Eye of the Storm
Chapter XI
As he was slowly regaining consciousness, Cole got the distinct impression that someone had put a heavy weight on his chest. Every breath was laborious and painful. As if through a tunnel, he heard Phoebe calling to him anxiously. With great effort, he lifted his hand blindly toward her voice, and met the soft skin of her face, wet with tears. Immediately, she grabbed his hand, a little too forcefully, so tense she was. "Cole, oh my God, Cole, please, look at me! Please…"
Her plea coming through her sobbing told him more about the seriousness of his injury than the pain, even.
She was caressing his face now, trying to revive him, he thought. Cole managed to open his eyes and looked directly into hers. At first, these were filled with worry, but it quickly changed into intense relief, as she realized that he was awake.
"Phoebe?" He managed hoarsely, before coughing painfully.
He had trouble remembering what happened exactly, but he somehow knew that he should be grateful to see her there.
Seeing his grimace of pain, Phoebe became concerned anew, and he tried to smile reassuringly, only half-succeeding. Slowly, he began to remember what happened, and turned his head to look around. He could now see and hear the men, who were having an animated discussion. At hearing the gunshot, many more had come their way, but they were mostly concerned with what just happened.
"What the hell got into you? You shot the captain, you imbecile…"
The guilty sailor was protesting weakly, as he was obviously overwhelmed by the other men' stares. "He was helping them…"
"And you think that it will matter what you're saying? If that comes back to the authorities, we will be lucky if they just throw us in prison. Most likely, they'll have us all hanging in no time…"
The men cast scornful looks toward their captain, and then to their first officer before one of them offered a solution…
"We could kill them both…This way, we can tell them what we want them to know, and no one will contradict us…"
From the look on the others' faces, it was apparently a viable solution, although they still seemed to hesitate. Cole looked back toward Phoebe, now more worried about what they would do to her…
"Phoebe," he tried again, breathlessly, "you have to go…"
Phoebe had heard as well.
"I am not going anywhere! I will not let them kill you," she said in a low voice, while moving slowly toward the fallen pistol. This one was still cocked and ready to fire. With a trembling hand, she leveled it toward the sailors.
"No Phoebe, go, please…"
She answered without turning toward him, as she was trying to steady her hand:
"I'm not leaving you…"
By then, one of the sailors had noticed her, and opened wide eyes at this.
"Lady, you better put this down," he uttered nervously, attracting the immediate attention of the other men.
This was all Leo had been waiting for. He moved quickly toward his own pistol, and not losing any time, leveled it at them, and then called loudly.
"The first one who makes a false move gets it. And I can't miss from this distance, trust me."
The men now caught between two pistols began to worry slightly.
"You can't get us all," one of them still boasted, albeit hesitantly.
"Which one of you wants to die first," Leo uttered intently. The men were then certain that he was not bluffing.
Paul was already a good distance from the ship when the canons stopped firing. In the subsequent relative silence, he thought that he heard noises coming from the opposite direction to the ship they had just left. He wondered about it, as he had taken great care of choosing the farthest island from the pirates' settlements. The way he had seen it, with the darkness and the time it would take them to react, the merchant ship should have been well on her way and out of danger by the time they got to this position.
Worried now, he turned toward the black people, who were visibly unaware of the new danger. They were only concentrating on paddling vigorously toward their freedom. He turned back, and strained to see, finally managing to make out the outline of the arriving vessel, which was obviously speeding toward the merchant ship. Paul got a sinking feeling at the sight. He had made a terrible mistake, and now Prue, along with everyone else on the ship, were in mortal danger.
Torn between the slaves' safety and Prue's, he watched the dark silhouette of the approaching ship, while his apprehension grew for every moment.
He was still debating his options, when he heard the loud report of a pistol. This had come not from the incoming ship, he knew, but from the merchant herself, and this time, he did not hesitate. Turning again toward the slaves, he saw that they too had heard and were now panicking.
They had stopped paddling at once, and were looking back toward the ship.
Behind them, Paul could see only one more canoe, and he wondered about this as well. By now, there should have been many more…
He thought that he would have to argue with the black people. However, these had apparently come to the same conclusion as he, because they turned the boat around and went straight toward the last one to have left the ship.
Leo was becoming desperate. He knew that the sailors would not hesitate much longer when they realized that it would be easy to overcome them. He could see Phoebe's hands shaking in spite of her efforts to keep them steady, and knew that they would eventually see the weak link and go for her. He did not think that Captain Turner could help at this point. He had seen him moving slightly earlier, but now he seemed immobile. As for the slaves, they were obviously overcome by fear. They were moving away, albeit slowly, probably wary of the sailors' reaction, were they trying to run.
The stand off had only lasted a few seconds, but his indecision made him nervous. He wondered, as he felt the beginning of a tremor in the hand holding the weapon, if he should not try to plead for the girls and the slaves rather than try saving himself and the captain. At this point, both their chances of survival were minimal at best.
Maybe, if he put Captain Turner and himself at their mercy, they would at least leave the girls alone.
