The boat

 

 The boat lurched gently in the vastness of the Atlantic. The midday sun, only dimmed by a few clouds, shone on the bodies of the two pretty women, gracefully nestled together, while the dark-skinned pirate dozed on the other side of the boat.

Long had rowed all night long. Only when the heat of the day drove the sweat from his pores did he lie down. He kept looking at the naked bodies of the young European women. Their peaceful sleep seemed as unreal as the situation they were in. He, the former slave who was kidnapped in Africa and had to serve an English captain as a boy, was now in a small boat with these very different women.

Kate undoubtedly came from a noble bloodline. Even if he hadn't seen her nobility papers in Captain Rogue's cabin, it was evident in her entire demeanor. She had something that most women and men lacked. Discipline and pride, which, however, had nothing to do with the vain posturing he had seen among many spoiled aristocratic scions who were given commissions by their rich or noble relatives.

Jane was completely different. Her energetic nature and daring appealed to him in a way that hardly any other woman could. She had taken off her soaked blouse and pants to dry. He had seen the scarred back of the red-haired Englishwoman. He concluded that she was either a slave or Lady Kate's servant, for free European women rarely learn the kiss of the whip.

Had Kate once had her whipped? He sat up slightly and looked at them. He didn't want to believe it was as familiar and somehow erotic as the two young bodies clinging together to give each other support in this harsh world, at least while they were sleeping. No, something else had happened to Jane.

“Don’t choke!” Jane’s voice suddenly cut through the gentle lapping of the waves.

"What?"

"Stop staring at us like that." Jane took the blood-red cloth that she had previously tied around her hips and spread it as best she could over Kate's and her own private parts, paying particular attention to her friend to hide from the pirate's gaze.

“That will be hard to avoid.” The bald man smiled, revealing his snow-white teeth.

“Then at least don’t do it so obviously.”

“Lady Kate is just as much eye candy as you are, redhead. And since there's nothing to see on the horizon at the moment, I'll at least be able to feast my eyes on you two." The pirate smiled and Jane didn't know how to react to his words, so she just held out her hand to him tongue towards. At which both of them had to laugh.

***

When Kate awoke, Jane handed her the now-dried blouse and pants as she tore the cloth into two pieces and tied them around her hips and chest. Long uses this moment to scan the horizon for islands or a sail.

Jane handed Kate and Long some ship's biscuits that she had stashed in the duffel bag. In addition to two large waterskins, there was also a small bag wrapped in oilcloth. Jane took it out and passed it to Kate.

“What is that?” Kate asked in surprise.

"The powder horn, bullets and the other things that belong to you."

She opened the cloth and, to her surprise, also found the bag of coins that she had entrusted to Jane on the day of the attack. After all the risks Jane had taken to save her, Kate wouldn't have expected or asked for the money. She whispered a quiet thank you in Jane's ear and stowed the bag in her waistband without Long noticing. Then she started loading the pistols again.

As she loaded the weapons in front of the pirate's prying eyes, she briefly thought about the events of last night. She had shot Sliver and perhaps even killed the pirate captain. Still, she didn't feel like a murderer. He deserved death a hundred times over. After loading the pistols, she wrapped them again in the oil cloth to protect them from moisture.

“What is the relationship between you, Lady Kate?”

“What do you mean?” Kate asked the pirate. She had gotten used to everyone calling her Kate. Perhaps this should be their name in the new world.

“You and Jane seem very familiar. You don't seem like mistress and servant. That's why I'm curious. Are you two lovers?”

“What?” Kate stared at him in disbelief and her face flushed. If the black giant had been within her reach, she would probably have slapped him despite his superiority. After all, such an accusation was just too ridiculous. Nevertheless, at that moment she lacked convincing arguments to refute him. Because what was Jane Sinner to her. Jane was certainly not her lover. Unchaste, even perverse excesses with a woman were unimaginable for her, even if she had to admit that she felt strangely comfortable around Jane. Last night she had willingly pressed herself against the young Englishwoman's delicate body, while she had just as tenderly wrapped her arm around her.

Long couldn't fathom the confused flood of thoughts in Kat's mind and was still waiting for an answer. So Jane jumped into the breach and began to tell the pirate her fate on board the Goldgreed. She talked about Kate's fiancé, who probably only had to marry her because of her aristocratic title, but who had taken Anne on board as his lover. She told of her flogging and described how Lady Kate had taken care of her.

