It was easy enough to commandeer one of the dozens of rowboats in the harbour but as soon as they entered it a group of soldiers that they had not noticed before started shooting at them. Abigail was crouched in the front of the boat looking back at shore. The soldiers seemed to be readying the cannons. They were going to obliterate them. Captains Flint and Vane started rowing faster and before the soldiers could fire their guns the group in the boat heard a whistle going off.
Suddenly the world around Abigail turned to hell. There were uncountable cannons firing. There was only smoke and explosions. Abigail was certain they were going to die but at least she would die a free woman. But the pain did not come and that was when she realized it was not the soldiers who had fired but it was the man-o-war they were rowing towards. The men on shore were no more. Abigail breathed a sigh of relief. They would not die today.
After a few minutes of rowing in silence, they reached the side of the ship. Flint was the first to climb up the ladder on the side of the ship if you could call it that. When they had left the ship to talk to her father Abigail had quite a lot of trouble going down it. Her lack of shoes did not make it easier this time. Vane was behind her though so if she were to fall he could maybe catch her. She finally made it to the top and Flint helped her onto the deck.
Billy Bones was there. His eyes wide in shock. "What are you doing here?" Before she could answer Billy had seen Vane and Abigail was momentarily forgotten. He immediately trained his pistol on Vane. Contrary to Billy's expectations, Flint told him to lower the pistol and to free Vane's men. "I won't hold pirates prisoner on this ship. Not after today." He turned to Vane and said, "Keep your men in line!" Vane's answer was only a curt nod. Lastly Flint turned to Abigail, before he could say anything though Vane slid in between her and Flint. "She's my responsibility, but I suggest assigning her a cabin. Wouldn't want to keep her in the hold, not with what is happening at the moment."
Flint barked out the orders to raise Charles Town to the ground and then turned to Vane and Abigail. "Follow me." He let them down into the belly of the ship and pointed to the nearest cabin. "You can have that one. Vane take care of her." Flint promptly turned on his heels and went back up on deck.
Now that the excitement of her escape was dying down, Abigail felt tired. Just so very tired. She slowly walked over to the door Vane was holding open for her. As soon as she was inside, she turned to Vane and asked him, "Did we really make it? Did we?" "Yes," was his only reply. "Oh good," she muttered almost inaudibly and promptly started to collapse as if all her strength had been sapped from her body. The dagger she was still clutching in her hand clattered to the floor. Luckily, she was falling toward Vane rather than away from him so he was able to catch her before she hit the floor.
He easily picked her up. She was even lighter than when he carried her into his fort back in Nassau despite wearing many more layers of clothes compared to then but, she had been through a lot in the past weeks. He looked around the small cabin. There wasn't much. It was mostly taken up by the bed. Flint had inadvertently assigned her a cabin meant to be shared but Vane could not care less. He deposited her on the bed. She looked very young but only if one did not focus on her blood-stained appearance. Her dress, face and hands all bore marks of her kill.
Vane was still surprised by her blood lust. He first encountered it back when he told her that Ned Low was dead. Back in her cell in the bowels of his fort and he was intrigued back then. Her actions today only added to that intrigue. She killed somebody in cold blood on her first attempt. To save him? Most men fumbled their first kill but she did not. And on top of that she even shot one of the soldiers when they were helping Flint.
Brought out of his thoughts by a small groan coming from the small form on the bed. She was coming to again. She opened her eyes and found Vane sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her with a quizzical look. She tried to sit up but instead she was wrecked with pain. Her back felt as if it were on fire. "What is it?" Vane asked.
"My back. I think I injured it in the carriage accident." Vane looked at her. The expression on his face becoming even more quizzical. "Carriage accident?" "I was in a carriage. On my way to Savannah when the cannon fire stared." She sighed heavily, "I think I was injured, but when I woke up in the carriage. I immediately ran and tried to find you or Flint."
"Why would you do that? Why would someone like you want to be with people like me?" he asked pointing first at her and then at him. "After what happened at my father's house, I realized that the so-called civilised world was no better than the uncivilized world of piracy. At least you and Captain Flint have never lied to me. My father was full of lies and deceit. He put me on that carriage to shut me up. You delivered my journal to him, and together we forced his hand. He did not like it especially not after I pointed it out to him."
After she finished speaking the only sound in the cabin was Vane's quiet laughter. "Oh, Miss Ashe, whatever are we going to do with you?" "Abigail." "What?" "Call me Abigail. Miss Ashe died in Charles Town," she said with an impish grin on her face.