Over The Crescent Moon

by Karen Badger

  ***

  Makenna watched as the final bags of silver and gold were hoisted from the boats and onto the deck. A team of men were put in charge of moving the loot to a secure area of the hold while the others retrieved the rowboats from the water and secured them to the deck. She then turned to her first mate. “Mr. Roberts, weigh anchor and get us out of here!”

  Makenna went to her cabin and stood at the window overlooking the shore. She had a pounding headache that she was sure was caused by the stress of carrying out this mission. She rubbed her temples as she watched the red glow on the docks caused by the still-burning ship. Soon, she noticed they were moving out of the harbor, and she released a sigh of relief that this part of the mission was completed without casualties.

  A tear cascaded down Makenna’s face when she realized this might be the last time she would ever see her beloved Hawai’i. She couldn’t imagine a circumstance that might allow her to return after her treasonous acts. But she knew in her heart that it was the right thing to do for her island nation.

  Makenna thought about Spencer, and felt an intense wave of anxiety pass through her chest. The pounding in her head increased, and she realized the anxiety bordered on regret. She had acknowledged to herself before the raid that she was in love with Spencer, but she refused to say it out loud. She refused to give Spencer hope that they had a future together. She was serious about spending the rest of her life on the run. She didn’t want that for Spencer. She didn’t want that for herself either, but there it was. There was no turning back.

  Makenna lay on her bed and closed her eyes in the hopes that she could escape her heartache through sleep.

  ***

  “Doc! Doc, are you in there?” Spencer waited on the deck in the hopes that Frankie would open the door before her presence was known.

  Suddenly the door swung open. “Spencer? Spencer, what are you doing out there?”

  “Can I come in?”

  Frankie grabbed Spencer’s arm and pulled her inside. “It’s the middle of the night. What are you doing out there?”

  “Mak doesn’t know I’m on the ship.”

  “She what?” Frankie said in a loud enough voice to wake Leilani.

  “Frankie? What’s going on?” Leilani said sleepily.

  “Spencer is here, and Makenna doesn’t know she’s on board.”

  Leilani sat up in bed. “Oh, great. How did you get on board without her knowing about it?”

  “I went on the raid with her.”

  “Whoa...stop right there. You went on the raid with her?” Leilani asked.

  “Yes. I was following them, and she caught me. It’s a good thing I was there though, because someone tried to shoot her and I stopped him.”

  “So how did you get on the ship?” Frankie asked.

  “I went back to the docks with her and some of the men after we raided the palace and she basically told me to get lost. She just rowed away without me. It turns out I was still there when the second group of men came back from the other part of the raid and they let me row out to the ship with them.”

  “Do you have any idea what pirates do to stowaways?” Leilani asked.

  “Sure, they make them walk the plank.”

  “Exactly,” Leilani confirmed.

  “Wait! That’s a real thing? I thought it only happened in pirate movies.”

  “Lei, Makenna wouldn’t do that to Spencer, would she?” Frankie asked.

  “Ordinarily, I would say no, but she might have to make an example of her in front of the men.”

  “So, what are my options?” Spencer asked.

  “We could try to keep you hidden until she drops Frankie and me off at Kauai in a few days, or you could throw yourself at her mercy,” Leilani suggested.

  ***

  The next morning, Makenna scheduled a debriefing with Leilani and the commanding officer. “John. Come in. Let me introduce you to Leilani Kanhanamoku. Thank you for coming. Let me first say that I was impressed with your men. They handled themselves professionally.”

  “I would say the level of planning that went into this had a lot to do with it,” John said.

  “You can thank Lei for that,” Makenna replied. “Her father is the chief of Kauai, and as such, she had access to some security information that we would not have had otherwise.”

  “I think we also need to credit Spencer,” John added.

  Leilani glanced nervously at Makenna.

  “Spencer?”

  “Yes. If she wasn’t there, that minister would have killed you. That might have started quite a blood bath. Oh, and she’s the one that noticed General Hayley had slipped away to the barracks. We were lucky to have her.”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll have to remember to thank her when I see her again,” Makenna said.

  “I was also surprised to see how strong she was. She helped us load the loot into the boats and then onto the ship. She’s definitely stronger than she looks.”

  Leilani visibly winced.

  Makenna glanced at Leilani and then at John. “So, we are looking at a few days at sea and then a stop at Kauai to drop Lei and Frankie off. After that, we will deliver the goods to our contacts. At that time, you and your men will be paid, John.”

  “Why so many days at sea? Kauai can’t be more than a day’s sail from here,” John said.

  “That would be true if we were taking a direct route from O’ahu to Kauai, but we are not...for security reasons,” Makenna explained.

  “All right then. If there’s nothing else, I will take my leave.”

  “That will be it for now, John. Thank you again for executing this flawlessly.”

  Makenna and Leilani watched John leave. As soon as he was out of earshot, Makenna slapped her hands down hard on the tabletop. “Tell me she is not on this ship.”

  “I think you know the answer to that already, Makenna.”

  “Damn her! This will ruin everything.”

  “And why is that?”

  “I will need to change the entire schedule just to get rid of her.”

