Chapter Fourteen

Maura wiped her tears off her cheeks and watched the other ship that was trailing farther back behind Jane's. She had noticed it from the corner of her eye when she had asked Barry his name before, but had kept silent. The ship was larger than Jane's and rather dirty, the huge sails were old and stained brown, the hull's paint weak and faded. It looked impossibly menacing and Maura shuddered.

Where are all you monsters taking me?

She looked past the ship in search for land but did not find any so she leaned against the stern rail and simply watched the ocean and the sky. Jane never said a word to her the whole time yet Maura was strangely aware of the pirate and it unnerved her. She was listening to the crash of the sea against the ship's hull when she heard an altogether larger crash further off in the ocean, her head shot up in the direction of the sound and all she saw was a circle of foamy water out to her left between the two ships. She was utterly confused and curious as to what had made it when a ginormous humpback whale launched its massive body out of the water sideways and fell with a huge crash against the sea. Maura gasped in delight and laughed, she had never seen whale in real life, only in books, and she was in awe. It breached the water again spraying water high in the air through its blowhole and Maura stared in wonder. Her smile was huge as the enormous creature kept on breaching the surface and Maura laughed again. Jane turned her head in annoyance thinking the woman had gone mad until she realized she was watching a whale; Jane had been concentrating and hadn't even heard it. Ignoring the woman she tuned back around and continued steering her Brig towards the long cluster of small islands grouped tightly together, she was aiming for the one known as Devil's Peak. It was her go to island between trips from America and her hideout in the Caribbean. Maura had been on deck for over an hour and Jane was just glad the woman hadn't spoken to her and stayed out her way.

"Barry!" Jane barked making Maura jump. Barry appeared shortly by Jane's side and Maura turned around and stared in astonishment at all the islands in front of them that had sneaked up on her when she had been looking the other way. She stared at the huge mountain on what seemed the main island in the middle. It was stunningly beautiful, covered in thick forest and overgrowth.

"Get th' boy's t' drop anchor an' get Frankie an' Tommy up here." He nodded and went to do as asked. Maura walked back near Jane and watched some pirates loosen a large metal anchor, which dropped into the sea with quick speed. It didn't take her long to notice a man climbing down the main mast like a monkey; he was quick and agile and never missed a foothold, Maura was quite in awe of his strength as he jumped and landed on the deck next to Barry and as Barry came striding down the ship with the two pirates she watched warily as they came up the stairs behind him. They were roughly the same height as each other but not as tall as Jane was nor as short as Barry. The one who had come from the crows nest had the same dark coloring as Jane and stared solemnly at her and Maura thought perhaps he looked a little like the captain, the other was smiling lavishly at her and Maura cringed, his light bluish green eyes were staring at her breasts.

"Tommy stop starin' at th' lass' tits!" The light eyes dropped from her breasts and looked instead to Jane.

"Barry an' me be goin' t' Devil`s Peak. Stay here an' keep an eye on th' lass. If anythin' happens t' her ye`ll both be keelhauled." Jane spoke more to Tommy then Frankie, as Frankie was more like her and took everything seriously, only he was considerably less angry.

"She be t' stay exactly 'ere she be, dasn't let th' lass' wonder around. Frankie when Vince catches up let th' man know what be happenin'." Frankie nodded.

Maura thought the one Jane had called Tommy looked extremely satisfied Jane and Barry were going ashore and leaving her with the two of them and although Maura disliked Jane, she suddenly wished she wasn't leaving the ship. But Jane had already turned around and Barry followed behind her. Maura turned her frightened eyes towards Frankie and Tommy and Tommy smiled widely at her and she noticed two of his top teeth were gold; he turned away from Maura a smirk on his handsome face and pulled out a smoke from his breaches. He lit it and stared out across the islands. She glanced at Frankie but he too had turned away. Then she noticed Jane and Barry had returned from below deck with rifles, traps and an assortment of other necessities and she and some of her men worked to get a small boat off deck and into the sea. She had rolled up her white sleeves and Maura noticed her tanned muscled forearms before the pair of them disappeared over the side of the ship and she walked to the side and glanced over to watch Jane row away with strong sure strokes. She felt a strong warm hand on her shoulder and jumped before pulling away from Tommy's touch, he grinned at her stupidly then spat on the deck.

"Hello thar lass, I be Tommy." He had a playful lilt to his deep voice. Maura stared at him quizzically unsure of him and not liking the way he was trying to flirt with her.

"What`s th' matter? Shark got yer tongue?" He stroked his dark brown beard in confusion.

"I think yer what`s th' matter wi' th' lass' Tommy." Frankie stated out of boredom, he too had lit a smoke and was drawing on it lazily. Tommy turned to him with a snarl.

"Shut yer gob or I`ll shove me dick in it."

"Of course ye would. Ye would shove yer dick in anythin' brother." That was all Tommy needed to hear and he lunged at his older brother swinging a fast right hook at Frankie, who was expecting this reaction from Tommy and therefore had enough time to jump back out of the line of his hard fist and glide back in with his own right hitting Tommy squarely in his jaw. He stumbled back and spit out blood as Maura watched on in horror, they were barbarians, the lot of them, disgusting, rude, uncultured swine's.

Tommy made to have another go at Frankie, furious at being bested in front of the gorgeous woman by his older brother but again he wasn't quick enough and Frankie slammed him in the same spot once more, spraying blood all over Maura's face.

"Now look what ye be havin' done!" Tommy yelled at Frankie before deciding the less he spoke the better, his jaw was throbbing painfully, his brother had a nasty fist.

