WARNING: SPOILERS HIGHLY LIKELY SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE OUTLANDER SERIES AND/OR WATCHED THE SHOW!
Moving right along... Jamie sent Claire back through the stones before Culloden but after the fight with Duncan. He sent Fergus back to Lallybroch with the backdated Deed of Sassine leaving Lallybroch to Young Jamie in trust of Ian and Jenny. This was to prevent the estate from being taken given Jamie would be branded a traitor for his role in Culloden. Claire and Murtagh witnessed the deed. Claire doesn't cover her return in the later chapters but jumps ahead to 1968 and her telling Roger Mac and Bri the story. It's noted how Roger has the eyes of Geilie Duncan but also a bit of Dougal. Bri, well, it's nurture vs nature. She has a bit of both of her fathers in her. She definitely has Red Jamie's temper.
But we begin with Jamie thinking he is in Purgatory. He discovers he is not dead, but is instead held down by the body of a man's dead weight laying across his left leg, which is why he cannot feel the leg. He's shocked to discover BJR is pinning him down. And he is still breathing. Ok so yeah when Lord Melton finds Jamie and the men he is with, he recognizes Jamie's name. He asks if he is the one they call Red Jamie, which, knowing he'll be taken to London as a traitor rather than just facing being shot as they had the other survivors, Jamie denies. Except, Melton does not believe him. He finds the scar on Jamie's throat from Lord John. Then sends one of the men to take the remaining five men with Jamie and later awakens Jamie.
“John William Grey! Do you know that name?”“No,” he said, mazy with sleep and fever. “Look, man, either shoot me or go away, aye? I’m ill.”“Near Carryarrick.” Melton’s voice was prodding, impatient. “A boy, a fair-haired boy, about sixteen. You met him in the wood.”
I'm not sure if it is just being used to David Berry in his role as Lord John Grey and how he is dark headed but the fair-haired boy part threw me. Jamie is in pain and in and out of it.
“John William Grey is my brother,” Melton said. “He told me of his meeting with you. You spared his life, and he made you a promise—is that true?”
Melton debates what to do since Lord John felt he owed Jamie a debt of honor but also threatened to kill him the next time they meet. Jamie, being Jamie, said he didn't mind if Melton did it for him. Even Melton feels he owes Jamie. So he is in a quandary because they haven't found Bonnie Prince Charlie but a few of his close confidants will go a long way to appeasing the higher ups and Jamie was known to be close to BPC.
“No, blast it! I can’t even shoot the bastard, without dishonoring my brother’s sworn word!”
The prisoner opened one eye. “I willna tell anyone if you don’t,” he suggested, and promptly closed it again.
Ok, so we see John Grey has come to Ardsmuir Prison. In the book he is described in the following way:
“He’s fair-haired, wi’ long yellow locks tied up wi’ blue ribbon. And big eyes and long lashes, too, like a lassie’s.”
“God knows what she’ll do when she gets it—and thank God, I’ll be at sea when she does,” he added wryly, emerging from the folds of linen.
You know he's worried if he will be happy to be at sea when Jenny gets his letter. For a man with seasickness as bad as Jamie's, this will be an arduous trip.
Ahhh I also forgot Jared's little comment during dinner, "“We met on the level, Cousin.” and Jamie's reply of, “We met on the level, Cousin.” Which is funny as in watching season 6 of the show, that was a topic of discussion. Jared then asks where Jamie was made and Jamie's reply of course is in prison but he amends that to the Inverness Lodge. This means Jared can give Jamie letters to the Masters of Lodges in Jamaica and Barbados but notes that Trinidad is the largest of the of them. And if they run into trouble to go there for help.
Claire makes a visit to the Hôpital des Anges. She's already learned Master Raymond is no longer in the shop he had when she was previously in Paris. So her next stop, she ends up visiting the grave of their daughter Hope and Mother Hildegarde.
