Chapter 153 - Invasion

Delaney's legs had nearly reached their limits. She burst through the front doors to the house and fell hard on the tiles below. She felt her teeth bite into her lip when her chin hit the floor and she tasted the metallic taste of blood a moment later.

"Ian!" she shouted as loudly as she could manage, "Ian!"

There was no way he could hear her. He was too far away behind a closed bedroom door and her voice was too hoarse.

Delaney pushed herself up on shaking arms and then onto shaking legs. She kicked off her shoes, her bare feet giving her more traction on the tile to keep her from falling. Slapping sounds echoed through the halls now as she ran barefooted up the stairs.

Blood dripped from her punctured lip, dripping down her chin and onto her already ruined gown. Her whole body hurt but she couldn't stop. She had to get to Ian before it was too late. Only Ian stood a chance of saving Vincent.

"Ian!" she tried again now as she ran down the hallway towards his door, "Ian!"

His door flew open as soon as she reached it and she fell into his arms, shaking as she cried.

"Delaney," he said urgently, "Delaney what is it? What's wrong?"

He pulled her back so he could look down at her and the sight of the blood over her face made his eyes go wide.

"What happened?" Ian demanded, "What's going on?"

Delaney fought to catch her breath so she could speak. She tried to say something but only managed to cough.

"You have to tell me what's going on," he shook her a bit, "Tell me!"

"Pirates!" she managed to squeak out one word.

Confusion flashed over his face, "What are you talking about? What about pirates?"

"They're coming!" she gasped, "They're on the beach! Vincent is on the stairs! Ian, he can't run! He can't get away from them! You have to help him!"

Ian let go of her and ran back into his room. She fell against the doorframe, panting and crying and telling him everything that happened. When he reappeared in the doorway he was wearing the enormous deadly sword on his hip and his other blades strapped around his thigh.

"Listen to me Delaney, you have to stay here," he said urgently, taking hold of her shoulders and looking into her eyes, "These may not be my pirates and if they're not I may not be able to save you."

"I can't stay here. Vincent is out there! I have to go back to him!"

"No! You can't! If they kill me they'll kill him and then I don't know what they would do to you! You can't go!"

Hearing him saying they might kill Vincent shook Delaney to her core. "Go!" she shrieked at him now, "Go save him!"

"Stay here!" he yelled at her but let her go and took off running down the hall.

Delaney held onto the doorframe for support, using it to keep her upright. Her mind was swimming. She didn't know what to do but she knew she couldn't stay where she was.

Hurrying back down the hall she ran to her bedroom. When she threw the door open a startled scream came from inside.

"Oh my Lady you scared me to death!" Ms. Bird shouted, a hand flying to her heart and another fanning her face, "I fell asleep here waiting for you to come back so I could help you..."

She trailed off as Delaney stumbled forward into the room and into the light of the candles.

"My God!" Ms. Bird cried, "What's happened?"

"Pirates," Delaney managed as she got to Vincent's side of the bed, "They're on the beach. They're coming to raid the house."

Ms. Bird went into hysterical panicking but Delaney ignored her as she looked up at what she had come for. Resting on its mount on the wall was Vincent's sword.

"What on earth are you going to do with that?" Ms. Bird demanded as Delaney pulled it down. Surprised by how heavy it was she nearly dropped it.

"I'm going to take it to him," she whispered as she slid it into its sheath.

"What? You can't! You can't go out there! You need to hide!"

Delaney ignored the older woman as she yelled for her to stop and come back. She slung the sword over her shoulder and ran down the stairs, falling on the last one and landing hard on her rear. She pushed herself quickly up and ran outside.

-

Delaney got to the back of the house and saw there was something going on at the top of the stairs. The guards had formed a barrier and she realized the pirates must have made it to the top.

Her heart jumped into her throat. Had Vincent made it up before them?

