Rebecca Miller's

Prologue

My Story.

My name is Rosanna de Vare; I was born on Friday the thirteenth of April in Bristol 1759, I was orphaned at the age of 14, my parents were rich, I’d always had whatever I’d wanted but I’d never taken any pleasure in that, I’d dreamed of a life of adventure on the seas, I wanted to be the most feared pirate in the Atlantic ocean. Like that was going to happen.

My chance came when my house was burned to the ground on Saturday the second of May 1773, I barely escaped with my life and fled to the docks, there I found a group of about thirty-five girls with the same idea as me, eventually we came up with a plan, three of us would distract the guards of the navy ship Elizabeth while the others would sneak on board, we would incapacitate the guards then join them.

Once out at sea we would consult the charts to find a small island where we could change the name of the ship to something else that was less recognisable.

When we did get the ship out to sea we each made a vow on the goddess Artemis, a vow to never love a man (or woman), to stay maidens for the rest of our lives and to help one another in what was best for the ship.

I was the last to make my vow and, as the last word left my lips a woman’s voice, Artemis’ voice echoed around the ship

“One of you has made a vow that you can never keep, so as a punishment you will be doomed to sail the seas for ten years, forever seeking safe harbour and only finding it once a year until the vow is broken, name this ship after me, and it will always be fast and have the winds in it’s favour, only one girl among you may be captain, I name that to be Rosanna de Vare, however the one at the right hand side must choose what is right not what is easy when the impossible happens; heed my word or you shall never be free of your curse.”

“Come on then girls, hoist the sails and all that, we need to change the name of this ship,” I cried

“Aye captain!” they replied, broad grins on all their faces

********

Chapter 1.

Ten Years Later.

T

en years later in 1783 the Artemis, me and her crew were the terror of the seas, the bane of the British navy and the most wanted pirates in the world, we’d terrorised the seas for years, robbed every ship we met and hidden the loot on a small-ish island off the east coast of Africa, we only docked every year to drop off supplies we didn’t need and picking up a few things we could sell, we had increasing variety in the goods we could sell as new lands were being discovered all the time.

It was on the way to our one safe harbour we saw a small merchant ship on the horizon, probably with a crew of seven or eight.

“Assume your positions girls. Aye!” I shouted

“Aye!” came the reply

We then spent ten minutes dashing frantically around messing up the ship and changing into ripped and tattered dresses (with our trousers underneath of course).

As the ship came closer we all lay about on deck and tried to look like weak females, it worked as it always did, the captain of the other ship came nearer and nearer until his ship stopped alongside the Artemis he opened his mouth and shouted in a broad Scottish accent:

“Well young lassies, what be you doing out at sea on your lonesome?”

“Please good sir,” I shouted in the most girlish voice I could manage “we were attacked by the Artemis, her crew killed all the men on board and tossed their bodies overboard, they left us for dead”

“Well lass, you and your friends are lucky to be alive, the crew of the Artemis rarely leaves survivors and even then they’re half dead and barely ever make it past a few days”

“Please sir, where are you bound? We are sailing to Bristol sir, could you take us there?”

“Indeed I can lass, now you can all come aboard, we’re bound for Bristol too”

“Thank you sir, do you perhaps have something that could be used as a bridge, so we can come aboard?”

“Aye! Indeed we do lass,” he turned to his crew “men, push a plank over to yonder ladies aye!”

The men pushed the plank over a one by one we crawled across it, as the last one of us landed on the deck we exchanged looks

“Thank you greatly sir,” I mocked, “you’ve really been a great help”

As one we ripped the skirts off our dresses a tossed them aside, we then fluidly drew our swords and levelled them at the men’s throats; we forced them back to find a ring around the mast.

“Mary, tie ‘em up” I said, Mary took a rope from around her waist and tied the seven men to the main mast while the others swarmed below to take anything of value and put it in the sacks attached to our belts.

Ten minutes later we were done, the men remained tied up to the mast while we pushed the joining plank overboard and swung back to our own ship on the ropes cut loose from their rigging.

“Who be you then lass?” the captain asked

“I am Rosanna de Vare, captain of the pirate ship Artemis, and you’ll be lucky to escape with your life”

“No lass, you cannot be the captain of the Artemis, for the real Rosanna de Vare leaves no survivors, that’s what the stories say anyhow”

“Ah, but if I leave no survivors, where do the stories come from? Besides, who says you’re a survivor?”

“But you’ve not killed us lass”

“Correction, I’ve not killed you yet.”

“But…but” the captain then proceeded to do a wonderful impression of a stranded fish.

I took the bomb from Susanne, lit it then tossed it onto the ship, I smiled to myself, the men would survive, the rope tying the men would snap as soon as they began to struggle, then if the wanted to the could run to the dingy and escape

“C’mon girls, lets go” I grinned, I didn’t care if the men died, if they had the wits to struggle then they’d live, if they didn’t, well I wouldn’t like to be them lets put it that way. Susanne laughed too, many of the other girls did as well (Susanne is our ‘cabin girl’, she does what she’s told and actually likes it, I’d never be able to stand it)

********

Chapter 2.

Competition.

W

e carried on sailing until we reached Bristol, there we disembarked and proceeded to the merchant’s area, we heaved our heavy crates over to Nathaniel, a merchant who was somewhat unreliable in the manner he procured goods, this among other reasons is why may people avoided him, he didn’t look very trustworthy, in fact he had more than a passing similarity to a scrawny rat, which in all but the obvious way he was.

“Hello Rosie, how can I help?”

“First, don’t call me Rosie and second isn’t it obvious?” I glared at him

“Yes, yes I’m very sorry, but you see you’re not the scariest thing out there any more”

“What did you say?” I hissed

“You heard the Artemis isn’t the worst thing out there any more, haven’t you heard of captain Jack?”

“Who?”

“Captain Jack Demon, the new terror of the seas”

I could see from his face he liked being the bearer of bad news

“Well listen, I’m still the second worse thing out there so you better be afraid because you’re gonna pay the price for that remark if you don’t keep your mouth shut” I was rattled but I talked big to cover it “so” I continued “how much you gonna pay for all this stuff?” I gestured at the crates behind me

“Hmm” he said, “I’ll give you a hundred crowns”

“Two hundred” I grinned lazily

“One-twenty-five”

“One-seventy-five” I countered

“One-fifty”

“Done” I knew I wouldn’t get any more out of him than that

“Y’know, you drive a hard bargain Rosie”

“Don’t call me Rosie, if you value your life”

“Alright, alright, here’s your money” he handed me a pouch full of coins, I counted them out carefully

“You’ve only given me one hundred, you still owe me fifty” I was in fact lying, the pouch contained one hundred and fifty coins, but the bastard owed me money anyway

“Fine, fine” he handed me another pouch of coins

“Thank you, at least you know what’s good for you” I laughed then punched him in the jaw, knocking him out.

“Sophia, do the honours” Sophia is my ‘first mate’ a sort of second-in-command in the ship.

