A Sea Voyage
by
AJ Marks
Disclaimer: A Xena uber. Xena and all of its characters are not owned by me and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is just for the readers enjoyment.
Subtext: Yes this does involve love and sex between two woman, if this is offensive to you then I suggest you leave.
Dislaimer 2: This is a story in progress and the storyline and characters are subject to change at any time.
Please let me know how you like the story by sending comments to: AJMarks01@aol.com anyone with suggestions about the story are welsome to send them.
A sea breeze fluttered small flags making a whipping sound on the tall masts of the ships docked in port. There appeared to be mass confusion at the docks as people ran around trying to get to their ships or supplies to the ships. Most were headed to far places of the empire. A few were headed to France or Russia or another Europe country.
What appeared to be confusion to an outsider was a carefully organized dance by everyone on the docks. Each person knew where they were headed and with what. Those who were new were the ones causing most of the problems.
Among the confusion was a group of three people. It was a family headed towards one of the ships. A mother and father along with their daughter. Glancing at the group the father was tall and his hair was beginning to grey. The mother was shorter and her hair also showed grey streaks in it as well.
The daughter was smaller than either parent and her hair was a red gold color that seemed to shine in the sun. She walked with a dejected look in her eyes and a slump in her shoulders. She seemed to get more dejected the closer they got to the ships.
"Cheer up Rebecca," the mother said as she noticed her daughter's posture. It was something they had been going over for a long time.
"I can't, your sending me away to be the wife of some rich person you've never seen," Rebecca replied. It was an arrangement that she had not liked at all.
"Now dear, Lord Arron is an admiral and everyone says that he will treat you well," her father said.
"Yeah, a little doll for his pleasure and parties," Rebecca said not loud enough for anyone else to hear.
"Here we are," Rebecca's father said as they stopped at a large ship. It was a cargo ship that worked for Lord Arron. He had already told the crew what would happen to them if anything happened to the woman they were going to have aboard.
"You must be Rebecca," a man with white hair and a crisp red uniform said as the small group approached them.
"Yes she is," her father replied. "You must be Captain Trint."
"I am. It is a pleasure to meet you," the captain said ignoring Rebecca as he shock hands with her father. "Does she have any luggage?"
"Right here," her father said pointing to the small bag that Rebecca carried.
"Excellent," Trint replied then handed her father a bag full of coins. "This is for you."
Rebecca could hardly contain her emotions. Her father had basically sold her to another man. She knew that he was in financial trouble but stooping to selling his own daughter was something even she thought he would not do.
"Be sure to write Rebecca," her father said then walked off expecting his wife to follow behind.
"Take care daughter," her mother said giving her a hug then walking off leaving Rebecca behind.
"Steward," the captain said as a young boy came walking down the plank. "Show this girl where she is staying. You would do good to stay in your cabin if you know what's good for you," the captain said then left.
"Yes sir," the boy said then led Rebecca onto the ship. He led her to a small cabin that only had a bed then left.
Rebecca placed her bag on the floor beside the bed then felt all of her emotions come crashing down on her. Burying her face into the lumpy pillow she cried until she had nothing left and she felt empty and very alone.
A tall man came walking through the docks. He was looking for some work and perhaps transportation to the new world. He had not yet been there, but perhaps it was now time. Walking along he noticed something that tickled his memory.
He glanced at the person and knew that who he was thinking of was long dead. She was a small woman with red gold hair and he watched as she and what looked like her mother and father approached one of the ships. He knew who the ship's captain was. The man had a bad reputation.
The father and mother told their goodbyes to the young woman and left. The captain then called for a steward and walked away. The man watched all of this and felt like he had to do something.
"Excuse me," the man said to the captain as he began to walk by.
"Yes," the captain said as he looked up at the tall man.
"Are you headed to the new world," the man asked.
"Yes but its none of your business," the captain replied.
"I'd like to book passage on you ship," the man said.
"I'm not interested," the captain started to say until the tall man began to pull out a heavy bag of coins. "But I could be persuaded otherwise."
"How much," the tall man asked.
"One hundred pounds," the captain replied knowing that it was a high figure.
"Here," the tall man said handing the coins over to the captain.
