Chapter 3

Kate took a long swallow of rum and slumped back against the pillows as the cook sharpened his well- used knife on a leather strop. He was a burly man with a stained apron and arms the size of treetrunks, and what little intellignece he had been born with had been beaten out of him in five years as a backstreet prize fighter. He had been assigned the job of ship's surgeon due to the fact that he owned the sharpest knives, but it was a role he did not relish in the least. He cut the captain's trousers away and examined the bullet wound, frowning slightly as he did so. "The ball's lodged deep, Cap'n" he announced gravely, "you better take more rum...or do you want me to knock you out?"
"No...my head aches enough as it is" replied Kate, raising her head to take another swig from the rum bottle.

She took some deep breaths and gripped the coverlet in preparation, nodding to indicate she was ready, but as the cook's knife still hovered over the wound the door burst open and Princess Annika flew in with a cry of "STOP!" The cook froze with his blade a milimetre from its goal and withdrew it in shock. Seeing she was in time to stop the 'operation' the princess calmed somewhat and strode over to the astonished captain, who asked in a confused tone "what's the matter?"
"You can't use that knife," explained Annika calmly, addressing herself to the shocked cook, "it's not clean, is it?"
"C..c..clean?" he stuttered, as if he had never heard the word in his life.
"The wound will get infected if you use a dirty instrument."
"infected?" repeated the cook dumbly.

Giving up, Annika knelt beside the captain's bed and spoke softly to her. "Captain," she said, reaching out to wipe the sweat from Kate's brow, "you must trust me on this, I know what I am talking about. I recieved lessons from my father's court physician. Please...please, let me take charge." Her tone was almost desperate in its sincerity and Kate found herself trusting the woman without reservation, and so she nodded her assent and squeezed her eyes shut against a sudden stab of pain.

Annika sprang into action. "Cook" she said to the man, who was visibly relieved to have been let off the hook in this way, "I will need your assistance."
"Yes, Miss" he answered deferentially. She sent him for water, cloths, a sharper knife, the sharpest needle he could find and some yarn, going over the list three times before he had comitted it to memory. While he was gone she knelt beside Kate and stroked her fevered brow, pushing the wet, fiery hair out of her face. "Oh Kate," she crooned softly, smiling as the older woman's eyes fluttered open, "what on earth were you doing out there?"
"Trying to redeem myself" came the quiet relpy, eliciting a gentle snort from the princess. When the cook returned with his load, she instructed him to boil the water and put the needle and the knife into it, having to explain twice more before he was able to grasp the concept. Then, having made sure everything was ready to her satisfaction, she made him hold down the captain's ankle, and she knelt beside the bed. She helped the captain to another swig of rum and told her to try and breathe normally. "Try to stay with me, Kate," she said, her lips but a hairsbreadth from the pirate's ear, "it will be over soon."

She worked quickly, cutting into the ragged flesh around the bullet to allow its passage out, and then digging deep to gouge it from its resting place. Though the needle was the sharpest the cook had been able to find, it had not been made to pierce human skin and the sewing up of the wound was a torturous process. Kate's back arched off the bed, her fingers gripping the sheets convulsively as her whole world turned to agony. She tried to breathe normally as Annika had instructed but it was impossible. Not once, however did her voice rise above a hiss or a whimper, she was too used to having bullets carved out of her in places where soldiers might descend upon her at the slightest noise. Yes, she had been through this more times than she could count, but somehow she never got used to the pain of it. Perhaps that only meant that after everything she'd been through, after everything she'd done, she was still human. 'Still...human.... after all....' she told herself as the darkness overtook her.

