Common Motives

Chapter 18: Marked

Samantha had drifted off into somewhat of an uneasy sleep shortly after being verbally dismissed, once again, by her Captain, trying her best to brush it off as a remark made due to the privateer's irritable nature, but in the end, she was unable to shake it from her thoughts.

She thinks I'm stupid. She thinks I'm useless.

I messed up again, didn't I? Sam, you idiot. Stop asking questions and start taking action. Sam, do something useful.

I can't believe that I screwed this up too. Clumsy Sam. Stupid Sam. All brawn and no brains. Maybe Jewel's right.

Maybe Sydney is...

Maybe...

She welcomed sleep, even if it was only a half-sleep, which provided no energy at all. It was an escape from her unfortunately spontaneous mind, something that she could not avoid while she was awake.

. . . . . .

The buccaneer woke to the rather sharp sensation of Jewel's fingernail stabbing into her shoulder, and she instantly sat bolt upright.

"Ow!" Jewel scoffed, flipping her long bangs out of her right eye, which always seemed to be hidden behind the curtain of black hair. The swashbuckler was sitting with her slender legs folded underneath her, trying to sit up as straight as possible without being visible over the pile of rubble. In order to better ensure this, she had removed her extravagant hat, which was currently sitting in her lap. "Jewel, your nails are long!"

"Well, you're awake now, aren't you?" Samantha looked around in a short-lived state of panic. It was still-pitch dark, she realized, so it was most likely in the early hours fo the morning.

"I-"

"I rest my case." Samantha gave an exasperated sigh, knowing all too well that arguing against Jewel was futile at this point. Actually, it was always futile, at any given point in time, and judging from the more-smug-than-usual look on the swashbuckler's face, she knew this as well.

"Hey, what's that?" Jewel turned her head at a slight sideways angle, staring at the ground nearby Samantha. The buccaneer followed her gaze, being unable to figure out what exactly it was that she had seen.

"What do you mean, what's that? There's nothing there!" Jewel rolled her eyes.

"Under you, Sam."

"What?!"

"You're lying on something."

The buccaneer quickly rolled a few feet away from Jewel, not bothering to look at the object that she had apparently been sleeping on top of for the past three or four hours until after Jewel had retrieved it from the slightly damp cobblestones.

It was a small, rectangular piece of parchment, the corners and edges of it jagged and folded. The purple-clothed swashbuckler held it close to her face, trying desperately to make out whatever was written. She squinted in confusion for a few seconds before her eyes flew wide with fear and shock, and Samantha lunged forwards to clap a hand over her mouth, muffling the other's scream as the parchment slipped through her fingers, fluttering back to the ground.

"Jewel. Jewel! What happened?!" Jewel shoved Samantha's hand away from her face, her breath slowly returning to normal.

"It...it's written in blood."