Author’s Note: To all faithful readers of my pirate tales, I just wanted to say thank you for sticking with me. Yes, I’m currently working on the next chapter for all of them (Captive At Sea, Devil’s Gold, and even the next installment “No Rest For the Wicked”, which hopefully will be posted by the summer.) However, like usual, I’ve branched off into another story and since I know it’s going to continue, I’ve decided to post it to add to the series. So, here it is. I hope you enjoy it and there will be more to come very soon. TTFN.

STOWAWAYS

Chapter One

“Why a privateer ship, Catherine? I mean, who in their right mind would ever want to sneak onto a dirty ship with even filthier men sailing it? Why not a naval ship?” Evelyn inquired. She could not understand her sisters’ reasoning even if she tried to. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to, for that matter.

“They are far too heavily guarded, that’s why,” Catherine answered. “Besides, I want to sail to some exotic place far away from here.”

“You’ll never succeed,” Evelyn informed her, turning sideways to move through a particularly tight crowd of shoppers on Armitage Road.

There were times when she really despised going into town and this was one of them. There seemed to be more and more people on the streets everyday. However, errands had to be run so she simply accepted the situation and tried to make the best of it.

“I’m quite certain I will,” Catherine responded confidently.

“It doesn’t matter,” Evelyn said, shaking her head, “I won’t let you do it.”

“You know fully well that you’ve never been able to keep me from doing anything.”

“True,” Evelyn admitted while thinking on it a moment, “but uncle Ian can.”

“You wouldn’t,” Catherine warned.

“Or perhaps I could tell Jared.”

“If you so much as utter one word to anyone,” Catherine began, pointing a finger at her younger sister.

Evelyn shrugged before interrupting, “You’ll leave me with no choice. I would not be a decent sister otherwise.”

“A decent sister would keep her mouth shut and be trustworthy,” Catherine argued.

“And allow you to walk into certain death?”

“That will not happen,” Catherine stated.

“How can you be certain? The sailors on those ships are armed and trained to attack enemy ships. Besides, women are not permitted on board, in case you’ve forgotten. Do you think that you would be spared?” Evelyn asked incredulously.

“It would never happen because I know how to hide. They’d never find me.”

“It’s their ship,” Evelyn reminded her. “Don’t you think they know it a little better than you do?”

“I’ll secure myself in the hold. There are numerous places to conceal myself down there.”

“I see,” Evelyn replied, although disbelief filled her tone. “Since you’ve thought all this through, where will you relieve yourself? What about when you get hungry or thirsty? What happens if the ship comes under enemy fire during your little journey to the exotic lands? What will you do then?”

Catherine paused for a moment as if pondering the questions in her head. She knitted her brows and cocked her head as if she were silently debating with herself. Then, she opened her mouth and spewed forth an answer that only a dreamer would consider suitable.

“I’d join in the battle.”

“You’re impossible,” Evelyn murmured, thinking her sister even more insane than before.

“Well, I could,” Catherine responded in a tone that conveyed her feelings were hurt.

“Yes, you’re a regular corsair,” Evelyn sarcastically replied. “You can’t even brandish a sword.”

“Neither can you.”

“Yes, but I’ve never professed to being a fighter and capable of battling those barbarians who roam the sea,” Evelyn immediately professed.

“You’re just jealous,” Catherine replied, rolling her eyes.

“Of what, may I ask?” Evelyn was amazed at her sister’s ability to resist her own maturity.

“Of my courage,” Catherine chided.

Evelyn shot a look of bewilderment toward her sister, “What?”

“You can’t stand that I have the courage to dream of and seek out a better life. I’m not content with the kind that everyone has planned for me. Perhaps you are, but I’m not,” Catherine huffed.

“What sort of life do you believe has been drawn out for you, Catherine?” Evelyn inquired with knitted brows. Catherine, you are such an ingrate, she thought.

“One that involves an average existence of tedious appearances and boring acquaintances,” the older sibling answered. “I just don’t want to be here for the rest of my life, Evelyn. There’s a whole world out there. It has to have something more to offer than this.”

