Wicked Sea

Chapter 1

Besse crouched down as low as she could go behind the food barrels. She cringed as she inhaled the scent of salted fish, beans, and moldy cheese. The smell was not helping her rapid heart nor her churning stomach. As a crew man walked by she held her breath, watching him twist his neck side to side as he tried to locate her.

He grunted angrily and moved on, continuing his search for the thief while grumbling to himself.

Blowing out the breath, she let her head fall back on the wooden wall of the hold, relaxing for just a moment. Her fingers moved to her pocket that held the doubloons she swiped from the Captain, her end goal was nearly in sight until the First Mate caught her.

Besse's lips turned up in a sneer as she thought about how he bellowed out about her being a thief and how she ran from the Captain's quarters down to the lowest part of the ship to hide.

The bastard ruined her plans of getting off the ship and away from their perverted, angry eyes at the next port. The doubloons would have helped immensely with buying new clothes, a horse, and keeping the sellers goddamn mouths shut, but now there was little chance of her hiding until then.

Sighing, Besse straightened her head and opened her eyes.

A pair of black beady eyes stared right back, the crew man's cracked lips curled up in a sinister smile showing off his rotten teeth.

"Found ye," he whispered, his rancid breath in her face making her nearly gage, before grabbing her by the hair and yanking her up.

Besse yelped at the sudden pain in her scalp, grasping at the man's wrists to try to lessen the grip. He dragged her from behind the barrels, clawing at the man. She managed to kick one of the barrels over in an attempt to distract him, but all that managed was the floor being soaked in fish juices.

She was starting to think the luck she had was cursed.

Bringing her attention back to the crew man that had her hair in his clutches, she kicked him the shin, making him grunt in pain and lose his grip. She turned and started running until another crew man stepped in her way and back handed her hard enough to fall and see stars.

Dazed with blood trickling down her chin from her split lip, she felt her arms get grabbed by two crew men and was hoisted up. Each one took her hand and tied them behind her back, her head swirling with confusion.

Besse surrendered to her fate as she tried to ward off the darkness that danced along the edges of her vision.

Stumbling onto the main deck when one of the crew men pushed her forward, she silently thanked the sea god for giving her such good sea legs, otherwise she would have fallen and broken her nose along with her busted lip.

"Bring her ta me," snarled Captain Craw, rum dripping down his unkempt beard after taking a swig.

The two crew men grabbed Besse harshly, their dirty fingernails digging into her skin as they practically dragged her to him.

They threw her at his feet. This time she was not so lucky to catch herself, pain exploding from her elbow as she landed on her side.

Besse hissed internally at the pain, but on the outside she glared up at the Captain, not allowing him the satisfaction of seeing her hurt.

"Whatcha got ta say far yarself, Bessse?" The Captain slurred his words at her, making his accent harder to understand.

Besse spat at Captain Craw's boots, or tried to with the little bit of saliva and blood she had in her mouth.

"Aye. Such a cunt," Captain Craw's first mate, Pistol-Grin Garry, spoke with disgust, acting like he never chased after Besse like a male dog looking for a leg to hump.