It was almost dawn, and The Raven hadn't slept in the last two nights. He leaned against the railing as he watched a ship weigh anchor and put out to sea. She was the Blue Dolphin, De Fores' ship. The morning breeze caught at her canvas as she moved silently out to sea.
James joined his captain and they both watched the Blue Dolphin leave port. "He'll be off to practice his mischief on some poor, unsuspecting ship, Captain," the cabin boy observed.
"Yes, and it's just as well. If he stayed around, I would probably run him through for the way he treated Robert," The Raven answered, feeling almost relieved that De Fores was leaving. That must mean that De Fores hadn't gone to Maude's house, as he had feared.
"The doctor says Captain Wolf has a good chance of making it, sir." James watched his captain's face. "When do we sail, sir?"
"I have received a message from John Paul Jones; he is in France and has asked me to join him there. I have decided to leave at once. We will sail immediately upon Briggs's return. Have the men make the ship ready."
"France ain't too far from England. Will you set the lady free when we reach there?"
"Just do as you are told," The Raven snapped, turning his back and watching the sun rise on the fading sails of the Blue Dolphin.
The Raven was sitting beside Robert Wolf’s bedside when Briggs came bursting into the cabin. "Captain, sir, Lady Season has disappeared. I didn't see hide nor hair of her at Maude's house!"
The Raven stood up slowly. "What are you saying, Briggs?"
"I found Maude unconscious, and that Nubian of hers was dead, stabbed. There was no sign of Lady Season and when Maude regained consciousness, she didn't know what had happened to her either."
The Raven ran his hand through his hair. "Did you search the house thoroughly?"
"Yes, sir," Briggs replied in a distressed voice. "There was no sign of a struggle; she's just gone. I found her necklace lying on the floor."
The Raven took the necklace and watched the diamonds and emeralds shimmer in the light. "My God! De Fores has Season!" he cried, as he ran from the cabin.
"All hands on deck!" he yelled. "De Fores has taken Lady Season! We get under way immediately." He took the helm and his hands gripped the wheel tightly. His eyes stared at the distant horizon where the Blue Dolphin had disappeared. "I'll see you dead for this, De Fores," he said aloud. "If you harm one hair on her head, your death will be horrible to behold!"
Season walked about the cabin impatiently. She vowed that when she was safely back with her father, she would never again be behind a locked door. This certainly wasn't what she had had in mind when she'd asked De Fores for his help. She noticed the cabin was in disarray and wrinkled her nose. It wasn't very clean. The covers on the bed were filthy and rumpled. Indeed, these quarters smelled of perspiration and unwashed bodies. Never mind, she told herself. Soon I will be back in England and this will be a nightmare I have left behind. In no time at all The Raven will be nothing more than a bitter memory.
The door opened suddenly and De Fores entered the cabin. He smiled at Season and unbuckled his sword, letting it clatter to the floor.
"We have made it, my lady. I always knew the captain of the Andromeda was no match for me. Once again I have plucked The Raven's tail feathers, no?"
"Is there no fear he will pursue us?"
"Oh, he will try, but there is no way he can catch us now. By the time he realizes I have stolen his lady, he will not be able to find us. There is no one to tell him that you are with me; after all, Maude and her servant are both dead."
Season felt her stomach churn. "You cannot mean that you killed Maude!" she cried, horrified. "I didn't expect you would harm anyone."
De Fores shrugged his shoulders. "I did what I thought was necessary."
Season felt sick. She remembered that Maude had not been unkind on the preceding evening. Maude's death lay heavily on her shoulders; but she set her grief aside and faced De Fores.
"Have you set a course for England?"
He laughed, and his white teeth gleamed brightly. "I am De Fores, the pirate. I cannot sail leisurely up to the English shores. The Blue Dolphin would be sunk before we ever sighted Dover."
"What do you plan to do then?"
"We will talk about that later," he said, stripping off his jacket. "Right now I am hungry—how about you?"
