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.With all attention still focused on the docked schooner, Sam stood and drew her cutlass.She hacked through the dock lines on the bow and amidships unchallenged, leaving the stern line tied to the pier.Skipping to the cockpit, she pulled the jib halyard through its ingeniously mounted block system to a large bronze winch.She wrapped the line around the winch drum, ignoring the blood from her lacerated hands that smeared the line, and cranked the drum’s handle until the sail was aloft and the line taut.Then she grabbed the flapping sheet and hauled on it until the sail snapped, cracked, and filled with the breeze.Manta’s bow swung around as the ship strained against the stern dock line.“Hey! You there! What the bloody hell are ye…”Sam recognized the voice, but didn’t look up.Working as rapidly as she dared, she tied off the sheet, drew her cutlass and slashed at the restraining dock line.The vessel surged forward, the gap between her starboard transom and the dock widening quickly.Feet pounded down the wooden planks and Dura’s bellow of alarm rang out.“You bloody thief! Who the…Billy, what the hell are ye…Get back here, you thief!”Sam looked into the livid dwarf’s face and laughed at her.“Thanks for the fine ship, Dura, but the name’s Sam, not Billy.” She sketched a mocking bow and sheathed her cutlass.“My compliments to Master Ghelfan in the name of Captain Bloodwind!” She spun the wheel to turn the ship into the wind, and dashed forward to loop the mainsail halyard around its winch and crank madly.The great gaff rose ponderously and the mainsail flapped in the breeze.Sam chuckled at the sound of Dura’s shouts and curses ringing through the morning air, then tied off the halyard and turned the ship downwind.Manta leapt forward as her mainsail filled, and Sam fought the wheel for a moment to keep her on course.The ship responded with the speed of a catboat, her double rudders biting hard, snapping her bows around in a heartbeat.The ship was already making an easy five knots, and was still accelerating.“Gotta give that sea witch credit,” she muttered, grinning as she passed the stone pier and the two schooners, “she knows how to design a ship!”More shouts rang out from the pier, echoing Dura’s.She couldn’t resist waving a bloody hand at the amassed crowd.“Thanks for the ship!”“Sam!” a high voice screamed, and she saw him.Tim shoved through the crowd to the fore, waving frantically.“Sam, it’s me! Come back! Father’s here!”She nearly lost her grip on the wheel when she saw the tall figure in the dark blue dress jacket behind her brother.His face, stature and dress hit her mind like a hammer blow, dredging up memories from her past; from Samantha’s past.But she was not Samantha anymore, she was Sam, and that past was no longer hers.She drew her cutlass and stood on the cockpit gunwale, steering with one foot on a spoke of the wheel as she raised her sword and screamed at them, “I have no father! And you’re no brother of mine, you traitor! My father is dead! My father was Captain Bloodwind!”She saw the shock on their faces and laughed, brandished her cutlass once more and steered Manta for the channel and open sea.≈In the chaos that raged on the pier, Tim and Emil Norris stood and stared as Manta sailed out the channel and vanished from view, Sam’s laughter ringing in their ears.Emil had no doubt that the girl was Samantha, but what had happened to her?“Samantha?” His mind didn’t accept what he’d seen; the words that she’d screamed at them.“I don’t understand! Why is she…Who…?”“She’s a pirate, Father,” Tim said, turning to him with a tear-streaked face.“She’s still a pirate.She’ll never come back, now.She’ll never be Samantha again.”“I don’t understand!” The count struggled to maintain his composure, his sanity, in front of his son.“What happened to her?”“Bloodwind,” Camilla said.“She never came back from what he made her, Emil.Not like Tim did.She’s still one of them.”