Catherine gestured around her with disgust, even though Evelyn could not see much wrong with their surroundings. She was rather content with her life and felt her sister should be as well. She knew they lived a much better one than many other girls. Throughout the years, she had tried to get her sister to share her outlook. However, she feared Catherine was to be forever haunted by her warped version of the perfect life.

“Sometimes I wonder if we switched places at birth,” Evelyn said.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t the younger sibling supposed to be the one with a head in the clouds and an adventurous spirit?” Evelyn asked, hoping that it would jar something in her sister’s head and make her pause.

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Evie,” Catherine said. “I’m tired of being ridiculed by everyone. What is so wrong about a woman having an opinion that differs from the majority? Aren’t you supposed to look up to me?”

“Give me something to look up to and I will,” Evelyn answered truthfully. She knew that it might be a hurtful thing to say but she believed that honesty was the best policy. Her sister would have to face reality at some point.

“Must you treat me with such disrespect?”

“I don’t see it that way. I’m simply trying to make you see things for what they really are, not what you wish them to be,” Evelyn replied, trying to clarify her previous statement.

“Thank you for enlightening me,” her sister remarked without the slightest hint of gratitude. “I’m still going to run away, though.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. You wouldn’t be so kind as to inform me of the day you are going to carry out this plan?”

“So you can stop me? I wouldn’t dream of it,” Catherine responded.

“Please do not play the fool, Catherine,” Evelyn begged as her other tactics had failed. “Put an end to this preposterous way of thinking before you find yourself lost.”

“The only fools I see are the ones who remain here to perform an ordinary routine day after day amongst the peddlers and the patricians.”

Evelyn sighed and shook her head softly. Her sister had always been opinionated. Their father had always blamed Catherine’s brash attitude for the lack of suitors. He had said once that respectable men do not want a woman who pushes her beliefs on others with such stubborn fervor. Evelyn believed, however, that Catherine’s love of adventure, not her opinions, was sabotaging her chances of finding love.

“Do you want to die alone, Catherine?” Evelyn asked, deciding to get to the point. “Is that what you are trying to accomplish with your ideas of adventure and running away?”

Catherine turned a thoughtful gaze on her. She seemed a bit pained by the inquisition as if it had struck a nerve. Then her shoulders, which had been tense and straight up until that point, slumped in slight defeat.

“I don’t want to be told how I have to live my life or the way I should act,” she replied, “and neither should you.”

Evelyn shrugged, “it’s the way things are. I’ve accepted it.”

“I wish you’d reconsider.”

“I’m not the rebellious one, remember?” Evelyn smiled coyly.

“I know, I just wish you’d know how I feel,” Catherine said.

Of course, Evelyn did not know how her sister felt. She couldn’t know. Blood related them both but most of the time, it seemed to be their only connection. They were two different individuals with not much in common. Catherine was the oldest but lived out her days in a fantastical dream, surrounded by her own creations and ideals. Evelyn was a year younger but kept her feet planted firmly on the ground and her head filled with logical thoughts.

Physically, they were as far apart as you could get. Catherine was a tall, lithe woman with brown eyes and straight, fine hair the color of dark molasses. Evelyn was petite and more rounded in the hips than her adventuresome sister was. Her freckles would make her appear youthful for years to come and her fiery hair matched her bright, blue eyes. One would hardly think the two are related.

“Perhaps one day,” Evelyn answered after a moment, “just not today.”

Catherine managed a snigger but said nothing in reply. She simply turned and began making her way through the crowd. Evelyn followed. They made it halfway home in silence. Then Evelyn broke through it with an issue she knew her sister would be dreading.

“What are you going to wear to the party tomorrow evening?”

“I’m not going,” Catherine answered almost sullenly.

“Why not?” Evelyn was quite surprised. Her sister always loved to socialize and their uncle’s parties were always a perfect setup.

“I have my reasons.”

“I heard Jared is set to attend,” Evelyn prodded, hoping to convince her sister that it would be worth it.

“And?” Catherine asked cheekily.

