Thieves of the Sea

Thomas waited until the Águila was nothing more but a dot in the distance. He looked over his shoulder and couldn’t help but smile. He had done it. He had never thought he could trick Valdez in believing his story. As his friend had not even asked him about it yet, Thomas concluded that he must have sounded very convincing.
Or was it just a test from Valdez to see what he was capable of?
He looked up at the torn sails and broken yards. He hoped they would hold until they would reach Basseterre. The last thing he wanted to have on his mind, was to end up stranded with all those people on board.
“It will hold, you think?” Mario asked Thomas as he walked up to him.
“I do hope so. We have to get these people to land as soon as possible.”
“To sell them in Basseterre, sí !”
Thomas gave him a look. “ You really believed that?”
Mario frowned. “You mean you lied?”
His friend nodded.
“Porqué?”
“Why? Because Valdez wanted to see them dead and I didn’t want to be part of that.”
“He will want to see us dead, when he knows.”
“He won’t. It will be our secret.”
Mario scoffed. “Claro, another one. And what if they talk?” Mario asked, pointing out to the hatch behind him.
Thomas shrugged. “Then we make sure they don’t talk.”
He moved away from the helm and went down the stairs. Mario followed closely behind.
“How are we going to do that?”
Thomas walked over to the hatch cover. “By setting them free.” Thomas knelt down next to the hatch. “And in return they will keep silent about what happened. Now help me with this.”
Mario stopped in his tracks. “They will kill us if you do that.”
Thomas had to agree that was possible. Once they were free, he and Mario would be in the minority. Easy to overpower.
He looked down.
“Let us out, you pair of dogs,” someone shouted at him while hands reached out through the hatch cover.
He looked up at Mario. “We’ll have to take our chances.”
Thomas leaned down to face the people beneath him.
“Don’t worry. You will not be sold or harmed in any way. We will let you go.”
“Let us go?! Same way like that captain of yours did to Jim?!
Thomas bowed his head. “That was his name?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, Jim Waters. A fine man who wouldn’t hurt a fly! Now killed by your people!”
“They’re not my people,” Thomas replied. “I didn’t want him to be killed and I regret it has happened.”
“Regret as much as you want,” the captain of the Sea robin said, “but it won’t bring him back!”
“I know it won’t and that’s why I want to help you now. Believe me, our intentions are honest.”
For some time, nobody said a word.
“Maybe we can trust him,” a female voice suddenly said from the back of the group. “He’s willing to let us out.”
“Yes, but to what price?!”
“None at all, only that you give us a chance.”
When there was still silence, Thomas stood up. He looked over at Mario.
“We will open the hatch to show you we mean it.”
Thomas bent down and put his hands under the hatch cover. Mario took a step forward and grabbed his arm.
“You’re sure about this?” he asked nervous.
Thomas only nodded and started to pull at one of the hatch covers.
“Help me to move this.”
Reluctantly, Mario put his fingers through another hatch cover as well and together they moved the two covers aside.
Soon they had an opening big enough to get the people out. As nobody dared to move, Thomas reached his hand out to the group. It was easy enough to climb by oneself out of the hold using the steps embedded in the wooden wall of the hold, but Thomas wanted to convince them that he didn’t mean any harm to them.
“Please, take my hand,” he insisted.
The woman who had defended him before moved away from the back and went over to him. She looked him in the eye, climbed the steps and before he realised she took his hand.
“Charlotte, don’t! Stop immediately!”
She didn’t listen to the man and gave a little nod to Thomas to tell him to pull her up.
He hesitated for a brief moment and looked at the captain, who seemed to be knowing her.
He convinced himself that pulling her up on deck was not a mistake. It was the first step in gaining the group’s, and especially the captain’s trust. He pulled her up with his right hand while she lifted herself up with her other, free hand. As soon as she was standing up straight, she had a good look at Thomas. Her eyes moved from head to toe, judging him. She was a tall woman with brown hair. Thomas guessed she was about the same age as his. She was not nerveous, nor afraid. She seemed quite at ease, despite the situation she was in.
“Is it bad,” she asked, pointing as his left arm.
