972. Chapter 972

After Captain Kate and the Sorceress

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Je ne regret rein, except not owning Castle. Rating: M, here and there. Time: The 18th Century

Even though the sun was going down, food and water began to arrive and was stowed below decks in both ships. Shortly after midnight, Princess Jasmine arrived with her troops, some one hundred men. The soldiers looked like something out of a medieval romance: they wore chain mail armor and were armed with swords, lances, and bows and arrows. Only a few men had some ancient matchlock muskets.

"Quite a sight." Kate said, now dressed in her sea boots with four inch heels, skin tight doeskin pants, a red silk shirt tied under her breasts and a wide brimmed black hat with a feather in it at a rakish angle. A rapier hung at her side and a brace of pistols was shoved under a red silk sash about her waist. "We have our sailors, Ryan's Irish, Princess L'Anie's Africans and now your people. But tell me, how did you pay for all this food and water?"

Jasmine laughed. "I went to the merchants of the town and reminded them what pirates could do to their trade and their profits. They decided they could afford to help you get ready." She then pointed to a small boat headed for the Sorceress. "I've also brought pilots that know every inch of this coast. And Captain Aziz. He says he'll recognize the pirate ships even on a moonless night in the middle of a storm. I believe him."

"You've planned well, Princess."

Jasmine ran her eyes over Kate and the obvious change in her attire and demeanor. "You have changed, Lady Katherine. Not just your clothes."

"Call me Kate. My husband is a man of peace and a scientist. To keep us safe, I've had to learn a few things. And I've learned them well."

Jasmine nodded slowly. "I believe you have."

Slightly before dawn, the ships weighed anchor and used the morning tide to leave Mahe harbor for the Indian Ocean. They sailed north to where the Maratha pirates were supposed to be operating. By the end of the day, they'd found nothing.

"It's a big ocean, but we'll find them." Rick said, seeing Kate's unhappiness.

"It is a big ocean. They could be anyplace by now. We could chase them forever and not find them. We have no idea where they've gone and we…"

"I may know where some of them are." Rick interrupted. "The pirates were in small ships filled with men and guns. The Persian ship was large and had lots of passengers and cargo. The pirates who took her will be jammed with loot. They'll want to get to a port, sell their loot and celebrate before going to sea again."

Kate smiled. "Get me those pilots."

The pilots got together and, after a quick conversation, decided on three small ports where you could sell anything with no questions asked.

After she set their course, Kate winked at Rick. "Really, Lord Rodgers, you'd think you were a pirate or something, figuring that out as you did."

"It's just that my beautiful wife spurs my brain to work harder and faster."

"Flatterer." She whispered.

"Wait until I flatter you tonight."

The first port was empty, not even a fishing boat was there. They had much better luck at the next port, however.

"Those two!" Shouted Captain Aziz. "They're two of the ships that attacked us."

Kate grabbed her telescope. "They're anchored and I don't see that they left anyone on watch."

"They may be all ashore." One of the pilots said. "Enjoying themselves. The pirates aren't known for their discipline."

"How deep is the water here?" Kate demanded.

"Twenty fathoms until you get within a hundred yards of the shore, then it get shallow very rapidly."

"Make a signal to The Witch of Endor. She'll take the northernmost ship and we'll take the other."

Signal flags were raised and the Witch replied affirmatively.

Ryan's Irish troops were sent aloft into the rigging to fire down onto the pirate if anyone was aboard, while Kate's sailors manned their cannons and L'Anie's warriors prepared to board.

"What about my people?" Jasmine asked.

"Princess L'Anie's people have more experience in boarding actions. If we need your people, you'll get your chance.

When the hull of the Sorceress bumped the pirate, grappling hooks were tossed aboard her to keep the two ships together. The first ones aboard were Kate and L'Anie, closely followed by Rick, Ryan, Alexis and Priscilla. In seconds, Princess Jasmine joined them.

"I can speak to any prisoners if we find any." She explained.

"Captain." Cried a warrior. "There are women in the hold."

A quick look found the only people aboard were the female prisoners. The males had been put on a different ship and the cargo had been taken ashore to fund the pirates' celebration.

"We're attracting attention." Rick announced, looking at the shore.

People were crowding on the shore, cursing and yelling at the ships.

"They're not happy to have lost their slaves." L'Anie said happily.

"We'll make them unhappier." Kate said. "Get the women aboard the ships and get ready to burn the ships."

"Ahoy the deck." Cried one of Ryan's people in the rigging. "Several small boats are coming out. Filled with armed men."

"Gun captains whose guns will bear, you may fire at will." Kate yelled.

As the Sorceress was both longer and higher than the pirate ship they were grappling, a half a dozen guns opened fire. One boat was smashed to bits by a round shot and the others turned and ran.

In a matter of half an hour, the two French ships were leaving the harbor, leaving behind two fiercely burning pirate craft.

The next harbor they checked had no pirate craft there, only some local fishing boats and a small coastwise merchant ship.