* * * * * *

Kate awoke with a start to find Annika leaning over her, mopping her forehead with a cool, damp cloth. "Ssshh" the princess soothed as Kate stirred and immediately flinched, "don't try to move. You are going to be fine but you must lie still a while or your stitches may tear." She turned to rinse out the cloth in a bowl on the chest beside the bed and then returned to her mopping. "You have a fever," she said, "I do not think it is serious, but you need to rest for a few days."
"How long.....was I....out? asked Kate weakly, appalled at the effort it took.
"A day, a night. It is morning now."
It was only now as she gazed up at the princess that the captain noticed the shadows under the young woman's eyes. "What about you?" she asked, smiling as the princess raised her eyebrow questioningly. "You look.....tired, Highness. How long...have you been here?"
"Oh I am fine, Captain" Annika assured her, moving the cloth down to dab Kate's sweaty chest, never ceasing in her attempt to lower the woman's temperature. At any other time the act would have been garunteed to produce exactly the opposite effect, but at the moment Kate was in too much pain to think about anything but lying still, even as it gradually dawned on her that she was now completely naked except for the wrapping around her thigh. She swallowed hard.

The princess was in fact very tired. She had been with the captain ever since she had returned, never leaving her bedside as she kept watch for any sign of infection. The fever had not been unexpected, but she would not leave while the captain was still in its grip, despite the best efforts of various members of the crew to get her to at least go out for some fresh air. Her dedication quickly became the talk of the ship and several of the crew began to wonder if they might soon find themselves with a new permanent crew member. The idea certainly pleased the cook, who was even now looking forward to the end of his not so glittering medical career.

Jonas, the cabin boy, jerked awake as the door beside him opened. He had been stationed outside the captain's cabin in case the princess should need anything brought, and had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. He quickly got to his feet as the tall blonde peered around the door and he tugged at his dangling forelock. "You need som'it, ma'am?" he asked politely.
"Yes, Jonas," the princess confirmed, "the captain wants to talk to Mr Rawlings. Would you get him please?"
"Yes, ma'am, right away" acknowledged the boy, tugging at his forelock once more and giving a little bow before turning to scurry off.
"Oh, and Jonas? I don't think I'll need you any more. When you're done you may go to bed."
"Yes, ma'am, thank you, ma'am" said the boy, blushing violently at the princess's warm smile.

The princess had been making many of the crew blush lately. Her initial cold haughtiness, the attribute which had protected her for her entire life, had gradually melted away while she had been aboard the Molly Malone, and the natural warmth that had been surpressed for as long as she could remember had begun to come out. She had captured the hearts and minds of the crew with her beauty, her natural charm and wit, her slightly flirtatious though efficient manner, and especially her devotion to the captain's care. She earned respect and admiration from everyone and she was beginning to feel like this could be a home for her, a far warmer, more loving home than she had ever experienced in her father's palace.

Rawlings had become particularly fond of the princess, feeling very protective towards her even though she overawed him at times. Now he stood in front of her and nodded in agreement and she explained "she wants to discuss the ship with you, Mr Rawlings, but she is still weak, please do not tire her."
"Of course, ma'am" he acknowledged with a little nod.
The princess smiled and admitted "I know you must think I am fussing, Mr Mate. I know she's had worse and probably not taken proper care of herself after, I know she's tough but I...."
"You care about her, Highness, I understand."
"Yes," she agreed, speaking as if to herself, "I care about her very much."
When Rawlings left for his meeting with the captain, the princess remained in the corridor, contemplating her own last statement with a slightly amazed frown on her face.

* * * * * *

The captain opened her eyes and smiled as they settled on the tall form that stood at the window, staring out at the vast expanse of calm water. She stayed still and merely watched silently as the light formed a halo around the princess's golden head. Anika turned and saw her patient looking at her, a wide smile forming on her lips. "Good morning" she greated softly as she glided over to sit by the bed, and she reached out to lay a cool hand on the captain's brow and test her temperature. "You are cooler now," she informed the woman, "I will find you a shirt." As the princess searched in Kate's trunk for a clean shirt she said "I know you are still uncomfortable but I think the worst is over."
"Thanks to your wonderful care" the captain acknowledged.
"It was the least I could do," the princess smiled, giggling at the captain's questioning frown, "to thank you for rescuing me" she clarified.
"Ah, is that what I did?"

