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From: "Elf M. Sternberg" <elf@drizzle.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} Bloody Beth, Chapter 5 (MF)
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 21:10:02 -0400
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                         Bloody Beth, Chapter 5

"Sir, I must protest! You cannot do this!"

Governor Marbry winced at the rising volume of Captain Allison's
voice, but managed to keep his demeanor calm despite his apprehension.
He knew that Allison's own men were on the verge of mutiny-- the
officers for want of going home, the impressments for want of going
ashore. Allison himself was clearly and wholly miserable, and to
Marbry that was no wonder, what with a seditious crew here and a
family waiting to marry him off back home in England. If not for the
promise of a gentle wife and home, he might well have been on the
verge of desertion himself.

But Marbry knew better. Allison was a man of honor, a man who
understood that his duty was to the law and the king of England.
Allison may not have liked Marbry very much, but Marbry was the King's
Man in Jamaica, and to the captain that was all that mattered. "I have
done it. Come, captain, this is a simple matter. I have ordered that
you and your men are to remain in the Caribbe' waters until such time
as the piratess Bloody Beth is hanged or shot. It's that simple. I
perceive that the problem has not been your competence, of which I
have no doubt, but the resources at our disposal. It isn't possible
for one vessel to patrol all of the waters around Jamaica, and yours
is the only vessel permanently assigned here. According to the letters
I have received, your replacement should arrive shortly."

"And you hope that with two ships we shall provide enough eyes to seek
out this Piratess and her vessel that has eluded you for nearly twenty
years?" Allison didn't need to lace his comment with sarcasm. The
words said everything.

"You had better, Allison. It has been three weeks yet since the crew
of the Jacob's Ladder abducted Jacob Harcourt and his wife. There has
been no call for ransom, no word from the Ladder in all that time,
although my spies have heard of them plying a smuggling trade between
here and Southern Mexico, taking rum and sugar to the casillos down
there. I do not know what wrong those pirates believe the Harcourt
family is responsible for, but they have visited their wrath upon the
whole of the family now, and I for one would like to hear of an end to
it."

Allison nodded gravely. The troops who had escorted Lord Harcourt and
his lady to their deaths had been punished with utmost severity; he
had heard that Marby had them imprisoned for months and their thumbs
branded. "Still, Governor, with only two ships--"

"Three ships, Allison. Perhaps more."

"Three?"

Marbry reached into his desk and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers.
He drew out a pen, dipped it, and signed the top sheet. "I have been
instructed to give this to you. It is a letter of pardon to the
Captain and Crew of the ship Bellamy's Error, captained by one William
Morrow, a rather famous pirate who is known to hate Beth with a
passion that rivals my own."

Allison looked at the paper and marshaled his emotions. Marbry's
mention of hatred toward Bloody Beth surprised him; it was as if he
were admitting to something other than a simple legal issue. "Sir,
Morrow's men brawled and killed one of my men last year in a bar down
on the waterfront. I do not want to associate with that kind."

"You don't have to like him, Allison. Just use him to get to Beth.
There's little chance that he will remain pardoned; it is for all past
acts, not future ones. The man who follows you will have a free hand
to do as he sees fit with Morrow, just as you are free to do as you
deem necessary to capture that witch!"

Allison swallowed hard. Marbry had a point. More importantly, he had
the King's signature. He sighed. "Very well, sir. I shall tell my men
that we will be staying, and they can make of that what they will. I
am sure that none will like it, for their own reasons, but they will
live with it. The lash remains a great motivator of men."

Marbry nodded. "I'm sure it does, Allison. I'm sure it does." He held
up his glass. "To your success, Captain."

Allison nodded. "If that is all?"

"That is all." Marbry dismissed him with a wave. Allison stormed out.

Marbry watched him disappear down the hallway with a mixture of
amusement and apprehension. Allison's men could well mutiny at any
moment and everyone associated with the Captain knew it. His own
officers were well beyond restless with their desire to get back to
England. And if Marbry's suspicions were correct then there was more
trouble to come. The Ladder had to be sunk, with all hands on board,
or Jacob and Elaine Harcourt might yet come back from the dead. That
was something he had no wish to see.
  _________________________________________________________________

"You've become a regular visitor to our little corner of
civilization," Lofn observed as Allison tossed his coat over a drying
rack. "I do hope this isn't breaking you."

"My family can well afford it," he growled, sitting on one of the
waiting couches. None of the girls who worked at Lofn's were about at
this hour. Most were resting away the afternoon heat, waiting for the
evening rush of customers.