The senior pilot approached Kaye. "Captain, the pirates may have sailed to Mangalore. It's a fortified port of the Marathas. I doubt that you'd be able to fight your way in." He waited a second and added, "Or out."

Captain Aziz contradicted him. "They won't go to Mangalore or any other Maratha port. The Marathas like to tax pirates heavily. They might be looking for more ships carrying pilgrims from Mecca. Of we sail between the ports of the Red Sea and Bombay, we'll see many such ships, and perhaps the pirates."

Kate gave orders to sail to the East, to put themselves near the route to Bombay. Alexis and Priscilla charted a course for them.

They sailed for two days and found many ships headed for Bombay. Almost all, seeing two heavily armed warships, fled as fast as they could. That usually wasn't very fast.

One ship, a heavily armed Dutch East Indiaman, sailed towards them, recognizing the flag of France. Rick conversed with the Captain in French. Luckily the Dutch captain's French was so heavily accented that he didn't catch Rick's English accented French. They did learn that the Dutch had seen two lateen rigged warships the day before on a course for Bombay. They had, however, stayed well away from the Dutch ship and had disappeared over the horizon.

Kate ordered a return towards Bombay, hoping to catch the pirates before they were lost among the hundreds of ships around the largest port on India's west coast.

At dawn the next day, their luck changed.

"There!" Cried Captain Aziz, pointing dead ahead. "Those are two of the ships."

Kate grabbed her telescope and ran to the port side of the quarterdeck. "They're just loafing along. They may not realize we're after them. We'll keep the sails set as they are and very slowly creep up on them. When we get close enough, we'll clap on more sail and run them down."

That plan lasted for all of ten minutes. The lookout reported a great deal of movement on the two ships and both ships put on more sail and began to move away from each other.

"Damn their eyes!" Kate cried. "Unfurl the t'gallant and the stuns'l. Look lively there." The fore top men raced aloft to unfurl the sails and increase the ship's speed.

"Signal officer! Send a signal to the Witch of Endor. Tell Captain Sorenson to take the northernmost ship and we'll take the southernmost." Before the appropriate signal flags had been sent aloft, Kate turned to Masters, the gunner's mate. "Mr. Masters, would you take charge of the twelve pounder bow chasers and take our ship under fire."

Masters looked at the distant ship. "T'will be hard, Captain. They be out of range now. But we could get lucky."

Kate watched as Masters collected the bow chasers' crews and went forward. In less than two minutes, the port gun fired at the ship they chased. As the dirty black powder haze drifted away, Kate could see that the cannon ball had splashed into the water at least seven hundred yards behind the ship.

"As the gun warms up, the range will improve." Ryan said, coming to stand beside her, dressed in the red coat of the Irish Brigade of the King of France. "And we seem to be making headway on her. It'll be a long chase, but we should win this one."

For nearly two hours the Sorceress crept ever closed to the pirate ship. And, finally, a round shot splashed into the sea not ten yards from the stern of the pirate.

"Five more minutes and we'll be in range for the bow chasers." Rick said, whispering in her ear.

"Ahoy the deck." Cried the lookout. "Men are coming on deck. They might be going to turn and board us."

"I pray that they do."

"Oh, God. That's not their plan." Castle cried.

The men being brought onto the deck were not pirates, but the slaves, now chained together at the neck in one long coffle. The pirates began shoving the first men in the coffle overboard, one after the other. Soon the weight of the men in the water was sufficient to drag the remaining slaves off of the ship and into the water. Their heavy chains soon sent them all to the bottom of the sea.

"Damn them. Damn them." Raged Kate.

"Can we rescue any of them?" Rick asked.

Esposito shook his head. "They'll be on the bottom of the sea, and dead by the time we got to their position."

"Look." Cried Priscilla and Alexis together.

"They're throwing their cannons overboard to lighten their ship."

"Aye." Added Ryan." There goes their round shot and powder. It looks like they're pumping their freshwater overboard."

"They're throwing everything they have overboard to escape us." Kate said, still enraged.

Very slowly, at first, but then with more rapidity, the much lightened pirate vessel pulled away from the Sorceress. Eventually, they lost the other ship in the darkness.

They eventually found the Witch of Endor and found that Sorenson had had no better luck. The two ships ran close alongside each other so the two captains could speak.

"They threw all of their guns overboard, so they're toothless for now." Sorenson cried out.

"But just for now. They'll buy more cannons soon enough, damn them. They threw the slaves overboard. All dead."

"The ship I chased carried no slaves. We recovered a few water logged bundles of calico cloth they threw overboard. I doubt it'll make the ship owners fortune. Do you want to continue the search?"

Kate thought for a moment and then shook her head sadly. "No, we'll return to Mahe."

Several days later, the two ships returned to Mahe. As they anchored in the roadstead, two small boats were seen headed towards the Sorceress.

"Captain?" Ryan said. "I believe that's d'Schlemming in one of the boats. That'll mean no good."