Sophia bent over his body and took his purse, she handed it to me, and I took it and tucked it inside my cloak.

I smiled with satisfaction that would teach old Nathaniel to mess with the crew of the Artemis.

I walked away from the merchants towards the dockside hall as we called it. It was basically a large hall-type-thingy with lots of information poster on, for the benefit of those who’d returned from sea and needed to catch up on the news, on one wall was a collection of wanted posters.

There was one for the Artemis, but for a change it wasn’t the first in line, it was the second, in front of it was a picture showing a ship, I could just make out the name on the side, it read: Vengeance I grimaced

“Girls, we have a problem”

********

Chapter 3.

A Small Dose Of Piracy

I

Was pretty astonished that Nathaniel’d been telling the truth, I mean it wasn’t a habit of his, unless it seemed it was something nobody wanted to hear. I really hated him, he delighted in other’s pain and suffering, he cared for nobody but himself. One day it would be his death, I was pretty damn sure of that much.

That was my first reaction; my second was anger. How dare some upstart boy take my title? How dare he usurp the girls and me? And how dare he think for a moment he could do those things and still escape the wrath of the Artemis and her crew?

“Okay girls,” I said “anybody got any ideas? ‘Cause I sure as hell haven’t”

“Yeah, I got one” Sophia said

“Yeah? I’m all ears”

“How ‘bout we go show them who they’re messing with?” Sophia grinned evilly

“Excellent plan” I grinned evilly too, before long we were all grinning evilly, we looked like a bunch of evil grinning things grinning evilly.

We walked back to the Artemis as fast as we could without running, within minutes we were off into the open seas, we reached the end of the channel in a matter of hours, the old Artemis was fast, built for speed and agility.

As we left the channel I saw two ships, one on the horizon, the other considerably closer.

“Target at twelve o’clock, approach from the starboard!” I shouted

“Aye!” the girls yelled back

“Prepare the disguises, the crew of the Artemis are going to prove themselves!” I cried

“Aye!” they yelled back

“And stop yelling aye! It’s getting on my nerves!”

“Aye!” Susanne yelled

We all collapsed in hysterical laughter but returned to seriousness a minute later, we knew when to stop joking around, in our…profession we kinda had to.

We reached the ship as it reached us, as per my orders we approached from the starboard, the Artemis and its crew were once again dressed in old dirty dresses, all ripped and tattered.

The men on the ship fell for it, the whole ‘helpless female’ thing is so dull but a pirate’s gotta do what a pirate’s gotta do. We boarded the ship just as the one we’d seen earlier approached behind the one we’d temporarily taken captive. Before the prow of the ship passed out of sight I saw the embellished gold writing that adorned it, it was the Vengeance, I cursed under my breath, Demon had had the guts to show up here! This was my territory dammit! If I got my hands on him I’d wring his scrawny little neck, that’d teach him to cross me, Rosanna de Vare, captain of the Artemis!

Then to cap it all the Vengeance stopped in it’s tracks, it just sat in the water, as I watched its crew swarm up from below decks and swing on ropes onto the deck of the ship I was on now, I delayed for as long as I could before I gave the order.

“Girls, take the loot and get back to the Artemis I’ll join you when I’ve settled my argument with Demon.” I shouted

The girls returned to the Artemis without so much as an ‘aye’ between them, later Susanne told me that something in my voice had forbidden questioning of my orders.

“Well, well, well” came a drawling voice, “it seems I have some business to resolve with miss…?” he looked at me quizzically

“Rosanna de Vare” I supplied

“Ah, miss de Vare, so back to the ship boys, I’ll bee there in a minute” he continued smoothly.

********

Chapter 4.

Jack Demon

T

he crowd of boys cleared, leaving one stood on his own in the middle of the deck, I examined him warily, his hair was a light brown but dirty and matted, his face was quite thin but handsome none the less, his mouth in a curious half-smile, his eyes; sea-green with streaks of stormy grey were highlighted by the dark rings etched almost as though they were permanent, the mark of many sleepless nights. I turned my eyes to the rest of him, he was tall and muscular, about six feet and seven inches, that made him about one foot and five inches taller than me.

“Are you done examining me yet?” he spoke with a slight Scottish accent

“I wasn’t examining you Demon, I was analysing the best way to kill you” I glared

“Big talk for a girl” he smiled crookedly in a way that made my heart race

“I’m not just any girl Demon, I’m the captain of the Artemis,”

“And I’m supposed to be impressed by that because…”

“You’re a dead man walking Demon,” I snarled, to my delight he stiffened at my words, I didn’t like the way he made me feel, it wasn’t right.

“You have no idea,” he muttered

“Listen, I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m the most feared pirate in the world, you’re just some upstart boy who thinks he can outwit me”

“Well I’m very sorry about that” he replied icily

“Yeah, well sorry isn’t good enough, you gotta die”

“Oh yeah?”

“Oh yeah” and with that I drew my sword, kicked him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. I placed my sword at his throat

“Go on,” he croaked, his voice suddenly hoarse and ragged “kill me, I would welcome a quick death, it’s better than what is in store for me anyhow”

“No, if you want to die then I shan’t kill you, I’ll let you suffer” I said, the truth was I couldn’t bring myself to do it,

“Ah, an unmerciful woman are you? A shame for one so beautiful to be so evil”

I think I blushed I’m not sure, I mean there’s nothing special about me, I’m too thin, my curly blonde hair looks ridiculous, with my Mediterranean blue eyes I look more like a china doll than a real person, my pale skin emphasises this effect, its quite annoying sometimes as it can occasionally undermine my authority with captured ships.

“Shut up,” I said, quickly backing away towards the starboard side of the ship, as I reached the edge I turned, grabbed a rope, sheathed my sword and swung over to the Artemis.

“So, Jack Demon remember this as the day you were almost killed by Rosanna de Vare, and be thankful you survived to fight again”

********

Chapter 5.

Remembering

A

s I returned to the ship I found Sophia waiting in my cabin, leaning on the hammock I smiled wearily at her and raised an eyebrow in a quizzical expression, Sophia barely ever came in here as she felt that it was an intrusion on my privacy (my words not hers) and felt uncomfortable in other people’s rooms.

“Well, are you going to tell me why you’re here or not?” I asked

“Sorry captain, I just wanted to ask how the confrontation went”

“Well, I gave him the customary warning, if he comes back then I’ll kill him but he could be a potential ally, the Artemis could have a sister ship, then we could be in two places at once savvy?”

“Hmm, maybe but the men may not be trustworthy”

“I wouldn’t leave Demon in charge Sophia, I’d send you to be captain of the Vengeance, which I’d rename Calypso after the sea goddess, Susanna could be my first mate and you could choose any of the crew on your ship to be your first mate.”

“Oh… that clears that up”

“Yes it does, now go and get some food,” I ordered

“Are you coming?”

“No, tell Susanna to bring me down a little food,” I tried to look stern “I’ve had the day from hell today but I’m not going to change my eating habits regardless” she laughed and said she’d pass on my orders.

