The Curse of Blackbane

A Profane Curse

"When I finish with my wench," the drunken naked man growled back, not bothering to glance up. He continued thrusting into the pleading woman.

With a roar, the captain dropped his tankard and immediately struck the man with the flat side of his sword. Blackbane savagely grabbed the man by his long, greasy hair and pulled him from the woman. As he beat the sailor with the pummel of his sword, blood splattered across the nun. When the wounded pirate fell unconscious to the floor, the captain stood and pointed his razor-sharp sword blade at his victim's neck. The second mate watched in momentary disbelief, anticipating the man's death. Captain Blackbane's infamous anger was legendary.

"He's a freeman and voted you captain," Seymore yelled out quickly as more pirates gathered around the cell to look inside.

Blackbane paused and glanced over at his second mate.

"Seymore, you tell the men that I'll flay the next man alive who fails my orders," the captain loudly declared.

He pushed through the entrance to the room.

"Now get these rabble moving!"

The second nodded before quickly ordering a nearby crewman to take the unconscious man back to the ship.

"Bear down men. The women go to the ship or they're be a cat o'nine bearing on your back." Seymore bellowed out. Then he smacked the closest pirate with the broadside of his sword blade to emphasize the point.

The man sullenly pushed the nun to join the others huddled near the entrance. The captain looked at the men around him and he recognized that he'd spoiled his crew's anticipated entertainment. It was a position that a captain of buccaneers needed to address or risk losing his position. Pirates were a temperamental group who needed diversions.

"Damn those who forgot our prize. I want that gold room found before sunrise. I'll give a chest of silver reales to the man who finds the treasure," Blackbane roared out to the men around him. The effect was immediate on the sullen pirates. They roared out with approval before they scattered like cockroaches.

Blackbane smiled to himself as he walked back to the huddled group of nuns.

"Take the women to the ship," the captain ordered Seymore "Remind the watch not to molest the young ones or I'll have their hide. Their worth a lot of silver to the crew. The men can have the old ones for their Fiddler's Green."

Seymore laughed at the thought.

"Aye, captain, they'll think even the old ones are paradise after so long at sea. I'll make sure our cargo is treated well."

"Best take them with your trusted men and be off with you then," Blackbane said. He waited, watching until his valuable prisoners were on their way to the Diano Marina.

Blackbane turned and walked through the hallway where he found another passageway. When he opened closed doors at the end of the hall, the captain found several rooms along the way. He walked past the open doors, glancing in to see more of the nun's sleeping cells. His men had already come through, stripping each room of anything valuable. He heard a couple of pirates cursing at the end of a nearby corridor and the captain went to investigate.

Two men stood by a closed door. The thick wood remained impervious to the pirate's attempts to enter. Finally, one man started hacking at the handle with a boarding axe. With growing anticipation, Blackbane stood behind them and watched.

As the door finally splintered apart and the handle fell away, Blackbane ordered the men out of his way and pushed through the doorway. He nearly ran over a small, fearless woman who stood in his path. The convent's abbess stood in front of several terrified nuns.