The Pirate Lass

A/N: Here's the next installment, with a bit more adventure… Also, still more surprises are in store.


Chapter 8:


When they saw each other when they were back on the deck that afternoon, it was obvious to them that the other had been having the same thoughts by the shared heat in their dark eyes each time they were faced with one another.

Even just standing beside one another was enough to quicken their breaths and pulses and they could only hope the others couldn't hear.

As the day drew on it finally became too much for Oliver as he soon handed the wheel off to one of his men and made his way into his cabin. He was fighting to gain control of himself, but it was hardly doing any good.

Unable to gain any real control over her senses either, Eriana soon followed into the captain's cabin.

Oliver saw her soon and within a few steps for each other them, his strong body was against hers, their arms tightly locked around the other and their lips were finally meeting. Relaxed and soft at first, but quickly growing stronger and hungrier.

Without having realized it, they had quickly begun moving backwards to his bed to further explore each others' forms beyond just taking in the contours of their mouths and napes of their necks.

"Captain!" one of the crewmen called from outside of the chamber door a long moment later.

"What was that?" Eriana asked breathlessly as she abruptly broke their kiss.

"It's nothing, just the wind," he stated, taking his lips away for only a brief moment.

His convincing worked on Eriana as she couldn't help but kiss him fiercely again as her right arm curled around him as his left did the same around her.

"Captain!" the man demanded once again, louder.

"Ignore him," Oliver told her quickly as he broke their kiss for only a moment.

Eriana did just that as her breaths were quickly becoming shorter again, her body still growing warmer as each sensation was intensifying again.

"Captain!" another crew member cried just before a loud splash was heard.

That was enough to stop them as they quickly looked to each other, a knowing look shared in their gaze.

"Stay here," Oliver ordered her as he quickly climbed off the bed and grabbed hold of his belt and sword and tied them back to his hip before heading to the door.

"Like hell I will," she told him, her voice still husky from their kiss as she did the same with the belt and sword he had given her for protection as she quickly followed him.

"If you come with me you're likely to be killed and I can't risk that."

"You've seen me fight, I'll be fine."

"I can't win this fight if I'm worrying about you."

It was the pleading in Oliver's eyes that stopped Eriana and caused her to tell him, "Come back to me or I may never forgive you." He kissed her quickly and moved to leave his cabin, but she stopped him by saying, "More."

Unable to resist, he kissed her again and moved to leave again.

"Again," she pleaded softly.

He kissed her quickly once more before heading out of his room and into the battle the navel officers had arranged.

From inside Oliver's cabin, Eriana could hear as the men fought, the loud clanging of their swords drowning out her thoughts.

Long minutes seemed to pass and Eriana couldn't help but be fearful Oliver wouldn't return as his kisses had promised.

But nothing could have prepared her for the deafening silence that soon followed another loud splash. She heard no footsteps on the main deck's wooden floor. No swords clanging. No voices calling out. Simply nothing.

Agonizing seconds passed before Eriana tightened the belt around her hips and emerged from Oliver's cabin to find the deck seemingly deserted. "Oliver!" she called out. When she heard no reply her pulse began pounding once again, but this time from fear rather than desire.

"Well, well, aren't you a tasty morsel," a gruff voice stated as he came up from behind the petite brunette, holding her close.

"Where's the captain?" she demanded, not caring how tightly she was being held. Being half the size of this man, she knew she could easily get away. All she needed to know first was if she would kill him. If Oliver was hurt or worse, agony would soon fill this man by her sword.

"Ah, Captain Morrison, he put up a good fight," he answered. "But it wasn' enough and now ye'll meet the same destruction," he added as he brought his sword to Eriana's throat.

Overcome with anger more than anything, Eriana quickly dipped low, slipping from the strong hold. She drew her sword as she turned to face him and in his surprise, easily slashed his gut just before she ran him through with her sword.

She watched as the life faded from his seemingly inhumanly pale blue eyes and put her left foot to his chest to take her sword back once she knew he was dead. He sank to the deck and Eriana sheathed her sword.

As heavy silence surrounded her, she nearly lost her composure, hot tears stinging her eyes. But she managed to cling to what control she had left and dragged the large man to the railing of the deck and forced him overboard.

