Of Love and Lords
Author's Note: WOW. Thank-you so much for all of your kind reviews! I am so very flattered at all of your compliments! The thing that I am most happy about is that you are all enjoying the progress of the story so far. So thank-you readers for being my inspiration to continue Emma's story! I would like to send special thanks to such reviewers as: LastingBow (loved your review regardless of if you have an account or not), Josephine-Dawson, EbonyK, Luv2Laff95, and Melliny for your kind words that literally made me blush. Enjoy the latest installment of 'Of Love and Lords', please review, and make sure to read the warning below before proceeding. Thank-you!
Disclaimer: I do not own 'Lord of the Flies' nor do I own any of William Golding's marvelous characters.
Summary: A girl's uncle offers to take her flying as a present for her sixteenth birthday. Though her uncle would be on the job, and would be transporting an umpteen amount of boys to their destination, nothing could shatter Emma's dream of finally being able to fly. During the flight, the plane encounters a horrible tropical storm, sending the fiery plane, crashing down into the ocean. Emma Sinclair awakens on the sandy beach, only to be surprised at having two boys confusedly starring at her. And so the battle of love and lords begin.
WARNING: This chapter contains some highly graphic material so please do not read if you are uncomfortable with this sort of content or under age.
Chapter Nine: Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
Ralph promised to explain to Emma what happened to him in detail as soon as he warmed up by the fire and fed himself. Emma and Ralph had curled up under one of the makeshift shelters that the boys had managed to construct, a project that had been spearheaded by Piggy. Piggy had divided the boys into groups; the littluns had been sent to collect fallen leaves and long strands of bark from nearby trees while the older boys went scavenging for the largest and sturdiest branches they could find. Once they had collected all of their materials, Piggy showed all of the boys the simple technique of weaving (Emma was well versed in both weaving and knitting and did not have to be shown despite Piggy's insistence), which they used to create a tightly wound tarp of sorts. This tarp was then thrown over the four bundles of large branches which had been bound together with excess bark and secured deeply into the ground. As a final precaution against the heavy rains, the overgrown leaves that the littluns had gathered were placed on top of the tarp.
Emma had been more than capable of running the operation herself, but would never be given the chance. Since her first day on the Island, the boys had never listened to her nor took her opinion at face value, even when her observations were indisputable; even when the conch was clutched tightly in her grip. Whoever has the conch has the floor. That concept did not apply to Emma.
Emma was pulled from her train of thought when Ralph hissed with pain. She had been gently cleaning his wound with a small bit of fabric she had found laying around. She had soaked it in the ocean water, so hopefully the salt would prevent an infection from taking place. Ralph lay on his back, quietly picking berries from the pile Simon had picked for the littluns. The fire that had been lit that day was much smaller than it had been before, but Ralph was grateful for even the small amount of heat it was producing.
"So start at the beginning." Emma began gingerly; still wiping the dirt from Ralph's wound.
Ralph cleared his throat, contemplating how to begin.
"Well after I left you in the caves," Emma noticed that Ralph deliberately averted his eyes from hers as he spoke "I decided to see if I could see what else I could pick up from the radio. A lot has happened, Emma." Ralph paused before continuing.
"I can handle it." Emma said matter-of-factly, giving Ralph a small nod of encouragement.
"Germany began air raids on Britain."
Immediately, Emma's blood ran cold. Her mind was filled at once with images of her Father and Brother.
"Oh God." Emma began to feel faint.
Ralph sat up quickly, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"No, no Emma they haven't been bombing civilians! The Germans have only been attacking airfields so far. You'll worry yourself sick one of these days." Ralph gave her a friendly pat and then got onto his back once more, his hands behind his head. Just a few hours ago, he had been kissing Emma, and now all she was receiving from Ralph was a hearty pat on the arm. Emma decided to not let her anger get the best of her. It wasn't becoming of her to be so furious all the time.
"Well that's good news I suppose," Emma masked her anger and confusion under a smile "Now onto how you ended up at the mercy of that savagely man."
