Dead Man's Chest (The Plundered Chronicles Book 5) Page 15

  Quinn could see the ropes and rope ladders being lowered to the water. Soon, her crew would be safe aboard the Portuguese vessel.

  Not all, but most.

  As her slower men lumbered by her, she saw three of the natives heading to one of her downed men.

  She was not ready for what she witnessed.

  One of the warriors took out a large knife and sliced off the top of her man’s head before raising the hair in the air and letting out that horrible battle cry.

  Quinn’s hand went to her swords as bile rose in her throat. “Mother. Fuckers.”

  Movement to their left caught her attention, and as Quinn peered through the last remnants of smoke, she saw Arracht struggling to his knees.

  She wasn’t the only one who caught the movement. The three warriors turned their attention to the large young man trying to get up.

  “No!” Quinn started sprinting toward Arracht just as the three natives got to him.

  One grabbed him by the hair. A second pulled out an enormous knife and placed it against Arracht’s forehead.

  “Stop! Stop!” Quinn yelled. She was simply too far away to keep them from doing what they’d just done to Andrew.

  She wouldn’t be able to stop them.

  From a small outcropping of rocks to the left of the woods an arrow was shot that arced slightly before landing unsuccessfully at the feet of the natives.

  All three looked up in the direction the arrow had come from.

  The one holding Arracht’s hair released him and bent down to pick up the errant arrow.

  Looking at the outcropping, he grinned and said something to the other two.

  It was the last thing he would ever do as a second arrow, coming from a completely different direction, pierced his cheek, sending him sprawling against Arracht.

  Both natives took off running for the rocks.

  So did Quinn, and she knew it would be a footrace to see who would reach the shooter first.

  For his part, the archer was fumbling to notch a second arrow. That was when one of the natives pulled his own, notched, and fired.

  “No! Fight me, you cocksuckers!” Quinn yelled but to no avail. The bowman got off two more arrows before Quinn hurled one of her thigh daggers.

  It bounced off the bow but hit hard enough to make the native turn in her direction.

  She was upon him before he could get off another shot, but she knew she was too late and too far to help whichever crew member hid between the rocks. The best she could do was avenge his death, and that was precisely what she did as she swung her long sword with both hands, decapitating the archer.

  Whirling around to run to the rocks, she saw the third and final native face first on the ground, an arrow between his shoulder blades.

  Moving faster than she thought possible, Quinn leapt over the dead native and peered inside the small enclave.

  Laying on the ground with two arrows in her was Kaylish.

  “Kaylish? My god,” Quinn said, reaching in and grabbing Kaylish’s ankle. “Kaylish? It’s me, Quinn. I’ve got you. Hang on. Hold on, do you hear me?” With one swift yank, Quinn extricated Kaylish from the rocks, just as another native bore down on her.

  Barely getting her long sword up in time to prevent the hatchet from splitting her head in two, Quinn rose, parried another blow, and then dropped to the ground, where she did a leg sweep, knocking her attacker to the ground before impaling him with her sword.

  Another native was coming at her with several of his tribe members right behind her.

  “Hurry, Captain!”

  Glancing toward the shore, Quinn realized it was Derry who had saved her and Arracht.

  Slinging Kaylish over her shoulders, Quinn felt the arrow in her arm and grimaced from the pain.

  Running much more slowly toward Derry, Quinn could practically hear his arrows as they flew past her face.

  When she reached the sand, she went down on both knees, dropping Kaylish on the shore.

  Derry picked up his four remaining arrows and moved his position so that he was now between Quinn and the two dozen or so natives running after her.

  Suddenly, a big pair of hands grabbed Kaylish. Rising, Quinn saw Tavish hand her to Fitz, who set her in a small boat.

  “I gotcha, lad,” Tavish said, yanking her by the back of the jerkin and hauling her to her feet.

  Pivoting, Quinn took one step back toward Derry, but Tavish threw both arms around her and lifted her off the ground.

  “Fuck off, Tavish! Let me go!”

  Tavish backed away from where they’d been and continued herding her toward the water.

  “Put. Me. Down!” Though her eyes told her all she needed to know, her heart did not want to believe it.

