Connie grabbed Lowri’s arm. Her nails dug in. ‘Wreckers. We must go, now. We shouldn’t have come.’ Her face was twisted, and the wind almost took her words away. ‘They set those fires. A ship out to sea, in darkness and bad light, would think this is a village, a port, a safe haven. They are leading that ship to her doom.’
There were people on the beach, their faces rapt in the light of the fire. Connie pointed at one lump of a man. ‘There’s Heap, Butcher’s right-hand man. Where he goes, so does his master.’
Lowri scanned the beach, squinting in the fading light, and finally spotted Butcher. He was shouting into the face of another man, and that man was Cullen.
Lowri glanced back out to sea, bending into the wind because it was fierce enough to knock her off her feet. The ship lurched into shore. Her sails had been trimmed, but the onshore wind was relentless. In no time at all, she hit the rocks with a terrible crash, followed by a scraping groan as their teeth tore a hole in her flank. The ship listed to one side and hung there until another huge wave pushed her further into shore.
‘She’s doomed,’ cried Connie, crossing herself.
‘We must help.’ Lowri set off running, but Connie grabbed hold of her and wrestled her to the ground.
‘There’s nought you can do.’
‘But some might survive. We have to help them.’
‘And get our skulls bashed in for our trouble? These men are ruthless. If they can bring down a ship for her cargo, they can killus for witnessing it, or cut out our tongues so we cannot tell on them. Please, lass. Cullen will help if he can. He doesn’t want us here.’
Would he help, or was he part of this? Where had he been and what had he been doing all day while she was in Garron? Lowri’s trust in him was broken beyond repair, so she feared the worst. Lowri tore free of Connie’s hold. ‘Go back if you like, but I am staying.’
‘They’ll come from far and wide to take what gets washed up. When a ship wrecks, ‘tis just the bounty of the sea to these folk. They see it as their right. They care not about the crew.’ She grabbed Lowri’s hand. ‘Life is cheap here, lass, and by dawn, this place will be picked clean, nought but corpses floating on the tide. You are in terrible danger if you stay.’
But Lowri stood her ground and would not leave. Connie shook her head and hurried back up the path, leaving Lowri alone. Shouts rang out from the beach, and rain started to pelt down as the stricken vessel sank lower in the water. More people flitted out of the gathering darkness, heading to the sea. They were coming from far and wide, like crows drawn to the scent of carrion.
Lowri ran down to the beach with a group of people. She could no longer see Cullen anywhere. Over the sound of the wind, she heard faint cries for help, so she scoured the darkness, looking for survivors. A few poor souls were trying to swim to shore, or floated helplessly, clinging to flotsam from the wreck.
It seemed to take an age, but eventually barrels and packages began to wash up, along with a man, flailing and weak, struggling to stand in the surf. Folk ignored him and rushed to claim the cargo. A shot rang out further down the beach, and she spotted Cullen with his arm in the air, standing in a groupof people. They backed away. The man who had escaped crawled up the sand towards her, and as she was about to go to him, Heap walked up to him. But instead of hauling him out, he put a foot to his back and shot him in the head.
Lowri aimed her pistol at him. Heap spotted her and pulled another pistol from his belt and aimed back. Lowri staggered back and would have fallen, save for a strong arm holding her up.
‘Get back, Heap,’ shouted Butcher. ‘Don’t test me.’
Heap retreated down the beach, shouting orders and hurling people aside who were trying to salvage the cargo.
‘Easy, lass,’ said Butcher, grabbing Lowri’s hand and lowering the pistol. ‘Don’t get shot for the sake of these animals.’ He began to drag her towards the dunes with brutish strength.
‘But your man, Heap, he just murdered that…’
‘Aye, but do you think I can control Heap when his blood is up? He was born here. This is his way of life. I can no more control these people than I can stop the tide.’
The wind took Lowri’s breath away, and she was numb with cold by the time they reached the meagre shelter of the dunes. ‘Stop,’ she shouted.
Butcher relented and let go his iron grip. ‘We should keep going until we are well clear,’ he cried.
‘You did this,’ spat Lowri.
‘No. I did not.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Aye, and with good cause, I am sure. But I swear, I did not set those fires and lure that ship in, and the men who did willbe punished. I came here to help these poor wretches, but I see now that I cannot.’ He looked down the beach, his face stricken, running with rain, black hair sticking to his face. ‘It is chaos.’
‘You are a villain, the worst kind of murderer,’ shouted Lowri, clutching the pistol hard.
Butcher put his face in hers. ‘Why am I the villain, lass? Because I want you, and make no secret of it? Because I ply my trade, smuggle and cheat. I do all of that.’ He jabbed a finger in her face. ‘But I don’t lie to you about my lust or force you into wedlock to assuage it. Your husband is no better than me. Aye, he is a lot worse. Open your eyes to the better bet, lass. Cullen is a Macaulay, and there is not an honest bone in his body.’
Lowri had to fight back tears of despair. She took a step away from Butcher, but he came closer.
‘If you have to lie with a villain to get out of the trap you are in, lass, then at least make it your choice of villain, not his.’
