Page 4 of A Countess Captured for the Captain
There were a dozen crates on the deck of the merchant ship, and below, the stores contained rich pickings of food and drink, so that the pirates enjoyed a merry feast that day and soon became drunk. With the merchant ship sank, they set sail out of the cove, making for an island some three leagues away, a journey which, with a fair wind, took them much of the day.
Nox sat up on deck, watching for ships out to sea and sharing a keg of rum with his friend and mentor Strap. It had been Strap – an ancient pirate with a long black beard and weather-beaten face – who had raised him, rescuing him, or so he told him, from a stricken ship off the coast of one of the islands when Nox had been only thirteen years old. He could remember nothing of the time before, knowing only that if it were not for Strap and his men, he would have perished all those years ago.
“A fine haul today,” Strap said, as the sounds of the men carousing echoed over the deck.
“It will see us through the winter,” Nox replied, taking a swig of rum.
The ship was sailing through calm waters, the sun setting upon the horizon, casting its rays across the shimmering ocean. To their right, lay islands, clusters of dense jungle, with white sandy beaches stretching along their shores, where waves crashed like white horses charging into the battle. To their right, the vast ocean, deep and mysterious, stretching, it seemed, endlessly into the distance, beyond which lay Europe and Africa.
“And there will be others,” Strap said, raising his glass.
“That is the way of it,” he replied.
They were sitting above where several of the men were drinking, though hidden by the overhang of the deck. Nox had his own cabin, as befitted the captain of such a vessel, and he liked to sit by the open door in the evening, drinking rum and sharing stories with Strap, who was as much a father to him as any other man had ever been. He knew nothing of his own parents, nor of his lineage, only that it was Strap to whom he owed his life.
“Why does the captain never allow us to have any fun?” he overheard one man saying.
“You mean slice them through?” another replied.
“Yes, he always shows them mercy, but what mercy do they deserve? We are pirates, we should finish the job,” came the answer.
Nox glanced at Strap, shaking his head, as the old pirate sighed.
“Be careful, Nox, that sounds like mutinous talk to me,” he whispered.
Nox stood up, his hand upon his sword hilt. He was no coward, but he saw no need in killing for the mere sake of killing. The captain of the merchant ship that day had offered no resistance. If he had, then Nox would have run him through, but to kill an unarmed man in cold blood was dishonorable, and Nox had always prided himself upon his honor.
“So,” he said, leaping down from the overhang, and startling the men, “we have ourselves some mutineers, do we?”
The group of pirates leaped to their feet, protesting vehemently against Nox’s accusations, and accusing one another of being culprits in their words.
“We were only saying how we would like a fight, sometimes, Captain,” one of them said, and Nox drew his sword.
“Perhaps you would like to feel the end of this, would you?” he demanded, and the man shook his head.
“No, Captain, not at all, Captain,” he replied faltering, as Nox edged him backwards against one of the crates, the tip of his sword pointing into the man’s chest.
“Good, and we shall have no more of this mutinous talk, not when the ship is full of doubloons, gold, which all of you have a rightful share to,” he said, smiling, as the men hurriedly dispersed.
Strap jumped down next to him, the two of them leaning upon the crates and looking out to sea.
“You find it hard,” Strap said, and Nox looked at him curiously.
He was uncertain what his old mentor could mean by these words. Certainly, life at sea was tough, but Nox had been used to it all his life. The blood which flowed in his veins was salty as the water, and he was happiest with a swift wind at his back and the stars to guide him.
“Find what hard?” he asked, and Strap smiled.
“Being captain. I can see it in you. You have the respect of the men, you have their loyalty, but your passion is not in it any longer. You wonder if there is something more,” he said, and Nox sighed.
He loved the sea, but as the years had gone by, he wondered more about his past. The memories before his rescue by Strap were dim and distant. Try as he might, he could not recall the faces of his mother and father, nor of his life before he came aboard Strap’s ship. It was a blur, lost in the mists of time. Nox wanted desperately to remember, but the harder he tried, the fainter those thoughts became.
“I just… I want to know where I came from,” he replied, gazing out to sea, wondering what the truth about him really was.
Chapter Three
Samantha was terrified. She had listened to this conversation from inside the crate where she had hidden ever since they had sighted the pirate ship charging toward her father’s merchant ship. How she had gotten there was a tale in itself. Though having escaped one predicament, she now found herself embroiled in a fresh one.
Catherine’s plan had seemed a simple one at first. To spite the Duke and to avoid the marriage, Samantha would run away. She was to hide in the warehouses of her father’s shipping company down by the docks, remaining there long enough to cause an uproar and ensure that her father would take seriously her refusal to marry.
