Pirates

Molly and Stephen and their story-telling were introduced in "The Professor series," but they continued to write stories and share them with one another. Stephen's stories will appear in the Romance category. Molly's stories continue the Dominance/Submission theme of the original series and will appear under BDSM.

Stephen and Molly were honeymooning on a Caribbean island.

"Listen to the ocean out the window. Isn't it wonderful?" Molly lay stretched out on the bed as the morning sun flooded the room.

"And just feel the motion of the waves under the boat." Stephen began to rock her in his arms.

"And just what kind of boat are you?"

"A pirate ship."

"I'm sure there is a story in there somewhere. Tell it to me."

Pirates

Isobel and Julianna watched the island recede. They were making a short voyage to Cuba with sugar from their father's plantation. He was ill and the plantation was falling into disrepair. In need of money and unable to spare the labor, he consented for his daughters, ages 20 and 18, to take the crop to market with an elderly servant. The boat was a small one - four passengers and a crew of three - but the trip should lake less than a day.

The weather was calm and they moved slowly along a deserted part of the coast when a larger sloop overtook them. The sailors waved a friendly greeting as they passed, but the sloop made a sudden turn to port and cut them off. Simultaneously, it rolled out two cannon and raised a black flag.

"Heave to," cried the captain.

The girls' boat had no defense against the pirates. They were quickly boarded and ransacked for valuables. The passengers were transferred to the larger boat. The three sailors were given a chance to join the pirates or die. They preferred to live. Under a new crew, the little cargo boat followed the sloop to a small island a day away.

The seven captives were placed in irons and locked up below decks. The girls were given a separate cabin and the ship sailed through the night. There was a securely locked door. Ventilation came from a grate overhead. Isobel thought that might be loose, so she tried to reach it by jumping.

A watchman on deck told her to go to sleep.

When they landed, they were brought before the captain of the pirate band. He called forward the older of the passengers first.

"Who are you?"

"Don Stephano of San Juan. Merchant."

"What are you worth?"

The man hesitated. The captain did not. "One thousand ducats. Who will pay the ransom?"

"My brother, Don Augustus. Or my lawyer, Don Diez."

The captain wrote this down and dismissed Don Stephano. "Next."

The second man declared, "I am Juan. A poor laborer. I am hoping to find work in Cuba."

One of the pirates spoke up. "He had 10 ducats on his purse."

"So. If you cannot pay a ransom, we had best throw your body into the sea. Care to try again?"

The man fell on his knees. "Don Juan de Seville. Purchasing agent of the governor."

"That is better," the captain decided. "Two thousand ducats. Shall we approach the governor for your ransom?"

"No! My wife can arrange it. She lives in San Juan."

"Take him away." He turned his attention to the girls. "Are you together?"

Isobel nodded.

"Come here. Tell us your names."

Isobel stepped up to his table and was able to look at him closely. The man was a seasoned soldier with a scar on his left cheek. He could not have been older than 30 and he was handsome under his ragged beard. He had an authority and charisma about him. She wondered how he became embroiled in crime.

"I am Isobel de Calvado and this is my sister Julianna. Our father is a farmer near Catano. We are taking a sugar crop to market."

"How large is his farm?"

"About 100 acres."

"How many slaves?"

"Two paid workers."

The captain raised his eyebrows. "100 Ducats."

"I don't know whether he can pay that."

"I don't know whether he wants to see his daughters again."

"And what is your name?"

The captain smiled at her boldness. "Jacques." He stood, doffed his hat, and bowed. "At your service."

Isobel curtsied in return and stepped back to rejoin her sister. One of the men led her to a wooden shack were the other hostages were waiting. Two of the pirates sat nearby, keeping an eye on them.

Two days later day, Isobel was called before the captain and given instructions. "My men will take you to San Juan. Take this information." He gave her list of names. "You are to contact these persons, collect the ransom and return here in one week. Your sister will stay here. I promise she will not be harmed. On my honor. Understood?"

"I understand." Isobel took the list and was taken immediately to a small fishing boat. Three of the pirates manned the boat that would take her back to Puerto Rico.

When they landed, she was given instructions where and when to meet with the crew that would take her back to her sister.

The walk home took an entire day. The farm house was in unaccustomed silence. She entered and found no one at home. She found one of the laborers.

"I am very sorry, Senorita, your father passed away last Thursday. We were concerned when you did not return. He was buried two days ago. Please accept our sympathies."

With this shock, Isobel searched the house for money she knew did not exist. She returned to San Juan and tracked down the banker who handled her father's affairs. He told her there was nothing left of the estate. Her father's debts were greater than the value of the land. There was nothing he could do.

Stymied, she visited Don Diez and informed him of Don Stephano's capture. He viewed her with obvious suspicion and asked her for the full story. "You tell this pirate that I cannot pay one centavo without Don Stephano's authorization. Bring me his request and signature. Understand?"

