Take Me Forever (15 page)

“Captain, I thought you would like to know.
 
A supply ship came in last night and the crew
had spotted Black Hawkins in our vicinity.”

“Hawkins,” Cain said with hatred.

“Aye Captain.
 
The
supply ship crew said they spotted him only a day or two from here heading south.”

“I can’t believe he is this close to my home.
 
Ready the crew.
 
We will leave immediately,” Cain ordered.

“Aye Captain,” Luke said as he made a hasty departure.

Cain took a moment to gather his thoughts as he sat at the
table.
 
This was his chance to get his
revenge.
 
His life had changed for the
better since he found Mercy but this was something he could not let go until
either he or Hawkins was dead.
 
He didn’t
want to leave Mercy behind, and this time she would have to obey him.
 
He decided it was time to go wake her and
tell her his plan.

“What is it?”
 
Mercy
asked after Cain woke her.

“I’m afraid I have some news.
 
I have received word that the man who killed
my mother is nearby.
 
I am leaving at
once in pursuit so maybe I can catch up to him.”

“No, you mustn’t,” Mercy pleaded.

“I have to.
 
I have to
finish this.”

“Let me go with you.”

“No!
 
You must stay
here this time.
 
I promise that once this
is over I will never leave without you again.”

“But…,”

“If something does happen to me, you’ll be entitled to all
that I have.
 
You are my next of
kin.
 
After last night, you may be with
child.
 
I wouldn’t want anything to
happen to my unborn son if you are,” Cain said hoping to persuade her to not be
foolish and try to go with him.

Mercy began to sob as Cain readied himself for his
vendetta.
 
Mercy tried desperately to
make him forget about his revenge.
 
There
was no changing his mind.
 
She walked him
to the
Devil’s Dilemma
and watched as
the ship was preparing for departure.
 

Taking her in his arms Cain said, “Shh.
 
Don’t cry.
 
I will return to you.”

“Come back to me safe.
 
I will haunt you in your dreams until you return.”

“You already do,” Cain said as he kissed her with a long
passionate kiss that could be their last.

“Wait,” Mercy cried out as she took off the red scarf she
was wearing in her hair and placed it in his hands.

“What’s this for?”

“Good luck,” she whispered as he boarded the ship.

Mercy watched his ship depart out to sea until she could no
longer make out the shape.
 
For hours,
she stared out into the empty sea.
 
She
could do nothing now but wait on his return.
 
Elese came to fetch her and take her back to
the house as rain began to fall.

“It will be all right.
 
Cain needs to do this so he can find peace once and for all,” Elese said
as they walked home.

For the next week, Mercy barely slept.
 
She tossed and turned with worry throughout
the wee morning hours.
 
Her every thought
was focused on Cain’s safety.
 
She prayed
that he was safe and would return home soon.

At the end of the week, Mercy decided to visit the secret
place Cain showed her.
 
There she could
be all alone with her thoughts.
 
She
packed a light lunch and told Elese she would return by nightfall.
 

Mercy strolled along the shore until she reached the house
where Cain had borrowed the horse from on their first trip to the secret
place.
 
She tapped on the door, but
received no answer.
 
She went around back
and found the stables unattended.
 
She
found the gentle white horse and became reacquainted with it.
 
She worked with the horse until she had the
saddle on and the reins fitted properly.
 
She tied on the pack to the horse’s side and finally managed to mount
the horse.

As the horse galloped along the shore, Mercy felt free to do
whatever she pleased.
 
Harder and harder
she ran the horse until the path turned treacherous.
 
She winded around the shore into the rocky
terrain.

Luckily for her, Mercy chose the exact same path Cain had
made on their previous journey to the waterfall.
 
She didn’t have to stop and clear the path in
front of her.
 
The horse quickly found
the secluded waterfall and stopped a few yards from it.

Mercy dismounted, tied the horse to a nearby tree, and
retrieved her pack.
 
She hadn’t realized
how exhausting riding could be.
 
She sat
on the edge of the crystal clear lagoon and ate her bread and cheese.
 
After washing her morsels down with some
wine, Mercy stretched out onto the rock and felt the cool cascading water from
the waterfall mist her body.

After only a few moments, Mercy felt the scorching heat and
decided to discard her attire.
 
She began
removing her blue flower print dress.
 
The
material was thin, but it was still hot in this tropical heat.
 
She tossed the dress aside and stood before
the water wearing only a sheer shift.

The water looked intriguing as Mercy plunged into the
depths.
 
She played in the water for a
short while and tired herself out.
 
She
climbed onto the large rock and stretched out.
 
Her shift hugged her body, and it looked as if she were naked.
 
She closed her eyes and in minutes, she was
fast asleep.

Somehow during her nap, Mercy began to dress about
Cain.
 
He was touching her body and
kissing her with his soft lips.
 
Her
hands encircled her breasts as if they were his hands upon her.
 
Her lips parched and her hips arched yearning
for him.
 

While Mercy was having her erotic dream, Black Hawkins and
his men stormed the island.
 
His ship was
exploring the sea when they spotted the
Devil’s
Dilemma
leave the secret entrance of Corbin’s Crow.
 
They waited until they saw Cain’s ship leave
the area before making their move.
 
It
was sheer luck that the pirates stumbled upon the hidden entrance to Cain’s
hideaway.

Black Hawkins had an idea where Corbin’s Crow was, but was
never able to find it.
 
