Chapter 6

twin attack

The sergeant knew better than to complain. Complaints only found their way back to Lieutenant Curtis, who would then really give you something to complain about. So he kept his mouth shut. At the same time, however, the old soldier knew that his patrol and the other one questioned why they had been chosen to drag cannon over a rocky and vegetation-infested path for nearly a full league. At the crest of the hill where they manned their station, which took in a vantage point of the empty beach below, the sergeant tried to convince himself that Lieutenant Curtis would not put them through this as a simple drill. Knowing Lieutenant Curtis, however, even the old soldier could not be sure.

The quiet lapping of the waves on the shore started to sooth the sergeant. If this were a drill, he thought, then Lieutenant Curtis certainly gave some strange instructions for it. He recalled the lieutenant explaining to him to place themselves on the high ground next to the beach just past the marshes, which they had now done. Though, admittedly, the sergeant never thought they would get to that point with all the effort they made to move the cannon over the uneven ground.

Once in position, the sergeant’s instructions informed him to watch for a pirate ship approaching from the east. When they sighted a pirate ship, he needed to send someone on horseback to alert the fort. In the mean time, the entire pirate force should land before the patrols commenced an attack, starting with their artillery. They were to hold their position at all costs until reinforcements came.

Strangely, the sergeant hoped the exercise was not a drill after all. A whole week with pirates sitting on their doorstep put the sergeant, and the rest of the soldiers, ill at ease—they wanted action. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived to their post and the sun had set, they had seen nothing. Darkness gathered and the sergeant became more and more skeptical. He started planning the unenviable task of dragging the cannon back to the fort in the dark.

Due to the growing darkness, the sergeant had one of his men position himself on the beach in order to sight the ship as soon as possible. A scrambling of rocks put the two patrols on the alert.

“Sergeant!” a voice hissed, attempting as much silence as possible in his excited condition.

“What is it?”

“Ship coming, sir! Looks like one of the pirate ships to me, sir.”

“You sure?”

“Don’t know any other ship that big t’would come sneakin’ about at this hour.”

The sergeant squinted his eyes and thought he could see a form materializing in the darkness to the east. “Go! To the fort, raise the alarm! Tell the lieutenant exactly what you saw!”

The young soldier wasted no time hopping onto the nearby horse and galloping off. “Get those cannon loaded and ready,” the sergeant ordered, his adrenaline starting to rise.

Not until this point had the sergeant realized the precarious nature of his situation in being left to hold off the approaching mass of pirates with a meager two patrols. He hoped the young courier would hurry. He hoped that the pirates would take their time disembarking. And he hoped, while watching the menacing ship grow larger over the black horizon, that the reinforcements that came would be enough.

A

Charlotte’s loose blonde hair lifted and fell with the currents of warm air seeping past the Rosemary as they skimmed along under a cloudless sky. She had no idea how Eric and Samuel had any inkling of where they headed; moreover, she did not care. She simply felt pleased recognizing that not only did Eric know, but that he actually felt useful. Telling someone their natural-born ability and watching how it affected them brought a certain level of satisfaction. To personally witness them meld into their natural element and learn for themselves surpassed anything she had imagined.

Once they passed the black silhouette of the fort, sitting on its high position overlooking the bay, Charlotte overheard Samuel ask Eric for directions.

“Set a tack that will take us east by northeast,” Eric replied.

Samuel passed along the proper instructions then returned to Eric’s side. “Why not simply east?” he asked. His voice held no distrust. He simply asked because he had confidence in his new captain and wanted to learn.

“With the wind coming from the northeast, we’d have a better advantage on the pirates by coming around to their back side, sneaking up on them from the east.”

“Of course,” Samuel whispered to himself. “The weather gage.”

“Weather gage?” Eric asked.

“Yes. The advantage of the wind.”

Eric mentally stored away yet another term. Samuel went to the coxswain to pass on more detailed instructions. Charlotte took the opportunity to steal next to Eric.

“Sure is nice to have Samuel around to give you all these neat toys to play with,” Charlotte said.

Eric smiled. “Well, I did want to play with Captain Bellview’s toys, but the Rosemary will do fine. And yes, we are really lucky to have Samuel helping us. I can’t help but think he was born to be at least a pirate hunter helper.”

“Not quite. He was born to be a charioteer.”

“Charioteer? Like a driver of those two-wheeled roman things pulled by horses?”

“He would’ve made Ben-Hur look like roadkill.”

“Now that you mention it, he does act pretty impatient at the wheel of a ship, like it doesn’t react quick enough to what he wants.” He eyed his companion for a moment before adding, “Not me. Give me a nice ship any day and I’ll be happy.”

