Chapter 29

They hadn’t been back from New Providence a month when pirate ships once more appeared in the harbor. With the memory of Blackbeard’s attack still fresh in their minds, the irate townspeople immediately sent up a hue and cry. They were tired of constandy being harassed by these lawless cutthroats, and were bound and determined to have no more of it.

With the ink hardly dry on their pardons, and a portion of their sympathies still leaning toward their fellow brigands, Nate and Devlin were satisfied to sit back and let others handle the problem. They recognized the lead ship as that of Stede Bonnet, a comrade with whom they’d worked in the past on a few ventures. Though notorious for his success as a sea robber, he was not noted for being particularly bloodthirsty or vengeful. For the most part, he and his crew preyed on trade vessels, rarely bothering common citizens, and Devlin expected no different now from the man whom many called a “gentleman pirate.”

For the first couple of hours things were peaceful enough, and it looked as if the buccaneers meant to do no more than replenish their supplies and go on about their business elsewhere. Then all hell broke loose. From their prime position near the mouth of the harbor, the pirates began to waylay all incoming and outgoing ships. Cannon shot flew hot and heavy, the smoke so thick that ships began colliding with one another in the harbor.

The brigands boarded several merchant vessels, carrying the bloody fight to the decks. In the ensuing fray, men on both sides were wounded, though fatalities remained remarkably few considering the extent of the conflict In the end, the pirates confiscated two of the most seaworthy trade ships and ordered the defeated sailors into dinghies, that they might safely reach shore. The remaining ships were plundered of all worthwhile cargo before more shot was leveled their way in an effort to scuttle them sufficiently to make it impossible for them to give chase.

From the warehouse dock, Devlin and Nate watched the battle unfold, casually making wagers on who would win the day, pirates or merchants. Neither felt inclined to join a fight which was not theirs, and possibly forfeit their pardons.

Then the volley of cannon fire began to rake those ships anchored closer in, and those tied up at the docks. Whether the shots were going wild, or deliberately aimed toward damaging every ship in the harbor, mattered not. Most particularly when one of the frigates last hit was the Dame Anise.

Want it or not the battle had now been brought to Devlin and Nate’s doorstep, and the two friends were furious. No one, but no one, got away with scuttling their property! Especially not Stede Bonnet whom they had considered a decent rogue and a jolly mate. The Dame Anise might not be the best vessel afloat but they had plans to renovate her into a fine little cargo ship. She and the Mirage were to be the foundation of their joint venture into the shipping business, and they certainly didn’t need anyone delaying their progress before they’d gotten a decent start of it.

“Hellfire!” Devlin let loose with an enraged curse. He gave a final glower at the departing pirates, then turned to Nate. “Despite all our good intentions, it seems you and I can’t stay out of the fray. Ready the Mirage. We’re going after those blackguards.”

“Cap’n, the Mirage is on a run to Boston, and not due back for a fortnight,” Nate reminded him. “We’re as land-bound as beached whales.”

“Damnation!” Devlin raked his fingers through his hair. “Now’s a hell of a time to be stranded ashore, one ship gone and the other damaged!” He heaved an exasperated sigh. “There’s no help for it, I suppose, but I swear as soon as the Mirage makes port, we’re after that sorry lot. Bonnet will not get away with this!”

It soon became apparent that others of the townspeople were of the same mind. Disgruntled and longing to fight back, merchants were quickly gathering under the command of Colonel William Rhett. They set about outfitting two sloops and assembling enough sailors to chase after the fleeing pirates.

The Mirage returned the day before Rhett’s expedition was due to set sail. All through the night, Devlin and his men worked to unload the incoming cargo and take on sufficient supplies to last throughout their search for Bonnet.

The colonel was pleased that Devlin and his crew would be joining them on their mission. “We appreciate your help in this matter,” he told Devlin. Regardless of Eden’s presence at her husband’s side, the man felt compelled to add, “To be truthful, I wasn’t convinced you were serious about reforming your ways. For all our sakes, I’m glad you are. It’s good to have a man of your caliber on our side.”

Devlin didn’t bother to explain that it had taken a broadside to his own ship to muster him to action. What Rhett didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, but playing defending heroes certainly put Devlin and his crew in a better light in the eyes of any citizens who still harbored similar doubts.

