Chapter 13
Almost 30 minutes after the explosion, pirates started showing up on the shore. As planned, there was no fight left in them. They were exhausted after the swim and the men on the shore didn’t seem to be in a negotiating mood. After two dissenting pirates were shot by concealed riflemen, the pirates were much more inclined to follow instructions and gather inside the large pen.
For his part, Tobias was happy the pirates did not realize there was only one rifleman shooting from different positions. Several rifles had been placed at strategic points allowing the man to fire and run to the next rifle.
Tobias had expected trouble when the ship’s boats arrived and he was right. It looked like eighteen men were crowded into the boat and they had been resting. The task of rowing had been limited to the unfortunate few near enough the oars to use them. As crowded as the boat was, there wasn’t room to move people around.
Ignoring the shouts from strategically placed Bookkeepers directing them to move single file to the pen, the pirates were following orders being shouted by a large man located at the boat’s helm. Moving as a group, they charged the three visible Bookkeepers. These men represented much hated authority and had weapons that could be used.
The concealed rifleman managed to shoot the leader and while that might have stopped the rush, Martin chose that time to shoot one of the deck guns into the mob. Loaded with shot, the damage was far worse than a single projectile. With few exceptions, the pirates that had not been hit dropped flat on the sand.
Three pirates, realizing the deck gun wouldn’t be fired if there was a risk of hitting comrades changed direction to charge Tobias’ position. Two more Bookkeepers stepped out to answer the charge. Both men fired their weapons simultaneously, rather unfortunately choosing the same target.
This left the two pirates facing two men armed only with daggers, odds they were willing to take. Tobias had already started running toward the two Bookkeepers. He had faith in their ability but had more faith in his own ability. He needn’t have bothered.
One pirate collapsed before reaching either Bookkeeper, they later found he had been struck by a single pellet from the deck gun and had bled out during his charge. The third pirate hesitated on seeing both men focus on him as a target. The hesitation cost him his life.
The few surviving pirates followed directions to head to the pen, a few chose to drag wounded comrades to the pen with them. The leader stayed where he had collapsed. The rifleman’s shot might have killed him but the deck gun had ensured a quick death. Tobias examined him closely but aside from a fair complexion and large stature saw nothing that suggested royalty. Maybe Crow would have more answers.
Another hour passed before Crow’s boat came to shore. As always, Tobias would not fully relax until the proper passwords were exchanged but when Tobias realized that the young man being helped by Crow was Gareth, he came running. Protocol was no longer important.
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