Charlotte grinned. “Eric, not only do you have a nice ship, but you’re finally out on a mission doing what you were born to do. No more running … you’re hunting! Aren’t you excited?”

Eric’s eyes glittered. “I’m really nervous.”

“Ha!” Charlotte laughed. “You don’t look a whit nervous.”

“I know, but I am. It’s just that my excitement is covering up all the nervousness. I’ve never felt so alive in my life.” Eric, who looked as if he were hovering, suddenly brought himself back down to earth. “Charlotte?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks.”

Charlotte could tell his heartfelt gratitude reached deep. She had not expected it.

“My pleasure,” she responded. And she meant it.

A half-hour later, Eric swung the Rosemary around in a half circle in order to creep behind what he hoped would be the awaiting pirate ship. The young captain harbored no disillusions. He knew that he would need to arrive just after the pirates disembarked. If he got there too early, his presence would tip the pirates off and they would attack his ship with their fully manned one or they would retreat. If he got there too late, the pirates would have met resistance at the beach and would have either retreated or beat them. In spite of these undesirable options, Eric used the sunset to reckon how far the pirates would need to have sailed to arrive at their landing point and when they would have left. After determining these factors, he felt certain that he timed his approach perfectly.

Eric was right.

As they crawled eastward, parallel with the shore, Eric’s sharp eyes distinguished the shape of a large ship revealing itself before them. Seconds later, the forms of the last boats transporting a massive land force raced out of sight toward the beach. In no more than six minutes, Eric estimated, they would come alongside the opposing vessel. He quickly called a meeting with the officers of the Rosemary.

“Gentlemen,” Eric felt awkward addressing this group of experienced adults, but the looks on the faces of Samuel and Mr. Gary encouraged him. He took a breath and spoke, “Silence is key. They can’t know we’re coming until we’re ready to board her if we don’t want her guns to tear us to pieces. Have those grappling hooks ready. As soon as I say so, we board her. I don’t expect they’ll put up much of a fight. They’ll probably only have a couple dozen crew members. We’ll check the ship from stern to bow first. Once the top of the ship is under control, you can send patrols below to make sure it is cleared out there. Lock the pirates up somewhere, and then get the ship’s guns ready to fire.” Eric could hardly believe how closely the surrounding men heeded him. “Mr. Gary,” he called out.

“Yes, Captain.”

“You stay here and be ready to cut the Rosemary loose if we run into more trouble than expected and we need to retreat.”

Mr. Gary gave a reluctant murmur of agreement, though he clearly preferred to be a part of the action. “I know you’d rather join us, but I need someone reliable on the ship.”

The squatty sailor nodded appreciatively.

“Oh, and Mr. Gary?” Eric added.

“Yes, Captain.”

“See to it that Miss Charlotte stays aboard the Rosemary with you.” Eric glanced behind him, as if afraid Charlotte would hear him.

Mr. Gary grinned. “I’ll be needing more men at my disposal if that’s the case, sir.” The rest of the men chuckled.

“You take as many as you need,” Eric smiled, though his heart was beating so loud he wondered if those close to him could hear it. He looked forward and saw their destination looming larger. “Very well, men. Pass the word, make the preparations, and we’ll catch ourselves a pirate ship in no time.”

The men mumbled their dues to Eric and then dispersed. Eric stood apart and noticed Samuel catch a couple men before they left. Samuel whispered something to the men and Eric recognized a deft gesture made in his direction. A moment later, he realized the two men were flanking him on both sides and keeping a close watch on him. Eric realized that Samuel had given them the charge of being his bodyguards during the action. At first resentful, feeling that he should not receive more preferential treatment than anyone else, at least it put him more at ease considering he had never experienced a conflict like this before.

The pirate ship grew closer and closer. Eric wondered when the pirates would recognize the Rosemary’s presence. The tension mounted while the crew members held their breath. Eric listened for the pirate voice crying out, alerting the others of their presence—any second now.

Everyone suddenly flinched at a loud noise, one that did not come from the pirate ship as they expected. Instead, the loud crack came from a quarter mile away, on the shore. They all instantly recognized the blast of a cannon.

Eric breathed freely. Lieutenant Curtis’s patrols had started the battle on the shore. Eric now knew that the pirate ship was theirs, since the ensuing battle on shore would keep all remaining pirate eyes diverted from what might approach them in the rear.

