Cutlass Anne

Cutlass Anne - Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-four

I stepped into the firelight as the two men sat around a tiny, square table. A large silver pitcher sat between the two of them. I had a few moments to examine them before I was even noticed.

"How did you get in here?" A tall man stared at me.

"You need to learn to shut your windows," I replied.

"Who are you, woman?"

"You do not recognize me?"

"Should I? I do not make it customary to have such disheveled heaps of misery in my company." He eyed me up.

I must have looked like a madwoman. My hair clung to my face, the knee of the breeches had torn on a nail near the window, and my face was covered in dirt.

"I normally do not wear breeches or run about in the rain. You took something very special to me."

"You will have to narrow it down, woman. I have taken a lot of things."

"The daughters of the governor of South Carolina. You sold off one and took the other as your prisoner." My nostrils flared and my eyes were wild.

"Until she incapacitated my ship."

"It looks as though your mast has been fixed."

His eyes narrowed as he watched me. "You? You are Lady Anne?"

"I have traversed the seas looking for you."

"Why?" he asked, sneering at me.

"Jane. You took Jane."

"You turned into that over a sister?" He laughed while staring at me.

"She is all that I have in this world. You had no business taking her."

"You were supposed to be the payment, not her. Blame your father for that." He turned and walked away.

"I blame all of you. People are not cargo that can be bought and sold."

"She is not here if that is what you are after." He turned on his heels and pulled his sword from its sheath.

"I know. She is on my ship, The Gilded Lady."

"You are with my son?" he asked.

"Yes."

"And he let you come alone? What sort of man allows a woman do his work for him?"

"I am not alone, John Jacks. There are others here. Others you have wronged."

"What is the plan then, Lady Anne?"

"Do not call me that. I am no longer Lady Anne. I am Cutlass Anne."

"A pirate name? Do not tell me you have taken to the seafaring life!"

"That matters not. I hope you have made peace with your maker, John Jacks. I am here to kill you." I pulled the dagger out of my boot.

I kept my eyes trained on the man. I did not waiver as he approached me. The only time I looked away was when I heard the pounding on the door. Flynn was yelling from outside. That was all the time it took for the pirate captain to get me. He grabbed a handful of my wet hair and spun me around. One of his forearms pressed on my neck as the other held my dagger to my back. I do not even remember him grabbing it off of me.

"Please, come in, son," John Jacks said as Flynn kicked down the door.

"Let her go."

"Do you care for this silly woman?" he asked.

"Let her go, Father."

"Why have you betrayed me, Flynn?"

"I have done no such thing. You are the one who is secretly a pirate!"

The pirate tightened his grip on my neck, crushing my throat slightly as he pressed the knife harder into my back.

"If you come closer I fear I will have no choice but to kill the lovely Lady Anne." He kissed my cheek while staring at his son. "You will forgive me, love. I cannot bring myself to call such a beautiful specimen of a woman by a pirate name."

"You are despicable!" I croaked out.

He squeezed tighter, causing my eyes to tear up. "Hush now, darling."

"Tell me how you managed to find little Jane Crowley? I thought for sure she would disappear like the rest of them," he said, smelling my hair.

"You did not cover your tracks so well." Flynn took a few steps toward us.

I could see the anger and hatred on the faces of the other men. Their bodies were tense and ready to attack. They waited patiently for their chance to save their captain. I clawed at John Jacks' arm, trying to pry it from my neck. He slowly applied more and more pressure, reducing my ability to breathe. I could feel my legs going weak, and I was sure that at any moment the veil of death would be about me. The man who was with John Jacks obviously itched for some sort of conflict. He thrust his sword forward, aiming for Christopher. I watched as my future brother-in-law stepped to the side, driving his own through the man. I saw the glinting metal covered in blood come out of the man's back. I tried to gasp, but it was damned near impossible to do anything with the pirate's arm so tightly on my neck. Each time he felt me begin to lose consciousness he would loosen his grip enough for me to escape the darkness of eternal sleep.

"I liked him." The pirate captain sighed heavily.

"You should have better control of your men," Flynn growled. "Now let Anne go."

"Why should I?"

"You are surrounded, Father."

"Boy, you are out of your wits. I am never surrounded. If the king's soldiers cannot even manage to capture or kill me, what makes you think you can?"

"I have nothing stopping me from killing you," Flynn said.

"Nothing? Really now, Son." John Jacks withdrew the dagger from my back and held it to my gut. This is exactly why I like wearing my thick jackets, I thought miserably to myself.

The cotton shirt did little to protect my belly from the dagger as the captain sliced open my shirt. My porcelain skin stood out sorely against the blackness of my clothing. He pushed the dagger against my bare skin; the metal was so cold.

"She has such lovely skin. Don't you think so?" He looked at Scully.

"Let the cap'n go."

"Captain? Son, a woman is your captain?"

"We both captain The Gilded Lady."

"You have gone soft in the head." The pirate looked from my terrified face, which was stuck on Flynn, to his son. "Or you really are in love with her."

"One does not have to be soft in the head to be in love." Flynn's eyes were locked on mine.

"I wish I could stay here and learn more about you," he said, shoving the blade into my body with such ease it was as though he were simply cutting butter. "But I think it is time for me to leave, seeing as how your love is about to die."