Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.

Lord Hideo glared at everyone for a long minute, then he and his men left the Revenge.

"You might have mentioned this to me." Kate said to Lady Kimiko.

The Japanese girl shrugged.

"I had assumed that we would be headed for Kagoshima before my father knew we were gone. I was mistaken. I apologize."

It was Kate's turn to shrug. "It's too late to do anything about it now." She turned to Esposito. "Signal the Witch that we're leaving and explain why. I'm not convinced that Lord Hideo won't try something." She turned back to Lady Kimiko. "I have to get my ship ready to sail, but I'd like to invite you to dinner tonight. I'll have one of the ship's boys show you your quarters and I'll have one call on you when it's time for dinner."

Both ships managed to get out of Nagasaki harbor and were headed in the general direction of where Lady Kimiko thought Kagoshima was. The winds, unfortunately were both light and contrary. The ships had to tack for ten miles for every mile they got closer to Kagoshima.

Dinner that night consisted of a fish soup, roasted chicken, a bit of salt pork and a rasher of bacon, plus potatoes and peas. Both coffee and wine were served. Kate had asked the monks if they thought that the Japanese couple would appreciate English food.

Zeng shrugged. "They are Japanese. Even if they loathe the food, they will not lose face by saying so."

When dinner was done, Kate and her family, the three monks and their Japanese guests sat at the table and drank some wine.

"I'm curious as to how you met Lord Shigeto if your families are age old enemies." Kate asked

"We met at the Imperial Capital, Kyoto. I was very frightened when I found there was a member of the Dewa clan there as well. From what my family had told me about them, I assumed he would be ugly and violent and not really civilized. I was very surprised to find that Shigeto is very handsome, peaceable, for a samurai, at least, and very cultured. He writes poetry. Does your husband write poetry?"

Kate smiled and shook her head. "He doesn't I'm afraid. What kind of poetry does your betrothed write?"

"He writes haiku. They are very short poems of seventeen syllables and three verses."

"Could you translate one for us?" Castle asked.

"I actually have translated one of Shigeto's haiku into English." She cleared her throat:

"Old pond

"A frog jumps

"The sound of water."

Lady Kimiko blushed. "It isn't a very good translation. But, may I ask how you met your husband?"

"When I was younger, a wealthy and powerful man named Bracken murdered my parents and would have killed me as well, but I escaped. I found refuge with other people Bracken had persecuted. Eventually, we stole some small boats and overpowered a small ship that Bracken owned. We kept attacking his ships and gathered more and more people he had made to suffer. Eventually, I captured this ship that Bracken had sent to capture me. As you can see, I'm an outlaw. A pirate."

"No. I think you are a ronin, a masterless samurai. Many become criminals, bandits and hired killers. Some though are honorable and use their skills to help those in need. I think you are one of the latter. But, how did you meet your husband?"

"We took a ship he and his daughter were on. I assumed he was one of Bracken's hirelings. But I found out he was a doctor. As I needed a ship's surgeon, I told him that I'd let him and his daughter live if he served as my surgeon. He agreed."

Lady Kimiko frowned. "Then which of these ladies is your daughter and which is Dr. Castle's?"

"I'm Alexis Castle." Alexis volunteered.

"And I'm Priscilla Bracken, the daughter of Sir William Bracken. When I found out what a disgusting criminal my father was, I ran away and joined Rick and Kate, who I now consider to be my real mother and father."

"So you married your husband for love, Captain? Is that common among Europeans?"

Kate sadly shook her head. "Not at all. Marriages are often looked upon as being political or economic alliances between families. One of the reasons Priscilla joined us is that her father demanded she marry a foul man named Lord Desmond."

"How sad."

There was a knock on the door and Esposito came in. "Begging your pardon Captain, but there are local ships headed for us. They appear to be some sort of galleys, that is they're rowed. Unless the wind freshens, they'll catch up to us in a few hours."

"That could be my father." Lady Kimiko said. "Since Nagasaki is a port, he does have access to ships for coastwise trade. Most are propelled by oars. The shogun will not permit large sailing ships as the crews might sail elsewhere."

Kate, followed by all of her dinner guests, headed for the quarterdeck. Kate took her telescope and scanned the horizon.

"I can't make out who they are, but perhaps if we sail out of sight of land, they'll stop chasing us."

The Revenge and the Witch changed course but the Japanese ships changed their courses as well. Kate was convinced that they were being followed by Lord Hideo, as was Lady Kimiko.

"I apologize for putting you in this position, Captain Beckett. My father certainly does wish to attack your ship. You could put the two of us in a small boat and leave us. That would be an acceptable manner for us to apologize to you for our error."

Kate shook her head. "The wind is picking up. With a good following wind, we'll be able to lose them in the dark. Their oarsmen must be very tired by now. Once we lose them, we can head for Kagoshima and drop you off."