He had just about made this decision and was already lowering the pistol slowly, when a swarm of black people jumping on deck got all their attention. These were now rushing the sailors, soon followed by the younger men among the group still on the ship. The sailors now caught between three separate threats, shot blindly into the coming group of black men, while running toward the other side of the ship. They had still managed to hit a few of the black men, and it acted as a trigger for their rage. Forgetting all about the guns in front of them, they vengefully pursued the sailors. Paul had followed the first wave, and he and Leo watched in horror as the battle ensued, while Phoebe dropped the pistol to return to Cole's side, although not truly reassured.
The sailor were now all shooting at the oncoming attackers, however, by then the black people were coming at them with all the resentment that they had for the way they had been treated. Ignoring the casualties, they still went on. There were twice as many of them as the sailors on deck by then, as more of them were coming back on the ship. Paul had tried to restrain them, but the obvious fear for their compatriots had galvanized their courage and rage.
Before coming onto the ship, they had moved the men from one boat to the other of their own accord, sending the women and children to the other canoe. Then more of the canoes had been on their way back, obviously alerted as well by the gunshot, and the first canoe turning back.
Leo and Paul quickly saw that they could do nothing to prevent the worse. At the moment, their first concern went to Piper and Prue, who were still missing, and to Captain Turner, who was still bleeding profusely from his wound, cradled into Phoebe's arms. Leo moved toward these two quickly, now ignoring the battle that raged close by. "Is he conscious," he asked nervously.
Before she could answer, he saw the captain open his eyes and look directly at him, then toward the battle.
"What is happening," he managed.
"It doesn't matter Captain, there's nothing more that we can do about this. We have to get you treated soon…"
Phoebe gave him a grateful look at this.
Turning toward Paul, Leo asked again:
"Are there any good doctors where you were intent on bringing the slaves? I doubt that the medic will be in the mood to help him," he added, indicating Cole.
Paul was looking frantically around and took a moment before he answered.
"We do have a doctor yes, but right now, we have another problem."
As if on cue, the first cannonball fell only feet away from the ship…
This startled the combatants at once, as both groups turned in block toward aft, where the first hit had been heard. Soon after they heard the second incoming cannonball, and this one hit its target, falling directly on the Captain's cabin, where Piper had stayed…
Prue had awakened with a start at the first shot of the canons, and thoroughly panicked when she did not find Paul by her side. Dressing up in a hurry, she had still hesitated at going out, although she knew that this place was no safer than outside if there was an actual enemy in sight ready to riposte. Of course, she had understood that this was most probably the decoy, which they had planned for the slaves' escape. After a while, flinching for every explosion, she made the decision to go out anyway, as her fears were only equaled by the anger she felt toward Paul for leaving her like this.
She had guessed right away that he had not wanted her to know he was leaving for good. Even if she understood where he had come from, she was still very upset with him for it. Worried that her previous hesitation might have given him time to leave, she hurried out, first going toward the cells in the hope that she would find him there.
In the hallway, sailors still rushing toward the main deck slowed her advance. She tried to stay out of sight mostly, until the number trickled to only a few, and then she ran toward the hold. There she found only the two men, still unconscious and the empty cells, with a sinking feeling.
She was about to run back up, hoping that he had not left the ship yet, when one of the few sailors still below deck stopped her unceremoniously.
"What are you doing here?" Then his eyes grew wide at the sight of the empty cell.
"What the hell?"
Turning angrily toward Prue:
"If you had anything to do with this lady…"
The threat was plain in his voice, and Prue took a few steps back…
Always keeping his eyes on Prue, he went to the unconscious sailors and kicked one of them in a rude attempt to revive him.
This one moaned weakly, then opened his eyes, looking around in confusion.
"What?" "Hey you," said the first sailor, "what happened here?"
The one who had just awakened took a moment to get back on his feet, massaging his side where the first one had kicked him.
"This McKail came in here with a pistol and got us to open the cells. Then he knocked us out. I have no idea what happened next."
Only then did the man look toward the cells, and conveyed a convincing horrified surprise. In turn, he also exclaimed: "What the hell?"
Ignoring the third sailor, who remained unconscious, the first one went toward Prue menacingly, and reiterated: "Lady, if you had anything to do with this, you will regret it."
By then, Prue was cornered, and her anger and fear grew all at once.
Only then did they all realize that the canons had become silent. Taking her arm rudely, he pulled her away from the wall where she had ended up, and pushed her ahead of him, while pulling a pistol and pointing it at her.
"Move!"
He did not have to tell her twice.
The second sailor, now out of the first one's sight, looked upon them with some indecision, but did not dare do a thing just yet, choosing to follow them instead.
They were already almost to the main deck, when the first gunshot resounded. The first sailor, startled, pulled Prue back toward the lower deck where he held her, while obviously pondering his next move.
He had just about decided to go on, when the clamors and the multiple gunshots started, convincing him that they were under attack.
The first cannonball falling near the ship, as he surmised, confirmed his fears.
Forgetting about Prue, he started up the steps, apparently having found his courage, soon followed by the other sailor, who now realized that the escape might be the least of their concerns.