I lay on my hammock staring at the wood panelled ceiling and thought about the choice I’d made ten years ago, was it the right one? Did I have the right to command the girls? Why had I done it?

A knock on the door interrupted my dark musings

“Come in” I sighed, the door swung open and Susanna entered, she didn’t even have to ask where to put the plate any more, ten long years had made sure she wouldn’t forget. As she left I felt sort of guilty, I never thanked her, perhaps I ought to be a little nicer to her, in fact not just her everyone, the whole of the crew.

I swung out of the hammock, picked up the plate the swung back up into the hammock, I picked at the bread and cheese barely eating anything, and eventually I gave up and settled down to sleep.

I slept awfully that night, words from the past echoing through my head, but one phrase in particular kept on coming back; ‘when the time comes you must do what is right not what is easy’

When I woke the next morning the words still kept echoing through my head, I knew that it was time Sophia and I had a nice little and somewhat complicated talk.

I climbed up the ladder onto the deck, I stood at the prow of the ship and looked out at the sea, something was wrong the waves were rough and choppy but worst of all were the black clouds roiling and writhing on the horizon.

Sophia appeared at my shoulder

“What’s wrong?”

I considered her question for a second “do you remember what happened ten years ago?” I asked

“Who amongst us doesn’t?”

“I’ll take that as a yes, now do you remember the bit about the ‘one at the right hand side’?”

“Yes…”

“Well I’ve worked out what it means, it’s about you, you are my right hand woman, see?”

“Yes, I think I do”

“Good, because there’s a storm coming” I wasn’t just talking about the weather “you’ve got a choice to make, it’ll be hard but I trust you to chose what is right, not what is easy, make the right choice for the ship and the crew”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Just promise me you’ll make the right choice for the ship, please”

“I promise”

“Thank you, Sophia, things aren’t as stable as you might think, something bad is going to happen, I won’t be here to help you and I’m very sorry about that, but please listen, when I go away you have to take charge for better of for worse, please”

“I’ll do it, just tell me where you’ll be going”

“I wish I could but I don’t know myself, but believe me I don’t want to go, I’ll be forced to. The impossible is going to happen.”

“I have a bad feeling about this”

She had no idea.

“We should head away from the storm,” she said

“No, we should head towards the storm, destiny is definitely in that direction”

“So you want to head towards the bad things?”

“Pretty much yeah” is what I said, what I thought was; no, of course not, I haven’t got a choice though.

And so it came to pass that the Artemis headed into the heart of one of the biggest storms we’d ever seen.

********

Chapter 6.

The British Navy.

W

ithin a day the Artemis had reached the storm, we carried on as far as we could then cast down the anchor to wait it out, I drew up a table on a piece of parchment dictating the times of the bailing shifts and the groups that would do them.

We were so busy that we didn’t notice the ships surround us until it was almost too late.

I shouted over the noise of the storm; “girls, take the ship and go, I will find you again no matter how long it takes”

The girls obeyed, as they began preparing the ship I took a rope and swung as far as I could out over the water to the deck of the nearest navy ship, my rope only made it halfway, so I let go and used my own momentum to carry me the rest of the way. I rolled as I hit the deck and landed perfectly on my feet. I drew my sword fluidly and held it out in front of me, I circled round pointing my sword at each of the men surrounding me, as I completed my circle they lowered their bayonets to point at my neck, I sighed in defeat and let my sword clatter to the deck.

“Okay, okay you win” I held out my wrists wearily, one man came forward and fastened iron manacles around my wrists then he shoved me to the ladder that led below decks to the brig. When I finally dropped down into the dark, dank brig I was forced into a cell my manacles were quickly removed, the door slammed shut and locked fast.

A drawling voice came out of the shadows “well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here miss de Vare” Jack Demon walked towards me a half smile on his face.

“What!” I exclaimed, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Such language is unbecoming to a young lady”

“Well, why are you here, Demon?” I asked ignoring his comment

“I’m taking a break” he laughed hollowly “what do you think? I’m a prisoner just like you”

“So what’re they gonna do with us?”

“I don’t know” he admitted “I think they’re going to hang us, we’re pirates remember?”

I sighed dramatically, “great, not only do I die, but I die with you”

“Oh, come on there must be worse ways to go”

“Yeah” I agreed “but not many”

“You know, you were different last time we met”

“I know, I know” I sighed then looked at him directly “I-I’m scared Jack” I managed

“I know Rosanna, I am too”

“Jack?” I asked

“Yes?”

“Call me Rosie”

“Okay Rosie, if it makes you feel better”

“Thank you, it does”

I crawled over to him and sat next to him, he put his arms around me.

“Go to sleep Rosie, I won’t let anything hurt you” he whispered, I smiled, closed my eyes and lent my head back against his chest, before long I was asleep.

The morning came too fast; I was the door opening woke me, a plate of ship’s biscuits was pushed in then the door slammed shut again. I pulled the biscuits towards me, took one then offered them to Jack; he took one with a grin and began to nibble the edges, eating it slowly.

We spent the rest of the day talking until Jack said it was time to sleep, I looked at him and fluttered my eyelids, “Jack, can I ask one more question?” I asked

“Okay, but just one more”

“You remember the first day I met you?”

“Yes, didn’t you try to kill me?”

“Yes, but that’s not important”

“To you maybe”

“Do you remember I told you that you were a dead man walking?”

“Yes”

“Well, I was wondering why you reacted the way you did”

“Oh, that. I wonder if you’ll believe me, it’s quite a long story”

“We don’t appear to be going anywhere”

“Okay, okay. Five hundred years ago one of my ancestors angered a priest, being a grumpy old man living in Scotland he overreacted and he cursed him, his descendants would be cursed, each and every one of them would die on their twentieth birthday.

“Now, this happened without fail until five years ago, on the night of my twentieth birthday I ate what I thought would be my last meal and went to bed. That night I had a dream, I was the last one of the line to bear the curse instead my soul would go to hell, and the souls of all my descendants would too. I would live a normal life but I would have no chance to go to heaven, my soul was damned.

“I figured that I may as well enjoy myself while I was alive, I mean if you’re going to hell you may as well do it properly, besides I’m actually quite sceptical about heaven and hell existing”

“Fair enough” I said, “you had a better reason to turn pirate than I did”

“Really?”

“Yes, I should’ve stayed for my parents funeral, gone to whatever relative I was meant to go to and been a good little lady, had a respectable marriage and sons, instead I ran away from what I’d done and made a new life for myself”

“And what had you done?” I could hear the foreboding in his voice.

“I killed my parents Jack, I’m a murderess”

“No, you didn’t kill them, it wasn’t your fault they died”

“Yes it was Jack, I was the one who started the fire, and I killed them”

“Don’t worry Rosie, you made that decision and now nothing can change that, no matter how much you want to you can’t take it back, so stop worrying your pretty little head about it, there’s nothing you can do”

I wanted to believe him but somehow I couldn’t.

