Justified Treason (Endless Horizon Pirate Stories, Book 1) (30 page)

Sterling
let out a heavy exhale. Though I could not see his face, I felt his body tense with irritation. I was worried he might be upset with me for being weak, but he put his hand on my shoulders and sternly affirmed, “Ye do whatever ye need to do, Charlie. Yer only loyalty need be for yer own survival.”

I was touched by the sincerity of his sacrifice but confused by his reasoning. Running my finger down the scar on his cheek I sighed. “What about you? And what about them?” I pointed over to the snoring bunch of sleeping buccaneers.

“I’ll survive. Don’t ye ever risk yerself worrying about me, and especially don’t be fretting ‘bout them dirty dogs behind me. Ye can’t be ‘aving so much heart in this ugly game we play. Lowly as it be, we only work together in terms of our own selfish gain. Survival at all cost and most times the freedom comes at the expense of others.”

Though his answer left me uneasy, I understood. My loyalties bounced back and forth in my mind, but I had forced myself into a position where I had to pick a side. While the buccaneers’ plan allowed Oliver’s crew the option to live, in Oliver’s plan, the buccaneers were destined to die, and I couldn’t stand the thought of my new friends hanging at the gallows. My choice became clear; I told
Sterling I would continue to side with the buccaneers.

Sterling
sounded eased by the peace I found in my deception and concluded, “Ye be the queen in me game of chess, Charlie. No matter what ye choose to do, I’ll guard yer every move at all cost.”

His sweet expressions were far from typical, and nothing like what I had imagined romance to be, yet it was his very lack of luster that made his unique admirations so appealing.

The room was completely dark around us, but the never ending swirl of heavenly stars were visible through the gaping hole in the hull. In the darkness, I could feel and hear him with much more intensity than my sense of sight would allow, and while talking on we became so incredibly close it was as if there were no bars between us. He was as amusing to my mind as he was appealing to my sight, and the time we spent talking was just as thrilling as the moments we spent kissing.

I pulled him closer, longing to feel his heartbeat against my cheek, but when I only found the cold iron bar I exhaled, “I love you,
Sterling, and I can’t wait ‘til you’re free.”

He squeezed me tight, but since he didn’t respond to my comment, I began to wonder if he loved me too. Maybe he was just using me to turn him loose. What did he plan to do with me afterwards? Perhaps I was just another whore to him. Oh, good heavens, what had I gotten myself into...?

My mind spiraled off in a whirlwind of ridiculous doubts, but without saying another word, Sterling wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. The passion in his touch seemed to wash away my worries, assuring me that I meant more to him, but I still longed to hear him speak the words.

His kiss intensified as he pulled me closer, and after running his rugged hands down my back, he began rubbing all over my hips and thighs. Moving the heat of his mouth across my cheek, he breathed in my ear, “The worst part of being in here is not having you closer.”

While he kissed on my neck I felt his calloused hands sliding into the back of my breeches. Though my unexplored skin enjoyed the salacious gesture, my mind fluttered with panic. Reaching behind me to pull his hands out of my breeches, I panted, “And what is it you plan to do with me once you’re free?”

His body tautened around me,
and his heavy breaths shortened, but with a hopeful insinuation he tempted, “What do ye want me to do with ye?”

I nervously stuttered through the blush on my cheeks. “Oh, my, well…I know…” Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and forced myself to finish with a solid posture. “I know you have been with many women, and I didn’t come all this way just to be one of the many. I truly love you,
Sterling, and I want to know if you feel the same way for me.”

He slid his grip up my belly, over my flattened breast and rested his hard hands on my soft face. While I stood frozen in the helpless state of breathlessness he left me in, he whispered through a low, steamy voice. “I don’t know what the hell ye’ve done to me, Charlie, but I like it. I know I want ye, fer more than just this saucy body, and I want to keep ye for me very own. So don’t worry, I won’t be taking anymore of you ‘til you marry me.”

My head kinked to the side and I raised my eyebrow. “Is that a question or a statement?”

He laughed as he teased, “More of a demand. Ye’ll be mine if
’n ye like it or not.”

I laughed too, but letting loose of my face he grabbed my hands with his and clarified, “Though ye seem to fit just fine in this rugged life I fare, I’ll always see ye as a beautiful woman deserving of more than I ‘ave to offer. So the least I can do is promise to keep ye pure ‘til I make ye mine forever. And yer gonna be mine forever.”

