Tarnished Persuasion (Justified Treason, Book 2): Endless Horizon Pirate Stories

by Cristi Taijeron

  There were a few moments between laughter where he would pause and look at me with warm adoration. Eventually he laid his hand over mine and said, “I am truly enjoying this time with you, Charlotte. You know, I sincerely wanted to marry you. Not just as an arrangement, but because I adore you.”

  With the timbers creaking around us and the wind howling through the bulkheads, I looked into his eyes—reflecting the candlelight with a romantic allure—and said, “I know that, Lawrence. You are a good man and I have always enjoyed my time with you. This is very nice.”

  He smiled at me and I raised my glass for a toast. “To our future. Whatever that may be.”

  X

  The moment I woke up I looked out my porthole to see how the weather was. Royal Anthem was fairly still on the tide, so I expected to see clear skies after the storm, but the flood of rain which had subsided left a heavy layer of fog in its wake. The mist was so dense I couldn’t see the surface of the sea through the illuminating glow, but the air smelled incredibly refreshing. Hurrying into my golden floral dress, I planned on heading up to the deck to enjoy the mystic scene in all its glory.

  Other than the sound of the timbers creaking below my feet and the sails flapping in the breeze, the air around was oddly silent. With the salty mist completely coating the view, I couldn’t see the topsails above me. I always loved the way the fog could make a familiar scene seem foreign, and without truly knowing where I was, I let my imagination wander in the misty haze.

  Becoming so lost in the peace of the moment, I hardly noticed how much time had passed, but before I knew it the fog was thinning. The remains of the mystic haze were only breezing through in patches. As I watched a thick layer roll across the sea, bouncing off the darkened surface of the water, I heard the watchman announce the presence of an oncoming ship.

  There in the depth of the next wall of fog, a black flag flapped in the breeze. The ominous sight came clear and grew faint again as the mist drifted in and out of the scene. While the crew stirred with panic, my heart lifted with hope. Perhaps Sterling had come for me.

  As the ship drew near, I realized I did not recognize the flag or the ship. The sole death head had a bleeding heart next to it and the ship only had two masts. Whoever they were, they were headed right towards us with voracious speed. I also began to panic. Royal Anthem’s crew would never stand a chance against the power pirates fought with.

  Before I could delve any deeper into my worries, Lawrence charged to the deck and picked me up. Carrying me as if I were weightless, he rushed down the gangway and put me in Kathleen’s bunkroom with her. With an unfamiliar ferocity blazing in his eyes he sternly demanded, “Stay here. Keep this door locked and do not open it unless you hear my voice.”

  While he checked his pistols, I asked for one. Looking at me as if I was insane, he shook his head no, but I wasn’t having it.

  “There is no way in hell I am staying locked in this little room during a battle without a weapon!”

  “You will not need a weapon. We are going to outrun them.”

  “Lawrence, that ship is smaller and faster and they will catch us. Give me a damn gun!”

  He attempted to leave the room, but I blocked his way out. “You’re not leaving this room until you hand it over. I have seen pirates fight and I refuse to be found defenseless.”

  “They will not find you,” Lawrence snapped, then grabbed my shoulders. “And at this point you will remove yourself from my path.”

  Gripping onto the door frame with all my might, I hollered, “I know you don’t want to hurt me, Lawrence, but if you don’t hand over the gun I will fight you for it.”

  Taking advantage of his moment of indecision, I grabbed his pistol. Slipping past him, I shoved him on his way and slammed the door behind him. I heard him running up the gangway as I readied my gun.

  Feeling much safer with a pistol in hand, I grabbed Kathleen by the arm. “We are going to my room where we can better view the upcoming ship from my porthole.”

  She cried as I dragged her along. “What is going to happen? What if they attack us? I have never been so afraid.”

  Listening to her whimpering, I realized I was entirely responsible for her wellbeing. Sink me! Pulling her along, I grumbled, “This is why women don’t belong at sea.”

  Cutting through the waves with impressive speed, Royal Anthem lifted up and slammed down over the wake. Reaching my room, I grabbed onto the bunk to brace for the crashing drop, but Kathleen fell to the floor. She balled up in the corner and started to cry.

