Cutlass Anne

Cutlass Anne - Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Jane!" I screamed, running to the wooden dock. I screamed her name over and over until my voice was lost. I stared at the endless blue water searching for the vile pirate's ship.

No! No! No! Jane cannot be gone. She just can't!

I sank to my knees, wailing. If John Jacks had my little sister, it was only a matter of time before she was either dead or sold. My head was in a fog. My father was in dealings with a pirate, and my little sister was missing at the moment. Using the post next to me, I hauled myself up to my feet. My knees were sore from falling, and my feet bled from running barefoot. I spun around, looking wildly for someone to help me. Someone had to have seen Jane.

"William?" I croaked.

No answer.

"William?" I called a little louder, panic in my hoarse voice.

Still no answer.

I stumbled toward the small guard shack that was near the main entrance of the little port town. It was eerily quiet. I pushed open the door and gasped in horror. William lay on the ground in a pool of blood. His throat had been slit.

"Oh, William," I cried quietly, a sob caught in my throat. I didn't know the man well, but he was a good soldier.

One of his hands clutched his rifle and the other a handful of cloth. I bent down and pried the soft, pink fabric out of his hands. My heart sunk to the pit of my stomach. It was the same pattern that was on Jane's dress. I kneeled next to the dead man and cried more. There was no doubting it now; my little sister had been taken by Captain John Jacks. Once the tears had run out and my hope was completely gone, I got to my feet. Back on the beach, I noticed William's chestnut mare stood at the hitching post. Climbing into the saddle, I nudged her into a gallop.

"Father!" I shouted, sliding out of the saddle. "Father!"

The front doors of the stately mansion opened and a raven-haired girl about my age looked out.

"Juliana! Where is my father, Juliana?" I asked rushing past the surprised girl.

"In his office, miss. Are you all right? You look dreadful!"

"I know I do!" I snapped at the poor girl. "My sister was taken by pirates."

"Pirates, miss?"

"That is what I said. Pirates." My breath hitched in my throat at the thought of my delicate, frail sister in the hands of a disgusting pirate.

Juliana stood and stared while I attempted to regain at least a portion of my composure. I wiped my cheeks and kissed the fabric from my sister's dress, hoping that wherever she was she knew I would not rest until she was safely home.

I pushed open my father's office doors with enough force that they slammed against the walls. He jumped in his seat and eyed me in horror.

"Anne! What on earth is wrong with you, child?"

"He took Jane!"

"Who?"

"John Jacks. That pirate you're in business with. He took Jane."

"Nobody took Jane, and I'm not in business with a pirate, Anne," Father replied, burying his head back in a stack of documents.

I grabbed the dagger that rested next to his books and stabbed it through his papers. "That man was John Jacks. He was just here, and he took your daughter."

He sat and stared blankly at me.

"Did you hear me?"

"I heard," he mumbled, going back to his paperwork.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"What do you want me to do, Anne?" He put the pen down.

"Something! Anything! You can't let him get away with taking Jane!"

"There is nothing I can do."

"Of course there is. Send out the fastest ship with the best sailors."

He sighed heavily and folded his hands. I was completely baffled as to why he was being so reluctant to send someone out for Jane. I had seen him send out ships over lost cargo. How could he just let his daughter go like that?

"Anne, you have spoken your peace. It's just us now."

"It is not just us. Jane is out there! They killed the guard at the front gate. Are you really going to let them get away with this?"

"My hands are tied."

"They most certainly are not! You cannot let her go. No, there's something else. You made a deal with that pirate. What was it? What did you promise him, and for what? What could you have possibly gained from working with John Jacks?"

"Everything, Anne. I owe everything to him. He is the only reason why I am where I am. Years ago, before you were born, I was nothing more than an apprentice. I had no opportunity to go anywhere or become anything. After a chance encounter in a pub in England, everything I ever wanted started to happen. I married your mother, was appointed governor of the new port town, and had two beautiful daughters."

"What? You are nothing but a cheat and a liar? Did Mother know?"

"No of course not! She had no idea. Don't think for one moment that I'm the only official who has used pirates."

"I'm sure you're probably the only one who used your own children as payment!" I screamed at him. "You constantly preach against them! You tell everyone how vile and evil they are. Yet, here you are using one to better yourself. You are no better than the lowest of them. You are such a hypocrite."

"Do not say that," he said.

"What did you promise him for all of this," I motioned with my hands.

"You," he said quietly.

"Me?"

"He wanted my eldest daughter and said that after her eighteenth birthday he would come to collect her."

"And you refused?"

"I was not going to let some filthy pirate take my child."

"But he did! He took Jane!" I picked up the glass full of whiskey and threw it across the room. It shattered, and the brown liquid slid down the wall as the glass flew everywhere. "If I had known, if you had told me it was either Jane or me, I would have gone!"

"You need to calm down before someone hears you."

"I don't care what everyone might hear."

"I didn't think he would come back," my father replied.

"Why would you assume a pirate would not come to collect a debt? You brought this upon us. This is entirely your fault!"

"What's done is done," he mumbled.

I grabbed the dagger out of the wooden desk and stormed out of the room. As I ran through the living room I bumped into Bradford.

"Anne? What's wrong?"

"A pirate took Jane!"

"That is awful!" he exclaimed.

"I know, and father will do nothing to save her," I cried.

"There is not much he can do against a pirate."

"He can send his soldiers after them." I glared at him in disgust.

"That would not make much sense." His brows furrowed, and he shook his head.

"Not make sense? How does that not make sense?"

"It doesn't make financial or political sense."

"That is his daughter!" I yelled.

I turned away from him and went straight to my room. I slammed the door shut and commenced to pace back and forth. The hours were dragging on and chances of finding Jane were growing less and less. As I dressed for bed, it hit me. I knew how to save Jane. It was an insane notion, one that could see me at the wrong end of a hangman's noose, but my little sister was worth it.

I would have to become a pirate.