“Chibs? Really? You fancy her, don’t you?” Lilith replied breaking a huge smile with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Just, Lilith, will you please?” Chibs asked again, rubbing his whiskers nervously.
“I will Chib.” she said, grasping his seriousness.
The spirited moment was broken by the whistle of a musket ball zipping through the foresail above them, followed by the thud of the report. Captain James cried out an order and the Maiden’s decks shifted beneath their feet as she turned to a slightly angled course toward the line ship’s forward beam. Hands aboard the Drowned Maiden gathered, James intended to take the line ship, so there would be no cannon fire. Lilith knew, the approach was the most dangerous for the ship as a whole, she could see James’ plan taking shape. They would run at angle under full sail and turn into their enemy after passing out of the field of fire, with some luck they would escape the line ships’ massive cannon batteries before they could mass accurate fire. Moving at speed would be their defense and once out of the field of fire they would board her.
Boom! Boom!
A double report thundered through the darkness and Lilith listened intently as the cannon shot whistled harmlessly behind the Maiden’s stern, billowing into the water well beyond them. More musket fire sounded, along with voices carrying shouted curses. The musket reports sent no whistling near the Maiden and Lilith’s heart soared. “They’re still fighting on deck!” she cried out. Every hand that had taken cover for the cannon shots popped up to try and catch a glimpse onto the decks of the looming ship in front of them.
Another cannon shot fired over the Deck of the Maiden, this one sending a ball whistling just feet over her deck. Everyone aboard dove for cover again, scrambling to whatever refuge they could find against the next round which they were all sure would impact. Lilith looked across the deck in the gleaming light of the moon and she could see Chibs standing tall, unshakable. Lilith wondered for a split second if anyone else aboard the Maiden had witnessed Chibs in a vulnerable moment like she had. She suddenly felt even closer to the salty old pirate. The decks shifting again beneath her snapped Lilith’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. They were turning in toward their target, just clear of the line ship’s field of fire. With full sails set they rapidly closed on the line ship; Lilith could see how much taller her deck sat over the Maiden’s. Almost as if he had read her mind, she heard James shout an order for grapple hooks and rope ladders. Above, on the deck of the line ship the fighting intensified and from the rear of the vessel something caught fire sending a forbidding orange glow muddled by thick smoke through the darkness.
Just before the hull of the Maiden collided with the large warship Chibs called for the sheets to be loosed, spilling the wind from their sails. The momentum they still carried slammed the wooden ships together in a bone jarring crash. Screams could be heard up on the line ship while the pirates tossed grapples aboard to begin their assault and Lilith felt her guts tighten into a knot. When the crew began climbing the rigging, Lilith followed the man in front of her, carefully placing hand after hand and foot after foot up the shaking rope web that served as their ladder. Glancing up, she could see the man directly above her was scrambling wildly and shaking the ropes, making a mess of the ascent for everyone.
“Steady now! Upward man, we can’t get stuck here!” Lilith shouted up to him. He paused for a second and looked down at her through the hazy orange glow. “Go damnit!” she cried again. To her horror, as the man in front of her reached up for the next handhold a silhouette came into view above on the rail of the warship. The shadow popped into view and then disappeared for a moment followed by two more popping into view. Pistol shots roared down, first one and then another. The man above Lilith flailed from the impact of a ball round, letting out a wheezing groan before going slack and losing his grip. He fell as Lilith tried to shimmy herself to one side to avoid being torn from the web. His side slammed down onto her shoulder and their heads collided sending Lilith’s face into the side of the warship. Her vision blurred and her right hand was wrenched from the rope, with her remaining grip she slid down a few feet, the rope gnawing into the flesh of her hand. Barely clinging to consciousness, Lilith summoned her strength to hold the rope. A moment passed and her vision cleared, she could feel blood on her face from the impact on the hull and her raw hand burned from the rough rope. She swung her free arm up and clasped back onto the web, scrambling her feet back onto the rope to gain support for her arms. As she regained her footing, she could hear Trina in her mind, Always mind your feet she had told her. The thought of Trina sent a bolt of lightning through Lilith’s veins and she surged upward, bent on havoc and vengeance. Then the shadows popped back into view over the rail again.
H.M.S. Valor
25 Sept 1808
17 Degrees 14 minutes N, 76 Degrees 8’ W
Under the night’s brilliant blanket of stars, with just a sliver of waning moon aloft in the eastern sky, the Valor cut through the debris field scattered through a broad swath of sea. The previous night, after darkness had fallen, they had doubled back to ambush the Endurance. A massive explosion had risen from the horizon, followed by an onslaught of cannon fire, alerting the men aboard the Valor
