Chapter Fourteen
Tom watched intently as the American Privateer, the Wilmington, grew larger as the Surprise closed on her. It was a fine ship, true enough, and the crew spoke excitedly of prize money, but Tom had not given that a single thought. All he really wanted was to finish this mission and go back to retrieve Olivia. He was worried about her, and he could not help but worry that something may happen. There was so much that could go wrong and she was there completely alone. He wished in hindsight that he had asked the Captain to leave someone with her. He knew it would have been foolish to ask if he could be left as well, but anyone would have done. But he knew nothing could be done now except complete the mission as soon as possible, and so Tom threw himself into his duties with tireless determination that they would succeed in taking the Wilmington.
The Captain appeared beside him, glass in hand. The excitement of the chase took years off of the Jack's face, his expression as eager as a young midshipman. Tom greeted him with the usual respect. "Good morning sir."
The Captain nodded his greeting, "We are making excellent time, Tom." He said putting his glass to his eye. "It should not be long until-" He stopped his sentence suddenly and his expression changed. His face darkened, as if angry and he looked again, as if straining to see something.
"Sir? Is something wrong?" Tom asked; concerned with what would make the Captain appear so agitated.
Jack wordlessly handed his glass over to his lieutenant, unsure he could find the words to tell him what he saw. Tom took it with a curious look to his Captain and looked for himself.
Tom scanned the quarterdeck of the Wilmington, looking for whatever the Captain saw. He let out an audible gasp when he found it. There stood Olivia, with a pistol at her throat. The man holding it also had a firm grasp on her, his head next to hers, pushing her forward so she would be in view of the Surprise. Tom felt a surge of panic for there was little he could do from where he stood. Hatred for the man, who he assumed was the Captain of the Wilmington, filled him and raged like a wild fire. How dare he touch her? Tom forced the glass away from his eye and clenched his jaw painfully in anger. He wanted nothing more than to get to that ship and rip that man apart with his bare hands.
He was not aware of moving, but he must have, for the Captain caught his arm. "Restrain yourself Mr. Pullings." He ordered softly so no one else would hear.
Tom stared at Captain Aubrey a moment, as if he barely heard his words or could not understand them. He realized he was shaking, his hands in fists so tight that his nails where digging into his skin. He forced himself to unclench his fists and took a deep, shaky breath. "But sir.... Olivia." Was all he could manage to say. He had never felt so afraid and had not known this horrible feeling was possible. It was not fear for himself, that he had felt many times in battle, no, it was fear for Olivia, fear of seeing someone he loved come to harm, or losing her completely.
Captain Aubrey placed a firm hand on his shoulder, as if to reassure him somehow. "I know Tom." He said, his voice calmer than Tom's obviously, but also held some anger in it. It was damned barbaric of this man to use the poor woman and hold her up like a display of power. He had a feeling he knew what the Wilmington's Captain was planning to do with Miss Corin, and he hated him for it. For a moment Jack cursed himself for ever suspecting Miss Corin and leaving her on that island, but he could not dwell on his past mistakes. The present situation called for his complete attention.
Tom was still quite pale and shaken. Indeed the Captain had never seen him react like this in any situation, no matter how life threatening. Jack kept his grip on the man's shoulder, as if to steady him. "But now is not the time for anything rash or ill planned." Jack told him. "We will save her, Tom." He assured. "But we must use caution in doing so, for her safety."
Tom swallowed several times to find his voice, and slowly he stopped shaking and unclenched his now sore jaw. "Aye sir." He managed, his voice not at all as it usually sounded.
Jack, now assured the man would not run off and do anything foolishly heroic to save Miss Corin, released his shoulder. The Surprise came along side her, as planned, gun crews ready to run out at Jack's command, and he had no doubt that the guns of the Wilmington were equally alert.
The Captain of the Wilmington did not move from where he stood with Olivia, nor did he waste time with formal niceties. He immediately hollered over in a booming voice. "Gentlemen, it appears that I have found something of yours." He nudged Olivia forward slightly, pistol still to her head.
