Ocean Without End Read Free Page A

Algiers taking Christian slaves, or Knights of Malta capturing Muslim slaves, or just fishermen down on their luck. It’s best to be safe out of their way.’
    â€˜I don’t understand why they’ve attacked the town. It makes no sense.’
    â€˜Perhaps there’s gold in the fort, or maybe it’s just gunpowder they’re after.’
    â€˜They’ve used enough of that today.’
    â€˜Aye, indeed,’ she said. ‘Maybe they were just hungry, and the sight of a market town made their mouths water. Some pirates don’t need a reason.’
    â€˜What would my father have done, if he’d seen them attack this morning?’ I wondered aloud.
    â€˜He’d have sent us up here, and then gone down to fight anyone he could lay his hands on.’
    Mama laughed at some memory she couldn’t share.
    â€˜We used to come up here many a time, before you were born. Life was much more dangerous then. We lived through many days such as this when I was your age, when the seas were filled with marauders and not a month went by without a ship taken, people killed — your grandparents amongst them. But the last few years, with all those French and British Navy ships sailing about battling each other, the pirates seemed to vanish. I suppose they’d gone off to harass some other poor folk. Now they’ve come back. Mrs Brisket, bless her, and the others, they’ve forgotten how it used to be. But not me. I’ll never forget.’
    I was feeling sleepy now and nestled down beside her, my head in her lap. She stroked my hair.
    â€˜My father wouldn’t be afraid of pirates,’ I murmured.
    â€˜No, he was never afraid. It got him into strife, but I loved him for it.’
    â€˜I don’t remember him very well,’ I confessed.
    â€˜Never fear, my darling girl,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll remember for both of us. Now, sleep.’
    I woke in the dark a few hours later. The dusty cave floor was hard as marble, and damp as winter. Every muscle hurt.
    Down below in Santa Lucia township, the shooting had finally stopped, although from time to time, as I lay with my arms wrapped tight around me, I could hear a musket firing from the ramparts.
    There was a glimmering of moonlight outside the cave. I struggled to my feet and tiptoed out. The town was quiet, but not still. It was an ancient groaning beast, stirring to defend itself from attack. Beyond it, the ocean shimmered silver, and against the light was a familiar shape — the pirate ship, tacking around Seal Rock outside the harbour. They were leaving.
    I skipped down the hill to watch them go, and settled on a tussock where I could see the whole bay and clear out to sea. My whole body relaxed with a breath, so completely that I realised that I’d been tight with fear all day. Somewhere a nightingale sang. What a perfect night. There was just enough of a breeze to see the pirates on their way, and enough light for me to watch them go.
    I thought of my friend Flynn, his hands tight around a musket, peering into the dark across the harbour. But perhaps he was wounded. Or dead.
    Like my father. Or was my father marooned on a lonely rock somewhere in the vast Mediterranean? Somewhere near Malta. Waiting for someone to come to his rescue. Waiting for Lucas and me to come to his rescue.
    As soon as we’re old enough we’ll go in search of him, I whispered into the darkness. As soon as we can buy some provisions and a bigger boat, we’ll set sail to find our father. If he’s still alive.
    I wasn’t watching the path. I wasn’t even listening to the sounds around me. Still, I don’t know how they crept up so close without me hearing. First thing I heard was the click of the musket being cocked just behind me.
    â€˜Now then, what are you doing out here all alone?’ someone whispered.
    I turned around very slowly, hardly daring to breathe.
    In the darkness I could make