The numbness of sleep was wearing off, and the small movements sent every bruised muscle in Katalin’s body into screaming pain. She leaned against the stone for support. “Jase…Jase, I do not know what they did to me. I just awoke. My entire body, it is in pain.”
“Can you move? Is anything broken?”
Katalin took assessment of her limbs, fighting every breath that sent a sharp pain into her side. “I think I am fine—my rib.” She eased air into her lungs, trying not to move her chest. It helped. “It is nothing I will not survive.”
She could hear him swear.
“Jason, you…did they…did they…” She stopped, the horror she was thinking stealing her words.
“Yes.”
His one word said volumes, and Katalin gasped. The deep breath sliced a sharp pain into her side. But it was nothing against the pain Jason must be in.
His back.
Shredded skin upon what was already there.
She fought the sudden nausea that hit her.
“How many did we lose, Kat? The crew? I have not seen any of them. They kept me away from them—from you.”
It took her a moment to collect herself enough to answer. All she could see in her mind were images of Jason’s bloody back. Of a whip cracking his skin.
She shook the chill from her spine.
“I have been in and out. I do not remember much. I know Clegg and Joe and Red did not survive. But that is all I know.”
“I tried, Kat. I tried to stop it before…God rest their souls. I tried.”
“No. It is not your fault, Jason. I did it. I should have…” She cut herself off, searching for what, she wasn’t sure. “There were not enough of us. I should have known. I should have…”
“You did what you needed to, Kat. Do not question it.”
She nodded, eyes closed. She failed the ship. Failed the crew. Failed Jason. Failed herself.
“Kat?”
Hand on her forehead, she cleared her throat. “I am here.”
“Kat, there is a hole in this stone toward the outside wall.”
Katalin propped herself against the wall, crawling painfully along the dripping stone, knees squishing on muck she’d rather not think about. Fingers running over the rock, she searched in the dim light. She stopped when she saw the hole. Only a finger’s width wide.
“Yes. I see it.”
She stuck her right pointer finger through the hole.
Within a moment, she could feel Jason’s fingertip touch hers.
Overwhelmed at the slightest flicker of his touch, her heart crumbled.
Tears slid down her face as she froze for the longest moment, closing her eyes and taking every ounce of the strength that vibrated from his skin to hers.
“Forgive me, Kat. I failed you. One bloody day as my wife, and I did not protect you. I will never forgive myself.”
“No. I would not let you protect me, Jase. The fault is not yours. You saved me.”
“The moment you do not let me protect you is the exact moment when I should be protecting you the most, Kat.”
Katalin fell silent. She couldn’t make this better for him. She couldn’t make it better for her. They were stuck.
Prisoners. Apart.
She let all this happen. If she hadn’t given Roland the Rosewater and part of the crew, they could have defended themselves. If she had spied the Spanish ship earlier, they would have outrun it. If she hadn’t stopped on the island to marry Jason, they would be in safe waters by now.
The tip of her finger moved against his. “What is going to happen to us, Jase?”
“I do not know, Kat. I do not know. I have never been captured for piracy before.”
She could hear how heavy his voice was. “Nor have I.”
“They did not dispose of us right away, they threw us in here,” he said. “So I suspect we are to be tried for piracy.”
“I was only awake for a few minutes here and there with the crew, Jason. But they know the code. I made them swear it. And all will abide by it. None will give you up as captain. Especially because you are not. We all go down before we let one fall for all.”
He did not respond, not that she expected him to. Weighing what was to be certain death curtailed both of their words.
His voice, low, raw, cut into her thoughts. “I will wait, Kat.”
“Wait?”
“Here on earth. This life or in the next life. I will wait for you. You will join me eventually, and we will be together again. Do not lose faith in that.”
She thought her body too weak to produce more tears, to produce sobs, but they ravished her chest, unyielding at his words.
She shoved her finger tighter into the hole, the stone cutting into the delicate skin between her fingers.
“Kat?”
She swallowed a sob, trying to find words for him. It took long moments. “I will keep faith, Jase. I promise. I will keep faith.”
For twenty-nine days, every day, Jason made that vow to her.
He would wait. In the morning. In the afternoon. In the evening. The vow.
He would wait. Until the next life.
~~~
The door creaking loudly woke him, and for a moment, Jason thought it was the door to his cell. For four weeks, he had sat alone in this filthy box, the only comfort being able to touch Katalin’s finger through the hole in the stone. Hear her voice.
Jason sat up from the matted hay, groggy, his eyes immediately going to the small line between his cell and Katalin’s.
It wasn’t until he heard the screams that he realized his wooden cell door was still closed and that the screams came from the cell next to him.
Katalin.
His heart dropped, seizing his breath.
No. Not Katalin.
“Jason—no, no—Jason—no, no, no—please no!” Her voice screeched in terror. Pure terror. “Jason! Jason! Jason!”
Flesh hitting flesh. Grunts. She was fighting. Fighting hard. Fighting even as she screamed for him.