"Using an innocent woman as a bargaining tool, sir, is not the conduct of a gentlemen. Release her. She has nothing to do with either my ship or yours." Jack replied firmly with a glance at Tom, who was focused on Miss Corin at the moment.
"Ah." The Wilmington's Captain smiled slyly. "But as the lovely Miss Corin will be sure to tell you, sir, I do not always act as a gentleman." He jerked Olivia around and practically threw her across the deck into the arms of two rather large men, who grabbed her arms tightly, causing Olivia to cry out in pain.
Tom could stand no more of this as his face turned white with rage, the words rang in his ears, "do not always act as a gentleman", his throat went dry with anger, what had he done to her? She was obviously in pain, but had this man violated her? Tom wanted nothing more than to rip him limb from limb at the mere thought of someone harming Olivia in any way, someone touching his future bride.
"You bastard!" He shouted out, surging forward. Had Captain Aubrey not caught his arm and Mr. Bonden the other, Tom would have surely attempted to leap across and take on the entire Wilmington crew single-handed.
"Tom, restrain yourself." Jack muttered. "Think of her safety. Should you rush into this she will surely be shot." These words caught Tom's attention and he calmed himself, well, as much as he could calm himself, he was still shaking with rage.
The Wilmington's Captain merely laughed, "Oh I see. So she's yours is she?" He mocked Tom, stepping over to Olivia and tracing her face with a finger. She jerked her head away defiant to the last, and he smiled. "I must say sir, you picked a fine lass. Though, her face is not so fine to look at now is it?" He said with a cold smirk.
"Go to Hell." Olivia spat, her eyes ever cold with hate.
"Ha! You hear that? Spirited to the last." He laughed, stepping away from her again and turning to address the Surprise. "Now, as enjoyable as this game is gentlemen, I shall name my terms. You will surrender your ship to me, Captain Fokes." He cocked his pistol, pointing it once more at Olivia's head. "Or Miss Corin will die."
Tom blanched, biting his lip to keep from shouting out just what he thought of Fokes. He looked at his Captain, praying he had a plan.
Jack looked at his officer, and sadly shook his head. "You know I cannot agree to his terms Tom." He said softly.
Tom looked down, his worry plain on his face. Finally he looked up and nodded. "I understand sir." He said, trying to put some confidence in his voice. He did not blame him at all for he knew that they could not simply surrender the ship. He also suspected while surrendering may stop Fokes from right out shooting Olivia, it would not ensure her safety. It was a downright impossible situation, with no clean solution in sight.
"We must proceed as planned then, and hope for the best." He sighed, frustrated at the situation as well. "I'm sorry Tom."
"Aye sir." He replied, not daring to look across to Olivia for fear of losing his mind. "So am I."
"Well sir! What is your decision?" Captain Fokes shouted over.
Jack exchanged a look with Tom, and regretfully made his reply. "Sir, I regret that I cannot agree to such terms."
Fokes sighed, "Such a waste sir." He said with a bow. He then turned back to Olivia, raising his weapon. "Very well then."
Olivia had been numbly listening to what was happening. She knew that Captain Aubrey would not surrender his ship, and she was glad of it for she did not want to see that evil man win so easily. She would not have been happy if the Surprise had surrendered to save her, and she had her doubts he would release her anyway. She was afraid of dying, certainly, but she felt she may rather die than face what she felt might happen if she stayed on this ship another day. She looked up, seeing Captain Fokes taking aim and swallowed hard. She refused to cry out, she would not give him the satisfaction of showing weakness. Nor did she want the last thing she saw to be him, instead she turned her head to look to the Surprise, finding Tom.