Prue was very much aware that something had gone wrong, but she had no idea what. All that mattered to her now was to make sure that her sisters were ok. Forgetting her own safety, she started up the steps in turn, and came out on the main deck just in time to see the next projectile hit the cabin…
The explosion drowned her scream…
Piper had not found rest at all. Her sisters had both sneaked out and left her alone once more, as she had pretended to sleep. She had worried about her sisters being out there, but assumed that the men they were with were just as concerned about them as Leo was about her. He had warned her about the diversion, but even so, when she heard the first canon shooting, she flinched and cowered toward the back of the cabin. She wished that Leo were there with her, as she felt so isolated.
Leo had made her promise not to get out of the cabin at any cost, but after a while, she could not stand the not knowing… She was already opening the door when she realized that the canons had become silent. She then was torn by indecision. She knew that he had good reasons to want her out of the way, but she was very worried and curious. Still, she decided to heed his advice and stayed in.
Returning slowly toward the middle of the cabin, she tried her best to calm down while sitting awkwardly. She had almost managed to when the first gunshot resounded. Startled and now frightened out of her mind, she stood up, but stayed frozen in place, her mind filled with terrible images of her sisters or Leo being hurt or worse. The next series of gunshots mixed with loud clamors, got her out of the trance, but again she went to the back of the cabin, more scared than ever. Working through this, she had already made up her mind to go out anyway when the first cannonball hit. She barely had time to consider this development, before she heard the next incoming one. Then, everything went blank…
Leo looked up at the first hit and miss, even as he had been preparing to move the Captain. The next one finished to floor him, as he recalled painfully his own advice to Piper.
Without hesitation, he left the others behind, and started running toward the now devastated cabin. Paul saw him go with even more apprehension, as he had no idea where Prue was at the moment. He was soon partially reassured on the subject however, when he saw her running toward the cabin as well. Now, he was uncertain about his course of action. The captain had to be moved to one of the canoes, and sent on his way soon, but then, he would have to go with them anyway. It did not take him long to decide what to do. Leaving them behind, he went to rejoin with Leo and Prue. This time, he would not leave without her.
Phoebe was crying again, the weight of her worries almost too much to bear. She could not leave Cole alone, yet she could not stay away while her sister might be in need of her. Cole, even through his weakened state, saw her dilemma, and trying very hard to forget about the pain, he moved to stand up.
"No," she said to him, "you cannot move now, you will kill yourself."
"I will be fine Phoebe, your sister is in danger and we have to help…"
Leaning on her, he managed to stand, but the dizziness threatened to overwhelm him. "Cole, this is crazy, you can barely stand and you are still bleeding."
He just shook his head vaguely in protestation, and had to fight a wave of nausea at this.
Another explosion resounded, this time near the bridge, and the combatants broke the fight for good, even as a few of the sailors were running either toward the canon hold or to get more weapons. However, the majority, now devoid of a chain of command, saw the futility of this and ran toward the canoes. Another skirmish ensued, as the slaves were themselves fleeing now.
All of this, Cole had to watch helplessly, while simply struggling to stay up. He could barely put his foot forward, let alone try to bring back order on his ship. By his own fault, at any rate, they had no efficient means to defend the ship. The canons were unusable for at least another hour…By then, the ship would be lost.
Guilt ridden, he still tried to ignore this, just as everyone else had forgotten about them, only trying to save their own skin. Instead, he turned toward the cabin, still supported by Phoebe.
Phoebe continued protesting, but her fear for her sister was plain to see. However, she did not have the strength to help him all this way, and he almost fell only a few feet hence. That is when Cole felt two pairs of arms taking a hold of him. Looking aside, he recognized the old man that had greeted him in the cells. This one had recruited another younger man to help, and was trying to pull him back toward the canoes.
"No," Cole said, as firmly as he could, "I have to help them…"
The old man, having figured out what he meant in spite of the language barrier, looked at him incredulously and shook his head energetically, still pulling. In the end, Cole had to surrender to his will, as he did not have enough left in him to fight the two black men.
Phoebe followed them all the way to the railing, but stopped short of embarking herself. She gave Cole a meaningful look before spinning around and running toward the cabin in turn. In that instant, Cole thought that his physical pain was nothing compared to his fear for her. He tried once more to break free from the slaves, but only succeeded in falling hard to the deck. The slaves did not lose time and grabbed him again, quickly lowering him toward the waiting canoe. At this point, however, he had no way of knowing this, since he had passed out again…
Leo got first to the cabin, soon followed by Prue, and both of them started screaming Piper's name at the top of their lungs, while trying to push the rubble out of the way. The noise level was such now, however, that they did not know if she could hear them, was she still able to.
Meanwhile, Paul had been able to assess the situation, while coming toward them. He realized that if the front of the cabin had been totally destroyed, the back of it was still standing. If Piper had been where the cannonball hit, then there was no hope of finding her alive, but if she had not…
Running toward them, he pulled Leo to him.
"We have to go in the back and try to crash through the wall," he said very loud. Leo was looking at him crazily, made mad with fear, and did not understand what Paul meant. This one could see the heavy smoke coming from the rubble and knew that if she was alive, there was no time to lose.
Taking a firm hold of Leo, Paul shook him almost violently:
"We need something to crash the wall, now!"
