Chapter 10: Duty and Honor
Sir Walter trudged through the sandy scrub land of North Africa towards the coast. He knew where he was and it would be an hour before the sun was up. His wounds pained him. He was thirsty. He had lost some blood and the beating the pirates had given him on top of all the hardship he'd been through the last few days added to his weariness. They'd stripped him of his weapons and his purse. They'd taken all of the horses and then left him. He'd gone around to each of his men but they had all been killed and then stripped too. Somehow the pirate and that huge man had crept up on them and slit their throats. The knight would not be pleased.
"This will be the night you will always remember as the night you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." The pirate had laughed when he'd said that. They had all been laughing. Sir Walter gritted his teeth at the memory of the shame.
Sir Walter wondered for a moment about just abandoning his duty. He could drift off into the Muslim lands and find a post among the chiefs. He knew he was a good soldier and could earn his living by his strength of arms. That was supposing they didn't just kill him on sight. He had made enough enemies here that would gladly pay to see him die. Sir Henry Lyle wasn't likely to welcome him back after such a badly botched mission. He cursed himself for having underestimated the pirates. He should have known that those two would have been vastly more capable than the usual rogues he faced in the Mediterranean. They were Pirate Lords after all. Damn it to Hell! That had to count for something. But Sir Henry had thought little of them. Sir Walter had paid the price for lack of preparation. Damn! Damn it all! Now all he had left was his duty. If he did make it back to the coast he only had dishonor to look forward to. Unless... Unless he could catch them at sea. He might still pull the bacon out of the fire. His steps quickened. He was guiding himself by the stars and knew that he might miss the camp where he'd left his two wounded men. They would wait until noon before they left for the ship. He knew he could make it. He knew he could get to the coast before the pirates did. They were leading seven horses and traveling with a woman. They would go by the road. But Sir Walter could cut across country and arrive at his ship before they got to theirs. Wherever it was.
The sun had been up for just over half an hour by the time Sir Walter staggered into the little camp on the side of the hill. The horses were hobbled just down the slope under the only real tree in sight. His two men lay in the shelter of a blanket strung up on their muskets and staked down to make a sort of lean-to. Flies buzzed around them and he could smell death in the hot air. Sir Walter staggered to them. Both men had been too badly wounded to go on the raid with him and it seemed that they had been too badly wounded to live. Walter made the sign of the cross then quickly took up a canteen. He drank slowly letting the water seep into him. After a moment he felt better. His head was no longer throbbing and he was more sure of his footing. Not wishing to burden himself with too much he took a sword and a brace of pistols along with both canteens and a wine bottle. The horses he cut loose. He took the saddle off one then mounted the other. With his head wrapped in a turban and his sling restored to something that would keep his arm from bouncing around Sir Walter headed off into the wastes. He rode across country for three hours until he found a well where he watered his animals and changed the saddle to the fresher horse. With his canteens full he made for the coast.
Well before sunset Sir Walter sighted the rocky point that was his landmark and spurred his mount into a tired gallop. There! Yes there it was. His ship lay at anchor not a hundred yards from the rocky scrabble that passed for a beach here. He had made it. Sir Walter would live to fight another day and he might still reap a revenge against the pirates that had nearly cost him everything. He would have revenge or he would die with his honor intact.
"This might be the day I will always remember as the day I DID catch Captain Jack Sparrow." Sir Walter rasped fiercely.