It was easy enough to spot him, and she knew right away that he was watching her as well. Their eyes seemed to lock across the ships, and Tom launched himself forward, desperate to get over there. Only Captain Aubrey's firm arm across his chest and pulling him back prevented him from doing so. Tom struggled against him until Captain Aubrey said something and he stopped suddenly, pushing away from his Captain, with a defeated look on his face. It was terrible to see for she had never seen him look so afraid. She suddenly realized that meeting his eyes as she faced death and him helpless to stop it was destroying him, and so reluctantly, she turned her eyes away, closing them. She didn't want to remember the defeated look in his eyes, she wanted to remember Tom happy, the Tom she adored. She drew herself up, waiting for the shot to come, a wait that seemed to be lasting a lifetime.
On the Surprise Tom watched in terror, feeling so helpless and defeated. His natural reaction had been to get over to that ship no matter what and save her, but the Captain had stopped him, telling him there was nothing he could do now, it was beyond his control. These words had hit hard, and Tom felt overwhelmingly defeated. Never before had he felt such a blow, as if all the hope left him at once. He had failed her. He had promised Olivia he would take care of her and now, there was nothing he could do to save her. He could only stand there and watch as she was coldly murdered, shot by that heartless bastard. He could not take his eyes from her and stared at the scene before him in morbid fascination. It was as if he were in a dream, watching, though not comprehending what was going to happen, and so he stared, watching his love as she tried to bravely face death, but trembled in fear before the pistol.
"Turn away Tom." Captain Aubrey said quietly in his ear. The man should not watch this. No man should see the woman he loved shot in cold blood and be helpless to stop it. Losing a loved one was difficult enough, especially in a violent death, but watching it happen with his own eyes would destroy any man's mind completely.
Tom did not move. He had heard the Captain's words, but did not pay heed to them. He found that now he knew he could do nothing he could not move at all, he could only stand there, frozen, and watch.
"Mr. Pullings, turn away." He said more firmly, finally taking Tom's arm and physically turning him from the Wilmington. "That is an order."
All the fight was gone from Tom and he allowed himself to be turned. "Sir, he'll kill her." He said softly, in disbelief that anyone could do such a heartless thing.
Jack closed his eyes a moment, also shaken by the turn of these events. He gave the man's shoulder a firm grip in attempt at comfort of sorts. "You should not bear witness to his crimes." He said. "I want you to go below and lead the gun crews Tom. Do not look to the Wilmington. Focus on the battle, win for her."
Tom swallowed the lump that had been growing in his throat and nodded stiffly. Reluctantly, he turned to go, following the Captain's orders and not looking to Olivia and the Wilmington, though it pained him greatly.
Olivia could not stand the wait much longer. Her head spun as she squeezed her eyes shut. Despite her best efforts she felt her legs growing weaker and her entire body shaking in fear. Suddenly, she heard the shot ring out and tensed. However, she did not feel a thing. Her eyes snapped open as the man near her, to keep her from running, cried out and collapsed to the deck. There was Captain Fokes, lying on the deck, pistol fired, with McCabe holding him down.
Tom jumped as the shot rang out. That was it. She was gone. His vision blurred with tears that he blinked away furiously. He would not cry in front of the men. However, he suddenly realized that several of the men on the Surprise were cheering. He stopped, and looked to the Wilmington.
Olivia was still standing. She seemed unharmed, though startled out of her wits. Tom turned and ran back to the Captain, who was also looking equally surprised. "Sir?"
"A man gave Fokes quite a shove a the right moment causing him to miss Olivia and hit the man beside her." The Captain quickly explained.
Tom's eyes widened, "Thank God." He murmured in relief. However, she was not out of danger yet. A struggle seemed to be transpiring on the deck of the Wilmington and Tom urged her to somehow get away from her remaining guard and move.
Olivia stood frozen a moment. The shock on not being shot seemed to hit her as much as actually being shot. She stared dumbly at the two men on the deck until she was shaken from her shock by Mr. McCabe's shout from where he was currently struggling with Captain Fokes.
"Miss Corin! Move!" He yelled, attempting to dodge Fokes' furious punches.