********

Chapter 7.

Death Sentence

T

he rest of the voyage to England took only a day, we spent that one as we had spent the others; talking about ourselves and plotting to get out. We waited and waited for the voyage to end, hoping for a way out of the death trap we found ourselves in. When we arrived in England we docked at Bristol port, guards tied our wrists with rope and shoved us into a cage on the back of the cart. We stood together back to back in the tiny space.

“Remember the plan?” I asked

“Yes, I’m not quite that idiotic” he grimaced.

The plan was very simple, I still had my knife, the guards hadn’t searched me, and I still had a weapon along with a couple of lock picking tools. They would be our ticket out of here.

When we arrived at the lock up I took out my picks as soon as I was sure we were alone, I only had three picks, I had to be fast. The first pick bent, the second was no good either, but the third, well the third worked. We crept out of the cell and up the stairs, we reached the door at the top, it was open, so we crept through that as well. We made it out into the courtyard then stopped, a portcullis a portcullis of all things blocked the gate; we were trapped. I swore so colourfully that Jack looked quite impressed until the guards came clattering out of a doorway and surrounded us. We were trapped once again, wearily we followed them back to our cell and allowed them to lock us back in, this time they searched me, taking my knife and all the things I’d hidden away. I had nothing left; it looked like we were going to die after all.

I stared between the bars looking at the wall, the future was short and looked bleak, I was going to die and so was Jack, how strange that the deaths of everyone I love would be bearable so long as he remained, because strangely, impossibly I was in love. The impossible had happened just as Artemis said it would, I had broken my vow.

“What’s wrong Rosie?” Jack asked

“I’m so sorry Jack, we haven’t another way out, there’s nothing we can do” my voice cracked and tears spilled down my face “we’re going to die”

“No Rosie, don’t give up, never give up because there’s always another way, you just have to find it”

“What other way is there? Tomorrow we are to be hanged, there’s nothing we can do,” I was sobbing uncontrollably by that point

“Well, the boys should be docking at dawn, with any luck they’ll hear about the public execution of captain Jack Demon and captain Rosanna de Vare, they’re smart they’ll know to rescue us”

“Really?” I asked

“Really truly honestly, trust me”

“Never trust someone who says trust me”

“You know what I mean Rosie, now come here and sleep, you’ve got a busy day tomorrow”

“What, being hanged counts as busy now does it?” I laughed weakly; Jack smiled and drew me closer

“Sleep” he said softly

“I-I don’t know if I can”

“Then I’ll make you”

“How…?” I began then gave up and snuggled closer to him instead

The dawn came too fast, my head was cushioned on Jack’s muscular chest but the rest of my body was sprawled on the hard, uneven stone floor Jack was already awake, I wondered if he ever slept, somehow I doubted it.

The lanterns had gone out, the cell was dark and dingy; it was hard to peer through the gloom until my eyes adjusted, soon however the sun rose high enough for the light to penetrate the tiny slit of a window that was the only light source for the cell.

“How long?” I asked eventually, Jack new what I meant

“A few hours, it’ll be at noon, they want to get the maximum audience, after all they’re using us as an example” he smiled wryly, “it’ll be fast though, they don’t want us to have a chance to escape”

“Well, what a relief, a quick hanging. How on earth is that supposed to work?”

“They will read the charges then get it over with, we’re a threat. Besides if we escape we’ll turn them into a laughing stock”

“I don’t want to die Jack, I’m too worried about what will be waiting for me when I do”

“Don’t be afraid Rosie, we’ll make it. I’m sure of it.” He smiled “don’t give up hope”

I smiled weakly, there was no point trying to argue with him, he was so damned optimistic it was hard to argue.

The waiting was the worst part, time crawled past so slowly a second felt like a minute and a minute felt like an hour, it was almost as if nature was punishing us too, the stone floor was even more uncomfortable, clouds came over and it began to rain, hard sheeting diagonal rain that came trough the window and formed a puddle on the floor.

My last few hours and I wouldn’t even see the sun, perhaps I deserved it, perhaps not, and I’m still not sure.

********

Chapter 8.

Execution

A

t last it was time, a guard came to fetch us, he was eager to do his job well, in fact he spent an unnecessarily long time tying our hands, he used almost every type of knot conceivable, double knots, butterfly knots and seaman’s knots, it was quite frankly ridiculous.

I stumbled up the rough stone stairs, Jack was next to me, well he was next to me for a bit anyway, he kept falling down and swearing. In fact I was quite impressed that his language was as colourful, if not more so than mine.

When we finally reached the top of the staircase we were forced back into the cart that we’d come in, the portcullis went up slowly, and the cart began to trundle off at an excruciatingly painful pace. We reached the execution centre five minutes before noon; before I had time to do anything except swear at the guards I was stood on the dock with a noose around my neck, Jack smiled at me and unknown to him it sent a surge of courage through my body.

When the weasel-faced man finished reading the charges he looked up from the huge scroll and spoke in a nasal, whiny voice

“Do you have any last words?”

A voice came from the crowd “they’re pirates, murderers, they don’t deserve any last words”

“To hell with you all…” I shouted, this was followed by a lot of ruder words, Jack smiled at me again then joined in with the stream of abuse we hurled at the crowd.

“Well, where are they?” I asked under cover of the crowd’s angry yells

“Any minute now” he hissed, then he added in a softer voice; “Rosie, just in case they don’t come, I can’t let you go without telling you I love you”

“I-I love you too” Jack smiled weakly at my faltering admission.

The executioner was just about to tighten the noose around my neck when a throwing knife sliced the ropes on both my noose and Jack’s, letting us throw them aside. A second knife with a rope tied to the hilt thudded into the gallows above my head, I barely had time to wonder at the impossibility of it all before Jack was climbing the rope in an almost monkey-like manner, I jumped, caught hold of it and began to scramble up it, it was difficult with my bound hands but I reached the end of the rope half a second after Jack, around thirty boys stood there, staring at me.

“C’mon boys, you’ve seen a girl before, now move it” Jack snapped

“But captain she ain’t comin’ with us is she?”

“She’s with me, I promised I’d get her out”

“Is that who I think it is?”

“That depends” I said, “I am as you should’ve realised by now Rosanna de Vare, captain of the pirate ship Artemis”

“Oh hell” someone said “boss, tell me she’s joking”

“I’m afraid she’s serious, Emmett” Jack grinned

“You mean I did my best knife-work for her! Well damn!” he grimaced and flexed his heavily muscled arms

“Stop complaining, now lets move” snapped Jack

We got there faster than I would’ve believed, it seemed Jack was the unquestioned leader; his air of authority was practically visible it was so strong.

Jack scooped me up into his arms as soon as we were on deck and ordered the crew to set a course for the open sea, we were out of the channel by the time the sun had set, he yelled at his crew some more and told them not to disturb us for the rest of the day. Jack scooped me up again, set me down at the door to his quarters, and opened the door with a flourish I walked inside slowly.