Kate wanted to get out of bed but, although her fever was all but gone, she was still in considerable pain and her nurse would not allow it. "You must rest a while longer, Kate" the princess insisted, "another couple of days at least."
"I can't," the captain complained with a grimace, as she levered herself up, "I have a ship to run and I've already neglected her too long."
"Mr Rawlings is doing fine, Kate," Anika assured her as she laid a restraining hand on her shoulder, "the sea is calm, there are no other ships in sight, there's nothing to worry about."
"That's what I'm worried about" claimed the captain.
"Please, Kate, you are not well enough yet." The captain noticed that the princess looked even more tired than the last time she had come round and bargained "all right, if I promise to do as you say will you go and get some sleep."
"I do not need to sleep" the princess assured her.
"Yes you do, Highness, you're exhausted" the captain disagreed.
"I am fine, Kate" came the firm response.
"Good, then so am I" claimed the captain as she began to climb painfully out of the bed.
Anika restrained her gently once more and relented, "fine, I will rest. But I will not leave you yet. If you will move over slightly I will rest here" and she walked around to the other side of the bed.

The bed was large for one but rather intimate for two and lying beside the beautiful princess made the captain more than a little tense. Her sweet but subtle scent was almost overpowering and there was no way to avoid coming into some kind of physical contact with her. The captain thanked the gods she was no longer naked and took a deep breath to try and calm her raging hormones before asking nervously "do you have enough room, Highness?"
"Yes, thank you, but I wish you would call me Anika."
"I....I don't think I can do that" stammered the captain.
Anika giggled softly and admonished "Captain! We are lying on a bed together....can you not try?" a gently teasing note in her melodious voice.
"Very well" Kate relented. She shivered a little at the feel of the princess's breath on her neck and Anika enquired concernedly "Are you cold?" reaching down to pull the blankets further up.
"No" was all the reply she could manage.

Anika watched as the captain fidgetted with the corner of a sheet and a smile of dawning understanding curved her mouth. "May I ask you a question, Kate?" she requested softly.
"Of course."
"Are you....attracted to me?"
The captain spluttered as if she had swallowed a mouthful of rum the wrong way and turned to the princess with a look of utter amazement on her features. "I....I..." she stumbled, "I assure you, Highness, I would never....."
"I know that," Anika said, looking up with great doe-eyes into the sparkling green of the captain's, "but that's not what I asked." She sat half way up, resting on one elbow and moved a little closer, looking calmly down at the recumbent captain. "I may be inexperienced, Kate," she admitted quietly, "but I am not a complete child in these matters. I am a woman."
"I know" the captain agreed as her eyes involuntarily raked over the very womanly form before her.
Anika blushed and continued "I am asking because I am very attracted to you and I want to know if you feel the same."
Kate was mesmerised and answered "yes" before she knew what was happening, "I mean.....yes, I find you very beautiful, Highness."
"Anika" the princess corrected.
"Anika" agreed Kate dreamily.

She felt a whispering caress travel down along the scar on her cheek and a soft voice in her ear asked "how did you get this?"
"A knife fight with a rival" she answered
"A pirate?"
"Yes, though he hated the word. He called himself a buccaneer."
"And did you give him a scar too?"
"No, I killed him."
The baldness of the comment took the princess aback and she gave a little gasp. Kate kept her stare forward and advised "Anika, before you become too attracted to me you should relise what I am. I know what the adventure-hungry young things say of me at home, I know they find me heroic and glamourous but nothing could be further from the truth. He wasn't the first I've killed and I doubt he'll be the last. I'm a pirate, Anika, not a hero."
"Is it not possible to be both?"
"I don't think so."
"I wonder if the slaves you rescue would agree."

A suspiscious glare landed on the princess as the captain asked "what do you know about that?"
"Nothing. Mr Rawlings was speculating, that's all."
"Mr Rawlings has a big mouth and an overactive imagination."
The denial, however, was unconvincing following so hot upon the heels of the captain's suspiscion and the princess would not be thrown off. "I don't think so," she said, "I think he's right. These dangerous 'jaunts' of your involve rescuing slaves, don't they?"
The captain was a little sulky in her admission but no longer attempted to hide the truth, merely explaining "I hate slavery, that's all."