After setting sail from Le Havre, they make a stop at Cape Wrath in northwest Scotland. There Jamie is to meet Fergus and a group of the smugglers. But the day before setting sail, Fergus has not yet arrived. He arrives just as they are casting off. With Marsali MacKimmie (Jamie's step-daughter) in tow. Jamie of course objects to taking Marsali with them because Laoghaire will blame him. When Fergus says they're married, Jamie still insists she stay behind. Then Jamie finds out Laoghaire denied Fergus permission to wed Marsali and Marsali says she does not care. Doesn't care Fergus is a bastard, a criminal and a cripple with no property. Oh and there's a 15 years age difference. Marsali is angry and sound a bit brattish. But Fergus gets her to back down and give Jamie the respect he deserves as both Marsali's step-father and a father figure to Fergus. She says that while Fergus says they have not bedded each other, they have and if she is sent back, she will tell everyone he has had her. So it will either be married or she's ruined. Jamie relents but says that until they are wed by a priest, Fergus must not touch her. Fergus responds with a "Yes Milord!" and :Merci beaucoup. Marsali's response...well let's just say she learned some of Laoghaire's manipulative ways.
Marsali narrowed her eyes at Jamie, but seeing that he wasn’t to be moved, she bowed her head demurely, with a sidelong glance at me.
“Yes, Daddy,” she said.
Jamie's reaction to one of the pics of Bree where she is in a bikini is classic over-protective Dad.
Ahh Claire's impressment to the Porpoise. I'd also forgotten that. There's an anachronistic moment in there. It's 1767 when Claire is treating typhus on the Porpoise. At one point, in trying to get enough alcohol for sterilizing things and lamenting how she'd distilled some, only for the sailors to try drinking it, the purser tells her:
“Seamen will drink anything, ma’am! Spoilt plum brandy, peaches mashed inside a rubber boot and left to ferment—why, I’ve even known a hand caught stealing the old bandages from the surgeon’s quarters and soaking them, in hopes of getting a whiff of alcohol. No, ma’am, telling them that drinking it will kill them certainly won’t stop them.”
Something about that description bugged me the first time I read this. A rubber boot? In 1767? Eh. Not so much. They didn't exactly exist then. Rubber boots did not exist until the 1850s. So there's that. At one point, Claire finds out that the new governor for Jamaica is aboard the ship. Late one night after losing Midshipman Elias Pound, the sailor who was her shadow essentially, she somewhat gives in to her grief and rage. She notes how at times, she will find a moment of peace, she describes one such moment in a sunset. It's a moment of grace, where pain, sickness, bitterness and maybe even her feeling of doing futile battle against illness abates. She never seeks it out, it just hits. After losing Elias, she gives in to her feelings. She's stopped from smacking the rail and hurting herself by a man who introduces himself simply as Grey. He assumes rightly the he is meeting Mrs. Malcolm, "whose heroism Captain Leonard has been so strongly praising." She counters that “It is not heroic to watch men die." Grey's words to her are interesting.
“I had thought your distress due only to a woman’s natural compassion, but I see it is something quite different.”
“I have been a soldier, an officer,” he said. “I know what it is, to hold men’s lives in your hand—and to lose them.”
“What it comes to, I think, is the knowledge that you are not God.” He paused, then added, softly, “And the very real regret that you cannot be.”
As he goes to leave her, a sailor finds him and mentions that he should be in his cabin to protect himself against the plague. After Grey leaves, Claire stops the sailor to ask who the man was. The sailor explains he is Lord John Grey, that the Captain (whether the original one of the one who got a sudden promotion thanks to the typhus I do not know) ordered he keep confined and out of harm's way. That they do not need to get into port with a dead politician aboard. The young Captain Leonard speaks to Claire, to let her know that he knows who her husband is, calling her Mrs. Fraser rather than Mrs. Malcolm. He regrets writing it in the log because he knows that as part of the official record, he will have to report Jamie and so when Jamie follows the Porpoise to Jamaica, he will be arrested and hanged. So Claire ends up jumping ship. She ends up on Hispaniola. As she's approaching land, she realizes what needs to happen next.
