Armada (7 page)

Robert turned his attention to the chaotic scene of the supply fleet once more. He smiled. The prize from such an attack would be substantial and as the master of a galleon his share could well be in excess of a year’s pay on board his own ship, the
Spirit
. Drake’s unorthodox change in the established plan had been inspirational, for without supplies the Spanish war fleet in Lisbon were hamstrung and Robert whispered a prayer of thanks. England would surely be spared the threat of invasion for another season.

‘
The wages of sin is death sayeth the Lord
,’ Robert heard and he turned to see Seeley approach, his face twisted in a malicious grin. ‘Today, with His guiding hand, we have shown the papists that they are not safe from our wrath anywhere, on the Main, in the Atlantic and now in their own home waters.’

Robert nodded, sharing that joy, although he felt a thread of unease as he looked at the younger man’s manic face, conscious that, to Seeley, the triumph of England took second place to the triumph of his faith.

‘Where is the
Spy
?’ the master’s mate asked.

‘Two hundred yards off the larboard beam,’ Robert replied, pointing to the English pinnace drawing away from a merchantman many times its size.

Captain Morgan had taken a hundred crewmen of the
Retribution
on board the
Spy
at the outset of the attack on the upper harbour and had thereafter ravaged at least a half-dozen vessels, boarding each with impunity, the watching guns of the galleons making the Spanish mindful only of their lives and not of their possessions. The pinnace turned towards the
Retribution
and Robert saw the captain signal to him from the fore deck of the
Spy
. The two ships drew alongside.

‘Mister Varian, man the longboat with twenty armed men and make haste to follow me to that galleon,’ Morgan shouted with elation, pointing to the Spanish warship amidst the remaining untouched merchantmen, ‘I mean to take her and I want you to command the prize crew.’

‘Aye, Captain,’ Robert replied with gusto. ‘Coxswain to the main! Launch the boat!’

Robert looked to the Spanish galleon. There were men on the quarter- and poop decks. They were motionless and Robert paused, his brow creasing in puzzlement. The Spanish crew’s attitude was completely at odds with the pandemonium on board the surrounding Spanish ships. He quickly dismissed his hesitation. The only other Spanish galleon in the upper harbour had fallen in the opening minutes of the battle without a shot fired and Robert could only assume the Spaniards he could see were merely resigned to that same fate, knowing there was no escape.

The longboat was launched and Robert followed the last of twenty men down the rope ladder, taking station at the stern.

‘Lay on, boys,’ the coxswain shouted and the boat drew away under oars.

The
Spy
was already weaving its way towards the Spanish galleon but Robert ordered the coxswain not to follow. The smaller size of his boat allowed them to take a more direct route and they kept pace with the approach of the faster pinnace. The Spanish galleon towered over them as the longboat drew closer. Robert kept his gaze locked on the Spaniards he could see and the muzzles of the cannons on the gun and main decks. The coxswain deftly altered the course of the boat to spoil any aim as the cover from the surrounding boats fell away. Robert felt uneasy, not only because they were exposed under enemy guns, but again because the Spanish crew, although they had no weapons in hand, seemed strangely unperturbed by the approach of the longboat and pinnace.

The longboat was twenty yards from the galleon when the
Spy
swept in across its course. Morgan brought the starboard of the pinnace up against the hull of the galleon below the main deck and ordered the crew to lash on before leading them aboard. Robert brought the longboat up against the larboard of the
Spy
. He and his men boarded and crossed the deck of the pinnace. They drew their swords as they did so while others nursed the flames on the slow match of their arquebuses.

Robert glanced at the aft decks of the galleon and noticed that the Spaniards there had disappeared. Ahead of him Morgan and more than twenty men were already on the main deck, with more clambering up to join them, their infectious enthusiasm for such an easy prize spurring them on. The men of the longboat joined the back of the push, each man eager to get aboard and find some part of the plunder they could claim as their own. Robert’s misgivings were lost in the rush and he led his men in their calls to those in front to hasten their step while all the while the Spanish guns remained quiet.