Though she understood why she could not accompany the men, Eden could not help being disappointed at getting left behind. While she knew Devlin was more than capable of protecting himself, she also knew she would worry herself ragged until he returned safely. She did not even have the consolation of knowing that Devlin would be invisible to his enemy, for he intended to make use of his hooded disguise once more, and thoroughly relished the opportunity to employ it. For this short venture, it would suit admirably indeed as he temporarily assumed a role echoing that of his former pirate image, though presently in defense of justice. “Devil” Kane lived on—lawfully reborn.

Before he left her, however, Eden intended to give him a time to remember, something to remind him what awaited him on his return. When he came dragging into the house in the wee hours of the morning he was to sail, after working so hard to ready the Mirage for the voyage, Eden was awake and waiting for him. He was so weary that he could scarcely stay afoot long enough to wash and haul his tired body onto the bed.

Once he was there, Eden urged him onto his stomach. “You just relax, darling,” she whispered. “I’ve a cure for all those sore muscles.”

He was half-asleep as she poured warm oil over his back. Naked herself, she straddled his hips, massaging the soothing liquid into his skin, leaning into her task until he groaned in grateful relief at the magic her slick hands were performing.

As she applied like measures to his buttocks and thighs, he gave a muted laugh. “Sweetling, I might be bone-tired, but I’m not dead. Don’t start anything you aren’t prepared to finish.”

“Oh, I’m not done by half yet,” she told him in sultry promise.

A few minutes later, she rolled him onto his back and devoted herself to allaying the tension from his neck, his aching arms and shoulders, and his broad, furred chest. “Sweet heaven, that feels marvelous!” He sighed. “I just might employ your skillful services more often.”

She gave a low laugh, her fingers wandering downward, the massage quickly becoming temptation. “I am a woman of many talents, sir. Shall I demonstrate further?”

“Please do,” he murmured encouragingly, his dark eyes slitting open to gleam at her.

Soon they were both as slippery as wet seals, their bodies gliding smoothly together as Eden lowered her-self upon his rigid staff. Weariness became but a memory, their easy, lingering lovemaking assuming the ethereal softness of a sweet, sensual dream. As one, they drifted from ecstasy into slumber, their bodies still entwined.

At last they sailed, with high hopes and great determination. Since Stede Bonnet was known to cruise the Carolina coastline, Devlin hoped they would soon encounter him and quickly conclude this business. First they headed south, thoroughly investigating every island, cove, inlet, and river mouth. There was no sign of Bonnet or the two ships he’d captured. Halfway through the first week, they turned north again, disappointed but undaunted. They made a brief stop in Charles Town to ensure that Bonnet had not put in another appearance there, then continued north the following morning.

For five days they searched the coast. At dawn of the sixth day, their efforts were finally rewarded. They spotted Bonnet’s flagship and the two trading vessels lying at anchor at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. From the look of it, he’d stopped there to refit his small fleet, and to repair damages incurred in the fight in Charles Town Harbor.

Rhett was in the lead sloop. Motioning for the others to follow, he headed his ship toward the mouth of the river. The second sloop followed close at hand, prepared to help block Bonnet’s passage to the sea.

At the helm of the Mirage, which was trailing the other two sloops, Devlin tried to signal the others to wait, to beware of the shallows and sandbars that lay ahead. But in the excitement of the moment, his warning went unheeded. Rhett’s sloop ran aground near the left bank. The captain of the other sloop, unfamiliar with the river’s tricky current, found his vessel swept into the shallows at the right edge of the river, where it, too, stuck fast. It was left to Devlin to skillfully guide the Mirage between the two, the only one of them to successfully negotiate the shoals.

Meanwhile, Bonnet had become aware of the encroaching danger and was weighing anchor. While exchanging rapid fire with the Mirage, he attempted to pilot his own ship, the Revenge, through the small passage left to him. His efforts failed when the Revenge also ran afoul of a sandbar, trapped midway between Rhett’s sloop and the Mirage, his two remaining prize ships blocked in the river behind him, with no route of escape.

They still had some mobility, however, as did the Mirage. While the two Charles Town sloops were busy with the dual tasks of defending themselves and trying to free themselves from the shoals, Devlin took charge of returning fire from the pirate prize ships. Thus occupied, he and his crew could not readily board the Revenge, as they had hoped to do at the start.

To everyone’s disbelief, the battle raged on in this manner for five interminable hours. Cannons roared, muskets blazed, taunts were exchanged all the while. Red-hot gun barrels belched out thick smoke, and the air hung so heavy with it that the acrid odor lent its taste to the tongue.

It was not until Devlin’s men had subdued the barrage from the enemy sister ships that the fight began to wane and boarding became possible. The battle then turned to fierce swordplay and hand-to-hand combat as Devlin divided his crew, sending half onto each enemy prize ship. Into the thick of the fray he flew, his sword flashing, leading his men to a quick victory.