  When Derry fired the last arrow, the natives descended upon him with their hatchets.

  Quinn struggled half a second more before she went slack in Tavish’s arms knowing Derry had given his life for them. For her.

  “He kenned what he was doin’, lad.” Tavish turned toward the water and heaved Quinn into the boat.

  When she rose and caught sight of what they were doing, she screamed as the natives took Derry’s scalp before firing more arrows at them.

  Too far for the arrows to do any damage, the natives stood at the shore, making that horrific sound and pumping their bows and hatchets into the air.

  One of them held Derry’s scalp in his fist and shook it at her.

  Quinn whirled on Tavish, but it was Fitz who blocked her path.

  “Tavish is right, Captain. Ya’d be dead if Derry hadn’t sacrificed himself, and we need ya, Callaghan. We got no ship, no food, nothin’ but pain and death. So sit down and keep Kaylish alive. Tend to those ya can help.”

  Tears running off her face, Quinn inhaled deeply and nodded. “Right. Aye. Kaylish.” Kneeling next to the wounded woman, Quinn could barely believe she was still alive. Kaylish had taken one arrow to her right chest and one through her hip. Both were still protruding from her. “Kaylish, it’s me. Your captain. Your friend. Stay with us. Fight. Don’t let Derry’s death be for nothing.” Holding Kaylish’s cold hand, Quinn bowed her head and wept.

  Standing in front of Freitas, Quinn thanked him for coming for them.

  “We were headed to Croatoan Island when we saw the fire. I prayed it wasn’t your ship, but realized it was and knew we had to help. We’d not be here without you, Captain Callaghan.”

  Quinn glanced over his shoulder at the crew of the Portuguese ship. “Then it would appear we are square, so thank you once again.”

  “We’ve taken your injured below, but I’m afraid we have no healer.” He looked at the arrow still protruding from her arm. “You might wish for help yourself. Do you have someone?”

  Maggie.

  “Captain Freitas, our healer is on a boat for the mainland. She headed around the tip there. If we can reach them before they land, she can help.”

  Freitas nodded then rattled off Portuguese to his crew.

  “We can’t travel too close to the shore,” Quinn explained. “They sank us with flaming arrows.”

  “Then all eyes on deck will keep a look out for your people. If we don’t find them before we round the bend, I’m afraid we cannot go after them. Our mission is to sink a Spanish galleon we saw on its way to Croatoan Island. The Spanish believe it is where the English plan on setting up a base for piracy.”

  “Then it’s not true?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t really care. We are going to take everything they have before heading home.”

  Quinn blinked. “Wait. You just want their booty?”

  Freitas nodded. “It will be easier getting home with supplies. My ranks are depleted, captain. I will not risk the rest of my crew for anything short of gold.”

  “If my men help your men, can we secure the ship for mine? You and I both know your ship is too small for all of us, but if we had another ship…”

  “Say no more. If we can keep the ship from destruction
, she’s yours, but I cannot make any promises.”

  “Understood. I’m just thankful you saved my crew.” Quinn turned to Fitz. “I need a list of those we lost.”

  Fitz nodded. “Aye.”

  “Kaylish?”

  “She’s breathin’, but it don’t look good. If we don’t catch up with Maggie, I wouldn’t hold out much hope fer her.”

  Quinn returned her gaze to the Portuguese captain. “My men will stay up here looking for her. I need to check on the injured below.”

  “As you wish. If they did not get too much of a lead, we should be upon them in no time. I’ll send someone down to get you when we see it.”

  Quinn hustled down the steps to the galley where Kaylish and eight of her men lay dying.

  She felt helpless.

  How could she help any of them? They had no supplies, no mediums, no healer. Nothing.

  Sitting next to Kaylish, who laid on a table, Quinn examined her wounds. The arrows needed to come out, but to do so, she would have to push them all the way through first.

  She needed Maggie.

  “Kaylish, it’s me. We’re going to get you help. I need you to hold on. Please. Please don’t leave me. Not here. Not now in this strange and foreign land so far from home.”

  One of the men called to her.

