Kate Hoffmann - The Pirate

A sharp crack of thunder obliterated her words. Meredith looked up, startled by the sound. A violent shiver rocked her body and she cried out at the sight before her.

The sky had turned an eerie, luminescent blue and the water below looked like liquid silver, glowing with its own light. Transfixed, Meredith watched as the ghostly images of three square-rigged ships appeared before her eyes, then faded again, behind a shroud of vapor.

Thunder split the silence again and Meredith jumped, her breath catching in her throat. The acrid smell of gunpowder filled the air and she realized that it was not thunder she'd heard, but cannon fire. She tried to crawl to her feet, but her legs refused to move. A cacophony of sound descended around her-men shouting, pistols firing and the unnerving boom of cannons.

From out of nowhere, the wind began to blow, swirling and screeching around her until her eyes watered and her ears rang. The book blew from her hand but she managed to grab it before it had blown too far. Meredith curled into a ball and covered her head with her arms, screaming in terror against the chaos.

And then the ground lurched beneath her and the noise grew more intense, more distinct. Panic was upon her, so overwhelming she felt as if she might be sick. And then the wind stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

Hesitantly, she lifted her head and risked a look around, squinting against a bright light. She still held the book clutched against her chest, but it was no longer night, it was day. And she was no longer in her backyard, but inside a small rowboat. Her gaze followed the length of a tall mast above her and her heart stopped as she came upon a familiar flag snapping in the breeze.

A horned skeleton, white on a black background, held an hourglass in one hand and a dagger in the other. "In league with the devil," Meredith whispered numbly, "and your time is running out." And beneath the dagger, a red heart and three drops of blood. "Surrender," she continued, "or blood will be drawn."

Shoving the book under a mildewed canvas at the bow, she got up and peered over the edge of the rowboat, only to find herself on board a larger ship. Blackbeard's ship!

And from what she could tell, she was caught in the midst of a battle.

All around her, a ragtag army of pirates swarmed the deck, gathering near the cannons that lined one side of the sloop. Many of the men held small wooden kegs under their arms and others hurriedly lugged cannonballs from one side of the ship to the other.

"We've cut the villains in half!"

Meredith turned toward the booming voice. A towering hulk of a man stood in the center of the deck, a man she'd only seen in her mind's eye and old illustrations. But now, the pirate Blackbeard stood before her. And he was alive!

Edward Teach cut a fierce figure, tall and broad-shouldered, his waist-long beard twisted into strands, his bushy black mustache covering his mouth. Over a ragged coat, leather belts crisscrossed his chest with a brace of pistols looped in each. He wielded a cutlass in his left hand and a cocked pistol in his right.

"Damnation," Teach shouted. "The cannons have put us aground!"

Meredith watched, concealed in the ship's tender as the battle of Ocracoke Inlet began to unfold before her eyes. The events were happening exactly as she knew they would. As the crew scurried to refloat the ship, Lieutenant Maynard's two sloops were reeling from the pirate's eight-gun broadside attack. Half of Maynard's Royal Navy contingent was already dead or wounded.

Frantically, Meredith scanned the deck for Griffin. Was he on board the pirate ship? Or had he sailed with Maynard's crew? All she knew was that she had to find him, for she had been dropped into this place and time for a reason. And in her heart, she believed it was to save his life.

Slowly, she pushed to her feet. But before she could get a good look around, the ship lurched again and she tumbled headfirst out of the tender and into a musty pile of wool blankets. The deck rolled beneath her. The Adventure had broken free of the sandbar.

With her head down, Meredith crawled to the rail and wedged herself into a secluded spot behind a coil of rope. Blackbeard's ship lay just off the southern tip of Ocracoke. And out in the Sound, on the other side of the sandbar, Maynard's two sloops were struggling to free themselves from a shallow shoal. The Ranger looked badly damaged, but Maynard's other sloop was now afloat and closing the distance between it and the Adventure .

Meredith squinted across the water at the oncoming sloop. She could clearly see the men on deck, could even hear their shouts. Had there been no danger to her own safety, she could have called Griffin's name, but she remained silent, watching, waiting, fearing discovery.

And then her gaze fell on a familiar figure, standing at the rail of Maynard's sloop. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, then offered up a silent prayer of gratitude. He was still alive! Thank God, Griffin was still alive!

The breeze whipped his long dark hair around his face and fluttered the full sleeves of his white linen shirt. He, too, gazed across the water, his eyes fixed on the bow of Teach's ship. Did he know she was here? He couldn't possibly see her, but could he sense her presence?

With growing trepidation, Meredith watched as history happened before her eyes. Most of the men on board Maynard's ship had mysteriously disappeared, leaving only a few to be seen. Meredith knew they were waiting below deck, on the lieutenant's order, for Blackbeard's men to board. Only then, would they spring from the hold and attack. After what seemed like hours, the Adventure bumped alongside the deserted sloop.

"They were all knocked on the head but three or four," Blackbeard shouted in glee. "Blast you-board her and cut them to pieces!"

Emboldened by the order and armed with pistols and crude hand grenades, the pirates threw the grappling irons out across the bulwarks of Maynard's ship. Before they jumped the rail, they tossed the lit grenades onto the deck. After the explosions, Blackbeard boarded first, followed by ten of his pirates, all of them howling and firing their pistols at the slightest movement.

Through the thick smoke from the hand grenades, Meredith saw Maynard's crew emerge from below deck and engage the pirates in mortal combat. For an instant, she thought she saw Griffin again, but then he disappeared in the melee. Pistols flashed and cutlasses rang, and all around, men shouted.

The battle raged on, every man fighting furiously for his life, the wounded screaming in agony, and the dying shuddering with their last breaths. And in the middle of it all, Blackbeard swung his cutlass in a vicious slashing pattern, felling men all around him.

Again, she caught sight of Griffin, but then lost him. To board the sloop and find him would be folly. Without a weapon, she'd be dead before she took two steps. But she couldn't just watch as the man she loved fought for his life.

And then, she knew it was nearly over, for she had read the account of Blackbeard's final offensive over and over again. First, Lieutenant Maynard engaged the pirate. They both pulled pistols and took aim. Blackbeard's shot missed, but Maynard's tore through the pirate's body. Still, Teach fought on, the powerful blow of his cutlass snapping Maynard's sword at the hilt. The lieutenant fell backward, struggling to cock a second pistol. With perverse delight, Teach held his cutlass aloft, ready to deal Maynard a death blow.

"Rourke!" Maynard shouted.

A tall figure stepped out of the smoke, pistol drawn, sword at the ready.

With a howl of rage, Blackbeard turned on Griffin, the spy who had betrayed him. He swung his cutlass wildly and Griffin jumped back, throwing up his sword in defense, blocking the vicious blow. But the wounded pirate was crazed with fury, attacking like a man gone mad. As Griffin feinted and blocked each thrust of the cutlass, Maynard struggled to his feet to aid his friend and join in the fight. Crazed and bleeding, Blackbeard fought off the lieutenant's advances, as well.