Isle of Fire (43 page)
Ascending the decks without being seen had not been easy. Twice, Blake and Dolphin had to use their swords along the way, but at last they made it to Thorne's quarters. The three fugitives charged into the room and closed the door behind them.
Hopper and Blake ran past a huge wardrobe, around Thorne's desk, and cranked open the gallery window. Dolphin stopped in the middle of the room and stared at the portrait of Heather Thorne. “I really do look just like her,” she said.
“This is no time for a family reunion,” Blake said, stepping up to the window sill. “Dolphin, getâ”
The gunshot was so sudden and loud that Hopper screamed. None of them had seen Edward Teach step out of the wardrobe. The shot hit the commodore and, in spite of Hopper's efforts to grab him, Blake fell from the window, smacking the water hard, several stories below.
Sword raised, Dolphin started toward Teachâbut he had a second pistol, and he pointed it at her head. “Drop your weapon!” he commanded. Dolphin pulled up short. Her eyes darted frantically. She couldn't speak. Trembling, she still hesitated to drop her sword.
Teach cocked the hammer back on the pistol. “Drop your weapon now!”
Hopper looked out of the gallery window, down into the water. He saw Blake's body floating there, a red stain spreading into the water near his shoulder. Hopper looked back at Dolphin, still holding the sword. He didn't know what to do. Either way, he'd most likely fail.
Then Teach noticed Hopper at the window. “Don't you move!” Teach yelled. But Hopper knew he would not take the gun off Dolphin. Hopper's eyes met Lady Dolphin's for a heartbeat, and then he jumped.
Just hours before dawn, Guthrum returned from the raiding party. He and the Berserkers came aboard the
Raven's Revenge
and found Thorne in a perilous mood. “What is your report?” Thorne rasped.
Guthrum explained, “The Port of London belongs to us. Much of the city fled into Stratford and Hampstead. We chose not to follow. The British flag has been torn down from the palace, but we did not find King George.”
“Arrgh-ah!” Thorne marched up to Guthrum and stared him in the eye. “I told you to bring me his head!”
But Guthrum did not shy away from Thorne. “I suspect King George has long planned a secret escape should he need a hasty exit from Britain. He is most likely on his way to Germany now. Do you now want us to invade Hanover?”
Thorne's face reddened, and, for a moment, he considered killing Guthrum where he stood. But, no, the rest of the Raukar might quail at that. “Very well,” said Thorne, his voice a biting whisper. “Now get back on board the cutter. You will be responsible for maintaining control of the Port of London. I will take the rest of our forces to Saba and deal with the monks. You'll have twenty ships. You can hold on to the port until I return, can't you?”
Guthrum's eyes blazed. “Yes, Captain Thorne, I can.”
L
ondon burned. From the docks to the depths of the city, every building had been scorched or utterly incinerated. Thick black smoke bubbled up from the wreckage and was sheered toward the west by the strong winds that had kicked up. The harbor was a smoking graveyard of ships. Hulls and burned-out skeletons of all manner of sailing vessels protruded from the murky, discolored water. They'd seen the smoke from ten miles up the Thames River, and that had led them to fear the worst for London. But nothing could have prepared Declan Ross, his crew, and his fleet for the smoldering carnage they would behold when they arrived in the port. As they surveyed the damage, they noticed several ships still afloat and seemingly unscathed from the battle. These were strange ships, long and thin, with rows of round shields hanging on their rails.
Ross knew they weren't British. He didn't say a word. He simply looked grimly at Stede and nodded. Then Ross went to the rail of the quarterdeck and saw Hack and Slash by the mainmast. Ross pointed to the sky. Hack and Slash went right to work pulling away at a long rope wound in a halyard. The black flag of the Sea Wolf rose high in the sky.
St. Pierre saw the flag go up, drew a long saber, and yelled, “All cannons, FIRE!!” Cutlass Jack's xebec and Musketoon MacCready's galleon opened fire as well. Even the small Scottish sloops and schoonersânone of which had more than ten cannonsâunleashed their fury as well. The Wolf fleet's first volley sent more than two hundred cannonballs careening toward the Raukar ships before even one of the Norse ships fired back.