It was the right moment; the man who was still holding her was obviously distracted. Olivia sprung into action, twisting into him and elbowing him in the gut. He coughed and doubled over and she swung with all her might to take him down. At that very moment another shot fired out, and poor Mr. McCabe fell to the deck.
For another moment she froze, jumping with the sound of gunfire. Captain Fokes looked at her and ordered her retrieval obviously for two members of his crew advanced on her. Olivia looked around desperately for a way out but saw none, unless......
She looked up at the ropes and back at the men on deck. There was no way she would get to the other side of the ship on the deck, not to mention get to the Surprise. She had no choice. Without any more hesitation she swung up onto the ropes.
She'd seen the men on the Surprise go up and down this thing many times, and they made it seem so easy. However, Olivia immediately noticed how different this was from rock climbing. For one thing, the rocks didn't seem to sway nearly as much. Swallowing hard she forced herself to focus, telling herself it was just another cliff and the ropes her foot and hand holds. She grew more confident with every move and was quickly climbing swiftly.
Obviously more swiftly than the crew of the Wilmington had expected for when she first made her move they all laughed, believing a woman, particularly a frightened and beaten woman, could never successfully manage. Now, Captain Fokes was angrily ordering them up after her.
While Olivia knew nothing about these ropes, she knew climbing and quickly put the fact that these were ropes out of her mind and ran up the rest of the way like she'd been born to this. However, she lingered too long in one place and they were soon catching up to her. Biting her lip Olivia grabbed the first rope within reach and swung out onto it. She had no idea where she would go from here, but she knew she best keep moving. Securing her feet she climbed up, which seemed the natural direction to go, then gained momentum and swung to the next rope. "Just monkey bars Livie." She told herself. "Really, really, high up monkey bars." She said, swinging to another rope.
Apparently, what she was doing was not terribly easy, but being so frightened she didn't notice. One of the Wilmington's crew attempted to follow and with a shout slipped and fell. Olivia stopped once she reached another safer spot and saw him hit the deck with a loud thump. "Wow. That is what I don't want to happen." Adrenaline had made her suddenly somewhat giddy, and feeling no sympathy whatsoever to her captors now that Mr. McCabe was dead she laughed.
The men of the Surprise let out a loud cheer as Olivia out maneuvered the enemy. Tom could barely watch however, worried that with a single miscalculation on her part would send her to a death on the deck of the Wilmington.
Olivia refused to think about possible mistakes, focusing on one thing at a time. Someone was now coming at her from the other direction, and this guy was a regular monkey from the way he was swinging about with ease. "Damn." She cursed under her breath. She licked her lips, looking around. Suddenly, she had an idea. Crazy. But she couldn't keep the Wilmington's men away forever.
Olivia leapt, reaching out for a rope that was too far in front. When she didn't reach it she panicked, crying out and catching the first rope she could, relatively close to the mast. The men on deck all laughed at her foolish plan and mocked her, climbing the ropes on the Captain's order for her to come down in defeat.
However, that was not what Olivia had in mind at all. Instead, with a suddenly burst of energy she climbed up the rope and used momentum to swing herself onto one of those wooden platforms. With a gulp and a prayer she built up good footing and more momentum and swung with all she had. It was a good swing, thank God she'd spent enough summers at her Aunt's lake house to know how to launch herself off a rope. However, instead of falling into a lake and attempted to splash her brother, she grabbed onto another rope. However, this rope was not on the Wilmington. She was back on the HMS Surprise.
The Surprises let out a large cheer as Olivia clung to her new rope for a moment, closing her eyes before working her way down. Thankful to be back and not having the energy to use caution she slid down the ropes, hitting the deck hard, just as Tom was racing over to her.
Olivia looked at her now burnt hands in surprise. "Damn that hurts." She said with a shaky laugh. The ship seemed to shake as the Captain had given the order for the guns to run out and fire. They were boarding the Wilmington, now that Olivia was safe. The crew on deck had been energized by her display and also enraged by the abuse she had suffered.