  Looking out the porthole I saw the antagonizing ship slicing the face of the sea. It was riding close to the starboard stern, and I could see the swarm of snarling pirates raging across the bow. My eyes grew wide as I took in the tormenting sight. As I gasped with horror, Kathleen squeaked, “What is it, Charlotte? Good heavens, what is going on?”

  I didn’t want her to be any more terrified than she already was, but I could not think of a way to lighten the intensity. As I turned to face her, Royal Anthem dropped off a steep swell. With the speed in which she ran, the blow was harsh enough to knock me to the floor next to Kathleen. She tried to get up as I did, but I demanded, “Just stay there. You just stay there.”

  She easily assented to my order. I looked back out to see how close the pirates had come. Their bowsprit was nearly straight out my porthole. I feared they would be blasting their guns before long. The ship was named Endless Horizon, and I thought this day would be the end of my life. Turning back to see Kathleen balled up in a sobbing wad of despair, I assured myself I would never die in such a way. The sight of her weakness inspired me to be stronger. The sound of her sobbing encouraged me to be brave enough for the both of us. No matter what happened next, I would be fighting for my life and the life of the terrified woman I was to care for. Praying for strength, I grabbed Kathleen by the arm and picked her up. “We’re going to the galley.”

  On the way out the door, Kathleen questioned my direction, but I was too concerned with the way my dress snagged on a loose nail to worry about her nattering inquiries. Realizing how ridiculous it would be to fight in a dress, I cursed like a sailor on our way to the galley. Upon our arrival, I instantly took to sifting through the kitchen utensils. Kathleen whimpered, “Whatever are you doing now?”

  “I am looking for decent weapons.”

  Her eyes grew wide with horror. As I handed her a large serving fork she shrieked, “What shall I do with this?”

  While debating the pros and cons of the weapons before me, I rumbled, “You shall defend yourself with it.”

  “I don’t want to stab anyone,” she wailed.

  Deciding on the butcher knife that was larger than my dagger, I held it up. “It would be much worse to be stabbed than to stab someone.”

  Once we were better armed, I intended to take her back to the bunkroom, but a violent round of shot came blasting through the hull, shattering the bulkheads of the room I had been sleeping in. Kathleen fell faint on my arm. I shook her shoulders. “Wake up! Get your wits about you, woman! There’s no time for this weakness.”

  Just as I began to drag the half conscious woman up the gangway, Endless Horizon came alongside Royal Anthem so abruptly that the wild waves rocked our ship and caused us to topple over on the floor. As we came to our feet I heard the grappling hooks grab onto the timbers. Fully expecting to hear a storm of footsteps invading the deck, I attempted to strategize a plan to defend us against the attack. My plotting was thrown off course by the strange sense of silence I suddenly noticed.

  Holding onto Kathleen, I heard footsteps above. The pirates were casually boarding the Royal Anthem. Remembering Sterling’s stories about invasions and boarding tactics, I informed her, “Our crewmen surrendered.”

  I didn’t want to make any noise but we were in a terribly obvious position. Grabbing Kathleen’s hand, I led her into the nearest bunkroom.

  Kathleen sat on the bunk. I guarded the door with my pistol as we waited through the ghos
tly silence. It felt like a thousand years went by as they pillaged the goods they desired, but eventually it sounded like they were heading back to their ship. Before I dare feel any sort of relief, I heard two snarling voices drawing near. They were in the hall just outside the room we were in. My heart solidified like a lump of coal in my chest. Though Kathleen was stiff as a board next to me, I thought I could hear her heart thumping. I kept my hand on her arm to assure her things were all right, but I knew damn well they weren’t.

  Listening to them destroying the area, I thought the crude insults they slandered each other with might have been humorous under different circumstances, but there was nothing funny about the threat at hand.

  Next thing I knew, they were kicking open the doors of the bunkrooms. It was only a matter of time till they blasted through our door. Kathleen started shaking. Looking at her, I lifted my gun to remind her we had protection.

