Pirated Love (32 page)

“Why are they going into those places?” she pointed back with her thumb as they left them behind.

“Men and women enjoy the feel of what it does to you,” Tina explained.  “I tried it once, but I did not like losing control like that, or the dulling of the senses.”  She went on to explain that she had seen some people addicted to it, that they got the shakes, they lost weight, and some lost their lives.  “I do not think it is an experience I would share with anyone,” she advised.

“Are we going to take some back to England with us?” Claire asked, curiously.  If it was expensive, they might find buyers for this odd plant and the people who enjoyed it.

“We will ship some, but it is not as valuable to me as say, tea or the silks,” Tina told her.  She had tried it and knew her wife would want to if she told her how good it had made her feel.  It was afterwards that it made you want it again, immediately; it was why people became addicted to it so easily.  Claire, in her enthusiasm to try things: food, experiences, anything would easily become victim to such a thing.  Tina steered her wife back to trade on goods that she thought would sell well back home.

* * * * *

“The officials say they came from the Ming Dynasty,” Claire was confused.

“Do not worry, I know where to pay the bribes,” Tina assured her.

“But...” her wife was trying to keep the books of what they had sold and what they now had in their holds of the ships.

“Bribes are a necessary part of doing business in this part of the world.  Hell, in any part of the world,” Tina laughed.  She’d been doing this for a long time.  Even as a pirate, she knew when a bribe would work whether the person was an official of the government or working for themselves.  Sometimes her sword spoke instead of gold.

They were going over how much more they would be buying to fill their vast holds, which were now empty of ginseng and other New World goods that had been allotted for this part of the Orient.  They still had some trade goods for the return trip.

“They were quite rude,” the blonde said, indignant.

“That’s because you are a woman.  They only deal with men,” Tina told her.

“Why that’s...barbarous!” she stomped her foot angrily.

“It is the way things are here m’dear,” she tried to cajole.  It was why James was a good first mate for Tina.  He understood that, while Tina was in charge, she knew that some people simply would not deal with a woman and he handled it without any superiority.

“Harumph,” she snorted through her nose.  “They should be enlightened like the rest of the world!”

Tina laughed at her wife.  “Not too long ago your father was marrying you off to that odious man.  What was his name?” she reminded her.

“Well, that was different!” she tried to argue, but the corners of her mouth did lift up as she realized her wife’s point.

“Imagine you could be Lady
Fitzhugh now, and probably with a big belly,” Tina teased further, her arms going out to mimic a pregnant woman.  She stopped immediately when she saw the flicker of hurt on her wife’s face.  “I am sorry,” she offered, as she pulled Claire into her arms.  “I know you wanted to be his wife,” she could not help to tease, steering it away from the touchy subject of children.

“Oh, you!”  Claire allowed herself to be teased and was easily diverted as she punched Tina in the arm and then snuggled into her hug, loving the ease in which they held each other.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“There is a story,” Tina began, to enthrall her listeners, both her wife, and some of the younger members of her crew who had not been to the orient before.  “About an emperess by the name Wu.”  She went on to explain she had been given the nickname ‘Fair Flatterer’ in reference to a popular song in those days.  She was originally a consort of the Emperor Gaozong, who was largely ineffectual, and later she ruled through her youngest son.  For fifteen years, she was the power behind the throne.  She bloodthirstily told how Wu supposedly killed her sister, butchered her older brothers, murdered her husband the ruler, and even poisoned her mother!  Her listeners oohed and aahed in all the appropriate places as Tina told these tales of the Far East.

“It is said that she was ruthless,” Tina understated.  “But you have to hand it to the woman, as she stabilized the Tang Dynasty!”  She smiled as she told her tale of the woman who was vilified in one breath and admired in the next.  “She was the only woman in four thousand years to rule in her own right!” she admired the story of this vilified empress.

She continued on with her tale as she told of her sexual prowess.  She supposedly took lovers of those emissaries, and if they pleased her she would grant them favors...if not...their lives might be forfeit.

“She did not know her place,” one of the men commented during the tale.  At a look from Tina, he quickly subsided.  His friends snickered at his stupidity in voicing that out loud in front of their female captain.

“I think those who tell of her terrible side just did not like the fact that she was female,” Tina added, as she continued her tale.  She told how Wu, which was her surname, killed at least twelve branches of her clan because they might become a threat to her claim to the throne.  “She even had the heads of two princes who challenged her in her palace, their rebellion never realized, and it served as a warning to others.”  It was said that two of her own grandchildren, a man and a woman who had the nerve to criticize her, were ordered to commit suicide.  Her husband had died alone.  Normally a Chinese emperor was watched until the very end.  Often the entire family would be present in case he had something he wished to impart.  This led to rumors of poisoning. 

“I think many of the things she did may have seemed harsh, but she had to protect her throne,” Claire said practically.  Tina grinned in agreement with her wife.

Tina told of the architecture, the temples, and the governing of the great emperess, but she could see her audience was more enthralled by anything involving murder, mayhem, or war.  She laughingly finished her tale with the death of Emperess Wu on December 16 in the year 705.

Many were the stories that Tina and some of the older men told of the Far East, and their listeners sat enthralled when they were not about their duties.

Claire was thrilled to share stories from her books, reading aloud for hours as her listeners sat in rapt silence, some amazed at the words coming out of a book. 