"Oh, dear," Lofn said. "That does not sound like a happy man."

"I am sorry, miss. But I have just been informed that I am to stay in
this rotted Hell-hole until I have either caught the Piratess or she
has killed me. And I am anxious, truly, for neither. The second is
unpalatable, and the first has proved impossible!"

"I see." Lofn sat down in a large, stuffed chair opposite the couch.
"And you came here to burn off some rage?"

"I came here because it is a better alternative to a tavern," he said.
"At least here, one does not leave with a hangover."

"That is true," Lofn replied with a grin. "Perhaps one of the girls
can help you. Are you familiar with Amalynn?"

"The Spanish girl? Of course. She's lovely."

"Would you like her for the day?"

Allison thought for a moment. "That would be most gracious of the two
of you."

"Then it will be done." She rose and disappeared down the hallway.
Moments later she returned, the small, dark girl with the eyes that
smoldered like twin torches smiling at him. He rose and bowed to her,
ever the gracious gentleman. "My lady Amalynn."

She curtsied perfectly. "My Captain Allison," she replied. "It is good
to see you again." She took his hand. "What brings such a hero to our
establishment so early in the evening? The salon is not until well
after dark."

Allison tried not to react at the label of 'hero.' He had done nothing
heroic at all in his time here. He had seen several men, and now one
ducal family, die while in the king's service on this island. "I think
I would rather avoid the salon tonight, miss. I am not much in the
mood for the company of my fellow man."

"No?" she said, her voice high and soft, her accent as exotic to these
lands as an English rose. "Well, I am not your fellow man, Captain. I
am a woman, and I know what a man like you needs." She led him into
her boudoir and settled him down onto her four-poster bed, now drawn
open against the late day heat. He sat passively as she opened his
shirt and put it aside, stroking his chest. It should have registered,
somewhere, deep within, but it didn't. He could feel her hands upon
him and he wanted to respond. He was numb with shock and anger still,
at William Marbry, at King George, at the madness of it all.

Amalynn looked into his face, and he looked away. "I may not be able
to use the services I have purchased."

"Captain, we have many services here," she said. "Help me remove your
clothing, then lie on the bed, on your stomach." He complied, tiredly,
not wanting to argue the point. "It is my time you have bought, and my
services within that time. Allow me to use some of them on you."

He felt her straddle his buttocks, and felt a twinge of alarm that she
might be attempting something sodomitical upon him, but no, she was
merely using that most fleshy part of him as a seat, as her hands
touched the broad expanse of his shoulders and pressed down against
them. He could feel the tangle of her pubic hair tickling at the base
of his spine. He began to protest, but decided against it, and as she
kneaded her fingers into his flesh he began to relax, finally, and to
give in to her attentions. He allowed her to have her way with him, as
her hands worked their way down his back, over his buttocks, and down
his legs. Massage was one of those things Amalynn was treasured for
among some clients; Allison had never thought to ask for her services
in that fashion.

And yet it worked. Soon his mind was distracted from Marbry and his
vicious predicament. Instead, he became acutely aware of the beautiful
woman straddling his hips, and his overactive imagination provided her
to him with her small breasts naked to his eyes, swaying back and
forth. His erection was pushing painfully down into the bed. He moaned
under her touch, his arousal making it hard for him to lie still.

She dismounted from his body and he turned over. "You are better now,
yes?" she asked, and without waiting for a reply straddled him again,
this time over his cock. Without a pause she sat upon it, taking it
into her. He sighed deeply as her sex enveloped him, surrounded him.
Her furred nether lips pressed down upon the root of his cock and he
felt his own hair mingle with hers.

She did all the work, as she had during the massage, stroking and
caressing his body with her own. He reached up and closed his hands
upon her breasts, but gently. He had no wish to misuse her; just to
have his pleasure, fair trade for fair coin. He watched between her
legs; as she rose, daylight would reveal the lips of her sex sucking
at the shaft of his cock; when they were together, darkness would
obscure the disappearance of his manhood within her.

It felt wonderful, and he had no desire to either shorten it or force
its prolonging. It did not take long anyway before that familiar
tension built within him. Seconds later he climaxed with a gentle
groan, an almost unmanly sound to his ears.

She touched his cheek and left him. "I will be back shortly, Captain.
Rest. You appear to need it."

He did not reply. The heat of the day and the heaviness of his eyes
took him away.
  _________________________________________________________________

"Captain Allison. Captain Allison!" Someone was shaking his shoulder.
He opened his eyes to see Amalynn looking at him querulously, "You
said you didn't want to be here when the main of the salon opened this
evening. It is almost that time."

