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In htmare were in their place All but Kelly, as the only one of them who had remained human … for the moment
Kelly headed aft toward the cabin, and the rest of the sea wolves followed
"Ghost!" Kelly shouted "Coe you! For the pack For the Larsen To the death"
Jack’s mutiny was under way
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MAELSTROM
Jack stood by the steps that led down into the forecastle as the rain began to fall harder The wind picked up and the sails swelled as if the whole ship was holding its breath, waiting for the violence to erupt The wheel was secured, the ship blindly following its last heading, and Jack shuddered at the i forever, everyone on board slain in the fight to corowing storures at the stern Thewind he could still hear Kelly shouting for Ghost to appear
"It’s time, Ghost! Show yourself or forfeit leadership! Or are you a coward?"
This last must have been the final straw, for the timbers shook with the roar that followed, one that could only belong to Ghost He ought to have sent Huginn and Muninn ahead, but Jack knew that his arrogance and fury would not allow it Ghost treated his pack with a disdain that had only grown in the tihts would be a eance toward his brother and confusion over Sabine’s betrayal He would see Kelly’s ti more than a nuisance to be dispensed with as quickly as possible, but the suggestion of cowardice would enrage hinore it He would relish the opportunity to vent his rage on Kelly
Jack knew him so well
"You stupid son of a bitch!" Ghost said "Now isn’t the time--"
But the words were cut off In the depths of the fog, the Larsen already looking like a ghost ship, Jack could not see theof four-footed things pounding across the deck Someone roared, and perhaps it was the first tiinn utter a sound as the mutineers attacked
Jack clasped his knife, but it did not make him feel safer His senses seemed sharpened by the thrill of fear
Another scream … and then came the priht, soon, soon, when I hear--
Ghost’s rage-filled voice grew into an animal howl as he found his true for on their own ship, snarling and snapping in a bloody melee that Jack could barely picture in hisbehind thestor down the handrails without touching a step In the dark, with the wind pushing rain in behind hi into the hold There was one entrance fore and one aft, and that stinking, darkened artery in the ship’s belly was the key to what little plan he had
He yanked the door open and dropped into the gangway, entering the sa the dia to run silently as well as swiftly and praying that the mutiny would not be over too quickly He raced past the room where the prisoners froht of the full-hter, then past the food stores and treasure cache, and finally the secure chamber where he and Sabine had been imprisoned for their own sakes, and where they had first shared secrets
More secrets to cos
As he passed beneath ceiling hatches, he heard the snarling and gnashing louder and louder Claws scraped wood Bodies thuh the grille, a splash of hot liquid fell upon hiht shoulder The scent of blood was overpowering By now the deck would be aith it
The weight of dread for what Ghost ed him down But Jack London had survived certain death in the Yukon winter, had tamed the wilderness of the frozen north and the wildness in his own heart, had fought an ancient, accursed evil and triu
At the aft end of the gangway he leaped up the steps and crashed in through the sht await hiht where the galley awaited, then threw open the door of the chart room It was empty He rushed past the door to his own quarters and quickly picked the lock to the captain’s cabin, then threw the door wide
Jack froze in the open doorway, staring, his heart pounding in his ears
"Thank God," he whispered
Sabine sprang up fro for hi She bumped the table, and a bottle of ru its contents into the thirsty wood Jack glanced at the la there ht better of it If they could not escape the ship, setting it ablaze would have been his last foolish act
"Jack," Sabine cried, crushing hi in the lovely scent of her, feeling the press of her curves against his body and knowing that this--her voice and her touch, and the way his heart soared in her presence--orth braving hell
Jack pushed her back, studying her e red welt colored her left cheek, her lip ollen, and there was a streak of blood at the edge of her mouth Otherwise, she seemed unharmed He could hardly believe that Ghost had not done more to punish her
"I don’t understand," he said softly "I’ve never felt such relief, but I was sure he would have tortured you He must know that you deliberately hid Death’s arrival fro his hands in her own "I feared he ht actually kill me, but he only struck h But then he sat and stared at "
"About his brother, no doubt," Jack said, thinking that perhaps Ghost did love Sabine after all Forced to confront such feelings, the captain would be coe huot ht now"
"What is it?" Sabine asked