Read 1636: Seas of Fortune for Free Online Page B

in front. That threw the crew into disarray. Coqui picked off another.
    The slavers were returning fire now, and Henrique’s party had to take cover. In the meantime, the slavers beached their canoe on river left. That was Henrique and Maurício’s side. There, on the strand, another of Bento’s men fell, with one arrow in his chest, and another in his left arm. The others ran into the bush.
    Coqui, on the right bank of the river, grunted, and set down his bow and arrows. “Wait here,” he warned Kasiri. “Stay out of trouble.” Coqui, armed with a blowgun and the steel hatchet Maurício had given him, went downriver, and around a bend, then swam across, out of sight of the pursuers.
    Henrique and Maurício had dropped their missile weapons; there were too many leaves and branches in the way. The slavers likewise realized that the time for musketry was passed; they drew their machetes.
    The slavers were at a disadvantage; they hadn’t walked this ground before. Henrique and Maurício took advantage of their ignorance, making quick attacks and then disappearing. In the slavers’ rear, Coqui aimed his blow gun at the rear man, the dart hitting him in the neck. He slapped, thinking it an insect sting. A moment later, he collapsed.
    Coqui picked out his second victim, and fired. But the second one cried as he fell, giving warning to the others. One turned, and Coqui had to leap quickly out of the way of a machete swing. There was no longer any question of reloading the blowgun. And the hatchet was a good weapon, but not the equal of a machete. Coqui backed up rapidly, a move that would have been dangerous for anyone lacking his wilderness senses. The machete wielder followed and, in his haste, stepped in an armadillo hole, turning his ankle. Coqui finished him off.
    One of the surviving slavers decided he had enough, and fled downriver on foot, running past the boat. Coqui hesitated, then decided he couldn’t take the chance that the man would summon reinforcements. He gave chase.
    Henrique and his last opponent gradually shifted deeper into the forest, out of sight of the others.
    Maurício and his foe wandered onto the beach. Both were tired, and bleeding from small cuts, but neither had been able to strike a decisive blow. They circled each other warily.
    One of the slavers struck down on the beach earlier was not dead, as Maurício had assumed. As soon as Maurício’s back was to him, the injured man slowly crawled to where his musket had skittered earlier in the action. It was still loaded. He only had one good hand, so he braced the musket on a rock.
    Maurício’s more obvious foe could see what was happening, and did his best to keep Maurício’s attention directed forward.
    The musketeer took aim at Maurício’s back . . . then slumped, an arrow in his neck.
    Kasiri was holding her brother’s bow in her left hand; a fresh arrow was already in her right.
    Maurício’s other foe was taken aback, and just stood, open-mouthed. Kasiri’s second shot killed him.
    A few seconds later, Henrique struggled out of the bush and gave Maurício a nod. Henrique grabbed a leaf and wiped his blade clean.
    “Where’s Coqui?”
    Kasiri crossed the river and told them she had caught a glimpse of him heading downriver, pursuing the last of the slavers.
    “We better not take chances. Grab a musket, Maurício, and I’ll get my bow.” They all concealed themselves, not knowing if more slavers might be on their way.
    Soon, Coqui returned, smiling. Until he saw Kasiri, still holding the bow.
    They were soon screaming bloody murder at each other.
    Maurício gave Henrique an anguished look. “What are they saying? They’re talking too fast for me to make out more than one word in three.”
    “He’s angry at her, because she used his bow.”
    “I’m not complaining! She saved my life.”
    “He says, ‘Picking up a man’s bow makes a woman sterile, everyone knows that.’ And that means that she can never marry, because