Triallaire

The Plague Ship

22 February, 1767

The Artemis

CATRÌONA POV

"Catrìona," I heard Jamie say, joining me in the infirmary as I crushed up more dried herbs, and I glanced up at him from my work. "There's a ship havin' been spotted, an English Man-o-War. Captain Raines believes they're short-handed, and they may press some of the men te service."

"What? They cannae do that," I said incredulously. "Can they?"

"Aye, they can, te any man of British citizenship," Jamie replied, and I scoffed.

"Whether we're willin' te be a British citizen or no'," I said. "They'd better not press ye, or my son."

"They verra well might, and if they do, Catrìona, I need ye te promise me somethin'," Jamie told me. "I need ye te promise me ye'll continue onto Jamaica and find Young Ian."

"How long would they press ye fer?" I asked him.

"I dinnae ken. Catrìona, please. Promise me," he asked again, and I let out a huff.

"Fine, I promise ye, but I'll be no good at it without ye. I dinnae ken anythin' aboot the Indies save fer a lot of Spanish," I told him. "And I've lost much of my Spanish over the years."

"Ye'll do fine. I ken ye will. Ye managed te find me traversin' the Highlands while burstin' wi' child," Jamie replied with a smile.

"Prepare te be boarded!" I heard a muffled cry from the deck.

"Best I go up there," Jamie said, glancing in the same general direction.

"I'll go wi' ye. Let them try te poach ye," I said, pulling off my apron to reveal my growing belly. I easily must have been somewhere between three and four months, but judging on my size, I would have to guess four. God, I hoped it wasn't twins again, having to deliver Brian right after Archie was painful and exhausting. Jamie and I then went up to the deck together, where Captain Raines was speaking to an English sailor wearing a captain's hat.

"A pleasure to meet you, Captain Raines. I am Captain Thomas Leonard of His Majesty's ship, the Porpoise ," the English captain, Captain Leonard, was saying to Captain Raines as we arrived.

"Yer the Captain?" Captain Raines asked him, glancing at this rather young man curiously and taking note of the symbols on his coat.

"Er... Acting Captain, formerly Third Lieutenant," said Leonard, and Captain Raines scoffed.

"Ye've barely worn yer stripes in, lad," said Captain Raines, and Leonard seemed to stamp his foot in annoyance, almost.

"I am the most senior officer left alive on my ship, Captain, and I demand respect as an officer of the Royal Navy," Leonard snapped at him. "Now for the love of God, have you a surgeon on board?" I could see Jamie out of the corner of my eye turn his head as if to tell me to keep quiet, but he was too late.

"That would be me," I said, stepping forward, and Captain Leonard looked at me with wide eyes.

"You? A woman?" he asked me.

"You, a Third Lieutenant?" I shot back.

"Fair point," he said to me. "What do you know of ship's fever? We have suffered an outbreak of an infectious plague."

"Good God, man, and ye've brought it here?" Captain Raines exclaimed with distress.

"It's imperative ye dinnae touch anyone while on board, Captain. Ye shouldnae have come at all," I said to him somewhat sternly, crossing my arms across my chest.