The Belladonna

Chapter 66 - Jane Duchess

Fire rose up around the pirates. A wall of ever changing hues. The officers near the bow reacted poorly to the new arrivals. This was meant to be an easy extermination for them; this hadn't been what they'd expected. They had gotten no warning that the rebel ship would explode, their commodore had held off firing and they couldn't understand why and now their ship was swarmed with pirates who just suddenly materialised from the smoke.

Creaking sounded behind them as the Belladonna swerved to portside and away from the fiery mess and the guns of the Jane Duchess. Thomas was at the wheel and the few pirates left on the ship struggled to maneuverer the damaged vessel. The important men crowded on the poop deck watched the fleeing ship with murderous eyes. From behind the Jane Duchess, her two flanking ships surged forward to follow the pirates as they steered well away from the warship leaving Sky and half of Dustin's crew to fight the officers. There would be no salvation for the rebels now; they would fight till the death.

"Hawk!" James' cry rang out above the chaos as Dustin's men began striking down unprepared soldiers.

Sky looked to the direction of his voice and saw her brother in perfect uniform shaving his way through his men to get to the pirates on the bow. The fire light reflected in his green eyes and added to the magnitude of anger swirling in them. But as Sky watched she saw that the hate that had been there was dulled now. It seemed her brother, driven on by the Kings sick wishes, was acting out of duty.

Please surrender James. Don't force Dustin to kill you. Sky begged. Her captain had promised her if he could James' life would be spared. However, now standing on the deck of the Jane Duchess she realised that might not be possible.

"Ed, take Sky. Try to find the King." Dustin snapped looking at James knowing that it had finally come down to this moment; the two friends would face off and only the most skilled would win. "If we can get him to surrender then we could limit the cost to both sides."

"Yes Sir," Edward, on Sky's left drew his blade.

Sky hesitated. She moved closer to Dustin and felt like she had so much to say. He turned his gaze away from her brother and down to her. His feather blew around on his head.

"Don't die?" A smirk was on his lips and his eyes shined brightly. Their old promise to each other meant as reassurance.

Finally unable to find the words, she threw herself into him and hugged him tightly. "I love you." She whispered into his chest.

Dustin let out a sad breath and pushed her back with affection and sorrow. James was more than half way to them now, they had run out of time. "Go."

Edward took Sky's arm and tried to tug her away. She drew her cutlass and followed the cormorant down the few steps that led to the main deck. As she came down on the starboard side, her brother accented across form her on the other stairs. They looked at each other. Sky wondered what was going through his mind.

"Sky," Edward ripped her attention away as James turned to the pirate Captain standing proud on his ship. Dustin's crew had almost cleared the forecastle of officers and where staring to engage with the men who were coming to kill the intruders. "Sky we have to destroy that cannon!"

They were almost unnoticed as they shoved through officers trying to get to the great Dustin Hawk. Still Sky was ready with her blade if anyone tried to stop them.

"But Dust said to get to the King." Sky said almost tripping on a large chunk of railing. It had been blown from the warship when Sally had collided. Edward caught her by her elbow.