The pitiless strength of two crewmen grabbed for Jacqueline, and together ushered her up onto the open deck. The leather-tanned crew had gone quiet, and gone were the veils of hanging clothes to hide behind. Glassy black eyes, all staring, never quite met her own but looked through the being of reason, through the persona to the meat and blood of her.<br/><br/>Through them, the salvation of an island- finally, deliverance from the uncaring sea- rose above the foaming white waves in rocky bluffs. A bold gray gull made landing to thieve an unattended bowl of the ship's slurry, chased by half a dozen more. A dense forest capped the island, evergreen krummholz warped into tangles by unbroken wind. Out there along the coast, run aground on muddy shoal, was an abandoned little tender boat from the<em>Charlotte. </em><br/><br/>A moment later, Baykur emerged from the opposite companionway with Danae.<br/>"Do you not know madmen from their wailing?" Baykur asked. "You were warned not to wake them. Now they will howl and thrash the whole way, and bring the wolves down on us."<br/><br/>Around the main mast fashioned coarse, sun-baked rope to hug Danae to the tarred wood.<br/>"Punishment for you will be swift," Baykur said, and accepted a coil of tightly-bound dark leather for the task. It unfurled in her hand onto the deck with an oppressive weight, no plaything but a weapon of intimidation. Space cleared on the deck as the captain drew her whip back for the first lash.<br/><br/><em>Krak, </em>down Danae's back the leather snapped, all momentum delivered in a twist which rent open muslin and sent gulls fleeing to the skies.<br/>Sharply the whip retraced its course like an inhaled breath, and with a fury she had once restrained Baykur lunged another low across reddened spine,<em>krak. </em><br/>One by one the red welts blossomed in lasting marks, and muslin shredded to the salty sea air, leaving a back in agony exposed to the captain's mercy.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">10 damage to Danae</div><div class="spoiler_body">Danae takes 10 slashing damage from the initial 5 lashes.</div></div><br/><br/>The store room opened to empty its genteel passengers onto the open deck. Zoe and Michelle look on in horror at the torment Baykur inflicted.<br/>"Right now," said Rehner as she beckoned Aloisa and Corinne to bear witness. "These two broke into the hold. Do you know them?"<br/><br/>There was a breath where Baykur paced the deck, and ran her fingers through Colleen's golden hair. She met the eyes of Jacqueline, while her blood was burning hot, and said "Will you stand by, and let the blame rest on her?"<br/><br/>With renewed zeal the whip slashed across Danae's back, until blood dripped beneath the mast from angry slices down either shoulder.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">11 damage to Danae</div><div class="spoiler_body">Danae takes 11 slashing damage from the second 5 lashes.</div></div><br/><br/>Sage averted her eyes from the sight of it, all the greater her jump of surprise with each whip crack. Margaret Hotspur kept her eyes on the captain. Her mouth was tight, her hands were fists. "Someone stop this cruelty!"