A table stood in one corner an actual bed in the other; I nodded appreciatively, taking in the clothes cupboard and washstand. For some reason a baby blue silk gown was draped over one chair.

“Are you actually expecting me to wear that?” I asked in disgust

“Why of course, trousers are hardly suitable garb to wear when dining with the ship’s captain,” he teased

Grimacing I took the gown from the chair “turn around, no peeking” I said sternly, Jack laughed but obeyed, as soon as it was on I told him to turn around again and took a seat at the table that I now noticed was covered in plates of food, we ate quickly and silently.

Jack stood up when he was done and moved towards the bed I followed him over and sat down on the edge. He grinned then pulled me to my feet; with a soft laugh he began unlacing the back of my dress, I giggled in an embarrassingly girlish way. As the dress crumpled to the floor I stepped out of it and began to unbutton Jack’s shirt. He laughed then, a deep throaty chuckle and scooped me up into his arms and set me down onto the bed with extreme care then he lay next to me. As I had done so many times in the cells we’d occupied I snuggled closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, he bent his head down and kissed me.

I gasped in shock, Jack looked up, worried

“What is it?” he asked

“I-I wasn’t exactly expecting it” I whispered “besides, you shouldn’t really do that to a woman who is neither your fiancée or your wife,”

“C’mon I’m going to hell anyway, I may as well do it properly”

“Well, I can’t argue with that” I muttered and I kissed him again.

I drifted to sleep in his arms, wishing that the night would go on forever.

********

Chapter 9.

Mutiny

T

wo days later we caught up with the Artemis and it was with sorrow that I left the Vengeance, Jack insisted on accompanying me, which was I think the root of the trouble, Sophia saw my hand in his and her eyes narrowed, I snatched my had back immediately, but Jack didn’t understand

“What is it my love?” he asked too loudly and as I watched Sophia’s eyes narrowed even more until they were barely more than slits.

“Traitor, you are no longer welcome here,” she hissed

“What if I agreed never to see Jack again?” I asked

“You have betrayed the ship Rosanna de Vare, you can never come back, and anyhow I am a far better captain than you”

“Ah, so after all these years this is what it comes down to, you like power so much you would commit mutiny for it? For god’s sake Sophia I can do what I want, I can choose who I want to be with”

“So,” she said, her voice icy “we are no longer good enough then, you have chosen to go with a boy instead of staying with us were you belong!”

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Rosie belongs wherever she wants to be” Jack said

“Rosie! Rosie! Well, well, well you really have gone far haven’t you captain” she said, her voice full of scorn

“You have broken your vow, and as such you are cast out of the crew of the Artemis, you are no longer captain of this vessel, and you may never board this ship again” as she finished tears began to spill down her face

“I’m sorry old friend,” she whispered “but rules are rules, I swear it is not mutiny”

“Indeed, I cannot expect you to break them for me” I whispered back, surprised at her sudden change of heart, I didn’t trust her “may I get my things before I leave?”

“Yes, but hurry”

I walked over to the trapdoor that led below decks and followed the corridor to my cabin I opened the door and stepped inside; taking a bag of the shelf I crammed my clothes into it.

I filled the bag quickly and took another; soon I had filled three bags with clothes and another two with other possessions, money, jewellery and other useful things, to my surprise I saw my sword hanging on the wall, smiling I fastened it to my belt and felt my courage return, now I was complete again.

I returned to the deck carrying my bags, Jack sat on the railings, hands in pockets he took some of my bags wordlessly and dumped them into the rowing boat. He was about to help me down but I climbed back up onto the deck, before I left I had to say goodbye.

There were too many goodbyes, I felt like I was at a funeral, and I was the corpse. All my friends, my crewmates, people I had known for most of my life had something to say, most of it was bad, telling me I had betrayed what it meant to crew the Artemis, the others wished me luck, and told me that they’d come with me if they could, I told them to stay, not to ruin things for themselves, after all they had a life here, the best thing they could do for me was to stay here.

********

Chapter 10.

Some People Never Learn

I

returned to the Vengeance without looking back, my old life was gone, but I had a new life now, I had a life with Jack on the Vengeance, a new ship, a new crew, and a new start.

Little did I know that my dream was just that, a dream. We reached the ship and climbed up the rope ladder, as we reached the top Jack’s crew surrounded us, and forced us back, one boy stepped forward

“Jack Demon, you promised that she would not be coming back, you know what happens when a crew member breaks a promise, you are no longer welcome aboard this ship, we will take you to a port in England and form there you and the girl can make your own way. Until then you are to be kept in the brig.”

“Ralph, have some common sense, Rosanna has been banished from her ship, I was planning on going with her to help her find another ship anyway”

“You are still banished, you know the rules,” he grimaced “seriously Jack, mate I really don’t want to do this”

Jack just nodded; he took my hand and led me to the brig without complaining. When we arrived he pushed open the cell door and pulled me inside, he sat me on the bench then walked out of the cell again and back up the ladder.

Half an hour I spent sat there, I had no idea what Jack was doing, frustrated I got up and began pacing, I spent about five minutes pacing but then Jack came back and led me silently back up to the deck,

We descended the rope ladder to the rowing boat and went back to the Artemis; as soon as we were there we climbed back up the ladder to the deck. Jack hopped agilely over the rail, ran to the main mast and climbed up onto the rigging, he stood were everyone could see him and shouted at the top of his voice

“EVERYBODY LISTEN” he cried “YOU HAVE BEEN FORCED TO ACCEPT A CAPTAIN THAT WAS NOT NAMED TO BE SO, IT WAS MUTINY!” he took another breath and continued “THERE IS ANOTHER CHOICE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO ACCEPT THIS, COME WITH US NOW AND JOIN ANOTHER SHIP, A SHIP CREWED BY MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE, TOGETHER WE CAN ACHIEVE MORE THAN EITHER CREW COULD ALONE! THINK, YOU COULD BE BETTER, YOU GO WITH THE CAPTAIN YOU WERE LOYAL TO, OR DO YOU CHANGE YOU MINDS AND BETRAY A FRIEND SO EASILY?” his face was bright red and he was breathless, but even so he carried on, with even more energy than before “COME NOW, MAKE A FRESH START TRY. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STAY HERE WITH A TRAITOR” he finished breathlessly and scrambled down to the deck again, he stood by me and put his arm around my waist “not bad eh?” he laughed as around fifteen of the girls came over to stand by us, they drew their swords and raised them defensively

“We’re with you captain” Mary said from the middle of the crowd “I’d rather follow you than he any day” elated by her words I scanned the faces, I saw Susanne, Charlotte, Daphne, Constance, Opal,
Pearl,
Phoebe, Naomi, Susannah, Isadora, Emmeline, Marion, Esme and Cecilia in addition to Mary. The girls all grinned at me, it was clear from their faces that they all agreed with Mary, I smiled back at them

