A Pirates Life For Me

the sail of souls

Alora had woken up with a massive headache. It was still dark outside but she decided to get up anyway. She walked out onto the boat to see most of her crew bustling around. Most meaning all two of them, she had killed everyone else.

"Good morning boys". She spoke loud as she flipped a dagger around her fingers. A trick she had used multiple times to spill blood. "good morning captain Alora". The two sailors spoke in unison. Jasper and Jace were brothers Alora had been raised with. That's why they're the only two she let live.

"What adventures will you two be setting on today?" "We're going to elswick to find a secret merchant." "A secret merchant?" "Yes, she sells all kinds of mystical things. Things you only hear about in fairytales." Alora could not believe the nonsense she was hearing.

"So you're going to find a hidden merchant, which means she may or may not even exist, and you're going to buy what? Magical potions? Special foods that make you fly? Swords made from the feathers of a Phoenix?" Jasper and Jace looked at each other and shrugged. Alora rolled her eyes and walked towards the front of her ship.

"I cannot believe you two sometimes." Alora sighed as she looked into the pitch black water. "why can't i ever go on the adventures". She mumbled to herself and played with the bone on her necklace. It was a piece of bone from a mermaid's tail. Even sea creatures are not safe from Alora.

~

Once the sun had risen Jasper and Jace left the ship. They took the life boat to and from the lands they visited. Alora had to stay on the ship alone, all day every day. It was boring and some days she would slowly shave down the wood on the ship, hoping it'll sink.

Alora was always told the lands were too dangerous, and that she would be kept alive on the boat. But after twenty-one years she was sick of being stuck on a floating pile of planks. She wanted to see the world up close, not trees in the distance she would never get to feel or smell. She wanted to be free from the ocean, despite the fact her short time on land once was horrible.

She spent most of her days drawing maps based on the stories she would hear as a child all the way through adulthood. She imagined what the lands looked like and how the people lived. Did kingdoms still exist? Was magic still real? Was her family out there somewhere?

Alora wanted answers. And it was answers she would get. If she wasn't drawing maps she was planning her escape. Some were simple, some were ridiculously impossible. Jasper and Jace pretty much never left the deck. She could just kill them both and leave, but she wouldn't, not them. Not all she's had her whole life.

~

The boys had returned just before nightfall. Alora was not surprised when they came back empty handed, besides a few cases of beer. "what happened to your secret merchant?" Jasper sighed and sat on the boxes of alcohol. "We went looking for her, and ended up in the wrong place." Jace trailed off at the end.

"Because you don't know how to read a map." "Neither do you." "Better than you can. At least i was close before you took over." "How do you know we were close? We were in the middle of nowhere." "Well that's where she is!" As the boys argued Alora opened one of the beer crates. "While you two argue I'm going to have a one woman party."

Alora took some of the beer out of the box and walked off. But not without mumbling to herself. "Since there's nothing else to do on this stupid boat." The brothers didn't even hear her and continued to argue. Alora needed to get out of here.

~

The next morning the boys went looking for the merchant again. Alora sat in the barracks of the ship carving away at the wood. She would either see water or set the boat on fire at some point. As she was cutting away she started to hear strange noises. She listened thinking it was just the ocean. But then she heard a loud blaring sound. It sounded like a siren.

Alora ran to the ship deck to look around. A massive ship was sailing towards elswick, towards Alora. The ship was dark, the wood scarred from the scratches of massive creatures, and maybe other boats. There were pieces of metal holding it together in some places. The sail was marked with blood, the heads of other pirates hanging from the beams. The stitch work was done with the skin of others.

Alora knew what it was. She heard the stories about the pirate king of the damned. Some say you can still hear the screams of the dead that hang from the sail. The sail of souls was a warning. A guarantee for death. And Alora had a plan, a ridiculously impossible one.

A/N: oh yes time for Alora to start trouble. She's gonna give Jasper and Jace a meltdown one day. Anyways hope this was alright and see you in the next chapter 🙏🏻🖤 hopefully. I also know this first chapter was slightly rushed, just bear with me 🖤