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

“Lieutenants, I’ll ask you to place your officer’s swords on the deck. Carefully. Or Lieutenant Pike here will be missing a large portion of his head,” the marine said. His voice was calm and even, only a few of the nearest on deck noticed the situation that was developing. Shelton and Harper both unbuckled their swords from around their waistbands, easing them to the deck. Will turned his head slightly to look at the marine who held him at gunpoint from the corner of his eye.

“Are you quite sure the rest of the crew will be going along with this?” Will asked, shifting his eyes from the marine behind him to another that stood just out of reach at his side.

“I’m sure enough, but it won’t matter once we’ve clapped you all into irons,” his hissing reply came.

Will caught a look of hesitation from the marine by his side, the man was unsure, unconvinced of the events unfolding around him. That cemented Will’s decision and he sprang into action. In a burst, Will threw his head aside of the musket barrel and grabbed it in his hand. He then delivered a donkey kick into the man’s gut while heaving forward on the gun. The marine let out a guttural cry and stumbled backward, tripping over the longboat’s edge and fell over the side. Will continued his momentum forward and swung the musket’s butt hard into the jaw of the hesitating marine beside him, sending him sprawling. One of the sailors swung an oar toward Will in a savage arc. Will managed to retrieve his sword from the deck of the longboat and met the oar with his blade, inches from the side of his head. He countered with a thrust and ran the sailor through with his sword eliciting a shriek from the man that sent every eye on deck to the longboat.

Will withdrew the blade, kicking the sailor to the deck of the boat and adjusted his grip on the musket.

“Lieutenants retrieve your swords, this isn’t over.” Will shouted as another sailor in the longboat grabbed for an oar. Will caught him with his blade at the nape of the neck, splitting his collar open with a gush of arterial blood spewing forth. From below deck a bevy of armed sailors came rushing out, led by the disgruntled sailor who had first scrambled off the longboat. He raised a sword, pointing it at the officers.

“Whatever treasons you have committed to destroy this fleet, it ends here and now!” he cried out, “Seize them!”

His last word was annunciated by the musket in Will’s hand, he leveled the gun and fired it like a pistol into the mutiny leader’s chest. A moment of calm punctuated the deck of the ship as the puff of gun smoke cleared from the breeze. The man dropped his sword, clutched his chest with a look of pale dread and fell to the deck. Chaos followed as the crowd of sailors behind him rushed forward. Swords clattered and gunfire erupted. Will swung the barrel of his musket into one of the advancing men with a solid impact on top of his head and then ran the edge of his sword across the man’s throat. Shelton had engaged two men with swords and was handily keeping both on their heels. Lieutenant Harper met another with his cutlass and delivered a swift kick to the man’s knee, taking him to the deck while William caught a sword swing toward Harper’s neck with his own blade. Marines came from below deck adding to the fray, instinctively circling around to defend the officers.

“Get the woman from the longboat and get her into the aft castle!” Will shouted to Lieutenant Harper, “I’ll guard your flank, lad, come on!”

“Woman? What?” Harper looked frantic and then seeing her laying in the longboat snapped to his orders in a mad sprint.

A mad frenzy ensued as Will, with a handful of loyal marines and sailors guarded Lieutenant Shelton’s movement into the great cabin of the aft castle, carrying the unconscious woman in his arms while sword and bayonet clashed all around. Will slammed shut the door behind them and turned to face the onslaught. More sailors had been rallied against them and the deck was littered with bodies of the wounded and dying, made slick from bloodshed. Scanning the situation Will’s heart sank as he took stock of their dilemma. There was only a handful of men aiding him, a dozen at most and with each passing moment it seemed their odds at survival slipped away while more sailors would take up arms against them. A sailor scrambled forward and grabbed the rope handle on one side of the chest dragging at it with all his strength. Will stepped over to the sailor and with an odd calm swiftly kicked the man in his jaw, sending him sprawling over backwards. The sailor raised an arm up as will reversed grip on his cutlass and plunged the sword down through the man’s chest. The sailor clawed at the blade with bare hands, slicing them to ribbons while Will leaned hard downward.

A sudden eerie calm settled over the deck of the Endurance as pistols and muskets had all been spent. The clash of sword and bayonet hushed and eyes across the ship shifted to the wails of the sailor Will pinned to the deck with his sword. Will looked up from the desperate sailor’s eyes to see crew all around gaping at him. His fury only grew in intensity and in his rage, he kicked over the chest of gold bars, spilling them across the deck.

“All these lives lost, needlessly and over what? Some gold?” he screamed, glancing out to the sail on the horizon, “and even as we fight amongst ourselves, enemies draw nearer! If it’s gold bars you want, take them! Take them and be gone! We will gladly shed your dishonor and count ourselves fortunate.”

“You’ve gotten half the fleet sunk at harbor! Why