975. Chapter 975

After Captain Kate and the Sorceress

By

UCSBdad

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

Had the fine citizens of Mangalore been able to see into the hold of the approaching ship, they might have thought differently. The hold was packed with red-coated infantry led by a princess and sailors led by a tall, lanky blond man. Kate had wanted to lead the expedition to cut out the captured Dutch ship, but Princess Jasmine had convinced her that her skills in commanding their little fleet were far more valuable should the Lady Kate and her crew get into trouble and need reinforcing.

When Kate finally agreed, everyone sighed with relief.

Will Sorenson managed to turn around in the small, cramped hold to talk to the men there. "Everyone knows what to do, right? Marines need to take care of the crew on the ship, then get to the landward side of the ship and keep anyone from boarding us. Gun crews, fire are any movement in the city and at any of the ships who might come at us. Sailors, we need to weigh anchor and get under way as fast as we can. Our two ships can come into the harbor and help us if they have to, but it'd be more dangerous."

Princess Jasmine also turned about in the crowded space, rubbing her breasts against Sorenson as she did so. He could have sworn she smiled at him, but she began speaking to the locally recruited sailors and marines, repeating the information Sorenson had given to the English speakers.

A hatch cover was pushed back and a sailor dressed as a pirate called down. "Your Highness, Captain Sorenson? We're not fifty yards from the Dutchman, and it looks good. The crew has come on deck to see the show we're putting on and there ain't many of 'em. And the gunports is open so as to catch the afternoon breeze."

Sorenson looked at his men. "I'm going up on deck to see how things are. When I give the word, come on out and give 'em hell."

As Sorenson climbed out of the hold, he heard Jasmine speaking to her men and then she followed him out onto the deck.

"You shouldn't come on deck." Sorenson whispered. "You're in uniform. If someone on the ship sees you, it could give everything away."

Princess Jasmine just smiled at him, then stood up so the pirates on the Dutch ship could see her plainly. She waved at the men and called to them. She took off her red coat and twirled it around her head. Her boobs and her stiff nipples were easily visible through her thin shirt. The men on the other ship laughed and applauded her.

She grabbed Sorenson, who was dressed as a pirate with a turban covering his fair hair and his fair skin darkened, pulled him down and kissed him soundly. That brought more cheers from the other ship.

Someone yelled angrily at them, probably warning them that they were about to hit the larger vessel. They ignored the warning.

Lady Kate bumped against the large ship and Sorenson yelled for his men to attack. Grappling hooks were thrown to link the two ships together and Sorenson led his men through the open gun ports and into the lower decks of the captive ship. The ship was a two decker, but the lower deck was crammed full of cargo. There were no more than three or four pirates there and they died quickly.

Screaming and cursing, Sorenson led his men over boxes and bales to get to the next deck before the pirates could rally enough men to keep them from the next deck. They arrived at the gangway and looked up to see a half a dozen armed pirates above them. The pirates looked down, then turned and ran. Sorenson stood on the upper deck and directed the gun crews to their guns.

"Captain! There's no powder with these pieces." Someone called, and that was echoed by a dozen men.

Sorenson grabbed a half a dozen men and began searching for the powder magazine. Near the stern they found a locked room with brass fittings on the door. "Here!" Cried Sorenson. "A powder magazine would have no iron that could cause a spark near it. This is it."

One of his men raised his musket to shoot the lock off. Sorenson quickly grabbed the gun. "Are you daft, man? Firing into a powder magazine? Get an axe or a boarding pike to smash the lock."

In seconds, the magazine was opened and kegs of powder were being carried to the guns. Sorenson, seeing that all was well, decided to go up on deck.

The first thing he saw was a dead, red-coated Irishman on the deck. Quickly passing him, Will ran to where Jasmine was directing the marines to fire on the docks. Not many armed men had arrived, and a volley of musketry or two had kept them away.

Sorenson ran back to the quarterdeck and seeing that the wheel was manned, looked up into the rigging. The sailors were unfurling the sails and the light wind looked to be just enough to move them from the dock and away. Then, in a second, the sails hung loose with no breeze filling them. The ship was no more than six feet from the dock. Sorenson looked about. He could see no evidence of wind anywhere. The trees were not moving, the smoke from cooking fires rose straight into the air, and there was not the slightest sight of any wind in any direction.

He called up to the sailors in the rigging. "Leave the sails unfurled and get back aboard the Lady Kate. We'll have to get her sweeps out and try to tow this ship out of the harbor."

"Captain!" One of the marines yelled. "Men are running to us. They look European."