Kate was grateful that Jane retold the story of the last few months. In her eyes it now almost seemed as if this Katharina von Greifen had been a different woman. Maybe it was her. She thought back to the events since she left Hamburg and could hardly believe that she was that girl who left there.

She ran her hand through her hair and leaned over the edge of the wooden boat. Distorted, she could see the reflection of a blonde woman in the water, but she had no tangible outline. Her self-portrait was unformed, indeterminate, and changing with every heartbeat. Her current fate may be as uncertain as the water that surrounds her.

“When are we actually going to reach dry land?” Kate finally asked. She interrupted a conversation between Jane and Long about the fate of slaves and women, which she had only peripherally followed. “We'll reach land, won't we?”

“Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after,” Long admitted to the women with surprising honesty. “There are a lot of small islands around here, but also a few real settlements and quite a lot of shipping traffic. Our chances are pretty good.”

“Thank you,” Kate whispered in her gentle voice.

“Why?” asked the astonished pirate.

“That you don’t lie to us. There are few men who have so much honesty. And for a pirate, this is something very special.”

“Why does everyone in the world have such a bad opinion of us pirates,” the pirate laughed heartily.

“Maybe because you murder, rob, and rape women,” Jane snapped at him, leaning against Kate, who was sitting slightly offset behind her. Intuitively she put an arm around the redhead.

“Didn’t Lady Kate’s fiancé do this to you too? He wasn't a pirate, was he?"

Jane flinched and Kate hugged her closer to give her soothing closeness and support. Although Thomas Lakewington was Kate's fiancé, he felt no closeness of any kind to this man. She didn't really hate him, nor did she feel pity for him. However, Jane had been forced by him to give herself to him. Although she dismissed it as insignificant, in moments like these Kate felt that it left Jane far less cold-blooded than the young Englishwoman liked to admit. For that, that alone, she hated Thomas Lakewington.

“I no longer consider him my fiancé. Your pirate friends finally kidnapped him and they may have even murdered him."

"I hardly believe that. Lakewington is sure to pay a large ransom for his boy. And when you're back in civilization, you'll definitely be able to be with him again soon."

Now Kate was frightened. She hadn't expected to see Thomas alive again. Now she found herself thinking that his death had been a liberation. But what would happen if he was actually still alive and they got married after being rescued? She pulled Jane closer to her again. This time to find support with her.

“What do you plan to do when we're safe?” asked Jane, now comfortable in Kate's embrace. Unlike Kate, closeness between women had never been taboo for her. On the streets of London she had often seen women giving each other scant comfort while the world around them faded into a monotonous gray. Of course, these were not women of status. And no woman of rank would have hugged Jane like that.

“I’ll see to it that I can get back on a ship. Maybe I can find one that will take me to Tortuga."

"Tortuga?" Jane asked as her little boat continued to drift across the blue ocean.

“Aye. Tortuga is a popular meeting place for pirates and smugglers.”

“Why do you want to go back to the pirates?” she wanted to know. She didn't want to imagine Long as a brutal savage who enjoyed violating women and murdering people.

“Where else would I go? I only know life at sea. I was a slave before a pirate ship freed me. In a way, the three of us share this fate. All three of us were freed by pirates. Jane and I from the fate of slavery, and you, Lady Kate, were saved from an unwanted marriage, because I hardly believe that love drove you into Thomas Lakewington's arms."

The black African grasped the reality with astonishing clarity. None of the women opposed his logic. He expressed what Kate had always felt deep in her soul. She had been a slave to her birth and to money. Centuries ago she might have been married to a count or distinguished knight, only it was an English moneyed aristocrat.

None of this was her choice, and none of it could have been God's will. She had read the Holy Scriptures as a girl. Her uncle had given her a Luther Bible, even though she knew Latin herself. Somehow, since reading the Bible, she felt much less respect for the book, which often seemed so far removed from the reality of life. She thought of William Shakespeare's plays. She thought of Romio and Julia. She thought about the love that had always been denied her. She thought about her prayers in which she secretly asked God to let her decide her own life.

Perhaps God had really reordered their fate with this pirate raid. Maybe all of this had to happen so she could get the chance she always wanted. But what chance was that? What did she want to do now? Did she really want to try to get back to her old life? Or did she want to dare to take a new path that would take her through unknown waters full of dangers. Wrapped up in these thoughts, she dreamed the day away while Jane fell asleep nestled against her chest.

