Read Online Gunpowder by G.H. Guzik - Free Book Online Page A

sergeant did not believe much in
the marksmanship skills of his men. She knelt down and jerked out
one of the tar covered wooden shingles covering the roof. Standing
up she perked her head and looking with a smile at the terrified
soldiers, set the shingle alight with a flick of her fingers. She
took one last look at the dense clouds of smoke coming from the
windows of the second floor, waved cheerfully to the soldiers,
dropped the flaming shingle to the rooftop and jumped off to a side
street outside the guards’ building perimeter. Pleased with herself
she started running towards the harbour. She came to the waterfront
of the harbour followed by a surrounding sound of bells tolling for
fright, but was disturbed by no one.
    Running along
the wooden pier, Sparks yelled to lose the moors off the quay and
put up sails even when she was still a good few dozen meters from
the “Thunder Led”. Fortunately, Kristoff was already on board and
prepared to set sail in advance, and the experienced smuggling crew
performed perfectly. Before the agent came to the ship, the mooring
ropes have already been thrown, the sailors stood with long poles
ready to push the ship away from the pier, and the gunners loaded
the cannons with grapeshot, to prevent, if necessary, a possible
pursuit. No one chased her. Behind her, clouds of black smoke were
rising up above the city centre, and the first echoes of a powerful
explosion, came to the harbour dully rolling through the narrow
streets of the city. Apparently the soldiers failed to extinguished
the fire before it reached the gunpowder, thus causing the city
more important problems than the fleeing girl.
    The agent ran
up to the ship, which was already gliding slowly along the pier
under half raised sails. She jumped on the rope hanging from the
boom and a sharp turn of the rudder dropped her on the deck in the
middle of a fore-stay turn setting the ship on course to leave the
harbour. The girl grabbed the sinewy arm of the bosun and stood up
on her feet while the gunners accelerated the ship with long oars
the and sailors put up and hauling sails. When they sailed into the
departure corridor, the wind intensified, and the ship leaned
slightly on tack.
    The “Thunder
Led” passed the head of the breakwater and went beyond the area
closed by the line of the guarding forts’ walls On their
battlements such consternation reigned, that the cannons went
absolutely silent, forgetting even the occasional salvo to deter
the hostile ships of the line. Kristoff ordered to put up all the
sails, and Sparks in a surge of adrenaline yelled to the sailors
churning on board that if they come out of this alive, she would
spend the entire way back topless. She actually took off her shirt
and tied it between the stays to show the crew that she was not
joking, and add the crew some motivation before an inevitable salvo
of the port fortifications. Her bare breasts acted as a properly
used spur and the sailors rushed without any orders to long oars
trying to propel the ship faster. The captain flushed shyly as if
he were a teenage lordling from a religious school, not a smuggler
seasoned in the battles of love with a well established reputation.
The ship was sailing on broad reach using the daily breeze. With
every moment she was picking up speed, heading straight into the
forest of masts of the hostile Eastern Company ships of the line
waiting for them beyond the reach of the harbour’s artillery.
    The inevitable
battle was not their concern just yet. At this point, the only
significant threat was still the artillery of the Smiteverden
forts. The sailors pulled in the oars paddles and manned their
posts at the rigging, to efficiently perform the turns necessary to
avoid the deadly salvoes. The walls of the forts were silent. None
of the line commanders dared to shoot at a ship flying the colours
of an ally. It must have taken at least a few minutes before
messengers made their way to the walls with orders to sink