Where Loyalties Lie

Chapter 17 - The Black Death

The back of Tanner’s hand connected with his daughter’s face, and she went down hard and spitting blood. Didn’t take long for the little bitch to come springing back up, standing up to her father and looking like she was spoiling for another beating. She was a good head shorter than Tanner, and despite all the fury of a seasonal storm flashing behind her eyes, she backed away when he stepped forward.

“Ah, ya may have bigger stones than the rest o’ my gets combined, Elaina, but don’t think for a moment ta stand up to ya da.” Tanner pitched his booming voice to carry both to his own crew and to the members of Elaina’s that had accompanied her.

“I ain’t some little girl for you ta bully, Da!” Elaina spat as she rubbed at her cheek and winced. “And if Ma were here…”

“She’d coddle ya an’ tell ya ‘love be a harsh mistress with harsh lessons’, aye. Unlucky, then, that she ain’t here an’ I am. Ya shoulda told me the second I set foot on the island that Stillwater was here. That boat of his ain’t so fast The Black Death couldn’t o’ caught him.”

“And done what?”

“What you shoulda. Taken the boat back.”

“It was my ship. Not yours.”

Tanner gave his daughter’s other cheek a sturdy backhand that sent her crashing to the decking. “It was my ship, ya little whore. They’re all my ships. The only reason I was allowing ya ta sail it is ’cos ya got my blood in your shitty little veins, which happens ta also be the only reason I ain’t strapping ya down and lettin’ me crew teach ya this fucking lesson.”

Like a whipped dog yet to learn its lesson, Elaina sprang back up and faced Tanner down. “Ya wouldn’t fuckin’ dare, Da.”

Tanner lunged forwards, his head striking Elaina’s face, and he felt her nose crack. His daughter collapsed onto the deck and lay there moaning, her eyes unfocused and blood leaking down over her face to pool on the decking beneath her.

“Mace,” Tanner said to his first mate, pointing at his prone daughter. “In the arse. Don’t want any of your gets takin’ root in her belly.”

Tanner watched as his first mate, a small man with arms like tree trunks and a temperament like he had something to prove, grabbed hold of Elaina’s semiconscious form and turned her onto her front. Mace twisted her arms behind her back and held them there with one hand while he pulled down first her britches and then his own. Elaina struggled as she started to come around, but Mace was a strong man and he just twisted her arms tighter. Elaina gasped in pain, first as Mace twisted, and then a second time, even louder, when he thrust his cock up her arse.

“Da, get this fucker off me,” Elaina screamed. Tanner stared on through pitiless eyes. If she wasn’t strong enough to stop the man from fucking her, then she deserved it; and it was only through suffering that people got stronger. Elaina may be the only child of Tanner’s worth the squirts he’d put in their mother, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need to be taught lessons the hard way.

Elaina didn’t stop struggling, but Mace held her fast, and every time she tried to rid herself of her rider he only twisted her arms tighter and pushed her harder into the decking. Eventually Mace stopped thrusting and let out a long groan. Tanner heard his daughter let out an accompanying cry full of disgust and humiliation as Mace pulled himself out of her arse and stood up, backing away from the prone woman with a wild grin on his face.

Tanner loomed over his first mate. “Don’t remember tellin’ ya ta enjoy it.”

“Sorry, Cap’n Black.” The smile dropped from Mace’s face, and his eyes found the deck all sorts of interesting.

Tanner growled and turned his attention back to his daughter. She was still lying face down on the deck, not moving, not making any sound.

“Get the fuck up,” Tanner yelled, “before I order another one inside ya.”

Elaina moved immediately, curling up into a ball before getting shakily to her feet and pulling up her britches. She turned to face Tanner, but kept her eyes cast downwards.

“That little shit, Stillwater, stole from me,” Tanner shouted in his daughter’s face. “Stole a ship from me. And instead of guttin’ him and takin’ it back, ya let him fuck you. An’ the first I hear of him bein’ here at all is from that dumb lubbard, Quartermain.”

Elaina said nothing, but kept her eyes on the deck. Tanner could see his daughter shaking.

“Get the fuck out of my sight, ya stupid little whore.” He spat on her.

Elaina didn’t run, and Tanner was proud of her for that. Despite the humiliation of being beaten and raped in front of Tanner’s whole crew, the girl turned and walked slowly from The Black Death. She didn’t shed a single tear. Tanner was both proud of his daughter and disgusted with her at the same time.

“We goin’ after him, Cap’n Black?” said Neril, the quartermaster.

Tanner took in a deep breath and let it out as a sound somewhere between a sigh and a growl. His crew, renowned for being the most bloodthirsty, depraved, evil bastards to sail Rin’s waters, remained silent. They all knew the punishment for interrupting while he was thinking.

“No point,” he said eventually. “News he was here is weeks old. Thievin’ little shit is long gone by now.” If only Elaina had been dutiful as a daughter, even now Tanner would have his hands around Stillwater’s throat. But she was a woman, and women were prone to foolish acts – especially where men were concerned.

Some of Tanner’s crew winced at an ear-piercing shriek that erupted from up high, as Pilf flew in on his great, dark wings and landed easily on the captain’s shoulder. The bird looked around the gathered crew through his one good eye and let out another cry that set Tanner’s ear ringing. He shrugged his big shoulders and the bird took flight again, this time landing on the ship’s wheel. Pilf’s beak was dark red, a testament to the fact that the bird had found something to eat.

“Ain’t many places near here Stillwater coulda run ta, Cap’n Black,” Neril continued. “We could…”

“He’s gone,” Tanner said in a voice that brooked no argument. “We lost him this time, but we’ll catch up with the traitor soon enough. I feel the need to kill someone. Let’s find us some quarry, boys.”