Silver Tears (2 page)

She rocked back and forth, eyes dry, but with a keening moan swelling in her throat. “What have I done? Oh, Mummie, what have I done?”

Rough hands gripped her shoulders, dragging her up from the deck. “Well, bless my bones, what have we here?” a gruff voice asked.

Alice fought against the burly, blond pirate, struggling to escape his grasp, but she was no match for the powerful Dutchman. He held her securely with one arm while his other hand roamed inside her cloak, exploring first the soft fur lining of her cape and then the tight velvet of her bodice. Alice caught her breath as his fingers tugged at the fabric. A moment later, his hand still at her breast, he pulled her to his chest, seeking a kiss in the midst of the battle.

Forcing a calm she didn’t feel, Alice pretended to comply with his wishes. At the last instant before his lips covered hers, she turned quickly away and sank her teeth into his earlobe. With a howl of pain the man released her. When he did, she brought her knee up sharply, doubling him over, making him forget all about his injured ear.

“I wish I were a witch!” she shrieked at him. “I’d turn you into the rutting swine you are.”

Out of the fog and smoke and smell of blood came a low, rumbling laugh. Alice glanced about. Another of them was approaching. This pirate was a giant of a man with a fierce, mahogany-colored beard and long hair of the same hue and disarray. He was dressed in tight leggings and a mantle of animal skins draped his shoulders. A bloodied saber swung from the wide belt about his waist.

Alice’s heart all but stopped at the sight of him. Gathering her wits about her, she grabbed a belaying pin and crouched for attack. “Don’t you come near me,” she warned. “I’ll… I’ll…”

Quick as a striking snake, the man’s huge hand shot out, wresting the club from her trembling fingers.

Alice’s shrill scream of terror echoed in her own ears. “Leave me be, you bloody bastard!”

“That weapon’s of no use to you now,” her would-be attacker said quietly. “The battle’s over. Those murdering Flemish dogs are running for shelter in New Amsterdam’s harbor with their tails between their legs.”

She stared up at the man, trying to make herself believe that he was not one of the pirates, but a friend instead. The truth took several moments to sink in.

“They killed Captain Hargrave.” Still uppermost in Alice’s mind was her casual threat and the coincidence of the poor man’s death. Or was it coincidence?

“Along with several others, I’m sorry to say,” the fearsome stranger added. “You’re still alive, though, and safe for the moment. Come along now. There’s a fire astern. Time we were both getting to steadier ground.”

When he grasped her arm to hurry her to the ladder at the ship’s midsection, Alice shook off his grip.

“No, I won’t go!” she cried. “My maid, Pegeen—she’s still in our cabin. She’ll guard my belongings with her life, refusing to save herself. I won’t leave without her.”

She turned to dash toward her cabin, but the big man caught her about the waist to stop her flight. For a moment he held her at arm’s length as she struggled against him. Alice saw a flash of anger and amusement mingle in his deep-set green eyes. His full lips curved in a malevolent smile.

“My men can take care of your Pegeen and Hargrave here, too. Regardless of your wishes, I don’t plan to go down with this sinking tub.”

Before Alice could react, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. She gasped and sputtered, half-smothered in his foul-smelling furs.

“Let me down!” she screamed at him, but he only laughed at her protests.

“Like it or not, I’m going to save your lovely hide. Women are far too scarce in these parts to lose one that’s firmly in my grasp.”

“Pegeen!” Alice yelled, desperately afraid for her young serving girl.

“Stop your bawling, woman. Your girl will be fine. I’ve got to get you safely to a boat.”

Ten minutes later Alice sat in a whaleboat some distance from the flaming ship, watching as the wounded and dead were hauled down in canvas slings from the deck. She was still dazed from what had happened on board, but worse than that, her pride was badly bruised from the rough handling she’d received from pirate and rescuer alike.

“Just you wait,” she said under her breath, wishing she had the courage to say the words to the rude giant’s face. “When I tell Christopher Gunn how ill I’ve been used, he’ll challenge you, you great beast.”

In spite of her anger, Alice watched with relief as her rescuer and four other men off-loaded the sobbing Pegeen and then her belongings—silver, tapestries, linens, her four trunks of clothes, and the precious jewel box that contained her deed to the Norumbega tracts. Some of her tension melted away. She would go to her new husband a well-dowered bride in spite of all that had happened.

