Chapter 12

Danny:

Danny berated himself as he and Elizabeth's wrists were tied tight. Of course they had to tie my hands behind me. They won't take any chance of me getting loose to overpower them.

The pirates pushed and prodded them into town. As Danny stumbled along, he could hear loud voices arguing. One was Sao, but he had never heard the man's voice before. They got closer to the arguing voices; Danny could now make out the words.

"I don't care miss, you will not see a penny of the ransom until I see my daughter!" a man's voice said. His voice was loud, but controlled and cultured.

Very different from Sao's demanding voice. "Give me the money now, then you get the girl. Not before," she shrieked. What followed was an confusing yelling between the two. Each wanting to overpower the objections of the other. This went on for a few minutes until a pirate came up and whispered into Sao's ear. Sao suddenly smiled, a horrifying smile showing stained teeth and gaps where they were missing. She whispered back to the pirate and then turned her 10 watt smile on the ambassador. The ambassador was used to the many ugly things that happened with the affairs of state, but he still shuddered a bit.

An altercation a little ways into the town caught Ambassador Hascombe's attention. He was astonished at the sight of his beloved daughter in rags wearing a gag and having her hands bound in front of her. Her father sputtered, "What's the meaning of this?"

"This was the way we found her when we rescued her from the island. She has not been harmed by me or my crew. She is merely tied and gagged so she would not wander off and get hurt."

"Unbind her and take the gag off at once, you hear. And what of this lad that's with her?"

Sao responded with a shrug. "He is a no-account sailor from her ship. As a matter of fact, he may have pushed her overboard. He was alone with her on the island for several days. Who knows what kind of mischief went on. If you don't want him, I will keep him for my crew. He may be of some use."

The bound and gagged sailor's mind whirled. Oh great, what a future. I either get to join Sao's crew and become her 'pretty boy' or I get thrown in jail after Elizabeth tells her father what I did to her. And I don't have a say in the matter because I'm still gagged.

Elizabeth:

"Daddy, please don't let that evil woman keep Danny. He saved me when I was washed off the ship. He jumped in when he didn't have to." Elizabeth's voice was barely audible because she had just been ungagged and was parched. Ambassador Hascombe held out his arms for his daughter to run into.

Sao stopped her flight to freedom with a drawn cutlass. "The ransom, or else I keep her and sell her in Hong Kong. She would fetch a pretty price as an untrained concubine."

Danny heard what Sao said and was blinded in a white-hot rage. Elizabeth may be done with me, but I still love her and she is not going to be sold as a concubine! Danny lunged forward bumping into Sao. He knocked Elizabeth free from Sao's hold and she managed to run to her father. Sao hit Danny on the head with the cutlass's guard and the bound boy crumpled to the ground.