He ran to his door, roaring for Katalin, pounding on the wood. Pounding until blood from his fists flew, splattering the stone walls, disappearing into the dark wood grain of the door.
Her screams stopped.
“Katalin!”
No sound.
“Katalin!”
Silence.
Then, in the silence, he could hear the soft thud of a cell door close.
He collapsed against the wood, all hope—his love—lost.
~~~
He had cared nothing, seen nothing, heard nothing, since the moment Katalin was dragged from her cell.
It had been a day, maybe more, and then he had been hauled from his cell into a room large enough for a small crowd. The heat of the people intensified the steam in the building, even with a row of windows propped open along one wall. The windows only partly caught the breeze from the sparkling bay of water Jason could see from where the building was situated.
Set on a chair up to a wooden table, pistol at his back, Jason faced a thin old man in military regalia and full white wig, sitting behind his own table atop a slightly elevated stage.
A trial. Or at least the farce of one.
For the next two days, Jason sat for hours, not listening, not speaking, only searching the windows for signs of Katalin.
One by one on those two days, each of the Windrunner crew that survived the battle was brought forth, plopped onto a chair next the judge, and each was questioned.
And one by one, they answered every question according to a code Jason only partly understood. Katalin was right in her confidence of the men. Every answer, every syllable each of them gave had been rehearsed at some point and was exactly the same as the last man’s. Words that were riddled and gave the judge exactly no information.
The last question every man was asked as the judge pointed to Jason, “Is that man your captain?”
“Nay,” each would answer. “That man is not me captain. I am me captain.”
&
nbsp; The code.
Far into the second day, it suddenly occurred to Jason that the judge was growing increasingly agitated at the lack of evidence against him. Sweat slid down the judge’s brow as his questioning became more pointed, more bitter, more leading.
The code was beating whatever this farce of a trial was. A trial that Jason had already figured would end in his own hanging.
It was when Frog left the stand after answers mirroring the rest, that Jason had to run back through his mind who had been on the stand.
Names and faces flipped through his mind. His head cocked as he realized that past the three that had fallen, Frog was the last crewman from the Windrunner. The last to speak.
Hope sparked.
With sudden interest, Jason looked at the judge. The man’s face was pinched, sweat even heavier on his brow as he glared at Jason.
If no one named him as captain—everyone was their own captain—what would happen? It was obviously what this judge wanted to hear—someone from the crew to name Jason as captain.
The spark expanded into the smallest flame.
But then the judge smirked.
“Bring the last one in,” the judge ordered over the whispers from the crowd behind Jason.
The whispers grew louder.
A side door by the judge opened, and two large men dragged a squirming body into the room.
It wasn’t until they set her on the seat by the judge that Jason realized who they held.
Katalin.
His wife alive. Moving. Still fighting. Relief so raw flooded Jason that he had to lean forward, hands on his knees to steady himself.
The men flanked her, each holding a shoulder down as she continued to squirm.
The judge waited until the crowd quieted before addressing her.
“I will not question you like the rest, miss.”
Katalin avoided everything, keeping her face down as far as her chin hitting her chest allowed. She still wore her ship clothes, now tattered—breeches, boots, vest—but her white linen shirt was new, its sleeves down to her wrists. Her head had long since lost its handkerchief, her braids askew and half apart. Even at this angle, Jason could see her eyes closed so tightly her forehead wrinkled.
“I only have one thing for you to answer, miss.” The judge pointed at Jason. “That man. Is he your captain?”
Silence.
Face red, the judge got up from his chair, stalking over to Katalin. He grabbed her chin, forcing her head up.
She fought him, twisting, but was no match for the man’s strength. Not with two others holding her down.
“Open your eyes, woman. Is that your captain?”
Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head, trying to crawl back into herself.
“You know the consequences, woman. Open your eyes. Is that man your captain?”
Complete, cold silence took over the room.
Ever so slowly, Katalin cracked her eyes, tears running even thicker. She met Jason’s eyes.
Pain unlike anything he had ever imagined shone in her eyes.
Her mouth opened, voice shaking. “Aye. That man is my captain.”
Before Jason could blink, before he could react, the two men picked Katalin up, dragging her out the door.
A death sentence.
A death sentence by his very own wife.
{ Chapter 10 }
Numb, Katalin sat in the longboat, the rocking of the low waves pitching her body back and forth. Within minutes, she was standing in the middle of the main deck on one of her father’s ships, holding herself at the waist, vaguely wondering how she got there.
Her father, tall and thick, strode in front of her, feet and cane thundering on the wood planks.
“We set sail.” The command echoed across the ship, not to be taken lightly, and the frenzy of the crew that surrounded Katalin quickened.
Katalin looked around at all the faces. She spun three times, horror overtaking her as she noted every man.
Her father stalked by. Katalin grabbed his arm, stumbling as he pulled her along, not breaking stride. Panic flooded her voice. “The whole crew is here, Father. Here. Not on land. You promised to get Jase out. You promised. You swore the crew would get him out of there if I did that.”
