Highland Lover: Book 3 Scottish Knights Trilogy by Amanda Scott Page B
Authors: Amanda Scott
Ads: Link
soaking her with icy water, Alyson tightened her grip on the mast and began to wonder if she might freeze to death before they drowned.
Chapter 4
T o gain speed, Jake had let the wind and waves carry them southwestward away from the
Maryenknyght
. But, nearly certain that the pirates had headed back to Flamborough Head, he hoped to beach the coble nearby.
That meant they had to turn north. Shouting to Mace to take the tiller, he noted the
Maryenknyght
’s fate with only a brief glance. Having expected it, he did not let it trouble him but fixed his attention on what lay ahead.
According to his rutter, both sides of the great headland had harbors. With winds from the northeast, the pirates would make for the primary harbor on the south side of the headland in Bridlington Bay. That harbor would offer more shelter than the one on the headland’s north side, in Filey Bay.
Sheltering from wind as one made landfall was always good. But it would matter more to large ships than to the oared coble. The lead ship of the group that had captured Jamie was as big as the
Maryenknyght
if not bigger.
The smaller harbor on the north side of the headland would do for the coble. Just to get that far would tax it enough. Trying to make it any farther in the fifteen-mile, wide-mouthed Filey Bay would be foolhardy against thewinds and seas that they were experiencing. As it was, every time he tacked into the wind or turned away from it, he risked swamping the coble or rolling it.
Plowing over waves and plunging down as they were while he fought the sail to tack northward, and tied it off, he knew they’d be safe enough even if wind ripped the sail. The journey would take time in any event. But if the sail ripped, they’d have to land wherever the waves took them, because he and Mace would not be able to row long against such weather. However, barring a reef they failed to see or some unexpected freak of nature, he was confident that they would not sink.
He was soaked. But so were the others, and from where he stood, he could quickly ease strain on the sail if need be. He was also blocking some of the wind and rain from the two sitting low in front of the mast. He saw that they had their heads together and hoped they were managing to keep warm.
He did his best to watch the waves around them through the increasing murk, paying special heed to waves rolling landward. The course he had set was holding, and if he had not mistaken their current location, he ought soon to make out the shape of the two-hundred-foot-high headland.
He had mixed feelings about the increasing darkness, recalling that his rutter warned that the north harbor lay deep in a small inlet. However, he knew that folks ashore would soon light candles and lamps, which would make it easier for him to judge distance and discern the inner curve of the bay. Continuing his vigil, he tried to imagine all that might go wrong. On the positive side, the mast was sound, the sail held strong against the wind, Macewas skilled at the tiller, and the two of them had sailed cobles together in rough seas before.
Alyson and Will held an oar across them that Mace had given her in passing, to hold in case Jake needed it. Mace kept another near himself. Chiefly, what threatened them were the unknown factors. A dangerous reef shot out from Filey, so what if there were others unknown to the rutter? Or lone, unnoted boulders?
Aware of a continued murmur of voices from the lad and Alyson, Jake’s thoughts shifted to what he knew about her. Although he had met her only once before, his memory of her slender, curvaceous body; smooth, almost silvery blonde hair; and a certain mysterious faraway look in her eyes was clear.
His memory of her cousin Ivor was even clearer.
He had known Ivor Mackintosh and Fin Cameron from their boyhood days together at St. Andrews Castle, where they had studied under the tutelage of Bishop Wardlaw’s predecessor, Bishop Traill.
Jake had stayed at MacGillivray
Chapter 4
T o gain speed, Jake had let the wind and waves carry them southwestward away from the
Maryenknyght
. But, nearly certain that the pirates had headed back to Flamborough Head, he hoped to beach the coble nearby.
That meant they had to turn north. Shouting to Mace to take the tiller, he noted the
Maryenknyght
’s fate with only a brief glance. Having expected it, he did not let it trouble him but fixed his attention on what lay ahead.
According to his rutter, both sides of the great headland had harbors. With winds from the northeast, the pirates would make for the primary harbor on the south side of the headland in Bridlington Bay. That harbor would offer more shelter than the one on the headland’s north side, in Filey Bay.
Sheltering from wind as one made landfall was always good. But it would matter more to large ships than to the oared coble. The lead ship of the group that had captured Jamie was as big as the
Maryenknyght
if not bigger.
The smaller harbor on the north side of the headland would do for the coble. Just to get that far would tax it enough. Trying to make it any farther in the fifteen-mile, wide-mouthed Filey Bay would be foolhardy against thewinds and seas that they were experiencing. As it was, every time he tacked into the wind or turned away from it, he risked swamping the coble or rolling it.
Plowing over waves and plunging down as they were while he fought the sail to tack northward, and tied it off, he knew they’d be safe enough even if wind ripped the sail. The journey would take time in any event. But if the sail ripped, they’d have to land wherever the waves took them, because he and Mace would not be able to row long against such weather. However, barring a reef they failed to see or some unexpected freak of nature, he was confident that they would not sink.
He was soaked. But so were the others, and from where he stood, he could quickly ease strain on the sail if need be. He was also blocking some of the wind and rain from the two sitting low in front of the mast. He saw that they had their heads together and hoped they were managing to keep warm.
He did his best to watch the waves around them through the increasing murk, paying special heed to waves rolling landward. The course he had set was holding, and if he had not mistaken their current location, he ought soon to make out the shape of the two-hundred-foot-high headland.
He had mixed feelings about the increasing darkness, recalling that his rutter warned that the north harbor lay deep in a small inlet. However, he knew that folks ashore would soon light candles and lamps, which would make it easier for him to judge distance and discern the inner curve of the bay. Continuing his vigil, he tried to imagine all that might go wrong. On the positive side, the mast was sound, the sail held strong against the wind, Macewas skilled at the tiller, and the two of them had sailed cobles together in rough seas before.
Alyson and Will held an oar across them that Mace had given her in passing, to hold in case Jake needed it. Mace kept another near himself. Chiefly, what threatened them were the unknown factors. A dangerous reef shot out from Filey, so what if there were others unknown to the rutter? Or lone, unnoted boulders?
Aware of a continued murmur of voices from the lad and Alyson, Jake’s thoughts shifted to what he knew about her. Although he had met her only once before, his memory of her slender, curvaceous body; smooth, almost silvery blonde hair; and a certain mysterious faraway look in her eyes was clear.
His memory of her cousin Ivor was even clearer.
He had known Ivor Mackintosh and Fin Cameron from their boyhood days together at St. Andrews Castle, where they had studied under the tutelage of Bishop Wardlaw’s predecessor, Bishop Traill.
Jake had stayed at MacGillivray
Similar Books
