Justified Treason (Endless Horizon Pirate Stories, Book 1)

by Taijeron, Cristi

  After a while of enjoying my lingering buzz while in the company of the prisoners, Faron turned to a far more serious subject. The mutiny we would strike at dawn. As much as I enjoyed the hushed plotting and looked forward to setting Sterling free, I also found myself fretting over my dreadful act of treason. I was terribly stunned by the harsh tactics the buccaneers proposed, and though I understood their risk was far too treacherous to leave room for failure, I could hardly stand the thought of turning against the men I had been working with. Especially Oliver Langston.

  Standing at the bars of the brig cell, I pleaded with Captain Flynn. “Please, do not hurt Captain Langston during the takeover. I like him as much as I like you dirty dogs.”

  Faron laughed at my concern. “Ye going soft on us, Charlie Bentley? That battle strong man should be the first to go.”

  Sterling glared at Faron as he assured me, “Don’t be worrying ‘bout that captain, lassie. We’ll be keeping him for our crew.”

  Faron steeled his eyes at Sterling, but Sterling calmly argued his point. “I been working with him, mate. He’d make a mighty fine quartermaster. He runs those dogs hard, but he’s got a fair head on his shoulders and they respect his command for all the right reasons.”

  Shark, who was already lying down added, “But the old dog ‘as given us good food and clean water to wash with. I like it, but he be too kind. Won’t be surviving so long in the harsh world we live in with so generous a heart.”

  Pete burped as he reminded the men, “Well I like him ‘cause he gave us rum.” It looked like he passed out after his sentence, and Marin who was hardly awake himself reminded Faron, “He took over his own captain’s reign like a hell-fire pirate. Langston’s got me vote.”

  As they brabbled on in their reasonable debate, I mulled over the situation myself. They were arguing over this man’s life as if he was but a pawn in their game of chess. While questioning their assumed right of power in my own mind, I realized; in this case, I was the one with the power. I felt my eyebrow rise with a wicked flare and interrupted their discussion. “Excuse me, gentlemen.”

  The men that towered over me looked down to hear my concern. “Captain Flynn, you do remember I will be the one with the key to your cell? I am all for the notion of setting you free but will only promise to do so if you agree to keep Captain Langston alive.”

  Worried Faron might have been angered by my haughty stipulation, I still tried to look tough as I waited for his response. To my surprise he flashed me with a saucy smile, and with his arms crossed over his bare bulky chest, he smirked. “Aye. Let the piratess have her way.”

  With that said he lay down on his dirty coat and fanned his hand at Sterling with a yawn. “Good luck with that little strumpet of yers, Bentley. I’m goin’ to sleep.”

  Shark laughed, “I’m gonna be sleepin’ now too, but so ye know, Charlie, any of those other lubbers that want to keep their throats can join us as our lowly deckhands, or get their arses in a longboat to drift away. Less blood to clean up that way. They don’t ‘ave to die unless they want to. The choice will be thars to make.”

  Pete woke up just enough to slur, “But we’ll be needin’ to spare me Plunder Band. I ‘ave been missin’ me music.” He belched and rubbed his belly before he passed out again.

  With all the men asleep, I turned off the lantern and met Sterling at the bars. While he held me in the darkness, the rum buzz began to lift from my body, and I felt fear and guilt washing in to take its place. Deciding to relay my tumbling emotions to him, I expressed my confession in a whispered sigh. “Sterling, my love, I am worried sick by this painful imposition. I have attempted to keep a distance from my crew, but I cannot deny that it will be difficult to see them suffer against our plan. I don’t want to see anyone else die, and I certainly don’t want to kill anyone else myself. Dedrick Morley and that other man’s ghost have haunted my soul enough.”

  Sterling let out a heavy exhale. Though I could not see his face, I felt his body tense with irritation. I was worried he might be upset with me for being weak, but he put his hand on my shoulders and sternly affirmed, “Ye do whatever ye need to do, Charlie. Yer only loyalty need be for yer own survival.”

  I was touched by the sincerity of his sacrifice but confused by his reasoning. Running my finger down the scar on his cheek I sighed. “What about you? And what about them?” I pointed over to the snoring bunch of sleeping buccaneers.