Thomas looked at it as well. The cut seemed painful but he knew it was not too deep.
“Don’t worry,” he said playful, “I’ll live.”
“Good.” She gave him a little smile. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “For helping us. We really appreciate it.” She turned her head to the captain below. “We all do,” she said as she turned back to Thomas.
“I just did what I thought was right.” He looked from her to the captain. “But we’re not safe yet. We should go to Basseterre immediately. There you can have your ship repaired and get some supplies that Valdez has taken.”
The captain didn’t move. “Something tells me this is just is a trick to steal my ship.“
Thomas sighed from frustration. “It is not. If I had wanted to steal your ship, I would have already done that. I assure you, the ship will stay yours.”
“I believe him,” the girl next to him suddenly said.
Thomas looked back at her. “You do?” he asked frowning.
“Also because of what you’ve said before. That those…pirates are not your people.”
Thomas could only stare at her while she continued.
“If they were, you would certainly not be doing this.” She turned to the captain behind her. “He and his friend would have killed all of us by now. Cold-blooded. Like their captain.” She turned around to stand in front of the man. “He’s not going to harm us, father. We can trust him.”
During the last four years, with many attempts and only a handful of successful rescues, this was the first time someone did believe him. Or at least, it seemed that way. However, I didn’t surprise Thomas that the girl next to him and the man below were related. It was obvious through the man’s concern for her and his familiarity towards her and on the other hand her lack of listing to his warnings.
Unfortunately, the captain didn’t seem convinced by her words. He kept that stern look on his face as he continued to observe Thomas. His daughter could simply not understand why it was so hard for him to accept Thomas’ help.
She kneeled down. “Please father, give him a chance,” she pleaded. “He can help us. I know he can.”
The captain looked at Vaugh, who stood next to him, and they exchanged some words. Thomas was too far away to pick up their conversation. At the end, both men nodded to each other and the captain turned back to Thomas.
“Well, considering that you did save us and risked your own life doing that, I agree you take us to Basseterre.”
Thomas nodded in return and felt much more relieved.
“You can start by helping us out of this pit,” the man said. Thomas smiled as he reached down. “Gladly.”
One by one, Thomas and Mario started to lift people up. It didn’t take long to get them out and soon only three remained: The young boy and his mother and the captain himself.
The woman tried to climb up the steps with her child in her hands, but soon realized that was not so easy.
Thomas leaned down and reached for her. “It’s easier for you to get up if you give your son to me.”
She looked from Thomas to her son and gave him a hug. Thomas saw how afraid she was of letting him go.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” Thomas said in a calm voice. “Please, allow me to help you,” he said while reaching for her child. Reluctantly, she lifted her son and Thomas took him over from her. The boy didn’t like to be taken away from his mother and started to call for her as soon as he was in Thomas’ hands.
Thomas gently put the boy on the ground and sat down next to him. “There,” he said softly. “Nothing to be afraid of. Will you wait a little longer until I’ve helped your mother out?” The boy nodded briefly.
Thomas smiled at him as he stood up. He turned around and took the outstretched arm of the woman and with the slightest effort pulled her up on deck in one fluent motion.
Immediately, the boy grabbed his mother and hid his face in her skirts.
“He’s a brave boy,” Thomas said to the woman.
She looked up from her son to Thomas.
“Thank you for comforting him,” she said and she passed him.
The little distraction with the boy made him almost forget the captain still waiting below.
For the last time he bent down and grabbed the arm reaching out for him. The captain was heavier than most of the people had had helped out. He really had to use all his strength to pull him up.
When the captain finally reached the point where he could lift himself up, he grabbed Thomas even more as if to lean on him. Thomas braced himself for the weight he had to lift up while the captain suddenly pulled him down harder. Thomas lost his balance and before he knew he fell forward into the hold. He saw his chance, but only just in time, to put his hands in front of him to catch his fall. It did help, but it was still quite a drop.
Meanwhile Vaughn saw his chance to push Mario over the edge into the hold as well. Together with the captain and several others they moved the hatch covers back in its place before the both of them could try anything.