By the time a second cannon fired and some musket shots spattered across the swelling waters, the Rosemary had slid skillfully in line with the much larger pirate ship. Eric monitored the closing gap between the ships and then motioned for the grappling hooks. The hooks flew through the air in an explosion of ropes and metal. They sunk into their target, and the two ships fused together. Finally, a voice cried out from the pirate ship and the sound of pattering feet showed some action.

Eric’s excitement rose to such a point that he about scaled onto the other boat without a second glance back. “Sir,” someone caught him from behind.

“Yes?” Eric quipped impatiently.

“Won’t you be needing a weapon?”

Eric scanned himself and realized that he almost challenged the opposing pirate crew with his bare fists alone. “Of course,” he replied, immediately regretting the lost time it would take to go to the armory and back.

Samuel appeared at Eric’s side, his mouth grinning through his dark complexion with the fire of impending battle. “Take mine, Captain.”

The situation proved too urgent for Eric to refuse. He snatched the proffered sword. Holding the weapon in his hand, feeling its heft, and hearing the sound of pirates just across from him trying to muster defense sparked something within Eric. Before he had time to second guess his actions, and with a roar not native to his timid nature, Eric enthusiastically called out for the charge. He lept forward, grabbing the nearest rope leading to the tall pirate deck above them. He took some satisfaction in knowing that his abrupt movement caught his appointed bodyguards off guard and forced them to scramble behind him.

As Eric clambered up the rope with his sword awkwardly in one hand, he felt inspired to see the massing crew members of the Rosemary surging upward onto the pirate ship. By the time he breached the deck and wielded his sword in front of him, dozens of other crew members had hopped onto the deck and started their sweep of the ship, stern to bow as he had instructed.

Incredible as it seemed, the battle ended before it really started. The isolated groups of pirates on the ship were focused on the battle at shore, so they remained entirely ignorant of the surprise attack until the ships had fused together. Though a few of them tried to scramble to form resistance, the overwhelming number and speed of the Rosemary’s crew made it clear that it would be instant death to attempt to fight. Eric hefted his sword in front of him, recognizing how much at home it felt in his hand. Still, his insides took a moment before normalizing. Born for it or not, going into a battle makes you terribly anxious, he realized.

After surveying the carrying out of his instructions, Eric advanced to some of the crew members grouped on the quarterdeck. He was peripherally aware of his bodyguards shadowing him on his way. As soon as he arrived, his crew members parted to let him pass, and he saw what must have been the main body of pirates left to guard the ship, subdued and surrounded.

Eric took only a passing interest in them. “Disarm them, take ’em below, and lock them up. Then join the others in loading the guns.”

One of the pirates spurned Eric’s statement and held out the handle of his sword to the group. “I ain’t surrenderin’ the ship till I can give up my sword to yer cap’n.”

Eric realized the pirate was abiding by the sea tradition of offering his sword to the victorious captain. Regardless, it was unlikely that this pirate was the pirate captain since that one would be on land directing the attack. Eric also knew they had no time for formalities, as the noises of the battle on shore mounted. “Take them below. We don’t have time for this.”

Eric’s crew members moved on his command, but the pirate suddenly reversed his sword and fended them off. He turned toward Eric. “I’m not lettin’ a little cabin boy tell me what to do! Now bring me your cap’n or I tell my men to fight to the last man!”

Eric noticed that the other pirates did not share their leader’s enthusiasm, but he did not have time to point out fallacies in the pirate’s argument. Every second wasted talking became another second lost with the battle on shore. Determined, Eric used one swift motion, swinging his sword, and hitting the menacing pirate’s blade just above the point where he held it. The sword clattered helplessly to the ground, and then Eric’s weapon hovered inches above the pirate’s heart with a precision that surprised even him. “I am the captain, and I accept your surrender,” he said coldly. Without moving his eyes from the pirate’s, he then called out to his crew for a third time. “Take them below, now!”

The other pirates immediately released their weapons. The leader, who stood under the threat of Eric’s sword, could only look at Eric with his eyes wide open and mouth agape. Seconds later, the crew grabbed him and hauled him below decks. Eric took a deep breath. The rush of the moment now having passed, he marveled for a minute that only a few days ago he sat in Mr. Pickney’s office feeling pointless.

Those still on deck who witnessed Eric’s feat gawked until Eric came back to himself and commanded them to prepare the ship for sail. In the middle of the melee, he saw Samuel coming up from below.

“Guns are ready, Captain Francis,” he reported.

“Excellent,” Eric responded. He dispensed instructions to his first mate as the image of Mr. Pickney’s office disappeared from his mind.