It was a good plan, but sometimes good plans don't work. When they approached Kagoshima they discovered that Lord Hideo had spread his ships out in a long line covering the approaches to Kagoshima from horizon to horizon. Once one ship caught sight of Kate's ships they would all converge on them.

Lord Shigeto suddenly ran to the landward side of the ship and began to yell at Lady Kimiko. The Japanese woman ran to Kate.

"Lord Shigeto has a plan. You must head for the group of ships just coming out of Kagoshima harbor. They are Lord Shigeto's father's ships. They will protect us."

Alas, one more good plan failed to work. When they approached the other fleet, a volley of musket fire and arrows greeted them. Lord Shigeto stood on the ratlines where all could see who he was. He held a loud conversation with the people on his father's ships, then jumped down. He ran to Lady Kimiko and spoke rapidly to her in Japanese.

"I'm so very sorry, Captain Beckett. Lord Shigeto's family is as angry as mine about our betrothal. They want both of us dead as well. I fear we have no options left."

"We have an option." Kate turned to Esposito. "We'll turn about Mr. Esposito and head straight for the Yamashita clan fleet. There's a good stiff breeze behind us now so that should carry us through them and bring the Dewa clan fleet right after us. If they hate each other as much as Lady Kimiko says, we can escape while they fight each other. Have the drummers beat to quarters, Mr. Esposito and advise the Witch of our intentions. We'll fire into the Yamashita fleet only if they're about to board us. I want them to concentrate on fighting each other, not us."

This time the plan worked. Each fleet was confronted with two targets: Two European ships carrying two people they both wanted to kill and; A fleet of their most hated enemies sailing straight for them. Both leaders dithered, unable to decide who to fight until the decision was made for them. Kate's ships sailed through the mass of Yamashita ships with only a few musket shots fired at them. Then to two Japanese fleets collided and a true battle began.

Kate stood on the quarterdeck watching the two fleets disappear astern. "That solves one problem, but what do we do with you, Lady Kimiko?"

"I do have an uncle on the Island of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. He and my father have never gotten along. In fact, my father had him banished to Hokkaido. It's a cold and grim place, but it's all we have left. We should sail north. And I believe I should pay you the rest of the silver I offered. The trip is much longer than you agreed on."

Kate accepted the money. She liked Lady Kimiko and her betrothed, but she had her own people to look after.

Days later they stood off the port of Hakodate. Lord Yamashita Asao was not particularly pleased to see his niece and her paramour, but he was more than happy to upset his brother's wishes concerning them. He offered them the hospitality of his family,

Hokkaido was far from the Shogun in Edo and apparently his edicts carried somewhat less force this far north. Kate and her family met briefly with Lord Asao and were told that he traded with the Russians in Siberia. He wouldn't allow any Russians to set up permanent trading posts for fear that it would lead to Russia trying to make a colony of Hokkaido and perhaps all of Japan. He did have nautical charts that he had gotten from the Russians showing the route to Russian America.

"I would be best if you left as soon as possible." The elderly lord said to Rick, once again posing as Captain Montgomery of the Honorable East India Company. "My brother will be very angry and will surely complain to the Shogun about my actions taking in my niece and her lover. But if you leave quickly, I can tell the Shogun's representative that I behaved properly and chased you off."

Castle agreed with him and they quickly set sail again, but not before wishing Lady Kimiko and Lord Shigeto good luck.

As they sailed north and west, Kate was glad they had bought fur clothing from Lord Asao. It wasn't just that it was cold, but it seemed to be always night. At least the seas had been unusually calm, although the fog was as bad as any Kate had ever seen.

"Deck ahoy." Cried the lookout from high in the crow's nest. "Ship fine on the starboard bow. She be a big 'un. A ship o' the line I be thinkin' or…." The voice stopped. "Jesus, Mary and all the Saints! She be a ghost ship."

Kate and many of the crew ran to the starboard side of the ship. There, slowly emerging from the fog was a ghostly white ship. Kate didn't believe in ghosts but felt her stomach clench and get cold.

"Oh, bosh." Said a voice beside her.

"What?" She asked Alexis.

"Bosh. That's not a ship, although it vaguely resembles one. It's an iceberg. Berg is the German word for mountain, so it's just a floating mountain of ice. Shoot one of the cannons at it if you don't believe me. If it were some ghostly apparition, the cannon ball would pass right through it. But you'll see the ball hit."

"Mr. Esposito, have Jenkins' gun crew man the number four gun. Have them take a shot at that….mountain."

The gun crew moved slowly to their stations and were remarkably slow in loading and aiming their gun. Finally, they had no other option but to fire at what they were very much afraid was a ghost ship. Who knew what a ship full of ghosts might do if disturbed?

The gun crew fired at last and after a second or so a shower of ice was seen from high on the iceberg. The whole crew cheered.