“AVAST!”
Gunshots rang out. Two loud musket shots, close to me. A rifle shot. Then five, six, seven more musket shots. Metal clanged against metal. Grunts and groans. Warm liquid splashed on my back, ran down my legs. I whipped my head to the left. To the right. I could not see anything from under my arms. But I could hear women screaming and men shouting. People jostling, running away. I could smell gunpowder. And blood…I could smell blood.
And then, suddenly, someone was close behind me, breathless and hot.
I braced myself.
Then I smelled something else. Apples and fine spices.
“Annie! Annie! Are you all right?”
Mary.
Mary had come for me.
She circled me, frantically cutting my hands and feet loose before taking my face in her hands. Her eyes were wild; incandescent with rage, the rush of blood, and some kind of raw, unbridled intensity that I had never seen in her before; that I had never seen directed at me before.
Worry. Love.
It was then that I noticed the summer bonnet tied about her neck and the black cloak that now draped like a cape down her back. She untied the cloak, wrapped it around my body, and handed me a short sword from her belt.
“Let’s get out of here, Annie.”
I turned and took in the scene before me.
Only a dozen people were left standing in the square. Nearly all the crowd had dispersed. A score of men lay dead or dying on the cobblestones. Unfortunately, as far as I could make out, none of them looked to be James or Alasdair.
Both King’s Guards lay next to each other in front of Mary and me, their throats slashed, a bullet hole in one’s chest. Dark pools of blood expanded and met underneath them, turning the limestone below almost black.
In the square, Jack and five or six of the crew were seeing off any brave – or stupid – men who had chosen to stay and fight. The crew were easy to spot – ladies’ summer bonnets dangled from their necks.
I examined the men that had stayed to fight. James was not among them. Of course. Pathetic.
Then I spotted Alasdair.
He was doing his best to fight Jack off, using the dead guard’s rifle bayonet as a weapon.
I leapt off the stage and ran at him.
“Annie!” Mary yelled.
Alasdair turned his head and watched, his eyes wide, as I raced towards him, Mary’s black cloak billowing out behind my naked, blood-streaked body. I must have looked a real fright because even Jack did a double take before he took the opportunity to disarm Alasdair, pinning his arms behind his back and pushing him down onto his knees.
“Allow me, Mr Tandy,” I said, and slashed my sword across his throat.
Blood cascaded down the front of his pristine suit. He looked at me in amazement for one delicious moment. I inhaled sharply and launched a thick gob of spit onto his face. His eyes rolled up into his head, and he slumped to the ground, face-first.
Mary arrived at my side and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I never did like that fella,” Jack said, breathlessly. “Dresses like a pettifogger. And he always cheats at cribbage.”
11
We knew it was only a matter of minutes before the governor received word of what had happened and sent the King’s Guard out in full force. We wasted no time in getting out of the square.
“Where are we going? Where’s the William?” I asked Mary as we chased Jack and the crew down side streets and alleyways. As we ran, we tied bonnets around our heads and concealed our weapons. I used Mary’s sash to tie my cloak tight around my waist.
“Anchored in Goodman’s Bay,” Mary replied breathlessly.
I knew it well – a wide, sandy bay two miles west of Nassau Port, as the crow flies.
“We’re heading to Sal’s Tavern first…apparently you know it?” Mary continued, glancing at me. “We stole four horses from Goodman’s Farm to get us here; they’re tied up in the alley behind the tavern.”
“Mark!” Jack hollered ahead of us. “Stop your jabbering and make Anne run faster! I am not dyin’ today!”
“I’ve got no bleedin’ shoes on, you old fool!” I yelled. But I ran faster anyway.
***
We managed to reach Sal’s undetected, and rode double pillion cross-country to Goodman’s Farm. I rode behind Mary, my arms wrapped tight around her waist. As we galloped over the countryside, I caught glimpses of the William’s white sails over Mary’s shoulder, and eventually saw the Roger fluttering – black against blue – through tall palm trees.
Truthfully, I had never seen such a welcome sight.
We left the horses in the field they had been “borrowed” from and scrambled down the rocky hillside that led to the bay. The rest of our crewmates were anxiously waiting with two rowboats ready to ferry us to the ship. It was all hands on deck now – this was the most danger we had ever faced – and every last one of us took a length of oar. We reached the William in no time at all and clambered up the rope ladders.
Before you could recite the Lord’s Prayer, we had raised anchor, trimmed the mainsail and cast off, catching a strong north-westerly wind out of the bay. As long as we were sailing in a prevailing wind, I knew none of the flotilla I had seen moored in Nassau would catch us. The William was smaller, but she was faster. And we had at least a fifteen-furlong head start, even if the governor had the slightest clue where we were.
When we were sober and frightened for our lives, I decided the crew of the William were hard to beat. We knew how to drink. We knew how to fight. And we knew when to run away.
***
We sailed as fast and as straight as we could,