Her fingers unconsciously stroked her red hair. She enjoyed lying there with her like that, and even the presence of the experienced pirate didn't bother her. There was something trustworthy about Long. She felt that he would not take advantage of the situation. He was a completely different man. Different from Thomas, different from Murdoc, different from Captain Sliver. So she fell asleep again with a feeling of security and closeness.

***

As night fell, Long went back to rowing. The stars served as a guide to an unknown destination. He secretly hoped for the Preybird. It was not unlikely that the storm had driven the ship on this course. On board the Preybird, under Captain Rogue's flag, he would be back in the place that was closest to home.

But he was conflicted with himself. It would certainly be great for him if Tim discovered him and saved her. For Jane and Kate, however, this rescue was a double-edged sword. Rogue would certainly let Kate off the ship with her fiancé and a hefty ransom. This would seal Kate's fate. She would have to become the wife of that whiny, vain fop, and could only hope to become a widow young and then perhaps gain a little freedom.

In this case, he would probably no longer see Jane. Even though she came from a humble background, the pretty redhead had incredible loyalty. Again and again his gaze wandered to the sleeping beauty, who was nestled against the equally enchanting contours of her friend, with the starlight giving them a special shine. He still didn't know exactly what the relationship between the two was like, he just saw that it was close.

Late at night the pirate, exhausted, lay down to get some sleep. He thought that perhaps tomorrow they would find a pretty deserted island on the horizon. A place where there were no pirates, no slaves and no masters. A place where he was truly in paradise with the two beauties, because he would certainly be able to win over one or even both of them.

However, despite his reputation, Long did not think of using force to get something that they did not want to give him. He had never sexually violated a woman, apart from the harbor hookers with whom he sometimes had sex while drunk.

As a boy, he experienced what it felt like to be abused against his will. The captain, who had taken him on board as a cabin boy, often used him on the long voyages across the Atlantic to satisfy his unfulfilled desires. Sometimes he just spanked his bare bottom, sometimes it was with a cane or a whip. In lonely hours, when the captain had already drunk a little more, the boy had to be of service to him in other ways.

It had been more than 20 years, but Long still remembered the humiliating pain. The years of slavery had shaped him. They had given him a lot of knowledge and made him tough. Tough life as a pirate. He closed his eyes as the boat now glided across the endless ocean using the power of the water and the wind alone.

***

Suddenly Long felt a hand between his thighs. He neither saw it coming nor was he prepared for it. The fingers were delicate and gently caressed the bulge in his pants.

The pirate opened his eyes and looked into Jane's young features, which had fascinated him since their first meeting. He wanted to say something, but she sealed his lips with a heavenly kiss. Never before had he felt such sensual lips, which gave themselves to him not for gold, but for pure pleasure.

He felt her bare breasts on his chest and felt her hard nipples roaming over his strong muscled skin. Their tongues found each other in an ecstatic kiss and the black man wrapped his strong arms around his red-haired lover with gentle strength. She tasted like the most delicious wine, heavy, possessive and yet sweet. A taste that not only took possession of the body, but also the soul.

Her fingers freed his member from his pants and continued stroking it. She truly possessed the artistry of a goddess. She stroked and rubbed him as if she wanted to make him explode instantly. He pushed his pelvis towards her, wanting to show her that he wanted more. And he got more. Almost dying of excitement, he closed his eyes and moaned in rhythm with her movements.

Then she let go of him with her hand, but only to sit completely on him. Drowsily he massaged her perfect breasts. Her soft thighs spread and she lowered her slender body onto his. The tip of his penis found the opening of her pleasure cave, which opened wet and willing to him. Long groaned and began to thrust, penetrating deep into Jane's wonderful body and uniting himself with her.

“…Pirate!” Kate’s distant voice whispered. “Long, wake up!”

Confused, Long woke up. It was broad daylight and Kate, not Jane, was leaning over him.

"A ship! There’s a ship on the horizon!” she called out to him excitedly.

It took him a few moments to come back from the enchanting dream to the sultry reality. Jane was lying far away from him and also seemed to be just waking up. He sat up fully to look in the direction Kate had pointed and actually spotted the sails of a ship.

“We are saved!” Kate shouted joyfully. Long wasn't so sure. In any case, the unknown ship headed towards them.