Pirated Love (24 page)

Tina’s hands automatically came around and held Claire’s body to hers, sighing deeply at how satisfied she now felt.  Each time their lovemaking seemed different and more fulfilling.  Each time they discovered ways to excite and love one another more fully.  They drifted off to sleep together, wrapped in each other’s arms.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The day of their departure was chaotic despite the ships being well-loaded in the previous weeks with cargo that would fetch high prices in the Far East.  Those who had been on such a trip before, including Tina, her grandfather, and several of the sailors on the various ships, all had known quickly what marketed well in these ports they would be sailing to.  Many stops would be made for provisions, but also to trade to maximize their profits.  Hard to find goods from their part of the word would fetch an absolute fortune in those ports.  Tina had not bet her entire cargo on ginseng.  The plant was found all over the northeast part of the America’s and was highly sought by the Orientals, but she had enough of it to be picked up along the way that this alone could make her fortune.

Tina had planned this voyage for years and was only grateful she had Claire to share it with.  The sights they would see would give them a lifetime of memories.  She was determined to ‘settle down’ and be ‘respectable’ when she returned.  She wanted Claire to have a life of ease and while she already had a fortune and could afford to live well, she had not known she would have a wife to provide for, and wanted a buffer against what might be hard times.  She could see wars possibly breaking out between England and the Americas, and who knew how this would affect trade.  She’d already seen that being a pirate could net you a fortune, but she had seen pirates blow it all in the next instant.  She wanted security in her old age.

She could see her grandfather wished he could go with them.  He was excited and depressed by turns, helpful and cautious as well.  He had many meetings with Tina, giving advice and tapping into his vast knowledge of sailing and the waters he knew so well, and missed.  As aggravating as he could be with all his important conversations, she knew he meant well and his advice was actually very valuable.  He grilled her on her own knowledge; where she planned to put in for food, supplies, and water; how long she thought stops would take.  She started to avoid him towards the end, but she relished the time she had with him, knowing so much could happen on a voyage such as this.  She could be killed, the ship could wreck, she could be captured and enslaved, or he could die while she was gone these two long years.  She did not want any regrets between them as she listened, joked, cajoled, and discussed the long arduous journey ahead of them.

They were taking Sir Barkley with them and debated taking one or two of the pups for trade, but they were still too young to be separated from their mother and no one wanted to feed them to keep them alive.  It had taken more than one mating to get this batch, and the young pups were desired.  Feeding them would take up too much time for someone.  They did not want to take a goat with them on the ship, they were smelly, and messy, and no one wanted that on a long journey.  As it was, they had a large supply of chickens along that they would eat and replace as they could.

David was difficult as he did not want his sister and ‘his’ wife-which he still had trouble understanding that Claire was not, to leave.  In his mind they had just arrived and while a month had gone by as they prepared and waited for the other ships, to him time had no concept.  His behavior worsened, and he fretted, pouted, and misbehaved by turns.  Claire’s worry of being alone with him was nearly realized when he entered the library where she was enjoying a book on a rainy day.  He had tried to talk to her, but she had difficulty understanding his language sometimes.  But when he unbuttoned his pants and his erection sprang forth, she had no trouble understanding his intentions, and had screamed for help.  Jacques was the first on the scene.

“Put that away, David,” he bellowed out an order.

David cringed and quickly tucked himself away.  He was not ashamed, but he did not understand why his ‘wife’ would not play with it.  The other women his grandfather supplied him with occasionally, to relieve his needs, understood.

“Go find Paul,” he ordered the man-boy and once he had left the library he turned to Claire.  “Are you all right?” he asked, concerned.

“I did not understand him and he just unbuttoned,” she told him.  In retrospect, it was kind of amusing, she just could not laugh about it at the moment.

“Aye, he does that.  It is sad really as...” he started and then considered, looking at her.  “Well, it is in the past,” he finished.

Tina hurried in, having heard the scream.  “Are you all right?” she asked, echoing her grandfather.

“I am fine, just a fright really,” she assured her.

“What happened?” she asked, concerned.

“Oh David being David, he just frightened her is all,” Jacques assured her, dismissing the incident.  “She just is not used to the boy.”

Tina accepted that for the moment, but later asked Claire to tell her specifically what had happened.  After some badgering she told her, but Claire now found it amusing.  Tina did not.  “He is a full grown male animal and he has the instincts of a whore,” she found herself saying angrily.  “Grandfather knows he has to be watched at all times, and his caretaker should not be lax!”  She was ready to go tell Paul what she thought, but Tina persuaded her to let it go as they would be leaving soon, after the dances. 

“I will be more careful,” she told her.

“It was not your fault at all.  David should not be wandering about the castle without his caretaker in attendance,” she assured her.

“I know that, but like any child he will slip away, given the opportunity,” she argued with her in his defense.

Tina was convinced not to confront Paul, but she was still angry about the incident.

Now, as they finished the last minute preparations for sailing, one ship on each side of the busy dock, she did not regret that her brother would be left behind.  She had taken him on short voyages over the years with his various caretakers, but now that she had a wife, a good-looking wife that her brother had obviously been attracted to, she did not want him on her ship.  He had thrown a temper tantrum just this morning as they tried to eat a last breakfast together before departing.  It had been early, as they had to go with the tide.  The large river was fresh water from one way, but salt water from the incoming Atlantic Ocean, and they had to go when the water would be rushing east towards the ocean.  Already three of the ships had departed down-river.