Finally, Leo reacted. Looking around nervously, he spotted an ax still hooked up under the railing not far from them, and indicated it to Paul. This one did not lose time and ran to it, while Leo, now aware of Paul's plan, went to the back of the cabin, thankfully still accessible in spite of the surrounding damage. There, he started screaming Piper's name again…
Piper woke up coughing, and half-covered with rubble. Fear gripped her right away, as there was no way that she could go out of the cabin. The front of it was completely destroyed, and the roof had fallen in its place, blocking the way. She could see the fire and the smoke from where she was. It was obvious that if no one helped her soon, she would be asphyxiated or worse. In a panic, she almost did not hear the muffled scream coming from behind her. She turned toward the new sound, at first wondering, then certain that someone was calling to her. She tried to call back to them, but her first tries ended in a fit of coughing. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she envisioned the terrible end that would befall her…
Paul came back as fast as he could, although he had gone further and found another ax, which he now was handing to Leo. Leo hit the wall a few times, then tried calling again, hoping that she could still hear in spite of the noise. At last, he thought that he heard something from inside and called even louder, as he started hitting the wall with renewed energy.
The loud noise startled Piper. She thought that she could feel each hit deep inside, and jumped every time. For a moment, she wondered if those were not small explosions, but then she saw splinters flying inside, and the smoke began escaping toward the ever-larger hole in the wall. She had no way to know if those were not the people who had attacked the ship, but at this point all she could think of was to get out. Pushing herself up, she hurried toward the opening and breathed in relief when she saw Leo, with his arms already extended toward her.
The hole was barely large enough for her, but she did not care about the scrapes. As soon as she was out, she fell into Leo's arms, as he held her tightly against him. She was now sobbing uncontrollably, while the temporary relief washed over her. Prue came to her then, practically pulling her out of Leo's grasp and holding her in turn, as Phoebe came and hugged both of her sisters. It was not until then that they realized the enemy had stopped shooting. Paul was the first to notice this, although he knew that it would not save the ship, as she was already burning and no one did a thing about it.
"We don't have much time," he uttered tensely. "We have to go back now."
The others simply acquiesced and followed him, their anxiety returning at once.
They had been so intent on Piper's rescue that none of them really knew how long the lull in the attack had lasted.
Paul in particular was wondering about it, as he could see the pirate a little ways from their ship, and yet there were no signs of a boarding party. He hurried behind the others even as a terrible sense of foreboding invaded him.
When they got to the railing, they realized that they had another problem.
The few sailors, who had still been fighting were now abandoning ship as well, but there were no canoes left, and they saw them jumping off and tried their luck at swimming. Paul and Leo looked at the girls with the same thought. They could not even imagine themselves swimming this far, let alone them. Phoebe saw their panicked expressions, and understood what the dilemma was. A thought then came to her. Looking back toward the bridge, she got convinced that the bow was intact.
"Come with me," she uttered imperatively.
Leo looked at her questioningly, unmoving.
"Come on," she insisted, "it's our only chance."
She was already on her way toward the burning bridge, and at first, it really did not seem a good idea to him. Then he remembered about the canoe that they kept there… "She's right," he called to the others.
None of them understood what he meant, but at this point, they had very few options left and followed them.
As luck had it, they managed to get around the bridge and found the canoe, untouched…
Even as they were working at getting the canoe down, unease lingered in Paul's mind. Something was amiss, but he could not figure out what. Then, he looked up at the flag and understood too late what the pirate had been waiting for. He tried to go back to put a white flag up the post, but by then the pirates had already assumed that the ship was not surrendering. They had no way to know that no one was manning the cannons anymore, and would not take the chance. Confirming his fears, he saw the flash of light before he heard the incoming projectile. He barely had time to start running away when he understood that this time it was going to hit the bow…
The old slave had halted about three hundred feet from the ship, and watched anxiously for a sign of the remaining group. He had waited for as long as he could, but some of the sailors had tried to go after their canoe. This had forced them to leave prematurely.
Now, he worried that they would not find another embarkation.
From the distance, he thought that he saw people running toward the rail and that the women seemed among them. Turning toward his companions, he signaled them to start paddling toward the ship again, determined to take them in his boat. The Captain was waking up and he looked up toward the ship as well, an expression of panic on his face, as he remembered right away that Phoebe was still on the burning vessel. He tried to lift himself, but the old man held him tight, indicating to him that they were going back as he could see himself, making it easier to understand the man's signals. Only half-reassured, he calmed down slightly, but still watched the ship anxiously as they approached her. They were only a hundred feet away or so when Cole saw the projectile flying toward the bow of the ship. The cannonball must have hit the small reserve of powder that they kept near the bridge or maybe it had been the raging fire, which did it. Whatever it was, the moment it hit, a loud explosion resounded and debris flew almost all the way to their embarkation. Cole uttered a desperate scream, as he saw his ship breaking in two and plunging toward the deep.
Ignoring his own pain and weakness, he tried to jump out of the boat, even as the slaves were restraining him. When the old man saw that he would not stop, he hit him hard and knocked him unconscious again.
