Pirate Princess (30 page)

I could not walk and I had lost so much blood from my shoulder wound and the new thigh wound that I was now incredibly weak. Having been drunk and drugged just a few hours before did not help my symptoms either. I watched my hallucination unfold since there was nothing else I could do. Finn and Carlos were fighting, their swords clanging together with each strike and block. Finn was furious, his face a mask of rage that would have frightened me if it had been directed towards me. Each blow that Finn struck, no matter if Carlos blocked it or not, made Carlos cringe and step back. Carlos ducked under one of Finn’s strikes and punched Finn in the side. Finn grunted in pain and tried to strike at an angle to cut Carlos’ exposed shoulder, but the old pirate was able to move out of the way.

“You can’t beat me,” Carlos sneered, “I am Carlos the Crusher and no runt is going to defeat me.”

Finn didn’t respond as he continued his attack. Carlos stumbled and Finn stabbed Carlos through the stomach. Carlos yelled out in pain and dropped a hand to stare at the blood on his stomach as though he had never seen blood before. Finn stabbed Carlos again and then kicked him in the back of the legs, making Carlos drop to his knees.

Finn faced Carlos gripping his sword tightly with Carlos’ blood dripping down the blade and making a small red puddle in the sand. “We had guest rights,” Finn growled, “and that included her as part of my crew.”

“She’s not part of…”

Finn stepped next to me and pulled my shirt down enough to show him my tattoo. “She’s mine and you drugged my crew and tried to steal her.” Finn looked down at me and his jaw clicked shut and his eyes blazed with fury. “And you have injured her.”

Behind Finn, the wolf stalked slowly forward, his muscles bunched, crouched and ready to pounce. I yanked the dagger from my leg, jumped up at the same time as the wolf and wrapped my arms around his throat. “NO!” I screamed, rolling down the beach with the wolf. When we stopped rolling the wolf stood over me snarling. I pressed the dagger to its throat and whispered, “I don’t want to hurt you, but if you attack me or my captain I will kill you.”

The wolf stopped snarling and walked away from me just in time for me to see Finn stab Carlos through the chest. Finn walked towards me, turning his sword over in his hand as he looked at the wolf.

“He won’t hurt you,” I whispered. The wolf trotted off towards the trees and Finn dropped down in the sand next to me. He reached out slowly and rested his hand on my cheek. I smiled and then dropped the dagger I had been holding.

“We need to get you to the doctor,” he whispered.

“So this isn’t a hallucination?” I asked.

He smiled at me said, “No, this is real. I don’t think hallucinations involve so much pain.”

“How did you get back so fast?” I asked him.

“Carlos didn’t know that I left Alexander on the ship. I always have at least one of the crew stay on board in case of trouble or to prevent thieves. They loaded us on the ship and set its course and then his crew left. Alexander let us continue to sail in the direction they had sent us, used some medicine the doc had and woke him up. By the time we were all awake and recovered enough we sailed back and I swam from the ship to shore and ran to find you.”

“You’re right,” I whispered, “You do run fast.”

He picked me up and I whimpered in pain. “I’m sorry he hurt you. I’m sorry I let this happen.”

“I told you he wasn’t good,” I said with a smug smile.

“You were right,” he admitted, “but I’ll never repeat those words ever again or admit I said them.” I laughed and leaned my head against his chest. He had come for me!

He walked through the trees and as soon as we stepped out towards the far beach, Carlos’ men surrounded us. Finn said, “Your captain is dead. I hope there is one among you who is a better man than he who can take his place as captain.” He walked straight towards the wall of men in front of us and surprisingly they let us pass through them. He walked to the dock and Bernard helped Finn get into the boat since he refused to let go of me. They lowered a full body sling and hoisted me up despite my assurances that I could climb the ladder with one leg and one arm. The doctor was a young man with brown hair and glasses that were only for looks. Finn said the doc insisted all reputable doctors should wear glasses. He was a powerful mage and had some of the best healing magic I had seen.

“Why do you all insist on rolling in the sand when you’re injured?” he tsked. “I need to strip her and wash her wounds before I heal her.”