A short time later the other boat pulled alongside, carrying the man who had saved her. He leaned over the gunwale. His fierce face came so close to Alice’s that she could see that his red beard was now singed and his flesh streaked with soot.

“Dammit, woman!” he seethed. “Do you expect to furnish a castle in these parts?”

“No,” Alice replied quietly. “Not here, but in Norumbega.”

The men in the two boats exchanged glances and chuckled among themselves. Alice refused to be daunted by their laughter. It seemed they thought a woman incapable of finding the place for herself, she thought. Well, she had no intentions of telling these common sailors—courageous as they might have been—of her plans with Christopher Gunn. It was none of their business after all. Let them think what they would.

The sun burned through the fog once more, and Alice stared at the smoldering wreck of the ship that had been her home during the past several weeks. An ache came into her heart. The final link with her old life and her home in England was gone. Now there was no turning back. She squared her shoulders, telling herself that she had no desire to turn back. What was done was done. She would look ahead to better days—a new life in a new land. She was about to be married—truly married for the first time in her life.

She glanced toward the shoreline, where the tall pines rose like black-green cathedral spires against the cloudless blue sky. The first frosts of autumn had already touched the forest with gold, orange, and scarlet. The whole scene before her seemed to blaze in the bright sunlight.

“How beautiful,” she said softly, thinking of the dull grays and browns of London.

Moments later they reached the rocky shore. Pegeen, quickly regaining her land legs, hurried to Alice’s boat to help her out.

“Oh, my lady, you’re not hurt, praise God!”

“And you, Peg?” Alice asked. “They did you no harm?”

The little Irish imp, with her black hair, smoky-gray eyes, and a million freckles, grinned broadly. “’Twas one hairy brute who thought he’d found a girl of easy virtue. I let him know otherwise.”

The red-bearded giant overheard and bellowed with laughter. “That she did. Cold-cocked the bastard with a water jug. We’ve brought him along to stand trial for piracy and murder. Too bad we can’t hang the whole lot of them.”

The man chucked Pegeen under the chin and winked down at her. “If there wasn’t a pretty woman in my cabin already, missy, I’d be tempted to take you for my wife. A man can use a girl like you in these parts. A pert face, a plump figure, and handy with a jug besides. I’ll bet you could learn to skin a bear and tan his hide in no time. You’ll be warming some lucky fellow’s bed soon enough, I’ll wager.”

Alice bristled at the stranger’s words. How dare he say such things to her servant! “Pegeen won’t be marrying just yet, sir. I’ll thank you to leave her be.”

Peg’s face lost its broad grin and she hung her head. She wouldn’t mind at all taking one of these strangers up on any offers he might like to make. Still, Lord Balfour had willed her indenture to Lady Alice. Her mistress had the final say on when she could marry, at least for the next few months until her bond was served out.

The big fellow laughed maddeningly again. “Ah, now, you wouldn’t be just a wee bit jealous of my attention to your girl, would you, ma’am?”

“Of course not!” Alice answered too quickly. She swept past the annoying stranger, heading up the hill toward the fort. “Come along, Pegeen. Just be glad that disreputable clod has a wife already. When the time comes for you to wed, you can certainly do better than him.”

“Yes, mum,” Pegeen answered miserably.

The incline where their boats had put in was steep and slippery. Beyond lay the palisades of Fort Majabigwaduce with the British flag flying proudly overhead. Several acres around the fort were cleared for cultivation, but beyond the fields lay rolling hills clothed in thick forests of evergreen. The very air smelled green with pine.

“Oh, Pegeen, isn’t it glorious?” Alice said, breathing deeply.

“Yes, mum, if you say so.”

Alice stopped and turned toward the girl. “Peg, you can’t possibly be pouting over that red-bearded bully back there.”

“He did save us, mum. And he talked to me so pretty.”

“Well, if one like that can turn your head, I hate to think who you might wind up marrying. Seeing what poor taste you have, I’ll be sure to make it my business to take a hand in the choosing of your man.”

Pegeen’s whole face lit up and her freckles split with a grin. “Oh, mum, you’ll let me marry, then? I do long so for a husband and a passel of babies.”