Lightheaded from the wild wind of butterflies let loose in my belly, I gasped, “Well, wake Captain Flynn so he can marry us.”

Sterling
shook his head and laughed, “Aye, Charlie, I don’t know why I think what I have don’t be enough for ye. Yer just as much a pirate as I am.” Pulling me closer he continued, “I can’t propose to ye in a white gazebo on the lawn of some extravagant estate, but I won’t let ye marry me in the brig of me own ship neither.”

I giggled as I kissed him on the cheek. “Soon as you are free, I will marry you, but I am already yours forever.”

I was ever so relieved to know he felt the same as I did. We stayed close together, but he didn’t kiss on me anymore. We just talked on into the night without mind for the passing time. While playing with his ponytail, I noticed he had made a small braid and wrapped it around his hair to tie it back. Twisting his tangled hair around my finger I told him how much I loved his wild locks, and of course he teased me for cutting mine off. Slowly leading my hands across his shoulders and down to his chest, I relished in the feel of his heartbeat, and told him how I wished I could lean my head against him. He reassured me it wouldn’t be long, but sunrise seemed all too far away.

The perfect peace of the beautiful moment was drastically shattered when Paul Redding came running down the stairs with a lantern in one hand and a dagger in the other. Doctor Reedy was behind him with a musket aimed. Paul began to shout, “I knew it.” I turned my back to
Sterling as Paul railed on. “I knew ye were tangled in with this bunch, but I didn’t know ye were a bloody woman!”

Sterling wrapped his arms around me, but Paul grabbed me by the arm, ripped me from his grip, and threw me roughly against the wall. I heard Sterling threatening Paul, but as my head hit the wall, my senses hummed to numbness. The other prisoners woke up, yelling like wild men of the jungle, and the sound of them shaking the cell bars began to wake me from my daze.

As my senses came clear, I saw Paul holding his dagger to my throat. I suddenly felt faint again. The only thing keeping me on my feet was the force of his bulky body holding me against the wall. He slapped my hat off and squeezed my face with his dirty hand as he growled, “Ah, a pretty little thing, too.” His breath was heavy with rum and his eyes were yellow with hatred.

Afraid as I was, I knew my only hope was to fight him. His drunkenness would be my advantage. Though Doctor Reedy had a gun, I doubted his power to handle it. I just had to get him out of the way…Remembering King David with his slingshot against the raging Goliath, I took my knee to Paul’s groin. He slumped over in pain, and I hit him in the face with the butt of my pistol. As the wooden gun thrashed him across the cheek, I lost my grip on it and watched it fly across the room. With the buccaneers shouting in tempo with my adrenaline rush, I grabbed the musket from Doctor Reedy’s trembling hands and slammed him in the face with the butt of it. The prisoners cheered with a raucous of suggestions, but I couldn’t hear their words over the wild beating of my heart.

When the doctor fell over from the musket blow, he went completely unconscious, leaving me only with Paul Redding to face. Figuring I’d have to shoot him, I turned to do so, but he grabbed my feet and yanked me down. “Ye treasonous bitch!”

The force of my body hitting the ground nearly knocked the wind out of me. Straining to catch my breath, I noticed the musket had fallen near Faron’s end of the cell, but it was just out of his reach.

Next thing I knew, Paul was on top of me. He was after my other pistol. Thank God he didn’t have his own. I kicked and screamed with all my might, knowing I’d be done for if he got it. Once he grabbed a flimsy hold of my beloved gun, I managed to kick it out of his hand. With no weapon left to attack me with, he slapped me across the face. “How ‘bout that, ye filthy pirate whore!”

My face stung with a pain that engulfed my thoughts and put a pause on the rage of my fight. Paul took my moment of weakness to grab at my shirt, tearing it and my flattening fabric open. The air hit my bare chest, and as his filthy hands made their way over me, I raked my nails across his face. Feeling his skin peel off under my nails, he shrieked in an almost girlish horror, but as I tried to move out from under him he bashed my head against the floor. While wallowing in my dizzying daze, I heard him grumbling about how I let the pirate have his way with me, and as I came to, I realized he was undoing my belt. The prisoners were roaring like wild animals and the world was a hazy blur of demonic horror around me.

There was no way in hell this was going to happen.

Finding the will to continue in fight, I grabbed the brim of my breeches, yanking on them with an unknown might. Unable to pull them down, he slapped me again before he snarled, “I’ll show ye what a real man’s made of.”

