nary a thing,” he said. “But when this one goes under, she is going to create a wide vortex that will suck anything nearby right down with her. My ship must not be within range when that happens, nor should
we
be if we can prevent it. These devilish winds will aid us, though, if we can but get beyond the ship’s immediate vicinity. Hence, our haste now.”