936. Chapter 936

After Hell to Pay

Episode 8.21

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Like hell I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Author's note: This is a sequel to all of the Captain Kate Beckett, the pirate, stories.

"Bluidy sand bar." Muttered Kevin Ryan as he dove into the clear waters of the Caribbean Sea to inspect the damage, if any, to the pirate ship Revenge. He dove into the water at the bow and swam towards the stern. Finally he surfaced and looked up to see Captain Beckett, her husband and stepdaughter as well as the whole crew looking down at him.

"Well?" Captain Kate said. "What is it?"

"Just a sand bar, not a reef. And only about the first third of the ship is aground. There's about a bit less than a fathom between the rudder and the sand."

Captain Kate looked at the sky and nodded. "At night the winds will blow from the land and out to sea. And we hit at low tide, so this evening we should be able to kedge the ship off the sandbar and be on our way."

"Kedge?" Asked her husband. Richard Castle was a doctor and even after his time with Captain Kate, he was not up on all of the nautical terminology she used.

"What that means, Richard, is that we'll use a long boat to carry and anchor out into deeper water and drop it. Then we'll use the capstan to pull the ship off of the sandbar and towards the anchor. Once off the sandbar, we'll haul in the anchor and sail away."

"Kedge. I shall remember that. I'll put it in my journal, in fact."

Kate delicately raised an eyebrow. "You still wish to keep your journal?"

"Indeed. When you are exonerated and the evil Governor Bracken is called to account for his misdeeds, I intend to publish my journal so that the world can see what a remarkable woman my wife is."

Kate blushed. "I can only hope that day does come. Governor Bracken seems as entrenched in power as he's ever been."

"Excuse me, Captain." Said Senor Esposito. "But we won't be going anywhere for many hours. There appears to be a river just to the north. We could use some fresh water."

"And there appear to be plantains growing a bit inland." added L'Anie, an African queen that Kate had saved from slavery, along with a large number of her subjects. "I could take some of my men along with Esposito and get some fresh food. It'll be a change from salt pork and dried peas."

Kate thought for a moment. "All right, but don't go too far inland. We don't know what this island is. It could have garrison of Bracken's troops, or hostile natives. "She turned to Ryan. "Take an anchor out in a long boat and see if you can put it on a nice outcropping of rocks so we'll have something to give us purchase when we start." She ran her eye over the horizon. "We could see a warship at any time. If we do, we'll have to try to kedge off as fast as we can, so be prepared to hurry back."

Three longboats went ashore. Two carried Esposito's crew and some empty water casks, the other carried L'Anie's men. The parties split up when they reached the shore. Esposito finding the water to be pure and not at all brackish. L'Anie, and her men, went a bit inland.

When Esposito had his casks filled and back in the boats, he was about to send a man after L'Anie when they heard the crackling of musketry. "Everyone out of the boats." Espo cried. "Make sure your muskets are primed and ready." He was about to order his men inland when he saw the first of L'Anie's men running out of the jungle. As they arrived, he had them reload their muskets and stand with his men. He carefully counted the men as they came back. There was one more than had set out. Espo looked around. "We have too many people. And where's L'Anie?"

El Tee looked around. "She was right by me when they came out of the jungle at us. She's…..gone."

"But we are here." The speaker was a young African man, a teenager, really, with his arm around a younger girl.

By the time Captain Kate and reinforcements arrived, Espo knew what happened.

"Queen L'Anie has been taken by the locals, Captain." He pointed at the two newcomers. "They can tell you what happened.

The young man looked about him nervously. "I am Paul and this is Juno. We are escaped slaves, from the plantation of Colonel Barker. Please don't send us back. He's a terribly cruel man."

Kate nodded. "He is that. And one of Bracken's supporters. Don't worry, we're pirates, so we have to interest in returning you to him. But tell me what happened."

"When we escaped, we stole a small boat, but we know nothing of sailing. We ended up here. Since we were runaways we were accepted by the devil worshippers."

