The Black Star - Allan Deya (best english novels for beginners txt) 📗

chapter ONE

The sun was out in all its spring glory; clear skies and a gentle breeze only added to the romance of the voyage. Marian was standing at the hull, arms around herself watching a pod of dolphins play just shy of the ship.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Jon asked as he walked up behind her.

“Yes, yes they are.” She concurred.

They stood in companionable silence for a while, just watching the graceful creatures streak across the ocean surface. “Have you given any thought to what we talked about?” He asked at last.

She wanted to correct him; tell him that he was the one who was constantly doing the discussing while she sat passive but instead said, “Jon you are a good man; kind, handsome, compassionate. And you would make a wonderful husband for some girl someday soon.”

“But I don’t want some other girl, some other day. It is you I want no; it is you I need, now.”

She took a deep breath; putting this off any longer would serve no purpose but to string him along at the expense of Genevieve who was all too willing to give him her all. And if she were to be perfectly objective, she also thought that Genevieve and Jon made a suitable match. “I am sorry too Jon, but I just can’t settle for less than exactly what I need.”

“But Marian…”

“No Jon, please for once let me finish. You are everything that I have said you are and I am sure more than the world has had the chance to see, but that is just not what I want.

In all honesty I do not know what I want but I do know that when I find it I will; just like my mother knew and my father. That makes me sound like a simple minded romantic but I don’t care- I know that fabled spark is out there waiting for me.”

“No. that does not paint you a fool, it shows courage and commitment to an ideal; that is commendable. I just hoped that you could give me a chance and maybe in time we would…” he held her hand when she started to answer. “I know that is not what you want but it does not change the fact that I feel as I do.”

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence and Marian was grateful when finally Jon excused himself and walked off. She felt bad about what she had just done, but she refused to feel guilty about it. She would not, like her mother waste the formative years of her youth just because society expected her to conform.


chapter TWO

Her mother had been married to another before her father, and she had had to put up with an egoistic old cad who did not much care to hide his indiscretions. Sometimes going as far as to proposition whores in her presence.

They at least had the good sense to feel ashamed; he on the other hand did not. He would fondle and harass anything not clad in pants. Once, she had enough and told him as much, in front of quite the crowd. They were at the annual Coral Ball, surrounded by a host of other lords and ladies and of course the serfs that served them.

He had been missing for a spell so I wandered the halls and rooms looking for him as I had started feeling poorly and would have liked to go home. When finally I did find him, in the cloak room he was in the arms another woman; or more accurately in between her legs.

He came up, face wet from her juices; furious look on his face, almost as though it was my fault for discovering his cheating carcass. I raised hell, so much so that the other guests crowded about to get a glimpse of the cause of the furore.

The shock kept him from doing much but try to hide his face from the world, so it was after a good number of them had seen them both in their semi naked states that he had the sense to cover himself up. He came out of that cramped space breathing fire.

He shoved me roughly back, and was it not for the wall I banged heavily against I surely would have fallen, and fallen hard. He pulled his hand back to strike and my eyes closed in anticipation of the blow even as I raised my chin defiantly.

I cracked open an eye and found George red in the face with his arm twisted behind his back. His assailant was a giant of a man and though his face was composed and his demeanor passive, there was no doubt that he could cause considerable harm to an opponent.

“Milord please.” Lady Victoria pleaded wringing her hands.

“You are lucky you maggot infested piece of urban filth, that I have a fondness for the hostess because I have a good mind to put you in the exact position you deserve.” He growled. “Muttley.”

“Aye milord.” Came a gruff voice from the back of the crowd.

“Get back to the manor now. You know what you must do?” he asked.

“Aye, Lord Elliot.” The man replied. “Where am I to take them?”

“Do I look like I care man? Throw them in the river, dispose of them on the streets, burn them, I DO NOT care.”

