Monsoon Mists (25 page)

And then there was her own fate. She had no trouble imagining that either. Hordes of men – dirty, disgusting men – all touching her, using her, until … She shook her head. No, she wouldn’t let them lay so much as a finger on her. She’d rather jump overboard.

As for this fight, she simply had to watch.

She caught hold of some ropes and climbed up to stand on the railing, carefully not peeking at the water, which seemed very far below. Just then, Jonah charged forward and swung a meaty fist towards Jamie’s head. Jamie moved out of the way and seemed to somehow use Jonah’s momentum to unbalance him, sending him sprawling onto the deck with a tackle to one shoulder. A huge roar went up from the onlookers and suddenly there were shouts of encouragement for both sides as they realised perhaps the fight wouldn’t be as one-sided as they’d thought.

They were all mad. Zar guessed these men lived by fighting and the only way to gain their respect was to act like them. Jamie must have known this, but could he keep Jonah at bay for any length of time?

The big man got to his feet and to his credit, Jamie waited and didn’t kick him while he was down. He went in close and threw a couple of punches at Jonah’s middle, which seemingly had no effect whatsoever. Then the big man landed a blow to Jamie’s chin, which sent him staggering backwards. Zar closed her mouth tightly to stifle the scream that rose in her throat.
No!
Please, no …

Jamie shook himself like a dog and began to dance around Jonah, punching wherever and whenever he could and taking a few more hits, although none as bad as that first one. The crowd was raucous in the extreme, egging on the two fighting men, and Zar saw coins change hands as they were obviously betting on the outcome. She clung to the ropes with a trembling hand, the sword still held in a death-grip with the other.

Sweat was pouring down Jonah’s face and when Jamie managed to punch him on the temple he blinked as if confused. His movements became slower and more erratic, while Jamie kept up a shower of smaller blows, mixed in with the occasional hard one to the head.

He’d done this before. Zar realised Jamie must have been trained in fisticuffs, although why she had no idea. He hadn’t seemed like the brawling kind, but then did she really know him that well?

She almost laughed when Jamie practised what he’d preached and head-butted Jonah on the nose, catching the big man off guard. With blood flowing freely down over his mouth and chin, Jonah blinked. Jamie took advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration and landed two swift blows – one to the temple again and one under Jonah’s chin. The last punch felled the huge man like an ox at slaughter and he lay still on the deck.

A massive cheer went up from the onlookers and Zar wanted to join in, but couldn’t find her voice. She was frozen into immobility, unable to move so much as a muscle, and hung onto the ropes for dear life. Was this it? Would they really let them go? Or had they just been toying with them, wanting some sport to liven up the day?

She very much feared the latter.

Jamie felt sore all over and one eye was half shut where it was swelling up, but he tried his best not to show any weakness as he slowly made his way through the circle of pirates to join Zar. She looked stunned and was standing up on the ship’s railing, holding onto some ropes. He guessed she was extremely shaken by everything that had happened this day, and the one before, and probably unable to move of her own accord. He reached up and gently disentangled her hand, then lifted her down to stand beside him. Just in case she felt faint, he put an arm round her waist to prop her up, and felt her trembling.

There was no time to reassure her though. The pirate captain had followed him and Jamie looked at the man, wondering what would happen now.

‘Excellent bout,’ was his comment on the fight. ‘Poor Jonah won’t live that down for a while.’ He chuckled, then his expression turned serious. ‘Well, fair is fair and I did promise you and the wife your freedom. Best I can do is set you afloat in the ship’s boat, but you’d better hurry before everyone’s good mood disappears and they change their minds. There’s no saying what they’ll do when they’re in a celebratory mood.’

Relief flooded Jamie, but he knew the captain was right and they shouldn’t hang about. He felt Zar tug on his hand and bent down so she could whisper in his ear, ‘William’s taken the boat and left already.’

He swore under his breath. ‘Thank you, captain, but there appears to be a problem. The ship’s boat belonging to this vessel has already been appropriated by a coward who slipped away earlier, or so my wife tells me.’

‘Ah, I see.’ The captain used the tip of his sword to scratch at his scalp. ‘Well, there’s our boat, but we need it ourselves.’