  The footsteps came towards our door. Our room was next. The moment the bastard kicked it open, Kathleen screamed in horror. I held tighter to my gun. Setting sight on us, the ugly son of a bitch lowered his weapon and laughed about the easy treat he had found. And like an easy treat, I froze with fear.

  He called to his partner, Mort, inviting him to take a look at us. Upon Mort’s arrival my senses returned to me. There was no way in hell I was going to give them the opportunity to infect my mind with more nightmares.

  Raising my pistol, I warned, “Leave us alone.”

  He laughed at my threat. “Aye, the poppet has a pistol! Looky, Mort, we got ourselves a feisty bite.”

  Standing behind him, Mort laughed at me as well. The doubt they cast upon my strength caused me to doubt myself. There were two of them and I only had one musket ball. Holding the gun firm, I pondered my limited options, but the instant the snarling ogre reached for me I pulled the trigger.

  It felt like a lifetime passed before the bullet exploded from the gun, yet it seemed all too soon when it lodged in his neck. Before I had a chance to panic over the god-awful sight of the vile man hacking up his last bloody breaths of life, Mort charged past his fallen mate and grabbed the front of my dress. Yanking me towards him, he tore through the fabric with his awful might. Cursing me for killing his friend, he threatened to snap my neck to avenge him. As my body crashed against his, I ran my butcher knife through his side.

  His dark eyes grew wide as the metal blade pierced through his flesh and slid in to puncture his organs. Kathleen screamed in high-pitched horror the whole time my knife was in his body, but amidst the tunneling surge of aggression clouding my senses, the noise was but a distant muffle. The sound of my beating heart suddenly muted. The terror of the world was silent around me. Hating every moment of the vicious act of defense, my heart plummeted into my gut as I pulled the blade towards me.

  I also wanted to scream as his flesh tore opened. I wanted to wail as he gurgled in pain. But I was silent as the night. Backing away from the dying man, the hazy blur of my senses began clearing. I realized Kathleen was still screaming. Also, it sounded as if a battle had broken out on the deck above us.

  Though I was certain I had finished him off, my fight with Mort was far from over. He continued to club at me with his limp limbs. I did my best to fight him off. He finally managed to wrap his bloody hand around my neck and somehow mustered the strength to choke me. Just as I began to struggle for air, Kathleen stabbed him in the shoulder with the serving fork I had given her. Mort shouted with an anguish that represented more outrage than pain, but before we had to endure another moment of his vengeful wrath, Lawrence came crashing into the room with a bloody boarding axe in his hand. The sound of the axe hacking into my attacker’s back was horrifying, and the blood that splattered across the room was grotesque, but the fight was finally over. Lawrence Braddock had saved my life.

  Before I had a chance to express my gratitude, the great guns began to fire. As the fearsome antagonist pummeled her fury upon Royal Anthem, she shook and groaned as her bulkheads shattered around us. With shrapnel and deadly debris exploding through the room, we ran up the gangplank to escape certain doom.

  We somehow managed to make it to the deck alive, but it was no better a place to be. Though the fog had cleared and blue sky showed through the clouds, the air reeked of gunpowder and was full of smoke. In the thick, hazy chaos, I saw musket balls and grenades soaring across the decks. Men were falling dead, and there was a fire blazing near the bow.

  To our great fortune, Endless Horizon finally started to sail away. As she fled, the black-hearted bastards shot flaming arrows at us! The fire quickly took to the sails and before long it seemed the entire ship was ablaze.

  As those dirty rotten pirates sailed away, they fired their guns over the sea to celebrate their outlandish conquest. Though I had no idea what goods they had plundered, we were left with a burning wreck of a ship that had no hope but to collapse into the sea. Half of our men were facedown on the deck, and the men who had survived were bloody and injured. As if there wasn’t enough devastation in our shitten situation, there was another ship waving a Jolly Roger headed straight for us!

  Fearing the perilous doom of another pirate attack, the men began to panic. As for me, I eyed the terrible sight hoping once again it would be Sterling. The three mast ship was long, narrow and sleek, and rode the wake with fine finesse. Though the black flag with the flame painted behind the death head was unfamiliar, I certainly recognized my beloved Wind of Glory.