"I'll show you to your cabin, Mister," the captain said pausing to see if the tall man would reveal a name.
"Pappas, John Pappas," the tall man replied.
"Hmm, that's Greek isn't it," the captain asked.
"Yes," the tall man replied as he was led to his cabin. He glanced around making sure he could see the layout of the ship. It had been a whole since he had been on the ocean but it felt like home.
"I'll have someone come get you for lunch after we set sail," the captain said.
"Thanks," John said as he walked into his cabin. He wondered what he was really doing on board this ship. There was something that had pulled him on board ever since he had spotted the young woman come on board. He shook his head as he pushed the thought out of his mind.
He walked up onto the deck to take a look around to see what had changed in years since he had been away from the sea. A lot of the procedures were still the same and he glanced over the sea. He could smell the salt of the ocean as it brought back memories of better times. Of a love he once had but could not get near.
He watched as the ship untied its mooring and the crew raced around to pull up its sail as the ship began to move away from the docks. The ship rocked to the calm sea. He did not have to wait long before he became accustomed to the rocking again. Like an old lover welcoming him back again.
"Lovely sight, isn't it," the captain said as he walked up to him.
"I've forgotten how much I enjoyed the sea," John replied. "Is there much piracy on the route," he asked.
"There is always the possibility of pirates. They usually raid only the bigger ships," the captain replied to John's question. "They also usually know if there is a valuable cargo aboard the ships."
"And do we," John asked.
"Well," the captain replied as he thought about what to say. "I guess I can tell you. I'm delivering a special package to Lord Arron."
"How many people know about the package," John asked.
"Not many," the captain replied.
"Then we should hope it stays that way," John said.
"Give me another beer," a slurred voice said to the barkeep. The barkeep shook his head as he poured another beer and gave it to the obviously drunk man.
"Edward, are you sure you can afford this," the barkeep said.
"Oh yeah, hic," the man replied as he wavered on his stool. "Lord Arron gave me a lot of money for a trade."
"Didn't know you had anything to trade Edward," the barkeep replied.
"Sure did, gave it to the captain himself," the man slurred as he downed his beer. He glanced around and noticed a cute woman sitting not far away who seemed to be looking at him. "Hey cutie," he said as he tried to stand up. He wobbled for a second then made his way over to the woman.
If he had not been so drunk he would have never approached her. She was tall with dark hair and was armed. She was not the usual girls in the bar that he could look for entertainment. He failed to notice the look that he was getting from the woman.
"Howza'bout a kiss for your daddy," he slurred as he got near her.
"I think that you should get away from me before you get hurt," the woman replied.
"I's didn't ask for your lip woman," the man said getting a bit angry that his attempts to get the woman were not working.
"Edward, leave her alone," the barkeep replied. He knew that the woman was not a regular customer and that if Edward insisted on trying to bed the woman he would be in a world of hurt.
"Don't tell me what to do," Edward hissed at the barkeep then turned back to the woman in front of him. He reached out to touch her hair and found his hand caught in a vice like grip.
"Never touch me," the woman said then quickly spun the man around and twisted his arm to the point where he was in a bit of pain. She let him remain that way for a few seconds and it seemed to sober the man up a bit. She released him and he slumped to the ground rubbing his arm. The woman spared one glance at the man then walked out of the bar.
She quickly made her way to the docks avoiding anyone as she climbed up the gangplank of a ship. She looked around to see if what ships had left already. She noticed that one had. The ship was one of the smaller ones, but she knew that it belonged to Lord Arron.
"Captain," a man who was just a bit shorter than she was said as he walked up to her.
"Todd," she replied to her first mate.
"Did you learn anything," he asked.
"It seems that Lord Arron has paid quite a bit for some package to be sent to him," she said.
"One of his ships left just a few hours ago," Todd replied.
"Tell the crew to set sail, we have a package to ransom," she said with a smile.
"As you wish Captain Justine," Todd said as he left her to go round up the crew. Justine watched as within a few minutes the ship was being untethered from the dock and they set sail in pursuit of a ship.
Justine wondered what type of package was being delivered to him personally by a captain. Whatever it was she was sure that it would be expensive. She toyed with the idea of even keeping whatever it was even after he paid her off. She would just have to wait to see what type of package was being delivered and then she would make up her mind.
