Echoes from the Sky (eBook)

A romantic pirate adventure, Book 4

Meiring Fouche (Autor)

Meiring Fouche (Urheber)

Meiring Fouche (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
85 Seiten
Pieter Haasbroek (Verlag)
978-1-7764915-3-7 (ISBN)

Infos

A drifting boat of corpses.

A single word carved in blood.

A trail leading to lost treasure, and a deadly conspiracy on the high seas.

West Indies (1715). Honorable sea captain Simon Verbeeck follows a dead man's trail to Barbuda, hunting a sunken Spanish warship and its royal treasure. But the mission is a trap, and the man who sent him is a traitor, allied with the most feared pirate on the seas.

Ambushed and chained, Simon is dragged before a secret cabal of pirates and corrupt Spanish officials. Their offer is simple. Join their bloody rebellion to forge a pirate empire, or hang. For a man sworn to destroy pirates, surrender is unthinkable.

After a daring escape, Simon seizes the very treasure the rebels need to fuel their war. Now hunted across the ocean by a vengeful fleet, he must stake everything on one audacious gamble. But can one man outwit a conspiracy that spans an empire and commands the deadliest pirate armada in the Caribbean?

Brimming with high-seas battles, mystery, and shocking betrayal, Echoes from the Sky is perfect for fans of Pirates of the Caribbean and Master and Commander.

Set sail on the fourth book of Meiring Fouche's unforgettable pirate saga today.

Textauszug

4. ECHOES FROM THE SKY

Chapter 1

MYSTERIOUS FIND

The elegant sailing ship cleaved through the breakers in the vicinity of the West Indies. It was a calm day, and the sea was tranquil. The wind was just right, and the great sails billowed. Those who knew ships would immediately recognize this vessel as an aristocrat of the oceans. Proudly emblazoned on its prow was the name, Red Ruby.

The Red Ruby sat low in the water, having loaded a large cargo of merchandise in Table Bay. This cargo, entrusted to the renowned sea captain by enterprising merchants in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, was bound for trade in the prosperous West Indies. There was wine, there were hides, there was meat, and all manner of other products from the fledgling colony.

But although it was a calm day, although the horizon stretched far and wide and open, the lookout in the crow’s nest had very explicit orders to keep his eyes peeled. This was the domain of the pirates. Here, peaceful vessels were ambushed by those who appropriated the ocean’s treasures for themselves. This was the sea where violence and greed reigned supreme.

Simon Verbeeck strode across the deck, checking that all was in order. This large, dark man, broad-shouldered and with clear blue eyes, was a captain who kept a sharp eye on everything. He also knew that the pirates had it in for him, and for that reason, he was doubly vigilant. He surveyed the great billowing sails of his vessel, he examined the crossbeams, he paid close attention to the masts and rigging. He inspected his deck. He was checking for any possible flaws, but everything was in order, for his second-in-command, Wilhelm Rieckert, was a man who knew his duty on a ship. He kept a ship in perfect order, just as a horse lover would always keep a magnificent stallion in good condition.

Simon Verbeeck had just completed his inspection and was about to return to his cabin to study some nautical charts when the lookout, high in the crow’s nest, shouted so loudly that Simon froze in his tracks and looked up at the man.

“An object on the starboard bow!” yelled the lookout.

“What is it?” Simon called from below.

“I can’t quite make it out, captain,” the lookout called back. “It’s just something small. It’s not a ship or anything. Sometimes it almost looks like a skiff.”

“Where is it?” Simon shouted.

And the lookout pointed with his hand, diagonally forward, towards the horizon.

Simon summoned a cabin boy and ordered him to fetch his telescope from the cabin. When he had the telescope in his hands, he went to the railing and began to scan the sea. Wilhelm Rieckert also approached and stood there next to his captain.

“Well, Simon,” said Wilhelm, “it’s been a voyage without any excitement since we left Table Bay. We might be in for a bit of adventure now.”

Simon paid no heed to his good friend’s remark. He was observing the object, which he now had captured within the lens of the telescope. From here, it did indeed look like a skiff to him. Then, the object would disappear, then it would reappear on the wide swell of the sea.

“See if you can make it out,” Simon said to Wilhelm, handing him the telescope. “I can’t quite see what it is.”

Wilhelm observed the object in turn, and when he was finished, he announced that, in his opinion, it was a skiff.

“A skiff? What would a skiff be doing out here? We’re miles from the nearest land. Perhaps it’s a few mutineers who have been cast adrift by their captain,” said Wilhelm with an uneasy chuckle. Wilhelm Rieckert knew as well as Simon that a skiff in this part of the ocean was something extraordinary.

Simon determined the direction and distance to the skiff. Then, he walked to his helmsman and gave him orders to steer towards it. The Red Ruby turned in the water and pushed its prow in the direction of the black speck on the horizon.

Simon Verbeeck felt a stirring in his blood. He sensed that this black dot, which looked like a skiff to them, could possibly be the start of a new adventure. Therefore, he preferred not to go to his cabin. He ordered that the lookout be relieved. He sent another man to the crow’s nest. This was a man he selected specifically, because he knew the fellow had eyes like an eagle, and that there would be little on the horizon that he wouldn’t spot.

