The Pirate's Stowaway

Chapter 31

           

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Chapter 31:

Even with the sound of her heart beating so loudly, Emma found that it was easier to listen to the sound she was most scared of, especially when it grew louder and louder.

Each of the men sprung up and pulled their swords from their sides. Donovan did the same only he quickly placed her behind him. She didn't want to interfere, or steal his concentration, so she tiptoed behind him, balancing herself with her hand on the wall.

As the sounds grew closer they could tell that there was more than one snort and she knew they were almost to the corner, and since the sound of their running was resonating off the walls it was now down to only a couple seconds.

She watched the corner intently, holding her breath just like everyone else. It was so calm and nerve rendering that when the animals finally came around the corner chaos ensued.

Two huge wild boar with massive tusks were running into the room, but they halted when they saw all the people, clearly something that would be a strange sight to them. Only two heartbeats passed when they charged at the closest pirate to them.

There were screams coming from both parties and Emma was petrified so she was glad Donovan was staying in front of her to make sure she was staying protected.

She wanted to help them somehow, but she didn't know how to use a sword, or kill anything, and she was so scared she didn't even think she would be able to run if one of the boars suddenly decided it wanted to go after her.

Everything was mostly a blur while she watched them attack from her pushed up position on the wall.

Half of them circled around the first one and while man distracted, two attacked, just in case it wanted to go one way instead of the other. They both lunged and in one swoop, its head was cut off, rolling to the floor. Because of the sharpness of the blades the blood didn't go everywhere, but rather started flowing a few seconds after the head had hit the ground.

It still ended up messy, but they couldn't focus on it since they still had the other boar to worry about. It was slightly bigger than the first and when they tried the same tactic as with the other one, it proved to be smarter. Instead of allowing itself to be stuck inside the circle of men, it started to slowly back up towards the corridor from which it had come from, but it still looked evil in the eyes. The movements were slow, like the men weren't supposed to notice, but they did and instead of waiting for it to leave they charged it and it charged them.

It was much faster than the other and the first pirate almost didn't have time to make it before moving out of the way, allowing the boar to move in towards Edward. Immediately Emma felt like she needed to do something more for the person she considered to be her friend, but when she tried to run out towards him Donovan instantly wrapped his arms around her waist and held her against him.

Another pirate managed to get the boar away from him and drive a sword through its throat, but not before a tusk sliced Edward's lower thigh and a scream rang out. Blood poured from the wound as its owner's hands moved to cover it.

Only after Donovan was sure that there were no more threats of danger did he let Emma down so she could rush to the cabin boy. He knew that they had spent time together, and he knew it had been for help in the kitchen. The one thing he didn't know was what had happened in those few hours they were alone and he felt the sharp sting of jealousy before telling himself he was being ridiculous and had to force the feeling to go away.

She wasn't sure what she was doing when she got to Edward, but she would figure out some way to help him. The gash was still gushing blood around the fingers that were trying to hold it all in. She knew that the pressure would help get the blood flow lessen and she genuinely enjoyed being in his company so she hoped nothing bad would happen to him because of the attack.

She might not have known the way to proceed, but someone else did and they yelled their idea out behind her.

"She's a maid! Can she sew his leg shut if we find the stuff to do it?"

She couldn't do that, could she? She had convinced herself after being on the ship that she was some kind of a maid now, but that didn't mean she knew how to actually do that kind of stuff. The maids that she had had in her palace had sewed numerous things and she always watched them do it, she just didn't know if she could replicate it.

If she were to try, and fail, somehow make it worse, she would never be able to forgive herself and she was sure the rest of the pirates wouldn't be able to either.

She turned to look for Donovan face and found everyone's looking at her instead, waiting for an answer with hopeful eyes. Their looks, the way they were holding themselves and their breaths, she knew that she couldn't say no to them.

"Just find me what I need, a needle and some really sturdy thread." She watched as relief flooded over all of their faces at her response.

While she waited for them to give her the supplies she sat next to Edward, who had now managed to get the blood flow to stop and thankfully he hadn't lost as much as everyone thought he would have. They didn't really talk to each other and Donovan had only come over once to give her a quick kiss before going back to help some of the men with fixing a place for the boars.

They had fashioned a kind of rotisserie out of branches and secured the feet with vines, she loved how resourceful they were, as pirates, and that was why she didn't doubt that she would have what she needed for Edward.

It took a few more minutes before they brought her everything and when they did she was pleasantly surprised at how accurate they got. The needle was fashioned from hard obsidian and the thread was a long, thick thread that had been taken from one of their shirts.

"The needle was held over the fire so it is as clean as it can be, and here, he might need this, and you should probably pour some on the wound every now and then." The man also gave her a good-sized bottle of whiskey and she took it, turning to focus on the wound.

"Edward, I'm sorry, this is going to really hurt, but I need to do it." He nodded to her because he knew that it would, but he picked up his leather belt and bit down on it, knowing he would need it.

She peeled back his trousers as gently as she could and poured some of the whiskey on the gash. She knew it probably didn't feel the best, but he didn't make a sound only fidgeted a little, likely because he knew what was coming.

Lining the thread up to the handmade needle hole she pulled it through and then knotted off the end, making sure it was secure before she moved down to his leg.

She took a deep breath, in her nose and out her mouth, calming her nerves and pushed the needle through on side of the wound and out the other. Edward screamed lightly, but didn't move and she took that as a good sign and did it again. The gash was at least 4 inches long so it didn't need a lot of sewing, but it felt like it took forever. She felt sweat on her brow, probably from nerves and heat both, but she pushed through until she was at the end of it and it was sewn shut.

It looked pretty good for her first time, but she wasn't going to tell anyone that. She felt so proud of herself.

When she picked up the whiskey to pour over the wound once more, it stung to her when she did it too. Only then did she notice the little cuts on her finger from helping to push the needle through. It felt so worth it though and when she turned around, she realized they had all been watching her with the same respectful look they gave to Donovan as their captain.

Her eyes searched for his face and when she found it she found him looking back and forth between her and his crew, him doing that made her realize something.

She might have run from royalty, but these men were going to treat her as their queen, fitting to go along with the pirate king: and she was going to happily accept.