Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
WILLIAM
With the rain and the clouds blocking out any moonlight, it was almost impossible to see them until they were right on top of us.
Darrow and Henry did their best, and I heard a few shouts over the rain and wind, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
I didn’t want to waste my shots firing at nothing, so I waited until Darrow bellowed out a warning.
“Take no prisoners, men! We fight until our meeting with Davy Jones!”
For a split second, I allowed myself to look back towards shore. To where Damon was. He’d given me my freedom. I wanted to give him something in return. Protecting his ship seemed as good as any.
Leaning over the rail, I fired off shots, catching a few before shots were fired back.
I nearly took one to the shoulder, jumping back just in the nick of time.
Their cover gave their people the time they needed to breach the ship, and then it was an all out battle.
We lost our advantage more quickly than I’d hoped, groups of them spilling over the rail.
It was chaotic, and I could hear the shouts as the rest of the men fought alongside me.
I dropped the pistols at one point, ripping out my cutlass just in time to block a sword meant for me.
The pirate who wielded it grinned like a lunatic, shoving me back and slicing at me again.
I tried to remember the steps, the movements that Damon taught me, but it was harder when I was fighting for my life and the lives of the little girls hiding away on the ship.
I ended up having to let those lessons go and rely on instinct instead.
Block, pivot, lunge… Duck! I dropped low, thrusting my sword in the pirate’s gut while he was still mid swing. One down. Dozens to go.
A shout rang out, and I saw Henry trip over a body and fall on his ass.
Damon warned me if I ended up on the floor, I’d be skewered.
As much as I despised Henry, I didn’t want him to die.
I raced toward him, pausing only to block and lunge as pirates tried to cut me down.
Henry managed to keep himself alive, but his sword skittered away just as I freed myself from another fight.
He looked up sharply to the man standing above him, pure terror written on his face.
“Not on my watch,” I growled. With a running leap, I tackled the pirate away from Henry and to the ground.
He was taken off guard, which gave me enough advantage to get to my feet first. He expected me to use my sword and blocked accordingly, but I kicked out instead, knocking it from his hand.
With a quick jab, I thrust my sword through his chest and jerked back again.
Henry was back on his feet by then, breathing heavily, his sword back in hand.
I spared him only a glance to make sure he was okay before we both jumped back into the fray.
Adrenaline kept me moving, even when my arm started to ache.
Henry and I ended up working in tandem, back to back, to keep the pirates from sneaking up on us from behind.
It worked for a little while, but when one shoved Henry hard enough to send him sprawling, he knocked into me, sending me down with him, pinned under his weight for a moment.
A moment too long. Black boots stopped inches from my face, and I heard a rough laugh above me.
“Two in one. They’re making it too easy.”
I heard Salty shout, followed by a heavy thud.
The bell stopped ringing a while ago. Everyone was too busy fighting for their lives.
No one was coming now. How would they know?
The pirates laughed, and I knew it was only a matter of time before Darrow and Mad Eye fell, too.
Defeat threatened to overtake my mind, but I shoved it away, catching a grip on Henry’s side as I rolled us, putting him beneath me.
I bared my teeth and thrust out my sword, but the pirate above me knocked it away with a laugh.
“You’ve got guts, boy. But it ain’t gonna save you.”
My heart stuttered as he pointed his sword at me.
One thrust and he’d pierce my chest and probably hurt Henry, too.
My instinct told me to roll, to move, something to get away, but I’d leave Henry unguarded and without a weapon, I’d only be prolonging the inevitable.
If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to do it running like a coward.
I met the gaze of the pirate above me, glaring at him.
He grinned, and I saw his arm withdraw to thrust his sword, but before the motion could follow through, metal ripped straight through his body and out of his chest. The pirate’s eyes widened in surprise, and when the cutlass was ripped out of his body, he dropped to his knees and collapsed, revealing a soaking wet and seething Damon.
“Bring me the Deceiver. If he wants my ship, he can face me like a man,” Damon snarled.
A gravelly laugh drew our attention to the rail, where a man in an obnoxiously large hat stood, his arms crossed over his chest and a wicked grin on his face. “Like a man? What would a cocksucker like you know about being a man?” he sneered.
“Says the coward too afraid to face me and my crew. Only a pathetic little shit would sneak onto a ship to steal it.”
All eyes were on the two captains. No one was willing to make a move without orders from one of them.
I saw Darrow standing defensively by the rails, two pirates facing him, unmoving.
Mad Eye was closer to the mast, panting with bodies collapsed around him.
I couldn’t see Salty, he’d been near the helm ringing the bell, but I couldn’t worry about him now.
With those closest to me distracted, I needed to arm myself.
My weapon was too far, kicked away by the asshole who almost gutted me, but there were several collapsed pirates nearby, each one armed to the teeth.