Though the slap caused me to let go of my breeches, when he went to grab for them, I reached up and gouged him in the eye. I screamed in terror as I felt my finger squish around the mush of his eyeball, but forced his ugly head back with the treacherous maneuver.  While he screeched his excruciating wail of pain, he pushed me back, and I rammed my heel into his face. His head jolted back from the force and I took the opportunity to flee.

I heard him get up to chase me, but the moment my heated face hit the wall of cool night air I heard a gunshot. Unsure of where I would go, or what would become of my unveiling, I ran for my very life. My hair was a tangled mess, and my cheeks were flushed with fear. The fabric I had wrapped my chest with was completely ripped off and my shirt was torn open, showing my obvious gender. Oliver Langston was my only hope, but after what I had done, there was no sure security.

Reaching the captain’s quarters, I pounded on his locked door with the might of a battering ram. He answered with his arrow drawn. His hair was a sleepy mess, but after looking at my bursting cleavage, the stun on his face showed him to be awake as a man could be.

“Good Heavens!” He shrieked an awestricken wail of shock.

“It’s me, Charlie, let me in.” I forced my way past him.

Eyeing my bruised face he locked the door behind us and blustered, “Charlie? Oh my, what in the world is this?”

“I tricked you. I know it’s awful. I am a woman, and Paul Redding wants to hurt me… That churlish ol’ clot-pole tried to rape me!”

“Paul, why? What? Where is he? What on God’s green Earth?”

I was pacing around; panting out my exasperated worries when I suddenly realized Paul could have shot one of the prisoners.

I nearly screamed, “He could have shot someone. Oh, my. Oh, how…This is all my fault!”             

Oliver slammed his hand on the table. “That is enough! Calm yourself, woman. Sit down in that chair and tell me your blasted story.” His abrasive tone knocked me out of my clamor, and I sat down in a chair, struggling to take calming breaths. Oliver mumbled under his breath, “This is why women don’t belong at sea.”

Debating on how much I should tell him, I realized Paul would be sure to blaspheme my whole character if he got to the captain first. I inhaled again, and in my greatest attempt to be calm I admitted, “Paul saw me with the navigator, and he tried to stab me.”

“What do you mean
with
the navigator?”

There was no sense in hiding it, Paul would tell him what he saw. “With him, as in… Oh…blast it all, I am in love with him.” 

Oliver exhaled a gale force breath. “I cannot believe you fooled me this way. Did you know Mister Bentley before this endeavor? Are you two married? Oh my, wait, you know what, I do not want to know the answer to any of those questions. I will tell you that he is a respectable man, buccaneer or not, but there are harsh consequences for stowing away and siding with a prisoner, Charlie. Or whatever your name is…”

Trying not to cry I whimpered, “That is what I feared. What will become of me? What will become of him?”

“Even as a woman you have accomplished great deeds on this mission, and I respect your character, but there is a law to follow and you certainly have broken it. I cannot yet answer what will come of the two of you, but for now, as the captain of this cursed ship, I must go see what is coming of this disaster.”

I followed Captain Langston with my heart thumping in my ears, horrified to see what would be awaiting us in the brig. What if Paul shot one of my friends? What if he killed
Sterling! My mind flashed over the God awful memories of all the dead men I had seen, and I hunched over to vomit. Oliver grabbed me by the arm and dragged me along behind him with no mind to my sick and spiraling panic.

Of course the crewmen were stirring in the wake of excitement, and I watched their jaws drop when they say me. Walking safely behind Oliver and his bow, I remembered to pull my tattered shirtfront back together.

Upon entering the brig room we saw Paul Redding lying in a puddle of blood. Doctor Reedy was mending a wound on his calf. The prisoners were wild in their cell raging about the incident while slashing horrifying threats at the injured men. Sterling was pacing the tiny perimeter with an unmanageable fury on his face. He was alive! I ran in his direction, yelping with famished relief, but my wild stride was brashly halted by the antagonizing crewmen that yanked me back. Their force was harsh and their hands were hungry.

Sterling
grabbed onto the bars as if he was going to rip them open while hollering at the men to let go of me. He looked bigger and meaner than anyone I had ever seen, but he was helpless behind those cursed bars.

Captain Langston grabbed me out of the heinous group I had once known as my crew, and with me clinging to his side for safety, he shot his gun into the air. Everyone silenced and the captain shouted, “What in the hell-pit of Hades’ own damnation is going on around here?”