"No, not very," she answered, beginning to pace the floor again. "One other thing I want to talk to you about," she said, stopping in front of him. "I insist that I not be locked in this cabin. I have an aversion to being locked up."
De Fores' eyebrow quirked. "Excuse me, my lady, but you must trust me to do what is best for your safety. If I left the cabin door unlocked, you would be ravished by one or several members of my crew."
Season's cheeks stained crimson. "Surely not. I was never in that kind of danger aboard the Andromeda."
"Ah, yes, The Raven's crew. They may have had thoughts in that direction, but they would never exercise them. I believe they are referred to in Tripoli as the gentlemen of the sea," he said in a contemptuous voice.
"Are you quite sure The Raven cannot catch up with us, Captain De Fores?"
He smiled as his eyes ran the length of her body. "Have I not said you have nothing to fear from him?" He sat down on the edge of the desk, looking deeply into Season's green eyes. "Tell me about yourself and how you came to be on board the Andromeda?"
Something about De Fores' attitude bothered Season. She didn't think it was any of his business how she came to be on the Andromeda. "I was taken from my bedroom one night and held for a prisoner exchange."
"I see," the man said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Did the good captain leave you untouched? I have been told that he once rescued a Spanish ship in distress. There were five females on board and The Raven set them down on Spanish soil unmolested."
Again Season felt her face flush. She lowered her head. "We are not here to discuss me or The Raven. All I want to know from you is how soon you can get me back to my father. You said you couldn't sail into an English port, but you could set me down in France and I could find my own way home from there."
Season turned away because she didn't like the way the man was watching her. She didn't realize he had come up behind her until she felt his hand on her hair.
"Alas, my lady. My countrymen would be more inclined to hang me than your British countrymen."
"What do you intend to do then? Have you no plan in mind?"
He merely laughed and ran his hand down her hair. "I have never seen hair the color of yours, my lady. It is the color of gold with the color of red flames mixed in. I knew it would feel like silk in my fingers."
She turned to him quickly, her green eyes blazing like fire. "Do not dare ever lay your hand on my person again. You will be well paid when you see that I get back to my father. Until that time, I will ask you to keep a respectable distance from me."
De Fores' white teeth flashed and he grinned widely. "Did my friend, The Raven, also keep his distance? Would your father pay any less for your return should you be . . . let us say not quite pure?"
"How dare you, sir! You are insulting and disgusting," she said, beginning to feel more uneasy by the moment.
De Fores smiled, apparently undaunted by her outburst. "If you want my help, you must pay for it," he said, as his hand settled on her arm. When Season tried to move away, his grip tightened.
"I have told you that my father will pay you when I am safely returned to him. He is a very powerful man and will see that you are greatly rewarded," she said, choosing to misunderstand his meaning.
His eyes opened wide in amusement as his hand trailed across her shoulder then down across her heaving breasts. Season shuddered in disgust. A scream formed in her throat, but she held it back, knowing no one aboard the Blue Dolphin would come to her aid. De Fores smelled of stale rum and body sweat. She pushed against him and stepped back a pace, only to find herself against the bed.
"If you touch me, The Rav
en will kill you," she whispered through trembling lips, knowing deep down that it was the truth. She knew she would rather die than have this man put his hands on her again. Season now realized she had been very foolish to ask a man like De Fores to help her.
She couldn't bear to look into his leering face another moment, so she closed her eyes. As he slowly advanced toward her, Season prayed for death. Anything would be preferable to what this man had in mind for her. The Raven had been so different from De Fores. While he had often frightened her, she had never felt disgusted by him. In that moment she wished that The Raven would come for her. She had very little doubt that The Raven would try to find her, if for no other reason than to show De Fores that he couldn't take something away from him . . . but he wouldn't know where to search for her.
"You have nothing to fear, my lady. De Fores knows how to please a lady," he said, pushing her back on the bed.
Season scrambled off and ran for the door. "Don't come near me!" she screamed.