That was until
today.
 
He had heard about Cain’s new
bride, and he wanted to destroy his life.
 
Their hatred for one another had a strong history and Black Hawkins
would stop at nothing to destroy Cain.
 

With most all of the men gone from the island, it was easy
for Hawkins to storm the island.
 
Once
his men secured the island and forced all of the women and children onto the
beach, Hawkins touched the sandy shores of the island.
 
He stood a towering six and a half feet.
 
His clothing was ragged and dirty.
 
His toes protruded from his tattered
boots.
 
He had a scar across his tattooed
arms which stood out in the sunlight.
 
His hair was matted and colored a dingy blond.

“Which one of ye whores is Corbin’s bride?”
 
Hawkins bellowed.

Silence fell upon the crowd as Black Hawkins walked through
the crowd of women and children.
 
Every
woman shivered with fear as he passed by.

“I’ll ask ye another way,” Hawkins said as he drew his
sword.

Screams echoed across the water as he pulled a small boy
into his arms and held the tip of the sword at the boy’s throat.

“Who is Mrs. Corbin?”

Elese stepped forward and said, “Please sir, she is not
here.
 
Let the boy go.”

“Well now, who are ye?”
 
Hawkins asked as he tossed the boy aside.

“I am Elese.
 
I am
Cain’s house keeper.
 
Mrs. Corbin sailed
with her husband.
 
Please, leave our
homes,” Elese begged.

Hawkins surveyed the island and noticed recent horse tracks
along the edge of the shore.
 
He
instructed a couple of his men to follow the imprints.
 
The rest of his men he ordered to burn the
village.
 
Hawkins ordered all of the
people into Cain’s enormous house as his men burned and destroyed everything else.

Hawkins made himself right at home as he ordered Elese to
prepare a feast for his crew.
 
He locked
all of the children in a room and then forced many women to entertain his
crew.
 
As he laughed aloud he bellowed,
“If Cain is fortunate enough to survive the wild seas and return home, he will
find his island destroyed and me waiting on him.”

While Hawkins was occupying the house, the men he sent out
in search of the missing horse reached their destination.
 
The two men quietly searched the area for
people.
 
They stopped dead in their
tracks when they saw Mercy.
 
Unaware of
their presence, Mercy was fondling herself in sinful ways.
 
She was engrossed in her wildly erotic dream
as the two men stared at her.
 
Her shift
still clung to her giving the illusion that she was naked.
 
The two men wanted desperately to pounce on
top of her and taste her gold.

One of the men broke a branch off the tree he was standing
behind and it startled Mercy awake.
 
Quickly, Mercy glanced around and saw her two peepers.
 
She darted into the water as they men came
out of their hiding and approached her.

“Come back here lass,” one of the rogues said as he stopped
at the edge of the water.

“Who are you?”
 
Mercy
shrieked!

“We’re not planning ye harm,” the other man said as he
reached for a vine and cut it down with his sword.

Mercy swam to the other side of the lagoon and sought
shelter behind the waterfall.
 
She
screamed as one of the men leapt into the water and started swimming towards
her.
 
The man with the vine circled
around the lagoon so there would be no way for her to escape.
 
She was trapped.
 
There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,
and no-one to hear her screams for help.
 
Where was Cain when she needed him?
 

As the men came closer, Mercy picked up anything she could
grasp and threw at them.
 
She struck the
man in the water with a large rock sending him into a rage as he climbed out of
the water.
 
The man leaped at her and
slipped on the edge of a loose rock and fell back into the water.

“There’s no escape woman,” the man said as he regained his
balance on the rock ledge.

“Come here ye wench,” the man with the vine said as he
joined them on the ledge.

“Leave me alone,” Mercy screamed as she backed into the
remotest corner of the hidden cove behind the waterfall.

Her screams were useless as the man grabbed her and tied her
hands with the vine.
 
She was no match
for their brute strength as they strung her hands above her head and then tied
her legs wide apart with the vine growing onto the rock formation inside the
cove.
 

Both men stood back and admired their capture while Mercy
struggled in her bonds.
 
Before them was
a woman wearing a sheer shift that revealed every curve of her lustrous
body.
 
One of the men approached her and
stroked the outline of her body with his hand.
 
She spit on him as he bent over her for a
kiss.

“Let me go,” Mercy pleaded.

“Ye want it, and ye know it,” the dirty pirate said as he
began to undo his trousers.

Mercy screamed again.
 
This time, her scream was halted as the man struck her across the face.
 
While the first pirate was undressing, the
other pirate took the opportunity to fondle her trembling body.
 
His hand slid up her shift until it found
soft curls at his fingertips.
 

“Go first Mekar, then I’ll show the wench what a real man
feels like.”

“If that’s the case, then I suggest ye go first Snake.”

While the men bickered over who would be the first to rape
her, Mercy prayed for Cain to rescue her.
 
Her prayers would be answered but not by Cain.
 
Just as Snake towered over her with Mekar
holding her steady from behind, a deep voice bellowed out across the water.

“Snake, Mekar, what are ye doing?”

“It’s Hawkins,” Mekar said as he stumbled as he tried to put
his trousers on as fast as possible while Snake did the same.

“We found a woman,” both pirates exclaimed as they cut Mercy
loose from the rock formation and brought her out so Hawkins could see her.

“Is it her?”
 
Hawkins
asked as Mekar and Snake realized they didn’t even ask who she was.