Evelyn suspected her sister was putting on an act, purposely acting disinterested so she wouldn’t face any more questions.

“He fancies you,” she replied, trying to tease her in a sisterly way.

“I don’t fancy him,” Catherine revealed.

“He’s at least willing to accept you for who you are, Catherine,” Evelyn stated, “better take what you can get.”

“I don’t need any words of wisdom right now. I have more important matters to tend to.”

“Such as?” Evelyn asked.

“Escaping from here,” Catherine answered immediately.

“Will you never change?”

“There’s nothing for me here, Evelyn. I figured that out a long time ago. I don’t want to regret not taking a chance one day,” Catherine admitted.

“Still think the man of your dreams is waiting for you in a faraway land, eh?” Evelyn mocked slightly.

“Don’t you want to find the man of your dreams?” Catherine asked back.

“I don’t know if I believe in such a thing,” Evelyn admitted. “I think to do so is dangerous for a woman. We’re not given many chances to marry. It’s been a long road for us both, Catherine. I’d like to see at least one of us set up in a secure environment. If you keep holding out for some perfect suitor, I fear you’ll be sadly disappointed.”

Catherine appeared dazed, as if she were busy daydreaming once again of her own perfect world. Evelyn didn’t know if her sister had been listening to anything she’d said. She didn’t let it get to her much, though. It was the way Catherine was and always had been. Evelyn knew her sister was old enough to make up her own mind. It didn’t stop her from being protective of her, however. It also did not keep her from worrying about her elder sibling. The life Catherine wanted to lead and the one that she was destined to follow were two completely different paths. Evelyn could not help but be a tad fearful at her sister’s unwillingness to accept that fact. For one thing, Evelyn felt that Catherine had unreasonable expectations of men and love. It was her belief that the oldest Atherton daughter would never find a suitor who could fulfill her standards. In Evelyn’s mind, Catherine had simply created a man who could only exist within her endless imagination.

“Please, don’t! Stop!”

The wailing man’s cries were beginning to irk Vale as he stood on the quarterdeck surveying the activities below. Most of the Seeker’s crew had already been disposed of and it was time to tie up some loose ends. He watched silently as the last remaining crewmembers were thrown overboard. They protested but having been weakened by the raid, were no match for his men.

As he surveyed the chaotic scene, the Seeker’s captain was hustled over to him, bruised and beaten. He fell to his knees as two of Vale’s men shoved him down. The man’s dirty, blood-caked face slowly rose to peer up at him from his position. Vale could see there wasn’t much fight left in him. His eyes were tired and cloudy from the pain. Vale was all too accustomed to that look. It was the expression of a man ready to die. One that would no doubt cast itself on his own face someday. If it was up to him, that day was a long way off, though.

In the distance, on the foredeck, a feisty crewmember was thrashing wildly as he was pushed to the ship’s railing. It took three of Vale’s men to get him there successfully.

“Show mercy,” Vale heard him shout, “I beg you!”

Just as he said it, he was tossed overboard, disappearing over the side of the ship.

Vale looked down at the defeated captain several feet away.

“Looks as though some of your men have more to live for than you, eh?” He taunted with a smirk. “What be your name, sailor?”

“Purkis,” the man answered wearily.

“Not very talkative, are you, Purkis? Vale remarked. “No pleading for your life? No treasures to barter?”

“What be the use?” The man shrugged. He was older than Vale, perhaps by twenty years by the looks of him. Though Vale suspected the years spent in the sun might have something to do with the advanced aging.

“Yes, what would be the use?” Vale echoed, though his tone was absent of curiosity. He knew how this was going to end anyway. Apparently, so did Purkis.

“Why not just kill me now and be done with it, Vale?” he asked. After doing so, he spit a mouthful of blood out on the deck.

“You know who I am?” Vale asked with a bit of surprise.

“Aye,” nodded the kneeling man, “and I curse the seas you sail on, marauder.”

“Marauder?” Vale questioned in feigned disbelief. “Nonsense, I’m simply taking back what is rightfully mine.”

“The Seeker is not yours,” Purkis replied. “She was won in a fair bet.”