De Fores was across the cabin before she could reach the door. He gathered her up in his arms, threw her onto the filthy bed, and dropped down on top of her, pinning her onto the mattress. Season tried to struggle, but the Frenchman was too strong for her. His evil laugh made her want to hit him, but he caught her hands in one of his and grabbed the neck of her gown with the other. She heard the material rip, and she cried out.
Season realized the hopelessness of her situation when he straddled her and let his hand drift down to her exposed breasts.
"Don't touch me, you are filthy!" she screamed. "I don't like you!"
A frightening gleam came into the Frenchman's eyes as he stared down at her. "You are so lovely," he said in a harsh voice. "I will soon have you. I knew it the first time I saw you with The Raven. You made it easy for me to spirit you away from him."
Season struggled as his hand clamped down on her breast. Kicking her legs and twisting her body, she managed to catch him off balance, and she wriggled out from under him and off the bed. Loud sobs were coming from her throat as she looked about for somewhere to run. Realizing the door wouldn't be locked, she ran in that direction. If she could only make it topside, she would throw hen elf over the side before she would submit to this awful man!
Sinister laughter issued from De Fores' lips as he leaped across the room and, grabbing Season by her hair, yanked her back against him. "I like women with spirit, although I do not understand why you are fighting me when you have obviously been violated by The Raven."
A calm seemed to descend upon Season and she raised her head as she felt her courage returning. She knew the captain of the Andromeda would face danger bravely, and that thought gave her the courage she needed.
"You are unfit to speak The Raven's name, De Fores. He is twice the man you will ever be," she said, tossing her head defiantly.
She watched as her words struck home and De Fores' face became distorted with anger. "I will show you who is the better man," he said between clenched teeth.
Season's head reeled as he struck her several times across the face. Then her body seemed to fly through the air as he shoved her toward the bed. As her head hit the bedpost and she slid to the floor, a dark cloud descended upon her. She tried to force it aside. Raising her hand to her mouth, she found it was bleeding. Season tried to rise as De Fores advanced on her but she no longer had the strength to fight him.
"Captain, come quick!"
Season heard the excited voice through a haze of pain.
"There are sails off the horizon and she's closing fast. As well as I can make out, she looks like the Andromeda, sir!"
De Fores muttered a strangled oath and reached down, jerking Season to her feet. "We will settle this later, after I have disposed of your lover," he ground out, striking Season again and sending her reeling against the wall and onto the floor.
As Season looked up the cabin seemed to tilt. Her head was in a fog, but her heart was lighter. Hearing the door being locked, she crumpled into a heap.
"He has come!" she cried. "The Raven has come for me!" Crawling on her hands and knees Season made it to the porthole. It was not as high as the one on the Andromeda so she pulled herself up to look out.
Tears and blood mingled on her face as she caught sight of the Andromeda, white sails unfurled and waving proudly in the wind. She knew her dark lord would be standing at the helm, and soon he and De Fores would be in a life and death struggle. The battle between the two men wouldn't end until one of them was dead!
Never had anything looked so beautiful to Season as the Andromeda striking her colors and raising the Stars and Stripes to wave magnificently in the breeze. It was strange, but she no longer thought of The Raven as her enemy. He had found out she was in trouble and had come to save her. She wouldn't allow herself to think of what would happen if De Fores won. She was sure no one could come up against The Raven and win.
Season watched as the Andromeda changed course several times to catch the wind, each time gaining on the Blue Dolphin, and she held her breath as a white puff of smoke bilged from the Andromeda. Moments later the Blue Dolphin wavered under the impact of a direct hit.
Season could hear men scurrying about, and loud screams announced that the shot had taken its toll. At that moment Season felt pure joy. It didn't matter to her that The Raven might have sunk the Blue Dolphin and she end up at the bottom of the sea with the crippled vessel. All that mattered was that The Raven had come for her! Even if she died, she would take with her the thought that he had cared enough to come after her. No! She couldn't delude herself into thinking he had any tender feelings for her; she was merely his possession and he would never allow anyone to take from him what he considered his own.
