III: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Her ship appeared in sight just after eleven bells on the fourth day past their parting. Tom Riley ordered the Allegiance to be anchored, and Laurence watched the pirate vessel move closer.
They were half a mile off the south coast of Great Camanoe, a long-stretched island between Tortola and Gorda. At her orders, they had left the dragons behind and now lowered the sails.
The schooner approached rapidly; her design perfect for fast and bendy manoeuvres, her sixteen guns as lethal as any. Compared to the Allegiance however she was rather small, and in a normal situation she would surely be no match for her.
This, however, was no normal situation.
The vessel, ironically called the Goliath, slowed its pace near the Allegiance and her crew boarded the bigger ship like true professionals; within minutes they were aboard and surrounding the crew.
She got aboard last, walking calmly and perfectly straight over the laid out boarding plank, jumping on deck with a casual elegance. Bear and Stone joined her immediately on either side in protection; Elleanora ignored them and looked around. When she recognized Laurence, a smile appeared on her face.
‘Laurence’, she said cheerfully and offered her hand.
‘Elleanora’, he replied a bit grimly as he shook it; he found her sunny mood spiteful compared to the humiliation she put him and the whole Aerial Corps through.
‘Lieutenant’, Elleanora nodded in a serious manner towards Granby. As he looked away filled with boiling anger, Laurence saw how Elleanora tried not to smile; she was apparently greatly amused by his dislike towards her.
‘Where is the egg?’, Riley asked harshly as he joined them. Elleanora gave the young captain an examining look from head to toe, one eyebrow slightly raised, and then directed her words at Laurence.
‘You have the gold?’, she asked blandly; Riley’s cheeks painted reddish with anger.
‘We have it’, Laurence answered, gesturing towards three big chests standing nearby.
‘Flint!’, Elleanora yelled, never taking her eyes of Laurence; the boy appeared from the line of men keeping back the crew of the Allegiance. ‘Check it’, she ordered.
The boy did not need telling twice and darted off towards the chests; an amazed and blissful look appeared on his face when he saw the small fortune they held. ‘It’s here’, he managed to say after a few seconds.
A triumphant smile appeared on Elleanora’s face and for a horrifying moment Laurence was absolutely sure the egg was already gone. Dreading the answer, he asked:
‘We have kept our end of the bargain, Elleanora. Now where is the egg?’
‘Get Samuel’, Elleanora said to Flint, and the boy turned around yelling: ‘Sam! Samuel! You’re up!’
Immediately the little boy Laurence had seen earlier aboard the Goliath appeared in sight, carrying the basket with the egg safely inside; he walked carefully towards them on his short legs, bending a little backwards under its weight. He handed the basket to Elleanora and looked up to her eagerly.
‘Very good, Samuel’, she said kindly. ‘Thank you very much for holding on to it as well as you did.’ Then she sent him off, the boy smiling proudly and delighted at his fellow crewmembers.
‘Nothing as loyal as the heart of a child’, Elleanora said to Laurence. ‘And therefore the only person I would ever trust this to’, she added as she handed him the egg. It felt warm and smooth, the colours of pink and red turning into blue and black as Laurence took it from her. He handed it to Emily Roland, who took it to Keynes to have it examined.
Elleanora looked at Laurence and opened her mouth to speak, but what she was about to say Laurence would never know, for high above them a bell rang. Immediately the eyes of both pirates and seamen turned up towards the crow’s-nest of the Allegiance, where a boy yelled through a speaking trumpet:
‘Three frigates in sight, sailing under the Jolly!’
Before the crews of both ships even had a change to properly let this news sink in, Riley pulled out his gun and put it at Elleanora’s throat. Elleanora did not even get a change to react when Bear and Stone already pulled out their own guns, two a piece, and pointed them at both Riley and Granby, who had also joined in.
‘You have tricked us’, Riley hissed as he looked at her sideways; Bears’ pistol was against his cheek.
‘I have not’, she answered as calmly as she could, but Laurence saw she was nervous when she repeated to him: ‘I swear I have not.’
‘Captain!’, Flint suddenly yelled while looking through a telescope, breaking the silence that had fallen upon deck. ‘It’s Nathaniel, Captain!’