“It’s not The Seeker I am after,” Vale revealed. “I want the key.”

“The key?”

“Aye, the key,” Vale confirmed. “The one Hartley gave to you six months ago for safe keeping.”

“I don’t know of any key…I don’t remember,” Purkis stuttered.

“Think hard, Purkis,” Vale instructed flatly. He was starting to become miffed with the difficult captain. “Don’t force me to make you remember.”

Purkis paused for a moment, as if searching his brain for some recognizable tidbit of information that he could hand over to Vale. Finally, he opened his red-stained mouth to speak, but it wasn’t the answer Vale wanted.

“I cannot recall Hartley ever giving me a key to look after,” he answered. “In fact, I haven’t seen Warren Hartley in ages. Last I seen him was in Lizard Point and he seemed like he was having a run of bad luck at the time, not that he was known for good luck.”

“No key ever crossed your hands?”

“As I said before, nay,” Purkis answered, his eyelids drooping slightly.

“You wouldn’t be lying now, would you?”

Purkis looked up at him with all the disdain he could muster.

“Would you think to spare me if I was?” He asked.

“I haven’t decided the answer to that question,” Vale replied. All I need is that damned key, he thought vehemently. Just tell me where it is. He had a feeling his wishes were not going to come true that simply, though. They never did.

“The key is not here, never was,” Purkis answered.

Vale had a feeling the broken captain was telling him the truth. Most people would immediately falter and scream that they possessed what he sought just in an effort to save their lives. Purkis, however, was apparently an honest man. That or he was simply suffering from a forgetful mind. Vale decided to jar the older man’s memory one last time. He reached into his jacket and brought out a large copper key tied to a string and held it up in front of Purkis.

“You mean this key was never on board this ship or in your possession in the last six months?” He inquired slyly.

Purkis squinted at it and then his face morphed into an expression of surprise, as if he recognized it.

“If you’ve had the key all along, why come aboard and ask about it?” Purkis asked in confusion.

“Ah, but you see, I don’t have the key. I only have half of it,” Vale explained, twisting the key slightly. “It’s a set, you see. The lock it fits into requires a similar one that’s to be turned simultaneously to unlock it. I have one. Hartley had the other. The thing is I have not been able to locate that slippery partner of mine in quite some time. My search for the remaining piece has been…disappointing in recent times. I’m becoming more and more convinced that Hartley has betrayed my trust in the matter.” He stopped for a moment to put the key back into its pocket. Then he looked back at Purkis with sudden annoyance. “I’m not particularly fond of traitors, Purkis.”

The kneeling captain’s expression was blank. Vale knew that Purkis was aware of his situation and the outcome. He saw no reason to stretch it out longer than necessary.

“As I said, I’ve come to take back what is rightfully mine. If you do not have the key, who does?”

“I know not of the answer you seek,” Purkis replied. “I’m afraid you’ve been wasting your time here, Vale.”

Marcus wanted to sigh in exasperation. His search for the elusive Warren Hartley and the missing key was beginning to drive him mad. The Seeker was the third ship he had raided in his desperation to locate the final piece to his puzzle and again, he had found nothing useful. He was starting to think that his quest would never end, or at least, not end to his liking.

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Vale agreed. “You say you last saw Hartley in Lizard Point?”

“Aye,” Purkis answered, wiping a droplet of blood from his eye that had dripped from a small cut in his forehead. “Working the docks near there, he was. Doubt he is no more, though.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Old Hartley was suffering with a bad bout of jaundice when I last saw him. Skin and eyes as yellow as a whore’s teeth. Doubt he got any better since then,” Purkis elaborated.

That was, in part, not what Vale wanted to hear. Personally, it wouldn’t matter to him if Warren Hartley had been struck with leprosy and cast out of society like a mangy dog. Hartley had done too much in the past to get on his bad side. However, if Hartley was dead it would make his search all the harder.

“May he be damned,” Vale muttered under his breath. He blew a hot puff of air from his lips and looked out to sea. Then he turned his attention back to the defeated man below him. “Do you have any other information that would be even remotely useful to me, Purkis?”