With a little effort, Thomas pushed himself up from the ground and looked over his shoulder to the men above.
The captain sat down. “You didn’t think I was buying that nonsense of helping us and bringing us to safety, did you,” he said, mocking them. “We’re not going to Basseterre. We will go in the opposite direction. Straight to Port Royal. To turn you in.”
Thomas and Mario shared a look.
The captain intended to stand up and leave when Thomas stopped him.
“The ship is damaged. You can’t take the risk of sailing all the way to Port Royal before it’s repaired.”
“Let that not be your concern,” the captain answered. “We will find a way.” He stood up. “And as for you two, enjoy your stay here as these are the last bits of freedom you’ll ever have.”
With that, he left them.
Thomas dropped his head and sighed.
“I hate to tell you,” he friend started, “but I warned you.”
“Yes, I know,” Thomas said without looking at him. “I know…”

~

The air was dense and grey. Big waves rocked the ship and a strong wind increased by the minute. Captain Bradford even expected it would start to rain when he looked at the clouds. For the moment it only threatened to break out, but he couldn’t wait until that happened. He looked worried at the men working above him. They were trying to fix one of the two sails of the main mast that had been torn.
They had been damaged during another storm three days earlier. Even the top of the main mast was beyond repair, so he needed at least those big sails raised again. He had hoped to make port soon but until now they had only travelled several miles.
And that encounter with the pirates of Valdez had slowed them down even more.
For Captain Bradford, it all just seemed to get worse by the hour.
He needed a solution and he needed it fast.
The only thing he had come up with, and which was only temporarily, was to repair both sails with what they had left and get them back up. If they would hold, at least until they reached the next port, they were saved.
The captain watched the two men as they tried to bent the sail to the main yard. In a normal situation, he would have sent up at least four men to do it but now he just didn’t have those men. Fortunately, the two appointed men were almost finished with the first sail. Once that was done and they finished the lower main topsail yard as well, they could raise all sails again and finally get out of this storm.
They could not fail, not after what had happened that morning. It was already the second attempt to get the sails up. Earlier that day two other men had tried it, but they had lost their grip on the footropes suspending below the main yard due to the wind and had fallen all the way down. As by a miracle, they had survived the drop. One of them broke his leg while the other had been able to catch one of the sheets after seeing his friend fall. The rope however had lost much of its strength simply due to the bad condition it was in and was just torn apart by the weight of the falling man. Luckily for him, he hung by the right part of the torn rope and used it to swing down far enough for him to jump on deck safely.
When the first shock of the events had passed and the captain had asked him if he was going to continue his work, the man had furiously declined saying it was madness to send men up there.
Due to this accident, the majority of the crew didn’t trust themselves to climb into the rigging and finish the work. They all claimed it could not be done. At least not today.
But the captain didn’t take no for an answer and soon he had appointed two other men to do it.
By now, those men had succeeded in finishing off the main yard and sail and were working on the lower main topsail yard.
The captain sighed and tried to ignore the tension his muscles.
Vaughn arrived next to him.
“The wind is getting even stronger, let’s get them down before-”
“No,” the man cut him off,” I want them to go through with it. We won’t get a better chance.”
“It is getting too dangerous for them. We are used to work under different conditions, not under what we are going to get now.”
The captain didn’t look at him. “It hasn’t started raining yet and the wind is still doable.”
Vaughn raised his eyebrows as he wondered about the choice of his friend’s words.
“They stay where they are,” the captain said firm.
Vaughn signed loudly and nodded dissatisfied. He turned his eyes away from him and look up as well.
There, both men did everything possible to work fast and swiftly. They fought the wind pushing in their backs. They were already holding on firmly to the yard they were working on. If not, they would definitely plummet down to the their death.
They were fixing the other semi-repaired sail to the lower main topsail yard. Their hands worked at a high speed, while keeping attention to the changing weather.
This work had to be completed, now. Captain Bradford had told them they had to keep going, no whether the situation was. If they wanted to get out of this emptiness, it had to be now. Their survival lay in their hands. They had known the big responsibility the captain had charged them with, but had had no choice but to obey his orders.
