Anne Dray's Arc

Chapter 2 of 28

By dawn the warship floated in the wrecked shipyard, red banner snapping at its bow. Anne stood on the deck and studied the empty water. She had the ship. Now she needed crews to fill it. But Grimjack climbed the ladder fast, his old face gray. "A sail on the reef," he said. "Crown colors. They know you're here." Anne raised her glass. A naval patrol cut through the broken cranes, oars flashing. Behind it came a second boat. They meant to trap her against the sunken docks before she could sail out and gather men. "How long?" she asked. "An hour," Grimjack said. "Maybe less. That warship can't run. The rigging's half rotted." His hand shook on the rail. "I've steered you since you were a girl. I won't watch them hang you over a boat." Emily came up from below, wrench in her fist, grease on her jaw. The exiled shipwright wiped her hands and looked at the crown boats without flinching. She had built ships for kings before the crown threw her out. She knew their patrols. "They'll come straight through the main channel," she said. "It's the only deep water. Everything else is wreckage." "Then we make the wreckage work," Anne said. She turned to Emily. "You know every hull sunk in this yard. Every crane. Every cable." Emily's mouth curved. "I know where the old chains still hang." They moved fast. Emily led two hands to a leaning crane above the channel. Its cable held a load of broken timber, rusted but heavy. Anne climbed with them, salt wind whipping her red hair. Below, a fox darted across a half-sunk deck, ears sharp, then vanished into the wreck. Anne took it as a sign and gripped the release pin. The first patrol boat entered the narrow channel. Oars pulled hard. Sailors watched the warship, not the crane above. Anne waited until the boat sat under the load. Emily nodded. Anne pulled the pin. The cable screamed loose. Timber and iron crashed down. The patrol boat splintered under the weight and sank in seconds. Men spilled into the cold water, shouting. The second boat swung wide, struck a hidden hull, and stuck fast on the wreckage. "Now," Anne called. Her crew heaved on the pumps and hauled the warship toward open sea. The rotted sails filled just enough. The great hull slid past the wrecked patrols and out through the reef. By noon the shipyard shrank behind them. Anne had escaped the trap. But Grimjack stood grim at the wheel. "You didn't kill them all," he said. "Some swam. They saw your face. They saw the banner." He looked at her. "The crown won't send one patrol next time. They'll send a fleet. And every free captain will hear a bounty rides on your head." Anne watched the open water. She needed those captains now more than ever. The question was whether a price on her head would draw them or scare them off.