“Come!” Robert urged her.
They fought to the top of the stairway. The Hawk fought his way closer and closer to them, and then he was suddenly beside them, his steel bathed in blood. They entered into the hallway, then he pushed open the door to the room where they had been. He shoved her inside, then Robert, then entered himself.
“The bed!” he roared to Robert.
Between them they shoved the bed against the door. Swords and knives hacked against it. It would burst open soon, Skye thought, in a bare matter of seconds.
The Hawk was already across the room and to the window. He picked up the hearth chair and sent it shattering against the murky panes. He jerked the dirty drapes down and wrapped them quickly about his wrist, shoving aside the broken glass. Then he turned to her. “Come on.”
“What?” she demanded incredulously. “We’re on the second floor, Captain Hawk. You—you and Robert can jump. I cannot!”
“You can!” Robert assured her. “You will be all right. It’s our only chance. It—”
“Oh, for the love of God, Robert! We have to go!”
Skye screamed as the Hawk suddenly strode to her and swept her up and brought her straight to the window. He did not pause, nor could she begin to fight his movement or his speed.
He meant to kill her! He meant to cast her straight out of the window!
He did just that, tossing her instantly. She screamed for all that she was worth as she fell and fell into the night, then her scream was silenced and her breath was swept away as she landed hard upon a stack of hay. A body fell near hers, and then another. She tried to scramble up. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t believe that she was alive.
Skye pushed herself up at last.
“Go, Jacko!” the Hawk called out.
And Skye fell again, flat on her back, as the hay wagon that held her jerked forward. She tried to struggle up again, but the ride was rickety and so swift she could barely move. Fingers curled around hers. “Lie still!”
The wagon came to a halt. The Hawk and Robert leaped down, then their driver, Jacko. The Hawk reached for Skye, lifting her up, and she recognized Jacko from her days aboard the pirate ship. He bowed to her with a broad grin. “’Evening, milady!”
They stood upon the dock. Skye could hear the lap of the water. “My God, how did you know to double back?” Robert demanded of the Hawk.
“I didn’t like the look on some of the men’s faces as I left,” the Hawk said briefly. “Jacko here thought to borrow the wagon and head around back to the windows, for which I am eternally grateful.”
“We have to move,” Jacko said. “Any minute now they shall discover the room empty, and the bulk of our men have headed out. They’ll have to run themselves, with the militia coming. We’ve got to reach the ship, and quickly, Captain.”
“What about Lady Cameron?” Robert asked.
The Hawk looked her up and down and then issued an exasperated sigh. “She comes with us. We’ve no choice. I cannot send her back, even with the militia coming. There are no guarantees.” He caught Skye’s arm and jerked her up against him. “Madame, I have said it before, and I say it again. You are trouble!”
She jerked away, her fingers still tight about the sword she had plucked from the slain ruffian. “You pirated my ship, Captain Hawk! Bear that in mind, sir! Had you lived an honest life, we’d have never met!”
“That thought could, indeed, make a cutthroat repent, milady. I shall bear it in mind. Now, let’s go!”
He stepped toward her and she was afraid of some fight, but he merely swept her up into his arms and took another step with balanced precision into the darkness beneath them. She muffled a cry of alarm, for they had merely come down into the longboat, and Jacko and Robert were following them. The men quickly picked up oars, and they slid away, silently, into the night.
The Hawk leaned toward her suddenly. She was shivering; she had grown very cold despite her cloak.
“Milady, I dare not light a lamp. Will you be all right.”
She nodded. His eyes remained fixed on hers.
Suddenly the soft sound of the oars dipping against the water was drowned by the shouts and fury that emanated from the tavern. “Company comes!” Jacko laughed.
“Ah, and I fear too late!” Robert said, pleased. Skye quickly looked back toward the land. The rogues from the tavern were spilling out to the stretch of land before the docks. They raced for their boats, but even as they sought the water, an explosion of shots was heard on the air.
“The militia,” Robert murmured.
“They’ll be taken?” Skye whispered.