Now, all that remained to be done was to get ashore, find water, find some means of quick transport to Jamaica, and find Jamie and the Artemis, preferably before the Royal Navy did. I thought I could just about manage the first item on the agenda.
Thankfully after a short time on Hispaniola where she meets Lawrence Stern, a natural philosopher, who then introduces her to a priest and learns of Abandawe, she learns a ship had docked and killed one of the priest's sheep. The ship turns out to be the Artemis. She learns that Capt. Raines died, the storm she had survived also blew the Artemis off course and drove them to Hispaniola, but caught on a reef, the ship ended up with a hole in it. A wave struck the ship and carried Capt. Raines and four of the seamen with him. Then she finds Jamie is not with them.
We learn that he has somehow gotten aboard the Porpoise on Caicos, and he finds himself face to face with the one eyed seaman that Young Ian thought he had killed during the fire at the print shop. The one who knew that Jamie Roy was Alexander Malcolm and that his real name was Jamie Fraser. When Jamie asks where Mrs. Malcolm is, the sailor claims he does not know. So of course Jamie threatens him. And the sailor claims, “Damn you, you’re as wicked cruel as she was!” Which of course causes Jamie a pause. "Was?" He then learns she jumped overboard. Somehow, after attacking Capt. Leonard, he ends up on Hispaniola as well. Where he learns the Bruja was in port a week previously.
Now back to the Artemis. They're almost done with repairs when a group of soldiers approaches. Fergus gets Claire and Marsali hidden and they realize the soldiers are French. When the apparent leader approaches, Claire notices that Fergus has frozen, his face going white. Then she looks at the leader and her face does too. She originally noted that the apparent leader was a big man.
The commander took off his hat, and shook out a thick mass of sweat-soaked auburn hair. He grinned at Fergus, teeth white and wolfish in a short, curly red beard.
Somehow Jamie is now Capt. Alessandro. They manage to rescue Claire, get back on the now fixed Artemis, and Jamie takes over as Capt. but before they can sail, Marsali demands he keeps his promise to let her and Fergus marry once they reach the Indies. She points out Hispaniola is part of the Indies, yes. But then Jamie thinks they have no priest. Except there is Father Fogden when can marry them. At this point, Jamie relents and Marsali shyly asks "Mother Claire" for some chamomile soap. She suggests having Stern, the Jewish natural philosopher that knew Jamie and helped Claire when she got to Hispaniola, ask if the can borrow one of Ermengilda's dresses from Father Fogden. Marsali even asked Claire to witness the marriage but was dissuaded.
Laoghaire was not going to be pleased at hearing that her eldest daughter had eloped with a one-handed ex-pickpocket twice her age. Her maternal feelings were unlikely to be assuaged by hearing that the marriage had been performed in the middle of the night on a West Indian beach by a disgraced—if not actually defrocked—priest, witnessed by twenty-five seamen, ten French horses, a small flock of sheep—all gaily beribboned in honor of the occasion—and a King Charles spaniel, who added to the generally festive feeling by attempting to copulate with Murphy’s wooden leg at every opportunity. The only thing that could make things worse, in Laoghaire’s view, would be to hear that I had participated in the ceremony.
A very drunk Father Fogden starts the ceremony. He asks if Murphy (the cook aboard the Artemis) if he takes this woman, to which Murphy replies, “I don’t hold wi’ women. Messy things.”, which somewhat surprises the Father. So next he asks the cabin boy Maitland. who wisely replies, “Not me, sir, no. Not that anyone wouldn’t be pleased,” and points to Fergus saying it is him that's marrying Marsali. The priest notices Fergus's lack of a hand and asks, “Him? You’re sure? He hasn’t a hand,” and "Won't she mind?" Marsali assures him she does not mind. And looking angry tells him to "Go on!" when the priest then gets concerned Fergus is missing another body part vital to marriage. He assures them if that's the case, he is unable to marry them. Finally, his worries put to rest, the priest finally asks Marsali's name and after she gives it and has her repeat her vow, he turns to Fergus asking his name. He replies simply, "Fergus." Which astounds the priest a bit.
