To Slight the Jacket Blue. Bronwyn Sciance
pirates...Jane began thinking of all the pirates she had heard of in recent years. Christopher Moody, who took no prisoners, and against whom Edward swore the most vengeance, which worried her–he would never surrender to the man. Black Bartholomew Roberts, the most vicious and voracious pirate in the Caribbean. Calico Jack Rackham, who was reported to have spurned a pardon from the Spanish. And the most fearsome of all, Captain Bluejacket, a merciless pirate who hunted naval vessels–unusual for the wavedogs. Clasping her hands tightly together, she whispered a soft prayer. Dear Lord, please bring him safely home!
Chapter Six
"Ship ahoy!"
Ned looked up at the crow's nest. "Where away?" he yelled, shielding his eyes with his hand.
The lookout pointed. "Two points east, sir, and it looks like a black flag!"
Ned was instantly on the alert. Since leaving Portsmouth they had been fortunate enough to capture a half-dozen crews, all small-time but nevertheless a scourge on the seas and well worth the capture. They were now heading home, but another prize couldn't hurt.
"What device?" he asked the lookout.
"Can't see, sir, the wind's not caught her."
Ned hesitated, then shouted to the steersman, "Due east, hard a-port!"
"Aye, sir, hard a-port!"
As they sailed closer, Ned balled his hand into a fist. Not a red flag by any means–and therefore not Moody–but as far as Ned was concerned, a pirate was a pirate and they could all pay for Sam's murder.
And the only good pirate was a dead one.
The crew armed themselves for battle as the HMS Danae sailed closer. The first mate struck the colours, and the other ship instantly turned...towards the vessel. Ned frowned in confusion. It was the usual custom of these accursed wavescum to try to elude him. In this they normally failed; no naval vessel was faster than the Danae, especially under Ned's command. Maybe his reputation preceded him.
Good.
"Commander Sharpe, sir!"
The lookout was pointing urgently at the ship now racing towards them. At first Ned couldn't see why...but then another gust of wind caught the flag, and the whole crew could see the device: a white skull, crossed swords beneath, red chains looping through the skull's mouth.
"It's Bluejacket! Captain Bluejacket!" screamed the first mate. "What do we do, sir?"
Ned took a deep breath and kept his gaze fixed on the approaching ship. "What do we do?" he repeated calmly. "Gentlemen, we fight."
Chapter Seven
The first mate died screaming with a cutlass through his heart. Ned furiously beat off a pirate, wounded him, and found himself back-to-back with his navigator. "How many left?" he yelled.
The navigator yelled back, "I count ten, sir. And there are easily ten times that facing us."
Ned swore. The truth was that he realised now there was no way to win this one. All he cared about was making sure the men he had left were treated fairly. He dropped his sword, knelt down, and held up his hands in surrender. Those men remaining under his command did the same.
A man in the tawdry finery of a pirate turned and yelled, "Cap'n! The scurvy dogs be surrenderin'!"
The crowd parted, revealing a tall man, every inch the pirate captain. The sun was behind him, and thus Ned could not quite make out his features, but he could see long hair and a full beard beneath a tricorn hat. In the ultimate mockery and contempt for the Royal Navy, he wore a tattered blue naval officer's coat. Ned wanted to tear it off of the man, but kept his attitude of surrender.
"Arr, so, what have we here?" the pirate captain snarled. "So ye be the brazen an' the bold who dared to attack me ship?"
Ned bowed his head further. "Captain Bluejacket," he said, taking care to speak distinctly and with the refinement he had learned in the Navy, "I have heard of you and of your reputation. I know to expect no mercy for myself, but I humbly request that you deal leniently with my crew. After all, they were only following my orders."
There was a brief pause, then Bluejacket laughed. "Haharr, you don't know so much about piracy, do you? Ye men of the Danae, I offer ye a simple choice. Ye may join me, or be cast overboard. Swim fer shore if ye so desire." Ned felt a light sword prick on his back. "All except for ye, ye fo'c'sle codfish. Hand over the jacket."
Before he could move, the jacket was forcibly pulled off of him. Ned wisely kept his head down. The captain spoke again. "Throw the men who so choose over the sides, but drag this man to my cabin! From commander to cabin boy seems a fitting punishment to me, eh, lads?"
The crew jeered with laughter. Ned was dragged cruelly upright and shoved into what he assumed was the captain's cabin. The door slammed shut behind him, and he could hear the cruel laughter through the thick wood.
Ned straightened himself and looked around. He had been a cabin boy before, then worked his way up through the Royal Navy, and as such he had been in any number of captains' cabins before. He knew that, while there was a certain similarity to each one, every captain or commander added his own personal touches, made it his own. He was startled, therefore, to realize that in style and appearance, this cabin very much resembled his own on the Danae. A particular object on a small table next to the bed drew his eye. He was starting towards it when the door banged open. Ned froze and dropped humbly to his knees.
"Well, now, cully," the voice of Captain Bluejacket hissed, "what d'ye have to say for yourself?"
Ned kept his gaze directed down at the floor. "I thank you for sparing my life, Captain."
"Well, of course I did, lad," the captain said in a somehow different voice. "Or should I say...Ned?"
Ned's head shot up. He leaped to his feet, whirling around to face the notorious pirate captain, his eyes wide, his face pale.
"Sam?!"
Chapter Eight
"A sail, a sail!"
Jane immediately shot to the window, her body slave hanging desperately to the brush still tangled in her hair. Snow-white sails bleached by the sun billowed from the harbor mouth. It would make landfall soon.
"Hurry, Susanna!" Jane cried impatiently, returning to the seat before the vanity. Edward would come up to the house as soon as he returned, of course, but she wanted to be at the docks to meet him when he stepped off the ship. And, of course, it went without saying that she wanted to look her very best.
Susanna finished brushing Jane's hair and began pulling it back into an intricate but becoming hairstyle. She was silent for a while, then said softly, "That is not him, Miss."
Jane couldn't turn for the pins, so instead she met Susanna's eyes in the mirror. "How can you be so sure, Susanna?"
"It is not his ship. I know of these things," Susanna explained. "Mr. Edward's ship was a three-master, Miss, and that ship has but two. And the Navy has only three-masters or more. It is not a Navy ship and it is not Mr. Edward."
Jane mulled this over for a moment, then sighed. "You may be right, Susanna," she said finally. "But I should be there to meet it anyway. Perhaps there's some news of him."
Susanna bowed and said no more. Jane stood and headed for the door. Just as she opened it, a messenger stood outside, looking about to knock and scared out of his wits. Jane offered the young boy a smile. "Yes, what is it?"
The slave bowed deeply. "Mr. Clarence's compliments, and will you please come downstairs?"
"I'm on my way, Daniel." Jane signaled to Susanna and headed down the stairs. As she reached the foot, she found her father standing with a man who was obviously a merchant captain and another, apparently some common sailor.
Clarence Wickham smiled at his only daughter and held out a hand.