  Quinn rose and quickly moved to his side. His name was Dannon, and he had been hit in the head with a hatchet. Blood had yet to dry on half his face.

  “Captain?”

  “I’m here.”

  “I’m not gonna make it. Would you… would you give my share to Siobhan when ya get… home?”

  Quinn’s eyes welled up when she realized Dannon was already slipping away.

  “I’ll make sure she gets it, my friend.”

  “Callaghan?”

  Tears clung to her lower lashes. “Aye?”

  “Yer… a better… captain… than… Gr…” And then he died.

  “Oh, Dannon. I am so very sorry.” Closing her eyes, she let the tears fall.

  He was wrong. She wasn’t better than Grace. Grace would never have come to this god awful place.

  “Not yer fault, Captain,” someone else said. “We all knew what we are about. Thank the goddess ya picked up them Portagee sailors or we’d all have lost our heads. Yer kindness saved us, Captain. Ya gotta believe it.”

  Quinn walked over to a young pirate named Jilly. He had his hand wrapped in a cloth. It looked like he was missing most of his fingers. “I’ll get us out of here,” Quinn said softly. “On that, you have my word.”

  “Captain, we lost a lot of men.”

  “I know. Don’t worry about a thing. We’re going home, Jilly.”

  “Home? We don’t have a home enna more, do we?”

  Rising, Quinn gently touched his leg. “We’ll find a new one, Jilly.”

  “If these native weren’t here, this place would be an awfully fine place to live.”

  Quinn remembered her deal with Lady Killigrew’s sister. If Jilly wished to stay here, Quinn would make that happen, but not now. She needed time to regroup. Time to recover any lost faith they might be feeling.

  As she neared the hulking figure of Arracht, Quinn’s heart raced.

  His shirt was off and all the arrows still protruded from his body.

  When she knelt down to look in his face, she was surprised to see his eyes were open.

  “Hey, big guy,” she said, hanging her hand lightly on his shoulder. “We’re going to get these out of you in no time. You just hold on, okay?”

  Arracht blinked. “Jay… cob?”

  Quinn rocked back on her heels. So he could talk. She had forgotten all about the young boy. “There was a lot of confusion getting everyone on board. Let me see if he is on deck with the others.”

  Arracht nodded and closed his eyes. Quinn could not even imagine what his reaction would be if Jacob was not on board.

  One minute later, she discovered Jacob was not on board.

  “Does enna one remember seeing him?” Quinn asked when she pulled her men together.

  “I saw Arracht grab Gallagher from Kaylish and throw her overboard. When she reached land, Kaylish went to find Jacob, but the fires were getting mighty thick,” Logan replied. The smoke made it nigh impossible to see.”

  “I thought I saw him jump over the railin’,” came another voice, “but the smoke was so thick and black, I couldn’t be certain it was him.”

  “So nobody saw him on land after the ship was on fire?”

  Everyone shook their heads.

  Quinn bowed her head. Either Jacob had died on the Emerald, drowned trying to get off, or was still somewhere on Roanoke Island.

  None were optimum choices.

  When she ordered the crew to return to the railing to watch for Maggie, she pulled Fitz and Tavish aside.

  “I think we must presume he is dead,” she said softly. “No one saw him on the island after the ship sank.”

  “He coulda been hidin’ somewhere,” Tavish said. “Too afraid to come out. I mean, look at where Kaylish hid.”

  Kaylish.

  “When I grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her out, I did not look into the enclave where she’d been hiding.”

  “Was there enough room for the boy?”

  Quinn shrugged. “I don’t really know. It all happened so fast.”

  Tavish glanced down at the arrow in Quinn’s arm. “We need to get that outta ya, lad.”

  Looking at the arrow as if seeing it for the first time, Quinn blew out a breath. “Make it fast, boys.”

  Taking her arm and sandwiching her wrist in his armpit, Tavish held her arm out straight.

  “Fitz?”

  Fitz pulled his small knife out and carefully cut the feathered end off as close to her skin as possible. Quinn winced as the arrow moved. Then, he placed the flat part of the knife on the flat arrow. “Inhale a few deep breaths, Callaghan.”