Evardo tried to quell the blood lust in his veins as he held his men in check. Their hunger for the order to charge was a palpable force in the confines of the enclosed main deck under the quarter. He looked out through a chink in the door. The English were fanning out across the main deck. Thirty men, now forty, their weapons drawn but loosely held. The enemy were still thrilled by the ease of their boarding but Evardo knew it would not last. Their wits were sure to return and they would soon question the deserted decks. He looked to the man leading the English, studying his expression.

Evardo drew up his hand and the two gunners stepped forward, smouldering linstocks in their hands. When the English began their attack on the outer edges of the fleet hours before Evardo had begun his own preparations for the defence of the
Halcón
. The crew had hauled two
medio cañónes
from their positions at the stern end of the main deck and brought them forward to behind the doors leading to the open main deck, lashing them to new mountings in the bulkhead. They were loaded with grapeshot and the crew now stood poised behind them, their weapons drawn, their eyes locked on their captain.

Evardo looked at Abrahan and the older man nodded. They were ready. He set his gaze on the English captain one last time and then backed away from the door to stand between the cannons. The grapeshot would splinter the door into a thousand pieces, adding to the carnage. He glanced at the two gunners and then slowly drew his own sword. The blade rasped against the mouth of the scabbard. He drew in a breath, summoning up the depths of his will to banish the English from his deck and let fly his command with a roar that gave vent to the fury of his soul.

‘
¡Fuego!
’

The firestorm consumed the Englishmen closest to the door in a hail of iron and timber. The grapeshot ripped through their flesh to fly onwards to the men behind and the air was whipped by the passing of a thousand missiles as the thunderous roar of the cannons and billowing smoke overwhelmed the main deck. The cannonade slaughtered twenty men, obliterating them at a stroke, while twice that number fell with shattered limbs and torn flesh, and the deafening blast was echoed by the screams of dying men.

Robert was blown to the deck, the men around him falling like sheaves under the sickle as the shock wave blasted over them. The air was rent from Robert’s lungs and a cry of pain caught in his throat as a shard of bone pierced his left arm. He stumbled up and reached out for the bulwark he had cleared only moments before at the head of his men. He was surrounded by turmoil. The uninjured stood dazed while underfoot the injured screamed on the blood-soaked deck.

The smoke began to clear and Robert looked for the captain, seeing for the first time the massacre that was once the front ranks. Morgan was gone and in the sight of such callous butchery Robert felt a rage unleash within him that he had never before experienced. He felt the hilt of his sword in his hand, a part of his mind wondering how he had held onto it. He tightened his grip.

A sudden visceral war cry cut through the air and Robert turned to see the Spanish rush from the gaping wounds in the bulkhead behind which the cannons still smouldered. They surged forward, a second storm of fire, and Robert saw the men around him take a step back, the wounded calling for their comrades to gather them up as panic began to engulf the English. He stepped forward. The deck upon which he stood had already been paid for with English blood. It was theirs. He raised his sword above his head.

‘Stand fast,
Retribution
!’ he roared and charged forward towards the Spanish.

The uninjured men to his flanks and those yet to board were temporarily stunned by the sudden call. For a moment their flight was checked. Shaw, the boatswain, was first to react, seeing the man who had saved him rush towards the enemy. He followed without hesitation.

‘On,
Retribution
!’ he shouted and the cheer was taken up by a dozen men, then twenty more as flight became fury and fury begat fight. They followed the master into the fray, every man on board the
Spy
taking to the gunwales to seize the prize they had come to claim.

Evardo ran out through the splintered doorframe at the head of his men, their war cries filling his heart as he beheld the ruin of the English ranks. He watched one of the enemy turn his back, then another, their hesitation turning to panic and rout in the span of a breath. He shouted anew, urging his crew on, knowing the
Halcón
was his.

A sudden cry from amidst the English ranks caught his attention and in disbelief he saw one of the enemy running towards his men, his sword raised, his face twisted in a grotesque mask of fury. The Englishman’s valour rippled across the enemy ranks, gathering men up, and like a seventh wave overcoming a receding tide the shattered English attack began to coalesce, drawn together by a single man.

