The Trail of Chains: A serialized historical Christian romance. (Sonnets of the Spice Isle Book 5) by Bonner Lynnette

Author:Bonner, Lynnette [Bonner, Lynnette]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: historical inspirational romance, edgy inspirational romance, christian, inspirational, edgy inspirational fiction, Historical Romance, Christian historical romance, Africa, clean romance, fiction, Christian Fiction, edgy christian fiction, edgy christian romance, historical fiction, Christian Romance, inspirational christian fiction, inspirational romance, Inspirational Fiction, Christian historical fiction, clean read romance, Inspirational romance series
Publisher: Serene Lake Publishing
Published: 2016-07-27T04:00:00+00:00

The port of Mombasa bustled with activity as stevedores unloaded a fleet of ships recently in from India.

The scents of curry and sandalwood mingled with other not-so-pleasant odors common to any port city—sewage, bilge water, and decaying wharfs. Along the beach, a string of camels being loaded with supplies bellowed and grunted their displeasure, while men alternately yelled and prodded or cajoled the beasts to cooperate.

In the dark hull of one of the ships, Hakim Chadha hefted another crate of spices and thanked the gods he’d been assigned this task instead of the one of sluicing down the last slave ship that had docked.

He emerged on the deck and made his way toward the gangway, but Anju, the stevedore ahead of him, had stopped and was staring out to sea. Hakim adjusted his hold on his crate and looked to see what had caught Anju’s attention.

A galleon flying a British flag tacked toward the wharf—a sight not strange in and of itself. It was the speed at which it approached that was strange!

Anju glanced over. “It comes with too much speed, yes?”

Hakim swallowed as he nodded. He assessed their position in relation to where the ship was going to crash. “Clear the docks!” he yelled to those below. Boatmen, porters, and hawkers carried on about their business. Hakim dropped his crate and ran to the ship’s rail. “Clear the docks! You there! Move!” The turbaned sailor glanced up. His eyes grew round as he screeched warnings to those nearby and scrambled to escape the quickly looming disaster.

The ship plowed into the docks, sending wood, crates, and men flying in all directions. The ship Hakim and Anju stood on shook violently and heaved on the waves, but thankfully the ties stuck fast.

The British galleon now had a gaping hole in its hull and was rapidly taking on water.

Simultaneously, Hakim and Anju rushed toward the injured ship. They were halfway down the gangplank of their own ship when, from the pilot house of the other, a man stumbled to the rail. Even from this distance Hakim could see that his face was gray and pasty with sweat. The man leaned on the rail for a moment, and then he collapsed, slipping out of sight behind the gunwale.

He was dead by the time Hakim and Anju reached the deck.

Had the choice been left to Hakim, he would have tugged the galleon out into the water and set the ship afire. But the choice was not his. Seeing as how there wasn’t a living soul left aboard the ship, the port master claimed the contents of its hold as recompense for damages to his wharf. He set several men to unloading the galleon, while others were immediately dispatched to fetch new lumber for the repairs that would be needed.

Hakim once again thanked the gods that he’d drawn lumber duty. He didn’t get paid enough to have to deal with dead bodies—especially ones that stank as badly as a few of the corpses aboard the galleon.

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