Page 54 of Hooked By a Hero
Caspian gaped at the man. Dick had lied to him and Elias, which did not come as any great surprise. Neither was it a surprise that Tumbrill was still alive and leading his band of thieves and murderers. It was not even much of a surprise that the mutineers had spotted them and rowed to the other side of the island, but it enraged Caspian all the same.
“If you value your life,” he growled, tightening his hand on Sutton’s throat to the point where the man could not breathe, “you will run from here and wish to never see the likes of Tumbrill or Dick again.”
When Sutton nodded, tears streaming from his eyes, Caspian squeezed tight one last time before pushing back and standing. He had no further interest in the man or what became of him. His concerns were for Miss Winters.
Maddeningly, Miss Winters had escaped one set of attackers only to run straight into another. One of the men Caspian recognized as a convict had his arms around her in a bearhug and was whipping her back and forth as if to force her to give up so he could drop her to the ground.
Again, Caspian didn’t hesitate. He bolted for the man and threw a carefully placed fist on the side of his jaw. The blow landed perfectly, sending the once-bulky man flopping to the ground. He took Miss Winters with him, but Caspian was quick to help her free of the man’s grasp and to get her to her feet.
“They came for us, the women,” Miss Winters sobbed, clinging tightly to Caspian. “When they attacked, Dick led them in chants of ‘women and wealth, women and wealth’.”
Caspian wanted to ask her more, but she buried her face against his shoulder, weeping like she might lose her mind. He did not blame her one bit. If the mutineers truly were after the women, it was likely all of them would have suffered horrors beyond description.
The women still might be in danger of such treatment if the valiant survivors were defeated. Everywhere Caspian looked, the battle continued to rage. The survivors seemed equally matched against the mutineers, which was a blessing, but while the mutineers all looked weak and hungry, the survivors were mostly ordinary men who were not particularly fit and likely had little experience with fighting.
“Get away from her!”
Caspian turned to find Mr. Archer racing toward them, some sort of club that looked like one of the pegs that had held ropes in place on theFortuneraised above him. Archer skittered to a stop when he saw it was Caspian holding Miss Winters close and not one of the mutineers.
“Robert!” Miss Winters cried when she saw who had come to her rescue. She pushed away from Caspian and into Archer’s arms.
Archer caught her and held her close, then glanced up and met Caspian’s eyes. “They attacked just after dark,” he said. “That bastard must have been luring them to our camp with his incessant noise.”
Caspian felt no victory in knowing his guess had been right.
“They are no better than savages,” Archer went on. “They are all starving and in rags. Tumbrill could not stop half of them from descending on our food stores like locusts and eating their fill while the others smashed and burned whatever they could.We might have suffered greater losses if the convicts who had abandoned the others and who are loyal to us had not fought so valiantly on our behalf. But then the blackguards went for the women.”
Caspian nodded and glanced around the encampment. Archer spoke as if the battle were over, but it continued to rage around them. Hunt now stood with Ruby, either defending her or fighting alongside her as three of the mutineers attempted to kill him to get to her. On the other side of the encampment, Dick and one of the other mutineers held a small but clearly very heavy trunk between them and appeared to be attempting to carry it to the path that led to the beach.
“Ferrars’s treasure,” Caspian whispered. “Women and wealth. This is still all about stealing Ferrars’s treasure for Dick, and he wants to take the women, too.”
“Yes, he must,” Archer said, mistakenly thinking Caspian was talking to him.
Caspian nodded to him, then dashed off on a course to intercept Dick and hopefully return Ferrars’s treasure to where it belonged. He only got a few yards before someone swung some sort of blunt weapon and hit his arm.
The blow was weak and clumsy, but it was enough to distract Caspian from his path. He turned to find a wide-eyed, hollow-cheeked former sailor staring back at him, fearful that he might fight back.
“Drop your weapon and run!” Caspian shouted at the man. He grabbed for the man’s club, and to his surprise, the emaciated sailor let it go and stumbled back.
“Fight, you swine!” Tumbrill’s rough voice shouted somewhere behind the man. “I ordered you to fight!”
The sailor looked even more terrified. He glanced between Tumbrill and Caspian, then made up his mind and ran.
Tumbrill jerked after him, but when he saw Caspian standing there, he froze and all color drained from his face. “You!” he gasped.
“You will drop your weapons and beg forgiveness from Hunt right now,” Caspian growled at the man, marching toward him with the club raised.
“Hunt?” Tumbrill spat the name, regaining some of his senses. “Why would I do anything but run that weaselly surgeon through? And why should I listen to a dead man?”
Caspian saw at once that he’d underestimated Tumbrill. He was far heartier than any of the others still attacking the camp, and he had a sword. He brought that sword slicing through the air, intending to cut Caspian from shoulder to hip, but Caspian held the club up to block him. Tumbrill’s sword slammed right into the club and held there for a moment, but Tumbrill was able to use that to yank the club out of Caspian’s hand.
Caspian did not allow himself to hesitate. While Tumbrill still held the sword and club aloft, Caspian lunged into him, using his shoulder as he had with the other men. Tumbrill was heavier and bulkier, though, and Caspian was unable to knock him off his feet. The best he could do was knock the wind out of the man for a second.
That was all the time Caspian needed to grab for the handle of Tumbrill’s sword. Tumbrill’s grip slipped for a moment, but he recovered far too soon. He swung his other hand around like he would pry Caspian’s hand off his, but Caspian did the same. The result was the two of them grappling closely for control of the sword with neither of them gaining the upper hand.
Until someone shouted, “Dick has the treasure!”
That broke Tumbrill’s concentration just long enough for Caspian to wrench him off balance. Once that was done, Caspian kicked Tumbrill’s knee with his heel.
