After some minutes, they were finally able to unlock her cell. What they found was more horrible than anything they could have seen in their life. The poor woman was now unconscious, and had bruises all over her lovely face. But the worst had not been seen yet, the back of her dress had been torn; that let them see that her back, around her shoulders, was dripping with blood, she had probably been whipped some times before. The most horrible, was that she seemed to have been flogged by the terrible captain each day since she was locked in her small cabin, because some of her wounds were looking like to have been done some days before.
For them, it was now obvious that Amelia had to be protected from the paranoiac captain. The most important for them was to have her near them to watch her, they didn't want that anything worse happened to her, so, they bring her in the lieutenants' berth, they knew that there, there would always be someone to look after her. The only problem was that Bush and Buckland didn't know about their decision, but they would surely understand when they would see her.
As Hornblower lifted her in his arms, she said with the little of her voice that was left:
-Please, don't take me to the sick berth … he will kill me … please …
-Don't worry Miss Pellew, don't worry, we will protect you.
They left the cabin where she had been tortured to take her to the lieutenants' berth; they knew that at this hour, no one was going to disturb them while they would tend to Amelia's injuries. They didn't have choice to take care of her themselves, because as they heard, Clive had played a part in the nightmare she lived.
They finally arrived to the lieutenants' berth with the unconscious Amelia Pellew. Kennedy and Hornblower offered to Wellard to leave the room while they would be changing her dress for one of Hornblower's nightshirts, because her dress that was once white was now in a shade of red because of all the blood Amelia lost from her injuries. But Wellard refused to leave the young woman, she already meant too much to him. He didn't mind to see her hurt or wounded, the only thing important to him was to be by her side. As they removed what was left of her dress, the saw that the poor girl had not only bruises all over her lovely face, but also all over her body. That was too much for them to see; the sight of the tortured woman in front of him made Kennedy cry, no one would have had to live that. To Wellard, the sight of the person he loved the most being so hurt by the man who had tortured him proved him that he was right, the captain was a very unstable and dangerous person.
Some hours later, when they had installed for her a comfortable hammock to sleep, the two others lieutenants arrived. They didn't understand at first why Wellard, Hornblower and Kennedy were looking at the new hammock, it seemed to be empty. But when they came nearer, they saw the creature that caught the attention of the three men. It was Amelia, the young woman who came onboard some times before, but she wasn't as delicate and gracious now with her bruised face and with one of Hornblower's nightshirt. The only thing that was the same for Amelia was her pearl necklace, but now, it seemed to make her skin look paler than ever, she almost seemed to be dead.
After some minutes, the three young men noticed the presence of Bush and Buckland. To explain their choice of bringing her to the lieutenants' berth, the showed her the dress she was wearing when they found her. The two men had the same reaction as the others, but they risked to ask the others:
-Who did this to her?
-It seems to be the captain … told them Wellard.
-Why would he do such thing to this innocent woman?
-I heard him saying that she was sent by her father to kill him …
-He has really problems, when he doesn't think that his officers are conspirators against him, he thinks that an innocent creature like Pellew's daughter is sent to kill him. This man is really unfit to command.
As they talked, they finally saw Amelia move and open her cinnamon eyes. She woke up really nervous; she was frightened by the five men looking at her. After suffering from the old captain, she was becoming paranoiac at her turn, but she asked them:
-Don't beat me I didn't do anything, please …
-Don't worry; you're safe, told her Buckland.
-Where is my dress? What happened?
-We changed your dress, don't worry nothing else has happened, told her Hornblower.
-Where am I?
-You are in the lieutenants' berth on the Renown, told her Wellard.
-But who are you I didn't saw any of you when I came onboard …
-The youngest is Wellard, he is a midshipman, there are Hornblower, Kennedy, Bush, and I am Buckland, we are all lieutenants o this ship. What happened to you?
-I don't remind how much time the captain kept me prisoner in my cabin, but he and Clive came often to beat me …
-Why did he do that?
-I don't know if I should tell you, but … I saw things between him and Clive that told me they were kind of lovers, and he knew I knew that, so he threaten me to never tell anyone about it, because it would mean death for both of them …
-It explains a lot of things, said Buckland, like why Clive protects the captain so much …
After learning about those secrets about Sawyer, the ship was attacked by surprise by a Turkish privateer. The men from the privateer came onboard of the Renown, and they easily won against the drunken crew. The Renown has been taken as a prize.
When Wellard was on the deck, along with the other lieutenants, he saw Amelia falling through one of the windows of the ship. The witness of the fall of Amelia knew that they couldn't save her, because the crew of the privateer would kill them, so they didn't have choice to let the beautiful woman drown.
Later, the privateer crew locked them in the lieutenants' berth until they arrived to Turkey. As he was prisoner, Wellard had nothing else to do than thinking of the fate of his only true love. As he was thinking of her, he looked at the hammock where she was and saw something shine a little. He looked move attentively and found the only thing the she never removed, her freshwater pearl necklace. He took the necklace in his hands and cried, like he never done before, he had lost what kept him alive onboard of that horrible ship, he had lost Amelia, his Amelia.
As the time passed, everyone in the lieutenants' berth became afraid of their fate, which would probably be horrible, they have heard of the horrible tortures some men had endured while they were prisoners. The only one who didn't like disturbed by the fact the he could die while he was prisoner, was Wellard, he had lost Amelia, what could be worse.
The Renown finally arrived to a small village, the officers were taken to the sultan, a man who loved power more than anything. To arrive in front of the man, they had to walk in the desert for days, but when they arrived to the palace; their life would become more horrible than on the Renown … if the tales they heard were true …