“Well, Grandfather, I will send word as I am able, but you know how sporadic that can be,” she said, as he stood there wishing them well.  David had been escorted away as he was still acting up and now had a new gripe: they were taking Sir Barkley, who stood by the wheel, determined to go with them.  Even though all indications were that he would be going, the dog was not taking chances.

“I know you shall do well,” he told her.  “I love you, my darlings,” he said, including Claire in his statements.  “See the world and take it for your own!” he smiled as he first hugged Claire, whispering in her ear, “Take care of her for me, ma cherie,” before releasing her to take Tina in his arms.  “Love her well, Bettina, love her well,” he told her, and she was not sure he meant the ship or her wife.

They saw him waving from the promontory as they cast off and began to slip off into the strong current towards the sea.  At one point, the spy glass caught sight of Fluffy and perhaps it was Tina’s imagination, one of the pups.  She petted Sir Barkley as she guided the ship down the center of the river.

“Two years eh?”  Claire stood beside her, dressed in a dress this final time, but she had already told Tina she intended to dress the same as her with all the clothes that had been delivered in the additional trunks she now owned.

“Two years, me darlin’,” she teased, with the accent she mocked that could have come from anywhere in England.  Her own tones were uniquely Tina’s, a mixture of British aristocracy, a hint of her French heritage, but also a bit of what people were now calling American thrown in.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Tina and the last ship at the dock with her own, sailed south once they left the mouth of the mighty river.  They had agreed to meet the other three further south, and as Tina had a few ports she was to hit to pick up more ginseng and other New England goods, they would arrive much sooner than she.

They sailed into Boston Harbor, and then a few days later into New York, for various goods she had consigned to be made.  She had put the word out for a couple of years that she would purchase ginseng and had a good load as they sailed south to Virginia and the Carolina’s before heading east into the deep ocean well away from Bermuda and its storms and unexplained happenings.  They rendezvoused with the other three ships many weeks later off the coast of Africa and began their voyage down its vast western coast towards the Cape.

They stayed well at sea past the Ivory Coast, where slaves and ivory were harvested in plenty.  A slaver ship could be smelled from far off.  It smelled of human sweat and misery as well as despair.  Passing one, Claire was amazed that she could actually smell the human depravity.  Tina had warned her, and they had had several conversations about the subject. She wanted no part of it, she agreed whole-heartedly with her wife on the subject now. 

They also stayed away because slavers did not necessarily wait for the Negroes that were harvested.  Some slavers would take whites, and especially women if they could.  The Mediterranean was still a hotbed where slavers could operate and sell their human crews.  The Red Bettina was back in service and the Black Betty hidden indefinitely.  They would not be flying the pirate flag out of respect for the honest merchantmen that were in their fleet.  As far as anyone was concerned, they were honest traders, and as they neared a port to put in for water and food, they would continue with this charade until it became true.

“I miss the good old days where a good man could get a good fight,” one of the former pirates complained.

“Oh you’ll see some fighting I am sure, Jake,” Tina assured him.  They had all had more than a good month’s rest up while staying near her grandfather’s castle, wenching, drinking, and fighting, but that did not mean they would not go ashore and live it up at the first opportunity they had.  Several of the men overheard Tina and chuckled knowingly.

They were absentmindedly watching as Tina gave Claire lessons in fighting with a sword, a knife, and even a little hand to hand.  She would not use the beautiful sword she had presented her with or the equally beautiful knife with the genuine cobalt stones in the handle that ‘matched her eyes.’  No, instead for instruction they used good English oak so that she could get the ‘feel’ of attacking and being attacked and learn from it.  Sometimes, she had others spar with her wife so she could see where Claire needed improvement. She could not see when she herself was sparring.  Other times, she would have some of the younger members practice like this as they spent their days sailing south.  This prevented boredom, as the men enjoyed the activity and placed bets and cheered each other on.

“Now this is how you throw a knife, me lady,” one of the pirates, a Blackamoor told her.  He was a big black man from the north coast of Africa and had been freed by Tina in one of her raids to supply her ship with willing pirates.  He owed her his life he told her, since he was black and more likely to be resold than rescued from a prison.  He had perfect balance on his knife and it went into the target they were using.  They had originally set it up against the side of the ship, but Claire’s learning curve was such that they lost several knives over the side before they turned it so they were throwing towards the target, hitting the bulkhead, but not losing any more knives.  She was becoming more proficient as the weeks flew by.  Most days that were nice, found some sort of instruction going on. 

Claire was popular with the crew, but especially after she baked a few cakes as a thank you for teaching her not only knife and sword fighting, but how to tie a knot and how to load and unload a gun.  Far from shore they could not waste gunpowder for her to practice, but she was warned that it had a helluva kick and that it could break her wrist if she was not careful.

Claire also showed anyone who wanted to learn how to read and write a little.  Some of those who learned surprised Tina, as it was not just young’ins, but some grisly old pirates who wanted to at least know how to write their names.

“I will not be going to me grave without knowing,” one of them said, emphatically, and a few nodded in understanding as they agreed with the old codger.

The day they landed in an African port to take on water and do a little trading, Tina was shocked and dismayed to find that Claire had cut off her blonde tresses and her hair was as short as a boy’s, shorter than her own red locks that were now down past her shoulders.  Angry, she confronted Claire about it, but was told it
was her
hair and it got in the way of her activities.  Tina was furious and did not care who knew it on the ship.  She could not punish her own wife, but she was not happy.  She frankly did not like that she had been disobeyed when she had made it clear that she did not want her cutting it.

“But you could cut your own without consulting me,” Claire pointed out, reasonably.  They were trying to talk away from the men in their own cabin.