"Well I continued to play around with the radio until it was dark, it kept losing its signal so I was trying out different areas higher up to see if it would work there…" A puzzled expression appeared on Ralph's face as he trailed off.
"Go on." Emma warmly encouraged him. She noticed she had been absentmindedly running her fingers through Ralph's hair. Emma's face flushed and she pulled her hands back and folded them neatly into her lap. Luckily Ralph hadn't noticed. He was busy trying to conjure up a way to explain what had happened.
"Well it's going to sound crazy no matter what way I put it, but all of a sudden this feeling came over me. It was telling me to go into the forest. I wasn't being forced in any way;" Ralph assured Emma, "but it just seemed like the right thing to do. Like something was waiting there for me. And whatever it was would make me happy."
Emma starred at Ralph curiously, gooseflesh appearing on her arms. An almost content look had washed over his face when he spoke of whatever had drawn him into the forest. Emma did not like the sound of it one bit.
"And the next thing I know, you're there and we're floating in a hole filling with water," Ralph shrugged at Emma. "Unfortunately the radio was lost in the water so there's no way we'll be able to keep up with the war. Your guess is as good as mine as to how or why I ended up in that hole, however." Ralph's voice trailed off.
"Well isn't it obvious Ralph? That man was trying to kill you!" Emma said as if was the most obvious thing in the world. The radio made no difference to her, what mattered is that there was a murderous savage roaming about the island.
"Well you don't know that for sure," Ralph reasoned "You and Simon didn't exactly see him throwing me in there."
Was Ralph actually trying to defend the man?
Emma snorted in derision. "Yes of course, you must have ended up in that hole by an act of nature. Just like that savage tripped and accidentally aimed for my head with his spear!" Emma snapped at him. She had finally burst at the seams and all of her pent up anger flowed out like lava. She had had enough of Ralph and his ridiculous and not to mention confusing behaviour.
"Emma please don't be cross, it was just a thought-" Ralph began to reach for her.
Emma stood before he could grab hold of her. "You don't need to explain Ralph. You're completely entitled to your own opinion. Goodnight," She began to walk away, determined to find somewhere else to sleep but turned around to face Ralph once more "You're welcome by the way."
"For what?" Ralph asked, his blue eyes drilling into hers.
"For saving your life. Again." Emma said haughtily, turning on her heels and trudging off.
After searching blindly for a few moments, Emma saw the unmistakable iridescence of Simon's glow stick under one of the other shelters. Emma saw that Simon had decided to bunk with the littluns. It was sweet, that he was protective of them. As she crawled under the weaved tarp, Emma couldn't help but smile at the sleeping form of Radley, the boy with the mulberry coloured birthmark on his left cheek cuddled up to his fast friend Percival for warmth. Radley sucked his thumb sleepily, reminding Emma all too much of her younger brother Michael. Emma lay down quietly between Radley and Simon. A cool breeze blew through their camp, quelling the fire momentarily and sending shivers throughout her body. She examined Simon's sleeping form and inched as close to him as was appropriate and without startling him. Emma felt exceedingly uncomfortable in her short silk slip, shortened even further by needs for fabric. The next morning she would have to revisit the German soldier Paul Müller to retrieve more fabric to use to cover herself. Slowly but surely, Emma's thoughts strayed and she was fast asleep.
Emma awoke to Simon's startling blue eyes merely inches away from hers, causing her to jump back in surprise and her face to flush.
"Hello." Simon said.
"Morning." Emma said with a smile, hoping she wouldn't have to explain to Simon how she ended up beside him and not Ralph. Emma's ears were met with laughter from the boys splashing each other in the ocean. She sat up and saw that all the littluns had already fled from underneath the woven tarp of bark, not bothering to wake her. Only she and Simon remained.
Simon sat up. "Looks like everyone has seen Ralph." He spoke quietly. It didn't seem like he was planning on asking Emma about her sudden change in sleeping arrangements.
Emma and Simon's ears were then met with the booming howl of the conch ringing throughout the camp. A meeting had been called.
