Boom! Boom!
Tessa turned her head. The Barracuda's last two cannons on the side opposite her had fired at something. Voler was over at that rail, up in the ratlines peering intently, pointing and yelling more orders.
There was another thunderous wave of noise and the corresponding whacks as the shots struck the Barracuda. This time, along with the others, Tessa saw and pointed to the other ship, momentarily revealed by the flash of her cannon.
Voler shouted some more and the helmsman began to pull hard on the heel, Traduct was shouting up at the men on the yards. Tessa was beginning to lean against the deepening heel of the ship when suddenly, the heel lessened! The helmsman was shouting loudly and pulling on the freely rotating wheel. Tessa realized immediately those last shots had broken the Barracuda'srudder or cut the ropes to the wheel. Voler and Traduct were pointing at men and giving orders quickly.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! And Tessa was in a choking acrid cloud of smoke from the Barracuda's guns that had fired. She turned to the railing, coughing. One of her hands came upon a rope tied near the stern railing.
The boat being towed, she thought. A quick test pull on the rope verified that the small boat was still back there!
Tessa made a quick decision, and as more of the Barracuda's guns fired, she climbed quickly over the railing. A glance back showed no one around the now-useless wheel had noticed her. She pulled on the rope to get some slack to wrap around her right hand. She pulled mightily on the rope again so she could hold on to the rails with both hands for a moment. A quick reach for her boot knife and she cut the rope. By the time her knife was back in her boot top, the drag of the boat on the rope had pulled Tessa off the rail. Tessa remembered to hold on to her sword guard as she landed lopsided in the wake of the Barracuda!
She was up on the surface in a moment, pushing her hair out of her face, coughing some seawater up. The water was cold. She heard, then felt noise as one of the ships fired again. A tug on her arm showed her that the rowboat had glided past her. She pulled on the rope and started to swim toward it, her legs bumping against her sword. Reaching the boat, Tessa hung on the side for a moment, catching her breath. Then she struggled over the side to fall into the bottom, her legs sprawled up over one of the seats. Her sword made it awkward to get up.
Tessa settled onto one of the seats, one hand on the boat's side as it rocked back and forth. The Barracuda was moving away quickly, pushed by the wind. She saw the other ship as it fired again from its position off the Barracuda's rear quarter. She unwound the rope from her hand and pulled the excess in. She threw the rope into the bow of the small boat.
She began to feel around her on the seat for the oars. She did not find any on her seat. She pulled her sword out of her belt and laid it in the bottom of the boat. She carefully stepped over the seat toward the next one back. Feeling along on top of that seat, she had a moment of anxiety when she did not feel any oars there either. Keeping low in the boat, she twisted around and sat down, again holding onto the edge. The boat had two middle sets of seats for four oars, two to a side. As the sea gently rocked the boat, Tessa laughed to herself mockingly, thinking In a boat with no oars, nice going, Tessa.
Then, she looked under the seats and felt the oars against the side. She heaved a sigh of relief and began to pull two oars out, one at a time. Tessa maneuvered carefully until she sat in the forward seat, facing backwards. She carefully put the oars between the open pegs, and began to pull.
Tessa had trouble as the oars dug in too deep or skipped across the surface as she tried to pull. The sailors make it look so easy, she thought. Finally she got the oars to bite and she turned the bow away from the direction the ships had been heading. She could hear them still firing at each other. They were moving further away with each passing minute.
Tessa rowed steadily. The ocean waves were smooth rollers, not the choppy kind. Fifteen minutes later, she was surprised when a bright flash lit the sky behind her. Moments later the noise of a large explosion reached her. She stopped rowing and stared into the distance as the light faded from yellow to red on the horizon. One of the ships is gone, was her first thought. She thought of Voler and Traduct being gone, and started rowing. Sorry but not sad, was her feeling. After all, what would they have done to Santa Helena if they had not been stopped? she asked herself, pulling hard on the oars.
An hour later, Tessa changed her direction slightly to head toward the slowly brightening sky in the east. She had to cut some cloth from the tail of her white shirt to make pads for her hands, but she was able to keep a steady rhythm going.
As the sun rose later that morning, Tessa's rowing slowed. She was thirsty. She had been heartened when the sun revealed land to the east. Her first thought was that she might reach shore by noon. But now, after two hours or so of more rowing, she revised her estimate to be maybe sometime later that night.
An hour later, on another of her now frequent pauses, Tessa became alarmed when she noticed the sails of a ship behind her. She picked up her rowing again. She was able to watch while she rowed as the sails got closer and closer. It appeared the ship was headed south, or moving from right to left, from her point of view. The ship continued south, past her, and she had relaxed slightly by slowing her rowing down.
Tessa continued to row slowly. After peeking over her shoulder for the thousandth time to ensure she was still heading toward land, she stopped rowing and let the oars lay on the water. The ship had changed course and was rapidly getting closer!
Tessa waited as the ship came closer, and began to slow but not to a complete stop. It was the Sea Harvest. Someone on the ship yelled to her, in Spanish, to tie the rope they were going to throw her to the front of the boat. She did so, standing shakily in the bow of the boat. She moved immediately to one of the benches to sit down.
Several sailors pulled on the rope, bringing the boat up to the ships ladder. The Spanish voice called down to her to climb up. Resigned, Tessa picked up her sword and stuck it in her belt. Then she moved to the side of the boat where it was bumping against the ladder. Though tired from rowing, the ladder posed no problem for her, except to bring home the few blisters she had. Once she started up, she took her time. She was not happy that she recognized Hipplewaite's face among those looking over the rail at her.
