Twenty Five Part One

Violet paced the deck, back and forth, over and over. He stared at the Omega, that 'sailed' beside them. They were having no trouble keeping up with the King's ship, as it barely moved through the water.

What was the old man doing? Why were they crawling along, when all Violet wanted to do was sail as fast as he could, get this over with, and get his wife back.

Was the man taunting him? It surely felt as though he were being tested. He paced over to the helm deck.

"What do you make of it?" Violet asked Brutus.

"I know not, but I do not see much we can do about it." Brutus admitted. Their sails were adjusted to barely catch the wind, if they be trimmed at all, the Wench would pull away leaving the Omega behind.

Violet resumed his pacing, staring at the other ship.

There were only enough men topside the Omega to sail her straight, the rest of the crew had vanished below an hour before, and none had returned top deck to get them under way.

"You are about wearing a groove into the planks, son." Marcus sat atop a water barrel, watching his son pace and rake his hand through his hair. Marcus could tell that Violet was becoming more frustrated by the moment.

"If my wife were not aboard that ship...." Violet grinned an evil grin.

"Then we would have no reason to be here." Marcus added.

Violet stopped his pacing and faced Marcus. "We tried to avoid her."

"And they sensed your weakness." Marcus observed.

"What would you have me do, keep sailing right at them and wave as we passed?" Violet was frustrated and he knew he was directing his frustration at Marcus.

Marcus grinned, "It may have turned out different than this."

Violet's eyes bored into Marcus' own, as Marcus continued grinning at him.

Truly, he was ticking Violet off, and he knew it.

"I wonder......" Violet had an idea suddenly, it may work....Vi shook his head, he should not even consider it.

"What?" Marcus asked. He had seen a light shine briefly in Violet's eyes and he was curious as to what had put it there.

"I had an idea, a kidnapping of sorts....." Violet told Marcus his thoughts, as Marcus stared across at the other ship, which barely moved upon the water.

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Betsy shivered, her sleeved shirt was thin linen and she had not donned a jacket before hiding in the nest.

She had not felt the cold earlier, the adrenaline at finding an armed ship approaching them upon awakening, had started her blood pumping.

Now that her anger was simmering, instead of boiling inside her, she realized she was becoming chilled.

Three crewmen stood and offered her their jackets, as a few more were stripping theirs off, only to be refused with a hand held up in front of her.

"No gentlemen, thank you kindly, but I would not think of it, I am a prisoner," Betsy glared at Eli, as he smiled at her and dipped his head in acknowledgement of her statement. "And I have my own perfectly fine jacket aboard my own ship!" She spit this at Eli, and even though he was two meters from her, he felt the violence of her anger towards him.

Eli stood, he approached the little she cat, and stood in front of her, as she stood also and put her hands on her hips.

Eli removed his jacket and handed it to Betsy, he smiled and bowed, as she took it bewilderedly, "Please continue." Eli walked back to his seat, sat down and cupped his hands around his coffee mug.

Betsy put the jacket on, but returned to glaring at the man, as he walked away from her and sat down.

Eli instructed the cabin boy, as he passed by, to keep the ladies supplied with hot tea and to provide dinner at any time.

He then settled in to hear about the Duchess of Marlborough and how she had been rescued by the Earl of Trent.

Eleanor watched the commander covertly. So far her plan was working. When the commander heard Elizabeth's story and mayhap figured out exactly who Elizabeth was, they might have a chance of this ending at sea.

Eleanor could see Elizabeth had them all spellbound by her tale, Eleanor accepted the hot pot of tea the cabin boy brought around, and she was looking forward to the meat pies she could smell baking.

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"I do not know if you will be able to find where they put her though, 'tis a good size ship, son." Marcus did not want to encourage Violet, it would just be one more charge against him when they did reach the King.

"I can not just sit here staring across the water, Marcus, I need to do something, 'twill be a sennight before we arrive at this rate." Violet argued back and forth with Marcus for a while.

Marcus just tried to keep Violet occupied and hoped the other ship would pick up it's pace before his son did anything stupid.

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Betsy told of the shipwreck, of Pedro being washed overboard, and the Earl diving in after him.

When she got to the part of her story about the shooting lesson with her Lady, the men were found to either be amazed, or disbelieving.

"And ye can hit them every time?" Jack asked her, as he sat directly across from her and Eleanor.

"I can, I can hit anything, every time." Betsy nodded with confidence.

Several of the men snorted or laughed uncomfortably, surely she was joking, or now that she had warmed to her tale, she may be spinning a yarn for their entertainment.

Eli raised a brow at Eleanor, and she smiled innocently at him before taking another bite of her pie.

Eli had known Eleanor for many years. They were of the same age and had been at many royal functions together before. He could remember when they were young and Ellie had first come out.

A lovely girl, too far above any untitled military man to hope to cast any aspirations of courting her, yet she had always treated them all with respect and kindness.

Many a dance and comfortable conversation had he shared with Eleanor over the years. She and her friend Penny had been very popular with the military men. Penny had even given up her title and married his friend Bernard all those years ago.

Eli had also known Bernard's son Alexander. Eli had been in the King's service with Bernard early in his career, then Alex in later years, yet that had all been many years ago. Eli wondered....

Eleanor could see the very moment that it dawned on Eli just who Elizabeth was.

"Wait!" Eli stood and put his hands upon the table. His eyes drilled into Elizabeth's face as she looked to him and glared.

"I am not lying, and I am not fabricating a tale, I am telling you the truth and I did not try to kill you," She continued to give Eli an evil eye, "I hit what I intend to every time, whether it be your gun or a coconut. Try me if you do not believe me."

