Isle of Fire (48 page)

One of the Raukar warships disappeared in a massive orange fireball. The floating bomb had gone off on the ship's port bow, exploding the eldregn stores and vaporizing the ship. It was a success, but not what anyone had hoped. Ross turned back to the seas.

“Declan!” Stede yelled above the wind. “The winds b' increasing! We b' getting too close to the eye. We b' about to tear the sails off the mast!”

Ross heard the ominous groans of his masts and prayed that they'd hold. “A little farther, a little farther,” said Ross. “And then be ready to turn and fight.”

“What about Anne?” Stede asked. “What about Blake and Cutlass Jack?”

Ross grimaced. “Let's hope they follow our lead.”

32
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH

C
ommodore Blake!!” a new deck hand named Craig cried out. “Our masts are coming apart!”

Blake had heard the wood groan in duress, but the recent cracks terrified him. He looked up and saw that the sails held, but the spars that supported them were twisting in the wind. If the wind speed increased by so much as a knot, he knew his ship would be destroyed, left to the mercy of the waves and then the Raukar. But Dolphin was aboard the
Bruce
and was sailing with Ross deeper into the storm. He had to do something, but every choice meant separation from his beloved wife . . . perhaps permanently.

Commodore Brandon Blake had made thousands of difficult decisions in his time as a ship's captain. But none were more personally devastating than this one. He called his makeshift crew up on deck, even as he turned the wheel to bring the ship about.

“We goin' back, sir?” asked a young man named Timmons.

“Got to,” said Craig. “Ship can't take no more'n this wind.”

“As I see it, we have one option,” Blake said. “Turn and fight. If we must go down, let's take as many of them with us as we can!”

“AYE, SIR!!” the crew yelled. There certainly weren't enough men to man the
Oxford
properly, Blake thought. But these men had more than enough heart.

It did not take long for the
Raven's Revenge
and the other Raukar warships to catch up to the
Oxford
. But Thorne did not stop to contend with Blake. He sailed past without firing a shot. Several Raukar vessels swung well out of range, and they, too, went by. But a pair of long, well-armed warships appeared to be heading straight for the
Oxford
.

“Mister Craig?” Blake called.

“Sir?”

“I want you to get everyone off the main deck . . . and every one of you man the cannons below.”

“But, sir, the sails . . . the rigging . . . you ne—”

“I need you all on the cannons, but do not fire until my signal.”

“What will that be, sir?” Craig asked. “Down below, we won't hear you over the wind.”

Blake drew a pistol from his side holster. “When you hear this gun, I want every cannon on both sides of the ship to fire.”

Craig turned and saw the two oncoming warships. “Sir, they're too close together. How will we—”

“I mean to split them.”

“NOW, JULES!!” Ross yelled from the quarterdeck. Jules, Hack, and Slash operated the swinging bowsprit while Stede turned the ship's wheel. The
Robert Bruce
banked and came about faster than Thorne or the Raukar could have imagined. “FIRE!!” Ross yelled.

The
Bruce
's cannons sent a wall of cannon shot toward the approaching enemy vessels. Anne and Cutlass Jack did the same. Ross scanned the sea.
Where is Blake?

The first salvo took out three Raukar warships but fifteen, including Thorne's ship, remained. That didn't even the odds enough. Ross ordered his crew to fire again. He wanted to provoke them, bully them into using their fire weapon. And at last, they did.

Five of the closest Raukar vessels launched eldregn canisters at the
Bruce
and the others. Stede watched one sail high overhead, and he feared for the
Bruce
. But the canister seemed to hang in the air. When it exploded, a deluge of fiery rain blew back onto the ship that had launched it, as well as two others. Fire danced frenetically on the three Raukar warships as the storm's winds fought with the flames. But soon, all three ships exploded.

Bartholomew Thorne was not so ignorant. He refused to fire the eldregn, but unleashed his arsenal of conventional cannons instead. His first barrage slammed into Cutlass Jack's
Banshee
like a woodsman's axe, tearing up the port hull and sending deadly splinters of wood into the crew. The
Banshee
did not return fire.

“Uncle Jack!” Anne cried. They'd been helpless to stop the attack, but watched in horror as the
Raven's Revenge
devastated their friend.

“Anne, I don't think that ship's going to stay afloat,” said Cat. “And Thorne's closing on him.”

“They're not even firing back,” whispered Anne. She turned the wheel. “We've got to help him.”

Thorne was not content to disable the
Banshee
. He wanted to watch it die. He brought the
Raven's Revenge
within one hundred yards of the wounded ship and gave the order: “Fire port cannons!” The heavy sixteen-and eighteen-pound cannonballs crashed into the smaller ship's hull, collapsed the quarterdeck, and blew the rudder off the back of the ship. The stress of the now-twisting hull snapped the ship's keel, and the ship fell awkwardly on its side. Fires burned and hissed in the sea spray, and the turbulent water began to claim the ship.

“Dear God, he's killed Jack,” whispered Ross. “Stede, he's killed Jack! Get us over there!”

“I b' trying Declan!” yelled the quartermaster. “But we b' fighting the very wind! I tell ya, we b' nearing the eye of this storm!”

The
Constantine
arrived too late to help the
Banshee
. Cutlass Jack's xebec had become a bonfire of debris. Through the wavering flames and smoke, Anne and Cat could see the
Raven's Revenge
moving slowly on the other side. It was as if Thorne were looking to make sure no one survived.

Anne's tears burned down her cheeks, but she did not weep on Cat's shoulder. She turned the wheel. “What are you doing?” Cat asked.

“We can't match the firepower of that ship,” Anne said bitterly. “But we will stop him!”

Cat realized at once what she planned to do. “I'll get Father Brun and the rest of the Brethren,” he said. “We'll be ready to board when the time comes.”