But she couldn't give up. Not when Oliver could still be alive. The man had to be lying. He simply had to be.

"Oliver!" she called again.

"Over 'ere," Oliver replied bitterly from the far side of the deck as he began to sit up slowly, but soon laid down again in pain.

She heard his voice only faintly, but quickly began running in its direction, her heeled black leather boots leaving a loud clack each time she landed. "What happened?!" she cried when she saw the blood coming from a gash at his left arm and another at his side as he laid on the deck.

"The officers got lucky," he replied, still angry at himself for the fact.

Eriana took a quick glance around the deck and when she saw none of the crew were emerging, she knew what must have happened. She helped him to his feet and then to his cabin. "Lay down," she instructed as she lowered him to his bed.

"Lucky me," he said with a bit more strength, "having you here to nurse me back to health."

"You might not feel lucky for long," she told him as she took a rag from his bureau and his bottle of rum beside it and quickly walked back over to him. Slowly, so as not to hurt him more, she lifted the bottom of his shirt to get a closer look at the gash on his side.

At the sight she quickly took a gulp of the rum before beginning to apply some to the rag and then finally to his wound as she realized the one on his arm wasn't nearly as bad.

Oliver groaned in pain as the burning alcohol came into contact with his wound.

"It'll be better soon," she told him soothingly. "You're lucky, it doesn't seem to be too deep and neither does the one on your arm. Speaking of your arm, isn't this why pirates wear bracers? To keep this from happening?" she asked as she held another rum dampened rag against his arm tightly as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"It almost sounds as though you truly care for the captain here," he said with a smile.

"You know I do and I'm not letting you die on me. I could never bear it," she told him as she pressed the rag at his side onto the wound with a little more force. "How could you have gone out there without them on?" she almost demanded.

He groaned again from the pressure, but soon answered with a slight smile, "I must've been distracted."

"Don't think you can blame me for this," she told him.

"Never," he told her. "You're hardly to blame. After all, it wasn't your sword that got me. Or entirely the reason for my distraction."

"What of the others?"

"Gone. As I said, the officers got lucky."

"Just how lucky were they? Are any others still alive?"

"Hardly. But I'm sure more will soon follow."

"More? How many more?"

"Dozens, maybe hundreds. They and the assassins have been after me for years."

"What should we do now? Can we make our way to where we're going without a crew?"

"No. We'll need to secure some more men soon. Tonight, when we pull into the port."

"Stay here. I'll be back tonight," she told him as she realized one of them needed to get back to the wheel and it would be best for Oliver to conserve what strength he had.

She didn't have time to care how close she had come to death earlier. All she could care about now was Oliver still being alive. Nothing else seemed to matter. She hated that he was in pain, but was comforted at knowing he would heal. Knowing they both would.

Night fell once again and once Eriana had secured the ship in the port she returned to the handsome buccaneer's cabin.

"Oliver," she said softly to wake him slowly. "We're here, it's time to wake up."

He stirred slightly and opened his eyes before smiling when he saw her. "I must still be dreaming," he said softly.

"Ruby's secure, now it's time to find ourselves a new crew," she told him just as softly.

It didn't take the lovers long to find some men around the docks and taverns willing to join them aboard Ruby.

"Why don't you go into one of the taverns and see who you can find there?" he asked her. "I'll get a few more from around here and meet you back aboard Ruby."

"Right," she answered. "You be careful though, you're still a ways from healed."

He nodded with a soft smile.

Quickly Eriana made her way into the nearest tavern and began to secure a number of new members for herself. But after a few minutes a commotion was soon overheard and three extremely large men began fighting one another.

Bottles were breaking and rum was spilling over the floor that was now being showered by the broken glass.

Deciding to get out while she could, Eriana soon made her way to the exit and outside of the tavern. However, the men soon made their way out at the same time and one of the men shoved the other, sending his large frame into the petite brunette, sending her hard to the ground.

Eriana stood slowly, dizzy from her fall, but began walking again. Knowing she had secured the number of men Oliver had requested from her, she began to head back to Ruby.

