Chapter Seventeen: Raven Firestorm
When the Pearl was practically beside the Lady Pandora, Devon apparently decided to run up a flag of parley, which puzzled Reanna considerably. The crew of the Pearl groaned with disappointment. It had been so long since these men--and a couple of women--had seen a real ship-to-ship battle.
Reanna ordered her men to hold their fire and to await her command as they pulled awkwardly up beside the Pandora.
"What the bloody hell do you want, Devon?!" Reanna shouted across the gap between ships.
"I want to 'bloody' talk to you, lady!" he shouted back. "And as I'm under the protection of parley...what choice do you have?"
"I've the choice to blast your ship to the depths of the ocean, that's what choice I have!" she roared angrily. "Why should I trust you, you damned bounty hunter?"
Devon grabbed a rope and prepared to swing himself across to the Pearl. "Keep your pistols and swords aimed at his heart, men," she told the members on deck. When Devon swung across, she glared at him with mistrust.
"Ah, lady, though the price on your head is high, I must confess that I have become enchanted by your beauty! I cannot turn you in to my employer!" he said feelingly--if a bit insincerely.
Reanna simply snorted at his speech. "Devon, I know your reputation for charming women, but I'm on to you. You'll not catch me with pretty flattery," she said. "Not that it's ever worked before," she added, thinking of little William and the other useless fops running about Port Royal. "Now tell me what it is that you want."
Devon's face took on a more serious expression. "Not in front of your men. I wish to speak of this in private, lovely Raven."
"My name," she retorted, "is Reanna. Do not go calling me by names I haven't earned. And about privacy...you will have to settle for one of the elves being in the room with me."
"Elves...?"
"You'll see," she said slyly, amused by the fact that Devon had apparently not heard of the elves her mother and father had brought with them to the Caribbean islands. "Stand down, men!" she called to her crew. "Captain Devon and I have some negotiations to make, perhaps afterwards we can destroy them!" The crew roared its approval at the last statement as Reanna and Devon went towards her cabin. Reanna nodded to Haramel, who fell into step behind Devon and followed them into the spacious chambers.
"So," Reanna started as soon as the door was closed, "what do you have to say that is so bloody important that it can't be said in front of my crew?"
"Perhaps...perhaps a trade, lovely one," Devon said craftily. "I will tell you everything I know if you tell me where you found this...this elf standing before me."
Reanna grew angry. "I'll not tell you where the elves were found, and if you insist on putting a price on your words I will kill you now and destroy your crew!"
Devon chuckled. "Alright, I'll tell you, but I do hope that in friendship--" Reanna snorted at the word, "--you will tell me how these lovely creatures were found."
"Tell me now, Devon, I'll not tolerate much more of this. Do remember that you are on my ship--we rather outnumber your solitary person, especially now that your spies are dead."
"Ah, yes, you'll have to tell me how you discovered them, as well! They deserved the death you dealt them, no doubt." At Reanna's glare, he rolled his eyes. "Very well, if you're going to be so impatient about it...I met my employer in one of Tortuga's many bars, he came to me with a reward that I could scarce refuse. Hell, I could even quit my job if I were to collect that pay!
"All he asked was that I bring Jack Sparrow's daughter to his superior--whose name was not mentioned, all that was given me was the place--and that man would then pay me my sum. 'Twas quite simple, really, especially for the sum that was offered. And it would have been so easy to simply bring you back to my ship--as well as have my way with you, which would be quite the pleasure I'm sure had the man not specifically said that you were to be untouched--and take you to the aforementioned place, but I decided to let you go. I regretted that decision this morning, of course, hence my coming after you.
"God's truth, Reanna, I don't want to turn you in to those men, but I must do my job. If I don't, I'll likely be killed for my failure. It's in my contract. Anyway, the bottom line is this--if you come with no fuss, I will allow your crew to sail away in this ship with no harm done them."
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"No," Reanna stated flatly, even more angry than she had been before. "No, Devon, I shall not allow myself to be captured for your sake." She grinned wickedly then, and he just knew that she had come up with something diabolical. She walked the two steps it took to get behind him and twisted his arm painfully behind his back, holding her finger on a pressure point near his neck. "Haramel, if you would kindly open the door...?"
Haramel did, and Reanna walked a very surprised Devon out onto the deck and over by the rail nearest the ship. "Tell them that they really should get into the boats, love, and do it quickly," she whispered into his ear. Strangely, his neck grew almost hotter than he could bear beneath the finger she held to it.
When he hesitated, she shook him slightly. "Tell them now, or they will all die--as will you, for I will throw you back onto your doomed ship if you do not obey my command."
He had never been put into such a position, and had never thought to be put into it by a woman that wasn't even as tall as he was. He did as she commanded, not doubting that she would indeed kill him as the spot near his neck felt as though the skin was being seared with a hot poker.
"Very good," she purred, and then nearly deafened him with her shout of, "To the oars, any man that can do so, and quickly! We're getting away from the Pandora!"
He thought she would let him go, but instead her grip tightened and her finger pressed down harder, making him sag slightly. He watched his ship as they grew farther away from it, watching the scurrying of his crew as they got the boats lowered.
"Say goodbye to the Lady Pandora," she whispered as the last boat dropped. He felt the abnormal heat of her body rise, making him sweat all the more under the Caribbean sun, but he no longer felt the burning at his neck, which came as a relief, if a small one.
He was rather shocked when his ship burst into flames as the boats pulled away from it. The Pandora seemed nothing but a fireball twice the size the ship itself had been, and there were numerous explosions, the result of some of these being cinders that came even as far as the Pearl. God above, he thought, almost in disbelief, my ship...the Pandora...she's gone! A different and more frightening though followed quickly on the heels of the last.
What have I gotten myself into? What is this woman that she can make a ship go up in flames in a matter of moments?
He shivered, in spite of the heat--fast dissipating--that he still felt on his back.
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Wonderful trick, don't you think? I wish I could do that, sometimes! But ah well, I hope you guys liked anyway!