They lay in silence for a while, neither or them able to relax enough to sleep. Eventually the princess laid a soft hand on the captain's chest and moved closer. "Kate" she said, very softly, "I believe I have come to a descision"
"Oh yes?"
"I do not wish either to return to Sweden or to go to Spain."
"Then you will accept my money from the Indies?"
There was a pause, but not of uncertainty, the answer was now utterly clear in Anika's mind. "No" she explained, "I wish to stay with you."
The captain looked up at her guest in amazement but, when she began to protest, the princess laid her fingers delicately on Kate's lips and said "Shhh, I know what you are going to say. You are going to protest that it is not the life for someone like me, that the life of a spoilt princess that I have led does not equip me for such an existance, that it is hard and dangerous and not at all romantic." She looked deep into Kate's startled eyes and smiled before continuing "I know all that, but I don't want to be a spoilt princess any more, Kate, it is that life that was not for me, it made me miserable and that's why I was so unpleasant to everyone all the time."
"Well you certainly have changed" agreed the captain.
Anika blushed a little and admitted "I know I have nothing but my medical skills to offer you but I will learn. I will pull my weight, I promise. I don't want to live with strangers, surviving off your money, and I won't go back. Apart from seeing you hurt, I am happier than I have ever been."
"You seem....aagh!" A sliver of pain lanced at the captain's thigh as she tried to twist around to face the princess and Anika reached out to steady her.
"Lie still, Kate," she ordered softly, stroking the captain's cheek to calm her, "you must sleep now, we will talk about this later." The captain closed her eyes but sleep was elusive until eventually the princess, tiring of her bedfellow's restlessness, began to sing to her as she gently stroked her hair. The soft, lilting voice weaved around the captain and held her in a warm embrace, soothing her gently into sleep.


 

Chapter 4

Anika woke first and left the now peacefully sleeping captain to go onto the deck for some fresh air. The night was dark but the sky was filled with twinkling stars and as the princess leant on the railing to look up at them she smiled to herself. It was strange how at home she felt here on this beautiful ship with these rough, down-to earth people, so unlike the courtiers she had been brought up with. There was the threat of violence and death here, yes, but there was also laughter and friendship and warmth, things that had seemed to be considered inappropriate in the cold, staid Swedish court as well as the others she had occassionally visited. She could hear the laughter now as a small group of sailors gathered around the light further up the deck and told stories while they drank their rum. She glided towards them, a smile appearing unbidden on her lush lips as they greeted her politely, several of them standing up, all but fighting to offer her their place.

She settled herself down graciously and prompted "please, continue with your stories" but they were hesitiant to comply. "Oh, ma'am" said a tall, swarthy character with a blue bandana around his head "our stories ain't for your ears."
"Do you think I am so easily shocked, Harry?" she asked, her eyebrow rising up her forehead. But Harry's answer was cut short by a cry from the crowsnest.

The black schooner came out of nowhere and was upon them before anyone knew what was happening. The crew had been lulled by these calm, clear waters and the attack caught them completely off guard, throwing them into chaos for a few seconds. Anika leapt to her feet as the dark ship broadsided the Molly Malone and grappling hooks were thrown at her bows. Amid shouts and cries of confusion and anger, the strange crew boarded, milling over the deck like ants spilling out of an anthill. There seemed no end to the intruders as they swamped the deck.

Rawlings appeared out of nowhere to take charge and fierce fighting ensued. Hand to hand and sword to sword the two crews faught and Anika swiped at every stranger she saw with anything to hand, a bucket, a boathook, a discarded knife. She faught bravely and effectively, though operating entirely on instinct, and brought down several assailants with her wild defence. But, inevitably, she was eventally cornered by a large man with a bushy black beard and a massive machette. She backed up nervously as he raised his weapon to strike, but just as she was expecting the final blow, he stopped in his tracks, gasped, coughed, and dropped flat on his face. Anika stared for a few seconds at the sword sticking upright out of his back, and then looked up into the darkly shining eyes of Captain Kate. "Stay here, Highness" was all she said, but the princess and the captain held eachothers' gaze in a moment of perfect understanding, before the captain reached down to pull her sword from her enemy's huge body and, leaning on the the mast for support, turned to hobble into the middle of the battle. Anika did as she was told, finding a barrel in a dark corner to crouch by, for as soon as she had stopped fighting she had started thinking, and thought had let fear creep up on her.