A

Captain Pete Shivers never sought to be a pirate. His ambitions went no further than getting a lot of money in a short amount of time—piracy simply turned out to be the best way to satiate his greed. Soon his pirate peers granted him a post as a captain, not so much for valor in battle—something he tried to avoid at all costs—but for a cunning ruthlessness in stabbing the right people in the back at the right time (often literally). Not too much time afterward, he ran into the Willard Twins. He made no pretenses; the brother duo scared him to death. But he could not ignore their unprecedented success rate. His greed overcame his fear, and he joined them.

That brought him to this beach less than a league away from Port Raleigh’s fort.

The week they spent shutting down the shipping lanes to Port Raleigh proved exceptionally lucrative. If they would have cut cable at that point and retreated to their own hidden corners of the Caribbean, they could set themselves up pretty nicely with their haul. But the Twins had more in mind.

Pete knew the Twins had Port Raleigh in their sights when they first entered the San Fernando Channel, but he could not help but think that the actions of that small ship that slipped past them earlier that day had instigated this current attack. He also felt relatively certain that they gave him the most difficult job of the attack because he had allowed the ship to escape from him in the shoals. Pete at least had the brains to not point out to the Twins that the little ship had also passed both of them as they sat like beached whales in their cozy little cove.

So, while he did not find pleasure with the assignment of taking the fort, he also could not disguise his enthusiasm for the riches they would shovel into their cargo holds after taking Port Raleigh.

The minute his forces landed on the beach, however, Captain Pete Shivers second-guessed his decision. As soon as the pirates grouped together and performed a weapons and gear check, a loud blast of a cannon shot bombarded them from the heights above the beach. Pete had no qualms with putting life before reputation—he was the first one to scramble to the nearest patch of palm trees and cuddle at their base. Whether he really shrieked like a girl or not remained a topic for debate among the pirate crew for quite some time afterward.

Cowardly though it may have been, Pete’s move saved him from the second blast of cannon shot, which pounded a small crater in the spot he had stood only moments earlier. A couple musket shots followed, then another barrage from the cannons.

The pirates did little better than their leader. They ran for any sort of cover in the area, from rocks to trees to simply laying on the ground with their hands over their heads. Their fate may have been nothing more than ignominious deaths in the sand had Pete’s second-in-command not shown considerably more poise than his superior. The ugly beanpole of a man growled at the scattering pirates and called for some return fire, all the while looking for the captain.

Pete watched with a pang of jealousy as the fearless man dodged cannon and musket fire, calling out the captain’s name. Pete still did not respond until he witnessed his second-in-command approach a particularly terrified pirate, crouched in the fetal position and crying like a baby, and address him as captain. Pete stood up nervously, collected himself as best he could, and called out, “Over here, you swab!”

The second-in-command immediately located the sound of his captain’s voice and joined him in the midst of the palm trees. After Pete mumbled something about getting a better vantage point of the enemy’s position from his location, the second-in-command asked the captain for orders. “I’ve started some return fire, but I need to know your plans,” he barked.

“How many are they?” Pete stammered, trying to buy some time to think.

The second-in-command returned a curious look before answering, “I can’t be sure, Captain. You’re the one with the vantage point of scouting out the enemy …” Pete grimaced at this jab, but the second-in-command continued before Pete could respond. “There seems to be at least two cannon, which hints of a large force, but we’ve only seen some scattered musket fire.”

Pete hated these situations. The whole reason he had joined the Willard Twins was because their reputation alone usually led to immediate surrenders, which kept him from any real fighting. A quick review of the situation called for an immediate retreat. Their attack on the fort was supposed to be a surprise, and they had already met resistance at their landing. Obviously the element of surprise had been ruined. However, even after Pete arrived at this conclusion, he realized that retreat was not an option. Certainly not because he had a “never-say-never” attitude—his second-in-command could tell anybody as much. Certainly not because he worried about his reputation—being a pirate lent him an admirable reputation in the first place. Captain Pete Shivers knew he could not retreat because the Twins would kill him if he came back without taking the fort.

Pete sighed. On to battle, then.

He took what little comfort he could in the knowledge that Jedediah Willard informed him that they had granted him enough men to outnumber every soldier of the fort. Even if the whole of the fort’s soldiers lodged in front of him, he should be able to overrun them with a bit of pressure.

Pete addressed to his second-in-command. “Get every one of those lily-livered cowards off the ground and form a counterattack. We’re not about to get pushed around by some worthless lobster backs.” Pete felt pleased to see that his second-in-command had not expected this decision.

“Aye, aye, Captain Pete!” came the sharp response.