  “I’ll survive. Don’t ye ever risk yerself worrying about me, and especially don’t be fretting ‘bout them dirty dogs behind me. Ye can’t be ‘aving so much heart in this ugly game we play. Lowly as it be, we only work together in terms of our own selfish gain. Survival at all cost and most times the freedom comes at the expense of others.”

  Though his answer left me uneasy, I understood. My loyalties bounced back and forth in my mind, but I had forced myself into a position where I had to pick a side. While the buccaneers’ plan allowed Oliver’s crew the option to live, in Oliver’s plan, the buccaneers were destined to die, and I couldn’t stand the thought of my new friends hanging at the gallows. My choice became clear; I told Sterling I would continue to side with the buccaneers.

  Sterling sounded eased by the peace I found in my deception and concluded, “Ye be the queen in me game of chess, Charlie. No matter what ye choose to do, I’ll guard yer every move at all cost.”

  His sweet expressions were far from typical, and nothing like what I had imagined romance to be, yet it was his very lack of luster that made his unique admirations so appealing.

  The room was completely dark around us, but the never ending swirl of heavenly stars were visible through the gaping hole in the hull. In the darkness, I could feel and hear him with much more intensity than my sense of sight would allow, and while talking on we became so incredibly close it was as if there were no bars between us. He was as amusing to my mind as he was appealing to my sight, and the time we spent talking was just as thrilling as the moments we spent kissing.

  I pulled him closer, longing to feel his heartbeat against my cheek, but when I only found the cold iron bar I exhaled, “I love you, Sterling, and I can’t wait ‘til you’re free.”

  He squeezed me tight, but since he didn’t respond to my comment, I began to wonder if he loved me too. Maybe he was just using me to turn him loose. What did he plan to do with me afterwards? Perhaps I was just another whore to him. Oh, good heavens, what had I gotten myself into...?

  My mind spiraled off in a whirlwind of ridiculous doubts, but without saying another word, Sterling wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. The passion in his touch seemed to wash away my worries, assuring me that I meant more to him, but I still longed to hear him speak the words.

  His kiss intensified as he pulled me closer, and after running his rugged hands down my back, he began rubbing all over my hips and thighs. Moving the heat of his mouth across my cheek, he breathed in my ear, “The worst part of being in here is not having you closer.”

  While he kissed on my neck I felt his calloused hands sliding into the back of my breeches. Though my unexplored skin enjoyed the salacious gesture, my mind fluttered with panic. Reaching behind me to pull his hands out of my breeches, I panted, “And what is it you plan to do with me once you’re free?”

  His body tautened around me, and his heavy breaths shortened, but with a hopeful insinuation he tempted, “What do ye want me to do with ye?”

  I nervously stuttered through the blush on my cheeks. “Oh, my, well…I know…” Shaking my head, I cleared my throat and forced myself to finish with a solid posture. “I know you have been with many women, and I didn’t come all this way just to be one of the many. I truly love you, Sterling, and I want to know if you feel the same way for me.”

  He slid his grip up my belly, over my flattened breast and rested his hard hands on my soft face. While I stood frozen in the helpless state of breathlessness he left me in, he whispered through a low, steamy voice. “I don’t know what the hell ye’ve do
ne to me, Charlie, but I like it. I know I want ye, fer more than just this saucy body, and I want to keep ye for me very own. So don’t worry, I won’t be taking anymore of you ‘til you marry me.”

  My head kinked to the side and I raised my eyebrow. “Is that a question or a statement?”

  He laughed as he teased, “More of a demand. Ye’ll be mine if’n ye like it or not.”

  I laughed too, but letting loose of my face he grabbed my hands with his and clarified, “Though ye seem to fit just fine in this rugged life I fare, I’ll always see ye as a beautiful woman deserving of more than I ‘ave to offer. So the least I can do is promise to keep ye pure ‘til I make ye mine forever. And yer gonna be mine forever.”

  Lightheaded from the wild wind of butterflies let loose in my belly, I gasped, “Well, wake Captain Flynn so he can marry us.”

  Sterling shook his head and laughed, “Aye, Charlie, I don’t know why I think what I have don’t be enough for ye. Yer just as much a pirate as I am.” Pulling me closer he continued, “I can’t propose to ye in a white gazebo on the lawn of some extravagant estate, but I won’t let ye marry me in the brig of me own ship neither.”