  Amidst the awful scene of wreckage and despair, I let out a shriek of excitement. Running towards Lawrence—who was holding Kathleen while she bewailed her trauma—I yelped, “That’s my ship, Lawrence. My friends are here to help us.”

  “Your ship? Your friends? Have you lost your very mind, Charlotte Wetherby?”

  As Wind of Glory drew near, the men began to load their weapons, but I jumped around like an idiot. “It’s all right, I know them. They are good pirates. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt us.”

  The men on deck looked at me as if I was insane. With my mind reeling in excitement, I listened to their worry filled comments.

  “There’s no such thing as a good pirate,” one man grumbled.

  “They will either kill us or make us join their crew,” another one wailed.

  The majority seemed to agree that they would fight against the pirates, even if it meant losing their own lives at sea. While I pondered their foolishness, Wind of Glory slowed her sail and raised a white flag. “See! Look! They are here to help us,” I defended.

  In the distance, two longboats lowered into the sea. Sterling was among the men boarding them. With no mind about the bloody and burning world around me, I sighed as if I were living a fairytale. He looked stunning in his fine attire.

  The first group of pirates rolled up on the wreckage, stormed the burning deck of Royal Anthem. They ordered the survivors to gather what goods were salvageable before boarding their longboats. Apparently all the talk about fighting the pirates at all costs was only talk, for the men easily assented to the orders given by the pirate captain who was nowhere in sight.

  While the pirates shoved the men into their boats, Mister Shark raised his hand and waved to me as if he had only run into me at the market. I waved back with an excited smile. Mark Hall, who was slowly bleeding out on the deck, used his last breath of life to curse me as a treasonous bitch. I wasn’t the least bit concerned with what Mark Hall or anyone else might have thought about me, for not only were we being rescued, but my lover was here and he was climbing the collapsing gangway to get to me.

  The moment Sterling came to his feet on the deck, I ran to meet him. Grabbing onto him for dear life, I kissed his cheeks and told him I loved him over and over. With his powerful arms wrapped around my waist, he said, “I love you, too, Charlie.”

  Picking me up, he carried me down the gangway. As he helped me into the longboat, I told him, “Oh, I am so glad we are together once more. I have been dreaming of you day and night and I knew you would come aft
er me, but I had not imagined it to be like this…” Just as I looked at the burning ship, something exploded from the far end of it. Sterling tucked my face into his chest to keep me safe from the falling debris, but the wooden planks and metal pieces all seemed to blast far off Royal Anthem’s starboard side.

  After the perilous blast, the pirates rushed along in the loading of supplies. Arthur Hayes and a few other sailors hopped in our boat. As we began rowing across, I saw that Shark and Marin the Marooner were lugging Lawrence’s wooden chest into their boat. Carrying a few other items himself, Lawrence helped Kathleen in behind them. Though I thought it was dreadfully dangerous for them to stay a moment longer, Shark and Marin ran back up the gangway to gather more supplies.

  Glad to see so many of us had survived the awful attack, I laid my head on Sterling’s shoulder and prayed for the men that were not so fortunate, including the cranky old Mark Hall.

  Reaching Wind of Glory’s neatly sanded deck, Sterling picked me up in his arms, pulled me close, and carried me abaft. Once we got to the far end of the stern, he set me down and leaned me against the backside of the mizzenmast. After looking around and mumbling that no one would see us where he had hid me, he engulfed me with his body weight and pressed his lips against mine. His breath tasted like rum and his tongue moved over mine like a rolling tide. I wondered if I hadn’t died in that shipwreck and gone to Heaven after all. Loving the way it felt to be so near him again, I realized this was the first time we’d been together with nothing in the way. There were no social restraints confining us and no prison bars dividing us. Our reunion was no longer a dream. We were truly together again, and as we squeezed each other in famished emotion, it was as if we had been starved and the love flowing between us was the revival of life.

  The canvas of the spanker sail flapped in the breeze above us as Wind of Glory made way. When Sterling finally let go of me, my hair flew wildly in the breeze that was moving our ship east. Yes. Our ship! We’d be free to sail her side-by-side. “I am so happy you got her back, Sterling.” I knocked on the mast pole behind him.