CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ISLA DE COTORRAS—1719

MARY FOUND PADDY’S BODY BENEATH A FLOWERING TREE, BROAD RED blooms marking the end of his blood trail. She sank to his side and checked for breath and pulse, tears streaming down her face, but he was gone. What she could have offered him had he been alive? She had no knowledge of medicine, no idea what to do to save a man from blood loss or pain. But she should have been there to offer comfort as he died.

Men crept out of the jungle all afternoon, looking haunted and sick. They were too subdued for Mary to feel threatened by any of them now, but she took a loaded flintlock from one of the dead and tucked it at her waist as a precaution anyway. Jack strode onto the beach angrily, Anne trailing him, and set about counting and identifying the dead. Anne looked like a phantom, pale and shaking, before she disappeared into a tent. Jack didn’t seem to care that she left; his face was set into a hard, unreadable expression. They were all numb, a bitter taste in their throats from the gun smoke that hung in the air.

They counted almost forty of their men dead. There were another forty or so unaccounted for, either captured or escaped with Bill. Jack hadn’t seen Bill take the Ranger, but when she told him what had happened he seemed cheered. Bill would be back for them, wouldn’t he then?

That night they burned what they could of the remains of the dead. The next morning Thaddeus helped Mary carry Paddy’s body from the jungle. She put Paddy out to sea on a raft she fashioned out of driftwood lashed together with rope, a bit of sailcloth laid over him. As she pushed it off the shore she imagined it headed for England, toward his beloved Katie.

She clenched her fists and walked into the water behind the raft. She sank beneath the waves so that no one could hear her scream or cry.

When she surfaced she was calm again.

Bill did not come back for them, the eighteen pirates left alive on the island.

“Nassau it is, then?” Mary asked. It was evening. They sat around a fire, picking meat off a few roasted parrots they’d shot out of the trees.

Jack rubbed his forehead tiredly. At his feet lay twenty silver pocket watches that he’d stashed in a hole in the sand beneath his tent. They’d taken account of everything they had left—two jolly boats and a sailing piragua, a couple of pistols, a compass, a bale of bedraggled silk stockings and lace hats. Their attackers and the deserters had taken everything else, even the wine. “Nassau, is it,” he repeated, looking around as if for another alternative. He did not sound thrilled.

“Or ye could come with us to Hispaniola!” said Thaddeus, ever the optimist. “I know ye were keen to get to Nassau, but that’s when you had something to show for yourself. Hispaniola is as good a place as any to start up again. Fresh water, meat aplenty, and a couple of jolly boats—we’ll have a bigger ship at our command in no time.”

Jack snorted. “I’ve no mind to raid sloops or merchant ships from a rowboat,” he said. “Least, any longer than we have to. We should’ve gone for the pardon when it was worth our while, but our best chance is still in New Providence. I can figure out what to do from there.”

“I’m only coming if you marry me,” said Anne. “I need you to get me an annulment, Jack.”

Mary opened her mouth—and then shut it again. Why should Mary care what Anne did once they got to Nassau? Nat would be there, waiting for her.

“We both know you’re coming with me no matter what,” said Jack, not meeting Anne’s eyes. “What do you think you’d do otherwise, stay on this island forever?”

“I’ll not go back without that promise, Jack. You know I can’t, otherwise.” Her voice broke a little.

Jack looked up. The hard look he’d had since the raid still hadn’t left his eyes, but he nodded. “You’ll get your annulment, Anne. I promise.”

She leaned into him, but he turned away to throw his bones into the darkness.

“You must be just delighted, Mary,” said Anne, shifting her attention, “about how all this turned out.”

Mary fixed her with an icy stare. “Aye, I’m delighted Paddy’s dead, that our treasure is gone, that half our crew will hang on the gibbet in New Providence. Just thrilled.”

Anne rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean—”

“But yes, I’m eager to get to Nassau as soon as we can.”

Anne leaned in and put her mouth to Mary’s ear. “It gives me comfort to know you’ll be there with me.” Mary flushed despite herself, though she knew Anne’s words were empty. “It gives me hope that maybe things won’t be so bad.”

Anne scooted away to pull another blackened bird off the fire, laughing at something Thaddeus said. Mary closed her eyes and pictured Nat in her mind, imagining it was his words that made her tingle so.

The next morning, nine of them were Nassau bound.