“No. My love you mustn’t.” gasped the woman who had just finished dressing. “I can change love, I will change. Please…” she said moving to him. “I am sorry…”

The blast from his eyes was enough to stop a rampaging bull and the woman was wise enough to know that. “Yes, you are that. On second thought Muttley, take her things to this buffoons house- I quite think they make the perfect pair, don’t you?”

To hear her mother tell the story of that first night she had laid eyes on her father was her favourite bedtime story as a child; it had been the basis of her fantasies through her teens and now as a young lady she still found herself musing over it; the perfect love- the fated match. She would find it too.


chapter THREE

They were coming up on Diani Coral; the most famous sight on the whole coast, with good reason. It was at that point on the sea where God came to rest. The sun filtered through just right; enough to give the place happy warmth without stifling it with humidity.

The light from it made it possible to see several feet below the surface and though the water colour changed from deep aqua to soft green as a result of it, the rainbow of fishes swimming below could not have been more charming.

The constant breeze was a welcome change from the blazing sun of the sea behind and a notable difference from the biting cold that would assail you ahead. All in all, the type of place many a man would give life and limb to build a home.

And that was not all, for right in the middle of this wondrous watery fairyland towered a 30 foot tall, 50 foot wide coral reef of the most magnificent colours and design that you had ever seen.

It was hard to believe that it had been crafted by nature; it looked more like the carefully sculpted work of a master artist at his best- God must have been in a particularly good mood when he built it, they said.

No matter how many times she passed that same route, Marian could never get enough of it, she felt she never would. She often wondered why the boat never docked on the small island that could be seen on the portside; she also pondered why some enterprising gent had never thought to make a home there.

She was pretty sure she could marry the man who ever did, for a man with a bone as romantic as that in his body would definitely be as her father; loving and loyal. She imagined a life on that little island in the middle of the sea with the perfect weather and bountiful harvest, not to mention the sights.

She could see children; 2, no 4; 2 girls and 2 boys- not necessarily in that order and a man. Yes, she could see her husband; rich and well mannered. He would be highly educated, maybe a lawyer or a doctor but not with the same stupid pride that so many nobles had.

No he would be refined but physical. During the week he would be at his practice on the mainland making a mark on the world and over the weekends you would find him tilling their little paradise or splitting wood for cold winter nights. Playing with their little ones on Sunday afternoons or cuddled up with her on warm summer nights.

The incessant blaring of the fog horn brought her harshly back to reality. She glanced all about her and could see the men at arms handing out sabers and muskets. Jon was leading the pack; issuing orders with the same firm authority that had seen him rise to the rank of Major by the age of 29.


chapter FOUR

“Steady men!” he commanded when a ripple ran through the columns, “These are just lawless pigs out to steal the blood and sweat of hardworking citizens and we’ll be damned to hell and back before we let them have it without a fight.”

He got a roar in response. Yes, Jon Mayor was indeed qualified for the title he held.

The crew started an old war song; one that was meant to give heart to soldiers before a battle; and they would need all the heart they could get. Their assailants were not soldiers; they were not disciplined or trained in warfare tactics. They had no order, no scruples, and no honour.

But what they lacked in training they made up for in conditioning; for those dogs who went out to sea, risking life and limb every day in the pursuit of treasure and adventure had been battered and bruised by the elements so that they were used to most forms of pain.

What they did not have in terms of discipline they compensated for in ferocity for they were a wild bunch, a ruthless one. Many of the marines there had served more than two 5 year terms on the high seas and had had chance to see a pirate crew in action.

And while honour or scruples and order were in short supply for these scums, greed, malice and spirit were bountiful. It did not matter how well trained a company was or how well armed or even how many there were guarding a vessel. When pirates struck; insignificant as their numbers were, you had to pay attention.

The company at full crescendo, were stomping their feet and clanking sabers; seeing them sent a chill up Marian’s spine. The same affable soldiers she had come to know in the course of the voyage had turned into bloodthirsty beasts.

She could feel their angst as they drew nearer and nearer to the shadowy shape of the pirate ship that was now visible past the curtain of fog after her slice of paradise.

If she was not