Finn picked me back up and carried me to the cabin where he promptly ripped my shirt off and cut my pants from hip to ankle. He laid me down on the table face down and dumped water on me. I hissed in pain and he tried to be as soft as possible while he cleaned the sand out of the wound on my shoulder. He gingerly took my leg and pulled it off to the side of the table so he could clean the wound on the front of it without turning me over.

“That’s good,” Gerard, the doctor, said and squatted down to inspect my injuries. “How did this happen?” he asked about my shoulder.

“Threw a dagger into my shoulder,” I said. “Then a wolf tackled me with the blade still in it and the roll ripped it out.”

Finn held something up to my lips, but it smelled funny so I clenched my lips tightly. “Drink it,” he ordered.

I did and the pain disappeared. I relaxed on the table and Finn stroked my head as Gerard began healing me.

“Did he say why he stole you?” Finn asked in a clipped tone. I couldn’t see his face, but I guessed he was still upset from the fight.

“He was going to make me his wife and show my dad our child to get back at him for being better,” I said as if it didn’t matter. What mattered? Who cared if I had almost died? Everything was great and I felt fantastic. What was in that drink? I needed to drink it more often.

I started to sit up, but Finn pushed me down and said, “Stay still so Gerard can heal you. What happened after that?”

“I told him I would kill him and he said I had no hope of escape and I was welcome to try. I jumped over him to get my weapons and he hit me with a chair or a table or something that knocked me to the ground. I took his dagger, and stabbed him in the leg. Then I ran. He told me he was going to cut me into pieces and ship them to my dad one at a time.” I laughed and said, “Where would he keep the pieces? Oh that’s right, he said he would do it while I was alive and start with my finger.” I wiggled my fingers. “I like my fingers.”

“You have beautiful fingers,” the doc complimented.

“Thank you. You know men don’t pay attention to fingers, but some girls have ugly fingers and hands. Even with the fighting I do and all the time outdoors I still keep my hands nice,” I said. Finn stood up and left. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked the doc.

He smiled and shook his head. “He’s just mad about what happened. He is very protective of all of his crew, but you are special to him. He’s mighty fond of you and the thought that you were almost killed or would have been held captive to make Carlos a child is enough to drive any man to anger.”

“It didn’t happen,” I reminded Gerard. “And I’m alive.”

“You are and you are almost as good as new. I just need to finish your leg.”

“I like it here,” I told him, “I’m not pushed away because I’m different.”

“You are very welcome here any time,” Gerard said, “In fact I see you are now officially one of us. I wasn’t sure what the celebration was about, but now I understand.”

“I suppose Finn wasn’t happy our celebration ended like it did. Maybe he thinks it’s a sign I should not be part of your crew,” I suggested. I laughed and shook my head. “Too bad for him since I’m not leaving.”

“I know for a fact that he would not want you to leave,” the doc said. “There, all done. I am going to help you to bed and you are to sleep. Do you understand?”

“Will Finn come back?” I asked as he helped me off the table. I didn’t have a shirt on but for some reason I didn’t think the doc cared so I didn’t either.

“I’ll let him know that you asked for him,” he assured me as I lay down and covered up with the blankets.

“It’s warmer when Finn’s here,” I whispered.

“Good night.”

Chapter Ten

I woke up feeling sore and hungry. I turned over, but the bed was empty. Had Finn not come back? I sat up and felt several emotions swirling around in a typhoon of confusion. I put my head in my hands and cried. I did not cry often and I felt I was allowed to cry under the circumstances. It seemed that I caused everyone around me nothing, but trouble. We had been to two places and both times I had almost been killed. If I stayed with Finn and his crew much longer, I would probably get them killed. Maybe I should just live on a deserted island where I couldn’t cause any one any problems. I did not regret getting Finn’s symbol tattooed on me, quite the opposite, it would be a wonderful remembrance of a crew who liked me for me and accepted what others considered abnormal or unattractive.

The door opened as Finn walked inside. I wiped my face on the blanket to try to hide the fact that I had been crying and then pulled the sheet around my chest since I had not put a shirt on. I didn’t look up at him so I could hide my probably red eyes. He sat down on the bed beside me and wrapped his arms around me.

