Cutlass Anne

Cutlass Anne - Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-five

"No!" Flynn ran to my sinking body.

I felt myself slide to my knees, the dagger still protruding from my stomach. The pain was not intense. I was more shocked than anything that he had actually stabbed me, and with my own blade!

What kind of devious monster does that?

"Get him!" Flynn shouted at the other men as John Jacks fled out a back door.

I fell against Flynn's cold body. I could get no reprieve from the blasted cold.

"Anne? Anne? Please speak to me!" He held me tight.

"I was stabbed." I looked down at the spreading red pool of blood on the floor.

"Why did you confront him alone?" Flynn gripped my body to his as tears welled in his eyes.

"I thought I could do it. I thought that I would be able to stop him."

"Why would you do something so stupid, Anne?"

"Why do you have to be such an impossible man?"

"The same reason you are such a stubborn woman."

The corners of my mouth twitched up slightly. "Do me a favor, would you?"

"Anything, love."

"Wh-when Jane and Christopher marry, let them know that I knew from the beginning they would?"

"Stop talking nonsense."

"It is n-not nonsense. I knew the moment they met they would m-marry."

"Not that. You will tell them yourself."

I tried to smile. "It is not likely, darling."

"Stop thinking such thoughts. You are going to be fine."

"Flynn, I am sorry that we will not have our own wedding."

"We are going to have a wedding. It is going to be a splendid affair that people will talk about for ages."

"The day the lady married the pirate." I laughed weakly.

"You are as much a pirate as I," he said softly, a tear falling from his cheek to my forehead.

"Stop trying to make me feel better." I winced in pain and could feel my body growing colder still. My eyes grew heavy. I wanted nothing more than to let them slide shut and welcome death with open arms.

"Do not close your eyes. Anne, open your eyes. Anne? Anne!" he shouted, shaking me slightly. "Andrew!"

The man ran back into the house with another man. "Is she?"

"I-I do not know. She closed her eyes and is no longer responding."

I'm here! I can hear you! I'm stuck. I'm just trapped. I can't get out of my body. Please save me!

"Lay her flat. We have to remove the dagger and stop the bleeding immediately," Andrew said.

"Where is my father?" Flynn asked.

"I believe Scully, Ryder, and Christopher caught him on the beach." Andrew carefully removed the foreign object from my stomach.

"Take care of her," Flynn said as he headed out of the house.

"I'm going to have to cut her open more to stitch the inside," Andrew said to the other man.

"Is that safe, sir?"

"It is the only way to stop all of the bleeding and hopefully restore her life. I cannot let her die. She has so much more to do and offer. This is not how Lady Anne ends."

I could feel the small knife slice my skin open even more. I wanted to scream but was unable to do anything except lay there unmoving. I wanted to scream and shout at the two of them that I was not dead. Not yet at least. The pain was overwhelming. With each movement and incision, it felt like I was being stabbed all over again. I could not even muster a cry. I am fairly sure there were tears, at least on the inside I knew there were tears.

I was still ready for the angel of death to visit, but for whatever reason, those ridiculous men had it in their ridiculous minds that they could save me.

"Finished," I heard Andrew say.

"Was it successful?" the other man asked.

"I hope so. She is breathing. I believe the pain was just too intense for her." He tilted my head back and opened my mouth.

He poured a foul liquid down my throat. He lifted my head slightly so that it would flow down to my newly stitched belly. Warmth began to seep in. The pain subsided, and I no longer wished for death. I was at peace.

"Andrew, bring her to the longboat," Flynn called from the doorway.

"Aye, sir." He picked my limp body up from the floor.

I could feel myself swaying with each of Andrew's steps. He gently laid me on the bottom of the boat and someone shoved us off from the dock.

"Once Anne is safely on the ship, we take care of The Cutlass," Flynn said coldly.

"What will be done with it?" Ryder asked.

"The men will join their captain in the hold then it will be destroyed. Once we reach South Carolina the pirates will be handed over to the king's soldiers to pay for their crimes."

"You mean to destroy my ship?" John Jacks asked.

"Yes."

"And then hand me over to the guards for trial?"

"Yes," Flynn repeated.

"I will surely hang!"

"That is the idea," Flynn said without a care.

The rowboat cut through the storm with a new determination. They wanted me out of the rain before I caught cold along with being on the verge of death, and they wanted to get John Jacks locked up below deck along with his crew.

My only regret was that I would not be the one to blow up the bastard's ship. Especially now.