He groaned softly as he rose from her bed. It was one of the
privileges of visiting in the afternoon, a comfortable bed in which to
take a nap. He regretted having to leave it so soon for the small,
private bunk on board the Mary. "Thank you, Amalynn." He dressed
himself slowly, watching her lithe form as she handed him his shirt
and his boots. "I cannot wait to get home."

"To England, si?" Amalynn asked. Allison nodded. She sighed. "I would
love to visit England and Spain. But I have not the money to bribe my
way off the island and onto a ship going that way-- not that there are
many. I would have to reach a neutral port in Florida or Mexico, and
have enough money to get from there to my home." A far away look
filled her eyes. "I wish I knew what family I had."

"And I hate waiting for mine," Allison agreed. He counted out the
usual amount, added a small gift, and handed it to Amalynn. "I have
gotten my money's worth."

"You're very welcome, Captain."

Allison left Lofn's establishment feeling slightly more tired,
slightly less rich, and only slightly happier than he had when he had
come in. He didn't begrudge himself or Amalynn the experience; he
hadn't expected any relief from the pressures put upon him by his
harsh governor and the rules of this hellish place.

He walked down Capitol Hill slowly, his boots thudding unhappily
against the packed dirt that was all the road to be found in Kingston.
He passed depressed-looking houses cut out of mud brick and plaster,
all whitewashed to keep out the horrid summer heat, all kept
spotlessly clean to catch the precious rainwater. He did not hate the
people or the place so much as the circumstances. Looking down from
the Hill, he could see small lights here and there, the lanterns and
candles of taverns and homes coming to life against the fall of night.
A smattering of torches lit the area around the few mansions nearby,
home to the new landed gentry, titled and not, who made their fortunes
with audacity and cruelty.

He looked up at the sky and its millions of stars just starting to
fade in with the coming dark, and the moon that rose over the harbor.
He did not notice the two figures walking up behind him until one
stuck something into his ribs. "Easy, Captain."

He startled at the voice. A woman's voice! "What..."

"This," she said, jabbing him in the side a little harder, "is a
rather ordinary pistol. Please don't make me use it on you."

"What do you want with me?" he said, his body going cold with fear. He
could only imagine one woman who would dare assault him in this
fashion. The line of reasoning that led from there did not make him
feel any better. "Beth?"

"Aye," she agreed. "Come with me. We're going to talk." She led him
into a tavern, past a group of quiet drunks that eyed him with
contempt as he walked by, and into a back room. She shut the door
behind herself. Her companion, a short, swarthy gentleman, watched him
carefully as she pushed the head of her cloak down to reveal her face.

So this was Bloody Beth, he thought. She was a rather pretty woman all
the same. Shapely, with a strong face and a nose of almost perfect
geometry. Her eyes were powerfully green, and her eyebrows sharp and
dark. It was the kind of face a painter would have adored in his
artwork.

He decided to open with a gambit. "If I do not report to my ship
shortly, they'll be looking for me. And if I were to disappear, you
can imagine where their suspicions will first turn."

"I do not doubt that they will have their suspicions, Captain, but
they are not expecting you tonight. I know that well enough. In any
event, I have come here not to kill you but to have a talk with you.
We have many things to discuss." She sat down in a chair opposite his
own and crossed her legs. "We are waiting for another party to arrive.
In the meantime, I would like to discuss with you what your intentions
are now that the Governor has forced you to remain in Jamaica upon
threat of your commission and discharge."

"You know about that?" he asked, outraged. Did she have spies, and
were they everywhere in Jamaica?

"Of course. It has been the talk among your junior officers for some
time now. Your men are on the verge of mutiny, you are on the verge of
a breakdown." She tilted the gun in the direction of the door. He
thought of rushing her, but her companion kept his pistol equally
ready. "We will discuss how to alleviate such matters tonight."

"And how do you propose to do that? Are you turning yourself in?" he
asked, sounding more sarcastic than he felt. In truth, he felt
bone-weary, and was not at all in the mood to argue.

She was about to reply when the door opened. Two more cloaked figures
walked into the room and closed the door behind them. "No," she
replied. "I would like to talk about the matter of the Harcourt
family."

Allison became truly angry and sputtered as he spoke. "The Harcourt
family!" he demanded. "You want to discuss that fine house that you
and your predecessors cut down? For that alone, my dear Piratess, you
should be tied to the most barnacled dockpost in all of Jamaica and
left to bleed for the sharks!"