Captain Trint looked over the seas for any sign of pirates. They had been preying on any ship and any nationality lately. The big navies knew that the pirates were operating in the area, but they were too busy keeping an eye on each other to pay much attention petty things such as piracy.
Trint was sure that everyone had their own pirates operating under them. Several pirates were know to be working several sides. This would only last as long as the navies were occupied by each other. The moment one was destroyed they would turn their attention back to the shipping lanes.
Satisfied that there were no other ships around he went over to the navigator was standing. He was taking a look around to make sure that they were on the right route. Satisfied about his calculations he turned to look at the captain.
"The weather looks good, if this keeps up we'll be in Charleston in a week," he told the captain.
"Good," he replied. "The sooner I get rid of that girl the better. A woman has no place aboard a ship."
"Sometimes women are better at things then you might think," a voice said from behind them. The two turned to see John Pappas standing there quite calmly as the ship rocked underneath him. Trint noticed that the man seemed to be at home on a ship and wondered about the man.
"Yeah, sewing and cooking," Trint replied with a slight laugh. "If there is a strong woman then there is a man behind the scenes doing all the work."
"Then you have traveled the world and seen nothing," John replied as they watched the door to the lower decks open. A small woman poked her head out and slowly made her way to the rail. She appeared to be quite seasick by her fact that she threw up as soon as she got there.
"I told you to stay below," Trint said walking over to where the young woman was half standing half leaning on the rail. He was furious that she did not listen to him and went to punish her for disobeying him. He brought his hand and found it blocked as a hand wrapped around his wrist. Turning he saw that John was standing right there.
"I see that you're such a big man beating up on a woman that can barely stand. If you don't pay her some attention she might die before we reach land," John said his eyes taking on a cold look as he looked at the pale features of the young woman. He noticed that she seemed quite sad.
"Then why don't you take care of her, I don't want anything to do with her. And keep her out of my way," Trint said as he walked off in a rush.
John bent down to take in the woman's appearance. "Have you been able to eat anything," he asked her. The woman just shook her head no. "Here try this," he said as he gently reached for her wrist and pushed on a bump. The woman was startled at first then looked at him in shock. "Feel a bit better," he asked and received a nod of her head. "Come on, let's get you something to eat while we can," and led her off the deck.
"Captain," came the yell across the deck of the ship. The navigator waited until the captain showed up.
"What up," the captain said and the navigator turned to look at the captain.
"A ship on the horizon captain," the navigator said.
"Perfect," the captain replied. "Todd."
"Right here captain," he said as he walked up to the captain.
"Our quarry is in sight, now make sure that everyone knows what to do, and I want the captain alive this time. He knows what the package is and I want it undamaged," Justine said to Todd who nodded his head and went to let the crew know. "We'll approach them slowly, have all sails ready to go at a moments notice," she ordered the crew.
Justine would be patient as they slowly approached their target. The chase was the most important aspect of the entire battle. All she had to do was close the distance calmly enough and without arousing suspicion in their target. Right now a calm approach would help them much better than a fast one.
Justine watched from the deck as the ship slowly closed the distance to their target. She had steered her ship just a bit off course in an attempt to fool anyone on the other ship. The other thing it would allow her to do would be scanning the horizon for any other ships that might be escorting the target. Her lookouts had reported no other ships in the area yet.
"Captain, approaching ship," came the call from the look out down to the deck where the captain was standing. He glanced around wondering where the ship was. Looking behind him he noticed a ship. He took a closer look and did not see any threatening features on the ship. The ship was from another nation but not one that was currently at war with the British Empire. He would keep an eye on it just in case.
As he glanced around he noticed that John was standing on deck looking back at the ship as well. Leaning on the rail was the girl that for some reason the large man had taken under his wing. Trint sure did not know what to make of that, perhaps he had known the girl, not that it mattered to him.
Lord Arron would make sure that John was out of the picture when they got to port. The man was large, and although he would probably put up a fight he was sure that enough men would take him down. And Lord Arron had enough men to do that task. Trint was also sure that Lord Arron would not allow anyone near the young woman. The man was quite protective of his belongings.
