“He ain’t gonna know unless ye tell’im!” Thefirstmansnapped.He gave a gruff exhale.“Ye’re justjumpybecause ofwhot we were haulin’.”
Fallon’s gazedarted back and forth between the whisky vat and the crate of woolthat she was wedged in between.She narrowed her eyes. If that was truly what was in there, then she didn’t see such cause for concern, but if it was somethingelse…
“That damned Raven! We wouldn’t have t’ smuggle these blasted weapons to the soldiers o’ th’ other side o’ th’ damned coastif it wasn’t for his piratical nonsense!”
“What was that?”
Fallon calledherself every sort of fool for allowing that gasp to escape. That little slip of surprise could have very well cost her life.Wasn’t ither luck to find out that theinnocuousship she’d chosen to board would be carrying weapons for the Britishmilitary?
But as footsteps began to shuffle closer to where she was, she realized that she had other things to worry about at the moment.
“I think it came from over there.”
Fallon prayed as thethreat of discovery was upon her. She waited with bated breath as paralyzing fear rosealongher spine. The fine hairs on the back of her neck roseand she shuther eyes tightly, as if that would somehow makeit all go away.
“Bloody’ell!”
Fallon’s heartnearly stopped as the second man gave a yelp.
“Aw, stop yer blubberin’.It was just a rat.”The first man crunched his cheroot beneath his bootheel as his companion began to stammer.
“D-damn, but I hate those b-blasted rodents!Let’s get out o’’ere.”
Several minutes passedin silencebefore Fallon felt as though it was safe enough to breathe properly. She leaned against the crate at her back and took a moment to gather her wits before she dared toremove the canvasaround her in order toinspect thecartons.Whenthe young ladhad smuggled her into the hold earlier that night, she hadn’t bothered to really look at her surroundings. Now, she realized that there were several boxes markedaswool.But if what the crewmen said was true, and she had no doubt that it was, there was enough weapons down here to outfit asmallarmy.
She worried her lower lip. This wasn’t goodnews at all, foritcould bedetrimentaltoIreland’s causeif they reached the soldiers, but it could also mean trouble for the Raven.
And that concerned hermost of all.
***
Fallonmanaged to fall into a fitful sleepfrom exhaustion, but when the first staggering lurch struck the hull, she was wide awake.
Imagining that they had run into a violent storm, for she could hear the mixture of shouts and cursing comingfrom above her, she scrambled to her feet and stumbled to the small porthole. It was still dark, but she didn’t need to see to know what was happening. As another shuddershook the woodenhulland watersuddenlybegan rushing into the hold, she realized it wassomuch worse than a storm.
They were underattack!
As the deafening blasts of cannon fire continued to pummel the vessel, shecried out as splinters of the wooden ship rained down around her. She ran for the stairs, knowing that hersolechance of survival would be to climb to the upper decks, but even then, it might not be enough to save her, for by the way the vessel was groaning, she had the feeling itwouldn’t be long before theFlying Swanwasatthe bottom of the sea.
Fallonhad justreached the bottom step when another forceful explosion sent her flying backward. She landed with a splash in theknee-deepwater steadily swirling about the cargoand wasinstantly drenched from head to toe. She struggled to regain her footing in the midst of thepitching and rollingship, butit didn’t take much for her to lose traction once again.This timewhen she fell,her head struck one of the crates and for a moment, she was disoriented.When the cold water splashed herin theface,sheblinked, chokingon the salt filling her mouth thatthreatenedto coax her into an earlygrave.
Shegritted her teeth against the throbbinginher temple and staggeredbackto her feet. Black spots threatened, but shepushedher way past them. She wasnotgoing to diehere. Notlike this.
As booming blasts continued tocripplethe ship, Fallon clutched the stair railing and crawledmore than walkedup each agonizing step.Her teeth were chattering, but she wasn’t sure if it was due to her sodden clothes or the pounding in her skull.
By the time she made it to the top deck,the deep shuddershadceased.Lurching forthe rail, shetook great heaving breathsas she glanced around at the ruined ship. The once proud maststhat had been standing tallwere broken, their majestic sails hanging limplyin defeat.Dead men littered the deck, their crimson blood staining thewoodas their sightless eyes were no longer filled with emotion of any kind.The men that were still standing were doing their best to hang on amidst the carnage as the sound of steel on steel clanged loudly in her ears.
Fallonshuddered, closing her eyes temporarily against the sightof so much destruction. It wasat odds with thedawning ofthenew day, thesunrise juststarting topeek over the horizon, painting the violet sky with orange andscarletred streaks.
Canon smoke still lingered in the air, but instead of decreasing, it began to consume her, and that’s whenFallonglanced around andrealized that it wasn’tremnantsfrom the battle, but because a fire had broken out on deck. The wood creaked as the flames grew inintensity, thegreedyheat quickly consuming everything in its path.
Shelookedfor something she could use to escape,and spied a lifeboat a short distance away.Knowing that freedom was so close at hand, sherushedfor it, butabruptlytripped over one of the bodies that lay in her path. Tears instantly swam before her visionas she recognizedthe lad that had smuggled her into the hold.
She shoved down the bile that threatened,and ignoring her consciencefor the moment, she reached down and withdrew the shining steel barrel of theWebley revolverstill clutched in his palm.She didn’t know if it had been fully discharged, but at least it would make someone think twice if they wanted to make troublefor her.
For a moment, Fallon stared at the weapon in her hand as if in a trance, knowing that the Royal Irish Constabulary carried the same sort of gun, forshe had heardit was what had brought her grandfather down during that fateful raid in Dublin.
She ground her teeth as she shoved the pistol in the waistband of her trousers as memories of the past collided with the chaos of the present.She wanted independence for Ireland as much as any other patriot, but it seemedthis horrible fightingwouldnever end.
