Stowaway (A Pirate Novel) (Completed)

Ch 48 Fire and Pain

(I already said I tried to change it. I'm sorry.)

Elle looked up as the captain moved away. Harv looked at her with pity.

"Don't. Don't look at me like that." She asked him and looked towards the captain.

"He doesn't want to do this." Harv said.

"I know." Elle told him her voice sad and hurt. She moved to follow the captain. Harv moved beside her.

Maybe he would do it in his cabin. Elle wondered. It wasn't how it was usually done but everyone else was male. The were expected to strip to the waist and secured, by force if necessary, to the base of the main mast. The off duty crew was allowed to witness. She prayed  the others wouldn't be witness to her punishment.

She noticed the looks she got from the crew she passed. They tried to hid them but she saw. When they noticed her looking back at them they averted their gaze. By the time they made it to the captain's office cabin she couldn't look at anyone. Her eyes stayed down cast to the deck. The worst part about the looks was the pity. These strong, hard, pirates pitied her. They knew what her punishment would be. Not one that she passed looked at her with a look that said they thought she was getting what she deserved. No, that's not entirely true. They thought that the punishment was to harsh, but only because she was a woman. If she were a man it would have been different.

Elle paused outside the captain's office door.

"Stalling won't help lass." Harv whispered. He put his hand on her shoulder and the weight felt like a ton of pressure. His grip tightened on her shirt. "Don't tense up. Keep your back relaxed. Scream if you have too but don't tense."

I'll bit my tongue before I scream, everyone will hear me.

"Breath in and then out before the strike lands. Don't close your eyes, you need to know what's coming and when. Keep your face turned to the quartermaster. You've seen this so you know what to expect. But you need to know that this will hurt more anything you've ever felt. Don't tense up." He released her. She entered the captain's office.

Talbot wasn't alone. The quartermaster stood to the left of the captain. Talbot stood behind the desk glaring at the quartermaster. Zed stood unobtrusively to the left side of the room.

When Elle and Harv entered Talbot and Jack's body language completely changed. They turned to face Elle. Elle's heart pounded so heard against her ribcage she wondered if they could see it.

"I'm sorry, Elle." Jack Markham, the quartermaster, the ex -priest  told her.

"It's okay, Jack. I understand." She tried to communicate with her eyes that she really meant what she said. She took a deep breath and looked at the captain. "Can... Can we just get this done?"

For a moment Talbot looked away. She watched as his Adam's apple bounced as he swallowed.
"Jack." The captain said.

Jack turned, shaking his head, he opened the latch on the cabinet behind the desk. He removed a pine box similar to the one Elle knew the cat-o-nine-tails was kept in. Her brows pinched. Jack sat the box on the desk and opened the lid. Inside was a whip. It wasn't the cat-o-nine-tails. It was a single thonged  whip.

Only one tail!  Her mind screamed at the sight. Then she saw the end of the thong. Her hand jerked up and covered her mouth. There was a small silver anchor at the end of the thong. It wouldn't matter if it was sharp. It would rip her skin.

Heart pounding she looked at Talbot. His lips moved as he spoke to Jack but the sound of her blood rushing in her ears drowned out the words.

Jack pulled out a knife and cut off the threads holding on the anchor.

"Relax, Elle. You have to relax." Harv said gripping her shoulder.

Elle turned away as they moved a chair from against the wall. She heard the movement behind her. The room was too small.

"Elle - sit facing the back of the chair." Jack told her when she turned around.

Elle nodded and did what he told her to do.

"Elle, I'm really sorry. Listen, don't move around, keep your body relaxed. Breath out before the whip hits. - Don't even clinch your hands. Do you understand?" Jack said.

Elle was surprised that that her heart still managed to beat at this frantic pace. But she managed to nod.

Zed caught her eye. "I'll be right here, Elle." He said. Elle gave him a smile that she hoped looked brave.

"One lash, Elle, then it will be over." Jack says. She give him a jerky nod. She don't want to look at him but she would. She don't want to see what's coming but she would because she needed too. She don't want to cry or scream but expect she would anyway. 

She wrapped her arms around the back of the chair. She didn't realize she was clinching her muscles till Harv told her to relax.

She tried but Jack moved into her line of vision. He held the whip in his right hand. His jaw clinched. He glanced over at the captain.

Elle sucked in a deep breath. She released it then sucked in another.

When he turned back to her she released the breath. He lifted the whip, she sucked in a breath.

He swung, she exhaled her breath.

The captain yelled, "Stop!" But it was too late. The blow landed ripping threw her shirt and some of the bindings across her back. The bindings managed to protect some skin but not all of it.  Some of her skin gave way under the single blow.

If she had any breath in her lungs she would have screamed. Her body tensed. Her arms gripped the chair and tears burned and blurred her vision.

The pain wasn't what she expected. She knew it would hurt. But it felt worse then expected. Strips of her back were on fire.

She heard Talbot cursing but couldn't focus past the pain. She gasped but couldn't pull in the oxygen she needed.

Fire and pain, it consumed her. How had anyone survived more then one lash. One lash, one thong, and she couldn't even breath.

Eyes wide and paniced Talbot bent down in front of her. His lips moved. He pried at her hands. Hands that clutched at the back of the chair like a life line.

Her vision darkened, faded, then nothing.

When she opened her eyes she was laying on the area rug in Talbot's office. She lay on her stomach. She shirt lay in a puddle of fabric a few feet away. Despite the cool water soaked clothes over her back her skin remained on fire.

Seconds later she passed out again. She didn't hear the crash as the captain lost control of his anger. She didn't feel as Zed sewed her skin. She didn't hear Markham threaten to leave the ship.

She didn't know that for a few moments all activity on the other side of the door stopped until some one whispered to the man next to him, "The lass didn't even scream."