Pirated Love (34 page)

“Let me relieve you for a while,” James requested, watching as Tina practically shook from the stress of fighting the wheel, her strength giving out after all this time.

Tina resignedly agreed, she knew she needed to regenerate.  She had taken short breaks during the storm of course, but the responsibility fell on her broad shoulders, and she could not stay away long.  It would not do for them, any of them, to become too tired and unable to fight this storm.  Who knew how many days it would last?  She turned it over to him and began to make her way below, the waves that crashed over it threatening to pull her into the seas at any point.  She held on as she made her way across the deck to go below.

“Captain!” Geoff called as she went to go by the kitchen.  “You’ve got to eat,” he commanded in a tone that she knew he would only use when they were alone.

Tina smiled in appreciation, knowing her crew was doing their jobs, and keeping their captain in shape was part of that, whether she wanted to or not.  She’d have gone straight to her lonely bunk, but stopped to eat a cup of cold soup that Geoff gave her.  She stood rather than sat, and held onto the large cup and drank her meal, fishing out the meat and vegetables with her knife.  She drank a second cup before a crash above had her throwing it down and running up the stairs to the deck.  The scene was chaos as her crew expertly cut away one of the masts that had broken in the onslaught of water and wind.  The ropes holding it to the ship could easily entangle other sails and ropes, so they were working feverishly to cut it away.  Tina joined in, feeling the meal she had just eaten in her belly uncomfortably as she worked.  In no time at all, their sharp knives cut through the rigging.  Together they pushed the broken mast over the side of their ship.  Tina breathed a sigh of relief, annoyed they would have to make do with their remaining sails and masts, and jury-rig what was left.

Tina headed below and by-passed the kitchen and the remainder of her meal.  Grabbing some bread, she continued on to her cabin.  It was dark and she hesitated to light a lantern.  She stripped and dried her wet body as she ate the bread, pulling large chunks from it as she chewed savagely, having no audience.  She had no one to impress with her manners as she dressed in dry clothes, hanging the wet ones up around the cabin.  She would be ready to go should it be necessary.  Once dressed in dry clothes, she fell into her bed, tying herself in as she had Claire so long ago and so often in the past.  She missed her wife at this moment, snuggling into her warmth was always a welcome relief.  It was not long, with a full stomach and her fatigue, before she fell into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

When Tina awoke, it was to a calm that did not seem natural.  It must be that quiet that woke her.  She heard the shouts of her men on deck, but she was puzzled at the stillness of her ship.  She shook off the sleep, rubbing it out of her eyes as she untied her body from the bed.  She got up and pulled the tub from the closet, turning on the tap to pour water into a pitcher, quickly filling it and pouring it into her washing bowl to bathe her face and privates.  She quickly used the slop jar from under the bed, added water, and poured it out the window.  Looking out at the calm, she could see in the distance the wall of clouds that they had ridden through.  She poured water in the jar and rinsed it out a second time before returning it under her bed.  Washing her face and hands a second time in the wash basin, she further woke herself up.  She was still fatigued, but she knew there would be work waiting.  She quickly closed her window and returned the tub back to its closet, locking everything against the coming storm.  She realized they must be in the center of it, what was called the eye of the hurricane.  This was a calm that could be miles, even days wide, before you hit the other side of the enormous storm.  She hurried upstairs, noting that Geoff was using this lull to quickly cook something for the tired crew.  She grabbed some bread on her way by, as well as a peach, and headed up to the deck to relieve James.  She did not find him behind the wheel; instead one of the other crew members was manning it.

“Where is James?” she asked as she walked up onto the poop deck.

“Captain,” the man gasped, seeing her and looking guilty.

She looked around, seeing the men affecting repairs where they could, her third mate directing them.  She was relieved that the mizzenmast seemed okay.  After losing the one, she had worried about losing more.  She turned back to the man behind the wheel as she bit into her peach.  With food in her mouth and going down her gullet, she asked once again, “Where is James?”

“He was washed overboard last night,” the man gulped, seeing the immediate fury in her eyes.

“And no one thought it important to wake me?” she asked, aghast at the loss of her first officer and friend.

“I told ‘em not to wake ye,” a voice said behind her, and she whirled in surprise to see Frank standing there.

“Why would you do that?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Ye needed yer sleep,” he responded grumpily, knowing she would be angry and bury the hurt deep.

She swallowed, nearly choking on the full mouth of food.  She fought it down into her belly, as it wanted to immediately come back up.  Tina took a deep breath, knowing she needed to grieve later.  She looked around, swallowing her ire and the loss of what had been a good friend.  She would mourn at another time.  She looked around, blinking rapidly and hardening her heart.  She nodded when she turned back to her men, some of whom had stopped work to watch her reaction.  “Get to work, this ain’t over,” she called, nodding to the wall that was rapidly approaching.  She turned back to Frank, “This is the eye, ain’t it?”  At his nod of agreement at the obvious, she took another bite of the peach that was dripping down her hand to quickly finish it.  She looked at the crew member manning the wheel and asked, “Can you handle that?”  At his nod, she turned away to inspect the repairs on her ship, to encourage and help her men at their work, and to show she was not affected by the loss of one of the crew.  She would find out later they had lost another man too.

“Has someone checked the bilge?” she asked, knowing it was the weakest part of the ship and the most likely to take on water.  The men sighed in relief as she took command again and began barking orders, orders that would ensure their safety.

“Sail ho,” the call came down, and she glanced up to see one of the crew in the crow’s-nest before following where he was pointing to have a look.  They were too far down on the horizon to see it, as the nest was much higher off the deck, but they would watch for it.  They could not afford to be taken by a pirate at this point.  Glancing at the approaching wall of cloud, Tina realized they were far from out of this storm or the dangers.

