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Back The Darkest Shore Save as PDF
Chapters (76)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Also by Karen Brooks
  4. Title Page
  5. Dedication
  6. EXPLANATORY NOTE
  7. PART ONE
  8. One
  9. Two
  10. Three
  11. Four
  12. Five
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Fourteen
  22. Fifteen
  23. Sixteen
  24. Seventeen
  25. Eighteen
  26. Nineteen
  27. Twenty
  28. Twenty-One
  29. Twenty-Two
  30. Twenty-Three
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. PART TWO
  37. Twenty-Nine
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. Thirty-Three
  42. Thirty-Four
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. PART THREE
  45. Thirty-Six
  46. Thirty-Seven
  47. Thirty-Eight
  48. Thirty-Nine
  49. Forty
  50. Forty-One
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Forty-Eight
  58. Forty-Nine
  59. Fifty
  60. Fifty-One
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. PART FOUR
  63. Fifty-Three
  64. Fifty-Four
  65. Fifty-Five
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Fifty-Seven
  68. Fifty-Eight
  69. Fifty-Nine
  70. Sixty
  71. Sixty-One
  72. Epilogue: Autumn 1706
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. GLOSSARY
  75. LIST OF CHARACTERS
  76. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the distance, she could hear shouts. There. At the end of the pier figures were running towards her. Relief flooded her body, relief followed by dread. What if they thought she was responsible for the reverend’s plight? What if he convinced them to finish what he’d started? She should escape. But where would she go?

All of this occurred to her in a matter of seconds. Looking down at the water, there was no sign of the reverend. Then he surfaced again. Around his neck, across his arms, was the rope. Somehow, he’d managed to get himself tangled in it. Before she could cry a warning, he went under again.

There was no time to think, no time to argue or prevent what happened next. The pro tempore bailies, Mr Borthwick and Mr Carter, appointed to cover the duties of those still in Edinburgh, as well as Jon Durkie and Mr Adam and three soldiers, leapt aboard the Sophia and slipped and slid their way to her. First making sure Sorcha was all right, the men began to heave on the rope still attached to the mast and looped over the crosstree.

Under instructions from Jon Durkie, the soldiers pulled and pulled, using all their strength. At some point, Mr Brown, Beatrix’s husband, came aboard and made his way across the deck. He took off his coat and placed it over Sorcha’s shoulders. ‘Dear God,’ he said in her ear. ‘What happened to you?’

Sorcha didn’t hear, she was too busy watching what the men were doing. Shrugging off the coat and pushing Mr Brown aside, she leapt into action.

‘You have to pull faster,’ she snapped at the soldiers. ‘He’ll drown if we don’t get him out of the water now.’ She added her weight to the rope, bending and straightening, pulling with a strength she didn’t know she still had in her. Her heart was pounding, her body ached, but still she kept going.

The rain had begun to lessen, the wind to drop. Still they worked the rope. Almost the entire length had sunk beneath the waves. More and more people emerged from their houses and lined up along the harbour. Ignoring the dangers of the decaying pier, many ran along its length to see what was happening aboard the Sophia.

Thus it was that most of Pittenweem bore witness to the moment the reverend was hoisted from the murky depths of the sea he never trusted by the woman he tried to kill.

When he broke the surface, there were those who swore he was still alive as his legs jerked and danced. Others said it was just his body in its final death throes, that his soul had already departed.