The room instantly stirred back up with rampant and opposing explanations, and amongst the roar I learned that Marin had reached for the gun and Sterling was the one who shot Paul. The pirates saved my life! Before I had a chance to thank anyone, Oliver shouted with all his frustrations erupting in his voice. “That is enough.”

His tone was only slightly calmer as he looked at the doctor. “Doctor Reedy, what on earth has happened?”

The doctor pointed to the prisoners and glared in disgust. “I would feel more comfortable discussing this in your chambers, Captain. I have had about enough of these unruly commentaries.”

With a final attempt to tame the animosity, Captain Langston demanded, “There will be a meeting in my quarters the moment Mister Redding’s leg is mended.”

The infuriated captain turned to face me and pointed up the stairs as if I was a child being sent to my room. I looked to Sterling before I left, and the anguish in his green eyes was more than I could bear. As the men pushed me towards the gangway, Sterling shouted, “I love you, Charlie.”

Turning to face him, there was no way out of the herd that was stampeding me, but I fought against them with all the force I had, while screaming like a woman insane. “I love you, too, Sterling.”

The sound of Sterling kicking and bashing on the bars echoed in the distance as I was forced out to the deck.

The honorable Captain Oliver Langston, the spineless Doctor Davis Reedy, and the loathsome Paul Redding, surrounded me at the table in the captain’s quarters. My breath was still out of control, but I did my best to tame my fury while also struggling to manage my throbbing pain. My face was heavily bruised around my eye, and my lip was swollen and bleeding. My clothing was ripped and tattered around the various bruises and cuts on my arms and chest.

Paul Redding had a swollen bloody gouge across his cheek from the pistol whip, his right eye was welted in the shape of my boot heel, and he kept it closed from the damaging gouge. His clothes were tattered, and he was dashed in scratch marks. His leg was wrapped from the repair of the shallow bullet wound, and with any luck, he’d be limping for days to come.

Doctor Reedy had a whopping welt across his cheek bone where I thumped him with the gun.

Captain Langston looked at me and snapped, “Good grief, Charlie Bentley. Pull yourself together.” He wafted a sloppy hand toward my mangled shirt front.

Looking down I noticed the bare skin between my breasts was entirely exposed. Blushing as I pulled my shirt closed, I decided to tie the tattered ends of fabric together to keep it shut.

Captain Langston had been fussing throughout the chaos, which was not his normal character, but before he carried on in speech, he took a deep breath and resumed his usual poise. “Now, I have already heard Charlie’s rendition of this despicable tale. I do believe it is time for you to tell me what happened, Paul.”

Paul Redding looked at me, smirking in disgust before he began. “I ‘ad reason to believe Charlie was minglin’ with the prisoners, and as I rounded the gangway this evening, I saw her filthy whore hands all over that bloody navigator. I knew she was up to no good, but to see she was a blasted woman with a fancy for a prisoner was more than I could bear.”

The captain shook his head in agreement before Paul added, “When I asked ‘er what she was doin’, she pointed her gun at me and threatened me life. As Doctor Reedy came in, she bashed me with the pistol, took the doctor’s gun, and smashed his face with it. While I attempted to defend meself, she passed the doctor’s gun to the prisoners and that rotten navigator shot me.”

I had never been so infuriated. Slamming my hand on the table I barked, “You bloody rotten, hell-hearted liar.”

Captain Langston glared me to silence and calmly asked Paul, “Now what is this that I hear about attempted rape?”

Paul laughed as he lied, “She could only wish! Do ye ‘onestly think I’d pollute meself with the diseases of that pirate-tainted slut?”

I shouted to defend my virtue, but the captain stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “Now that’s enough of that sort of talk, Paul Redding. And you will calm your outrage, Charlie Bentley.” Captain Langston continued to stand with both of his hands flat on the table. He lowered his voice and asked Doctor Reedy to express his account of the tale. The black-spotted doctor entirely sided with Paul Redding’s lie, finishing his exploit with the mention of me handing the gun to the navigator. Oliver exhaled, “You didn’t tell me that part of the story, Charlie.”

I stood up and threw my arms out, nearly ripping my shirt open again as I shouted, “Because it is a filthy rotten lie! I was defending myself. I am telling the truth, Captain.”

Paul glared at me as he snarled to Oliver. “How can one ever trust the words of a buccaneer-loving pirate?”

