The Minoan Cipher (A Matinicus “Matt” Hawkins Adventure Book 2) Read Free Page B

reveal his shaved blue scalp. The priestess stepped up beside her brother. The commander couldn’t see her features in the waning light but he could sense her anger.
     
    As soon as the ship cleared the harbor, the commander found a cabin for the king’s daughter and her nanny. The girl threw a fit of anger when the commander said that the king was busy and would come later in another ship. The noisy tirade was short, thankfully, and she soon fell asleep.
    The commander curled up under a cloak on the stern deck. He awoke at first light, rose to his feet, and cursed himself for not moving faster to torch the other ships.
    Two sails followed in their wake.
    Minoan ship designers had sacrificed the space needed to quarter a crew of rowers to gain more cargo room. The great ships relied on a highly efficient sail that allowed the ship to run close to the wind, but it was still slower than a fully rowed vessel with sail.
    The captain suggested cutting the yacht loose. The commander told him to wait.
    The pursuers had halved the distance by the end of the day. The captain estimated that they would catch up the following morning. With their superior maneuverability, the smaller ships would run rings around them. Archers posted on the fighting towers could keep them at bay, but only for a while.
    The commander’s jaw hardened in determination. The priestess would assume that he planned to seek safe haven in Egypt, long a friendly port of call for Minoan ships. Again, he would do the opposite of her expectations. As soon as darkness had fallen, he told the captain to change course.
    The captain relayed the order to the helmsman. The ship swung around, and the bird figurehead pointed its beak toward the place where the sun had set. When the sun rose the next morning there wasn’t a sail in sight. The commander brought out the vellum scroll the king had given him and dutifully summarized the flight from the island. Over the next several days he kept a running log of the voyage to the western end of the Mediterranean and around the coast of what one day would be a country known as Spain. The commander wanted to put distance between his ship and Crete.
    They might have escaped if the wind hadn’t died. With no rowing capacity, the ship lay almost motionless in the water. By the time the wind freshened, it was too late. A sail was sighted behind them. The high priestess must have figured out that the commander had detoured. She would have sent one ship to Egypt while the other headed west. Powered by a full crew of rowers, her ship grew closer.
    The commander ordered his men to take defensive positions, but they could do little as the smaller, faster boat dashed in and shot off a barrage of fiery arrows. With its sail ablaze, the great ship came to a halt. The smaller vessel drew closer in preparation for boarding.
    The cargo vessel’s captain rushed up to the commander, and said, “You must take the girl and abandon ship.”
    The suggestion went against every molecule in the commander’s body. “I can’t leave you or my men.”
    “You must. We will stay and fight. The king ordered you to keep his daughter safe.”
    A second flight of arrows landed on the deck and the ardent flames quickly spread. The ship was doomed. The commander dashed below, scooped up the girl in his arms, and told the nanny to follow him back onto the deck. The captain was at the stern, where his men had hauled the yacht alongside. The commander climbed down a rope ladder into the yacht. The girl was tossed down to him. Then the nanny followed.
    He cast off, raised the sail and took the tiller. The fast yacht was well away when the commander looked back and saw that the attacking ship had edged close to the flames. Both ships were enveloped in a billowing black cloud. A puff of wind cleared the air for a second or two, and in that brief instant the commander saw the high priestess at the rail.
    Her mouth was open wide in an inaudible scream. Her clenched