Juliet of Dundee

The Blackguard

Juliet of Dundee Chpt. 21

Juliet

"STOP!" I screamed at the top of me lungs. When the whole world froze, I spoke once more. "Please, stop this." Tears filled me eyes to the brim. Me stomach churned and threatened to give up it's bile as I watched a mixture of rainwater and blood trickle down Pater's chest. So sickening. So painful. I placed a hand over me own heart, feelin' a tinge of pain accompanied by a jolt. Such strong empathy... It was agonizin'.

The king stopped and make his way towards me.

"Why? Why should I, princess?"

I hadn't exactly thought everythin' through. But how could I in this situation? Me head throbbed and the world spun. I couldn't take me eyes off the blood. I couldn't. There was just so much of it...

"What is it you want from us?" I asked without lookin' away from the shocked Pater.

"I do not need to answer to the likes of you!" the king roared, but I could have cared less.

"Leave her," said Pater. "Leave her be." His voice sent shivers down me spine. He sounded so incredibly frail. Five tallies had sent him over the edge? What atrocities had me father done to him the last time he'd been here for those five tallies to send him into such a state?

I couldn't find words. I was still focussed on Pater. He looked up and caught me gaze. My God -- his eyes, the look on his face. I couldn't breathe with that expression starin' at me. I shook me head and opened me mouth, but shut it again that I might not lose all the contents of me stomach.

The king froze, his back directioned horizontally me, his lips curled.

"Seems to me like you've got quite a bunch of energy this evening," me father approached me and looked me dead in the eyes as he held the blade's pommel me way. "So you might as well put all that enthusiasm into carving your little lover..."

"Wh-y-you wouldn't--!" I shuffled away from the blade in fear.

"Try me, lass," he scoffed as Acton shoved me into the circle that had formed around Pater.

Pure hatred, horror, and grief flowed through me.

"You-you-" I stuttered as I whipped around to meet me father.

"Go ahead and call me what you may... It changes nothing."

So began me struggle to try and escape the circle. I pushed, shoved, and fought to no avail. In all me frustration I began spewin' out profanities.

"You despicable son of a bilge rat! You sea scum of the sea! You filthy bast-"

Smack.

A burning sensation spread across me cheek. I spoke no more as me father handed me the blade. I moved me fingers over it and felt as a sticky liquid glossed me fingers. Blood. His blood.

Me heart thud loudly in me ears and did not cease as I watched Pater's eyes, that had been shut from the pain, opened ever so slightly. His body quaked, either from the cold or fear, and I wasn't sure which. Me chest ached, me head throbbed. How had this become of us?

I felt his gaze shoot straight into mine, the tension so thick I could've sliced it with the bloodied blade in me hand. His eyes begged for the opportunity for to ask for forgiveness and I, unable to take the agony of his eye contact, looked at the tarred floorboards of the deck.

"Make the cuts nice a deep." My father held five fingers up. "Five times. Five tallies. A full set. But be warned, my dear child... If you fail to make the incisions deep enough," he paused once more for dramatic effect as he looked to his crew. He then looked back at me, his expression as sinister as ever. "Well," he chuckled. "Let's just say the boy will suffer."