Cutlass Anne

Cutlass Anne - Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-four

I woke to someone stroking my hair. I jumped up, my heart pounding. I reached under my skirt for the dagger I always kept hidden there. It was missing. I spun around in a panic before realizing nobody in the room wanted to hurt me. In fact, there was nobody there except Flynn and myself.

"Are you all right?" His eyes were barely open.

"You are awake!" I threw my arms around his neck.

"Of course I am. A little fever will never keep me down." He put on the best smile he could muster.

"Flynn, it is more than a little fever. The wound is infected."

He reached up and brushed hair out of my face. "I will be all right, Anne. I always am."

"We have a week before we dock in Port Royal. You have to stay in bed till then."

"Nonsense. A captain does not stay laid up."

"I do not see any other option for you, Flynn. It's either stay in bed or risk dying."

He lay back against the hard headboard, wincing as his shoulder touched it. Andrew had tied it up as best as possible to prevent Flynn from moving it, but it would never ease the pain. Without any other medicines or surgical tools, it was going to be a day-to-day ordeal with Flynn.

"It really is not all that bad, Anne."

"Flynn, I watched a doctor dig his knife into your shoulder and drain almost an entire beer stein worth of puss from you. You are not all that okay."

"It was only my shoulder. The crew is probably getting restless waiting around on deck for me to wake up."

"They are big boys. They know that you are unwell. Scully is helping me out and things are being taken care of."

He sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He put his hand on his wound and closed his eyes.

"Will you please lie down? Don't make me have someone tie you down. You will not risk your life, Flynn."

"Honestly Anne, I can sit up on the edge of the bed."

I sighed heavily and shook my head. "Why are you such a stubborn man?"

"Why are you such an impossible woman?" he retorted.

"You're not going to relax are you?" I asked, helping support his body as he sat up.

"Not until he's stopped."

"There will be time for that later if you do what the doctor says. How do you plan on fighting your father if you can't even sit up? Or if you're dead?"

"I'm fine," he grumbled.

I sat on his bedside, urging him to lie back down, and watched out the window as the sun sank and the beautiful blue of the sea gave way to never-ending blackness. It seemed as though the ship sped up the later into the night we got. I stared out the small porthole and did the only thing there was to do late at night on a ship—I watched the stars. Flynn drifted off to a pain-filled, restless sleep with a compass in his hand. Even though he was in pain, he was still captaining his ship. I slid it out of his hand and watched the metallic hand steady itself once again. Northeast. My heart felt so heavy and my body tingled with sadness. This was still an entirely new adventure for me. I was sailing off to lands that were all new to me with a crew who would do me no harm. Was Jane so lucky? Was there someone looking out for her?

A swell lifted our ship high, and then it ran down the other side. It was an exhilarating ride. Flynn's body looked like nothing but a stuffed doll flopping around on the bed. I rested my hand on his head. It was clammy and hot. The door of the cabin flew open and banged against the wall. Andrew stood there, seawater dripping off his tall frame.

"Sorry about that, ma'am." He stooped under the doorway. "How is my patient?"

"Fevered again, but he woke briefly not long ago."

"He will be like that for most of the voyage."

"Is that a good sign?" I turned my gaze back to Flynn.

"It could be. There is no way to know until we dock."