Moments later, Pete’s second-in-command ran along the beach, rallying the pirates to form for an attack. Pete took a couple timid steps out of his secure position before he gained enough gumption to yell at the troops himself. Pretended bravery or not, it did the job. The pirates reformed at the behest of their leaders and did a decent job of returning fire. The few who did not stand became convinced after Pete forced a shot from his pistol inches away from the foot of a cowering pirate (fortunately, no one guessed that Pete really planned on killing the man for effect, but his jittery nerves caused him to miss the easy shot).

Once the men formed into squads, the second-in-command hurried over to Pete. “Captain Pete, I think the opposing force must only be a couple patrols. We haven’t seen significant musket fire from them since they started the attack.”

This news heartened the pirate. “What are we waiting for?” he responded. “Attack, attack!”

The second-in-command ran in front of the pirates, waving his sword and screaming for the charge. Captain Pete found himself caught up in the act. He clutched his cutlass, waved it menacingly, and ran toward the embankment where the enemy waited. Only steps behind him followed the large pirate force.

Pete’s enthusiasm lasted until a pirate next to him went down with a musket ball to the head. At that point, he grabbed a pretended wound on his knee and backed out of the thick of the fighting. He heard a much greater retort of musket fire than he expected from the opposing soldiers. Something was not right.

Just after that, two pirates lugged someone back to Pete’s position. The pirate captain remembered himself, seizing his knee in feigned pain as they approached. “Who you got there, lads?”

Then Pete recognized his second-in-command placing a hand over a wound seeping with red blood from his left shoulder. “Are you okay, Captain?” the wiry second-in-command asked with a grit that inspired Pete’s jealousy once more. Pete attempted to echo it in his response. “Oh, just a scratch. I’ll probably have to amputate. What happened to you?”

“It was just a couple patrols, sir, just as we guessed,” he said, ignoring the question. “But as we were about to overrun them, they got a fresh force from the fort. That pushed us back temporarily, but we’ve still got numbers on them. I expect they’ll be overrun soon.”

This information relieved Pete quite a bit. So much so that he forgot to keep on nursing his injured knee. “Excellent.” He remembered the rest of the plans and gave his orders. “Once they’re beaten, we’ll move on quickly to the fort. The Twins’ll expect it to fall at any moment now. We’ll need the gunners at the fort when it’s fallen.” Pete took one of the men who had carried his second-in-command. “Get some men and take a boat out to the ship. We’ll need the gun crews we left there to join us so we can—”

Pete’s command cut short as the very ship he was referring to suddenly lit up with the flash of cannon fire. “Those mangy bilge rats are a bit late in helping us out,” he deadpanned.

Suddenly a shrill sound caused the small group to freeze. Following the high-pitched whistle came a heavy thud. Then they felt the tiny stings of hurtling rocks and sand. Pete heard screams emanate from his pirate forces a little higher up. “What the devil … ?” he muttered.

He at least found comfort in seeing that his second-in-command was just as confused by this occurrence as he was. “Those imbeciles are hitting our forces,” he muttered through clenched teeth. A second barrage landed right in the thick of the swarming pirate forces.

Captain Pete Shivers would be the first to admit that he was not the most competent of leaders, but he did pride himself in those things he managed to get right. “I left the blasted gunners on the ship!” he growled. “It shouldn’t be that difficult to aim for the side where all the opposing fire is coming from.”

After a couple more rounds from the ship hit dead into the bulk of the pirates, mayhem broke out. The pirates could no longer hold ranks. They started to scatter in the face of cannon fire on one side and the fort soldiers’ continued onslaught of musket fire on the other. In light of the recent reversal of fortune, Pete did nothing to stop them. The only consolation he gleaned from his hasty retreat was that a small rock ricocheting from a cannon shot hit him in the knee and not only gave him a bruise that would justify his pretended wound from before, but it also kept him from being in the first boat retreating back to the ship. This unfortunate boat achieved an ignoble fate after being demolished by a particularly acute shot from the ship. The other boats knew better than to try their luck. The pirates stayed on the beach, placed their weapons in the sand, and turned themselves over to the approaching soldiers. The battle ended.

Though Pete would much rather be captured by the Port Raleigh garrison than return to the Twins defeated, he could not help but glance back at his ship with regret. The treasure stored away inside of her crossed his mind first. The second thing he thought was that whoever took their ship had brilliantly turned to tide off the battle and cut off their escape in one blow.

A

The person accredited with Captain Pete Shivers’s two regrets did not even witness the end of the battle. Eric, at that moment, anchored the Rosemary underneath the shadow of the fort a little less than a league away.