Evardo reacted without thought, his anger at such a reversal guiding his sword and he turned to charge directly towards the English leader. Suddenly an enemy sailor spun around in front of him, launching into an attack and Evardo was forced to defend himself, dropping his blade to parry the first strike. His sword spun in a tight arc and slashed low, beginning a sequence of strikes that Abrahan had taught him years before. Within seconds his blade sliced into the English sailor’s stomach. Evardo twisted the blade savagely, hot blood and viscera gushing over his hand. He wrenched the sword back from the sucking flesh and the sailor fell with an agonized scream.

Evardo stepped back, his sword charged once more. The lines of attack were now completely merged and anarchy reigned. The Spanish charge had been blunted and absorbed. The fight was descending into a brawl and Evardo threw his sword up once more as another Englishman rushed at him. Order was lost and the desperate sounds of combat filled the air; the furious war cries and screams of men and the crack of arquebuses as bullets were fired at point blank range.

Evardo fought on, his sword guided by a desperate anger. The vision of a charging Englishman flashed through his mind. With a terrible dread, he took his first step backwards, the fury of the English attack already reaching a crescendo, spurred on by a demonic leader. The enemy sailor before him fell, but out of the corner of his eye he saw men of his own crew fall. His previous confidence fled. The odds were no longer in his favour and already beyond his control, and as he shouted for his men to take heart, he could hear the hollow ring in his own words, the desperation that spoke of a hopeless defence of a galleon already lost. Only one option remained, one chance: to strike off the head of the hydra and he sought out the English leader once more. A savage vow passed his lips as he spotted him and he charged his sword to fight across the blood soaked deck.

Robert’s vision began to clear slowly and his mind registered the numbing pain in his sword arm as he hacked his blade down again and again on the upturned sword of a Spanish sailor, the defender calling out with a pleading voice that Robert could not hear or understand. He whipped his sword around, the razor edge slicing through flesh until it struck bone, and the Spaniard’s cries cut short as he fell to the deck.

Robert stepped over him and sensed for the first time the men on all sides who moved forward with him. He had attacked alone, oblivious to all save the need to take the ship for the fallen but now he realized the entire crew was to his back and he pushed deeper into the fight. A bullet whipped past his head and another struck through a fold in his sleeve but still he pressed on, sensing that the pendulum of battle was poised to swing in his favour.

From the edge of his vision he saw a Spaniard rush towards him and he spun around, throwing his sword up instinctively as the parried Spanish blade swept within a hair’s breadth of his head. The Spaniard did not hesitate but came on again and Robert took his first step back as he desperately tried to defend himself against the blur of steel. He locked his gaze on his attacker, knowing the eyes betrayed the sword and suddenly realized he was fighting the Spanish commander, recognizing him as the man who led the initial enemy charge, the man who had wrought such slaughter amongst his countrymen for the fate of a galleon already sealed. He swung his blade to parry a strike before twisting it sharply. The steel edges of the two swords cut along each other, drawing the two men closer together, locking them chest to chest.

‘You,’ Evardo cursed in Latin, ‘damn you and your God-cursed crew to hell.’

Robert’s eyes darkened at the invective. ‘Murderous son-of-a-whore,’ he spat, ‘you will rot there first.’

Robert could smell the Spaniard’s breath and his face, twisted with exertion, filled his vision. Robert leaned into the attack and tightened his grip through the blood and sweat on the hilt of his sword, seeking to dominate the contest of strength. He bent his knees slightly, coiling the power of his lower body and pushed forward with all his might, breaking the bond between the two swords. The point of his blade darted under the Spaniard’s sword but his opponent reacted with incredible reflexes, blocking the killing strike.

Robert reversed his attack, trying to push the Spaniard off balance, but again he recovered and the Spaniard spun his sword around, putting the momentum of his entire body into the blow, the strike of the blades numbing the fingers of Robert’s hand. Evardo lunged forward, striking low, and Robert recoiled as the Spaniard’s blade sliced across his exposed thigh, cutting the flesh deeply. He stepped back, his balance thrown by the leg wound, and the Spaniard came on, his attack unceasing.