Chapter 9

Chapter Nine- Midnight at the Fair, 1802

Dianna quickly dressed in her nightdress and robe. She thought of wearing an actual dress, but she was afraid someone might catch her, and it would be more believable if she were in her sleeping clothes that she wasn't up to anything. Dianna took a moment to calm her rapidly beating heart and to thank the heavens that the fortune teller had spoken to her earlier. She grabbed her already packed sack and crept out of her slumber tent.

She looked from side to side. Seeing no one of importance, she quickly and quietly dashed across the lot to the other side. Once there, she breathed deeply, savoring the idea of how close she was to getting to home. Dianna snuck behind the tents until she reached the end of the lot, and could see a forest up ahead of her. She saw a large figure in the shadows of the forest, and ran to it to meet with Josey Thatcher.

When she came up to the figure, covered in the low-hanging branches of the trees around them, she smiled and said, “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find a way,” Dianna flinched. That wasn’t the husky voice she remembered as Captain Josey’s. This voice was husky too, but it had a small trace of an accent. Dianna almost screeched when Inna stepped out from behind the trees. She tried to run around him, but he grabbed her and held her against him. “How dare you try and run from me? You will pay for this, Dianna! I’ve waited for you to give yourself to me willingly, but now you have lost my respect for you!”

“What little respect you had!” Dianna struggled against him, trying to slip her hands out from his and to distance herself from him, but he held her body so close to his. She was so close, she began to feel his lower regions harden, and she felt dread take over her own body.

“Don’t play with me, girl! Enough is enough! You will be mine now!” Inna forced her against a tree and tried to unlace his trousers while holding her firmly at the same time. He began to forcefully kiss her neck and face, and she kept turning her head so he couldn’t touch her lips with his.

“NO! Let me go! Please help! Somebody! HELP!” Dianna struggled to keep her legs together while Inna struggled to pull them apart so he could insert himself into her. She felt a hot fever take over her body, but it wasn’t a fever of lust or passion, it was one of alarm and fright. She was so scared of what he was going to do. She continued to yell and felt tears pour heavily down her cheeks as they burned with a blush of horror. “Please!”

Suddenly, she felt Inna’s groping hands and heavy weight lifted off of her. It was so sudden that she lost her balance when the weight was taken off, and fell to her knees on the cold forest dirt floor. She looked through her tear-filled eyes and saw Josey holding Inna by his neck against another tree. The two big men struggled against each other, but it was obvious Josey was stronger.

“YOU DO NOT TOUCH HER EVER AGAIN! Understand?” Josey pressed his large hands against Inna’s throat, cutting off his air circulation. Inna choked as he wriggled and writhed to get a breath into his lungs, but it was no use against Josey. He nodded rapidly and Josey dropped him like a sack of flour onto the forest floor. Inna took in one ragged breath and began coughing. Josey immediately ran to Dianna’s side and picked her up off the floor. “Are you alright?”

“Fine, thank you.” Dianna looked up at him in shock and wonder. She felt dazed and staggered a little on her feet. Josey straightened her, then grabbed the sack of her clothes she had dropped on the ground in her struggle against Inna. Dianna turned to look at Inna still on the floor, but he was gone. “How did he go so fast?” she wondered aloud.

“What?” Josey turned to where she was looking and Dianna saw dread fill his eyes. “Run!” he shouted and grabbed her arm. He began to sprint through the forest, weaving in between trees and jumping over fallen brush. Dianna tried to keep up with him, but most of the time, she felt as if she were merely floating above the ground as Josey carried her through the forest by her arm. Dianna heard gunshots behind her, and turned to see Inna and some of his guards running behind them, shooting up into the night air to warn them to stop. Josey wouldn’t stop; he only got faster as the gunshots rang loudly through the clear night sky. Dianna was sure they were going too fast for Inna to catch up, but he and his men only got faster as well.

Dianna looked forward again, and could a see a ship in the distance. She heard the thumping of Josey’s feet as he ran across the wooden pier.

“Hey!” Inna shouted. He pulled ahead of his men and got so close to Dianna that she could hear his labored breathing. Inna tried to grab on to her white nightdress that was billowing in the wind as they all ran their hearts out. She suddenly felt a wave of energy wash over her as she thought of how close they were to Josey’s ship, and how Inna wouldn’t get her now. Just when she felt so sure of herself, Josey began to slow. Inna was able to grab her nightdress and pull on her.

“No!” Dianna felt Josey pull her from one side, and Inna pull her from the other. The three of them pushed and pulled to no avail as they all resisted against each other.

“Grab on!” Josey yelled above the noise of the docks and seas, and the noise of their struggle. Dianna didn’t know what to do except wrap her arms around Josey’s neck. She held herself tight against him and felt Inna’s grip loosen on her as Josey ran. But this time, he wasn’t running to the end of the pier, but instead to the side of the pier. She screamed as he jumped off the edge and waited for the cold sea water to envelop her. It never did.

Dianna realized she had closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she saw that Josey had one arm around her, and the other was holding tightly onto a rope hanging over the edge of his ship. They sailed through the air, the late night sea spray blowing against their faces. When they got close to the side of the boat, Josey turned them so his back hit the ship and only he got the painful blow of the wooden ship against his body. They started to slowly rise as crew members flocked to the side of the boat and pulled the rope up. Dianna realized that while some crew members helped pull them up into the ship, others were sailing the ship so that already they were quite a distance from the pier. She could see Inna kicking the ground in rage and yelling at his guards, and she laughed at the sight of his body getting smaller and smaller as they sailed away.

The crew members pulled her and Josey into the ship with a final tug and they both climbed over the edge and straightened themselves up. The crew members all cheered and applauded their captain and each other, clapping each other’s backs and smiling big, toothy smiles. Dianna saw a handsome man, dressed better than some of the other crew members, step forward. She assumed by his better clothing that he was Josey’s first mate and second in command of the ship. The man smiled and bowed to her, and everyone else silenced.

“Welcome aboard, ma’am.”