"We should go." Emma said to Simon, before crawling out from the shelter awkwardly, Simon in tow. The pair got to their feet, Emma brushing off her soiled camisole. She could not believe the state she was in and did not even want to think about the condition of her hair. Emma looked up, only to be met with the far off stares of the entire camp of boys crowded further down the beach, examining her and Simon standing side by side.
"Shall we?" Simon looked askance at Emma before heading towards the group of boys.
What they all must think of her! Emma breathed deeply before following Simon. As they approached, they could see Piggy and Ralph sitting in front of the audience of boys, the conch grasped in Ralph's hand and a twig in Piggy's, ready to begin taking minutes of that day's meeting.
Emma could feel Ralph's eyes flow over her and Simon curiously before settling on the audience in front of him.
"Is everyone accounted for?" Ralph asked to no one in particular.
"I think we're missing Jack and Roger still." Piggy answered him wearily.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Ralph said before blowing the conch once more. The powerful sound rang throughout the beach and forest, echoing strongly.
A few moments passed before Jack and Roger emerged from the bushes, their makeshift spears clenched tightly in their fists. Emma cringed at their wild appearance.
"You rang?" Roger grunted rudely.
"Good one Ralph," Jack spat, his red hair matted to his forehead "We were gaining on a wild boar. I suppose we won't be eating meat tonight since this little gathering was a far more pressing matter to attend to than feeding the entire camp!" Jack sneered at Ralph and Piggy before stabbing his spear into the sand roughly.
Piggy's eyes were wide with fear as they watched Jack.
Jack corked his head to the right. "What are you looking at fat ass?"
Emma could hear Samneric snicker at Jack's insult to Piggy.
"N-nothing." Piggy stammered, looking away.
"The boar isn't going anywhere Jack. You have all day to hunt it," Ralph said before turning to the rest of the group. "There are a couple things I have to address. As you know I was missing all of yesterday."
The group erupted into chatter. Apparently no one had noticed that Ralph had been missing aside from Emma and Simon. Or at least it wasn't of great concern.
"It's not a problem Ralph, I held down the fort while you were off fornicating with the Island whore." Jack announced bitterly, turning to Emma and giving her a filthy look while Roger busted out into laughter while the rest of the boys looked around at one another nervously.
Emma's face began to redden instantly at Jack's lude comment, but she did not allow her expression of indifference to slip. She would not condone being spoken to like a prostitute any longer. If Ralph wouldn't defend her or even draw a hard line with Jack than Emma would simply have to stand up for herself. Her reputation was at stake, and her reputation as a lady was of great importance to her. Nor would a lady ever allow herself to be demeaned so. Emma suddenly realized that perhaps it was not only her reputation at stake, but her life as well. In that case, she would be visiting Paul Müller for more than just his parachute.
"That's enough, Jack." Ralph turned his gaze away from Jack and back to the choir of boys. "It's because of Emma and Simon that I'm still breathing." Ralph paused to achieve a dramatic reaction from the crowd.
The members of the crowd burst into a collective gasp, aside for Emma and Simon of course who experienced the whole thing first hand.
"What happened Ralph?" One boy yelped.
"Did a boar almost eat you?" Another shouted.
"The day before last, I had been roaming on the beach when a package washed ashore. It most likely came from the plane wreckage of the crash. I decided to go through it during my watch for planes on the landing above. It turned out that inside of the package was a working radio." The boys looked at each other excitedly without thinking they had been saved. He continued. "It was a one way transmission radio which meant there was no way of contacting anyone from it, however it was able to occasionally pick up radio signals."
Emma and Simon looked at each other. Ralph had clearly decided to edit a couple of important details regarding what had really happened. The radio actually belonged to German soldier Paul Müller who was hidden deep inside the woods, and if Emma was correct she knew who else Ralph would be leaving out of his relaying of events.
"A German attack on Britain is in progress as we speak. However, they have only been attacking airfields, so there is no need to worry about your families as of yet." Ralph told them without pause, clearly remembering Emma's past outburst at his knowledge.