A knife skittered along the deck and struck the barrel behind which the princess crouched. She breathed a sigh of relief as the weapon was deflected and reached out to grab it, clutching its worn handle to stave off her terror. She watched breathlessly as the battle raged on around her, here and there catching a fleeting glimpse of the captain as she passed, sabre flashing in the lamplight.

Kate was in the thick of it, slashing with her sabre and thrusting with her dagger. In a battle like this, she had no use for her French flintlock as it took far to long to load, and so after the first telling shot she had thrown it to the deck and plunged in with her blade. Fire flashed through her leg with every lunge, but she she purposefully and steadfastly ignored it, gritting her teeth and concentrating on the matter at hand....survival. She sensed a fast approaching sword and spun on her heel to parry the blow, jabbing her knife straight between the ribs of her would-be killer. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the glint of the lantern light on another blade and twisted to avoid it, turning with her own sabre raised to engage her attacker. The grinning face that greeted her was startlingly familiar.

"'ello, Cap'n" snarled the man, as their swords locked together down to the hilt, "'member me?"
"How could I possibly forget you, Joe?" she replied almost casually.
"'dare say you thought you'd got rid of me, eh?"
"Well, I did hope so" Kate agreed caustically, "but you can't have everything, eh?"
One-eyed Joe shoved angrilly at his former captain and stepped back a pace to prepare for a fight, but Kate was ready and waiting for his blow. He had always been an indiscriminate figher. He had the skill but not the control, he was predictable because he was guided by his anger and his hatred and so when threatened he instinctively struck out. No, Joe Ramsay had never had any finesse or improvisational skill in his fighting style, mainly because he had no discipline. When he had been a member of the Molly Malone's crew, it was this defficiency that had led him into conflict with Captain Kate and eventually had driven him to try and assassinate her. For this crime he had been made to walk the plank, not by Kate herself, who was loathe to employ such measures, but by the rest of her excessively loyal crew. They had all thought him drowned but here he was now, trying to kill her once more.

Despite his erraticness, he was an able fighter and Kate, though she had now forgotten all about her injury, was nonetheless weakened. She was driven back by the force of his vengence and fell awkwardly over the capstan with a grunt. As she looked up and saw her doom speeding towards her skull, her mind did not fill with guilt, or despair, or fear, it filled only with the image of princess Anika, her princess, and that thought gave her strength. Her hand closed on the handle of a deck mop and she swung it with all her might, toppling Ramsay enough to let her scramble painfully to her feet and hastily retrieve her sword. When the raging Joe flung himself upon her, without thought, he found himself stuck like a pig, and as the captain squirmed her way out from beneath his carcass, the last of his breaths was posthumusly expelled from his lungs. She lay for a while, catching her own breath before hauling herself up for the next round.

* * * * * *

Watching the gallant captain from behind her barrel, the princess longed to help her, though fear held her back. It was not long, though, before she had no choice but to fight. She was discovered by a burly, young pirate who, with a roar of "well, well! What we got 'ere then?" dragged her out by her loose, golden hair. Wildly, desperately, she landed a couple of hard punches in his stommach, slightly amazed at her own strength as he let her go and slumped to the ground, recieving an instinctive kick in the face from her new boot. Her confidence restored, Annika was ready when a tall, muscled woman set upon her and got a knife in the chest for her trouble.

 

Anika was soon fighting alongside the rest of the crew. If she had stopped to think about it, she would have realised that she really had no idea what she was doing, but something seemed to take her over and guide her hand to strike in exactly the right place. Perhaps it was just an instinct for self-preservation that heightened her awarness and her reflexes. Indeed, an unschooled eye would never have realised that she was completely untrained in warfare. But in a quiet moment, the captain, standing on the railing to survey the scene and choose her next course of action, noticed the young woman and gasped. The princess's slim frame was deceptive, she had much more power at her disposal that Kate had suspected, and much more fighting ability. True she was a wild and unrefined combatant, her style lacking the economy and efficiency of a trained fighter, but she was quick, her instincts were exceptional and she was very much in control of her emotions. The captain smiled and gave a little nod of approval before leaping onto the back of a passing enemy and cutting his stubbly throat.

