Free My Pirate Lover by Lexie Stewart

to cry, “No!” and tried to blow the spark out. That of course, didn’t work so Lance whipped a dagger from his belt and cut the fuse.
    “I can’ t do it!” he said. “I just can’t fire on my own ship!” He got to his feet and glared at those with him and then a cocky grin spread across his face. “Maybe we should throw a party of our own,” he said. “And everyone’s invited.”
    “What, even Bloody?” asked Lenny.
    “Especially Bloody.”
    #
    “Ahoy there!” Lance yelled through the speaking trumpet. The pirates on Ripple Thief were drunk and the music very loud. They didn’t hear him. He yelled again and was again ignored so he gave a signal to Lenny and Curry.
    Lenny and Curry loaded up a cannon with the skulls they’d taken down from the bowsprit. Lenny lit the fuse, stepped back and stuck a finger in his ear.
    The cannon boomed and rolled back violently before getting caught by its breeching. Smoke filled the air and white bones rattled through the sky.
    Over on Ripple Thief, it was raining skulls and mandibles.
    The rowdy pirates stopped partying.
    The music was promptly turned off and Captain Bloody appeared, his beard soggy with grog and a skull in one hand.
    Lance grabbed a rope and leapt up onto the rail.
    “Ahoy, there!” he called cheerily through the speaking trumpet.
    “Lance! You son of a-”
    “Bloody, me old mate! How’s the party? I just wanted to say thanks for the ship!”
    Captain Bloody didn’t need a speaking trumpet to be heard. He bellowed out his rage like a wild bull and threw curses across the water. He pulled back his arm and hurled the skull he held. It fell short of hitting Lance, and smashed against The Bloody Throne’s hull.
    Lance waved goodbye and dropped down onto the deck.
    “That should get him over here,” he said to his men.
    From across the water Captain Bloody yelled, “Raise the red flag!”.
    #
    “Stay here!” said Lance, pointing at Josephine as she sat demurely on a chair.
    “Sure,” said Josephine. She didn’t want to be in Captain Bloody’s cabin. It stank and held bad memories for her.
    “Not like before,” said Lance. “Not like when I said, ‘stay!’ and you said (he stuck out his chest, shrugged up his shoulders and said in a high voice) ‘aye, aye, Cap’n .” Lance scowled. “And then you turn up at my side with a sword and facial hair! This time, you’re to stay put, safe and sound, away from all the bloodthirsty pirates. Except me. Understood?”
    “Understood,” said Josephine.
    “And you!” Lance whirled on Lenny making the poor man shake so hard his bony knees started knocking. “You’re to stay with her and make sure she doesn’t leave!”
    “Aye, aye, Cap’n!” said Lenny.
    “Good,” said Lance. “I’ll take care of Bloody and then I’ll be back.”
    Josephine muttered something.
    “What was that?” asked Lance sharply.
    “I said, that’s what you said before when you left me on the island,” said Josephine. “And you didn’t come back, did you?”
    “And do you know what that taught me?”
    “No, what?”
    “To never leave anything important unsaid. Josephine of the other-world, I love you.”
    Josephine was stunned. Before she could find her voice for a response, Lance was gone.
    #
    Captain Bloody and his men swarmed The Bloody Throne with the confidence of knowing that they greatly outnumbered their enemy.
    They might not have felt so confident had they known that Lance had covered the ship with booby traps.
    Cannons were everywhere, waiting at the bottom of the stairs, the ends of dark corridors and inside rooms, ready to fire when the door opened.
    There were also buckets of hot tar balanced on top of doors, ropes pulled taut at ankle level, and bullets, grapeshot and caltrops scattered over the deck making it as slippery as ice.
    And, of course, the galley slaves were waiting to ambush the pirates who made it through the gauntlet.
    “Where is he?” bellowed Captain Bloody as his men fell