Cole's last thought was that he might as well die, now that he had lost Phoebe, then he could think of nothing as darkness fell upon him…
Chapter XI
As he was slowly regaining consciousness, Cole got the distinct impression that someone had put a heavy weight on his chest. Every breath was laborious and painful. As if through a tunnel, he heard Phoebe calling to him anxiously. With great effort, he lifted his hand blindly toward her voice, and met the soft skin of her face, wet with tears. Immediately, she grabbed his hand, a little too forcefully, so tense she was. "Cole, oh my God, Cole, please, look at me! Please…"
Her plea coming through her sobbing told him more about the seriousness of his injury than the pain, even.
She was caressing his face now, trying to revive him, he thought. Cole managed to open his eyes and looked directly into hers. At first, these were filled with worry, but it quickly changed into intense relief, as she realized that he was awake.
"Phoebe?" He managed hoarsely, before coughing painfully.
He had trouble remembering what happened exactly, but he somehow knew that he should be grateful to see her there.
Seeing his grimace of pain, Phoebe became concerned anew, and he tried to smile reassuringly, only half-succeeding. Slowly, he began to remember what happened, and turned his head to look around. He could now see and hear the men, who were having an animated discussion. At hearing the gunshot, many more had come their way, but they were mostly concerned with what just happened.
"What the hell got into you? You shot the captain, you imbecile…"
The guilty sailor was protesting weakly, as he was obviously overwhelmed by the other men' stares. "He was helping them…"
"And you think that it will matter what you're saying? If that comes back to the authorities, we will be lucky if they just throw us in prison. Most likely, they'll have us all hanging in no time…"
The men cast scornful looks toward their captain, and then to their first officer before one of them offered a solution…
"We could kill them both…This way, we can tell them what we want them to know, and no one will contradict us…"
From the look on the others' faces, it was apparently a viable solution, although they still seemed to hesitate. Cole looked back toward Phoebe, now more worried about what they would do to her…
"Phoebe," he tried again, breathlessly, "you have to go…"
Phoebe had heard as well.
"I am not going anywhere! I will not let them kill you," she said in a low voice, while moving slowly toward the fallen pistol. This one was still cocked and ready to fire. With a trembling hand, she leveled it toward the sailors.
"No Phoebe, go, please…"
She answered without turning toward him, as she was trying to steady her hand:
"I'm not leaving you…"
By then, one of the sailors had noticed her, and opened wide eyes at this.
"Lady, you better put this down," he uttered nervously, attracting the immediate attention of the other men.
This was all Leo had been waiting for. He moved quickly toward his own pistol, and not losing any time, leveled it at them, and then called loudly.
"The first one who makes a false move gets it. And I can't miss from this distance, trust me."
The men now caught between two pistols began to worry slightly.
"You can't get us all," one of them still boasted, albeit hesitantly.
"Which one of you wants to die first," Leo uttered intently. The men were then certain that he was not bluffing.
Paul was already a good distance from the ship when the canons stopped firing. In the subsequent relative silence, he thought that he heard noises coming from the opposite direction to the ship they had just left. He wondered about it, as he had taken great care of choosing the farthest island from the pirates' settlements. The way he had seen it, with the darkness and the time it would take them to react, the merchant ship should have been well on her way and out of danger by the time they got to this position.
Worried now, he turned toward the black people, who were visibly unaware of the new danger. They were only concentrating on paddling vigorously toward their freedom. He turned back, and strained to see, finally managing to make out the outline of the arriving vessel, which was obviously speeding toward the merchant ship. Paul got a sinking feeling at the sight. He had made a terrible mistake, and now Prue, along with everyone else on the ship, were in mortal danger.
Torn between the slaves' safety and Prue's, he watched the dark silhouette of the approaching ship, while his apprehension grew for every moment.
He was still debating his options, when he heard the loud report of a pistol. This had come not from the incoming ship, he knew, but from the merchant herself, and this time, he did not hesitate. Turning again toward the slaves, he saw that they too had heard and were now panicking.
They had stopped paddling at once, and were looking back toward the ship.
Behind them, Paul could see only one more canoe, and he wondered about this as well. By now, there should have been many more…
He thought that he would have to argue with the black people. However, these had apparently come to the same conclusion as he, because they turned the boat around and went straight toward the last one to have left the ship.
Leo was becoming desperate. He knew that the sailors would not hesitate much longer when they realized that it would be easy to overcome them. He could see Phoebe's hands shaking in spite of her efforts to keep them steady, and knew that they would eventually see the weak link and go for her. He did not think that Captain Turner could help at this point. He had seen him moving slightly earlier, but now he seemed immobile. As for the slaves, they were obviously overcome by fear. They were moving away, albeit slowly, probably wary of the sailors' reaction, were they trying to run.
The stand off had only lasted a few seconds, but his indecision made him nervous. He wondered, as he felt the beginning of a tremor in the hand holding the weapon, if he should not try to plead for the girls and the slaves rather than try saving himself and the captain. At this point, both their chances of survival were minimal at best.
Maybe, if he put Captain Turner and himself at their mercy, they would at least leave the girls alone.