"I done nothin' ye idiot, 'tis yer own fault. Now go an' get a rag fer th' woman."

Tommy spat a mouthful of blood furiously then stormed down the stairs, his plan to impress Maura had backfired pitifully and he was more than angry. Frankie smiled secretly to himself, it had been his intention to knock his little brother's enormous ego down a peg and he had succeeded in doing so. He turned to the woman who Jane had said was called Maura and twisted one side of his mustache thoughtfully. Her lovely face was covered in Tommy's blood and he was grateful his older sister had gone ashore. Frankie could clearly see she was disgusted and frightened, "Sorry." He spoke gruffly. Maura was of course not happy with the blood across her face but as a doctor she was used to blood, it didn't faze her, no the look of disgust was due to the two pirate's behavior. But upon hearing what actually sounded like a genuine apology from Frankie she nodded wordlessly before turning to back to the side of the ship. Jane and Barry where nowhere to be seen, but Maura could just make out a small spec which she assumed was their boat on the sand of Devil's Peak.

"Jane an' Barry be havin' gone huntin'." Frankie offered to Maura's stiff back and her head of blonde waves turned sideways to acknowledge his statement. He was a pirate yes, a murderer no doubt but he would never in a million years admit it to another soul that he was rather shy around women.

I wonder if I could jump overboard and swim to one those the islands? Surely they have to be safer than this ship? Maura thought longingly but she knew it was futile, she remained studying the island for a while before her nagging curiosity got the better of her and she spoke, "What are they hunting." Frankie raised a dark eyebrow; he hadn't expected the woman to talk to him and walked over and stood beside her, "Whaterethey can catch. We need fresh food. Thar both good hunters, won't come back empty handed." Maura remained quiet. Before Frankie could speak again Tommy came back with a wet rag and shoved it at Maura, it appeared he had cleaned up his busted lip and jaw before returning. Maura grabbed it and without realizing moved a little closer to Frankie before wiping her face thoroughly with the wet rag, it was cool and felt good on her warm skin; she already knew she was getting sun burnt. She handed the rag back to Tommy quickly and turned away from him. Tommy got mad and threw the rag overboard before walking over to the other side of the ship to simmer down. Maura was glad he had moved away from her and debated worriedly about asking Frankie another question, thinking he would probably roar at her and send her back to her cabin. She had so many questions and was desperate to have answers but was not willing to risk Frankie's wrath so she remained quiet. The men began singing a rather cheerful sounding sea shanty as they worked about the ship, cleaning and repairing and Maura thought that apart from a few off key voices, they sounded quite decent, she was fascinated that a ship full of murderous pirates sang, let alone half decently.

"What are they singing?" She blurted out to Frankie and he glanced down at her and actually smiled, "Bully in th' Alley.'Tis about a lassie called Sally that gave all th' men th' run around."

"Oh." Was all Maura could think of to say before her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of two quick rifle shots in the distance.

"Well one o' them jus' got somethin', bet me first born on it." Maura glanced at him in shock, astounded by Frankie's words and the way he had stated them as if it meant nothing to sacrifice his first born child.

What on God's green earth is wrong with these people?

Frankie however wasn't the slightest bit perturbed, he knew without a doubt that whoever had fired the shots had hit their targets.

"Ye? A father?" Tommy snorted and laughed, he had obviously been listening to their short exchange.

"What in th' hell be so funny about that?"

"Oh jus' th' fact that ye dasn't ever get between a lass`s legs much, ain`t got nay chance o' bein' a daddy if ye dasn't fuck." Maura looked repulsed by Tommy and Frankie turned and snarled at him, "Get lost Tommy I will watch th' lass myself."

"Sure yer man enough t' handle th' lass' laddie, I heard Jane say she`s a bit o' a wild one." Maura gasped at Tommy, offended at his words and the fact Jane had said that about her.

She doesn't even know me, how dare she! She's even more unbearable then Doctor Pike!

Maura was a very kindhearted person; it was rare she met someone she wasn't kind to, rare for her to dislike anyone even if she necessarily didn't know how to talk to people properly. But there was just something about some of these pirates, particularly the captain that was getting on her nerves. Maura usually took insults in her stride and didn't retaliate, even if hurt or wounded her, yet although she didn't know why this time, she had a sense it was going to be a challenge for her to be around these brash pirates and not want to insult them back.

"I'll give ye wild if ye dasn't get yer skinny arse outta here!" Frankie barked which only stirred Tommy more; he laughed manically, slapped his thick thigh and walked away muttering obscenities under his breath. The silence was heavy after Tommy left and Maura released the pirates had stopped singing to watch their exchange with interest but when it became clear to them the action was passed they muttered and scratched their privates and belched loudly in front of Maura, and she scrunched her nose up at their lack of manners. She heard two more rifle shots, and tuned back to the island to notice a cloud of tiny dots rising into the air flying away, and she wondered what type of birds they were.

"Would you happen to know what type of birds they are?" She risked asking Frankie a question, but it seemed as though he didn't mind though because he squinted at them, "A flock o' Jranko`s, uh vultures. I've been on these waters most me life, I know what be what." If Frankie thought it odd a woman such as Maura was asking about birds he didn't show it. In fact Maura thought somewhat warily that Frankie didn't seem as frightening as the others. He was dangerous yes but he didn't give off a dangerous vibe like Jane, Tommy and the others. Maura would of course need much more evidence and proof to back this thought up but for now she was a little less worried and nervous being by his side.