Doctor Who_ The Roundheads - Mark Gatiss [89]
‘So we are!’ cackled Winter. ‘So we are! I shall see the whole of Stanislaus’s miserable crew marooned on those flats.’
Ben looked about desperately. The channel they were sailing up was growing narrower and narrower and the sails of the Teazer loomed so close behind that they appeared to be reaching over Ben’s head.
There was a loud crack and a musket ball whistled past Ben’s car, He turned back to Winter but was astonished to see that the captain had vanished.
She had lashed the wheel on to the ship’s course with rope.
Cursing to himself, Ben scrambled up the rigging and threw himself down on to the wheel platform. Sleety rain and sea spray coursed down his face as he tried to untie the bulky knots that the captain had tied into the rope.
His hands slid over the saturated surface and he dug his nails desperately into the wet twine.
Then he felt the great weight of Winter’s hands descend on to his.
‘Nay, belay there, Ben!’ screamed the sailor, her black eye flashing.
Ben threw up his hands. ‘AlI right! You get on with it, Sal.
Just let me get off this ship and back to London.’
Winter looked wounded. ‘I shall not abandon you, friend.’
‘I know that,’ shouted Ben, glancing feverishly about, convinced that another bullet would shortly find its way into his skull.
‘I’m not trying to force a confrontation,’ cried Winter, gazing ahead at the encroaching mud.
‘Looks very like it to me.’
Winter shook her massive head. ‘Nay, Ben. We could never outrun the Teazer, damaged as she is. The Pole would keelhaul us and sail straight up Old Father Thames with that Dutch package of his.’
Ben’s strained face betrayed his exasperation. ‘But he’ll do that anyway if we finish up in the mud!’
Winter looked Ben in the eye but seemed to be staring right through him. ‘’Tis your task now, Ben. Alone. The Pole will get no further. This is where our conflict ends.’
As though for dramatic emphasis, the Demeter suddenly lurched and there was a deep, percussive boom as she slammed into the mud banks.
Ben and Winter were thrown down and the captain slid across the wet deck like a coin across a wooden board.
The prow of the ship rose up in the air and Ben found himself tumbling towards the rail.
Just as suddenly, the ship seemed to settle and there was a moment of strange calm with only the lashing of the elements audible.
Then the Teazer‘s cannon roared out, hitting the Demeter at point-blank range. The fo’c’sle erupted in flame, deadly shards of ancient wood streaking through the air like fiery darts.
Ben threw himself down and covered his head. ‘Sal?’ he bellowed.
But the captain had disappeared again.
The cannons spoke again, missing this time, and a ball slapped into the black mud that now embraced the ship, sending a choking, filthy plume high into the air.
Ben struggled to his feet and tottered across the deck, then he fell to his knees again as the vessel was struck amidships by the Teazer, which had now run aground herself.
There was a tremendous splintering groan as the prow of Stanislaus’s ship ripped through the heart of her, scraping through the woodwork like a chisel.
What remained of the Demeter‘s crew were swarming all over the grounded vessel. Ben watched as they took on Stanislaus’s men in yet more fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
Determined to find Winter, Ben clattered through the debris until he found himself peering over on to the deck of the Teazer.
He swallowed nervously at the sight that met his eyes.
Young Hugh the cabin boy stood at Stanislaus’s side, his eyes wide open in desperate appeal. They stood near the shattered remains of Stanislaus’ cabin which looked like a massive, blackened flower, charred beyond recognition by Winter’s bomb. There were signs of the explosion all over the ship. Shards had streaked into her fine woodwork and powder had darkened the deck for yards around. The bomb had done its job, thought Ben with a sigh, but its intended victims had obviously been well clear.
Some of Stanislaus’s crew were grouped around them with Godley and the Dutchman close by.
Stanislaus held his