He had just about made this decision and was already lowering the pistol slowly, when a swarm of black people jumping on deck got all their attention. These were now rushing the sailors, soon followed by the younger men among the group still on the ship. The sailors now caught between three separate threats, shot blindly into the coming group of black men, while running toward the other side of the ship. They had still managed to hit a few of the black men, and it acted as a trigger for their rage. Forgetting all about the guns in front of them, they vengefully pursued the sailors. Paul had followed the first wave, and he and Leo watched in horror as the battle ensued, while Phoebe dropped the pistol to return to Cole's side, although not truly reassured.
The sailor were now all shooting at the oncoming attackers, however, by then the black people were coming at them with all the resentment that they had for the way they had been treated. Ignoring the casualties, they still went on. There were twice as many of them as the sailors on deck by then, as more of them were coming back on the ship. Paul had tried to restrain them, but the obvious fear for their compatriots had galvanized their courage and rage.
Before coming onto the ship, they had moved the men from one boat to the other of their own accord, sending the women and children to the other canoe. Then more of the canoes had been on their way back, obviously alerted as well by the gunshot, and the first canoe turning back.
Leo and Paul quickly saw that they could do nothing to prevent the worse. At the moment, their first concern went to Piper and Prue, who were still missing, and to Captain Turner, who was still bleeding profusely from his wound, cradled into Phoebe's arms. Leo moved toward these two quickly, now ignoring the battle that raged close by. "Is he conscious," he asked nervously.
Before she could answer, he saw the captain open his eyes and look directly at him, then toward the battle.
"What is happening," he managed.
"It doesn't matter Captain, there's nothing more that we can do about this. We have to get you treated soon…"
Phoebe gave him a grateful look at this.
Turning toward Paul, Leo asked again:
"Are there any good doctors where you were intent on bringing the slaves? I doubt that the medic will be in the mood to help him," he added, indicating Cole.
Paul was looking frantically around and took a moment before he answered.
"We do have a doctor yes, but right now, we have another problem."
As if on cue, the first cannonball fell only feet away from the ship…
This startled the combatants at once, as both groups turned in block toward aft, where the first hit had been heard. Soon after they heard the second incoming cannonball, and this one hit its target, falling directly on the Captain's cabin, where Piper had stayed…
Prue had awakened with a start at the first shot of the canons, and thoroughly panicked when she did not find Paul by her side. Dressing up in a hurry, she had still hesitated at going out, although she knew that this place was no safer than outside if there was an actual enemy in sight ready to riposte. Of course, she had understood that this was most probably the decoy, which they had planned for the slaves' escape. After a while, flinching for every explosion, she made the decision to go out anyway, as her fears were only equaled by the anger she felt toward Paul for leaving her like this.
She had guessed right away that he had not wanted her to know he was leaving for good. Even if she understood where he had come from, she was still very upset with him for it. Worried that her previous hesitation might have given him time to leave, she hurried out, first going toward the cells in the hope that she would find him there.
In the hallway, sailors still rushing toward the main deck slowed her advance. She tried to stay out of sight mostly, until the number trickled to only a few, and then she ran toward the hold. There she found only the two men, still unconscious and the empty cells, with a sinking feeling.
She was about to run back up, hoping that he had not left the ship yet, when one of the few sailors still below deck stopped her unceremoniously.
"What are you doing here?" Then his eyes grew wide at the sight of the empty cell.
"What the hell?"
Turning angrily toward Prue:
"If you had anything to do with this lady…"
The threat was plain in his voice, and Prue took a few steps back…
Always keeping his eyes on Prue, he went to the unconscious sailors and kicked one of them in a rude attempt to revive him.
This one moaned weakly, then opened his eyes, looking around in confusion.
"What?" "Hey you," said the first sailor, "what happened here?"
The one who had just awakened took a moment to get back on his feet, massaging his side where the first one had kicked him.
"This McKail came in here with a pistol and got us to open the cells. Then he knocked us out. I have no idea what happened next."
Only then did the man look toward the cells, and conveyed a convincing horrified surprise. In turn, he also exclaimed: "What the hell?"
Ignoring the third sailor, who remained unconscious, the first one went toward Prue menacingly, and reiterated: "Lady, if you had anything to do with this, you will regret it."
By then, Prue was cornered, and her anger and fear grew all at once.
Only then did they all realize that the canons had become silent. Taking her arm rudely, he pulled her away from the wall where she had ended up, and pushed her ahead of him, while pulling a pistol and pointing it at her.
"Move!"
He did not have to tell her twice.
The second sailor, now out of the first one's sight, looked upon them with some indecision, but did not dare do a thing just yet, choosing to follow them instead.
They were already almost to the main deck, when the first gunshot resounded. The first sailor, startled, pulled Prue back toward the lower deck where he held her, while obviously pondering his next move.
He had just about decided to go on, when the clamors and the multiple gunshots started, convincing him that they were under attack.
The first cannonball falling near the ship, as he surmised, confirmed his fears.
Forgetting about Prue, he started up the steps, apparently having found his courage, soon followed by the other sailor, who now realized that the escape might be the least of their concerns.