The priest frowned slightly at this. “Fergus?” he said. “Fergus. Fergus. Yes, Fergus, got that. That’s all? No more name? Need more names, surely.”
“Fergus,” Fergus repeated, with a note of strain in his voice. Fergus was the only name he had ever had—bar his original French name of Claudel. Jamie had given him the name Fergus in Paris, when they had met, twenty years before. But naturally a brothel-born bastard would have no last name to give a wife.
“Fraser,” said a deep, sure voice beside me. Fergus and Marsali both glanced back in surprise, and Jamie nodded. His eyes met Fergus’s, and he smiled faintly.
“Fergus Claudel Fraser,” he said, slowly and clearly. One eyebrow lifted as he looked at Fergus.
Ok, at this point, even my cold heart tends to tear up. Later, Fergus, Marsali, Claire and Stern end up accompanying Murphy to a slave market in hopes of finding Young Ian. Claire gets offended by the treatment of a slave, causes an incident and ends up an accidental slave owner. Which of course horrifies her modern sensibilities. [Slavery is a horrific thing, there's no doubt about that but, if you purchase a slave to rescue them, with the intent of setting them free, it's less horrible to be a slave owner than those who exploited slaves for profit. Sometimes good humans have to do distasteful things to accomplish a good purpose.] They discover that before the Bruja got to Barbados, it made a stop. Some slaves owned by Mrs. Abernathy of Rose Hill Plantation in Jamaica were picked up to be sold. Before they can discuss more, they get boarded by pirates. When the pirates leave, a man was left behind. A slave named Ishmael. Eventually, she realizes he reminds her of her friend Joe Abernathy back in Boston. She notices Ishmael has a scar from something. Then things come together. Temeraire, the slave she bought, had a brand. the letter A and a "a sixteen-petaled rose—the Jacobite emblem of Charles Stuart".
They get to Kingston Harbor in Jamaica and find the Porpoise. Then he asks why they didn't go to Antigua. Claire explains they had to drop the Jamaican governor off first. Jamie wonders who it is. And Claire informs him that it's a man named Grey, “Nice man; I met him on the ship, just briefly.” Jamie is surprised and asks if she means Lord John Grey. When she affirms that is who she is referring to, she is curious as to why he and he replies that Lord John Grey is a friend of his.
“Really?” I was no more than mildly surprised. Jamie’s friends had once included the French minister of finance and Charles Stuart, as well as Scottish beggars and French pickpockets. I supposed it was not remarkable that he should now count English aristocrats among his acquaintance, as well as Highland smugglers and Irish seacooks."
Claire is surprised however to find that Jamie knew LJG from Ardsmuir and exclaims she will never understand men.
“Well, friends are where ye find them, Sassenach,” he said. He squinted toward the shore, shading his eyes with his hand. “Let us hope this Mrs. Abernathy proves to be one.”
Sadly, even if I hadn't read this before, at this point I'm thinking she won't be a friend. It's just been building to a point that I see rapidly careening out of control. Or maybe it's a different series where one of the major bad guys is named Abernathy and well cursing his name is quite common in it. I do the same with a series where Barstow, CA is a really bad place to be. I just instinctively react to it, in all kinds of unrelated things, with a bit of a growl. To be fair, these are series I've read multiple times over the years so it kind of builds. Anyway...
They finally arrive at Jared's Jamaican plantation. The plantation caretakers, Mr and Mrs. MacIver, are telling them about the area and Jamie thinks to ask about the Abernathys. Mrs. MacIver mentioned that someone else had brought them up recently. She recalls it was the new minister at the church, Rev. Campbell. Claire, visibly startled due to her prior meeting of Campbell, explains how she had met him before. Apparently there was some mystery surrounding the death of Barnabas Abernathy. Brought home a woman no one knew from Guadaloupe and within 6 months Mr. Abernathy was dead, and a doctor suspected poison. They also learn that Miss Campbell, Rev. Campbell's sister has disappeared and that he was reluctant to seek out the new governor's help in searching for her. But there would be a public reception next week so the people could meet the governor.