“Are you alright?” he asked me softly and started rubbing his hands up and down my arms as he held me.

More tears started to leak out despite my attempts to keep them in. “I’m sorry,” I whispered in a strained voice, “I am so sorry for causing you so much trouble.”

He turned me around and looked at me sternly. “You have nothing to apologize for. You didn’t do this. You didn’t drug yourself and make him steal you.”

“You have taken me to two places and each time I have put you and your crew in jeopardy,” I explained.

“Tilia,” he whispered with a smirk, “I hardly think you created that giant squid or asked the mermaid to attack you or wanted to be stabbed in the leg by that old pirate.”

“Maybe I am not meant to be around anyone,” I whispered and looked down at the hands. “Maybe I should just leave.”

“I won’t allow it,” he told me sternly, “You are one of my crew and you have to obtain the captain’s consent to leave, which you will not receive approval for.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. It made a part of me warm with an emotion I could not quite place.

“I killed Carlos the Crusher to protect you and get you back and I will take on anyone or anything else that tries to take you away from me.” He tilted my chin up and wiped the tears from under my eyes. “When they woke me up from the sleeping drug and we discovered that you were gone, I felt like part of me was missing. When I saw him holding you by the hair and your blood was all over the sand, I just lost it. I wanted to carve him up and kill every single one of his crew. If you hadn’t been so injured I would have taken my time killing Carlos.”

“Why didn’t you come back after I was healed?” I asked him.

“I couldn’t control my anger after you told me why he had stolen you. I went to blow off steam and knew that you were safe here so I could leave you for the night to sleep safely.” He paused and looked at me. “Did you think that I was mad at you?”

I nodded my head. “I thought you might have decided what had happened during our celebration was a sign that I should not be part of your crew after all,” I whispered.

He set his hand on my cheek and rubbed his thumb across it. I leaned into his touch and he said, “I am sorry I made you think that. I will never feel that way.” I took a deep breath and tried to put myself back together. I wasn’t supposed to be so soft. I was supposed to be a fighter and tough. He smiled at me and said, “I was so happy when I saw that you had tattooed my mark on you last night, but I did not get a very good look at it. Can I see it now in the light?”

I turned around, still clutching the sheet to my chest since I hadn’t put a shirt on yet. His fingertips lightly brushed across my tattoo and then continued down my back. “I love it here,” I admitted to him, “I don’t want to leave. I just can’t bear the thought of you or your crew injured or killed because of me.”

He wrapped his arms around me over the sheet and pulled me back against his chest. “At least we are in agreement of you not leaving here,” he whispered, “and it makes me incredibly happy to know that you feel that way.”

He kissed the side of my head and I said, “I need to get dressed.”

“You realize this is twice that I’ve had to strip you and wasn’t able to enjoy it?”

“Finn,” I whispered and blushed.

“I know.” He squeezed me once more and stood up. “Get dressed. I’ll be outside waiting for you.”

I dressed as soon as he closed the door, brushed out the tangled mess of hair on my head and wished I could take a warm bath since sand still coated most of my skin. I used a mint rinse Esmeralda had developed to rinse out my mouth and get rid of my gross breath and then walked out of the cabin. Finn was leaning against the wall and took my hand when I came out. His crew smiled happily at me and I returned their smiles as we headed down to the kitchen to eat. I was so lucky to have found Finn and I had to find some way to show him how lucky I was.

We sat at one of the tables and I was surprised with buttery biscuits and scrambled eggs. “We took some provisions from Carlos’ island,” Finn explained. “His men seemed very grateful that he was dead and that they were allowed to make their own decisions now.”

I bit off a piece of the biscuit and moaned in delight. “This is so good.”

He watched me eat and smiled the entire time. “I’m glad you liked the food,” he told me.

“I was so hungry you could have given me stale crackers and I would have been happy,” I said with a smile, “but this was amazing.”

He walked over to me and straddled the bench to face me. “It makes me very happy to see you enjoying yourself.”

I leaned close to him and whispered, “I would very much enjoy a kiss.”

He smirked and said, “I think I can arrange that.”

He crushed his mouth to mine and I kissed him back happily.