**English version of the WATTYS 2019 WINNER story**
1672, Caribbean Sea.
He lost everything for her. She risked everything for him.
But maybe love is not enough to bridge over so many deep differences between them, and the only way for them is goodb...
Castillano didn't dare to even glance at Marina, who was busy holding Dolores up. Segovia chuckled when they closed the shackles around Castillano's wrists, and glanced over his shoulder. Two more soldiers stepped up to grab Castillano's arms and followed the general to the daily dining room and the garden. The other soldiers surrounded Dolores and Marina.
They crossed the garden under the frightened looks of the servants. Segovia's coach waited outside the side entrance. They made Dolores and Marina get in and sit side by side, then Castillano. Segovia got in the last, a pistol in his hand and another in his sash. Through the edge of the closed curtains, Marina saw a soldier on the step outside each door. She could bet there were two more at the back, and two more at the driver's seat.
Before the coach reached the harbor, Alma was running to the market as fast as her legs would allow her. There was hardly any stand open that early, and she didn't saw any of Marina's pirates.
She breathed deep, to muster courage rather than air, and screamed, "My pearl! They've taken my pearl!"
She was still saying it when several men hurried toward her out of alleys and around corners. Alma stepped back, scared. But she recognized Maxó's scar. She ran to him, showing Marina's ring.
"They've taken the three of them away!"
Maxó pulled his pistol out, grabbed Alma's arm and let out a long, distinctive whistle. The other men circled them, carrying pistols and knives. More men joined them as they went, flocking to Maxó's whistling. The group closed ranks and hurried away from the market.
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Marina kept from meeting Castillano's eyes when the noise of the wheels showed they were rolling down the dock. They made them get out only two steps away from the gangplank to a war brigantine, like the Sovereign and the Royal Eagle. On her way to the plank among the soldiers, Marina counted five gunports on that side. Ten guns. Fourteen tops, counting the chasers fore and aft. The Phantom carried twice that number.
As she helped Dolores step down from the gangplank, she saw a frigate moored three-hundred yards away from the port, her boats rowing toward the dock. She would've recognized her among a thousand same: it was the Trinidad. Marina clenched her fists, feeling fury threatened to overcome her. For the first time since she'd attacked the Lion, she felt a burning anger eating her up inside at the sight of the vessel where she'd been captive and attacked.
The first boat reached the dock when soldiers took Castillano to the brigantine's aft hatch. The officers that came in the boat caught a glimpse of him and elbowed each other. Marina and Dolores were near that hatch, surrounded by soldiers, and the girl needed all her will to stay put when she spotted the two officers that had gone after her in the Trinidad's magazine. She made the mistake of staring at them. As if they'd felt her glare, their eyes fell on her and widened. Marina turned around, cursing her blunder.
Dolores noticed her scowl and looked up at the dock. "There are two officers talking to Segovia," she whispered. "Could it be that they're pointing at us?"
"They've made me out," Marina grunted.
"What? How could they?"
"They tried to rape me on the way to Maracaibo. Let's say they saw me up close."
Dolores breathed deep. "Well, we can trust they told Segovia about it." She glanced at the dock again. "Their captain is with them, all of them looking serious."
"Shut up or I'm doing something crazy. That son of a bitch was who gave his officers a free pass on me."
Dolores took her tight fists and tried a smile. "Let me give you back your own words, my friend: pull yourself together, Morris is coming for us."
Marina nodded, closing her eyes.
At the dock, Segovia thanked Lorenzo Santos Dominguez and his officers and left them to board the brigantine.
"The heretic?" he asked, approaching Marina and Dolores.
"In the hold, General," a soldier replied.
Segovia stopped only a step away from his prisoners, smirking at their scornful looks.
"Take the blonde bitch to the cabin. I'll take care of her. And you, shy girl." Segovia leaned to whisper in Marina's ear, "Or should I call you Pearl of the Caribbean?" He raised his voice again. "You to the aft locker, where you like to have visitors."
They couldn't stop the soldiers from taking them different ways. Marina was led down the companionway to the hold. There she saw Castillano hung from his shackles, his feet hardly touching the floor. They'd stripped him from anything that could identify him as an officer.
Castillano wriggled when he saw them push her into the locker and close the door. "Let her go! She's done nothing! She's innocent!"
"Loyal to the bitter end, right, Captain?" said Segovia, coming down the companionway in no hurry. "Your friend Lorenzo Santos and his men were most useful a moment ago, telling me who your girlfriend really is." He faced Castillano with his arrogant smirk. "Two heretics and a witch. Won't Monsignor Cruz be pleased."
Castillano looked away, cursing Segovia in his head. And Lorenzo. And Lorenzo's officers. But above all, he cursed himself.