There was a lot of shouting coming from the group but she couldn't make it out. She saw Ian was trying to shove his way through the guards but they weren't letting him in. He wasn't one of them and there was no reason for them to listen to him now. After all, he was a pirate.

Delaney ran to Ian's side and shouted at the guards in front of him to move. Ian looked down at her and surprise swept over his face immediately replaced with anger.

"Get back Delaney," he hissed, "Go back inside before you get yourself killed! Or worse!"

"Move!" she yelled at the guards, ignoring him, "I am the Duchess and I am ordering you to move!"

The men right in front of her turned and looked down. Seeing it was her they were just as surprised as Ian had been but they quickly worked to move apart. She shoved forward with Ian right behind her.

"You will move out of the way or we will kill him!" Delaney heard a threat shouted from the pirates and she pushed harder at her guards while ordering them to move. There was only one person that would be valuable enough for them to hold hostage like that.

At last, the last layer of guards parted and Delaney pushed forward. Her heart nearly came to a stop when she took in the scene before her eyes. Vincent was on the ground, bruised and bleeding from his lip, his scars as red as she'd ever seen them. A short, fat, pirate was holding one of the huge, deadly blades to her husband's throat.

"No!" she cried, falling to her knees, "No!"

"Who are you?" one of the pirates closest to her demanded, pointing a blade at her.

"Don't touch her!" Vincent shouted and moved forward just breath but it was enough to make him hiss and jump back as a thin line of blood bloomed across the scars on his throat.

"Please don't hurt him," she pleaded with the pirate, meeting the man's nearly black eyes as he stared back down at her. He was unshaven and angry looking.

Just then the guards parted behind her again and Ian, at last, made it through. With one quick sweep, he took in the scene and immediately stepped up next to Delaney. He pulled his sword and pointed it at the man who seemed to be the leader of the group. Instantly the man raised his sword from Delaney to point it at Ian's throat.

"Drop your sword Pierce," Ian snapped and Delaney watched as the eyes of all the pirates went wide.

The rough and ragged looking men all turned to stare at Ian and the ones towards the back shoved each other to try to see what was happening.

"C-Captain Black?" the pirate with the blade on Vincent's throat stammered, "What are you doing here?"

Hope began to build in Delaney's heart. They knew Ian!

"I'm here by order of the pirate king," Ian replied without taking his eyes from the man in front of him with a sword pointed at his throat, "Now drop your swords."

"Don't drop them!" Pierce shouted, glaring, "You're not our captain Ian. Our Captain said we're raiding this house."

"This house and these people are under my protection," Ian snapped.

"That doesn't matter to us," the man sneered, "You're not our captain and you're not the pirate king. So move aside or I will sink my blade into your throat."

"I would cut you down before you could move," Ian hissed, "Now drop your swords! These people are under my father's protection as well."

The other pirates looked concerned but Pierce stood strong.

"We don't take orders from you," he snapped, "We take orders from our captain and those orders were to raid this house."

"Call your captain ashore then and I will tell them myself!" Ian shouted at the man. It was only in the face of Ian's rage that the man finally waivered.

"No need for that," came a voice somewhere from behind the group of pirates.

They scrambled quickly aside and let this person pass. Delaney watched with wide eyes as a beautiful woman walked up the stairs between the rows of startled pirates. Her face was serious as she stepped up onto the grass. Her chocolate brown eyes moved over the scene before coming to rest on Ian.

"Put your swords away," she commanded.

All the pirates but one immediately sheathed their swords. The blade came away from Vincent's throat and Delaney moved to go to him but he gave a quick shake of his head to stop her.

Pierce looked enraged, "B-But Captain..."

"Put your swords away!" she cut him off, speaking louder.

The blade fell away from its place pointed at Ian and the man shoved it hard back into the sheath. Ian glared at the man for a moment longer before slowly dropping his own blade although he didn't yet put it away. He turned away from Pierce at last and his eyes met the gaze of the beautiful woman.

She smiled a pearly white grin, "Hello little brother."