  I giggled as I kissed him on the cheek. “Soon as you are free, I will marry you, but I am already yours forever.”

  I was ever so relieved to know he felt the same as I did. We stayed close together, but he didn’t kiss on me anymore. We just talked on into the night without mind for the passing time. While playing with his ponytail, I noticed he had made a small braid and wrapped it around his hair to tie it back. Twisting his tangled hair around my finger I told him how much I loved his wild locks, and of course he teased me for cutting mine off. Slowly leading my hands across his shoulders and down to his chest, I relished in the feel of his heartbeat, and told him how I wished I could lean my head against him. He reassured me it wouldn’t be long, but sunrise seemed all too far away.

  The perfect peace of the beautiful moment was drastically shattered when Paul Redding came running down the stairs with a lantern in one hand and a dagger in the other. Doctor Reedy was behind him with a musket aimed. Paul began to shout, “I knew it.” I turned my back to Sterling as Paul railed on. “I knew ye were tangled in with this bunch, but I didn’t know ye were a bloody woman!”

  Sterling wrapped his arms around me, but Paul grabbed me by the arm, ripped me from his grip, and threw me roughly against the wall. I heard Sterling threatening Paul, but as my head hit the wall, my senses hummed to numbness. The other prisoners woke up, yelling like wild men of the jungle, and the sound of them shaking the cell bars began to wake me from my daze.

  As my senses came clear, I saw Paul holding his dagger to my throat. I suddenly felt faint again. The only thing keeping me on my feet was the force of his bulky body holding me against the wall. He slapped my hat off and squeezed my face with his dirty hand as he growled, “Ah, a pretty little thing, too.” His breath was heavy with rum and his eyes were yellow with hatred.

  Afraid as I was, I knew my only hope was to fight him. His drunkenness would be my advantage. Though Doctor Reedy had a gun, I doubted his power to handle it. I just had to get him out of the way…Remembering King David with his slingshot against the raging Goliath, I took my knee to Paul’s groin. He slumped over in pain, and I hit him in the face with the butt of my pistol. As the wooden gun thrashed him across the cheek, I lost my grip on it and watched it fly across the room. With the buccaneers shouting in tempo with my adrenaline rush, I grabbed the musket from Doctor Reedy’s trembling hands and slammed him in the face with the butt of it. The prisoners cheered with a raucous of suggestions, but I couldn’t hear their words over the wild beating of my heart.

  When the doctor fell over from the musket blow, he went completely unconscious, leaving me only with Paul Redding to face. Figuring I’d have to shoot him, I turned to do so, but he grabbed my feet and yanked me down. “Ye treasonous bitch!”

  The force of my body hitting the ground nearly knocked the wind out of me. Straining to catch my breath, I noticed the musket had fallen near Faron’s end of the cell, but it was just out of his reach.

  Next thing I knew, Paul was on top of me. He was after my other pistol. Thank God he didn’t have his own. I kicked and screamed with all my might, knowing I’d be done for if he got it. Once he grabbed a flimsy hold of my beloved gun, I managed to kick it out of his hand. With no weapon left to attack me with, he slapped me across the face. “How ‘bout that, ye filthy pirate whore!”

  My face stung with a pain that engulfed my thoughts and put a pause on the rage of my fight. Paul took my moment of weakness to grab at my shirt, tearing it and my flattening fabric open. The air hit my bare chest, and as his filthy hands made their way over me, I raked my nails across his face. Feeling his skin peel off under my nails, he shrieked in an almost girlish horror, but as I tried to move out from under him he bashed my head against the floor. While wallowing in my dizzying daze, I heard him grumbling about how I let the pirate have his way with me, and as I came to, I realized he was undoing my belt. The prisoners were roaring like wild animals and the world was a hazy blur of demonic horror around me.

  There was no way in hell this was going to happen.

  Finding the will to continue in fight, I grabbed the brim of my breeches, yanking on them with an unknown might. Unable to pull them down, he slapped me again before he snarled, “I’ll show ye what a real man’s made of.”