Purkis snorted with cynicism. “Would it make any difference in my present situation if I did?”

Vale thought on it for a moment, deciding whether to lie or be honest with his captive. Then he thought of another way that would not result in a guilty conscience. He would allow it to be left up to Purkis himself.

“I suppose that depends on you,” Vale started. “How do you feel about dying?”

Purkis looked a bit confused at this, so Vale enlightened him. “What I mean is, what you tell me will decide your fate.”

“If I tell you what you wish to know, you’ll let me go?” Purkis inquired, looking as if he was still trying to figure out what Vale meant.

“Quick and painless,” Vale replied, giving a hint of a smile.

“And if I don’t?”

“You get a slow death, one that will no doubt wash away your sins to aid you in whatever afterlife you are committed to,” Vale answered.

Vale noticed a glimmer of hope in the older man’s eyes for the first time since boarding his ship. He waited patiently for him to make his decision, which seemed to take much longer than it actually did. Finally, the tired-looking captain of the Seeker straightened his back and eagerly spit out all he knew about Warren Hartley. Vale knew he would. If given the chance, most people will do anything to save their own skin. Very few stick to their moral obligations when met with certain death.

“It’s true, the last I saw Hartley was on the docks near Lizard Point a month ago. I do not know where he be now, probably dead if I know him well. But I seen him before that in Falmouth near half a year ago. He was drunk as was the usual. Suppose he was a little too drunk if you know what I mean. He was blabbering on about all the things he’d done and trying to make a big show of it. Most people weren’t even listening, they knew it was the rum talking. There were a couple of men, though, who were taking to heart what he was saying. They didn’t appear to be too friendly, didn’t talk much. Anyway, Hartley was rantin’ and I heard him say something about a key. I can remember that much. Didn’t pay him much mind other than that, except that he pulled it out and displayed it for everyone. Nearly shoved it in all our faces, he did. Said he’d found this fantastic treasure, one like nobody’d seen before or something like that. He wasn’t making much sense so we all just laughed it off. Those other men, I remember, they weren’t laughin’. Later that night, I noticed them talking to Hartley outside the tavern when I was making me way home. Looked like they were roughin’ him up. I walk on by. I figured Hartley had always been a bit of a scallywag, it was probably what he deserved. Didn’t think anything of it after that. Not until now anyway. The next time I saw him was in Lizard Point. The key wasn’t around his neck anymore like it had been that night in Falmouth. Worth mentioning, I suppose, although he may have just lost it,” Purkis said.

Damned fool, Vale thought as he silently cursed Hartley for his drunken idiocy.

“What did those men look like?” Vale asked, not missing a beat.

“I don’t remember, Vale,” Purkis replied as if it was too much trouble to wrack his brain for any shred of memory. “There was nothing unusual about them. They looked like every other bunch of scoundrels that frequent the taverns.”

“Were they pirates?”

“Can’t say,” Purkis answered, sounding truthful. “I’d never seen them before, never seen them since.”

Vale was beginning to conclude that no one was going to be able to tell him the location of the key except Hartley himself. Trouble was, he had a sneaking suspicion that Warren would be more difficult to track down.

“Very well,” he commented, “Anything else?”

“Nay, I’ve told you all I can remember,” Purkis replied. “Now uphold your end of the bargain and let me go.”

Vale suspected that Purkis was done telling his tale and had no more left in him to reveal. Therefore, he indulged the captain of the Seeker and decided to let him go. Without another word, he swiftly pulled the small pistol from his belt where it was normally tucked and shot Purkis right between the eyes. The captain’s body immediately slumped and fell lifeless to the floor with a thud.

“Told you it would be quick and painless,” Vale said softly as he replaced his pistol.

He didn’t pay Purkis much mind as he surveyed the main deck of the sloop he was now standing on. Most of the men on board were from his own crew as the Seeker’s crewmembers had been disposed of by now, either overboard or by slaughter. He suffered a miniscule amount of guilt as he took in the massacre brought on by his crew. He was used to blood on his hands. It was a curse that had followed him for ages. A negative aspect of the lifestyle he led. At times, he wished it wasn’t so. There were instances when he wanted nothing more than to wash away his sins and live a normal life without the bloodshed and the pursuits. Those instances were always short-lived, however. He feared that his sins were too great to ever be forgiven and peace seemed too much to ask for.

