Rayne

Maria awoke in a cold sweat, a scream just below the surface. The dream had returned, and as yet she had said nothing to Rayne. For the dreams had been vague, just a feeling of doom and suffering. But not tonight, there had been nothing vague about this, it was clear and decisive, and she knew Gabriella had been hurt very badly and if they did not reach her soon, she might be lost to them forever. She never hesitated for a moment, climbing from bed as quickly as her bent old frame would allow, and grabbing just her shawl to throw over her flannel night gown, she hurried to Rayne's cabin. She entered without even so much as a knock. Rayne was instantly awake, so lightly did he sleep these past weeks. He recognized the slight misshapen frame of Maria, and he was immediately on his feet.

"What is it Maria, what have you seen?"

She hesitated, not wanting to reveal the entire scene she had seen, she didn't know if his mind or body could take it.

"You must hurry Rayne, she is in bad shape, and we are but a few days away from her!"

"How do you know this?" he asked tersely.

Maria gave him a look that silenced any further questions before she responded "I can only tell you that I feel it, we are near, perhaps less than a few days. But if we don't arrive very soon, all will be lost, if it hasn't been already!"

Rayne, never questioning the validity of her statements was already bounding out the door, taking over the helm himself. Barking orders that they hoist all available sails and increasing the speed the ship sliced through the inky black waters. For the remainder of the night and the following day he refused to leave the helm. And Maria remained by his side until she collapsed from exhaustion. Red carried her to her bunk, only to have her return as soon as she awoke.

It was late the following night when the sailor in the crow's nest sighted a ship that seemed to be in no hurry bearing the crest of Spain. Immediately Rayne was informed and Maria closed her eyes, meditating on Gabriella, calling to her spiritually. She could get no sense of a response as she usually could when she was close to her. A worried frown creased her brow, hardly noticeable amongst all the other wrinkles in her old and now tired face.

"I fear we are too late Rayne, I cannot feel her, yet I don't feel her gone either. I am sorry; I know I am of no help to you right now."

Rayne couldn't bear the pain that ripped through him at her words.

Tersely, between gritted teeth he ground out "we are not too late, she is there and she is alive!"

Maria had not the heart to tell him of all the dream; she had only given him what he needed to know at the time. She wouldn't be the one to rip away his last shred of hope, for she might be wrong, although she seldom was Just this once she prayed she was.

Rayne, had his sailors dropped sail, keeping the man in the crow's nest to make sure the other ship hadn't spotted them. He called the men to the deck and told them of his plan. They would shadow the other ship until that time that the moon ceased but before the sun started to kiss the sky, the darkest is always before the dawn and this time he would use to his advantage then and only then, they would attack. The attack would be silent but it would be deadly. His only command was that Torquemada be taken alive, his death would be by Rayne's hand and it would be very slow, deliberate and painful. It would be the longest night of his life, and after what seemed to be an eternity, the sails were raised and the ship sped forward reaching the sleeping ship before an alarm could be raised on the Spanish galleon.

They swarmed aboard, each of Rayne's men driven by the need to find their Capitan's woman and they would do whatever it took to secure the ship. They all knew that heaven help the misbegotten fool if he had harmed one hair on her head. They had watched the Captain all these long weeks and months and knew him to be a man possessed. If she were dead, they feared for his sanity.

The Spanish men were sliced to ribbons, the deck ran red with Spanish blook. Not one of Rayne's men spared mercy, for they feared one sailor left alive might raise a warning. The few men left were subdued in record time and without a warning being raised. The fools had slept at their posts for the most part and aided Rayne's plan. A disgruntled sailor with a cutlass to this throat lead the way to Torquemada's cabin door which Rayne kicked in with one swift foot planted to the middle of it. The door splintered under such abuse and Torquemada was jerked from his pleasant slumbers to find himself at the end of a long and deadly saber being yielded by a very deadly calm Rayne.

"Where is she?" Rayne hissed, his eyes glittering rage.

Torquemada hedged, for he knew if Rayne saw her in the condition she was in, barely alive and her eyes glazed in the manner of a mad-woman that his life was over. He doubted his crew would have given him the location, but then sadly he overestimated their loyalty and then the night was shatterer by Maria screeches.

Torquemada was snatched unceremoniously from his bunk and thrust along the passage way towards the sound of Marias screeching and wailing. Rayne's heart dropped to his toes, for he was fearful of what he would find when he reached the end of that journey and arrived at the cabin the ruckus was coming from. He shoved the man he knew was responsible for whatever he was about to find to his knees and barked the order "if the swine moves, or you think he moved, behead him!"

