Chapter 27
Alister wiped the water dripping from his face with his hand, blinking rapidly to disperse it from his eye so he could see where his ship was heading.
His long hair was stuck to his skin, drenched and heavy as it wrapped around his neck and face.
With a steady stance, his well-worn boots slipped back an inch whenever he tried to brace himself to steer.
He knew calling out commands from his position was near pointless; he doubted anyone would be able to hear him. He would just have to have faith Pierre was leading the crew while he was otherwise occupied with a more dangerous and tumultuous battle.
For three days, the drenching rain had poured on them.
Below deck, men were trying to pour out the water that had gotten in. They used mops and buckets and whatever else they could find to carry it to the surface and dump it back into the sea where it belonged.
Others were making sure all the stock and cargo was still where it was supposed to be by strapping it down, working to make sure everything that needed to remain dry was covered and up off the ground.
The Laughing Siren was still next to his ship. Although the rain had been constant, the winds had mostly been light – meaning they could remain close by.
The occasional harsh wind would cut through his sails and rock his ship to the side, but other than having to turn the wheel to right it occasionally, things had been easy.
It was nothing he and his men couldn’t handle.
They were experienced sailors and had navigated across the waters in storms worse than this.
That was, until this afternoon.
A gale of wind blew, right before the first large wave hit the side of the hull and tried to knock him towards the Laughing Siren.
“The storm is worsening!” Alister yelled over the roar of the rain hitting the timber of his deck, doubtful anyone was able to hear him.
His ship was lighter and therefore slowed down when the wind tried to push them back. Rosetta’s galleon started to creep up beside him, heavier and able to take the harsh winds and waves better.
He peeked back to see Naeem at the helm, trying to control the Laughing Siren in the growing storm. He couldn’t see Rosetta.
Good, she’s inside. She was the last thing he needed to worry about right now. He had other problems on his mind. He didn’t need her making him think she was truly insane by trying to brave the terrible and dangerous weather.
“Cap’n, we need to start moving away from the Laughing Siren.”
“Get inside, man!” Alister yelled, swiping his arm to the side at Derek, who was running up the stairs.
As much as the old salt was one of his best men, his peg leg made him near useless in the rain. It didn’t have enough grip, and he’d seen Derek slip too many times in the past. The man was destined to die with a sword through his belly, not because he slipped and washed into the ocean.
When it didn’t seem like he was going to do as he commanded, Alister yelled, “NOW!”
He wasn’t going to lose anyone simply because they wanted to fight a storm when they couldn’t. He wouldn’t waste his time with foolishness.
I know we need to move away. But they needed to communicate with the other ship first.
“Pierre!” When the man couldn’t hear him, he yelled as loudly as his lungs would allow him on a bellow, “PIERRE!”
Alister saw him turn to face his call from a lower deck, managing to hear his voice. He was heaving on a sail rope with multiple others.
Someone took over what he was doing so he could run up the stairs, nearly barrelling into Derek, who was trying to climb down them.
“Go to the Laughing Siren,” he said when Pierre was next to the helm, holding onto the railing of this deck to stay steady. “Tell them to meet us at the Kannas Islands.”
He knew from the last time he’d looked at a map that they weren’t too far from those islands. There was a cape they could use to shelter from the worst of the storm. As much as he wanted to keep moving forward, it seemed they needed to wait this out.
Currently, they were heading west and had been for two weeks. Not wanting to go south yet to follow the last map he had, he was going to the other map locations he’d been given that weren’t for the famous loot he was after.
“She won’t listen to me, Alister,” Pierre said with a shake of his head.
“Aye, she will.” He righted the wheel when a wave tried to steer his course. They weren’t too bad yet; they still had time to deliver the message. “She’s already inside. She knows how bad this is getting.”
She’s smart. She would have to know she can’t help.
“No, she’s not.”
That made his eyes widen. He snapped his head to the side to see her pushing Naeem out of the way and taking the wheel.
“She can’t!”
Even Alister knew he was going to struggle through this storm, and he had three times the muscle as her! He could see how bad it was going to get; it wasn’t his first storm like this. It was going to be a strain, even on him.
She pointed forward, telling Naeem to do something. Alister was just as shocked to see him falling away from the wheel and doing what she commanded. The man abandoned her to take care of the helm by herself.