Season's eyes filled with tears as she watched the Andromeda pass the porthole to be lost from her sight. She knew now that she loved the dark lord of the sea. He had made her a woman and had stolen her heart.
He might deny it, but she was The Raven's lady!
16
The Raven's eyes narrowed as he made a pass at De Fores' ship. He saw that the shot he had fired had caused considerable damage. He would come at the Blue Dolphin from the port side. Knowing De Fores would have taken Season to his cabin, he didn't want to risk injuring her in any way.
He muttered an oath as he slipped his leather helm over his head and steered the Andromeda directly for the crippled ship. As he watched the Blue Dolphin change course, a laugh escaped his lips. De Fores would use every trick to escape, but this was one time he wouldn't get away.
The Raven wouldn't allow himself to dwell on Season's fate, because if he did, he knew he might lose his nerve and make some fatal mistake.
"Keep her into the wind, Briggs. Steady as you go," he called out.
By now the Frenchman had swung his ship around and fired his bulwark guns. Three of his shots went wild, but the fourth hit the Andromeda, and splintering wood flew into the air.
The Raven made a quick assessment of his ship. Several men lay on the deck, and the mast had begun to sway as though it might come down.
"Ease the helm down, Briggs. You men there clear the deck of rubble, and prime for firing." At the captain's command the crew sprang into action. Some of them threw splintered planks overboard while others loaded and primed the nine pounders on the quarterdeck.
The Raven took the helm and sent Briggs to direct the firing of the cannon. He turned the Andromeda into the wind and brought her about broadside across the Blue Dolphin's helm.
"Steady, steady, blast her as she comes by, Briggs," came the loud command from the captain.
The noise was deafening as the cannon let loose. Not one of the five shots fired missed their target. The hull of the Blue Dolphin was shattered, her mast was hanging over the forward deck—she was crippled. As the Andromeda made a forward pass, The Raven watched as utter pandemonium broke out on the Blue Dolphin's deck. Men were jumping over the sides, and a fire had broken out below.
Bringing the Andromeda about, he
r captain sailed her alongside De Fores' ship.
"Quarter, quarter," many crew members on the Frenchman's ship cried as the men of the Andromeda threw their grappling irons over the side to hold the two ships together.
"Where is your captain?" The Raven yelled.
"I am here, Raven," De Fores called. He stood on deck, holding Season in front of him. "If you value your lady's life, you will remove your hooks and sail away."
The Raven tensed. He could see the blood on Season's face, and his anger overruled his good judgment. He watched as she struggled to cover her nakedness by pulling her torn gown together.
"If you have harmed the lady, De Fores, I will kill you." The threat was softly spoken.
"She will be unharmed if you sail away," the Frenchman called out.
Season raised her eyes to where The Raven stood. She could tell he was rigid and undecided. She sent him a silent message, begging him not to leave her.
Everyone suddenly fell silent, waiting for The Raven to speak. Season feared he would do as De Fores asked and leave, so she took matters into her own hands. De Fores was holding her about the waist, a knife blade at her throat, but with a sudden move, she stomped down on his foot as hard as she could and simultaneously jabbed her elbow into his stomach. She caught the Frenchman by surprise, and he loosened his grip on her long enough for her to slip away from him. Season's legs flew as she ran across the deck toward the Andromeda and safety.
She didn't see the dark lord of the Andromeda grab a rope and swing himself onto the deck of the Blue Dolphin. His crew quickly followed suit, and the clash of metal could be heard as both sides came together.
Season was bumped and jostled about, all but forgotten in the heat of battle. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she swung about to see James's smiling face.
"Come with me, ma'am, it ain't safe here," he said, pulling her forward. The two of them ran across the deck and climbed quickly aboard the Andromeda as sounds of pain and death echoed across the water.
When James tried to lead Season below, she jerked free and climbed up to the quarterdeck for a better view of the battle. She had to know if The Raven was safe; it was hard to judge which crew had the advantage. She sought The Raven in the melee and finally found him. He and De Fores had drawn swords and were crossing blades.
Velvet Chains (Historical Romance) Page 20