Tina frequently looked for English and French books in the stalls of the cities they traded in, buying the few she could find for her wife and eventually for her own libraries, including her grandfather’s.

* * * * *

“There is a great wall north of here,” she explained to her listeners one day.  It is over thousands of miles long.”

Her listeners guffawed at the incredulous story.  It was not the first time someone told a tall tale at sea.  “Who would build such a wall?” someone called.

Tina grinned, she did not believe it either, but she had heard the tales and seen drawings of it.  “They had slaves build it for hundreds of years,” she relayed what she had been told.

“How big is this wall?  How high?”

She told how it had been built in a series of spurts by the different dynasties, now by the Ming Dynasty that controlled China and that it was built to encourage trade along the Silk Road and to discourage the roving bands of marauders from the steppes of what would become Mongolia.  Her tales sounded more and more incredible as she told them.  She told of guard posts wide enough for a wagon, and how it varied in height in places.

“How do you know, have ye seen it?” someone called out.  His neighbors scowled at him for interrupting what had been a wonderful tale. Tina told of the marauders swooping down on their enemies with horses, it was wonderfully told, and interrupting the fine tale took something from it.

Tina shook her head.  “Nay, I have never seen it.  China is a vast and mysterious land.  There are thousands of stories within it.  Why, England is so much smaller than China you could fit at least a hundred in it!”

Several of the men guffawed, obviously not believing her tale.  Tina laughed with them good-naturedly, enjoying their disbelief as she told the stories she had learned from other sailors, other people she had encountered over the years, and her grandfather.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“Look at that one, and that one,” Claire pointed out, amazed as they watched the children who begged on the streets or craftily picked their pockets if they were not careful.  They stared unashamedly at the red-haired Captain Betty; red hair was a rarity in their world.  Even the blonde-haired Claire was gawked at.  Her hair had grown considerably since she had cut it so long ago and its beauty was obvious even when she put it back in a knot to keep it out of the way.  If Claire was fascinated by the children, they were equally fascinated by her.

After walking the streets and seeing some of the monumental architecture of the palaces, they would return to their rooms at night and compare notes.  One night Tina sensed Claire was quieter than others and asked what was wrong.

“I was just thinking we should adopt some of these street children and take them back with us to England,” she said musingly, as they lay on their bunk in the relative safety of their ship.  They did not spend as much time on ship these days, but would tonight since Tina needed to offload some valuable trade cargo in the morning.  Tina had set up a couple of watches to make it safe.  Her ships were a rich prize as they had brought so much ginseng and other valuables, who knew what they had possibly held back.

“You want children that bad?” Tina asked in return, thinking about the longing she heard in her wife’s voice.

Claire did not want to hurt Tina, but she had always thought she would have children someday.  She had vowed when she was younger, she would never raise them as her father had.  She would love them and they would know that love.  She’d often thought of them running on her estate in England.  Now, although she loved Tina, she would never have children of her own body.  “I see how poor they are and they are so cute,” she said, sounding very young and inexperienced.

Tina looked at her wife for a long, quiet moment, carefully thinking.  “If you could convince these children to go with you, many of their parents might even sell them...” she began.

Claire interrupted with, “They do not have parents, you see them running through the streets.”

Tina shook her head at her wife’s naiveté.  “Many of the parents encourage their children to beg, it is a source of income for them.  Strangers from foreign ports frequently fall for these ploys.  If you followed the children around for a day, you might see their parents or an elder taking whatever they managed to beg or steal.”

“If they sell their own children...” Claire said, musingly.

“Aye, they probably sell them and then hope they will come back.  That way they could keep the selling price.”

Claire was not pleased with this conversation.  It seemed to her that Tina was not enthused with her idea and was finding ways to thwart her.  It angered her, as she had been thinking about children so much.  Seeing them on the streets of both India and China, seemingly abandoned-dirty, poor, and starving-her heart went out to these poor, helpless beings.  “I think we should take some, or offer their parents...” she began.

“Think about that, Claire.  You bring a child such as those,” she pointed towards some of the children of the streets.  “Back to England with you, and they will be treated differently…always a second class citizen.  They will not be considered your child, no matter how much love you give them.”

“We would love them....”

Tina shook her head.  “No, Claire, it is not practical.  There are plenty of English children needing a parent and if you want one this bad, we should wait for one that at least looks like it could be your child.”

“You do not want children,” she accused.

“I love children, you know that.  I do not want one that will have to fight to be treated well.”

Irrationally Claire struck out, “You just do not want me to have children!”

“Keep your voice down!” Tina returned, grasping Claire’s arm as they attracted attention.  It was never wise to attract too much attention in these foreign ports.

“I will not!” she replied pettishly, and pulling her arm away from Tina’s grasp she stomped off.

Tina, with a nod of her head, had two of her crew, who were acting as body guards rush off after her.

“What has gotten into her?” James asked curiously, as he came up beside his captain.

“I do not know, but I think the long trip is wearing on her,” Tina replied, thoughtfully.

* * * * *

She thought the incident an isolated one as they continued trading their wares, staying in an impressive home she managed to rent for her and her captains while their crews either guarded the ships, loaded their cargoes, or took shore leave.  There were a few losses, but Tina did her best to keep her captains and their crews happy and from defecting or getting seriously hurt.

“We’ve been invited to the ambassador’s home,” Claire gushed one day, showing Tina an invitation that had arrived.