He strode through the door, his heart pounding. The sight that met his eyes was worse than anything he could have ever imagined. There hung his beloved, almost a skeleton, so thin was she. Her hair filthy and matted with dried blood, the room reeked of death, and her eyes starred, seeing nothing, her hands tied above her head and secured to a hook in the ceiling. He thought she was dead and all he could think of was that he had to cut her down and cover her naked body that showed so many signs of the torture and abuse that had been heaped upon her.

With one swift arch his saber, the very one he had once battled Gabriella with sliced through the ropes and he caught her as gently as possible in his arms as she fell. Tears streamed down his face, and his men, uncomfortable and frightened by the sight of their fearless Captain so moved, shuffled out of the room and closed the splintered door to give him some privacy to grieve the loss of his once beautiful Gabriella.

He cradled her close sobbing quietly and Maria sat in the floor beside them, rocking to and fro mumbling incoherently. Rayne gently brushed the matted hair from her face and there was a slight movement one that he felt more so than actually saw, so small and slight that he thought at first it was involuntary on the part of his beloved body from the physical strain put on it. He felt a feeble push an attempt to push him away and heard a barley coherent "no more, please!" hardly more than a whisper. Maria immediately was on her knees beside him speaking in a crooning tone of voice, the Spanish flowing rapidly. The words couldn't possible register with Gabriella but the tone and sound must have, for she closed the glazed eyes and collapsed.

Rayne swept her into his arms, and strode from the cabin leaving behind the scene of her horror and the stench of death. He quickly quit Torquemada's floating chamber of horrors and boarded his own ship, taking her directly to his cabin where he ordered clean water and bandages. How he wished Javonnie were by his side now. His skills would be of great service to Gabriella. But he wasn't and he was confident that between him, Maria and the current ship physician, they could attend to her physical needs. But it was her mental needs that bothered him more than he would allow himself to admit. As soon as Maria made it to his cabin, he pulled her aside and spoke quietly to her.

"Take care of her Maria, I have some unfinished business to attend to, and then I will be back, and I will never leave her side again!"

Maria knew that he meant ever word, and she felt a shiver run down her spine, for she knew Torquemada was about to pay for all the wrongs he had committed both against Gabriella as well as any other living soul he had ever tormented. The shiver was because she had never seen this side of Rayne, this quiet, dangerous, deadly side.

Rayne had Torquemada dragged to the deck of his own ship and the few men left of his crew were shoved front and center to watch Torquemada pay for his sins. Torquemada trembled in fear, he knew he could expect no quarter from this man, and he knew he was a coward through and through when it came to his own pain. Rayne circled around him several times before he spoke, and at the sound of Rayne's voice Torquemada jumped at the low, deadly calm quality.

"Give him a sword Red."

Red looked uncertainly at Rayne, but did not question his command. He strolled forward and tossed Torquemada his sword.

"You, sir, will fight me. I will end your miserable excuse for a life, but before I do, you will pay for all the torment you have forced on Gabriella. There will be far more misery heaped on you in one short space of time than you ever dreamed possible. Now pick up your sword and fight!"

Torquemada retreated and refused to lift his sword, instead he wheedled in a begging voice, "you don't dare kill me! You will have to answer to the Spanish government, which I represent. So your threats don't frighten me!"

Rayne hissed "you fool...you will never be found, at least not enough, if anything, to be recognized. Your crew will vanish just like you will, as if you never were. Pick up your sword and fight!"

But, Torquemada clung to the hope that if he refused to fight that Rayne was too honorable to just simply murder him. He was wrong.

When Rayne saw that he refused to lift his sword to defend himself, he decided he needed a little motivation.

"Nice new scar there on your throat, did my little Gata scratch you in anger?"

Torquemada spit at the mention of Gabriella's name. He was livid at the mention of the nasty cut that little bitch had given him, another half inch and the witch would have ended his life.

"Yes, she did that, and she paid dearly for it" he ground out before he chose his words, his misfortune.

Rayne effortlessly swung his razor sharp saber and made a matching slice on the opposite side of Torquemada throat, so quickly that he was confused as to where the red rivulet of blood sprang from momentarily.

"Anything else you would like to offer up?"

Torquemada knew his time on earth was down to minutes, so why not goad Rayne into ending it quickly.

"Yes, she begged for more when I raped her, she said I was more man in bed than you ever could be!"

Rayne threw back his head and laughed, and ceased abruptly, a look of fury on his handsome visage.

"Oh you are a fool, for I know the true depth of her loathing of you. She would rather be torn limb from limb by sharks than ever surrender to you. I know she never succumbed to your torture and what you got, you took forcibly!" Rayne ground out this last part, the knowledge like a knife twisting in his gut.