“I don’t accept that! She’s my daughter! If I could just talk to her, she would — ”“I dunno ‘bout no talkin’, but I bloody well won’t be lettin’ her take dat ship!” Chula interrupted, his huge dark hand resting on Camilla’s shoulder [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.With all attention still focused on the docked schooner, Sam stood and drew her cutlass.She hacked through the dock lines on the bow and amidships unchallenged, leaving the stern line tied to the pier.Skipping to the cockpit, she pulled the jib halyard through its ingeniously mounted block system to a large bronze winch.She wrapped the line around the winch drum, ignoring the blood from her lacerated hands that smeared the line, and cranked the drum’s handle until the sail was aloft and the line taut.Then she grabbed the flapping sheet and hauled on it until the sail snapped, cracked, and filled with the breeze.Manta’s bow swung around as the ship strained against the stern dock line.“Hey! You there! What the bloody hell are ye…”Sam recognized the voice, but didn’t look up.Working as rapidly as she dared, she tied off the sheet, drew her cutlass and slashed at the restraining dock line.The vessel surged forward, the gap between her starboard transom and the dock widening quickly.Feet pounded down the wooden planks and Dura’s bellow of alarm rang out.“You bloody thief! Who the…Billy, what the hell are ye…Get back here, you thief!”Sam looked into the livid dwarf’s face and laughed at her.“Thanks for the fine ship, Dura, but the name’s Sam, not Billy.” She sketched a mocking bow and sheathed her cutlass.“My compliments to Master Ghelfan in the name of Captain Bloodwind!” She spun the wheel to turn the ship into the wind, and dashed forward to loop the mainsail halyard around its winch and crank madly.The great gaff rose ponderously and the mainsail flapped in the breeze.Sam chuckled at the sound of Dura’s shouts and curses ringing through the morning air, then tied off the halyard and turned the ship downwind.Manta leapt forward as her mainsail filled, and Sam fought the wheel for a moment to keep her on course.The ship responded with the speed of a catboat, her double rudders biting hard, snapping her bows around in a heartbeat.The ship was already making an easy five knots, and was still accelerating.“Gotta give that sea witch credit,” she muttered, grinning as she passed the stone pier and the two schooners, “she knows how to design a ship!”More shouts rang out from the pier, echoing Dura’s.She couldn’t resist waving a bloody hand at the amassed crowd.“Thanks for the ship!”“Sam!” a high voice screamed, and she saw him.Tim shoved through the crowd to the fore, waving frantically.“Sam, it’s me! Come back! Father’s here!”She nearly lost her grip on the wheel when she saw the tall figure in the dark blue dress jacket behind her brother.His face, stature and dress hit her mind like a hammer blow, dredging up memories from her past; from Samantha’s past.But she was not Samantha anymore, she was Sam, and that past was no longer hers.She drew her cutlass and stood on the cockpit gunwale, steering with one foot on a spoke of the wheel as she raised her sword and screamed at them, “I have no father! And you’re no brother of mine, you traitor! My father is dead! My father was Captain Bloodwind!”She saw the shock on their faces and laughed, brandished her cutlass once more and steered Manta for the channel and open sea.≈In the chaos that raged on the pier, Tim and Emil Norris stood and stared as Manta sailed out the channel and vanished from view, Sam’s laughter ringing in their ears.Emil had no doubt that the girl was Samantha, but what had happened to her?“Samantha?” His mind didn’t accept what he’d seen; the words that she’d screamed at them.“I don’t understand! Why is she…Who…?”“She’s a pirate, Father,” Tim said, turning to him with a tear-streaked face.“She’s still a pirate.She’ll never come back, now.She’ll never be Samantha again.”“I don’t understand!” The count struggled to maintain his composure, his sanity, in front of his son.“What happened to her?”“Bloodwind,” Camilla said.“She never came back from what he made her, Emil.Not like Tim did.She’s still one of them.”“I don’t accept that! She’s my daughter! If I could just talk to her, she would — ”“I dunno ‘bout no talkin’, but I bloody well won’t be lettin’ her take dat ship!” Chula interrupted, his huge dark hand resting on Camilla’s shoulder [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]