H.M.S Valor: Treachery And Triumph: A war time adventure on the high seas by Cal Clement (best contemporary novels txt) 📕

over with the force of her turn, the steep angle of her decks made walking difficult. Then as the bow swung over to face the mouth of the cove her deck leveled again, bobbing up and down slightly from the force on her sails but trim and steady. In a tense moment every hand aboard glanced back at their pursuers, under full sail and lurching toward them in a rage. Lilith examined their stern and could barely make out through the brilliant light of the setting sun in the background, the dangling body of a man hung by the neck off her foremast. The Maiden nosed into the shadows cast by the rock face guarding their cove entrance. To our pursuers, Lilith bemused to herself, it must look like we’ve disappeared into the sheer cliffs themselves.

When the last edge of dusk had slipped from the Drowned Maiden’s stern and she made her way into the deeper body of the cove Lilith was struck by a memory, just weeks ago she had looked along the towering cliffs as a fresh face on Maiden’s decks. The way the bluffs faded from the guarding towers toward the sea down to a gentle slope, covered in grasses and overhung with a lush canopy of rain forest. She thought of James and the night he had spent teaching her the names of pictures in the stars, how his gentle manner had contrasted to violence he displayed just earlier that day.

“Captain!” Chibs’ cry slapped her back to the present, “Now or never girl!”

They had sailed into the deeper part of the cove, aligning with the small opening behind them. The time had come for Lilith to finish setting her trap, the most audacious part of her plan.

“Helm, hard starboard,” she shouted to Omibwe, snapping him back into action. “Ready the fore anchor and stand by at the cable!”

Crew scrambled as the Maiden made another hard, lurching turn, wheeling to face their battery at the mouth of the cove. “Anchor away! Loose all tacks and sheets, brace for impact!” Lilith screamed. The anchor slapped into the water, barreling through twenty fathoms of water in seconds. The Maiden reeled hard, pitching to her side again while crewmen held on for dear life to the rail. “Cut it away now!” Lilith cried, fearing her tactic was going to tip the vessel on its side with the violent force. A hand had stood ready for the order and with a ferocious swing of an ax, he cut away the anchor cable which recoiled into the water like a whip from tension. The Maiden settled back to trim relieving Lilith’s acute fear of tipping, but there was no time to celebrate. As she looked out over the starboard rail, the Valor’s bowsprit was edging its way into view at the mouth of the cove.

“A little farther lads, then you can turn right in.” She uttered aloud, then turning to the open hatch leading below, “Lieutenant! Run them out!”

“Aye Captain!” Will shouted back before scrambling out of sight on the gun deck. In seconds, Lilith could hear the gun ports clanking open, one by one and then starting back at the rear cannon, creaking ropes and wheels as the men below ran them out. Her attention shifted back to the mouth of the cove, where the bow was now visible as the Valor made her turn inward. A tense moment passed, Lilith could feel her pulse echoing through her entire body, soaking her muscles with adrenaline and sharpening her state of alertness. Then, just as Lilith’s mind began to think it would not come, a sickening growl reverberated through the cove. The sound of wooden planks being ripped asunder into the belly of the Valor by that threatening coral formation James had warned her of all those weeks ago.

The Valor shuddered under the impact, sending hands aloft hurtling from their perch down onto the hard-wooden deck, their sickening screams ending with an unceremonious hollow wooden thump. Crashing timbers and snapping lines sounded into the cove while the Valor heaved from the force of her sails against the hull crushing itself into the coral formation. Panicked screams floated over the gentle ripple of the cove to the waiting ears of Lilith’s crew. A broad smile drew across her face, her eyes lighting up like burning embers from the inferno of tension and anxiety that had plagued the last days. Her heart soared as the crew let out loud cheers, almost drowning her shouts down into the gun deck.

“Now Lieutenant! Fire at will!” her cry pierced down into the gun deck, ushering a moment of silence. A heartbeat elapsed and the first cannon fired, roaring it’s thunderclap through the cove and eliciting another round of raucous cheers and shouting from the Maiden’s crew. The impact slapped into the hull of the Valor sending jagged shards of wood careening across her bow, devouring flesh and sail alike. Another roaring report sent a cloud of smoke up from the Maiden’s gun line, obscuring Lilith’s view of the carnage they were inflicting for a brief moment. The second hit scoured part of the Valor’s bow rail and penetrated into her foremast, sending another volley of wooden shrapnel flying about on deck to deadly effect. When Will fired the third and fourth cannons, Lilith began to see men abandoning the Valor in desperate attempts at self-preservation as their ship was being ripped apart from coral below and pummeled by iron shot above. When the first full volley of ten guns was complete, flames could be seen on the Valor’s decks, creeping along freshly cracked and severed deck timbers deploying a wispy blanket of smoke of the horror scene.

“One volley will do for now Lieutenant. Load them and stand by. Well done.” Lilith said, looking down onto the smoke-stained face of Lieutenant Pike who appeared to be taking no joy in the victory. “You have served the Maiden exactly as you pledged to. Once I’ve made certain their crew