Casting a look about, Devlin realized that the incoming tide was rapidly raising the water level in the river’s mouth. Any minute now, Rhett’s two sloops would break free of their groundings. But so would Bonnet’s flagship, which alone faced the ocean and stood a good chance of making a fast escape once it slid free of the sandbar.

With little time to spare, Devlin signaled Nate to secure the captured ships, then hastily divested himself of his hood and clothing. Now unseen, his invisible knife clasped between his teeth, he dived into the water and swam to the Revenge. Dripping water after him, he hauled himself aboard just as the sleek little sloop floated free of its moorings.

Bonnet stood on the quarterdeck, bellowing orders to his crew and wearing the wolfish grin of a man who has just found himself locked in a roomful of love-hungry nymphs. “By damn! We’re off and running with the wind now!” he shouted gleefully.

“Not quite, old friend,” Devlin corrected on a low growl, slanting his knife blade toward Bonnet’s windpipe.

Stede’s eyes rolled to the side in a futile attempt to see his foe.

“Give it up, Stede. Call your men away from their stations into the center of the deck, where they may all be readily accounted for, and issue the command for a calm, orderly surrender. Or would you rather die here and now, your blood staining your boots?”

At about this same time, Colonel Rhett’s ship broke loose of its own sandbar, and headed directly toward the Revenge, with the obvious intention of boarding her. To the colonel’s vast astonishment, after all the fierce combat that had gone before, the Revenge suddenly hoisted a flag of truce. Incredibly, Bonnet did not even attempt to fight further, but lay down his weapon and surrendered with remarkably good grace, his men rapidly following suit. The battle was won, the brigands captured.

Devlin swam back to his ship undetected, donned his pirate’s uniform and hood, and once again confronted his former friend, who was now ensconced in Colonel Rhett’s makeshift brig. “How very wise of you to surrender when you did, Stede,” he commented wryly.

Bonnet eyed him warily. “That voice. I know that voice, yet I cannot place it. Remove your mask and reveal yourself.”

“Nay. I cannot show my face as yet, but you do know me well. We’ve shared a few adventures, you and I, and hoisted a few tankards along the way. Did you not recognize the Gai Mer, though she now flies a new flag and bears a new name?”

“Devlin?” Stede questioned, peering more closely in an attempt to see the man beyond the enveloping mask. “Devlin Kane?”

“One and the same, Stede.”

“Damn your eyes! Why didn’t you say so? And why are you now aligned with those who would hang me? We’re mates, Dev.”

“We were, until you shot holes through the hull of my newest ship back in Charles Town Harbor.”

“I’ll pay for the damage if you’ll but help me escape.”

“I cannot, Stede. Woodes Rogers would not take kindly to that, you see, after I have so recently sworn my fealty to the Crown.”

Bonnet sighed. “Got your amnesty, did you? I considered it as well. Now I wish I had made the voyage to New Providence, rather than chance my luck too far.”

“Aye. If not for Nate and my new bride, I might be in the same spot, right alongside you, a little late and a great deal sorry.”

Sometime later, during the search of Bonnet’s ship, a young woman was found locked in Stede’s quarters. The poor lass was in a pitiful way, half-crazed with fright and pathetically grateful to her rescuers. Some weeks past, Bonnet had captured her and spirited her away with him on the Revenge, keeping her hostage to his private pleasures. Shamed and despoiled, she was nonetheless anxious to be returned to her loving family, who no doubt thought her dead by now.

Upon seeing this unfortunate woman, and learning all she had suffered at Bonnet’s hands, Devlin’s sympathy for Stede immediately vanished. Thinking of Eden, and how he would feel if she had been Stede’s victim, Devlin could only hope the girl’s relatives would receive her back into their keeping with open arms and all the compassion she deserved.

Nate was of a similar mind, though his thoughts went further. “Dev, if ye hadn’t acted so quickly and stopped Stede from sailin’, the poor lass might yet be with him. Though the colonel and his men be claimin’ they saved her, ’twas really yer doin’. I’m right proud o’ ye this day, and Eden will be too, when she hears.”

Devlin scowled at him, ridiculously embarrassed by Nate’s lavish praise. “I’m no bloody hero, Nate, and well you know it.”

“Aye, ye are, Dev,” Nate argued. “Like it or not. By heavens, lad, if ye’re not careful, ye’ll turn into a bloomin’ saint!”