Page 84 of Crossbones
“Shaw?” Caspian appears beside me.
A large man turns his attention to Caspian, his scowl deepening.
“Fox, I always knew you were a sneaky bastard,” he spits. “But you’ve got some nerve.”
“I’m going to need you to be more specific,” Caspian says dryly.
“They know,” Van mutters next to me.
“You know why I’m here—whywe’re‘ere,” Shaw states, gesturing to the group around him. I watch Caspian scan the group but his face is a blank mask of indifference.
“Again—too vague,” Caspian says.
His tone is careless and nonchalant but his hand has drifted to the pistol at his belt.
“The treasure,” Shaw says. “You promised it to your crew—youroriginalcrew. I’m here to make good on that.”
Harrison has his arms crossed, looking absolutely murderous. “We don’t have any positions open, mate.”
Shaw’s smirk takes on a lethal edge. “Not yet.”
There’s a scuffle and the crowd parts to reveal two men dragging Lan between them. He’s putting up a fight, but one eye is nearly all the way black and he’s got blood all over him. The men throw him on his knees in front of Shaw.
Caspian’s gun is out and pointed at Shaw in an instant. I’m quick to follow. The sounds of everyone else drawing weapons rings out over the sand.
Shaw shoves his gun at Lan’s head. “Let me tell you how it’s gonna go,” he snarls. “We all are going to sail with you onthatship—” He jerks his head towards theTempest. “And we’re gonna get a cut of whate’r gold the lost city holds. Like was promised to us.”
Caspian shakes his head. “I’m afraid circumstances have changed.”
His free hand whips through the air, sending a knife flying across the space. It hits Shaw in the eye and he drops. Chaos erupts. As gunfire echoes across the sand, Harrison and I rush to Lan. Caspian has his back to us, cutlass drawn as he fends off several advances. He lunges to head off a man coming for him and gets tackled into the sand. A cutlass comes for my head. I deflect it, seeing Van struggle to support a barely conscious Lan into the rowboat.
“Harrison!” I bark. “Get everyone back to the ship!”
I fire my pistol, rapidly followed by my second one, taking down two men before diving back into the fray. I fight my way to Caspian who’s drenched in blood. My heart lurches into my throat before I realize it’s not his. He’s straddling a man who is very much dead, but Caspian continues to pummel him with his fists, lost in the blood lust. I watch his back, shoving a man away with a growl.
“Caspian,” I bark, looking back at him. “Caspian!”
I knock a man out and quickly glance back again. Caspian’s chest is heaving but his eyes have cleared and he comes back to reality just in time to roll to the side to avoid a sword to the ribs. We end up back to back; the fight takes us onto the hard compact sand where the water rushes up, tugging at my legs. I lunge and slide my blade through a man’s ribs, yanking the steel out before grabbing the next by the neck. With a vicious twist, he drops. It’s over as quickly as it started and the remaining men flee up the shore.
“Come on.”
I grab Caspian’s arm and drag him towards the shallows. The row boat has made it to theTempestbut we’ll have to swim for it. Caspian dives into the breakers next to me and we cut through the water.
I haul myself onto the deck. “Get us underway!” I bark.
Caspian climbs over the rail seconds later. “Flynt, sweep the ship—I want to make sure none of those rats came aboard.”
I turn to Caspian. “Malik couldn’t have spread this rumor. How the hell does everyone know about the treasure?”
“Well, I may have told my original crew about it,” Caspian says.
“Fuck, the entire Adrasea will know about it now!” I stalk off towards my cabin. “I can’t believe you were so careless with this.”
“Youwere the one who marooned my crew on Verdun,” he says, following me.
“You’re blamingmefor this?” I slam the door shut and round on him. “I didn’t know you knew anything about a treasure then!”
I drag off my soaking wet captain’s coat and hang it over a chair.