A few minutes later the captain of the other ship lay dead at Kate's feet and a cry of alarm went up. "The captain's lost," a deep voice yelled over the the tumult, "retreat!" and the enemy crew began scattering and running back to their ship. Kate stumbled backwards into Rawlings, who caught hold of her quickly, steadying her step. "You alright, Cap'n?" he asked, his voiced filled with concern as he took in her pale face and the patch of fresh blood on her thigh.
"Fine," she returned brusquely, pushing him away and breathing deep to oust the growing pain in her leg, "let them leave, Mr Rawlings, but follow and don't loose sight of them. I have a sneaking suspicion about that ship but we'll have to wait til dawn to get a better look."
"Ma'am?"
"Never mind," she dismissed, "I'll tell you later. Now, get to it."
The First Mate gave a quick nod as he acknowledged "aye aye, Cap'n" and set off to give the order.

* * * * * *

She found the princess attending to the injured members of her crew with great care and compassion. She watched silently for a while, leaning against the doorjamb for support, as the young woman washed, stitched and bandaged her people's wounds. Anika had taken over an empty area below decks and turned it into a small infirmary, separating the walking wounded from the mercifully few more serious cases, and organising every availabe crew member into an efficient team of assisstants.

Having done all she could for her last critical patient, she instructed the cook on his further care and turned to the less seious cases but, as she moved, she caught a glimpse of the woman standing in the doorway and gave a little gasp as she took in the pale, bloodied form. "Kate!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and motioning to one of her helpers to assist her, but the captain tried to wave them off, insisting she was fine. "You are not 'fine'" the princess contradicted her "come and lie down."
"No, there's too much to do," Kate refused, "I just came to see how my crew are."
"There are only two really serious cases, Captain," she was informed, "and I believe they will both recover fully with the proper care. At the moment I'm more worried about you."
"I told you, Highness, I'm fine" Kate snapped back, but as she took a step into the room, she gasped in pain and, overcome by disiness, Captain Kate hit the deck with a grunt.

* * * * * *

"Why must you be so stubborn, Kate?" chided the princess as she sat on the bed next to the infuriating woman.
"Keeps me alive" came the husky reply.
"Well one day it could kill you" retorted the princess angrily, standing up and moving to the window to calm herself.
As Anika had feared, when she had removed the bloodsoaked bandage she had found that a few of the stiches had torn and it had been necessary to cauterise the wound. It was another ordeal for the captain but now, after only a couple of hours rest, she was insisting that she was recovered enough to go out on deck.

The emotions that the young woman had kept at bay all night now threatened to overwhelm her and she leant against the wall, burying her face in her hands. The captain frowned in puzzlement and sat up, leaning back on her elbows. "Anika?" she said softly "what is it?" but getting no reply, she levered herself up and limped slowly and painfully over to stand behind the princess. "Anika?" she repeated, laying a hand gently on the woman's back and finding it shaking with repressed sobs. The woman turned slowly, her flushed cheeks glistening with tears, and said quietly "I'm sorry, Kate.....I..."
"No, you don't need to apologize for anything, Anika. You've been wonderful and I'm an insensitive pig. I'm the one that should be sorry." She took the princess in her arms and held her close, rubbing her back lightly as the princess relaxed a little in her arms.
"I...I hurt people tonight," she murmurred, her voice barely above a whisper, "I even....killed a couple."
"You did what you had to to survive," Kate assured her, "I know it's difficult to accept the first time, but you get used to it."
"I don't know if I want to get used to it" came the sad admission.
Kate's heart unexpectedly skipped a beat in fear as she asked tentitively "you mean you've changed your mind about staying?"
"No," came the immediate reply, the princess's grip on the captain tightening a little, "no that's not what I meant."
The captain's eyes involuntarily closed in relief as she breathed again and she said "well in that case I'm afraid you'll have to get used to it, Anika. Of course, I'll train you so you'll be more efficient with a sword, but you have good instincts."
The blonde head rose from the captain's shoulder and their eyes met. "You mean you....you'll let me stay?" she asked.
The captain smiled. "I can't imagine any of us surviving without you now" she admitted and then reaching forward towards those luscious lips and encountering no resistance, pulled her into a tender kiss.