The wind pulled hard at their clothes and pushed them to all sides. One of them looked up when he felt the first rain drops falling on his bare arms. He tapped his friend on his shoulder and when he looked up pointed with one finger to the sky. The sound of the wind was deafening.
“We’ve got to hurry up,” he shouted to the other.
The man nodded and both went quickly back to work.
Moments later, the sea suddenly became wilder. The little, harmless waves at first had now changed to bigger, crushing ones hitting the ship with all its force.
The men on the yard noticed how the rocking of the ship was becoming too much for them. It was impossible to continue their work. The only thing they could do and wanted to do, was to get down again before something would go terribly wrong. By the meantime, the rain already came down in showers. Then a sudden powerful gust pushed both of them backwards. As they were soaked from top to bottom, is was almost an impossible job to keep their grip on the slippery wood beneath their hands. They crawled at the wet surface, shouting at each other to hold on. Then yet another gust surprised them and both men had no choice but to give in to its power.
Captain Bradford and Vaughn saw it happen in front of their eyes and ran to the rail as they saw both men crying out when falling into the dark, tumultuous water.
They heard the crew behind them calling out there were men overboard, but both knew instantly that the men’s lives were lost. No one could survive a fall like that. They tried to find the two sailors between the waves, but it was to no use. The sea had already claimed them.
The captain rushed away from the side in frustration.
Vaughn went after him.
“Richard, what are we going to do know?”
The captain couldn’t hide his temper. “Nothing! Those two were our last chance,” he shouted frustrated. “It will only be a matter of time before the sea claims the rest of us as well!”
Vaughn sighed and looked the other way.
A wave of water rolled over the railing and onto deck. It even went as far as the hatch with the two captives.
“Not necessarily,” Vaughn said as he turned back to his friend. Richard looked over his shoulder to Vaughn who walked over to him.
“What about those two over there? Let them do it.”
The captain’s look towards him could not be mistaken. “I don’t trust them.”
“I’m not fond of them either but if they can do it, we are saved. If not…ah well…what do we have to loose?”
Richard turned away. If he had been young enough, he would have climbed into the rigging and done it himself but he was not the man anymore who he used to be.
Richard stood with his back to his friend. “I see what you’re trying to do, Francis, but I’m not even giving it a thought.”
“But you should! They might be the last chance we have left! The only chance!”
He turned back to Francis. “They are pirates! Liars and thieves, the lot of them! Would you really trust them with that task!?”
Vaughn opened his mouth to reply but the captain cut him off again.
“I don’t think so,” he said, gritting his teeth.
Then he heaved a loud sigh, the hate left his eyes and in return they filled with sadness.
”No,” he said tired and swallowed, “it’s over for us.”
Richard walked away from Francis while another big wave rolled over deck. The sound of the wind and the rain made it hard to speak. The captain stood with his back to him. Francis took a step forward and lay his hand on his shoulder.
“I know this is not what you have had in mind when you thought of coming here, Richard. But face it, this is not going to work! We will never get to Port Royal or anywhere else for that matter unless we leave it to them!”
Francis turned his friend around. “They are probably more used to these situations than we are! I really think they can handle it! If what the boy said is true, about helping us, than let him! And whatever you think of him, you have to admit that what he did for us, was clever!”
The anger came back in Richard’s voice. “Since when do you stand up for him?!”
“I’m not, I’m just telling you what I’ve seen! And I’ve seen a brave young man who is not all that bad as you think! But please, go ahead and try to think of another solution and send us all to our death!”
“You’re questioning my orders?!”
Now Vaughn started to lose his temper as well. “No, I’m providing you with a way out,” he said throwing his arms in the air in frustration, ”but you don’t want to see it!”
Both men looked angry at each other for a moment.
Vaugh was the first one to calm down again and broke the silence. “I understand if you don’t want to trust the boy, but will you trust me? I give you my word that they will get it done! And after that we can still see what we do with them!”
Captain Bradford looked around and realised there was only little time left to save what was to be saved.
But he didn’t like his decision.
He turned on his heels and pointed to the hatch. “Get them out!”

Next chapter: "Thieves of the sea"