Simon thought quickly. He knew the cunning and slyness of the pirate, for he was the traditional and acknowledged enemy of all pirates. They hated him, and he hated them. Therefore, he didn’t want to be lured into a trap. He had previously experienced pirates using this kind of ruse, just to lead a potential victim into a trap. They would put a few men in a skiff and cast it adrift in the water, and when the unsuspecting victim tried to rescue such a skiff, the pirates would then attack.

The new lookout went to the crow’s nest, put his hand to his brow, and surveyed the horizon. Simon had ordered him to take a telescope. He extended the telescope and used it to scan the surroundings. But within his wide field of vision, he saw nothing except that bobbing black speck, which was growing larger and larger as the Red Ruby plowed through the water.

Simon remained by the ship’s railing, and with his telescope, he kept a watch on the object. He could already see that it was indeed a skiff, without the slightest doubt. A rather long, sturdy skiff. And he noticed something else. That skiff was adrift. It had no fixed direction, and it was apparently not under control. It would then swing this way, then it would tilt that way, as the water swept it along. The sea was playing with that skiff, flinging it this way, then that way.

“There’s nobody at the helm of that skiff,” Simon said to Wilhelm Rieckert, who had come to stand next to him again. “I see no oars flashing. It’s a peculiar business. A skiff in this part of the ocean, and on top of that, a floating, drifting skiff without any direction or course.”

Wilhelm Rieckert’s eyes had widened. He had learned that the sea often foisted strange and unsettling secrets upon you. There was a tingling in Wilhelm’s blood, because he, too, just like Simon, had the feeling that they might be in for an adventure here.

Simon suddenly handed his telescope to Wilhelm. “Keep an eye on the skiff and at the same time keep an eye on the horizon, Wilhelm. I don’t want to be overtaken from behind by a pirate. We have a heavy cargo. The Red Ruby can’t easily make a quick getaway.”

Then, he strode with long steps to his cabin, went inside and stood at his chart table. He worked out their current position, and then he saw that they were already approaching Puerto Rico. He had a plan to call at San Juan and possibly trade a portion of his cargo with the wealthy Spaniards. But Simon Verbeeck also knew that they were still a fair distance from Puerto Rico. It would still take some sailing before they arrived there. And here now lay a skiff in the desolate waters of the southern Atlantic Ocean.

Simon went to the wall chart, which he had had drawn of this region, this area of prosperity, violence, pirates, heavily armed warships, the kingdom of rum and the saber. He pressed his finger on the chart, and determined exactly where they were. He saw that they were far removed from the nearest land. Just as he had surmised, the Bahama Islands lay far off to the right, the island of Cuba lay even further. The string of smaller islands such as Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Barbados lay far out in the vastness of the ocean.

Having established that, Simon’s curiosity was piqued even more. Could a hurricane have struck a ship somewhere here? Could one of the dreaded whirlwinds have sent a ship to the depths here? This was not an unusual occurrence. When you were caught in the heart of a whirlwind, when the wind became so strong that a waterspout was sucked upwards and then danced across the sea, then you knew beforehand that the end had come for you, for you and your vessel.

When he came out on deck and looked at the sunny day, at the calm blue sea, it was as if a whirlwind was impossible for Simon.

When he reached the railing, Wilhelm Rieckert was still standing there. Wilhelm looked at Simon, and there was a message in his eyes.

“It’s as you say, Simon. That skiff is directionless. I see no one in it.”

Simon looked up at the lookout. “Do you see anything in the skiff, Gerritse?” Simon yelled.

“It seems to me there are people in the skiff, captain,” yelled Gerritse from the crow’s nest. “But I detect no movement. It seems to me they are lying in the bottom of the skiff. In any case, I detect no oars, and there is certainly no one at the helm.”

Simon turned away from the railing and walked to his helmsman. “Slightly to starboard,” Simon ordered.

The bobbing, drifting skiff was now not far from them. And with every step they took closer, the feeling rose in Simon that they had something peculiar to deal with here. He was restless and uneasy. Now he was at the railing, now he was at the helmsman, now he was back in his cabin at the wall chart.

“Keep your eyes peeled, Gerritse,” he yelled to the lookout, when he came out on deck again. But he could see that Gerritse was keeping his eyes peeled. He kept turning in the crow’s nest and with the telescope, he surveyed the entire horizon. From that crow’s nest, one could see far and wide across the sea.

When the skiff was about a kilometer from them, Simon gave a new order. He ordered that their heavy longboat be made ready to be lowered. A few seamen prepared the boat, swung it to the side, and lowered it over...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.9.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Red Ruby
• Illustrationen: Meiring Fouche
• Mitarbeit: Zusammenstellung: Meiring Fouche
• Übersetzer: Meiring Fouche
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Sammeln / Sammlerkataloge
• Themenwelt: Kinder- / Jugendbuch
• Schlagworte: ebook pirates • english action and adventure books • historical fiction • historical romance and action • meiring fouche • pirates • pirate stories • red ruby ebook series • red ruby series • sea adventure • sea pirate ebook • sea pirate stories • sea pirate story • Treasure Hunt
• ISBN-10: 1-7764915-3-X / 177649153X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7764915-3-7 / 9781776491537