Page 66 of The Sea Witch
“One of your daggers would be a better weapon,” he noted.
“I’ve little doubt you can defend yourself with that.”
Clearly, she still didn’t trust him enough to arm him. He hefted the branch, his fingers wrapped around the rough bark. Ben gave it an experimental swing, wielding it like a club. It would have to do.
The quartermaster and Susannah glanced at his weapon before looking toward Alys with questions in their eyes. Alys’s set expression didn’t move.
Silently, the women resumed their speedy march. Ben fell back, striding quickly behind Alys, his gaze constantly in motion as he attempted to track whatever followed them and lurked in the darkness. Long shadows loomed like dusk-hued ghouls.
Stasia and Susannah also peered into the gloom. A tense silence fell, broken only by the continued growling from the unseen creatures and the sound of the creek running over rocks as they followed it down the slope of the hill.
At last, the forest parted to reveal a narrow strip of shore. Thirty feet of sand stretched between the forest and the sea.
Ben didn’t exhale. They still needed to get off the beach and away from this island.
“Go,” the second-in-command said to her familiar. “Tell Thérèse and Cora where we are, and urge them to hurry.”
The magpie gave a quiet chirp, as if it, too, was aware of the things slinking in the darkness. With a flap of its wings, the bird took to the sky and wheeled off to the other beach, where the jolly boat was grounded.
“They need the speed of Hermes,” Stasia muttered, glancing behind her at the jungle.
The sky deepened to violet with approaching night. A scattering of stars appeared above, while behind the forest loomed darkly. The heat of the day hadn’t abated, pressing down with a crushing hand.
More rustling and snarling sounded.
Ben joined the quartermaster as she took a defensive position facing the fringe of the jungle. Alys and Susannah watched the beach. Everyone crouched low with their weapons at the ready.
His stomach was taut in anticipation, and Alys’s tension vibrated through his consciousness. No one spoke.
The sound of oars in the water drew his attention. The jolly boat had arrived, and perched on the prow was the magpie.
Before the small vessel could reach the sand, everyone on land charged through the surf to reach it. Ben slogged through the water, his movements slowed by the waves pushing against him. The women moved quickly, and panic skittered along his shoulders as they clambered into the jolly boat.
They began to row.
Still in the water, he grasped the edge of the jolly boat as it pulled away from the beach. His arms strained with the force of trying to hold on. He would be left behind.
And then hands were grabbing his coat, pulling him up and over the edge of the boat. Alys and Susannah gritted their teeth as they hauled him in. He tumbled to the bottom of the smallvessel. For a moment, he lay still, his breath coming in ragged gulps.
He sat up and sent a glance toward the jungle.
Several large dark shapes emerged from the forest.
“Row, damn it,” Alys snarled at the two women on the oars.
As the pirates put their backs into it, Alys, Stasia, and Susannah lifted their hands and held them above the water. They murmured words he couldn’t understand, but the surf around the jolly boat glowed. It shimmered as if lit by underwater candles. The vessel moved, propelled through the water as if by a dozen oars.
Ben stared at the beach as it shrank behind them. The shapes were at the edge of the water now, watching their departure. After several moments, they retreated back into the jungle.
He didn’t permit himself an exhale.
Even the magpie remained quiet on the voyage back, perched on the quartermaster’s shoulder and rubbing its beak back and forth across the Greek woman’s cheek. Stasia stroked the bird’s chest feathers, her gaze steely as she stared back at the island they had just fled from.
Ben’s attention remained fixed on Alys. Her eyes were shut, and though it was full dark now and he couldn’t see her clearly, her weariness was tangible and pulled at him, dragging down his own heavy and aching limbs.
Finally, they reached theSea Witch. Shaken and exhausted, they clambered out of the jolly boat and up the ladder hanging portside. In the lamplight, Alys appeared even more drawn, but the moment her feet touched the top deck, her shoulders straightened, she raised up her chin, and confidence radiated from her.
Only he knew differently. Beneath her poise, she ached with fatigue, but there was a determination that her crew would never grasp that their captain was just as fallible as any of them.