Another flashing arch and Torquemada's left ear landed on the deck at his feet. It was then that he lifted the sword to defend himself. He flailed wildly and clumsily with the sword, never leaving a mark on Rayne, while with each thrust Rayne's counter thrust lopped of another ear, a wound opened up on his left forearm, then his right, a gash in his left leg, across his chest. Torquemada's men shrank back in horror and fascination at the same time, at the effortless macabre scene that unfolded before them.

After over an hour of this sword play. Torquemada made the ultimate mistake in saying "I should have killed that filthy puta when I had the chance!"

The words had no sooner left his lips than his head landed at his feet. His mouth still open from speech before his body hit the deck. Rayne looked at the body still twitching in death and ordered him dumped in the ocean for sharks to finish the work; his few remaining men were beheaded and tossed after him.

Rayne ordered the supplies and anything beneficial loaded onto his ship and then torched Torquemada's ship, he never wanted his beloved Gabriella to ever have to see either Torquemada or this ship ever again. He headed for home, his home, not England, leaving the helm in his first mates capable hands and went below to help Maria and be there for Gabriella. The entire voyage he had berated himself for letting Gabriella out of his sight. He should have known she was up to something, that she would try to put his welfare before her own. Foolish little vixen, had she but confided in him, he could have saved her from so much horror.

As he entered the cabin he saw Maria had finished cleaning Gabriella, removing months of filth from her with loving hands. She had brushed the mats as best she could from her long tresses. She looked at Rayne and shook her head in answer to his unspoken questions. She motioned him away from the bed, not sure how aware Gabriella was of what was going on and being said around her.

"Both of her arms are displaced from being suspended for God knows how long."

Rayne shook his head in understanding, and knelt beside the bed, speaking softly to Gabriella.

"Gabriella, I have to manipulate your arms back into the sockets my love. This will be painful, but there is no other way to do this and the sooner it is done the sooner it can begin to heal."

There was no response and for a scant moment he thought she was indeed gone. With the help of the physician a quick pull and rotation and the left arm was in place with an ear piercing scream from Gabriella. While it was like physical blow to know he had inflicted more pain on her with more to come with the other arm, at the same time it was sweet music to his ears, for I meant she was still alive! The procedure was repeated on the other arm, followed by another howl of protest from the patient after which she lost consciousness. They let her rest while the cook prepared a thin broth for Maria to spoon down her.

Rayne sat behind her resting her back across his lap and cradling her bound arms and head for Maria to slowly spoon nourishment into her malnourished body. After they had gotten all that they could into her, she quietly left the room, leaving Rayne to hold Gabriella. She had never seen a man so deeply touched, his love clearly displayed on his face as he looked at the pale, deathly still Gabriella.

All through the night Rayne whispered reassurance to Gabriella, promising her warm sunshine, sparkling beaches, a hacienda with cooling sea breezes to help her recuperate, if she would just stay with him till he could get her there. He was afraid he wouldn't make it there with her still alive, but he refused to think about that possibility. It would be weeks before they could reach his home, and those weeks he left the running of the ship in his crew's capable hands. Gabriella slept for most of the journey, and the few moments she would awaken there was a blank look in her eyes that shook Rayne to his core. Maria schooled him patience, and spent her days in Rayne's cabin as well, murmuring loving words in Spanish. Rayne knew not what she said, but the murmurings of the old lady would quiet Gabriella when she became agitated, and sooth her it seemed.

Each day she seemed to gain a little in strength and at long last Rayne breathed a sigh of relief for it seemed her physical health was on the mend. He had rarely left her side, only to cleanup and change clothes, and then he was back. If Maria had entertained any doubts about his loyalty or love, those were long gone. He was like man possessed, and she was amazed at the loving, gentle way he handled Gabriella for a man so big, strong and physical. She had watched from the deck the end of the battle with Torquemada and knew that he possessed the strength of ten men when fighting for his love. She knew Gabriella would be protected for the rest of her life and this caused Maria to breathe easier.

After many weeks, land was sighted and they sailed into the harbor of his home. There was Navia waiting on the dock, and her face briefly registered surprise and dismay when she saw Rayne striding towards her, holding a beautiful woman so protectively in his arms. It was obvious that this woman had been through an ordeal, it was also obvious that Rayne deeply loved this woman. Navia quickly hid her feelings and rushed ahead to prepare a room.

Damn, Rayne chastised himself; Navia hadn't entered his thoughts since the night Gabriella had gone missing. How could he be so callous he asked himself? He had been consumed with finding Gabriella and then willing her to live. He knew he would have some serious explaining to do, and he would face that, but first, he had to get Gabriella into a room and settled. She still was never awake for more than a few moments at a time, and when she was, she still had that unseeing stare, as if she were alive yet dead.