“Take what you deem profitable, men!” He called, shaking himself out of his pitiful daydream. “Leave the rest. We don’t want too much weight.”

“Find what you were looking for, Captain?”

Vale turned to see Darcy, his quartermaster, eyeing him curiously. Darcy was a man of average stature, with hazel eyes and stick-straight dirty blond hair that fell limply to the length of his pointed chin. He was a capable sailor, like every quartermaster, but a better hustler. He had what one would refer to as a poker face. Vale had used Darcy to his advantage many times over the years for most people could never tell if the man was bluffing or not. For that matter, neither could Vale on some occasions.

“Not exactly,” Vale answered. He didn’t wish to go into detail about what Purkis had said.

Apparently, Darcy respected this and didn’t press further into the matter. It was one of the reasons Vale could tolerate him so well.

“Where to now?” Darcy asked before suggesting, “we could go to the East Indies, unload the loot.”

“No,” Vale answered quickly. “We’re going to Lizard Point.”

“Why?” Darcy asked as if the idea seemed preposterous to him.

“I need to find Hartley. So far, that’s the last place anyone’s seen him,” Vale remarked.

“Aye, Captain,” Darcy replied in understanding. “Shall I get the men back on board?”

Vale nodded and said, “Aye, finish up here and quickly. I have no desire in wasting anymore time on board this ship.”

He then began walking away, heading for the starboard side of the Seeker in order to re-board his own vessel. He felt frustrated and wanted to be alone. Before he got halfway to his destination, another one of his crewmembers stopped him.

“Sir, whatcha want us to do with this swabber?” He asked, holding what appeared to be a boy of no more then ten annuals by the shirt collar.

Vale looked down at the boy, carelessly at first, then with more compassion. Though he could be a real scoundrel, Vale saw no real reason to harm a child. It was not particularly in his nature to do so and he felt a strange obligation merely to take the boy in.

“Have experience swabbin’ the deck, boy?” Vale asked him, remaining serious.

“Yes sir,” the boy answered, a bit muffled but audible nonetheless. Vale could tell he was scared but was attempting to put on a brave front. He would have been a bit alarmed if the scene that had just played out in front of him had not frightened the child.

“Going to be any trouble?” Vale then asked.

The boy shook his head quickly, his dirty face not concealing the pleading look in his cloudy blue eyes. Vale looked into those eyes to determine whether the boy would be a good addition to his crew or not. He saw fear in them but something else as well that was masked by that emotion. What he saw was vitality. Those blue eyes, though a bit cloudy, were not lifeless like some young men he’d seen on ships throughout the years. This boy had not been completely broken by the rule of his authorities. Vale liked that. He suspected that the boy might grow to be a good student, if he didn’t cause too much of a raucous, that is. Vale did not detest children, as some other sailors did. For the most part, he saw them as a blank canvas. What they learn in their younger years impact their later ones greatly. There was much this one could be taught. Besides that, he could always use another hand onboard.

“Good, let’s keep that attitude,” Vale responded before gesturing for the boy to follow him. “Come aboard, boy.”

The man, John Hayes was his name, released the boy and grunted as he walked off to finish his looting.

Vale placed a hand on the back of the boys’ shoulder and gently nudged him toward the plank, which was allowing passage between the Seeker and his ship. He didn’t bother looking back. There was no need to survey the damage or keep an eye on his crew. He learned many years earlier that it was best for a captain to allow his men some free rein, especially when it came to pillaging. He was really only needed to make the big decisions about which ships to raid and to set direction amongst the men. They could keep whatever bounty they found. He was not stingy. He was fine with each and every one of them as long as they did not decide to engage in mutiny. He was not so overconfident that he believed it could not happen one day. He knew very well that it could. He just prayed that day would never come.