‘I can pay you a little something towards the cost of a new one,’ Jamie said. ‘And seeing as how you’ll probably find one for free,’ he said with a grin to show he meant the word ‘find’ to be a euphemism, ‘that will be pure profit for you. One moment, please.’ He turned to Zar. ‘Have you still got that item I asked you to hide earlier, my love?’

He saw that she caught his meaning and after turning around for a moment, handed him one of the diamonds from inside her bodice.

Jamie held it out to the pirate. ‘Will this do? I’m not sure of its value, but it looks fairly big to me. I got it off an Indian trader a while back and was going to have it set for the wife, but …’ He tried to keep his expression neutral so the captain didn’t guess that he knew exactly how much it was worth. He needn’t have worried – the man’s eyes lit up at the sight of the little treasure and he held it up to the light when Jamie handed it over.

‘Yes, I reckon that’ll do nicely. Thought you said as how you didn’t have anything to barter with? You could’ve saved yourself the fight with Jonah if you’d told me about this earlier. Anythin’ else you’re not telling me?’

Jamie shook his head. ‘No, I was hoping to save that for my wife, that’s all. You know what women are like with baubles. It’ll fair break her heart to lose this.’ He tried to look downcast and saw that Zar followed suit. Good girl.

The captain threw him a considering look, then nodded as if satisfied that Jamie was telling the truth. ‘Yeah, but needs must, eh?’ He shouted to one of his men. ‘Oy, Jonesy, go get the
Reckless
’s boat for this gentleman here. And be quick about it.’

‘What?’

Jonesy got a clip round the ear while the captain repeated his order. ‘Now, man!’

Not long afterwards Jamie and Zar climbed down a rope ladder while Jonesy held the smaller craft steady. Zar went first and Jamie clenched his jaw when he noticed the pirate looking up her skirts as she descended. But after the clout he’d received earlier, the man didn’t do more than get an eyeful, and soon clambered back up to the main deck. Jamie wasted no time. After thanking the pirate captain, he made his way down and took the oars of the smaller boat. It was fairly heavy for just one man, but he could manage. He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he’d put some distance between them and Mansukh’s former ship. It was his guess it would soon either be torched or sailed to Madagascar.

Good riddance.

As for Mansukh and his crew, they were either dead or taken captive and right now Jamie didn’t have the energy to care.

Zar sat at the back of the boat and stared out across the sea, which thankfully wasn’t too agitated at the moment. She bit her lip to stop tears from spilling down her cheeks. For some reason, now the danger appeared to be over, she felt like crying and her legs wouldn’t stop shaking.

‘Are you all right?’

Jamie’s voice, soft with kindness, made her want to cry even more, but she swallowed hard and took a deep breath before looking at him. She tried to smile, but it was probably a rather wobbly effort. ‘Yes. Or I will be soon. I just … Do you want help with the rowing?’

He gave her a lopsided smile. ‘Thank you, but no. We’d probably end up going in a circle if I let you have one oar.’

That made her giggle, as he’d probably intended, and she blinked away the last of the moisture in her eyes. ‘I’m sure you’re right. What about you – are you hurting? You must be!’

He looked like he’d been trampled by an elephant, or in this case perhaps more aptly, rammed by a whale. His poor face was bruised and battered, one eye almost swollen shut. ‘Would you like me to bathe your face in salt water?’

‘Perhaps later. I’d rather put some distance between us and the pirates first. I don’t trust them an inch.’

Zar didn’t either and she was having a hard time believing they’d got away from them. ‘Why did they let us go? That man could easily have taken the diamond and still kept us prisoner or killed us.’

‘I think they live by their own code of honour, which as far as I’ve heard, includes not harming fellow Europeans unless they fight back. The natives they consider as scum and I’ve been told some hair-raising tales of what’s been done even to women passengers, but with our ships they just take the cargo.’

‘I see. Lucky for us then.’ She frowned as she remembered something else. ‘What happened with Mansukh by the way? I can’t believe he lost the talisman, or rather, the fake one.’

Jamie grinned. ‘He didn’t exactly
lose
it.’ He stopped rowing for a moment and reached inside his shirt, bringing out the bundle she’d last seen in Mansukh’s courtyard. Zar gaped at him.

‘How did you …?’