  Though the slap caused me to let go of my breeches, when he went to grab for them, I reached up and gouged him in the eye. I screamed in terror as I felt my finger squish around the mush of his eyeball, but forced his ugly head back with the treacherous maneuver. While he screeched his excruciating wail of pain, he pushed me back, and I rammed my heel into his face. His head jolted back from the force and I took the opportunity to flee.

  I heard him get up to chase me, but the moment my heated face hit the wall of cool night air I heard a gunshot. Unsure of where I would go, or what would become of my unveiling, I ran for my very life. My hair was a tangled mess, and my cheeks were flushed with fear. The fabric I had wrapped my chest with was completely ripped off and my shirt was torn open, showing my obvious gender. Oliver Langston was my only hope, but after what I had done, there was no sure security.

  Reaching the captain’s quarters, I pounded on his locked door with the might of a battering ram. He answered with his arrow drawn. His hair was a sleepy mess, but after looking at my bursting cleavage, the stun on his face showed him to be awake as a man could be.

  “Good Heavens!” He shrieked an awestricken wail of shock.

  “It’s me, Charlie, let me in.” I forced my way past him.

  Eyeing my bruised face he locked the door behind us and blustered, “Charlie? Oh my, what in the world is this?”

  “I tricked you. I know it’s awful. I am a woman, and Paul Redding wants to hurt me… That churlish ol’ clot-pole tried to rape me!”

  “Paul, why? What? Where is he? What on God’s green Earth?”

  I was pacing around; panting out my exasperated worries when I suddenly realized Paul could have shot one of the prisoners.

  I nearly screamed, “He could have shot someone. Oh, my. Oh, how…This is all my fault!”

  Oliver slammed his hand on the table. “That is enough! Calm yourself, woman. Sit down in that chair and tell me your blasted story.” His abrasive tone knocked me out of my clamor, and I sat down in a chair, struggling to take calming breaths. Oliver mumbled under his breath, “This is why women don’t belong at sea.”

  Debating on how much I should tell him, I realized Paul would be sure to blaspheme my whole character if he got to the captain first. I inhaled again, and in my greatest attempt to be calm I admitted, “Paul saw me with the navigator, and he tried to stab me.”

  “What do you mean with the navigator?”

  There was no sense in hiding it, Paul would tell him what he saw. “With him, as in… Oh…blast it all, I am in love with him.”


  Oliver exhaled a gale force breath. “I cannot believe you fooled me this way. Did you know Mister Bentley before this endeavor? Are you two married? Oh my, wait, you know what, I do not want to know the answer to any of those questions. I will tell you that he is a respectable man, buccaneer or not, but there are harsh consequences for stowing away and siding with a prisoner, Charlie. Or whatever your name is…”

  Trying not to cry I whimpered, “That is what I feared. What will become of me? What will become of him?”

  “Even as a woman you have accomplished great deeds on this mission, and I respect your character, but there is a law to follow and you certainly have broken it. I cannot yet answer what will come of the two of you, but for now, as the captain of this cursed ship, I must go see what is coming of this disaster.”

  I followed Captain Langston with my heart thumping in my ears, horrified to see what would be awaiting us in the brig. What if Paul shot one of my friends? What if he killed Sterling! My mind flashed over the God awful memories of all the dead men I had seen, and I hunched over to vomit. Oliver grabbed me by the arm and dragged me along behind him with no mind to my sick and spiraling panic.

  Of course the crewmen were stirring in the wake of excitement, and I watched their jaws drop when they say me. Walking safely behind Oliver and his bow, I remembered to pull my tattered shirtfront back together.

  Upon entering the brig room we saw Paul Redding lying in a puddle of blood. Doctor Reedy was mending a wound on his calf. The prisoners were wild in their cell raging about the incident while slashing horrifying threats at the injured men. Sterling was pacing the tiny perimeter with an unmanageable fury on his face. He was alive! I ran in his direction, yelping with famished relief, but my wild stride was brashly halted by the antagonizing crewmen that yanked me back. Their force was harsh and their hands were hungry.

  Sterling grabbed onto the bars as if he was going to rip them open while hollering at the men to let go of me. He looked bigger and meaner than anyone I had ever seen, but he was helpless behind those cursed bars.