Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

Author:Eli Brown [Brown, Eli]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780374123666
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

14

ETIQUETTE FOR CLOSE COMBAT

In which I lose much

When our vessels were five yards close and the waves rocked La Colette such that her deck was made plain to me, I saw, with clarity, the marvelous contraption that had so burned the Flying Rose. A dozen large mirrors were positioned at distances upon the deck, and some on rigs were suspended out over the water. These swung upon swivels to reflect sunlight to the center, where a great moon of silver sat, concave and polished to a high sheen. This collecting dish was positioned behind several large lenses that, in turn, rolled upon tracks and could be adjusted to focus the terrible beam.

This is how men spend their days on earth.

I was considering my leap to freedom, reassuring myself that, despite this furious attack, Laroche was Ramsey’s man, like me, when my thoughts were stopped by the sight of Feng swinging from a severed stay line across the divide and landing in the shrouds of Laroche’s ship. From there he dropped to the deck and, evading Laroche’s crew (who had not yet truly appreciated his presence among them), made straight for the solar weapon. Producing a cooper’s hammer from his belt, he shattered, with lithe and efficient strokes, the glass lenses one by one and moved on to the central dish itself, where he put two great divots into the silver before he was beset by Laroche’s marines. They surrounded him and he used his hammer as a weapon, making short swift arcs that landed with staggering speed on one sailor after another, now breaking a knee, now caving a temple. This crowd moved about the deck, for Feng would not let them corner him, and they left behind them a trail of broken men, some impaled on their own swords. He ducked and leaped like a flame, dodging the falling bodies, all the while writing invisible ideograms in the air with the hammer, each punctuated by apostrophes of blood.

My vision obscured by smoke and the rolling of the deck, I was able to witness only brief moments of this melee, but it was time enough to see Feng cut down a dozen men. They would have had more luck catching the wind; he had a manner of slinking askance, slipping behind them even as they lunged. The sailors seemed confused to find their wrists broken and their jaws unhinged by that appalling hammer. One, taking desperate action, dropped his sword and lifted his blunderbuss, but Feng did not flee nor flinch. Rather, in a wink, as the gun was aimed, Feng went to the soldier as easily as one hugs a friend. The gun fired safely under Feng’s arm, and three soldiers behind him dropped, gripping their red bellies, felled by their comrade’s shot.

All the while, rifles and cannon continued to mutilate the air, scattering wood and bone like confetti. As more men moved to intercept Feng, our gunners gained advantage and many of Laroche’s men found themselves riddled with crossfire.

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