His eyes twinkled. ‘I have a friend whose father used to be a pickpocket. He taught me a thing or two. It’s not a profession I normally follow, but the knowledge has its uses. The trick is to bump into your victim so that they’re not paying attention to anything else you’re doing, and at the same time slip your hand into their pocket, quick as a flash. It takes practice, but if you’re young and bored with nothing better to do …’

‘You’re friends with a pickpocket?’ Now why didn’t that surprise her?

‘No, his son. The former thief is more like an honorary uncle.’

Zar was confused, but decided it was probably better not to know. ‘So we have it back, that’s wonderful!’

‘Indeed.’ He threw the little parcel to her. ‘Perhaps you’d like to stow it somewhere safe? I think your bodice is tighter than my shirt.’

‘Jamie!’ The look that accompanied his words made her cheeks catch fire, but she knew what he said was true, so she pushed the package down to join the remaining two diamonds, which still nestled somewhere inside her clothing. It wasn’t massively comfortable, but if they should happen to be thrown into the water, she reckoned it might still be safe. As long as they didn’t drown or get eaten …

She returned her gaze to the endless ocean. ‘And do … do you think we can reach the coast in this little boat?’ She felt her insides churn with anxiety at the thought of just how tiny it was compared to the hundreds of fathoms of sea that lay beneath and around them.

‘Yes,’ he replied firmly. ‘I’m keeping an eye on the sun so that we’re heading east. We hadn’t been sailing for that long, so it can’t be too far. A couple of days at most. You might want to tear off a piece of your chemise to cover your head though. The sun will burn out here. Or pull up the back of your gown to act as a sun shield?’ He stopped rowing for a moment and tugged his shirt out of his breeches. ‘Come to think of it, I’d better cover up too.’ He ripped a large piece off the bottom of his shirt and tied it round his head as a makeshift turban. He looked so funny, Zar had to laugh.

‘Go on, your turn. You’ll probably look like a fishwife,’ he teased, sending her a pretend glare while he picked up the oars again.

She copied him, pulling a large chunk of material from the edge of her chemise with her teeth, then tied the cotton material at the nape of her neck. ‘There, happy now?’

He smiled and nodded, but there was a glint of something in his eyes and his voice sounded quite husky as he told her, ‘I was wrong. You look lovely.’

Zar felt her cheeks become suffused with heat and looked down. ‘I doubt it very much,’ she murmured. ‘I feel disgustingly dirty.’

‘We can have a swim once we reach shore. It looks inviting, doesn’t it?’

‘Not here it doesn’t, but perhaps closer to land.’ She shuddered at the thought of the many sea creatures that must be swimming beneath them, including the dreaded sharks.

They fell silent and Zar realised it was probably a good idea not to talk too much. They didn’t have any water and using your voice made you more thirsty.

She prayed to all the gods she could think of to help them get to the coast safely. But how long would it take?

Chapter Twenty

Jamie rowed on and off for a day and a night. His arm muscles were screaming in protest and his palms were raw with blisters, but he pulled off his neckcloth and tore it in half to bandage his hands. Then he just gritted his teeth and got on with the task.
It’s either this or die and what’s a couple of sore hands compared to certain death?

The sea remained relatively calm at first, apart from a couple of minor squalls accompanied by rain showers. These came and went quickly. Too quickly, as they only managed to collect a tiny amount of rainwater in a scoop they found in the boat. This helped quench their thirst for an instant, but no more.

‘The monsoon is on its way,’ Zar said, peering anxiously at the sky where dirty clouds were gathering. ‘We always get these little bursts of rain before the main downpour begins.’

‘Let’s hope they stay light until we reach land,’ Jamie replied. If the waves became too high, he wouldn’t be able to make much progress.

Unfortunately, his wish wasn’t granted. On the second day, the wind picked up considerably and the waves around them became more like hills that had to be climbed and then descended. Jamie tried his best to keep rowing, but soon he became confused about the direction since the waves tossed them this way and that. Every time he thought he’d corrected their course, they were thrown off it again and he couldn’t see the sun in any case, so had nothing to aim for except what he thought seemed like a marginally brighter part of the sky. It was maddening.

‘Jamie? Can you see where you’re going?’ He heard the anxiety in Zar’s voice and tried to soothe her, despite his own worry over their situation.