"Those bloody Nazis will never win the war!" Johnny, the skinny boy with brown curls yelled.
"United we stand, divided we fall!" Samneric yelped with the most conviction they could muster.
"God save the King!" Maurice leapt to his feet, the others following suit. Within moments the boys had all burst into a loud and patriotic rendition of 'God Save the King'. Emma decided that it was the opportune moment to slip away. Slowly creeping to the back of the crowd, she slipped away towards the forest.
Emma creeped through the crowded greenery, singing to keep herself company. She sang Frank Loesser's romantic 'Heart and Soul'. The song always reminded Emma of fonder times, before the war, before her family fell apart, and before ending up on this dreadful Island. She sang loudly, not caring if everyone heard. Even the man with the painted face. One look at her pistol and he'd never try to kill her again.
'Heart and soul, I fell in love with you,
lost control, the way a fool would do,
Gladly...
Because you held me tight,
And stole a kiss in the night..
Heart and soul, I begged to be adored,
Lost control, and tumbled overboard,
Gladly...
That magic night we kissed,
There in the moon mist.
Oh! But your lips were thrilling, much too thrilling,
Never before were mine so strangely willing.
But now I see, what one embrace can do,
Look at me; it's got me loving you,
Madly...
That little kiss you stole,
Held all my heart and soul.'
"Who knew you had a talent other than sucking Chief Ralphy's cock?" A voice spoke up from behind Emma, causing her to suddenly whip around only to come face to face with Jack Merridew, the precise person she had left to get away from. He eyed her hungrily, his face drawn on with the juice of crushed berries and his red hair matted to his forehead with sweat.
"What have I ever done to you to cause you to speak to me like this, Jack?" Emma wanted answers. She crossed her arms and waited patiently, pushing away all of her instincts that clearly and distinctly were screaming at her to run.
Jack began to saunter towards her, a crazed look in his eyes. He was just inches away from Emma. She realized then that she had made a grave mistake. Her blood ran cold and her heart began to thud in her chest. Jack meant to hurt her. Emma tried to make a break for it, turning on her heel and sprinting only to be tackled moments later and pinned to the ground by Jack. His heavy frame lay across her, his one leg between the two of hers and her arms pinned above her head with one of his hands. Emma began to scream and kick viciously only to be muzzled by a wad of fabric shoved roughly into her mouth.
"Don't you get it, Emma? I. Don't. Like. Sharing. My. Toys." Jack spat hatefully, his mouth crushing down onto hers. Emma looked around frantically, tears falling from the sides of her eyes as Jack kissed her and bit her lip drawing blood. She was hardly able to breathe. She kicked and bucked as hard as she could but Emma was no match for Jack's strength.
"You really do take the cake Emma," Jack grinned at her "Parading about in this poor excuse for a frock and teasing me ever so much." With this he ripped apart her dirty slip, the sound of the fabric tearing leaving Emma's sobbing and screaming unheard. Jack rubbed his filthy hands over her bare breasts and then continued to rip off her knickers. She was about to be raped and no one was the wiser. Emma closed her eyes, continuing to sob and scream helplessly. Emma then felt a sharp pain as Jack violated her with his fingers roughly.
"You like that slut?" Jack spat onto her face.
All Emma's dreams of making love to her husband, to someone she cared for floated away in the wind. She could not survive this.
"Now I don't want to knock you up," Jack began before flipping her onto her stomach "So this will simply have to do."
Jack pulled down his shorts and shoved himself into her behind, causing Emma to scream out in agony at the excruciating pain. Emma allowed herself to leave her body and soon after everything went black.
Author's Note: To anyone that would like to listen to the song 'Heart and Soul' featured in this fanfic, you can find it on the website where everyone watches videos, just copy paste this to the end of the website name: /watch?v=5SDNSRKt92A&list=HL1329561373&feature=mh_lolz or search for 'Larry Clinton Orchestra - Heart And Soul 1938', once again on the website where everyone watches videos. Enjoy!
Thank-you for reading and please review! - Jam2008