Trint looked back at the ship and noticed that it was closing in on him. It was not very quick and that usually meant that the ship was on its way to some port in the new world as well. A thought came to him and he wondered if they would sail together, as it would keep the pirates at bay. They would attack one ship, but two they would think twice about.
It was about mid afternoon when the other ship began to come even with them. Trint had been watching and waiting for anything. His gunners were ready just in case. So far there had been no communications from the other ship, which was a bit odd but not out of the ordinary. Trint would wait as long as he had to until he found out who had caught up to him.
John watched the ship and could feel the tension in the air as the other ship was now even with them. He knew that both ships, if the other one was indeed a merchant like it showed had its guns manned just like Trint had this ship's guns manned. There would be no room for any error in the next few minutes if they were to avoid bloodshed.
He turned to Rebecca who was still by the rail of the ship. She had stated that it had made her feel better just knowing that she was in open air. He approached her and placed a tender hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with her green eyes full of questions.
"I think that we should head back to our quarters," John replied with a firm voice as he eyes darted over to the other ship.
"Pirates," she whispered but with no fear in her voice. That made him wonder about a lot of things.
"I don't think so, but better safe than sorry," he said as he led her back to her quarters. Once inside she could really feel the rocking of the ship. The motion went straight to her stomach which had not given her much peace lately. "Why are you here little one," he asked her.
"Do you really want to know," Rebecca replied looking at her only friend on the ship. She saw only concern and trust in his eyes. "My father spent all of his money drinking and gambling it seems, so he sold me to Lord Arron for his wife," Rebecca said. She still hoped that she would wake up from this nightmare and find herself in her bed with everything all right.
"I'm sorry, the world can be cruel little one," John replied. "I take it you didn't want to go."
"No, the stories I've heard of Lord Arron is he's a jealous man. I'll be lucky if I have any friends at all. And he probably won't let me read or write or even paint," Rebecca said softly.
"Well little one, try not to give up hope, it may not be as bad as you thought. Sometimes a journey begins with an unwanted trip," John said.
"Why do you call me little one," Rebecca asked. She knew that he did not do it because of her height, but more like her father used to talk to her, before he began drinking.
"You remind of someone that I knew," he said as his eyes took on a distant look. "She was full of spunk and energy. She always saw the good in people even after so many things had happened to her."
"Oh, what happened to her," Rebecca asked as she could tell John had cared about the woman.
"Her best friend died, and she lost the will to live," John replied.
"Most of been some friend," Rebecca said.
"I heard that they were more than friends, but they would never say for sure. They kept it well hidden but I could see it from the first time I saw them," John said.
"How did you meet them," Rebecca said. This talking was taking her mind off her stomach which was a good thing.
John was about to reply when he heard commotion on the deck. "I think we should wait until later for me to finish my story," John said as he heard the booming of the big guns. "I want you to stay here, I'll go and see what's going on."
Rebecca shrunk into her small bed and watched as John walked carefully out the door. Rebecca heard all sorts of shouting and more cannon fire. The entire ship shook as it was rocked by hits and then came the bloodcurdling screams. She covered her ears in a vain attempt to shield her mind of what was going on.
It went on for almost a half an hour before it finally got quiet. Except she could still hear the groans of injured men and then sounds of men walking through the ship opening doors and tables being turned over. She knew that there was no place to hide. She would face death as bravely as she could.
Her door was slammed open and two men came barging into the room. Rebecca tried to shrink and merge into the wall but she knew that they had seen her. With grins on their faces they approached the frightened young woman.
"Lead her up onto the deck," a firm voice said behind them. They turned to see a man with long brown hair staring at both the men. "The captain will want to see this."
The two men's faces changed at the mention of the captain and they approached the woman. They each grabbed an arm and lifted her up and walked her up onto the deck. Rebecca was too frightened to even think about fighting back and her mind went into shock as she saw the deck. It was covered with bodies and blood. The entire scene made her sick to her stomach.
Looking around she noticed that John appeared to be all right, and the captain was staring at the man with hate. Glancing around she noticed a tall striking woman with a sword in one hand that was covered in blood. A bandana was on her head and her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was dress in black that did not hid the curves of the womanly body underneath. But it was the eyes that caught her, pale blue unlike she had ever seen and her breath caught.
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