I eased carefully off Henry, my movements minute, so no one would notice me reaching for the cutlass a few feet away.
“Oh, I wasn’t going to steal it,” the Deceiver said with a laugh.
I wanted to know what he did to earn that name.
It seemed too powerful for such an unimpressive man.
“I was going to burn it. Strand you on this shitty little island after commandeering your prize. I heard rumours you were ransoming the Davenport children. Why would I waste my time with your little ship when I can buy myself a dozen more with that money?”
How the hell had they found out about that?
No one was supposed to share who was on board.
The only people who knew aside from the crew were Davenport and his advisors, unless he was sharing that news willy nilly.
I would’ve thought he’d keep it quiet to avoid embarrassment. That’s what I’d assumed, anyway.
My fingers brushed over the handle of the cutlass, and I dragged it closer. There were two pirates standing near Henry, though their eyes were locked on Damon. Henry had lost his sword. Again. So they didn’t see him as a threat.
The Deceiver prowled forward, stopping close to my feet.
The light from the lanterns flickered here and there, making it difficult to see his features, but he was shorter than Damon, more bulky, with a rotund belly that said he didn’t share rations that well.
Still, his arms were thick and his fists were massive.
One hit from him would likely break bones.
“I also heard another rumour. One I was certain would turn out to be false. Do you know what I heard?” He lifted an eyebrow, a cocky sneer on his face.
Damon didn’t say anything in return, which seemed to bother the pirate above me.
His smile flickered for a moment before he forced it out again.
“I heard the great Sea Wolf had gone soft. Took a useless whelp into his crew and his bed.” His eyes flicked to me for a moment.
“A manservant who risked his life to protect his charges by handing himself over to a pirate captain.”
Shit. Someone on the ship was sharing information.
That was the only way these pirates would know about me.
I was a nobody. A former manservant turned cabin boy, who hadn’t earned a proper spot amongst the crew.
No one would gossip about me unless they wanted to piss Damon off.
I remembered how he reacted the first time someone threatened me.
He saw me as his property, and he took it as an insult to himself if they messed with me.
“Only bored women listen to gossip,” Damon drawled, his expression flat. “I’ll start calling you Mrs. Mellings, if that’s what you’d prefer.”
Mad Eye snorted, which pissed the Deceiver off. Probably not the way I would’ve gone, baiting the pirate crazy enough to come after Damon’s ship. He scowled so deeply, it pulled at the wrinkles in his face.
“You can make jokes all you want, Sea Wolf. You don’t deny it. You’re too weak to hold on to that kind of treasure.”
Damon shook his head slowly. “Larry, you’ve always been a pathetic cunt. Too cowardly to meet me at sea and fight like a true pirate. I’ll give you one chance to get off my ship before I remove your head from your body.”
That surprised me. He’d let the asshole go?
Then I saw it. A flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye.
Lockhart pressed a finger to his lips, hiding in the shadows near the door to the girls’ room.
There were more men behind him, too. Damon wasn’t letting the pirate go.
He was buying time to give his crew a chance to join the fight. The man was a fucking genius.
“I’m not afraid of you, Damon Wolfe! I–”
“Enough,” Damon barked. “Let’s end this.”
The crew spilled out from shadows like wraiths, and the battle that had gone silent for a moment exploded in the sounds of clashing metal and violence.
I lunged to my feet, blocking the sword the Deceiver thrust at me.
I shoved him back, and Damon stepped in, going head to head with the captain who tried to steal his ship.
I left him to it, hauling Henry to his feet while I blocked another from taking him out.
I shoved him back, blocking him against the stairs with my body.
There was a sword just at the top, and I nudged him toward it.
“Grab that and go protect your sisters. Make sure they didn’t do anything drastic.”
For once he didn’t argue, his face a mask of determination. I engaged with another pirate while protecting Henry’s back, and he came stumbling down the stairs a moment later, slipping around me and toward the door to the girls’ room.
During the quick glance to make sure Henry got there safely, I missed the Deceiver knocking Damon back and a few of his crew mates taking his place.
He came straight for me, and I barely had enough time to block before he skewered me.
He was more skilled than I was, and I stumbled while trying to keep up with his movements.
I could barely breathe, too busy trying to keep up with him, and I heard Damon’s shout as I stumbled again.
“Will!”
Never in my life did I think I’d feel cold steel slicing through my belly. I sucked in a breath, eyes wide, staring at the cold scrutiny of the pirate captain.
“Will, no!” Henry bellowed.
Shock made me dizzy, and my knees went soft, threatening to go out from under me.
I didn’t want to go out on my knees. I promised myself I’d die a free man.
One standing on his own two feet. So, with the last energy I possessed, I thrust my sword into the pirate captain who bested me.
He looked shocked, but that was all I remembered before everything went dark.