One way to tell the true strength of any fighting force is by how well it waits. By this measure, the Red Cow ’s forces were pretty good. Of course, it helped that we had to wait only three days.
Before we started hiding and waiting, though, we again disguised the Cow as the Crimson Heifer, just another derelict whose crew now filled the belly of the nearby beast. A spare sail was draped over the bow as if it had tumbled from the foremast, along with enough rope to mimic its rigging. Lines were dropped over the side, their ends ragged as if they’d broken loose from the monster ship. The deck was cleared of anything that could signal recent occupancy.
Jane continued to recover, although she remained too weak to move. Suhonen wasn’t dead, but neither had he opened his eyes; he simply slept, like some animal in winter hibernation. Bandages swathed his broad chest, with three small red spots where blood soaked through. The men gave his hammock a wide berth, except for Skurnick, who checked on him regularly. He lay in the dark, swaying with the ship’s movement, like a statue that might come to life at any moment.
When I approached him, one sailor grabbed my arm and said, “I’d use caution.”
“Why?”
“I’ve heard stories about Suhonen. They say that if he’s hurt in a fight, he wakes up and thinks he’s back in the middle of it. I saw him knocked out once, and when he awoke, his arm was still in mid-punch. Like to near flattened Mr. Greaves, who was standing just beside him.”
“I’ll be careful.”
The sailor shrugged. “Your skull, sir, not mine.”
I waited until I had some semblance of privacy, then leaned down and spoke into Suhonen’s ear. “If you can hear me, I just wanted you to know Clift put me in charge of whatever fight we end up having. I know you won’t be up to actually joining us, but you know these guys better than I do and I could use your advice.”
There was no response.
On our first day hiding in the hold, three fights broke out. Clift settled two of them quickly, but a third looked to keep brewing even after the men were separated. I understood completely: it was so hot, humid, and crowded that my own temper was on edge. I could’ve retreated to my cabin, but I wanted the men to see I was in it with them, not lording it over them. I had them move Suhonen to my bunk, where his huge bare feet hung off the end. Jane was sitting up now, scandalously undressed in the heat.
I had to avert my eyes whenever I went to check on her. This amused her to no end. “It’s a pair of boobies, LaCrosse, they won’t kill you.”
“I’ve run into plenty that were quite lethal, thank you very much.”
“How goes the preparations?”
“We’re prepared. Now we just need for the bad guys to show up before we all skewer each other.”
“How are you going to run it?”
“We’re going to let as many of them board us as we can before we give ourselves away. They’ll likely tie onto us, but they’ll cut those lines right away if they start to lose the fight. We’ll use the ballistae belowdecks to fire grapples up through the ports. Hopefully, since we’ll be shooting up at their rail, by the time they figure out where our ropes are, we’ll have taken their ship.”
She nodded. “Smart.”
“I also had the carpenter install another hatch aft of the main one. It’s flush with the deck, so you can’t see it unless you’re right on it. When the bad guys come down the main hatch, we’ll have a team ready to go out that one. That way we won’t get bottled in.”
She shook her head and smiled. “You’re a clever SOB.”
“I just want this fight to be quick and one-sided. If I’m right, they won’t be expecting any resistance.”
“And you’ll take Marteen alive, right?”
“Yes. I’ve made that completely clear. Clift said any man who kills Marteen forfeits his shares for this whole voyage.”
“That should do it. You don’t mess with a pirate’s money.”
“Ex-pirate,” I corrected with a grin.
“Oh, yeah,” she agreed ironically. “Completely ex.”
AS soon as darkness fell, we rushed on deck, grateful for the space and air. The monster ship was barely visible on the horizon, and we saw no other vessels. Men pulled buckets of water from the ocean and doused themselves with it to cut through the day’s accumulated sweat. I took some rum to Jane, checked on the still- immobile Suhonen, and touched base with Clift.
“Not good,” the captain said. “We’re drifting. If we move too far from that other ship, they might not find us.”
“They found the others.”
“Aye, but I imagine they tied up to the monster’s vessel before boarding. Then their ship stayed put.”
“I suppose we could tie up to it,” I mused.
“Unless you swear to me that creature’s dead, I’m not risking becoming a ghost ship for real.”
If I’d done permanent damage to its mouth, then it would eventually starve to death. But for all I knew, it had been catching fish outside and stuffing them through the portholes all night. Or perhaps it could simply wait a long time between meals. “I left it hurt, but that’s all I can say.”
“Then we’ll just have to row in closer and hope Marteen doesn’t spot us while we’re moving.”
So we did, using a launch to tow the Cow back to where she’d started. The next day was another scorcher, and again everyone was on edge. But this time, knowing that nightfall would eventually come and we would escape, they were able to contain it. When we did emerge, Clift had to remind the men to speak in whispers; sound carried far over the water.
And then, on the third day, we sighted another ship.
She bore three masts, a flush deck, and no flag visible at this distance. She headed straight for us, taking advantage of the wind that slowly pushed us away from the monster ship. Clift and Seaton peered out the porthole, careful not to let the sunlight illuminate their faces. I stood with the crowd behind them, waiting for their word.
“That’s the one,” Clift said at last.
“How do you know?” I asked, fighting the urge to whisper, as if a ship miles away could hear us.
“A feeling,” he said. I wondered if perhaps he was wrong, that this was just some passing merchant or naval vessel wondering if we needed help. But the closer it got, the more I shared Clift’s intangible sense that this new vessel was dangerous. It was a sense that I, like the captain, had long since learned to trust.
I turned to the crew. The men stood ready, arms unsheathed, making last-minute adjustments to their leather armor and weapons. They all looked expectantly at me. It had been a long time since I’d been watched with that kind of eager, almost childlike reliance. I felt a surprising rush of what I can only describe as excitement.
“If I’m right, the ship will pull alongside and board us. I don’t know how close they’ll look us over; I hope that by now they’re overconfident about their monster. But they may be on their guard because we’re drifting and not tied to the other ship. We have to let as many of them get on board as we can, even coming down here without giving ourselves away. They’ll be sunblind in the hold, so it’ll take time for their eyes to adjust. Let them give the alarm: when they shout, everyone left above will have their eyes on the main hatch, and we’ll come busting out the new one.”
They all nodded excitedly. Again, like eager children.
“I’m going to split you into two squads. One of them will concentrate on defending this ship; the other will board theirs. I’ll be leading that one. The ones staying behind, you’ll answer to Captain Clift.” I hadn’t cleared this with him first, but he nodded agreement. “The danger is that the other ship might break away from us. If they do, the men with me will be trapped in the enemy’s lap.”
“Not for long,” Clift said. “She can’t outrun us.”
I’d seen nothing to indicate the Red Cow had that sort of speed, but it seemed the wrong time to make an issue of it. I continued, “It may mean being taken prisoner, at least for a while. It may, of course, mean dying. So I want real volunteers, not people picked out by the first mate.” I glanced at Seaton. “No offense.”
“None taken,” he said. “And I’ll be the first to sign up.”