“Thank you, all of you, now all we need to do is head over to the Vengeance to pick up our male crew members” I said, I smiled at Jack “I would like to say, if you have any questions ask Jack, not me, he’s in charge for the moment at least”

We all piled into the rowing boat, it was rather overcrowded and I found myself squashed against the side, luckily the voyage was short and we arrived at the Vengeance very quickly, when we arrived the girls followed Jack up the ladder, I brought up the rear and arrived on deck just as Jack was halfway up the rigging, he reached the top and began to shout again

“LISTEN EVERYONE, I AM GOING TO OFFER YOU A CHOICE, YOU CAN STAY HERE ON THE VENGEANCE OR YOU CAN COME WITH ME AND ROSANNA’S PORTION OF THE CREW AND WE CAN FIND A DIFFERENT SHIP, A SHIP CREWED BY BOTH MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE, TOGETHER WE CAN ACHIEVE MORE THAN EITHER COULD ALONE! COME WITH US AND MAKE A NEW START!” he finished and looked defiantly at the boys gathered on the deck, around fifteen stepped forwards to join us, we had a crew of thirty-two now, that was enough to crew a large ship, I did realise that we’d left both the Artemis and the Vengeance short-handed oh well that was their problem not ours.

Jack introduced us to his part of the crew: Dorian, Jasper, Emmet, Julian, Lance, Cedric, Arthur, Cyrus, Victor, Sebastian, Fabian, Felix, Martin, Tobias and Jareth. They were in turn introduced to my part of the crew and seemed overwhelmed by the amount of women present.

We reached Bristol five days after our mass crew gathering and spent only a few hours planning before our method was decided, we would use the same method I had used all those years ago to steal the Artemis, it would work, I mean bored young men would lap up the attentions of a group of pretty young girls who all appeared slightly tipsy, I would lead the party of girls while Jack would lead the boys to actually capture the ship, we’d then go to my island and take as much of the loot there as we could, stow it away and take it to a new place so we started off with a horde.

I glided up to the guard and winked at him

“Hello,” I whispered, “need a little company?”

“Mmm” he murmured, “that sounds very fun”

“I can make it sound more than fun”

I really couldn’t believe he was buying it, it was really improper and I was sure he’d run me through with his bayonet any second now for even insinuating it

“Perhaps we could go for a drink?” I asked,

“My friends could… join in, I promise you’ll have fun…” I let the words trail off leaving the suggestion in the air

“Perhaps, I’ll have to see these friends first thought”

“Girls, come on out now” I called softly through the night, fifteen pretty girls came out of the shadows and began fawning over him, I walked up to him and caressed his face then drew back and punched him in the jaw so hard he was knocked flat out.

“Sorry darlin’ I’m taken” I whispered

Half an hour later we’d repeated this process on four more guards, it was ridiculous they were determined to have a little fun with a group of pretty girls; it was absolutely disgusting, why couldn’t they have fun some other way.

We finally finished our work and crept aboard the ship, I couldn’t help noticing that it was called Elizabeth II which I thought was quite funny, the boys were casting off and I joined Jack at the helm, he bent down and kissed me, we broke apart with a start, a loud voice shouted disturbing the calm of the night

“THEY’RE STEALING THE ELIZABETH II, STOP THEM!”

I laughed, we couldn’t be stopped now, I couldn’t resist it, I had too do it

“You can’t stop us; we are Rosanna de Vare and Jack Demon! There is nothing you can do. If it makes you feel better you didn’t stand a chance. Even so you never learn do you? That’s twice I’ve stolen a ship from you and both times with the same method!” I shouted at the assembled men who stood gawping on the Warf.

********

Chapter 11.

Sister Ships

A

fter much discussion a name was decided on, Jack wanted to call it the Revenge but I wanted to call it the Calypso in the end it was Susanne who found the solution, a compromise was the best option she said so we called it  Calypso’s Revenge, it was a good name and the whole crew was well pleased with it.

We had a more serious problem than the name of the ship however the navy was pursuing us and we were running out of places to hide, they would catch up with us eventually, that meant we would have to fight them, luckily only one ship was pursuing us, the Intervention, it was a good fast ship, one of the newest in fact.

We made it as far as the west coast of Africa before they caught us, we were heading for the east coast past the Cape of Good Hope, it was a good place to hide, I mean it was where the Artemis stored her loot and nobody has ever found that.

We dropped anchor and readied the cannons, the crew armed themselves with swords, cutlasses and the more oft seen guns. I had my usual sword; I needed it I could not get used to fighting any other way. We had a few possible strategies in place, the one we would use was the girls joining the fight halfway through and taking them by surprise, we’d discovered that the best way to distract the enemy was the girls; we’d wear skirts that had been ripped so they barely came down to our knees and ragged bodices with very low necklines, we’d be ‘deadly and beautiful’ Jack joked

The Intervention stopped dead in the water, it was not even fifty feet from us, the cannons began firing and at such close range they wreaked havoc. Parts of the ship were blasted away within seconds; luckily our cannons did as much if not more damage to their ship. Even so we were definitely loosing, Jack’s men were doing their best but for every man they killed another stepped forwards to take his place. The battle had been going on for barely twenty minutes and already the deck was littered with bodies, I scanned the faces but none of the men were our crew, I was roused from my reverie by Jack’s voice.

“Rosanna! NOW!” he practically screamed

“GO!” I shouted at the top of my voice and as one we jumped down from the rigging, swords in hands guns firing left right and centre, bangs flashes, screams, shouts and mayhem was coming from all directions. We were losing, more and more navy soldiers came forwards, it was a never-ending stream of people trying to kill us.

Shouts came from across the water, two voices, one male one female and I looked to see two familiar ships alongside us, the Artemis and the Vengeance and two familiar figures stood on the prows of them, Ralph and Sophia!

“For Rosanna!” Sophia cried

“For Jack!” Ralph bellowed

“Attack!” they shouted in unison and more familiar figures and a few unfamiliar ones swung onto the decks of Calypso’s Revenge, Sophia and Ralph joined us too and suddenly I found myself fighting alongside Sophia

“So what made you see sense?” I asked

“I don’t know” she confessed “but I just woke up one day positive that you were in trouble, I found Ralph and we worked out you’d come here, I assume you were heading to the island, it seemed to me like the place you’d go”

“Yes but why did you ask Ralph?” I was pretty distracted from the fighting but I still managed to behead one man and stab another

“Well I remembered what you said, about sister ships and it seemed like it was worth a try so I found him and talked to him”

“Fair enough” I said, and that was the last I saw of her until the battle ended.

The fight went our way after that, we forced the few surviving navy men back to the Intervention and watched them sail away in a strangely joyful manner. It didn’t seem right and I thought I heard a voice calling my name but I shook it off as a figment of my imagination.

We tided up the deck, dumping the navy men’s bodies overboard and checking the faces to see if they were anyone we knew, I did a head count, we should’ve had seventy people but no matter how many times I counted there I found only sixty-nine, someone was missing and I thought I knew who.