Tom was ignoring everything but getting to Olivia at the moment. As soon as she had swung over the Captain had given him the simple order to see to her and then get back to the deck to lead his division. He reached her just as she proclaimed her hands hurt and embraced her fiercely. "My God Olivia!" He said, kissing her.
Olivia, despite the pain in her bruises and hands, returned his embrace and kiss. She suddenly felt all the exhaustion catch up with her and moaned slightly in pain.
Tom immediately pulled away from her, realizing her beaten state. "I've hurt you." He said, staring in shock at how awful she truly looked.
Olivia shook her head, feeling the entire ship spinning beneath her. "You could never..." But she didn't finish her sentence, as the world drifted away into now safe and blissful darkness, and she collapsed into his arms.
A/N: Yay Olivia's back! And no, I'm not done yet. I think perhaps two more chapters... maybe three depending on how I break this monster up. Hope my switches points of view back and forth didn't confuse anyone. So.... Now that she's back do you suppose a happy ever after is in order? Is life really that simple? Will Fokes continue to cause trouble for our lovely couple? You'll just have to wait and see won't you? Mwahahaha!
TheMusingFit: Haha that's what I was talking about with the emergency poles. My friends and I always wondered how well they worked... because for one thing one time someone I knew had to use one because they were having a bad asthma attack and couldn't breath... and 20 minutes later campus police showed up.. also, once you hit the little button you wouldn't exactly stay there now would you? You'd run off and then how would they find you? So we began to joke about how they were like "base" in tag... or you would run around it in circles, but then you'd get dizzy and fall over and be attacked anyway. Haha yeah Olivia's going to need good old Tom lovin after this... but then again I think we all could use a little Tom lovin' hehe.... Did I type that? Oops. As always m'dear thanks for the review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Aurien: Oh don't kill me! That's not nice at all! I'm glad you decided to review. Reviews make my day hehe. I'm glad that your enjoying reading this and I hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks!
Lily Knotwise: Well, Fokes isn't dead yet... so you can still shoot him if you want. I'm posting this chapter sooner than I had planned so I don't torture you guys too long... hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!
Fawks: Hehe yay for throwing stones at Fokes! He deserved it you know. Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter and thank you for the kind words.
Gaeriel Palpatine: Haha I'm glad you thought 11 was cute. It was one of those cute moments that I just couldn't resist writing. And I'm sorry 12 was a cliff hanger... of course, haha so is 13.... And possibly this one too. I'm evil aren't I? Thanks for the lovely reviews and hope you enjoy 13 and 14!
Calliope-Elven-Agent: Oh I hope my scary villain didn't scare you too much! Hehe! And in answer to your question puts on history major cap Yes the British and Americans really really did not like each other back in the day. For many years after the Revolutionary War the boarder between Canada and the United States was armed and there were some skirmishes and such. Then there was that whole War of 1812 and the US was really quite bitter that the Royal Navy had a habit of boarding their merchant ships and impressing their sailors. Gee I wonder why? Then there was that whole War of 1812 deal.... Anyway, while I'm not 100 sure that an American Privateer and the Surprise would be at each other I'm relatively certain this wouldn't be TOO MUCH of a leap. If I'm wrong (then I make the history department at my school look really bad... but hey! I haven't done my US requirements yet! Except for the basics that I took in high school) then oh well... it's fiction... and odd fiction at that. Thanks for the review and hope you enjoyed the update!
Sakai213: I use correct grammar? Haha no way! I've always been horrible at grammar, but I do try to write legibly. My pen name? I've actually never seen Mr. Bean...sorry. It comes from my nickname in middle school being Bean, a character from the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Quite an interesting book though I haven't read it since 7th grade. But that nickname just sort of carried over into all my emails and pen names. Whatever works eh? Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for the lovely review!
