The Journey To Acre

Chapter 15

The men of the Mary Peel were naturally curious about their female passenger.

Only a handful had actually seen her. Some doubted she actually existed – fantastical stories were rife, for what else did bored men do for entertainment if not gossip?

She was rumoured to be beautiful - a goddess, no less. Details varied depending on who was doing the talking, but no one doubted she was less than exquisite. Some said she was a cool blonde with eyes that could lure a sailor to his doom. Others preferred a fiery redhead with temper to match - this theory gained a solid fanbase because it explained why Sir Guy was always so glum. The knight was generally believed to be her lover and exclusively believed to be whipped. Since a fair number of the men knew what that was like, he unwittingly earned sympathy votes there.

The man himself said nothing on the subject and took none too kindly to being asked. Sully warned the men to keep their thoughts to themselves in Guy's vicinity, and since the big man was of the talent and temperament to do serious damage to any one of them, they wisely took him up on the suggestion. Besides, there were more promising conversation partners to be had: Ingram and Cleggy were more than happy to feed the rumour mill with their observations – which was funny because they'd hardly gotten a look at the girl themselves. Yes, they had been there that night, but no, they had not gone out of their way to gawp at her because not even ones so prone to mischief as Ingram and Cleggy are in the habit of staring at abused women in distress. They'd caught sight of her whilst corralling Bradley and friends into the hold, but averted their eyes where possible. So why say anything at all? Well, probably because they enjoyed nothing more than listening to and weighing in on whatever wild theories were doing the rounds – a man needs his hobbies after all.

Sully observed all this with tight-lipped amusement. A nod or a chuckle on any given point was all one could get out of him. His unwillingness to spill the beans had him quickly pegged as a spoilsport, but rather that than disrespect his friend by talking about his woman.

Many began to wonder why they did not see more of her. With the culprits of the attack long gone, surely she was free to roam the ship if she wished? The answer to this was simple: the captain urged caution. The Spaniards were an unknown quantity. As genial as they might seem, one did not really know them, nor could one say how they might react to seeing a female on board. Added to that was the boisterous atmosphere that often came about as a result of drink. Men were not prone to behaving at their best at such times and therefore it was only prudent for Marian to stick to her quarters.

So, the lady remained a mystery. Guy couldn't help but agree despite knowing her better than any.

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"You gonna go through with it then?" Sully asks, passing Guy an aleskin as they look out at the waves.

Guy looks blankly ahead and just as Sully thinks no answer is coming, he whispers, "What choice do I have?"

Sully has to admit he is indeed in a bind. Vaisey has the thing he loves most. Marian might have nobler thoughts on the subject, but Sully has no trouble at all understanding why a man would kill to protect his love. He'd been loath to learn the details of the whole thing, but his friend had been looking miserable of late, so he'd gone to look in on him only to find Marian furiously pacing the floorboards.

"Have you ever met anybody so stubborn in your life?" she'd asked, wringing her hands in frustration, and Sully had nodded because yes, he could think of someone, but thought it better to keep his mouth shut. Then she'd regurgitated the whole argument, complete with the particulars he honestly didn't want to know, and now here he was sitting next to Guy, wondering how this sorry mess was going to end.