“Divide into two lines,” I ordered “girls in one, boys in the other” a few of the girls looked at me quizzically

I told Jack to check if anyone was missing from the boy’s line whilst I checked the girls, I looked down the line for the face I needed to see it wasn’t there.

“Girls, look for Susanne!” I shouted, but I knew they wouldn’t find her; she wasn’t here to find. Susanne was on board the Intervention.

It was time for a rescue mission.

********

Chapter 12.

Rescue Mission

M

iraculously we’d not lost a single person, a few were injured but there was nothing life threatening, Susannah’s medical expertise saw to that. Apart from Susanne’s predicament nobody had a chance of dying. Strangely the most active person in the formulation of the plans was Emmett, he seemed to have developed as ‘sentimental attachment’ to Susanne and I felt an almost motherly disapproval. I don’t know why but I’ve always felt like I had to protect her, she was just five when we stole the Artemis and was only fifteen now, much too young to be being arrested for piracy.

We discovered that she was being taken to Bristol, it was quite a way away but the Intervention had to return to its homeport, this was quit ridiculous I mean they could hand her and be done, it wouldn’t take long then they could get back to Bristol. Now we had to chase them all the way and hope we could beat them there so we could save Susanne.

We had three good, fast ships and just enough people to crew them, we’d decided that me and Jack would carry on in charge of Calypso’s Revenge while Ralph and Sophia (a surprising match seeing as Ralph believes women to be lower than men whereas Sophia believes the opposite) captained the Artemis, Jasper and Mary (a second surprising match) would captain the Vengeance.

In the end we made it to Bristol in the early hours of a dull grey Tuesday morning, only a few scant hours after the Intervention had docked. We hid the names of the ships with boards hastily nailed into place bearing the original names of the ships; to my surprise the Vengeance had originally been named Victoria. I remembered that that was one of the ships that’d been sent to pursue us when we stole the Artemis or, as she had previously been known the Elizabeth.

We saw the signs before we registered anything else about the city, the atmosphere was exited, tense, the citizens themselves were all babbling excitedly about the signs that had gone up overnight, there was to be a hanging at noon, the execution of a pirate, one of Rosanna de Vare’s crew in fact.

We returned to the ships to plan, eventually it was decided I would go with Jack and Emmett to rescue Susanne; Emmett would use his throwing knives to get a rope to her and use a second to cut the noose so she could actually escape. We were hoping Susanne could manage to untie the ropes on her wrists by herself so she could climb faster but it wasn’t essential.

We arrived at execution dock seconds after the same weasel-faced man who had read our charges finished reading them for Susanne, I almost smiled as she began swearing at the crowd but Emmett’s knife flew past my face and flew in a glorious silver arc to slice through Susanne’s noose, she ducked down and somehow managed to free her hands by cutting the ropes with the knife. A second knife flashed past, a rope trailing behind it the thud made Susanne look up, she jumped, caught hold of it and began so scramble up it, it seemed that she’d make it when it happened.

The executioner pulled his sword from its sheath and sliced through the rope. I saw Susanne’s mouth open in a scream as the rope fell and I heard the sickening crunch as she hit the wall, I heard a second scream as she began to slowly but surely pull herself up the rope towards us.

Emmett stepped forwards and began to haul on the rope, slowly pulling Susanne up towards us. I saw him wince each time she screamed but he kept on pulling her up.

After what seemed like hours but was only a minute and a half Susanne reached the top, Emmett scooped her up in his arms and began sprinting back towards the ships; we got there just as the Vengeance and the Artemis were leaving the docks, those on board Calypso’s Revenge were readying her for launch, Jack and I climbed up the ladder leaving Emmett below, I reached the top and darted past Jack and his half of the crew who were now pulling Emmett and Susanne up to the deck by hauling on the ladder bringing it up to the deck.

I carried on running until I reached the dining salon, I cleared everything off the table simply sweeping it onto the floor, Susannah laid a blanket and some pillows on the table.

Emmet came into the room not a minute later, he was panting heavily but he still carried Susanne, he gently set her down on the table then collapsed into one of the chars panting. Susannah bent over her, arranging her in a more comfortable position, she took Susanne’s pulse and bit her lip. She came over to me “she’s not good” she said, “she’ll make it though, she’s strong. She’s got quite a few broken bones though; the entire left side of her body was damaged. She’s broken her arm, her leg and a fair few ribs too”

Emmet had his breath back by now and in a flash he was bending over Susanne, stroking her hair and whispering her name, Susannah gently took his arm and sat him down in one of the comfier chairs, he tried to get up but she pushed him down.

“Sit,” she ordered “stay, you can see her when she wakes”

I moved over to stand by Susanne and took her hand, “come on Susanne, fight, don’t give up”

Tears blurred my eyes, welled up and spilled over splashing down onto her face, I was crying so much that I didn’t see her eyes open, I didn’t notice she was awake until I felt her hand on my arm, I looked down and wiped the tears from my eyes.

A faint, pained whisper escaped her dry, cracked lips “Rosanna… thank you… saved my life. Emmett… where?”

“I’m here love,” he said, by her side in an instant, “what… what can I do? He interrupted himself with a yawn

“Go… sleep, I will be fine” she murmured

“No. I’m staying with you. I cannot leave you”

“You… must. For me… please” she managed, as her eyes closed and consciousness left her

********

Chapter 13.

Family

S

usanne was back to normal after the best part of two months, however none of us could leave the island where we stored our loot. We had made our way there after Susanne was injured, it was a safe place to stay while she recovered and nobody would find us there.

Unfortunately we had managed to trap ourselves. Such a huge bounty as had been placed on our heads was a dangerous thing indeed, every man, woman and child in the British Empire was searching for us. It was all we could do to steal enough food from passing trade ships to keep us alive.

I was bored of the island, the beautiful beach and the warm water was poor compensation for the fact that we were trapped, it did seem as though we would die there, seventy skeletons left for some future explorer to find. But one night Jack had an idea that changed everything, we had to pretend to be dead, three trading ships and some paint was all we would need.

The sun was barely over the horizon and yet we were beginning our plans, a group of girls lay looking pitiful on a rock in the sea only a mile or two off the coast of Africa. A large trading ship called the Titan was sailing by not a hundred yards from them.

I raised my voice and shouted with all my strength, in my most feminine voice “please sirs, we have been shipwrecked help us” and as I knew they would they did the chivalrous thing, the came over to help.

The fight started as soon as we were on board, we slit the sailors throats and threw them overboard. It was sickening work but it had to be done. Between the seven of us girls we managed to steer the ship over to the island were a group of boys were waiting ready to nail on a plank painted with just one word; Vengeance. Stage one was complete.

The next day came and we used the same trick on a second ship, this too worked well and by the end of the day we had renamed that ship the Artemis. By the end of the third day we had three large ships each bearing the name of one of our ships, there was the Vengeance, the Artemis, and Calypso’s Revenge.

