Port Royal by Linda Chaikin

Author:Linda Chaikin [Chaikin, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-8348-5
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 1995-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

20

FRIEND OR FOE?

In the Great House on Foxemoore, Sir Erik Farrow suppressed a cough and continued his silent vigil behind the velvet drape in the dressing chamber belonging to Baret’s uncle, Lord Felix Buckington.

It was fortunate, thought Erik, that Felix was downstairs attending the ball. If Felix discovered him here, he would need to do some explaining.

Seated in a plush red velvet chair behind the drape, his strong legs in black woolen hose and boots stretched out as he listened in the darkness, he dozed between wakefulness and sleep. He drew his deep burgundy cloak about him, keeping one hand on his jeweled sword belt, an expensive gift from Lord Felix. There was also a shorter, pearl-handled blade in his left boot, a gift from Baret.

The old earl had recruited Erik to spy on Baret, who was prone to follow the steps of his father and take to a life of buccaneering against Spain. But Erik had also taken a second employment, unknown to either the earl or Baret—he was providing information for Felix.

Erik knew there was more to Baret’s buccaneering life in the Caribbean than revenge against Spain for the torturous death of his mother. Baret questioned the accuracy of the information Felix brought to the trial in London concerning his father’s piracy and death. Baret suspected that he yet lived, perhaps was being held as a slave in one of Spain’s colonies.

Erik was privy to Baret’s recent contacts with the spies who were quietly seeking information about his father. He knew about Lucca, but as yet he had not shared that crucial information with Felix or with the old earl.

It was Erik’s duty in service to Lord Felix to stop Baret from leaving Port Royal and sailing with Henry Morgan and his buccaneers. Erik was to return Baret under guard to London—at sword point if necessary. Baret didn’t know it yet, but Erik had been reporting his actions to Felix regularly, though he did not always explain them with as much detail as he knew.

Erik tapped his fingers against his satin vest. He casually pushed back a lock of golden hair from his forehead. He frowned. When it came to Baret, Erik was both his antagonist and his ally, if that were possible.

He smiled when he remembered first meeting Baret years earlier. Baret had been a reluctant student attending Trinity College, Cambridge. It had not taken long for Erik to discover that he was the son of the buccaneer Royce Buckington. Though Baret had excelled at Greek and Latin and theology from the viewpoint of the Puritans, he still resolved to join his father against Spain in the West Indies.

Baret had been in his teens when Erik had first met him in the armory, thinking it strange and even amusing to see a young man wearing a scholar’s robe and carrying books arrive to practice the sword.

Erik’s own skills with the blade had impressed Baret, and when he discovered that Erik had a reputation as a buccaneer at Tortuga, he sought to hire him as his fencing master and trainer for the tournaments.

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