"Well," the pirate captain said thoughtfully. "Take the goods and the girl. If we can't ransom her, I'm sure we can find someone who's interested in her."
That scared Catharine. "Nicholas!" she cried, struggling to avoid the grasping hands of the brigand reaching for her.
"Catharine!" Without thought for his own safety, he broke away from the guards holding him to try to get to her, only to be grabbed on either side, his arms wrenched painfully in his attackers' grips. "Let her go, you bastards!"
Captain Sullivan turned to study him in surprise, and then curiosity. Finally, she waved her men away. "You see?" she said sidelong to Captain Reynolds. "We have interest in her already." She addressed Nicholas. "What is she to you? Child bride?"
"She's my sister," he ground out, "and I swear to God if you hurt her..."
"Ah, impotent threats. How very chivalrous. Tell me, brother darling, what are you willing to offer to ransom your sister?"
He looked at her coldly. "You're taking the only things I could offer."
She turned her head to watch the bales being lifted out of the hold and transferred over to her ship. "Oh, come now, a prosperous businessman like yourself with no means at his disposal? Surely you could put in at any port and get a sister's ransom in hard currency with little problem."
"You would be wrong. I'm only my father's agent. He has control of all the accounts, and he is back in England. So your threats will gain you nothing."
"Hmm." She looked to the older man, who only watched her with hooded eyes. "Perhaps you're right. We couldn't keep a young girl on board ship the length of time it would take for a ransom to come from London. She'd be more trouble than she's worth."
"Precisely." He relaxed, relieved that she was willing to be reasonable.
"Let her go," she nodded to the man holding Catharine.
A moment later, Catharine was in his arms, weeping hysterically. He held her close, stroking her hair as he crooned to her softly. "It's alright, sweetling, you're safe now. It's alright."
"Take him instead," Captain Sullivan' voice came, implacable and hard.
"What?" Catharine's head snapped up in horror. "No!" she screamed as the men who had held him before caught him up again.
Nicholas fought fiercely to escape them as Catharine lashed out with her feet to catch his attackers in the shins. They swore but held onto him.
Suddenly Catharine screamed, crushed in the arms of Captain Sullivan herself. "It's your choice, brother. You or her. One of you will be going with us. And I can tell you for a fact my crew would rather it was her."
Nicholas froze.
Catharine continued struggling until the pirate captain changed her hold, wrenching the girl's arm up behind her back and making her cry out in pain.
"Stop! Don't hurt her."
The captain's eyes glittered. "Tell her."
"Catharine, stop," he said without hesitation. "It's alright, I'll go with them."
"Nicholas, you can't..."
"I have to. You heard the captain, it's you or me. There isn't a choice."
"Please, you know..."
"Listen to your brother, little girl," the captain interrupted her. "Go home to your father and tell him if he wants his son back, he'll have ten thousand pounds in gold and currency delivered to the port master in New Orleans. We're patient, but remind him the longer he takes, the longer his son is in our care."
"Please," Catharine begged, "please let me say goodbye to him?"
The captain hesitated, then shoved the girl at Nicholas. His captors released him just in time to catch her, holding her close as she clutched at him. "Nicholas," she whispered, "he won't pay it. You know he won't."
"I know." He glanced surreptitiously at the captain. "But they don't. You'll be safe, and they'll keep me alive until they give up hope of hearing from him. That gives me time to find a way to escape. All will be well, you'll see. But you have to be brave now. You have a long trip to make by yourself. Captain Reynolds will take care of you, but you have to be brave. I need to know you'll be alright, pet."
She squeezed him tight, then looked up at him with a watery smile. "For you. I'll be brave for you."
He smiled back at her. "That's my girl."
"Time to go, children," Captain Sullivan announced, reaching for Catharine.
Catharine shrugged her off with a cold stare and moved stiffly to Captain Reynolds' side. The captain placed a hand on her shoulder protectively, making a silent vow that Nicholas acknowledged with a tip of his head.
"Captain, it was a pleasure doing business with you," Sullivan said, mounting the gangway. "We must do this again sometime."
"The king's navy will catch you, Sullivan, and you'll swing above the Thames for all to see," Reynolds spat back.
"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "But not today. Gentlemen," she called to her crew before disappearing back over the plank.
Nicholas was shoved after her, with barely enough time to look down into the surging sea before his feet struck the deck of the other ship.
"Cast off!" the older man sounded, and within moments the lines were cut and the Lucifer was dashing out to sea.
He was barely aware of the conversation around him as he watched the Lady Anne fall away, taking him away from Catharine. He tried not to think about what could happen to her, alone and unescorted on a journey like that. But she had to do it. She had to get home to her mother. That was all that mattered to him.
"Put him in irons," he heard the captain command abruptly, "and stow him below. You'll find, sweet Nicholas," she said to him directly, "that our accommodations aren't at all what you're used to. But I'm sure you'll adjust. Seeing as you don't have a choice."
As the cold iron shackles closed around his wrists, he did the only thing he could.
She wiped his spit off her cheek without emotion, her eyes never leaving him as he was dragged away.
)