  Quinn looked away and inhaled a breath just as Fitz brought his fist down on the knife.

  When the arrow shot through her muscle and out the other side, Tavish grabbed the arrowhead in his good hand and pulled it free.

  Quinn cried out in pain, swearing as she did. “I saw some rum down below. I’ll pour some on it like Bronwen always does.”

  “I’ll come wrap it up,” Tavish said, keeping his large hand wrapped around her upper arm.

  As they walked to the hold, Quinn’s knees buckled a bit.

  “I gotcha, lad. It’s been a long coupla days, and you been runnin’ around with an arrow stickin’ from ya.” Sitting at the table in the galley, Quinn held her arm while Tavish grabbed the alcohol.

  “If we don’t find Maggie and that boat soon, we’re going to have to take these arrows out ourselves.”

  “Then they’re as good as dead, lad. Getting an arrow out of an arm isna ennathin’ like diggin’ it outta a back.”

  Closing her eyes, Quinn grit her teeth as he poured the rum on her arm.

  “Jesus. That burns like a fucker!”

  Tavish tore some linens and wrapped her arm up in it. “We’ll find her. The boy, I’m not so sure about.”

  “We have to go back.” Quinn opened her eyes.

  Tavish shook his head. “I had a feelin’ ya were gonna say that. First things first, lad. First, my wife and the boat. Then, we get ourselves a ship. If all goes well, we go back for the boy.”

  “He’ll be long gone, Tavish. We need to drop a boat now.”

  “I’ll go.”

  Tavish and Quinn turned to see Seanie at the bottom of the stairs. “We left two Scotsmen back there, and they deserve a proper burial. Laing and Logan can go with me. Look. We’re land fighters. We’re used to skirtin’ in and outta danger.”

  Quinn glanced over at Tavish, who shrugged. “If the Portuguese will let ya drop a boat in the water, I say do it. Yer right about him not being there. If the natives are still roamin’ around the island, he might be stayin’ put.”

  Quinn looked dubious. “I
don’t want to agree, but if we don’t attempt it now, he could end up enna where.”

  “We are the best choice for this.”

  Tavish nodded. “He’s right, lad. We’ve got nobody better. The laoch cuidich can get across the land faster than we can. With night falling, we’ve got no time to squander.”

  Quinn inhaled deeply. She could not leave Jacob—not just because he was a child but because Arracht had saved her charge. She owed it to him. “Go. We will drop a boat here. We will pick you up here. You’ll have to row out to meet us regardless of what ship we return on. You need to—”

  “We’ve got Maggie!” came a voice from the top of the stairs.

  Tavish took the stairs two at a time.

  Quinn finished with Seanie. “Take the boat already in the water. We will circle back to this point to get you. If we are not here before this time tomorrow, we aren’t coming back. Find Wabi…the native boy who brought be here. He’ll get you to safety. Godspeed, my friends.” With that, Quinn also took the steps two at a time.

  Standing on the deck were Maggie, Gallagher, Wabi, and One Eye.

  “Callaghan!” Gallagher ran into Quinn’s arms, who hugged her tightly. “How are you, Bog?”

  “One Eye saved us!”

  Quinn set her down and turned to One Eye. “Did you, now?”

  One Eye grinned. “Aye. Two came swimmin’ out to the boat when we tried leavin’. I left ’em at the bottom a the water where they belong.”

  “Excellent. Thank you.” Quinn took Maggie’s hands. “Are you feeling up to working? We’ve got a lot of wounded below.”

  “Say no more.” Maggie pulled her hands from Quinn’s, kissed her husband, and ran down the steps.

  To Wabi, Quinn asked, “Would you please take the boat back with these three men? We are looking for a little boy named Jacob.”

  Wabi nodded.

  “We will return here to pick you up.” To Seanie, Quinn said, “Do not stay land bound. Remember, if we do not return by this time tomorrow, Wabi will escort you back to the colony.”

  Seanie nodded. “You will return, Captain. I have no doubt about that.”

  When the three Scottish warriors and Wabi lowered themselves to the boat, Quinn headed back down to the gallery where she found Maggie working over Kaylish.

  “Why hasn’t she come about?”