She was nearing the shore, just a few yards from the port Ruby was tied in, when she met an all too familiar stroke of fate.

"I know you," she heard a gruff voice say from just behind her. "Morrison's little strumpet."

"I'm no strumpet," she replied coldly.

"Yet ye don' deny ye's Morrison's," the heavy set, blonde haired man commented.

"I'm his quarter mistress, nothing more," she lied, knowing she would surely be ravaged if she admitted the truth. Even though it seemed she was nearing that territory now anyway.

"I'm sure he wouldn' mind sharing the spoils. He is a man after all," he said as he moved in front of her and looked her over.

"As a member of his crew, I assure ye, he would mind greatly," she stated through mostly clenched teeth.

"Let's see," he said as he ran a thick hand down her corseted middle.

"He'll have your head for this," she told him. It was all she could think to say. She still had her sword, but she knew she would have no time to draw it. He would kill her before she could lift it.

He was holding her to him now. But she was nowhere near willing to give in. It was a cheap shot, she knew, but it was also effective. She brought her right knee up into his gut and moved to pull him down.

But though this man was barely taller than she was, he was stronger and in his painful surprise, shoved her to the ground. This time her head hit the ground harder than before.

All that stopped the man from advancing on her in her unconscious state was the sound of the crew boarding Ruby.

"Eriana?" Oliver called minutes later when he realized she wasn't back aboard his ship.

"Who be ye looking for?" the new crew member Bridge asked him.

"My quarter mistress," he answered as his dark eyes scanned the deck.

"Ye's quarter master is a woman?" Cameron asked, disgusted by the thought.

Growing increasingly more concerned, Oliver replied, "Yes. Tell me, can any of you remember seeing a young woman around the taverns?"

"Bar maids and strumpets," another answered.

"There was one near the shore," another said. "A sort of short, young thing with a good little body. There was a man with her though."

Without another word, Oliver was back on the dock and finally on the shore in a matter of seconds in search his lover.

He found her soon, still unconscious from her fall. "Eriana!" he called to her, trying to wake her. "Eriana! Eriana, please awake." He was relieved to see she was breathing but he would have been more relieved to have her awake.

"Captain? Everything right 'ere?" one of the crew members who had followed him asked as he advanced to Eriana's side.

"Don't touch her!" he ordered as he threaded his strong arms under her slim frame. "Get yourself and whomever else back onto Ruby, I'll take her."

"But, Captain," another of the men began.

"Go!" he ordered. "We can't lose her," he added as he brought his voice lower before adding with his voice just above a whisper, "I can't lose her."

"See you aboard then, Captain," the first told him as he walked back to the ship.

With Eriana in his arms, Oliver silently made his way into his chambers and laid her down in his bed before bringing his chair to the side of it. He didn't need a doctor to tell him that there was a chance she wouldn't wake up, but he wanted to be there if and when she did.

"Captain," one of the men said as he followed him into his cabin. "If I'd known she'd get hurt, I'd have stepped in."

"What?" he demanded.

"I saw him talking to her, I thought she knew him," he went on. "He seemed to be getting quite friendly with her, she didn't seem to be liking it much, but I thought it was a game."

"You mean to say you saw my quarter mistress about to be ravaged and did nothing?!" he growled.

"I couldn' be sure."

While hating the thought of leaving Eriana, Oliver stood and walked with this slightly younger man back out to the deck. He let the man continue on about what he would have done if he had known until they reached one of the railings.

Seconds more without a word, Oliver sent him overboard.

"Captain!" the man cried as he landed in the frigid water.

Ignoring him, Oliver turned to the others and stated, "Let that be a lesson, men. Should any of you ever see my quarter mistress in need and do nothing, you'll join him." He took a deep breath and demanded, "Savvy?"

Each of them nodded, disbelieving it was possible for a pirate captain to be in pain over a woman.

"Savvy?!" he demanded again.

"Yes, Captain!" they shouted in unison.

At that Oliver headed back into his cabin and took his seat beside Eriana again, wishing for her to awake, to be fine and to be his once more.

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A/N: Yep, that does it for this chapter. If you liked it or even if you didn't, feel free to tell me.