Now you may or may not have guessed our plan but for those who have not it was as follows; we would use these three ships as decoys, towing them out to a place were they would be found before wrecking them on some rocks or blowing them to bits and arranging them in a manner that would show the names of the ships (the false ones, not the real ones). This would almost guarantee that someone see them and report the destruction of the three most feared pirate ships in the world leaving us to go and do whatever we wanted once the excitement had died down, but until then we would hide in the one place the British navy would never look, the most boring place in the British empire; Scotland. Jack was going home.

********

Chapter 14.

Coming Home.

J

ack smiled broadly as he stepped onto the wooden promenade, he didn’t look back as he left the ship behind and began strolling casually through the streets, I walked with him struggling to keep up with his long strides. Eventually he slowed and turned down a small side street, he went right to the end, there was a small wooden door, just big enough for an average-size man to fit through, a bell pull hung next to the door, Jack raised his hand and rapped twice on the door with his fist, ignoring the bell.

He’d barely lowered his hand when the door flew open, a woman stood in the door, her face etched with worry, the skin around her eyes was crinkled as though she was the sort of woman who laughed a lot, but the haunted look in her eyes made me think she had not laughed in a long time. But as her eyes fell on Jack the look in her eyes was replaced by joy, her worried expression was replaced by a smile and she threw her arms around Jack.

“Oh, Jack” she sobbed, “you came back, you came home” her voice had the same Scottish sound as Jack’s

“I promised I would mother, and I never break a promise unless I have no choice” he put his arms around her and patted her in the back “where is Ralph?” he asked

“Your stepfather is at the forge working Jack, he ought to be back soon though, imagine how happy he’ll be when he finds out”

“Is he alright then, I know he was unwell when I left”

“He recovered just a week after you left, he’s been wanting you to come back for ages thought, he’s missed you”

“I missed him too, I missed you as well though mother”

“Oh Jack I am glad you are back,” she finally released him and stepped away, then she noticed me

“Oh hello dear, I am so sorry I didn’t notice you, my name is Martha, Martha Smith. I’m Jack’s mother”

“A pleasure to meet you ma’am, my name is Rosanna,”

“Are you perhaps Rosanna de Vare?”

“Um yes how did you know?”

“Intuition dear” she tapped the side of her head knowingly and opened the door to let us inside.

We entered the house, walking into a spacious room furnished with an overstuffed settee, indicating that the Smith household was doing well. Martha showed us upstairs to our rooms, Jack was of course to have his old room, and I had the one next door. Jack had protested that I could share with him but his mother wouldn’t hear of it, there was however a door that connected the two rooms so the occupants could pass from one to the other without being observed. It was a good idea and one that made the nights pass too quickly.

********

Chapter 15.

The Man I fell In Love With

T

ime passed there, much faster than I would have thought, before I knew it we had been with his family for six months, all I knew was that I had been there too long, if we didn’t go soon Jack would never leave and I was dreading that time when I would go and leave him behind. All the time I had been there with him I saw the changes, changes so subtle you probably couldn’t imagine them. But I noticed. I watched and I saw things I did not like one bit. He was changing. He was becoming a stranger to me. A boy named Jack Smith, and I missed the man I knew. The man named Jack Demon, the man I had fallen in love with.

And then the time came. I was walking with Jack; we were going to the docks to visit our crews who had been living aboard the ships the whole time we were on land.

It was on the way back that it happened, we were walking down the side street that lead us to his home when he stopped dead forcing me to stop too. He turned around to face me then took a step back, sinking down on to one knee.

My first thought was that his trousers would get dirty, my second was a wave of shock, I knew what he was doing and I was not exactly happy about it.

“Rosie, I love with all my heart, please marry me, stay here with me and raise a family” his beautiful melting eyes pleaded for only one answer, the answer I couldn’t give. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and carefully sealed away my heart.

It didn’t work, I began to sob before I’d actually said anything “I am so sorry Jack but I can’t. I really want to but I can’t”

“Why not? Don’t you love me?” the pain was evident in his face and voice.

“Sort of, but you’ve changed Jack, you’ve changed so much” I was crying uncontrollably now

“How?” he asked, his face tortured

“I love a part of you Jack, a part of you that has gone away somehow. The man I fell in love with has gone”

“No Rosie, I’m still here,” he whispered

“No, the person who stands in front of me is a boy named Jack Smith, a boy who does as he is told, who never stands up for himself. That is not the man I fell in love with, the man I fell in love with is called Jack Demon. He is strong, brave and clever. He stands up for himself and never gives up even when all seems lost. A man who stands up for his friends and yet honours his enemies too.

I love you but I cannot marry you and stay here, the sea is my home now Jack, it has been for the last ten years, I may look happy on land but underneath I want to be back on my boat, to sail away and stay at sea forever”

“How could you love Jack Demon? That is the side of me that is full of darkness, the side that most people despise. Why is it that you do this to yourself, that you demand to be with a man who had a soul as black as the night?”

“I like the dark, without it we’d never see the light, and as for the night I’ve nothing against that either, without it we’d never see the stars. I like the stars Jack. They are constant, never changing.”

“Then for you Rosie, I will always be Jack Demon. I will always be the man who never gives up, who cares for his friends, who loves you with all his heart and will do for the rest of eternity.” The pain was gone from his face, and a new courage was there, the man I loved was finally back.

And that was when he kissed me. It was a kiss like no other; it put all others to shame. And I let all that I felt for him go into that kiss and hoped that he would realise how much I loved him from that one kiss.

Eventually we had to stop

“Well” he grinned, “When do you want to leave?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you hate land remember. So lets go, tonight if you want. I just wish…” he stopped hastily

“What do you wish?”

“Well, that you would marry me. I would like it to be official, that you are mine and nobody else’s”

“Then I suppose you need to ask again” I grinned

“Marry me Rosie?” he asked

“Yes” was all I could say, any more than that and I would’ve become utterly incoherent.

Epilogue.

The Happily Ever After

F

inally after all that we had been through we got our happily ever after. Not just Jack and me but the others too. Susanne and Emmett got married a few months after Jack and I did, as did Sophia and Ralph.

We filled all the gaps in the crews of the Vengeance and the Artemis what a little recruiting in various parts of England and Scotland too, in the seedier areas of almost every town there’s a child who wants adventure. They just needed a route to it and we provided that route.

The sad thing was the children we took would often never be missed, so may times the children we took were orphans it was awful. All the illnesses in the slums made far, far too many of them take on adult roles before their lives as children had properly begun.

All these boys and girls were eager to get away from the bleak existence that was all that they had before them, when they were actually out at sea many a very few of them managed not to be seasick. However in all cases without a single exception the children refused to go back and said that they would overcome the sickness. And in every case they did.

Jack and I had our first child not long after we were married, she was a little girl whom we named Amelia, she looked a lot like Jack, her hair was precisely the same shade as his although it was curly like mine. Her eyes too were a mix; they were sea-green like Jack’s but shot through, not with grey, but with Mediterranean blue.

The End.