Tessa reached the deck, accepting the helping hands pulling her up. She decided to be bold and moved toward Captain Hipplewaite with her hand out, "Thank you for coming to get me, Captain. I was not sure if anyone had survived that explosion I saw last night."
She watched Hipplewaite take her hand almost as a reflex. He released it quickly and asked in his bad Spanish, "How did you get here, Seņora?"
Tessa decided it must have been Voler's ship that went up and not the unknown attacker's. "They told me to either go below or take my chances in the boat for they were going to cut it loose. I told Traduct the boat and he laughed at me and said they would come back to get me after they finished the battle," she explained slowly.
Tessa saw that Hipplewaite's men had trimmed the sails and the ship was turning to the south, away from Santa Helena! "Captain," she said. "Are you not going to take me to Santa Helena so I can get you the ransom?"
Hipplewaite gave her an appraising glance. "We may ransom you yet, Seņora, but it will not be today. We are heading south, away from the ship that attacked us last night," he said, flinging his arm in the direction that Tessa had seen their ship originally.
Tessa was alarmed! She knew if she remained any time on Hipplewaite's ship, her chance of escape would dwindle. Hipplewaite knew what she was capable of, if his crew did not. I think I will take to the small boat again, she thought, noticing the rope had been tied to the railing.
"I will take my leave of you then, Captain. I should be able to make land by midnight," Tessa said quietly, taking a step toward the rope.
Hipplewaite, who had been looking up at his sails, looked at her and stopped her with a laugh. "You will not be going anywhere Seņora, unless it is to my cabin."
The pirates around the wheel laughed at Hipplewaite's comment. Tessa realized she would have to fight Hipplewaite now, otherwise his men would subdue her. She laughed loudly back at Hipplewaite, stepping into a small open area behind the wheel. Flexing her hands a few times, she drew her sword in one smooth fluid movement. "That is not what I agreed to with you and Captain Voler. Are you breaking our agreement?"
Hipplewaite laughed again. He waved his men back a bit and stepped toward Tessa. "It was Voler's agreement, Seņora. He is no longer with us. I make the agreements now, and you will stay."
"You must make me stay then, Captain, if you can?" Tessa threw back at him quickly with a small laugh, and gestured with her free hand for him to advance.
Hipplewaite turned his head and bellowed something in English. A moment later one of the pirates stepped forward and threw Hipplewaite a two-bladed battle-ax.
Tessa watched Hipplewaite catch the ax by the handle. He stepped toward her, weaving the ax in front of him in a sideways figure-eight. She fixed on the ax for a moment and the infinite moves Hipplewaite could make, then shifted her gaze to his eyes. He was looking at her. He began to circle around her.
Tessa turned to keep facing him and his moving ax. "I am not drunk like I was yesterday in the cabin, Seņora. Besides, the sword is not really my weapon," Hipplewaite said with a leering smile.
T essa made a feint for his head and swung at his leg, trying to get under the arc of the ax. Hipplewaite went for the feint, then jumped back and brought the ax around one handed. The ax just made it in time to deflect Tessa's slash.
Tessa jumped back and circled, the sting of the ax on her blade was much more than she expected. Hipplewaite charged, swinging low! Tessa evaded his cut but could not counter. She was still the matador to his bull, as he charged again, but now he was a bit quicker than when they fought in Voler's cabin.
Her sword hand was stinging from the heavy contact with the metal ax handle. She reasoned that its weight was why and began to evade contact with her sword. She was tiring and moved to the railing, pushing back some of the pirates there with her free hand. Hipplewaite charged again and she ducked! The ax sank three inches into the wood railing! Hipplewaite had to use both hands to free it.
Tessa should have ended it there, while he struggled to free the blade, but one of the pirates made to trip her and she had to smack him with her sword guard. That was all the time Hipplewaite needed. His ax came around and caught her sword with enough of a glancing blow to knock it out of her hand. She watched her sword skitter across the deck to the stern railing.
Hipplewaite's follow through turned his head and shoulder. Instead of running for the sword, Tessa moved in close and kicked him behind his right knee. Hipplewaite fell on that knee, the ax in his right hand. Puffing hard, she tried to stomp on his hand. He saw it coming and lurched his shoulder into her, making her lose her balance.
Tessa caught herself after two steps, and turned back toward Hipplewaite. She ducked! The ax went by her ear and sank into the rail again. This time Hipplewaite let the ax go and got a hold of Tessa's left arm. Tessa tried a quick kick between his legs, but his jerk of her arm threw her against the rail like she was a rag doll! Completely winded, she could do nothing as he bent her arm back behind her and pushed her face against his chest. He held her there, pushing her arm cruelly into her back.
Tessa smelled his sweat, felt his heavy breathing. She was breathing hard herself. She had a momentary irreverent thought that he looked like he was soft, but he felt like soft lead.
She hit him with her right fist, but he laughed. She was too close to hurt him! She tried to push herself back with her right arm. He laughed again, then grabbed a handful of her hair in his left hand, his right still pinning her against him. He pulled her head back, forcing her to look up at him. "You have given me a better fight than all of these men here could have, Seņora. Thank you for that," he gasped at her. "Give up and I will not kill you."
Continue to Part Ten
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