Chapter 40 At the Fire Pit

Elle scrubbed the tears and dirt from her face with the end of her shirt. She took a few deep breaths and let them out.

"Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing happened." She whispered to herself. If nothing happened then nothing would change. She could pretend that he was nothing to her as she was nothing to him.

She sat up, looked around the light vegetation.

He didn't break her heart. She didn't think she loved him.

She looked up. Her breath caught. Heart pumping she thanked God she still lived. She tested her limbs. They still worked and nothing had broken. She was bruised and sore but alive. Eyes trained at the top of the incline she saw nothing but green. He wasn't there.

He was just the Captain of the ship. They weren't friends. She didn't want him.

She stood. Obviously she wasn't going back the way she came. For a moment she looked at the ground searching for her bag. In her mind an image flashed.

"Off." His voice thick and deep said in her ear.

Before she could protest he released her. She wanted to moan at the loss of his touch. He pulled at the straps of her pack. It gave a dull thump as it landed at their feet. His hand tangled in her hair. His mouth crushed hers. A feminine moan wanted to bubble up from her core.

She was just a pirate, not a woman. She shook herself. She swallowed. She was a pirate. She couldn't allow herself to be anything else. She started walking.

She was a pirate. Hard. Unfeeling. Angry. Ruthless. She had to be. It would be months before she would see the convent. She could push her feelings away til then. Of course, she could. Unfeeling. Hard.

When she decided she was lost she stopped walking. She surveyed the area. The incline had steepened to a sheer cliff. The jungle around her had thickened. She could hear the twitter of birds. She tilted her head. Water? She wasn't sure but she thought she heard the sound of water. She had to be close to the river or beach by now.

"Only one way to find out." She muttered to the jungle.

Five minutes later she found the beach. The sea lapped at the rock strewn sand.

There hadn't been rocks were the pit had been dug. She had to make a choice quickly. The sun had already started to set. She stood in the shadows of the cliffs made by the mountain. Left or right?

Cooks garden was north-east of the pit. She had gone north-west to explore. She hadn't crossed the river. On the way back she had traveled mostly south. Even now she faced south. So it stood to reason that the pit was - east. So she turned left. It took less then half an hour to spot the ship anchored off shore. Lanterns hung on the deck.

For a moment she was brought back to her first sight of the ship.

Ella saw the ship off the cliff. It was just a dark shape in the twilight. Within minutes, the night would completely cloak it. She stopped at the edge of the cliff. She looked behind her as she heard the dogs draw closer. Their braying echoed off the trees. She ran away from the cliff, she turned and ran at full speed.

She recalled the jump into the frigid water. The air had stolen her breath. She wondered if she would die as the cold water numbed her. She had needed to breath but had no idea which direction to swim.

So much history. She had been so afraid then. She was different now. She still knew fear but her fears were different. Even the ones she still had from that time had changed.

Now, if she had no choice, she could fight. Sir Travis wouldn't find her to be a cowering child any longer.

She made her way over the beach to the torches around the fire pit.

Her mouth watered at the smell of roast pork.

"Where were you?" Cook asked as she got closer.

"Fell down a cliff." She told him. He stood by the remaining meat. Someone had created a table with barrels and planks of wood. The pig sat on the planks.

She grabbed a plate and started filling it with tender strips of succulent meat. The pieces that didn't make it to her plate tasted heavenly.

A third of the crew had gone back to the ship. The rest congregated on the beach. Some had pulled logs from the bush to use as seating. Others sat on the sand. A few stood around enjoying a drink or food.

Elle walked to a dry spot of sand close by the pit. Heat still rose from its depths.

"Elle."

She looked up her mouth full of meat. Cook stood over her a wooden cup in hand. He thrust it into greasy finger.

"Tannk oou." She mumbled past the food. He smiled and moved back to the makeshit table.

Harv was strolling past. His face pinched. Elle swallowed the food.

"Harv?" He turned. Some of the tension left his features.

"Thank God yer back." He scowled at her. "Where the hell have you been? You been gone all day. No one knew where. You shouldn't be exploring alone." He shook his head.

She rolled her eyes at him. She used her fingers to stuff more meat in her mouth.

"Bloody hell." He cursed. "The two of you no decency. Both of ya disappeared with hardly a word. I almost sent a search for us Elle." His face contorted into a growling sneer. "Now ya sit stuffin yer face with out a care."

"What? I'm hungry." She complained past the food. She drank the watered beer trying to lessen the thurst. The pork was moist but did nothing to ease the burden of thurst.

Harv reached out and snatched a twig from her hair. He looked at it quizzically.

"I fell- down a hill." She told him nonchalantly. She felt it best not to tell him the hill was more of a 60 degree cliff.

He shook his head. "Well since you seem to be fine I'll concentrate on finding the Captain. Who has gone exploring and not returned." He started to turn away from her.

"What? He should have been back. He knows the island better then me."

Harv had turned back to face her. Elle wondered if he was still out there looking for her. Ridiculous, she thought. He would know she would head straight to the beach. She hadn't gone straight to the beach but that was because she had gotten herself lost. "He was-" she didn't want to tell anyone what had happened between them. Heat flushed her face. "I saw him before I fell down the cli- hill. He- he may have followed me. But he knows I would come back to the beach." Her voice had risen dramatically.

Harv looked at her with suspicion. She shifted uncomfortably. He was studying her intently.

She wished there hadn't been as so many torches lit. His eyes lingered on her scrapped hands and then her face.

"Where?" He demanded. He looked angry. Elle shivered. She couldn't remember a time when he had looked at her this way.

Sitting made her feel vulnerable so she stood up. "I- I don't know. I got lost." She told him as she stood. She took a step back. The heat from the pit warming her side.

"Come with me." He demanded. His voice still held a stiff anger but his eyes looked softer. Fleetingly, Elle wondered if it was a trick of the light. When he turned she followed. They walked farther from the others. Light was almost devoid around them.

"What happened?" He looked at her hands even though the lack of light made it impossible to see. "You need to tell me." He said when she hesitated to long. "You have bruises. Your hands have dry blood on them."

Elle gasped. Did he think she hurt the Captain? He couldn't. She gapped at him. She felt totally devastated by his lack of faith in her. She sucked in a breath.

"What-" she tried to ask what he was saying but the question refused to be spoken.

"What did he do, Elle?" She couldn't see his face as the torches were behind him. "You can tell me. I know he's been interested in you." He paused. "If he hurt you and you fought back-"

"NO." She hissed. "It wasn't like that." She shook her head so hard it caused a wave of dizziness. "We - we kissed. I- I thought he wanted me." She whined brokenly, shaking her head. "He stopped. He just s-st-stopped." Her legs felt weak.

She had vowed not to cry ever again but here she stood doing just that. Tears streamed down her face leaving pale paths in the dirt over her cheeks.

"He chased me when I ran. I'm not sure when he stopped. I think I was already lost by the time I fell down the cliff. The b-blood is mine from trying to stop my fall. I didn't hurt him, Harv. I didn't." She ended on a soft protest.

"Hurt him?" He questioned. "Why would you think..." he shook his head.

"Didn't you think I had?"

"No. I thought he had hurt you and felt to guilty to face you. I even wondered if he-" he sighed. "Anyway, tell me where this happened. Give me landmarks, something so we can find him."

Elle told him every land mark she could remember. He wasn't happy with the fact the hill was actually a cliff.

Elle protested when he explained the search would start at first light.

"It's to dangerous at night. Few of these men know the island well enough not to walk of a cliff. Especially in that area."