Seeing that argument was pointless, she curtseyed and left.

Don Augustus' wife was equally uninterested. "He was no good to me when he was alive. Soldiers came last week and took all the money he had stolen from the governor. Did he tell you he was running away from them? All I have left is my dowry. He will not have that."

At the end of the week, Isobel had nothing to show for her efforts. She had walked every day between Catano and the port. Everything of value in the house had been sold or stolen, and she had only a few pesos in her pocket.

Her instructions were to meet with the pirates who brought her at a certain cantina on a certain date. She entered and found it nearly empty. She bought a meager dinner and waited. Two fishermen appeared and began drinking. Three laborers occupied another table. Gradually the cantina filled as the siesta hour began. A man sat next to her, smelling of alcohol and dung. He began making approaches and ordered some cheap wine for her. She tried to refuse gently, but he persisted. Then he put his hands on her and tried to draw her closer.

At that moment two men from the crowd stepped forward. One put his hand on the laborer's shoulders; the other brandished a knife. "Dona Isobel. It is time to go."

She stood and walked with them to the fishing boat that brought her.

At the island, she was taken straight to Captain Jacques where she reported her failure.

"So, you have not money. No ransoms."

"No, Sir."

"Then why did you come back?"

"I promised that I would. It was on my honor. I did not consider abandoning my sister."

"Knowing that she will stay here anyway, and that you could have been free?"

"She will not be alone."

"Then go to her." He waved his hand dismissively.

She curtseyed and left. She went to the hut where the hostages had been held. Don Stephano and Don Augustus were there, filthy and wearing leg irons. She told them what she had learned. Then she asked after her sister.

"She is with the captain. Look in his palace."

Alarmed, Isobel hurried across the camp to the shack where the captain lived. The guard did not stop her as she opened the door.

"Julianna!"

Her sister looked up from the book she was reading by the window.

"Sister!"

They embraced. Isobel looked about the room and saw there was a single bed. "How has he been treating you?"

"Like a guest. I have just been waiting for your return. Do you have the ransom?"

"Oh, Julianna." She wept on her sister's shoulder as the told the news.

The she asked the question that really bothered her. "And you have lived here with Captain Jacques?"

"Oh, no. He is staying somewhere else."

A few days later, the captain called for Isobel again. "You are a trustworthy woman. For that I will release your sister; but I have another request of you. I have the letter from Don Stephano. Take it to Don Diez. Bring back his thousand ducats. Perhaps Don Diez will ransom you, as well."

This time Isobel made the trip back to San Juan with Julianna. They went together to Don Diez and she presented the letter. The lawyer examined it closely. "Yes, it is his signature." He looked at Isobel. "I must suppose you are telling the truth. Come back next week and I will have the money."

"But I must leave in two days. And we have no place to stay for a week."

"Then you must stay with me. Somehow I will get the money together tomorrow." He wrote a letter to his steward and sent the girls to his home. Next, he wrote to the governor of San Juan.

Don Diez was a gracious host to the girls. They were given new clothes to wear since their own were now worn and soiled. They slept in the first real bed for weeks and ate from silver plate.

In the midst of dinner, a messenger arrived from the governor and Diez excused himself for a conference. He reentered the dining room long enough to introduce the messenger to the girls and then sent him on his way.

Later, Isobel and Julianna undressed for bed.

"I don't trust him," Julianna declared. He kept exchanging glances and short messages with his servants. And the way he looked at us."

"I don't understand. What could he be doing?"

"And why did he introduce the governor's man? Did you see the way he studied us? Like he expected to meet us again."

"But you are a free woman, Julianna. What can you fear from anyone."

"I don't know, but I don't want to stay here. I want to wait for you at home."

"There is no home anymore. The land has been sold."

"Perhaps the neighbor, Sra. Marcella, will take us in."

Isobel took Julianna back to Calvado and settled her there. She returned in the evening. Don Diez had the thousand ducats for the ransom. He gave her a second purse with her own ransom. "I'm sure Don Stephano would do this for you."

The next morning, she hid the smaller purse in the folds of her inner garments. The larger bag of gold was more difficult to conceal. "I should send a servant with you," Diez offered. She could not refuse, but as they walked toward the waterfront, she noted two men who seemed to be following them. Not alerting her escort, she found an opportunity slip away from him. Moments later he was conferring with the followers, confirming a conspiracy. They gestured to spread out to find her.

Eventually, Isobel eluded her pursuers and made her way to the pirates. As they sailed, the told them of what happened. One of them speculated, "They probably wanted to rob you of the money."

The other argued, "No if the governor was involved, they wanted to follow you to our camp." Thus alerted, the pirates fished until no other boats were visible.