MusicBoxDancer: Um... yeah kind of killed McCabe.... Sorry. But at least Tom didn't kill him and he had a shining moment of being a good guy! As for my whoops moments. Yeah, mistakes happen. I meant to say that the Wilmington was a privateer earlier but forgot... oops. So I added that in at the beginning of this chapter. As for the laudanum... um... oops? Hehe. Well, maybe she was somewhat conscious? I remember when I passed out at band camp they told me they gave me water and I can't remember drinking it at all. And I know they didn't have syringes... so maybe she was semi-conscious? Fokes is just a nutcase with a ship quite frankly. Don't know how he got that ship or why he's evil. Maybe he knew someone pressed by the Royal Navy? Or maybe someone he knew got killed by them? His son perhaps? Haha I don't know I'm just making crap up here and I'm not going to build on that. The point is, he has a few screws loose up there. Thanks for the helpful review! Haha I do mess up and it's good for people to call me on these things. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Cheers!
British-luver: Olivia is pretty tough isn't she? I don't think I would be that tough... I'd have been all "Yes they're coming after you! Don't hurt me!" or most likely, "They're coming after you, and they are going to kick your ass! Na na nana na!" Because when nervous I become annoying as all. Haha no not all Americans are evil, just the insane ones. Wait. I am insane. Um.... the insanely evil ones? Wait, I'm plotting to take over the world... um... well.... meh.. Anyway, I felt bad that I killed McCabe because he was a nice guy. But it just happened! One of those moments when your typing and you go "Oh... why'd I have to do that? That's sad! I don't want to do that!" But you do it anyway because rewriting the scene would be too much of an effort. Well, dashing Pullings got his girl back! Yay him! Now we'll see how things go from there... as always your reviews are far too nice :-) Thanks for the wonderful praise and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
ArcherofDarkness: Haha impale Fokes with a spoon. That's just funny. I hope you enjoyed torturing him, but leave some for Tom! They do use arse in the book a lot... and thankee... hehe. I like thankee. We shall see if Pullings whoops Fokes won't we? Mwahahaha. Hope your lion enjoyed his lunch and thanks for reviewing!
Philrya: Haha I enjoy creating evil characters. Just like I enjoyed playing evil characters back in the day when I did high school plays. It's so much fun being evil. Haha and I always used to surprise people who knew me because I'm the type of person who never loses her temper (oh but when I do it's a scary sight...) and is usually quite happy (or fakes happy). Then I get onstage at auditions and let loose and it scares people! In the words of one of the guys, "Dude! She's scary! I just wet myself a little.." I hope he didn't really wet himself because that would have been gross. Anyway, hehe, what was my point with that story? Oh yeah... I like bad guys. They are fun. Especial ones that are over the top evil. You'll have to wait and see if Pullings kicks his ass hehe. He's not dead yet! Mwahahahaha! Thanks for the review and hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned!
Sleepwalking Dreamer: Haha a slow painful death at Pullings' hands? We shall see.... (looks evil) we shall see... Haha Fokes would be a fun case study. I took psychology too as either one of my general education courses or one of my license requirements for my secondary education endorsement that's attached onto my degree (it's lovely the weird classes that makes me take... ) and really enjoyed it. In fact I still flip through the text book sometimes when I'm writing for ideas to make messed up characters... though I'm not sure if I did this with Fokes or not. Can't remember. Ooh shoals would have been a good idea... I should have done that but I'm too lazy to rewrite the chapter. So we're just going to go with Jack is so much better than Fokes and his ship is faster and therefore they caught them. Haha I understand how fanfiction is a fun escape from university work. How do you think this story got written in the first place? It was me stalling on actually doing my real work. Like I'm doing right now... (looks at stack of books on desk on the English Reformation and sighs) though I really should be preparing that stupid presentation. Anyway, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long! And thanks for the email and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as a distraction from your homework! Until next time happy reading!
All you reviewers are wonderful! Gold stars all around! Seriously guys, you make my day. Just thought you should know that. Thanks for all the lovely kind words!
Tune in next time... bum bum bum!