So Jamie and Claire, with Fergus and Marsali in tow, attend the ball for the governor. LJG is shocked to see Claire and Jamie but fortunately Jamie is able to warn him they are using assumed names, Etienne and Claire Alexandre. But unfortunately Rev. Campbell is also in attendance. He'd been convinced to attend. Now, back in Edinburgh, Jamie figured out it was likely Ewan Cameron who Margaret Campbell fell in love with. But Rev. Campbell, on meeting Mrs. Malcolm at the ball for the governor tells her:
“It was the fault of the Papist Stuarts, with their wicked attempt upon the throne, and the licentious Highlanders who followed them. No, no one can help, save God. He has destroyed the house of Stuart; he will destroy the man Fraser as well, and on that day, my sister will be healed.”
Cue the internal record screech. Excuse me? Mr Fraser? Which Mr. Fraser. Yeahhh at this point Jamie and Claire face so many minor enemies that it's not funny. There's whoever kidnapped Young Ian; the Rev.; Jamie being unable to go back to Scotland right now because of the smuggling debacle; Jenny (who admittedly is no enemy but is more than likely ready to strangle her brother because he baby boy is missing); Laoghaire, on general purposes related to the embarrassment over their "wedding" and when she finds out Marsali has married Fergus; and who knows what else. Oh and there's the concerns about Geilie Duncan and what she's up to. Claire just does not like Rev. Campbell. He's overly critical of women that's for sure. Can't blame her but...
I breathed a sigh of relief; conversation with the Reverend Campbell was a lot like exchanging frivolities with the public hangman—though, in fact, the only hangman with whom I had been personally acquainted was much better company than the Reverend.
Next up Claire learns of LJG's regard for...no love of Jamie. I honestly believe that man not only values Jamie as a friend but truly loves in a way he knows is futile. That's not to say Jamie doesn't love John, he truly does. Just in a very different way than John's love of Jamie. She overhears an emotional Jamie exclaim, "Oh, God, John!” and then sees Jamie embracing John. This does explain John's shock at learning Claire was Jamie's wife. Claire is sure that nothing physical occurred between the men beyond an embrace because of Jamie's experience in Wentworth at the hands of BJR. She does know of Jamie's regard for John but not all the details. And she certainly does not know about Willie yet. She sees John exit the office and the a bit later Jamie. To avoid both men she steps into a retiring room. Where she discovers one of the women who had been a topic of gossip dead. A widow who was suspected of dallying with the new curate was now dead. So in the hullabaloo surrounding the murder (Mr. Willoughby is the prime suspect), Claire sees a face she would rather not. Capt. Leonard. So she flings herself on a loveseat, covers her face with a towel and does her best impression of someone in a faint, begging John not to give her away. After the Admiral and others leave, John tells her:
“You can get up now, if you wish. I am supposing that you are not in fact prostrate with shock,” he added, ironically. “Somehow I suspect that a mere murder would not be sufficient to discompose a woman who could deal single-handedly with a typhoid epidemic.”
“Yes, he did,” I said. “He said you were his friend.” He glanced up, the fine-cut face lightening a bit.
He's shocked to find out they'd only reunited 4 months ago after a 20 year separation and asks if Jamie ever mentioned Willie? Claire's reply makes it clear she is unaware of him and so rather than answer who Willie was, he took a portrait out of his desk to show her. Claire's shock is evident.
He might have been Bree’s brother, was my first thought. The second, coming with the force of a blow to the solar plexus, was “My God in heaven, he is Bree’s brother!”
Now, Claire is not only shocked to learn of Willie but also that John has a wife, given what she learned earlier that night about John's feelings. She demands answers, John says he's not obligated to give those answers to which Claire says she would appreciate them and it appears they had some time to wait. John offers her brandy and she strongly recommends he has some to. He asks if that's her medical opinion and of course she says yes. He explains how he met Jamie at Ardsmuir then arranged his parole at Helswater. Claire wonders if Jamie loved Geneva (ugh not a chance he loved that spoiled brat) and John says he never spoke of Geneva. But he also said Jamie never told John about Willie until John brought it up when the resemblance was unmistakable. He believes his mother-in-law also figured out the truth but wouldn't say a word because:
"If it were a choice of your only grandchild being either the ninth Earl of Ellesmere, and heir to one of the wealthiest estates in England, or the penniless bastard of a Scottish criminal?”