The kiss was returned without hesitation, the princess's hands moving up the captain's back and into her hair. Kate's ardour was stoked when a low moan espaced Anika and she shifted her weight, stepping forward to embrace her princess even tighter. The movement, though, proved ill-advised as pain stabbed at her leg, and her breath caught. The younger woman pulled away, but kept a tight hold on the captain's arms to steady her as she slumped a little. "Sorry" Kate breathed heavily, but Anika shook her head and smiled as she helped her towards the bed. "It's alright, come and lie down."
Trying to make light of the situation the captain laughed gently and teased "Well, Highness! You are a fast worker!" The princess, however, was not amused, as her look made plain.

She managed to sit the captain down on the edge of her bed and crouched down to remove her boots. "You don't have to do that, Anika" Kate protested, reaching down to stop her, "I can manage."
"Kate!" Anika warned, her tone almost a snarl, and the captain froze. Taking a deep breath, the princess looked up and captured the older woman's gaze. "If I'm to stay on your ship," she began, "we have to get a few things straight."
"Such as?" Kate asked tenatively.
"I believe you have just made me your ship's surgeon. That makes me responsible for looking after the health of the crew and its captain." She paused for effect and rose to sit next to Kate before adding "I can't do that if I don't have my patients' co-operation." Taking Kate's hand in her own and looking earnestly into her eyes, she gentled her voice saying "Kate, I have some news for you....you are not superhuman. You are an ordinary mortal like the rest of us and if you refuse to take care of yourself then you must either suffer the consequences or you must have someone to do it for you." She moved closer and whispered in the older woman's ear "I am that someone, Kate. I want to take care of you, to make your life easier in any way I can." She planted a soft kiss on the captain's cheek before letting go of her hand and standing up to tower over her, making her tone harder once more as she gazed down on the auburn head, "but if you won't accept my help, if you won't accept my love, then there is no point in me staying here. I might as well go to Spain and marry my prince." Kate looked up in horror and found the princess's face implaccable. "So, what's it to be, Captain?" she asked stonily, her eyebrow rising in emphasis.
The captain swallowed and conceded a little sulkily "Alright, I'll behave myself. I promise."

* * * * * *

A knock at the door of the cabin awoke them a couple of hours later. "Cap'n!" came the voice of the First Mate from the other side.
"What is it Mr Rawlings?" asked Kate groggily.
"Sun's up, Cap'n. There's something I think you aught to see."
"Very well, Mr Mate, I'll be with you in a while."

Hobbling up onto the deck with the help of a crutch that one of the crew had made up for her, Kate joined her second in command at the railings, her devoted nurse at her side. "What is it?" she asked abruptly.
"You were right about there being something odd about that ship, ma'am," he informed her as he handed her a telescope and pointed in the direction of the schooner "take a look." The ship was a fair way off now, but in the gathering light she could clearly see all she needed to. "I knew it!" she exclaimed as she lowered the scope, "don't let her get away, Mr Rawlings, and roll out the canon in preparation. Wait for my order."
"Aye, Cap'n" he agreed and was gone in a flash to call out his orders to the crew.
Anika was confused. "What is it, Kate?" she asked, her hand on the captain's arm to help her turn.
"She's flying the White Ensign" she informed, but seeing that had not really helped to clarify the matter in the princess's mind, explained, "the British naval flag. If she really is a pirate ship, she's up to something big."
"And if not?" asked the princess trepidatiously.
"If not..." the captain replied, looking significantly into the young woman's eyes, "...she's a spy."

To be continued......