Mortimer pushed his way through to the center of the ring of pirates that was forming around Jeremy and ordered, "The contenders must hand over their weapons to me. This is going to be a-somewhat fair fight." But by the time five pistols and two daggers were dropped by his feet, he added, "Bloody hell, I need a sack," which drew even more laughter.
Still, he managed to stuff seven pistols around his waist and picked up the eight daggers from the four pirates who had stepped forward to participate. Finally, he raised his hand and said, "On your mark-"
One of them threw a punch at Jeremy before Mortimer could finish. The blond got out of the way and joined Percy behind the ring of onlookers, slipping him one of the pistols.
"Four is still a lousy number," Jacqueline whispered to Damon.
"Your brother must not think so, but you know him better than I. Can he do it?"
"Certainly-but he might not get in those missed swings we were counting on."
Three more swings toward Jeremy, all three misses. Jeremy was playing with them, apparently. Jack wished she had a better view, but at least she could still see her brother, taller than all the others, to know that he was enjoying himself!
But then Jeremy took his first swing at the pirate who was trying to slip behind him. A bystander went down instead and Jeremy complained, "Now see what you've done. That's what happens when you don't stay in front of me."
Jacqueline started to worry. Jeremy might have all their attention on him, but he should have taken down one of the four contenders first so he'd just have to face a manageable three, especially when the four could converge on him. She hoped he didn't think pirates would actually fight fairly. But she realized when another bystander went down that having the four contenders still standing was possibly keeping anyone else from interfering yet, if they planned to.
Two down, thirteen to go, and what was Damon waiting for? He wasn't. He hit the man in front of him with the butt of his pistol, helping him to the deck so his fall wouldn't make much noise. That was her cue to leave and she did, running back up to the quarterdeck and straight to the short set of steps leading down to Damon's cabin. Instead of going inside the cabin, she turned to the center railing in front of his cabin.
It was the perfect place to watch the fight because it provided an unobstructed view of the main deck and was only a few feet from Damon's cabin. She could still get behind his locked door if she had to, but she didn't think she'd have to since she also had a good view of both stairways leading up to the quarterdeck. If any of the pirates broke away from the fight on the main deck and headed toward her, she'd see it. She even put her hand in her pocket so she could quickly reach the little pistol if she needed it.
Damon and Mortimer were quietly but quickly disabling pirates on the edge of the crowd. Percy wasn't. He'd stuck his pistol in the back of one pirate and had given him a warning that was keeping him quiet. One was better than none for old Percy. The three armed sailors who'd been guarding Jeremy earlier had also taken out three pirates. When one of the pirates noticed what was happening, he shouted a warning, which set off the mayhem.
///
Jeremy got swarmed for a moment when his four contenders converged on him, but he was able to knock one out and push the other three back so they fell over their mate. Then he quickly went after the pirates who still had weapons. But for a moment during the brawl he came face-to-face with Damon and could have knocked him out as well. She saw her brother pause, seeming to consider it! She was about to yell something nasty at him when a pirate stuck a pistol in his back. Damon saw it and tackled that one away from Jeremy. Jack smirked, but her brother would still get an earful from her later about not honoring deals.
That's when an arm went about her neck, half choking her, and the tip of a dagger pricked the skin below her ear. Filthy black silk covered the elbow under her chin. She knew only one of the pirates wore that dark color. An icy chill ran down her spine, but then she got angry at herself. They'd been so close to winning and it was her fault that they wouldn't! She had to fix this.
"How'd you get up here?" she asked Dr. Death. "I would have seen-"
Foul breath crossed her cheek when he said, "Was already up here, pretty. Snuck up as soon as ye ran back to the cap'n to get him to leave his post, and I hid on the other side of his cabin. Fights are boring. If ye've seen one, ye've seen them all. But ye ain't boring, wench, and there's a nice bed only feet from here where we're gonna do a little bouncing."