Prue was very much aware that something had gone wrong, but she had no idea what. All that mattered to her now was to make sure that her sisters were ok. Forgetting her own safety, she started up the steps in turn, and came out on the main deck just in time to see the next projectile hit the cabin…
The explosion drowned her scream…
Piper had not found rest at all. Her sisters had both sneaked out and left her alone once more, as she had pretended to sleep. She had worried about her sisters being out there, but assumed that the men they were with were just as concerned about them as Leo was about her. He had warned her about the diversion, but even so, when she heard the first canon shooting, she flinched and cowered toward the back of the cabin. She wished that Leo were there with her, as she felt so isolated.
Leo had made her promise not to get out of the cabin at any cost, but after a while, she could not stand the not knowing… She was already opening the door when she realized that the canons had become silent. She then was torn by indecision. She knew that he had good reasons to want her out of the way, but she was very worried and curious. Still, she decided to heed his advice and stayed in.
Returning slowly toward the middle of the cabin, she tried her best to calm down while sitting awkwardly. She had almost managed to when the first gunshot resounded. Startled and now frightened out of her mind, she stood up, but stayed frozen in place, her mind filled with terrible images of her sisters or Leo being hurt or worse. The next series of gunshots mixed with loud clamors, got her out of the trance, but again she went to the back of the cabin, more scared than ever. Working through this, she had already made up her mind to go out anyway when the first cannonball hit. She barely had time to consider this development, before she heard the next incoming one. Then, everything went blank…
Leo looked up at the first hit and miss, even as he had been preparing to move the Captain. The next one finished to floor him, as he recalled painfully his own advice to Piper.
Without hesitation, he left the others behind, and started running toward the now devastated cabin. Paul saw him go with even more apprehension, as he had no idea where Prue was at the moment. He was soon partially reassured on the subject however, when he saw her running toward the cabin as well. Now, he was uncertain about his course of action. The captain had to be moved to one of the canoes, and sent on his way soon, but then, he would have to go with them anyway. It did not take him long to decide what to do. Leaving them behind, he went to rejoin with Leo and Prue. This time, he would not leave without her.
Phoebe was crying again, the weight of her worries almost too much to bear. She could not leave Cole alone, yet she could not stay away while her sister might be in need of her. Cole, even through his weakened state, saw her dilemma, and trying very hard to forget about the pain, he moved to stand up.
"No," she said to him, "you cannot move now, you will kill yourself."
"I will be fine Phoebe, your sister is in danger and we have to help…"
Leaning on her, he managed to stand, but the dizziness threatened to overwhelm him. "Cole, this is crazy, you can barely stand and you are still bleeding."
He just shook his head vaguely in protestation, and had to fight a wave of nausea at this.
Another explosion resounded, this time near the bridge, and the combatants broke the fight for good, even as a few of the sailors were running either toward the canon hold or to get more weapons. However, the majority, now devoid of a chain of command, saw the futility of this and ran toward the canoes. Another skirmish ensued, as the slaves were themselves fleeing now.
All of this, Cole had to watch helplessly, while simply struggling to stay up. He could barely put his foot forward, let alone try to bring back order on his ship. By his own fault, at any rate, they had no efficient means to defend the ship. The canons were unusable for at least another hour…By then, the ship would be lost.
Guilt ridden, he still tried to ignore this, just as everyone else had forgotten about them, only trying to save their own skin. Instead, he turned toward the cabin, still supported by Phoebe.
Phoebe continued protesting, but her fear for her sister was plain to see. However, she did not have the strength to help him all this way, and he almost fell only a few feet hence. That is when Cole felt two pairs of arms taking a hold of him. Looking aside, he recognized the old man that had greeted him in the cells. This one had recruited another younger man to help, and was trying to pull him back toward the canoes.
"No," Cole said, as firmly as he could, "I have to help them…"
The old man, having figured out what he meant in spite of the language barrier, looked at him incredulously and shook his head energetically, still pulling. In the end, Cole had to surrender to his will, as he did not have enough left in him to fight the two black men.
Phoebe followed them all the way to the railing, but stopped short of embarking herself. She gave Cole a meaningful look before spinning around and running toward the cabin in turn. In that instant, Cole thought that his physical pain was nothing compared to his fear for her. He tried once more to break free from the slaves, but only succeeded in falling hard to the deck. The slaves did not lose time and grabbed him again, quickly lowering him toward the waiting canoe. At this point, however, he had no way of knowing this, since he had passed out again…
Leo got first to the cabin, soon followed by Prue, and both of them started screaming Piper's name at the top of their lungs, while trying to push the rubble out of the way. The noise level was such now, however, that they did not know if she could hear them, was she still able to.
Meanwhile, Paul had been able to assess the situation, while coming toward them. He realized that if the front of the cabin had been totally destroyed, the back of it was still standing. If Piper had been where the cannonball hit, then there was no hope of finding her alive, but if she had not…
Running toward them, he pulled Leo to him.
"We have to go in the back and try to crash through the wall," he said very loud. Leo was looking at him crazily, made mad with fear, and did not understand what Paul meant. This one could see the heavy smoke coming from the rubble and knew that if she was alive, there was no time to lose.
Taking a firm hold of Leo, Paul shook him almost violently:
"We need something to crash the wall, now!"