Several men nearby overheard the girl’s remark and stared at the two women, their interest heightened. Females were scarce in the Maine woods, and one that was ripe for marrying and willing besides was indeed a much-prized commodity.

“Shhh, Peg!” Alice warned. “You’ll cause a riot with that loose tongue of yours. Of course you’ll marry, but not to some backwoods brute like that one.”

Alice tossed her head, indicating the tall man following them up the hill with one of her trunks on his broad shoulder. She couldn’t be sure why she disliked him so much. Granted, he had saved her from the burning ship, but there was something so wild and frightening about him. Then there was that smug, self-assured manner of his, as if he owned this place and everyone hereabouts. He had only to nod and the other men jumped to please him. She hated the fact, too, that he’d guessed she was jealous when he’d flirted with Pegeen. That, of course, had nothing to do with the man himself. She simply felt it improper for any man to show favor toward one woman in another’s presence, she told herself.

Panting and huffing, the two women arrived at the gate to the fort a few moments later. “Knock loudly, Peg,” Alice instructed. The girl pounded with all her might, but nothing happened.

“You won’t get in because you don’t know the password, ladies.” It was
him
again, smiling at Alice and Pegeen like a cat who’d found the cream.

“Then would you be so kind, sir?” Alice asked sarcastically.

The man shouted something in a strange language, and miraculously the heavy gates swung wide. He made a courtly bow and said, “After you, my beauties.”

Alice and Peg hurried in to find yet another obstacle before them—an earthenwork barrier.

“My, such strong defenses!” Alice said.

“Not strong enough, I’m afraid,” the tall man answered. “There have been many settlements and four forts on this site. Each one’s been destroyed in battle. The Pilgrims of Plymouth came here first in 1629 to set up a trading post in order to pay back their passage on the
Mayflower
. The French ran them out after only two years. The English took the place back in 1660 and built the first fort. The French burned that down in 1670 and built a stronghold they called Fort Pentagoet. Then those same Flemish pirates who still roam the coast took control in 1673, but they were allowed to keep it for only a short time. That’s when our most noble enemy arrived, Jean Vincent de l’Abadie, the Baron de Saint Castin. I could get along well enough with that bloody Frenchman if he didn’t bedevil us constantly. The Indians think he’s a god; they’ll attack whenever he gives the word, as he does all too often.”

“
Indians!
” Pegeen shrieked. “Mum, you never told me there’d be savages here.”

“Not savages exactly,” their self-appointed guide explained. “The Abenaki are quite cultured in their way, but still to be feared.”

When Pegeen’s eyes grew wider still, he said, “Don’t worry, pretty girl. They may slit a man’s throat and lift his scalp, but they’re usually kind to women and children. In fact, the babies they kidnap in their village raids are often raised as their own.”

His words did little to reassure the two frightened women.

“Don’t listen to anything he says,” Alice whispered to Pegeen. “The moment we’re inside the fort, I’ll seek out Christopher Gunn. He’ll keep us both safe from Indian savages
and
from this one.”

The red-bearded giant stopped in his tracks when he heard the name, but he said nothing.

Once inside the courtyard, Alice spied four long, low log houses. Men were everywhere about, working at various tasks, but not another woman could be seen. She was about to ask where the ladies stayed, when a soldier approached.

“Sir, there’s one of the wounded from the ship asking for a Lady Alice. He’s bad off and the surgeon says she should come right away.”

“I’m Lady Alice,” she told him.

The tall man dropped Alice’s trunk immediately and took her arm. “Come with me,” he ordered. To Pegeen, he said, “You stay here and mind your mistress’s belongings.”

Alice had little time to argue as she was propelled across the courtyard toward one of the log buildings. Once inside, it took her eyes several moments to adjust to the dimness. Cots lined the room and the injured men lying upon them moaned in pain.

“This way, ma’am,” said the young soldier.

When they reached the far corner, Alice caught her breath. The hand that reached out to her was caked with dried blood and grimy with soot.

“Lady Alice, thank God you’re safe,” came the weak voice.

She gripped his hand in both of hers, anxious to comfort the poor man. “Captain, you’re alive. Oh, I thought… I was so sure… but you’re not dead.”