Back at the camp, Isobel delivered Don Stephano's ransom and the word that the governor was looking for the pirates. For the time being, she held onto her own ransom. The pirates took care to hide their camp even further. Fires were extinguished, lookouts doubled, and the boats dispersed. Isobel was housed in the captain's hut where Julianna had lived.

A warship was spotted the next morning. Its slow path along the shore indicated it was searching. The ship anchored off the cove and two longboats filled with about 20 soldiers. Isobel was ordered to a safe place with the other hostages, but she crept back to the camp to watch the battle.

The ambush was sudden and complete. The Spanish soldiers were overwhelmed and only a few sustained any resistance. The pirate captain charged, sword in hand as Isobel picked up a pistol dropped by one of the soldiers. When she saw a soldier take aim at Jacques, she instinctively raised the gun and fired. Her shot missed and the recoil knocked her off her feet; but the soldier was startled so that he paused, and another pirate knocked him down.

The fight on land was over. Fourteen pirates donned armor from the soldiers and rowed back to the ship. Their deception allowed them to board and surprise and overwhelm the remnants of the crew.

That evening, Captain Jacques, brought a flagon of wine to Isobel. "I understand I owe you my thanks."

"How do you know whom I was trying to shoot?" Then, when he smiled, "Tell me, Captain, what made you a pirate."

"My father owned a desirable piece a waterfront as the docks were being built. He did not want to sell to the governor at the time. The governor found some excuse to put him in prison and he died there."

Isobel pulled her purse from her skirts and placed it on the table. "And will my ransom help?"

Jacques laughed and pushed it away. "You have payed your debt. We will send you back with Sr. Stephano." They looked long at one another. "If you want to go."

"Maybe I would prefer to be a pirate."

"A pirate! That won't end well," Molly protested.

"Perhaps you would like to write a better ending?" Stephen challenged.

"Well . . . let's see . . . Isobel becomes Jacques' sweetheart, of course."

"Of course."

"But she isn't allowed to go sailing with them because women on board are bad luck. And seamen are notoriously superstitious. Especially pirates."

"You are very knowledgeable about pirates." Stephen smiled. "You take it from here."

Molly continued the story.

Isobel stayed behind when the pirates went out on their raiding expeditions; but she was happy to greet and celebrate with them when they returned. Her weakness, however, was her sister. She so wanted to visit her again and invite her to join the pirate colony. She did so discreetly, arriving on a fishing boat and seeking out Julianna where she was now a serving girl on the farm of a former neighbor. Their reunion was sweet. Isobel told her all about her new life and freedom and suggested Julianna visit. Perhaps she would like to live there. There were a few other women on the island. Yes, they were little better than whores, each giving their favors to many men. Jacques was different. He was respectful and caring. Perhaps Julianna could find someone like him when she grew older. In the meantime . . .

Julianna was afraid. "But come and visit me often. I am safe here for now. We will see what the future brings."

Unfortunately, another servant overheard their conversation. At the first opportunity she ran to the authorities to claim the reward they had offered for anyone with information on the whereabouts of the pirates. Two days later, Isobel was arrested.

She was taken to the governor's castle to be questioned. "Yes," she said defiantly, "I know Jacques. But I don't know the way to the island. I get on a boat and I get off at the other end of the trip. I am not a mariner. No, I don't know how many men are there. Maybe hundreds? They come and go all the time. Some are fishermen. Others raise cattle and tan hides. No, I don't know what they do when they leave the island. I assume they are buying and selling among the islands. Pirates? I wouldn't hang out with pirates. These are law-abiding men."

Isobel kept up her denials for ten days. Unwilling to torture a woman, the governor sentenced her to be hanged for complicity. The execution was to be on the town square, for all to see. Isobel went defiantly to the scaffold and stood in irons above the crowd as the sentence was read aloud.

The crowd began to push closer for a better look. Ten soldiers around the scaffold kept them at bay. Events now happened quickly. Two of the soldiers collapsed with stab wounds to the heart. A shot ran out and the hangman fell dead. Pistol shots felled several more soldiers and the rest struggled to escape through the mob. A cannon fired from the castle announcing an attack on the city. A pirate army was rushing the gate while infiltrators in the town were sowing panic and confusion.

That evening, the governor was in despair. An attack right under his nose! His soldiers had rushed to the castle and forts, but that was not where the fighting was. Pirates and townspeople had joined in looting the shops and homes of the richer merchants and officials. Thirteen soldiers, six citizens, and two pirates were dead. He had no idea how much had been stolen, but the only warship in the harbor had simply sailed away while the crew watched. And the prisoner had vanished, along with her sister. He was no closer to capturing the pirates than he had been a month before, but the common people had a new hero. And heroine.

In recognition of her loyalty in prison, Isobel was made a pirate and allowed to sail with Jacques.

"So it did end well, my little Pirate."

"I couldn't resist. Everything end's well with you here," Molly confessed as she snuggled up.