Finally, Leo reacted. Looking around nervously, he spotted an ax still hooked up under the railing not far from them, and indicated it to Paul. This one did not lose time and ran to it, while Leo, now aware of Paul's plan, went to the back of the cabin, thankfully still accessible in spite of the surrounding damage. There, he started screaming Piper's name again…
Piper woke up coughing, and half-covered with rubble. Fear gripped her right away, as there was no way that she could go out of the cabin. The front of it was completely destroyed, and the roof had fallen in its place, blocking the way. She could see the fire and the smoke from where she was. It was obvious that if no one helped her soon, she would be asphyxiated or worse. In a panic, she almost did not hear the muffled scream coming from behind her. She turned toward the new sound, at first wondering, then certain that someone was calling to her. She tried to call back to them, but her first tries ended in a fit of coughing. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she envisioned the terrible end that would befall her…
Paul came back as fast as he could, although he had gone further and found another ax, which he now was handing to Leo. Leo hit the wall a few times, then tried calling again, hoping that she could still hear in spite of the noise. At last, he thought that he heard something from inside and called even louder, as he started hitting the wall with renewed energy.
The loud noise startled Piper. She thought that she could feel each hit deep inside, and jumped every time. For a moment, she wondered if those were not small explosions, but then she saw splinters flying inside, and the smoke began escaping toward the ever-larger hole in the wall. She had no way to know if those were not the people who had attacked the ship, but at this point all she could think of was to get out. Pushing herself up, she hurried toward the opening and breathed in relief when she saw Leo, with his arms already extended toward her.
The hole was barely large enough for her, but she did not care about the scrapes. As soon as she was out, she fell into Leo's arms, as he held her tightly against him. She was now sobbing uncontrollably, while the temporary relief washed over her. Prue came to her then, practically pulling her out of Leo's grasp and holding her in turn, as Phoebe came and hugged both of her sisters. It was not until then that they realized the enemy had stopped shooting. Paul was the first to notice this, although he knew that it would not save the ship, as she was already burning and no one did a thing about it.
"We don't have much time," he uttered tensely. "We have to go back now."
The others simply acquiesced and followed him, their anxiety returning at once.
They had been so intent on Piper's rescue that none of them really knew how long the lull in the attack had lasted.
Paul in particular was wondering about it, as he could see the pirate a little ways from their ship, and yet there were no signs of a boarding party. He hurried behind the others even as a terrible sense of foreboding invaded him.
When they got to the railing, they realized that they had another problem.
The few sailors, who had still been fighting were now abandoning ship as well, but there were no canoes left, and they saw them jumping off and tried their luck at swimming. Paul and Leo looked at the girls with the same thought. They could not even imagine themselves swimming this far, let alone them. Phoebe saw their panicked expressions, and understood what the dilemma was. A thought then came to her. Looking back toward the bridge, she got convinced that the bow was intact.
"Come with me," she uttered imperatively.
Leo looked at her questioningly, unmoving.
"Come on," she insisted, "it's our only chance."
She was already on her way toward the burning bridge, and at first, it really did not seem a good idea to him. Then he remembered about the canoe that they kept there… "She's right," he called to the others.
None of them understood what he meant, but at this point, they had very few options left and followed them.
As luck had it, they managed to get around the bridge and found the canoe, untouched…
Even as they were working at getting the canoe down, unease lingered in Paul's mind. Something was amiss, but he could not figure out what. Then, he looked up at the flag and understood too late what the pirate had been waiting for. He tried to go back to put a white flag up the post, but by then the pirates had already assumed that the ship was not surrendering. They had no way to know that no one was manning the cannons anymore, and would not take the chance. Confirming his fears, he saw the flash of light before he heard the incoming projectile. He barely had time to start running away when he understood that this time it was going to hit the bow…
The old slave had halted about three hundred feet from the ship, and watched anxiously for a sign of the remaining group. He had waited for as long as he could, but some of the sailors had tried to go after their canoe. This had forced them to leave prematurely.
Now, he worried that they would not find another embarkation.
From the distance, he thought that he saw people running toward the rail and that the women seemed among them. Turning toward his companions, he signaled them to start paddling toward the ship again, determined to take them in his boat. The Captain was waking up and he looked up toward the ship as well, an expression of panic on his face, as he remembered right away that Phoebe was still on the burning vessel. He tried to lift himself, but the old man held him tight, indicating to him that they were going back as he could see himself, making it easier to understand the man's signals. Only half-reassured, he calmed down slightly, but still watched the ship anxiously as they approached her. They were only a hundred feet away or so when Cole saw the projectile flying toward the bow of the ship. The cannonball must have hit the small reserve of powder that they kept near the bridge or maybe it had been the raging fire, which did it. Whatever it was, the moment it hit, a loud explosion resounded and debris flew almost all the way to their embarkation. Cole uttered a desperate scream, as he saw his ship breaking in two and plunging toward the deep.
Ignoring his own pain and weakness, he tried to jump out of the boat, even as the slaves were restraining him. When the old man saw that he would not stop, he hit him hard and knocked him unconscious again.
Cole's last thought was that he might as well die, now that he had lost Phoebe, then he could think of nothing as darkness fell upon him…