Eli believed her, he also believed he wanted to speak to Eleanor.

"Just let her finish, Commander." Eleanor smiled at him, "Go on, dear." She encouraged Elizabeth to continue her story.

Eli seated himself once more, a perplexed look upon his face, and he listened to more of Betsy's tale. He needed to know how in the world she had become married to a pirate, if she truly was, who he thought she was.

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"Does the King know?" Eli finally heard all of Elizabeth's story, and he had brought Eleanor to his office aboard ship.

Eleanor sat across from him, and wrinkled her nose, as she answered the question she had dreaded. "No, he has not a clue."

"Did you not think you should have told him?" Eli could not believe Ellie had kept this from her cousin.

"I have been protecting her, Eli." Eleanor answered him truthfully and looked him in the eye. "It is what Bernard wanted."

"And yet, she is married to a pirate." Eli raised a brow at Ellie.

"Yes, well, she got away from me for a bit and that is what happened." Eleanor blushed and looked down, but then raised her head and continued, "He is a very good man. Everything she told you was truth and that is why we are on our way to London. Violet seeks a pardon for himself and his men." Eleanor hoped this would bring an end to Elizabeth's arrest, and they would be returned to their ship to continue their journey.

But Eli was too intrigued to let that happen any time soon. He wanted to talk to Elizabeth himself and see this skill of hers. He had not seen the like since Elizabeth's father had served the King.

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Gwen waited outside the residence until it started becoming dark.

Finally, she had waited long enough, and would wait no more.

"Back to my cousin's townhouse, Lynwood." Gwen was angry, here she was, trying to surprise Jude with a romantic interlude, and it just was not working out according to her plans.

Gwen fumed as the carriage wound through the streets and arrived back at Jude's residence.

Lynwood climbed down to assist his Lady, but the carriage door caught him in the chest, as Gwen wrenched it open and descended in a skirt whipping fury.

She glared at Lynwood, as he cowered behind the open carriage door.

"Would you like me to accompany you?" Lynwood asked timidly.

"I will do it myself." Gwen approached and rapped upon the townhouse door.

Charles opened it, a bit surprised to see his master's cousin standing on the stoop. "My Lady, the master is not home this evening, he has gone out and I am not sure when he shall return."

Gwen tapped her toe and digested this information. "Yes, I assumed I would have to wait for him, I would appreciate if you would fetch my bag, and bring me some coffee, Charles." Gwen said this as she sidled past Charles into the foyer.

Before Charles knew it, Gwen was making herself comfortable in the front parlor. He blinked twice, then turned to Lynwood who was handing him a valise.

Lynwood shrugged at Charles, "I shall be at my daughter's when the Lady needs me back."

Charles nodded and took the valise into the foyer, setting it at the bottom of the steps.

Servants followed orders, they did not question them, and there was no way Charles would question this Lady's actions.

He made his way to the kitchens to procure coffee for the Lady.

It may be a long night, Charles thought, as he knew this Lady and her many demands, and he did not care for her overmuch.

Gwen decided she would wait a while to see if Jude returned by a decent hour. If not, he would just find her waiting for him in his bed.

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Jude sat in a oak paneled room, a brandy beside him, a deck of cards on the table in front of him. He played a solitary game, waiting for a reply to the note he had sent to Alfred. Jude had no way of knowing if Alfred resided at the address his friends had passed on or not.

Jude could only hope they were correct and Alfred would, at some point, get his message.

He shuffled the cards and laid out another game, as his messenger approached and gave him a reply. "The man was home, my Lord."

Jude smiled, "Excellent, thank you."

Jude read the note and thanked the man, tipping him a coin before the man bowed and departed.

Now he must wait. Jude resumed his hand and considered what he would order for dinner to help pass the time.

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Eli could see it now, the resemblance Betsy carried to her father Alexander was there in her eyes. Shrewd, calculating, yet, naive intelligence stared him in the face.

"So you took offense at my attempt to arrest your husband?" Eli sat back in his chair, his elbows upon the armrests, his hands steepled in front of him.

Betsy paced the back wall of Eli's study. He had asked her to take a seat, but she would not. She paced as a cat might, were it bound in a cage.

She glared at the old man as she walked one way, then swiveled her head to glare at him some more, as she paced the other way.

"Just a little bit, yes!" Betsy spit his direction.

"Yet your husband is a known pirate." Eli stated factually.

Betsy stopped and put her hands upon her hips, "My husband is known as a pirate!"

"And the difference is?" Eli waited patiently for her to decide how to proceed.

"The difference is up to the King to decide, and we were on our way there, to have that decided, when you so rudely intervened upon our honeymoon!" Betsy was too mad to realize this was entertaining Eli to no end. She was so frustrated she could only see red in his presence.

Eli could see all her frustration written upon her face, "Your second honeymoon, if your story is to be believed." Eli replied.

"And the difference is?" Elizabeth threw his own words back at him.

"I would never have shot at you, had you not pointed a gun at Violet. You were wrong to do so, and I shall not speak to you any longer unless you apologize." Betsy crossed her arms across her chest and fought back tears as her frustration mounted.

Eli could see she had enough of his taunting, "Please sit, Elizabeth." He asked of her kindly.

"Apologize, Sir!" Betsy's voice cracked, as she felt a tear slide down her cheek.

She wiped it away roughly and continued glaring at the old man in front of her.

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Violet was going through his things belowdeck. He was looking for any clothing he could find that were black.

It would camouflage him in the darkness as he attempted to recover his bride.

He had never kidnapped anyone before, but then again, he had never had a need to before now.

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