Captain Langston lowered his head. Looking to be sincerely disappointed, he exhaled, “I trusted and respected you, Charlie, but you have been lying to me all along. In order to stay on the correct side of justice, I must imprison you for this act of piracy.”

My heart stopped beating. My gut flooded with bile. Feeling as if I had been thrown into a dark corner, I started to back up against the wall. The world around me spiraled out of control and as the men surrounded me I fought at them with a hardly conscious fit of rage. There was no hope left in my pitiful world. Next thing I knew, I was handcuffed and tied to the mizzenmast. The sun was rising, and the mountains of
Jamaica were in sight.

PART V

Sheer Piracy

Chapter 13

Shameful Arrangement

As told by Charlotte Wetherby

C
aptain Langston was kind enough to allow me this tattered piece of paper, a quill, and a nearly empty bottle of ink. I have lost track of the days so I am not sure of the date, but the morning sun is warm and the birds are flocking about. Looking up I can see the endless blue sky beaming above the rigging lines, and the canvas sails are full with the thick salty breeze. If my hands were not in cuffs and my body was not tied to a mast pole, it would be a rather beautiful day.

The Wind of Glory is nearing the harbor of Port Royal and I feel as if I might throw up. The hard tack I ate last night was hardly substantial and the rum has left me nauseous. I am battered from the fight, exhausted by my fit, and dare I mention my anguish over the situation…I have come so far but accomplished so little! As I look over the damages of this
shameful arrangement, I wonder what would have happened if I had just stayed home.

As it is, Faron Flynn and the remnants of his crew will be sentenced to the gallows, and Sterling Bentley will be forced out to sea to face uncountable obstacles. Even though Captain Langston is the one that detained me, I know he was only doing his job and I do not detest him for it. In fact, I actually feel a bit of ease for Sterling’s sail knowing that he will be working with such a fair and just captain. None of this is good but at least we are all still alive. If I had stayed home they might not be, so perhaps it was worth the journey.

Look at me; I have been so concerned over the fate of my friends that I have not thought of what will become of me. What does this imprisonment mean? How long will I be behind bars? I cannot fathom the thought of the gallows so I will leave that mention alone. Oh, good heavens what will my father think about my shameful return? I can’t help but hope that he will save me from this wretched fate that I have created, yet I know that I do not deserve his pardon. Oh, how I love that nervous old man, and what a wretch I am to have shamed his efforts in such a way. He worked so hard to raise me as a lady yet I have returned home in shackles, filthy, beaten and murderous.

This beautiful ship is now sailing past the guard tower at the narrow entrance of the harbor, and I am resisting the urge to hang my head in shame. Yes, there are far more treacherous memories from this unfortunate journey, but I cannot deny that there is plenty of good that has come from it as well. The beauty of the open ocean assured me of God’s love, and the power of the storm represented His wrathful might. I saw the root of human nature triumph in its best and plummet in its worst, finding deceit in the honorable and honor in the lawless.

I saved the lives of two good men and learned that I can defend myself in a fury. Refusing to let myself lay victim to that rotten man’s abuse, I will rather view the brutality I survived as a testament of my own strength. Oh, and I know those buccaneers are a rowdy bunch of outlaws, but I can’t deny that they showed me the best time I have ever had. The world is a large and wild place outside the sturdy walls of The Royal Poinciana, and I am thrilled that I was finally able to experience it.

Of course, I shall settle on my love for Sterling Bentley. That man will forever be my greatest fantasy. Yes, he has showed me my power as a woman and left me burning to know more of what a man has to offer, but my longing for him goes much deeper than the lustful fire that burns between us. I entirely respect him as the man he is. He is attractive as can be, but also wise and level headed. He can fight with a sword, as well as he can fight through a storm, and since I have learned a bit about the sea myself, my admiration for his navigation work has deepened. The way that such a strong and wild man could be so soft and kind to me melts me into a puddle of love. Everything that he is fills my soul with a peace that will forever be void without him.

Oh, curse that buccaneer for his good manners! He should have just married me in that brig cell. I would rather rot in prison as Charlie Bentley, the notorious wife of a navigating buccaneer, than as Charlotte Wetherby, the disgraced daughter of an honorable plantation owner. Oh bother! Regardless of my name, we are engaged to be married and I have sworn to be his forever. My memory clings to the sound of him yelling how he loved me from the brig cell, and the vicious strength behind his ravenous kicks to the bars so powerfully expressed that he feels the same intensity for me as I feel for him.