The Bastard Girl (The Bastard Girl Series, Book #1)

Chapter 18~ Cannonballs

Chapter 18~ Cannonballs

A gunshot.

A gunshot rang out of the night air. And a chorus of others followed. The night exploded with a frenzy of gunfire and shouts so loud that Edmund and I had both woken quickly from our deep slumber. For a few seconds, the world looked hazy, and I wasn't sure if it was a dream or not.

But sure enough, when that cannon pounded the side of the Amity like the wrath of hell, I couldn't be mistaken. Thomas Tew was going to war with my father.

Edmund was already on his feet and was egging me up. His eyes were dark and as serious as death itself, so much so that it struck fear into my soul.

"What's going on?" I exclaimed drowsily.

Edmund shook his head in confusion and stumbled over to the door where he groped around for the door handle. Finally, his hand halted somewhere, and he began yanking the thing back and forth without success. When that proved futile, Edmund pounded his fists on the door and shouted nonsense. But, the chances anyone would hear our clamor over the hellish war going on outside were depressing.

"Edmund, stop! Is it even a good idea for us to leave here?"

"Your father will tear this ship apart, and I'd rather lick Tew's boot than go down with it! The door isn't the strongest wood. I think we can break it down."

"Are you mad?!" I shouted.

"Perhaps! Dunno! Just help me push!"

I tossed Edmund his jacket so he had some sort of coverage. Then, we both positioned ourselves in front of the door. At his count, we both hurled ourselves at the door. And, miraculously, there was a short sound of splintering outside of the door.

"Again!" said Edmund, clutching his shoulder in pain.

After two more passionate bashes at the door, it smashed open and hung weakly on its last remaining hinge. We looked at the door for only a second before feeling the shocking rock of the ship from cannon fire. My feet slipped all about the damp deck. My hands gripped Edmund's jacket for stability.

All around was a bloodbath of fighting. I searched everywhere for a glimpse of The Fancy, but she was nowhere to be seen. In her place was a smaller—but still ferocious—Indian ship that hardly resembled my father's vessel. And the men fighting aboard each ship were not of my father's crew.

"He's not here!" I cried, in a fit of mixed relief and disappointment. "That's not The Fancy, Edmund."

"Doesn't make us any safer. You need to hide. I'll grab some pistols from the lower quarters." He turned to leave before I pulled him back.

"I'm not just going to hide in the shadows like I've been doing for the past few months. I want to fight. I'm in better condition than you anyways."

"You can hardly walk!"

"I can walk. And I will walk. Hell, I'll run if that makes you happy! But I am fighting. You're not stopping me. You forget I'm the daughter of Henry Every."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten." Edmund sighed in restrained frustration but, with reluctance, nodded. "Follow me."

The inside of the crew's quarters was abandoned and only a few weapons lied around—but still, enough to arm us. Edmund swept around the cabin with purpose, loading the guns and slipping them into the waist of his trousers. He clothed himself with a new blouse and tied a long red wrap around his waist. When he found a clean cutlass, he fiercely balanced it in his hand. Almost instantly, I could feel a change in his mannerism. He radiated a sense of confidence and pride that had previously been taken from him. He put two pistols in the palm of my hand.

"You know how to shoot a gun?"

"Of course."

"From what you showed in the past few months, I assume you won't have any problem killin' a man."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I was ushered up to the top deck where the fight continued. I slipped the pistols into the band of my trousers and watched the chaos unfold. However, we had to keep moving. I wasn't even sure if Edmund knew where we were going. Anywhere was better than there. We scuttled up to the quarterdeck where a few men fought with swords. One drunken Indian pirate stumbled towards us, shouting vulgar slang and swinging about a finely crafted cutlass. Edmund whipped out his own sword and fought the Indian off, eventually slitting a large gash in his shoulder. The pirate fell to the floor and lied helplessly. Edmund pulled me along where we reached a different kind of conflict.

There in the midst of the war stood Captain Tew with a pistol in each hand, shooting dramatically. His face was speckled with blood, but he appeared unharmed. Out of his wild rage, Tew's eyes fell upon us two. A roar like a lion erupted from Tew's chest, and he barreled across the Amity's body-littered deck toward us. Edmund, without hesitation, pushed me behind him and pointed a gun at Tew's chest.

When Tew reached us, he held his gun cocked straight at Edmund's head. There was nothing even remotely humane in his eyes.

"You!" hissed the old pirate, "I should blow you two's brains out right now!"

Edmund cocked the flintlock and stiffened every muscle in his body.

"You both must think you're so much better than all this, aye? Well, you, Cabin Boy, are just like your father—weak and a waste of life! I'd be doing the world a favor relieving it of you, scum! And you," growled Tew, flicking his hungry eyes over to me, "You, lass, must be the filthiest piece of shit I've ever laid eyes on! You and your bloody father deserve pain—deserve death! You know what I'm gonna do when I get my hands on Henry Every?! I'll rip out his tongue and hang him by his toes. And I'll tie him to your corpse so that he knows that his shit will always follow him around till the day he dies! You're nothing but a bastard girl! Worthless scum!"

My fingers hit my gun, and I ducked. Tew's bullet flung behind me while my pistol reached the height of his skull.

"I am so much more than that, you bastard."

And my bullet flew into Tew's skull.

But, it didn't end there. My breath was caught in my throat. And breathing didn't seem normal at all. In fact, nothing felt normal, because right after I shot Thomas Tew, a cannonball soared across the air and cut itself straight through the pirate captain like a soul leaving a body. He was instantly disemboweled, and his intestines tumbled down in a bloody heap on the deck. Tew collapsed down with it, and I screamed.

Only a few feet away from me was the most gruesome mutilation I'd ever witnessed. And though I felt a horrifying sickness in my stomach, my soul felt victorious. I'd killed him. I had killed him.

Edmund, equally disgusted, turned to me.

"You okay?"

It took me a few seconds to nod my head.

"You did it...You actually did it. That was bloody brilliant!" he laughed nervously.

"I did...I feel sick. Do you feel sick?" With that, I spun around away from the Cabin Boy and vomited what little food I had left in my body.

After I caught my breath again, Edmund helped me up and rubbed my back. But, there was something else grabbing my attention. The fighting was ceasing. Cheering instead replaced the screams. The Indians had won.

We looked out across the sea of dead pirates. I couldn't believe that people enjoyed massacres such as that.

In summary, my mind was bobbing in a cyclone of adrenaline; I could barely make out clear images anymore.

But, my eye caught something glimmering on the Indian ship. It was sparkling like the most precious gold. And, it was sneering. As I squinted, the figure came into clearer view. However, when I saw the rainbow of jeweled rings, the horrifying reality came into perspective.

"Maut."