Sorenson ran to the railing and saw two dozen or so men running to the ship. From their light skins and blond hair, he was sure they were Dutch. "Give them covering fire!" He screamed, just as the first of the ship's cannons roared, sending grapeshot into a godown that now held enemy musketeers. Sorenson saw one man fall, part of his head blown off, and another dropped to his knees, but was dragged to the edge of the dock by his friends. All of the Dutch jumped into the water. One man actually jumped onto the ship and held onto an open gun port, then began helping his friends board. Soon other hands reached out to help the men board.

Sorenson found himself facing a tall, bulky fair haired Dutchman. "Lieutenant de Ruyter, Dutch East India Company. How may we help?"

"Are there any more Dutch here?"

De Ruyter sadly shook his head. "Either dead or sent off to the slave markets inland. They kept us to load more cargo onto the old Texel."

"The Lady Kate," Sorenson gestured to the former pirate craft now trying to tow the Texel away from the dock, "is trying to get us out of here. Have your men either grab a musket or man a cannon. But be ready if the wind comes up again."

Kate paced the deck of the Sorceress, then looked at the Dutch ship through her telescope, then paced, then looked. Finally, "They'll never get her out of the harbor. We're getting a bit of a breeze, we'll take the Sorceress in. Signal the Witch to remain outside the harbor."

The Sorceress just barely was being moved by the wind but they were able to stay in the safe channel. They watched as the guns in the forts protecting Mangalore opened fire.

"May we be truly grateful for what we are about to receive." Muttered the sailor at the ship's wheel.

The first shot was wide of the Sorceress and short by about two hundred yards. As the remainder of the guns fired, shot's repeatedly splashed well short of the ship. Kate grinned. "We'll be fine." Just then, a battery located at sea level opened fire. They could see on round skipping across the water like a flat stone thrown by a child. Everyone braced themselves for the impact. However, each time the cannon ball hit the water, it was slowed down. It hit the Sorceress with a heavy thunk, bounced off the hull and sank.

"So far so good." Esposito said.

Then the light breeze quit on them and the ship slowed to a stop. "Drop the anchor!" Kate screamed. "We don't want the tide to take us nearer to the forts."

And so the four ships sat, for minute after minute. The Witch of Endor sat becalmed just outside the harbor, repeatedly signaling to the Sorceress that they could try to kedge into the harbor and being told by Kate to stay where they were. The Sorceress was not only being shot at, but the crew could see that pirate ships in the harbor were getting under way. Those much lighter ships could use their sweeps to row to the Sorceress, the Lady Kate and the Texel and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. Aboard the Lady Kate every man who could be spared was at the sweeps, but they had moved the Texel no more than fifty yards. At this rate they'd be overwhelmed before they got as far as the Sorceress.

Sorenson ran to de Ruyter who was firing a musket at a troop of local cavalry who had charged onto the dock and then found the ship was too far away to charge on horseback. "Will the wind come up? We might have to set fire to your ship and go aboard the Lady Kate and run for the Sorceress.

De Ruyter looked up from ramming a charge down the barrel of his musket. "This happens every day. The wind blows in from the sea, then it's calm. Then the wind blows from the land."

"How long does it take?"

The Dutch officer shrugged. "Who knows? Sometimes ten minutes, sometimes an hour."

Sorenson cursed, then took a musket from a wounded marine and began firing.

Back on the Sorceress, Kate was cursing mightily. So mightily that both Alexis and Priscilla were taking careful note of the words she had used. Some of them they were completely unknown to them.

"Mother!" Cried Priscilla."

"I know. I shouldn't use language like that."

"No. Look at the smoke from the cooking fires in town. It's blowing our way."

Aboard the Texel Sorenson ran to the ships wheel as the ship gained steerageway. "Musketeers, leave off firing and prepare to go about and get out of here. Gunners, stay as you are. If any pirate comes this way, sink 'em."

The Lady Kate released the tow rope it had used to haul the Texel and headed for the Sorceress and the open sea beyond her.

The Sorceress, tacked and managed to turn around in the narrow channel with no more than a scrape on the paint from the last cannon fired at them.

At the harbor's mouth, the four ships met up. Kate called over to Sorenson on the Texel. "How are you? The crew okay? The ship?"

"We've taken some casualties, but the ship is in fine shape, and we have a couple of dozen Dutch crewmen on the ship. She's the Texel, by the way. And she's loaded with valuables."

Kate called to the Lady Kate and found she'd taken neither casualties nor damage.

"Alexis, set us a course for Malabar. We're done for today."

"I'm afraid not, Mother. The pirates are coming after us."

Alexis pointed to the harbor and indeed, more than two dozen pirate craft were leaving, heading for Kate's little fleet.

Sorenson called over to her. "De Ruyter, the senior surviving Dutch officer, says that every pirate in Mangalore loaded their best loot into the Texel, intending to take the ship to the Portuguese in Goa and sell it for modern weapons. Once they had the weapons, they'd attack Malabar. They'll want their loot back."