"But our family is not cut down," said one of the two newcomers as he
pushed back the hood of his cloak. "In fact, for the first time in
ages it is of a piece." He stepped into the light of the lone lantern.

Captain Allison sputtered. "Lord Harcourt! You are alive!"

"Obviously," Jacob replied. "And quite well, your heroics
notwithstanding, Captain Allison. You recall my wife, Elaine?" He
gestured to the other figure in the shadows, who now stepped forward.
Both of them were dressed in the garb of natives, and were
indistinguishable from their pirate company. If Beth were pretty,
Elaine was one of the most beautiful women Allison had ever met. She
was a creature that made men swoon with a glance. He had seen her
first in her country gown, which obscured many of her charms. Her
outfit now did as much to accentuate them. She was ravishing.

"Now then, Captain," Jacob continued, "obviously you have met the
Piratess, Bloody Beth, and you know her by reputation. I'm sure that
you have heard many nasty things said about her. What you perhaps did
not know is that this woman here is, in fact, the lady Elizabeth
Rowena Harcourt, my sister, and daughter of the late Duke Harcourt,
our father."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Allison said, his eyes flickering back
and forth between Harcourt's and Bloody Beth's. He could see the
familial resemblance. It was stronger than he wanted to admit. There
was also something to the cut of her jaw and the line of her nose that
reminded him of another recent acquaintance.

"No," Beth replied. "It isn't. And if I hadn't saved my brother and
his wife from the assassins who killed my father nine years ago, we
wouldn't be here having this conversation. You see, Captain Allison,
you are an unwitting pawn in a conspiracy. Two forces are at work
here-- ancient hatreds and very modern greed. The Duke of Coke would
like to see the house of Harcourt dead, and Governor Marbry would like
to be very, very rich." She laid out the entire story, beginning with
the raid on her household nine years ago, and her flight and life
aboard the Jacob's Ladder. She left out her discovery that she was an
invert, at least partially.

Allison sat quietly through her story. "I don't believe it," he said
at the end. "The Governor involved in stealing from the King?"

Beth replied, "All the King knows is that the Harcourt plan, with all
the details, was lost when pirates raided his home and killed all
those within. What he could not know was that a few of us lived, and
have lived, on the Ladder for these past many years."

"As you can see," Jacob continued, "we are unharmed. My sister has had
to survive with her wits and her skills because Marbry left her no
choice. She is a wanted woman wherever she goes in the British Isles.
Think about it, Allison: why is the price on her head so much higher
than anyone else's, and why does the bounty specify that it wants her
more dead than alive?"

Allison looked up. "Even if that is true, what do you want me to do
about it? I can't just give up my commission now. Marbry won't let me
go until I bring you in."

"We need to bring Marbry down. And that means that I need you to cease
chasing me like a hound, Allison. Only for a little while. A few weeks
at most."

"That will not be as easy as you make it sound, Captain Beth. Marbry
has another vessel coming, and he has hired William Morrow with the
promise of a pardon."

"Morrow!" she gasped. "That old bastard!"

"Is this a problem?" Jacob asked.

"It can be," Beth admitted. "Morrow is a pirate, like myself. He hates
me with a passion, but never has had much reason to go after me
himself. Now he does, with a raise in bounty and the pardon. He
doesn't know my ways, but he knows pirates better than any man in the
King's navy." She turned back to Allison. "You see, I know how to
bring Marbry down. My blood, my brother's word, is good enough for
that. It is the Duke of Coke that I need to get to. And I have no idea
how to find the indictment against him."

"I cannot help you there, my lady," Allison said. he looked up at
Jacob. "But I will take the Duke at his word for now, that he is well
and a man of his word. I will tell no one of our meeting."

Beth sighed. "Thank you, Captain. Someday, if all goes well, we may
meet at a ball in London."

"I should like to trade sea stories with you then. If only to the
shock of those who might hear."

She stood up and gave her pistol to her companion. "I shall look
forward to it." She held out her hand.

He clasped it momentarily, nodded, smiled, and turned for the door.
The duke opened it for him, and he was gone.

"One," Beth said.
  _________________________________________________________________

Bloody Beth, Chapter 5

Bloody Beth is Copyright (C) 2002 Elf Mathieu Sternberg. Distribution
limited to electronic media not-for-profit use only. All other rights
are reserved to the author.

--
Elf M. Sternberg, Proud to be an Extinctionist
http://www.drizzle.com/~elf/  

With the advance of biogenetics, it is not so much that we are losing
our dignity and freedom but that we realise we never had them in the
first place. - Slavoj Zizek

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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