‘Are you sure?’, Elleanora demanded; she had faced a full-grown dragon without fear, but now Laurence could swear he heard dread in her voice.
‘Yes, sir, very sure’, Flint answered.
Elleanora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she seemed to make a decision. ‘Get the gold aboard’, she ordered Bear and Stone. When the two men did not react but kept pointing their guns at Riley and Granby, she softly laid her hand upon Bears’.
‘Do it’, she said soft but insistently while looking into his eyes.
Very slowly he lowered his gun, but only when Laurence ordered Granby to put down his weapon and softly talked Riley into lowering his, Stone and Bear turned around and started to carry the chests to the Goliath.
Elleanora walked past Riley without so much as a glance in his direction and joined Flint, who was still watching the approaching ships through his telescope. Elleanora took out her own and when Laurence went to stand next to her, he saw on her face a great concern.
‘You are going to lose the egg’, she said after a moment. ‘Those are the ships of Nathaniel Davis.’ She handed Laurence the telescope and gave him a chance to look for himself; the black sails of the 36-gunned frigates had the strong wind behind them. They would arrive in less than an hour.
‘Nathaniel Davis…’, Laurence repeated uncertainly. He knew that name...
‘He and his crew are very well known around here’, Elleanora continued. ‘They rape the women, kill the men and take the children.’
Perfect, Laurence thought as he remembered the reports of unfortunate traders and travellers who had crossed the path of Davis and his men.
‘Laurence,’ she said softly beside him, ‘you are too slow to outrun them; they will kill you all.’ He could hear in her voice she had never wanted this.
‘You need to leave’, Riley suddenly barked at her as he came to stand with them. Elleanora looked from him to Laurence, and said softly so the crew would not overhear them:
‘He will go after the children first; they will make the most when he sells them, so they will have to come. For the rest of you: I could take as many as twenty, but – .’
Riley suddenly laughed so loudly all eyes on deck turned to him instead of the approaching danger on the horizon.
‘You do not honestly mean to say you offer to help us?’ he asked in disbelieve. When she failed to answer, his surprise turned into anger.
‘You brought this all upon us! You should be lucky we do not hang you here on the spot!’ he raged. ‘And you really think we would ever accept the help of vermin like you?! I would rather sink this ship myself, pirate. You – ’
‘Tom – ’, Laurence started, but Riley didn’t seem to hear him.
‘You have the nerve to let us pay for something that was never yours in the first place! The only reason you are still alive is because someone here’ – he pointed at Laurence – ‘has given you his word and is too civilised to break it. If it was up to me you would be sent to the depths of the ocean where you belong, you pathetic little – ’
‘For God’s sake!’ Elleanora suddenly burst out. ‘At least let me have the children!’
A silence fell upon the deck; Roland and little Dyer looked at each other anxiously.
‘Get. Off. My. Ship’, Riley managed to get out after a moment; he was so furious Laurence feared the vein on his forehead would pop.
All eyes now turned to Elleanora, who for a moment stood frozen. Then she nodded shortly towards her men, who immediately backed away, got aboard the Goliath and started raising the sails. She herself however did not move.
‘Captain’, Flint said softly. When she did not react, but kept staring at Laurence in turmoil, the boy grabbed the sleeve of her coat and pulled it slightly.
‘Captain’, he said a little louder. But Elleanora just stood there, jaws clutched with frustration.
‘Elly!’ Flint suddenly begged in such a desperate way he made his captain finally look at him.
And there, in the midst of it all, Laurence knew how she did it. He saw the look in Flint’s eyes and knew it was not fear that bound him to her, nor necessity or respect. It was love. She was probably the only person that had ever been kind to the scrawny, ugly boy, and he loved her for it. They all did. And that was exactly why they followed her.
Yet she was the one who followed now; across the deck and the boarding plank back to the Goliath. There she turned around to face Laurence, as the men around her hurried to make their leave. One final glance, one final silent apology spoken to him with her eyes; then the sails caught wind and the Goliath set off.
In the opposite direction of her course, the ships of Nathaniel Davis were approaching rapidly.
‘Get the cannons ready’, Riley ordered his crew as he came to stand next to Laurence. ‘And someone get out that damned fireworks. We have to warn the dragons.’