Her father stopped, looking down at her with his one good eye as he shook her arm free. He glanced up over her head. “Bring her below deck, Vince.”
A thick hand clamped onto her shoulder as her father moved off. Katalin ducked, losing Vince’s hand, and ran after her father.
“Father—you promised,” she screeched, grabbing his forearm with both hands, yanking him to a stop. “You swore to me you would get him out.”
He grabbed her face with one hand, thumb and fingers digging hard into her cheeks. “He is gone, Katalin. It is done. Someone had to hang for the Rosewater. He was it. That was the deal I made for you, for the crew.”
“What? No, no—you swore to me.” She shoved off of him. Turning, desperate, she found Fin and grabbed his shirt. “Fin, Fin, go back with me—we can get him out. There is still a chance. Help me. We can still free Jase.”
Still, silent, Fin looked at her. She instantly recognized the pity in his eyes.
She moved to Frog, standing next to him. “Frog?”
He stayed silent as well.
She whipped back to her father.
“They are not your crew any longer, Katalin. They are mine.” His eyes went to Vince. “Lock her in my cabin.”
Katalin looked to the shore. They were on the outer edge of the bay. But she could make it.
She could make it.
Before a hand could stop her, she ran to the side of the ship. One leg made it over the railing before she was grabbed and yanked back, sprawling to the deck.
Her father stood above her, hands on his hips, his cane on the ground next to him. Seething, his face had gone red, matching his bushy beard.
Katalin went to her toes, moving again in a desperate clamber to the side. Before she could even grab the railing, her father slapped her hard, knocking her to the deck.
Stunned, she tried to find her feet, but dizziness held her and her boots only slipped on the wood.
“He is already dead, Katalin. They did it quickly.”
“No.” Her head shook. “No, I would feel it. I would know. I would know. I need to go back.” She tried to scramble upward.
“Take her below.” Her father’s voice was deadly. “Tie her to the ship, lest she think she can swim back to shore for a dead man.”
It took three of her crew—her father’s crew—to carry her below. One on each arm. One carrying her legs. Even at that, she fought, scratching and screaming. Drawing blood the entire way.
It did no good.
~~~
On his back, Jason stared at the one star he could see out of the tiny rectangle hole high on the wall of his cell. He was to hang, early the next morning, and as such, he figured he didn’t need any sleep.
May as well stay awake while he was still alive.
Not that the current state of his dead soul was much to be alive for.
What should one think about when they only had a night to live? He had pondered it for hours.
Jason tried to force his mind to his family once more. To his mother, father, sisters. To his land. The land he loved. To take stock of his life in some measure. What he had accomplished. Where he had failed. He knew all of that was what should consume his final hours.
But instead, all he saw in his mind was emptiness. Vast, gaping, emptiness. The shattering of his soul had done that. The betrayal.
Katalin’s betrayal.
He had almost been a free man, or at the very least, there had been a chance he wouldn’t hang. But Katalin had made sure to pound the nail in his coffin. She had looked right into his eyes, and offered a death sentence.
He had been a fool.
Especially because, even with the ultimate betrayal, he still loved her. Loved who she was—who she had be
en. He could not stop it. Not hate her in these final hours. As much as he wanted to, he could not. He had seen the fear in her eyes. Watched her tears. And yet, even after her words, he still wanted to protect her. Still wanted to believe she wouldn’t do that to him.
A complete and utter fool.
Jason adjusted the hand he had propped under his head on the cool stone. One leg bent, the other stretched long, he tried once more to imagine his homeland. Rolling green hills. Flying free and fast on his favorite stallion, Black Star. Cook’s bread pudding. Simple things that he had rarely noticed in everyday life. Simple things that now meant the world.
Simple things like Katalin’s nose settling into the divot on his shoulder. The smell of citrus when she unbraided her hair. The earlobe he adored having between his teeth.
He grimaced, shaking his head.
Home. He needed to think of home.
The smell hit him before the explosion. The specific scent of burning nitrate on a fuse. And then he heard the distinct sizzle of sparks consuming a wick.
He rolled to the closest stone wall, covering his head, taking the chance that the explosion was on the outside of his cell, and not inside the building where he dove.
He guessed right.
Stone and rock and dust covered him. The explosion taking his hearing, he pushed up through the rubble, only seeing glowing embers lighting the cloud of what remained of his cell.
Just as he shoved the last big rock off his leg, a hand came out of the dust, grabbing his arm. Searching, he could see no face.
The hand pulled him, dragging him through the opening. Jason didn’t care who or what it was. He only knew that this was his only chance at escaping death. So he forced his bruised legs into motion, following with haste the best he could.
Running through the dark, he ignored the yelling behind him, moving fast and far up the hill behind the cells. Cresting the ridge, the man in front of Jason finally let go of his arm, but didn’t stop his fast pace. Jason heaved, running behind him, desperate to keep up.
Up and down three more hills, thick with vegetation, the man in front of him eventually pulled up, waiting for Jason to close the last few steps between them.
Hold Your Breath 03 - My Captain, My Earl Page 9