  “No, you don’t. She will disembark with Frankie and me in Kauai and then you’ll never have to set eyes on her again. In the meantime, we’ll do our best to keep her away from you. Now if you’re finished with me, I have plenty of other strategic work to do in my cabin to help my nation survive what we have just done to it.”

  Makenna waved her hand dismissively at Leilani, who promptly stormed out of the room.

  ***

  Leilani returned to her room and slammed the door shut behind her. Frankie and Spencer both looked up from the game they were playing, with identical alarmed expressions on their faces.

  “Ahh! That woman!” Leilani said.

  “What happened?” Frankie asked.

  “John happened.”

  “The guy who led the armed men?” Spencer asked.

  “Yes. He was singing your praises at our debriefing about how you pitched in to load the loot into the boats and then to unload it onto the ship. He completely gave you up.”

  “Shit. So now what?” Spencer asked.

  “Considering John believes you belong on this ship, she can’t reverse course now and contradict that belief, so I think you’re safe from the plank at least, but I think you should avoid her completely from now until we reach Kauai in a few days.”

  “I don’t understand,” Spencer said. “When she came to me Saturday night, she was so loving. She said she missed me. What could change so fast?”

  “The Makenna on this ship is different from the Makenna you know on shore. Here on the ship, she has to be tough. She has to set an example for the crew in order to maintain control of them. She will be anything but loving in front of her men,” Leilani explained. “This Makenna can be abusive and hard. This Makenna is responsible for the reputation she has. This Makenna is someone I would never associate with on a personal level.”

  “Why do I sense there is something else going on?” Frankie said.

  “She j
ust makes me angry when she doesn’t appreciate the people around her. Spencer saved her life when they were at the palace, and how does she reward her for that? She abandons her—that’s how. And then, she has the nerve to dismiss me like I’m some piece of trash! I am so angry I could kill right now!”

  “She did that to you?” Spencer asked.

  “Yes. I mean, I could understand it if some of her men were present, but it was just her and me in the cabin. There was no reason to treat me like that.”

  Spencer rose to her feet. “She can’t get away with this.” She took her jacket off and threw it over a chair and then walked toward the door.

  “Spencer, where are you going?” Frankie asked.

  “I’m going to set the record straight with her. I won’t have her treating my family like that.”

  “Spencer, no!” Frankie yelled as Spencer stormed out of the cabin. “Lei, stop her!”

  Spencer went directly to Makenna’s cabin and pushed the door open. It was empty. “Makenna, where the fuck are you?” she yelled.

  “Spencer, stop. This isn’t the way to deal with her,” Leilani warned. “She has an entire crew on this ship that will protect her. You can’t take them all on.”

  “If she has any honor, she’ll deal with me one on one. I just want to talk to her.”

  Spencer quickly made her way to the upper deck and stood in the middle of it. “Makenna, I am calling you out!” she shouted.

  Makenna exited the pilot’s cabin and stood on the upper deck looking down at Spencer. Spencer, please don’t do this. I don’t want to hurt you.

  “What do you want, Spencer?”

  “I need to talk to you, Mak. Preferably in private.”

  “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of running my ship? I don’t have time for this.”

  “Then make time.”

  “You don’t know what you’re doing, Spencer. Why don’t you go back to your cabin and calm down?”

  “No, I will not calm down. I’m tired of being treated this way.”

  “And what way is that?”

  “You excluded me, Mak. I wanted so much to be a part of this. I wanted to support you. I wanted to protect you, and all you did was lie to me. If it wasn’t for Frankie and Leilani, I would not have been there when you were almost killed last night. I risked my life to save yours and you rewarded me by breaking my heart. I love you, Mak. I would have died for you.”

  “I told you there was no future with me, Spencer. Life would not have been easy for you on the run.”

  “Don’t you think that was my decision to make—not yours? What happened to the woman who came to me two nights ago? She was soft and tender. The person I see before me now is hard and unyielding.”

  Makenna made a gesture that encompassed the whole ship. “That woman does not exist outside of this world. Deal with it, or get off my ship.”

  “Why are you being such a bitch? You need to learn how to appreciate the people around you and to stop treating them like they are items you can throw away when they’ve outlived their usefulness.”

  By this time, a large number of crew had assembled to watch the exchange.

  Frankie grabbed onto Leilani’s arm. “Lei, please stop her.”

  Leilani approached Spencer and took her by the shoulders. She spoke in a voice only Spencer could hear. “Spencer, you need to stop this right now. You’re pushing her to the point where she will have no choice but to fight you or lose face in front of her men. Please back down while you still have the chance.”

  “I’m not afraid of her, Leilani. I don’t want to hurt her. I just want her to listen to me and to understand how she affects the people around her.”

  “You might be able to beat her, Spencer, but if you do, you’ll have her entire crew to deal with, and there is no way you will win that battle. Please back down.”

  “I can’t, Lei. I can’t. Please understand.”

  Leilani lowered her chin to her chest and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she had tears flowing down her cheeks. She squeezed Spencer’s shoulders. “Then win,” she whispered.

  Leilani walked away and Spencer turned her full attention to Makenna once more. “I just want to talk, Makaya.”