Every curse Alister knew fell from his mouth.
He hopelessly looked at the wheel in his hands, the way he was gripping the handles with tanned knuckles threatening to turn white. Damn her to hell!
“Take the helm!” He waited for Pierre to take it from his hands before letting go. “Steer it closer.”
It has to be me. She won’t listen to anyone else.
Hell, she barely fucking listened to him, but hopefully, he could knock some sense into her for once.
“What do you want me to do if you can’t make it back?”
“Kannas Islands. Wait for me there.” He started making his way to the steps. “But I’ll be back.” He wouldn’t abandon his ship when it needed him the most.
Alister started climbing the shrouds so he could get up to the top level of his sailings. One wrong step and he could find himself crashing into the waves.
He found the rope he needed, waited for the perfect moment, and swung over. The wet rope slipped through his calloused hands as he slid down when he knew he’d swung far enough.
Alister’s feet found the main deck of the Laughing Siren, and he immediately started sprinting for her.
Just in time too.
A large wave slammed into the side of the hull and the wheel gave a punch of a turn, knocking her off her feet.
She went sliding to the floor as the wheel began to spin out of control.
Alister grabbed the handles and righted it before any real damage could be done to their course.
Thankfully, it had been heading away from the Howling Death rather than towards it.
Rosetta got to her feet and tried to barge him out of the way with her shoulder.
“Move!” she exclaimed, trying to take the handles from him with her smaller hands.
“Get below deck!” When he wouldn’t move, she pushed him hard, just as the boat swayed and he was forced to back off. “Do as you’re told for once! You can’t man through this.”
“I don’t need your help!” He watched her struggle to fight the wheel, but she managed to hold it straight. Her face was tight with tension. “I know what I’m doing.”
When it started to win in its tug of war with her, and a long-winded grunt of effort came from her, Alister reached forward to help her steady it.
“Nay. You don’t.” If she did, she wouldn’t be here trying to do this when it was obvious that she couldn’t.
“I’m getting real sick of your shit, Alister.” She turned her head to him with her teeth clenched tight. “Go back to your own ship and get it the hell away from mine before we get tangled!”
Every second that passed brought stronger and stronger winds, bigger and bigger waves. Alister was running out of time to return before Pierre was forced to steer away. He shouldn’t be wasting his time arguing with a stubborn woman! He didn’t want to be doing this.
“Where is Mr Smith?” Why isn’t he here to talk some sense into her?
Alister was aware Naeem did whatever she told him to without considering anything else. Without question, he followed her so obediently that it was prideful, but Mr Smith didn’t. He often advised her to take different choices. Smarter ones. Safer ones.
“He’s in his cabin. He can’t help through this – he’s too old.”
She had the intelligence to know that, and yet she was still out here in the rain like a madwoman.
“Rosetta,” he started with a warning in his tone, but she turned her head to him so sharply, with a spiteful frown and lowered brows, it quietened him.
It didn’t stop him from returning her glare, though.
“I get that you want to help, but I know what I’m doing. I don’t want your help, Alister.” She stepped forward, closer to him, so she could scream only a few inches from his face. “I was a captain before I met you, and I’ll be one long after you’re gone from my life!”
The way she yelled those words at him, with the face she wore, made something lance his gut.
“Move!” someone yelled next to him, yanking on his shoulder to get him out of the way.
The shock he felt because of what she’d said to him was the only reason he stumbled back. Naeem got between them and started hooking something around her waist.
Are those... cannon grenades?
Rosetta looked down at what he’d clipped around her waist and threw her head back to bellow out a laugh. “Are you trying to blow me up?”
“I couldn’t find it!” he shouted in panic. “Had to improvise.”
“It’ll have to bloody do then, won’t it?”
Alister watched Naeem take over the helm as Rosetta fell away. She leaned down and picked up a length of rope that was wrapped around the support and tied it around Naeem’s waist for him.
“I want you stuck to this helm, got it?”
“Aye, Captain.”
She ran to the quarterdeck railing.
“Abrasive actions, boys! Secure your lifelines! If I find out even one of you fell into the ocean, I’ll hunt you down and drown you myself!”