One Raukar warship was struck three times in the same center section of the hull. It split in half and began to sink. Another ship caught an eighteen-pounder straight into its fore keel. The cannonball blasted in directly under the bowsprit and struck the mast below decks, cracking its base. The mast fell and tore up half the deck in the process. But the most devastating damage came from the cannonballs that fell on the main decks where the dragon necks and ammunition were kept. And that was the greatest flaw in the Raukar's eldregn weapon. In battle, the weapon had to be kept on the upper deck. When the Wolf fleet's cannonballs struck a stockpile of eldregn canisters, it resulted in absolute ruin.
One Raukar ship disappeared in a huge reddish fireball. The very air where the ship had been seemed to burn, and the water in a large circle was layered with liquid fire. Ross watched with fascination as the wind carried the fireball into the mast of another Raukar ship. The sails kindled immediately, and before the hapless sailors could leap from their decks, tendrils of fire found their own stockpiles of eldregn, and that ship exploded as well.
The hunters had suddenly become the hunted. But Guthrum was a skilled seaman, and he led a counterattack. He'd seen the wind shift. And he'd seen what it had done with the eldregn. So, as his ship sailed behind the burning wreckage, he ordered his men to take the eldregn canisters to the lowest deck. Then he fired a salvo through the smoke at the Wolf fleet. Guthrum sank two of the Scottish sloops before Kalik spotted him from the crow's-nest on the
Bruce
.
“He be behind the frigit sheep!” Kalik screamed down excitedly.
“What?” yelled Red Eye.
Hack squinted. “I think he said there's a frigid sheep.”
“Nonsense,” countered Slash. “He's simply complaining that his behind is cold from sitting up in the crow's-nest.”
“I said he be hiding behind the frigate ship!” Kalik glared down at Red Eye and the others. He tried once more to explain. “The burning ship over there. That's where he be!?”
Red Eye at last understood. He ran across the deck, leaped down the hatch, and ran to a cannon. “Loaded?” he asked a team of gunnery men.
They nodded. Red Eye aimed the cannon himself. Then he lit the fuse and watched. His shot sailed straight into the billowing smoke. He had no idea if he'd struck home, but the shot had gone exactly where he'd meant it to go. “Keep firing in just that spot!” he told the crew. And then he went from cannon bay to cannon bay, aiming for the same spot.
Hopper pulled with all his might but couldn't drag Commodore Blake any farther behind the bulkhead on shore. They were both spent from the arduous, maddeningly slow swim. If the enemy found them, Hopper knew they'd have no strength to resist or flee. Sudden cannon blasts sounded out on the water. The last volley had fired over an hour before, so Hopper looked up over the edge of the bulkhead. “Look, Commodore,” said Hopper. “Someone's firing on the enemy!”
Blake sat up weakly. “It's Ross . . . thank God.” Then he lay back down behind the bulkhead wall. Hopper clapped as the Raukar took a beating from the Wolf fleet.
A cannonball crushed the helm, leaving Guthrum holding the detached ship's wheel in his hands. And suddenly, it seemed to rain cannonballs. One struck the mainmast, which toppled off into the river. Another obliterated the forecastle and bowsprit. Then, just as one of the Raukar deck hands was about to ask his commander for orders, Guthrum was blown away by a direct hit. The only evidence he'd been there at all was the ship's wheel spinning on the deck.
The Raukar's London fleet was decimated by the fierce onslaught, but it was not their custom to surrender. For the Raukar, dying in battle was the quickest and surest way to gain Valhalla. But they were now outgunnedâand in a poor defensive position. Some of the Raukar captains began throwing their eldregn canisters overboard to eliminate the explosive threat. One by one, the Raukar ships exploded or sank. The last vessel to remain was the commandeered
Oxford
, and the Wolf fleet had it surrounded.
Ross turned to Red Eye. “We'll keep them busy with cannon fire,” he said. “I want you to take a cutter. Bring Jules, Saint Pierre, and . . .” Ross scanned the deck. “Take Hack and Slash too. Take the
Oxford
. . . intact if you can. And see if they've taken Blake as prisoner.”
After the cutter launched, Stede took Ross's arm and said, “This can't b' the whole fleet, mon.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” said Ross. “And they don't fight like Thorne's in command here. Only twenty ships . . . and no Thorne. Where are they?”