"Wait." Kate said. "Devil worshippers?"

Paul nodded. "When they were captured in Africa, the white men told them about Jesus and the Devil. When they escaped, they decided that if the white men worshipped Jesus, they should worship the Devil. They saw your ship and your people come ashore, so they attacked you. But Juno and I are Christians, we ran for safety as soon as they attacked. And here we are."

"But L'Anie is African, so they won't harm her, right?"

"They saw her and her men with the white people, so they think she is with you. They will kill her."

Kate sighed. "Can you led us to them?"

"I can, but Juno must go to your ship."

"How far is it?"

Paul pointed. "They have a village on that ridge. It's about a mile, but they will have sentries on the trail. If they see you coming, they will kill your friend and run and hide in the jungle. But I know a way to the village they don't know about. But it is much longer."

It was much longer, taking them until dark to reach the village. They stopped on a small rise just outside of the village of grass huts. There was an open plaza and in the middle was L'Anie, tied to a stake with firewood piled around her. Before her sat a man on a wooden throne who wore what looked like a devil's mask. He was yelling at L'Anie in some African language. '

Kate turned to El Tee. "Do you know what he's saying?"

"No, but I'm sure it isn't good."

"I'm going to see if I can talk to them." Kate said.

"Kate, wait…." Castle said, grabbing for her arm, but he was too late. Kate walked out into the firelight.

"I am Captain Kate Beckett and I am not your enemy. I am…."

That was as far as she got before a spear came out of the darkness, missing her by inches. As the Devil worshippers rushed her, Castle fired his musket, followed by everyone else. They then charged and the Devil worshippers fled in to the jungle. Espo cut L'Anie free.

"We can go down the path now." Cried Paul. "We must hurry. They'll try to ambush us from the jungle."

"Can you run?" Kate yelled to L'Anie.

"If the alternative is burning, you bet I can run."

They ran down the pathway and could hear the devil worshippers behind them. Occasionally a spear thrown by one of sentries would sail out of the jungle, but no one was badly hurt.

Finally, they reached the beach. "Damn it!" Yelled Kate.

"What?" Castle asked, looking around in all directions.

"There's a ship just coming around the point over there. A warship, I'm certain."

"And a big one." Esposito added, checking the ship out. "A bloody Dutchman out of Curacao, I'll wager. And Bracken has sent his damned pirates after the Dutch as well. They won't hesitate to fight us."

"Ryan has the crew at the capstan, trying to pull us off of the sandbar. We need to get back to the ship at once and try to move her. Damn! It's another two hours to high tide, at least."

They rowed back to the ship as fast as they could, but the warship was moving faster than the longboats.

"He'll be in range in a half a mile, then he can pound us with his broadsides at will." Kate raged.

Once aboard, Kate put as many men as she could onto the capstan to drag the ship into deeper water. She also manned the guns that could bear on the oncoming warship, although if the other captain was smart, he'd put his broadside at the stern of the Revenge and rake her with his full battery while Revenge could only reply with her two stern chasers.

"Captain! The other ship has come to a stop. I think she's on a sandbar as well."

Kate grabbed a telescope and examined the other ship. She could see chaos on her. Then she saw an anchor being prepared for kedging. As she watched, the other ship managed to fire a shot, which landed in the water and sank well before hitting Revenge.

"Keep one gun firing at them to give then something to think about, then everyone else to the capstan."

Slowly, inch by inch, Revenge moved off the sandbar, then suddenly was free. The offshore breeze filled her sails and Revenge sailed away from the warship.

Once they had put the warship behind them, Rick and Kate went to their cabin to sleep. When she had changed into her nightdress, Kate slipped into bed with her husband. "Don't put this into that journal, Rick, please. Those people were taken from their homes, carried away and put to work as slaves. I can understand how they would worship the Devil and hate their oppressors."

"You're not their oppressor, nor is L'Anie."

"No, but in their place I'd shoot first and ask questions later."

He slid his arm around her. "But, you're in my place, so….."