He has a point really. John then recounts how he approached Jamie the night before Jamie was to leave Helswater. Isobel, who had been caring for Willie, was displeased that Jamie told the boy he was leaving. John agrees he is right to leave because anyone paying attention will see the resemblance. They walk for a bit and Jamie tells John that he would ask a favor of him. John agrees before hearing what it is, which surprises Jamie into asking if he wanted to know first. John said he imagined the favor was to keep an eye on Willie, send word of his welfare. Jamie realizes it is an imposition to ask John to go from London to Helswater in the Lake District. It's an interesting discussion to be fair.
“Not at all,” Grey interrupted. “I came this afternoon to give you some news of my own; I am to be married.”
“Married?” The shock was plain on Fraser’s face. “To a woman?”
“I think there are not many alternatives,” Grey replied dryly. “But yes, since you ask, to a woman. To the Lady Isobel.”
“Christ, man! Ye canna do that!”
“I can,” Grey assured him. He grimaced. “I made trial of my capacity in London; be assured that I shall make her an adequate husband. You needn’t necessarily enjoy the act in order to perform it—or perhaps you were aware of that?”
Jamie, knowing how John feels offers himself up as payment for the favor. But John turns him down. John of course turns him down and says he ought to feel insulted while Jamie assures him it was not meant as such. So they end with Jamie's pledge of friendship, sealed with a rather chaste kiss. John noted it was the first time Jamie willingly touched him. And the last until John had given Jamie a copy of the miniature he showed Claire. Then, John stuns her further by saying he should have recognized her on the ship but he had thought she was dead. She acknowledges it was dark...then realizes, "Recognized me? But you’d never met me!” Ehhhhh now hold on a moment there Claire. John recounts the story.
“Do you recall a dark wood, near Carryarrick in the Scottish Highlands, twenty years ago? And a young boy with a broken arm? You set it for me.”
Ge also notes that Claire's were the first breasts on a woman that he'd seen and it was "a considerable shock!" She comments that he seems to have recovered and forgiven Jamie for both breaking his arm and threatening him. John then asks:
“Do you know,” he said again, softly, addressing his hands, “what it is to love someone, and never—never!—be able to give them peace, or joy, or happiness?”
He looked up then, eyes filled with pain. “To know that you cannot give them happiness, not through any fault of yours or theirs, but only because you were not born the right person for them?”
Of course Claire does because of Frank.
“The prophecy states that a new ruler of Scotland will spring from Lovat’s lineage. This is to come to pass following the eclipse of ‘the kings of the white rose’—a clear reference to the Papist Stuarts, of course.” He nodded at the white roses woven into the carpet. “There are somewhat more cryptic references included in the prophecy, of course; the time in which this ruler will appear, and whether it is to be a king or a queen—there is some difficulty in interpretation, owing to mishandling of the original…”
Mr. Willoughby then enters and attacks Rev. Campbell. He accuses Rev. Campbell of killing whores in Edinburgh and saw him with Mrs. Alcott prior to her death. Then Claire notes how Nellie Cowden said Campbell had lived in Edinburgh for 2 years, which was how long the Fiend had been killing women. Campbell accuses Mr. Willoughby of betraying Jamie, saying Sir Percival told him. He then drew a knife on Claire but her shot went wide. And then a blur of blue silk and Campbell was down. Willoughby may have inadvertently betrayed Jamie while drunk but he also save Claire's life just then. He takes off. Claire goes searching for Jamie, finds Ishmael and a crocodile, then there's a ceremony with an oracle. Oh and Margaret Campbell has been found. One thing the Bouassa predicts is:
The Maggot dies in three days. Won’t be nothin’ for them here. That all you be wantin’ with me?”