As they worked on repairs, some of them merely temporary to hold them over until they could really have the time to make permanent repairs, she watched the cloud approach.  She remembered the bread in her hand and ate it too.  Not because she was hungry, but because it would fill the hole in her stomach and keep her strength up.  She judged the cloud and went below to inspect the repairs her men had done there.  The ship was holding together admirably, and she thanked the gods that she had personally requested specific modifications to this design.  Stopping by the kitchen, she quickly ate a hot meal that Geoff had put together, gulping down the food before vacating her spot to another of the crew.  Each of them was trying to put away as much as they could before the oncoming storm returned.  They could already feel the waves getting deeper, the troughs they had to climb out of getting higher.  Tina returned to the deck to watch the oncoming storm, the other side of the eye of the typhoon that they had to get through.  Already another of the crew was manning the wheel while the other hurried below to get his food.  “Tell Geoff to put out the fires,” she ordered him as he went by.  He nodded and gave her a salute.  She looked off on the horizon, recognizing one of her own fleet, the Dirty Marlin, which was why the alarm had not been raised.  She peered at it, wondering how hard it had been hit and then lost sight of it as an especially large wave came over the side of the ship.  Several of the men were deluged by the water coming over the side.  Looking up, she saw that the crewman at the wheel was fighting it and she climbed up to take the wheel in her own hands.  “If you have not eaten, you better go below while the food is still hot.  I have just ordered the fire out.”  He nodded, gave a salute, and hurried down from the deck, nearly losing his footing as another wave came over the side.  Tina turned into the wave to ride it.

The next couple of days were a nightmare.  Tina felt her immense strength waning as she fought the wheel and the storm.  In six hour shifts, she was relieved by a crewman for a couple of hours.  It did not seem to help, the breaks barely long enough for her to really rest.  Her body was tense, always waiting for a tell-tale sign or sound of the ship breaking apart.  The winds were so fierce, they lost sails.  The waves were so big, they lost men.  By the time the storm was over, there were four men missing in total.  Tina felt their loss personally.  It all wore on her.  She had not lost men before like this, except in battle.

As the days passed and the storm lessened, they slowly began to recover from the incredible magnitude of it all.  Repairs were enacted, but they were badly damaged.  It would take weeks before they made it back to the harbor to finish their repairs.  They found two more of their ships, limping along as they were.  They quickly got in formation together to sail in safety.  Supplies were shared as they helped to fix the ships, and as they sailed for the safe harbor and more supplies and repairs.  Tina was anxious as the weeks passed and she wanted information.  Hailing a few ships that were coming from the direction they were heading proved to be fruitless, several tried to trick her, tried to capture her damaged ship.  Prates were pirates the world over, some disguised as merchantmen.  Fortunately for her, the cannon deterred them.  Her men shot muskets as well as she, and her other two ships could come up, the three of them defending each other.  It did not stop her worry over their return.  She wanted to know how the city had fared, how Claire was.  Her depression over losing James and the other men was exhausting her, besides the amount of work she had done personally to repair her ship.  She wanted to get back to her wife, finish their trading, and get underway…away from this part of the world and the bad memories it now held.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The sight of that harbor was a welcome relief in so many ways, to all of them.  The men gave a resounding cheer!  Land, although a foreign shore, was welcome after all they had just been through.  It would give them all a chance to recover, both physically as well as in many other ways they all needed.  They could restock, restore, and replenish their supplies, enact repairs, and finish the trading.  Tina wanted it all done as soon as possible.  She was relieved to see another of her ships in the harbor, hoping that the men had all survived the typhoon they had just gone through.  She felt overly-anxious to go and see Claire, puzzled that she was not waiting at the dock.  Their house had a perfect view of the harbor and she had to have been watching for the Red Bettina.  Between arranging things with her crew, including the replacement of the mast they had lost, she was quite late before she herself left the ship in the small boat they used to transport supplies when a dock was not available.  The crewmen manning the oars sensed her urgency.  They noted the care she had taken with her appearance to go ashore and pulled hard and deep to get them quickly ashore.  She smiled at their efforts as her eyes scanned the crowds, but no blonde head was visible among the dark-haired people.  She hailed a rickshaw and was grateful he spoke pigeon English as she told him her destination.  It had been difficult with some of the other drivers to pantomime her temporary address while in the city.

As Tina let herself in the gate, she looked up at the many lights of the house and was puzzled at the activity she saw within.  She had never seen the house so...active.  It was almost as though a party were going on and as she made her way to the front door she saw that she was right, there was a party within.  She let herself in.

“Do you have an invitation?” a lofty voice stopped her, as a hand reached out to grab her arm and stop her from proceeding.

Tina looked down at the hand and said in a menacing voice, “This is my home.  You had better be removing that hand if you want it to last, boyo.”

With a very snooty look, the man tried to stare her down, but her pulling the knife from her sash had him backing hurriedly away, but it was just to get others to help him.  One of the helpers recognized Tina.

“Captain?” he said in astonishment.  “But yer alive?” he stuttered.

“Of course I am alive.  Where is Claire?” she asked, and then did not wait for his reply as she hurried into what was obviously a party. 

She looked about in surprise.  There was a small orchestra, and dancing going on in the center of their home using the ballroom that they had never used before.  She looked about and one of the servants leaned over to ask her name.  She did not recognize him, but realized he was a majordomo.  She wondered why there were so many servants she did not know?  Why had Claire needed them, and why she was throwing a party?  She brushed him off as she spotted the distinctive blonde in an absolutely breathtaking, ice-blue dress.  Its low cut almost had her breasts spilling out of the material, but it was the height of fashion.

As she came up to her wife, she was puzzled by the men hovering about her and especially by the one who seemed to hold a proprietary air on her arm.  “Claire?” she asked, to get her attention.