  A flash of anger crossed Makenna’s face and she ran down the stairs toward Spencer. She stopped just inches from her face, placed her hands on Spencer’s shoulders, and pushed hard enough to cause Spencer to fall onto her back. “I am not Makaya!” she screamed. “Get that through your thick head!”

  Spencer was on her feet in an instant. She clenched her fists at her sides. “You’re damned right about that. The Mak I know is tender and loving. You, on the other hand, can be hateful and cruel!”

  “I’ll show you cruel!” Makenna drew her sword and advanced on Spencer. Spencer barely had enough time to draw her own sword to deflect Makenna’s attack.

  Makenna’s aggressiveness immediately forced Spencer into a defensive posture and she beat back Makenna’s attack with a parry, followed immediately by a riposte. Makenna once more attacked by lunging while thrusting her sword forward, making contact with Spencer’s sword. The force with which the blades clashed caused Spencer to stumble backward.

  The crowd around them became agitated as the intensity of the sword fight increased. Shouts came from the men urging Makenna to kill her opponent.

  Spencer tried to maintain eye contact with Makenna throughout the encounter, but time and time again, she had to focus her eyes on her sword and on any opening she could find to parry and counterattack. When she was successful looking into Makenna’s eyes, what she saw there was bloodlust.

  The encounter went on with frequent clashes of swords and near misses. At one point, their swords crossed near their hilts and it became a sheer battle of strength to break the deadlock…a battle won by Spencer, who violently shoved Makenna backward. They moved in choreographed motions across the deck as each took her anger and frustration out on the other.

  In one final effort to end the confrontation, Makenna lunged forward and wildly swung her blade at Spencer. Spencer back-flipped away from Makenna and jumped onto a barrel that was situated near one of the railings, giving her a height advantage over her opponent. She executed a circle-parry followed by a counterattack and tore Makenna’s sword from her hand, effectively disarming her. A split second later, Makenna was pinned against the railing by the point of Spencer’s sword at her neck.

  Spencer looked into Makenna’s eyes and saw a faint glimmer of softness. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mak.”

  “No!” Frankie screamed from across the deck. “Lei—stop him!”

  A shot rang out just as Leilani tackled Roberts.

  “Spencer!” Makenna yelled.

  All eyes turned to the far end of the deck, in time to see Spencer topple over the railing and into the ocean below.

  Leilani picked up Robert’s gun from the deck and handed it to Frankie. “Shoot him if he moves!” A split second later, she dove over the side the ship and into the ocean, followed by Makenna and John.

  ***

  “Where is she?” Makenna yelled. “Spencer!”

  “Over here!” John called from several feet away. He resurfaced, holding Spencer under her arms. Her head was bleeding profusely.

  As soon as their captain jumped overboard, the crew lowered the sails and brought the ship to a standstill as quickly as they could. Within minutes, they lowered one of the smaller boats over the side and rowed to where Makenna and the others were.

  Makenna held on to the side of the boat. She watched them lift Spencer into the boat and lay her on the floor. “Be careful with her.”

  “We need to get her on board quickly. Frankie needs to look at her,” Leilani urged.

  It was a half hour before they returned to the boat and hefted Spencer onto the deck. Frankie was immediately by her side. Leilani knelt beside Frankie and Makenna on the other side of Spencer.

  “Frankie?” Leilani said.

  Frankie turned tear-
filled eyes toward her partner. “I don’t know if I can save her, Lei. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Makenna picked Spencer’s hand up and brought it to her lips. “Spencer, please open your eyes, love.”

  Spencer’s eyelids flickered and slowly opened. The first person she saw was Frankie. She tried hard to smile.

  Frankie kissed her on the forehead. She was unable to stop the flow of tears running down her cheeks, and several fell on Spencer’s face when she kissed her.

  Leilani took her hand. “Hey, tough guy.” Her voice broke with emotion.

  Spencer moved her head and looked at Makenna. “I am over the crescent moon in love with you,” she said weakly.

  Makenna sobbed. “I love you too, Spencer. I have right from the beginning.”

  Spencer smiled and closed her eyes. A moment later, she was gone.

  Makenna spent the rest of the day and night watching over Spencer’s body, still lying on the deck. She wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her, except Frankie and Leilani. Together, they bathed her body and dressed her in clean clothes and prepared her for a burial at sea come dawn. Late in the evening, they sat on the deck and held hands, with Spencer between them. A great number of tears were shed for the woman they had only known for a short time.

  Makenna sniffed loudly. “I will never forgive myself for treating her the way I did. We could have had a wonderful life together if I hadn’t been so cruel to her. She was right. I was hateful. I wish more than anything that I could take it all back.”

  “We can only look forward, Makenna,” Leilani said. “You need to learn how to forgive yourself and move on. Spencer would have wanted that for you.”

  Leilani turned to Frankie and wrapped an arm around her. Frankie lowered her head to Leilani’s shoulder. She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. “In the entire time we knew her, she never once called me by my name. She called me Doc, and when I asked her to call me Frankie, she would just grin and call me Doc again. I pretended to be exasperated by that, but secretly, I found it endearing. What I wouldn’t give to hear her call me Doc again.”