And then both Jamie and Claire hear Bree's voice calling, "Daddy", then "Mama" and when Jamie answers, she says, "I knew it was you. I’ve been dreaming about you." comes from the oracle. She then says, “Don’t let Mama go alone,” said the voice with great certainty. “You go with her. I’ll keep you safe.” and says she loves them.
Ishmael is surprised that the loa spoke to Jamie, saying he'd never heard the loa speak to a white man, so Jamie was safe from him. Ishmael does tell them that Geilie took Ian to Abandawe. Claire knows where it is because Lawrence Stern told her where it was and she knew that Geilie wanted to know its location. Ishmael confirms it is a magic place and asks Claire a rather indelicate question about her potential for fertility. Ishmael says if she is still able to have children, it will kill the magic. He reminds them that the Maggot will die in three days. And if she has taken the boy, he will die. If Jamie follows, he will also die. Then Ishmael disappears. As they go to leave, the sky is lit up with redness. Jamie suspect it is the plantations of Howe's place and Twelvetrees burning. Jamie sees Margaret Campbell and she knows him and asks if he has news of Ewan. He decides to tell her that he is well and asked Jamie to give her something until Ewan sees her again and then he kisses her. As they go, they notice that Rose Hill is now being set on fire as well.
Of course John offers the use of his pinnace for them to return to Hispaniola. Jamie knows he can't risk Jared's ship again. But he also thinks maybe he should "steal" the pinnace rather than John letting them take it so as not to cause John more trouble.
“Trouble? Yes, you might call it trouble, with four plantation houses burnt, and over two hundred slaves gone—God knows where! But I vastly doubt that anyone will take notice of my social acquaintance, under the circumstances. Between fear of the Maroons and fear of the Chinaman, the whole island is in such a panic that a mere smuggler is the most negligible of trivialities.”
“It’s a great relief to me to be thought trivial,” Jamie said, very dryly. “Still, we’ll steal the boat. And if we’re taken, ye’ve never heard my name or seen my face, aye?”
Grey stared at him, a welter of emotions fighting for mastery of his features, amusement, fear, and anger among them.
“Is that right?” he said at last. “Let you be taken, watch them hang you, and keep quiet about it—for fear of smirching my reputation? For God’s sake, Jamie, what do you take me for?”
Jamie’s mouth twitched slightly.
“For a friend, John,” he said. “And if I’ll take your friendship—and your damned boat!—then you’ll take mine, and keep quiet. Aye?”
Just as it seems all is well, John's pinnace, the Bruja and the Porpoise all show up. The Porpoise chasing the Bruja and the pinnace sailing out of the harbor and the Porpoise was sailing in. Except then the Porpoise turned to chase Jamie and company. Thankfully they escaped and sailed to Eleuthera. Jamie thought that might be better than going to Jamaica. He planned on sending the crew back to Jamaica and then having them sail the Artemis to Eleuthera. The Porpoise ended up following them but due to the shallower waters around Cat Island and Eleuthera, they were unable to stay out of range of their long guns. So they went out to sea. But luck just was not with them. The sky turned a purple-green color. Yeah I know that's usually bad news. I grew up in the Midwest where tornadoes are not at all unusual. And now I live along the SC coast where tropical systems are the norm. The storm ended up sinking the Porpoise. There was even St. Elmo's fire and a bit of ball lightning (based on the description). How long the storm lasted is unknown. Thankfully after the storm abated, they had no serious injuries and the fireball had harmed no one. However it melted the compass. They eventually get blown ashore and find they're in Georgia.
Ok so this was a longish book. And now I must decide if I wish to to read the LJG books or continue with the main books. And when I am going to read The Scottish Prisoner, which technically is set before Voyager. The LJG and some of the Seven Stones stories should technically be read between DIA and Voyager but... Same with The Scottish Prisoner, based on the times they're all set in. So they'd be going back in time. Two of the Seven Stones novellas take place in 1778 ("The Space Between") and 1941-1943 ("A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows"). I'm half tempted to skip everything but the 9 major novels and read them later.
No comments:
Post a Comment