Bloody Mary

Chapter Nineteen~The Spoken Truth

The waves of the Caribbean bashed against the hull of Benjamin Hornigold's ship, each time reverberating through the vessel. By now Marianna could feel nearly every touch the water made on the vessels she traveled in, and that connection with sea pleased her, if only to distract her from the problems on her mind and making their way to her ears.

While she sat at the bow of the ship, watching the horizon with a stern gaze, the boisterous crew she had been stranded with for the past six months had been boasting about their feats against their island enemies as well as their survival skills. Whenever one of them would brag of their valiancy in battle Marianna would have to hold back a giggle, but it was a relief to see them in such high spirits. The moment they'd stepped on board, Benjamin and his crew had uprooted rum and whiskey from below deck and began nurturing the bloody buggers. Six months without a drink- it was a surprise they hadn't gone mad. It was a surprise she hadn't gone mad dealing with their complaints.

"Percy was the one that kept us together. If it hadn't been for him... We'd have lost our will." Andrew said, arousing a murmur of agreement from the crew that sat around him in a circle, planted upon boxes that had been dragged over.

Marianna kept her eyes on the sea, acting as though she didn't hear the appraisal.

"That so?" Carlisle asked, and his eyes landed on the youngest pirate. He scrutinized her for a moment, eyeing how she sat with a knee pulled to her chest, and a leg extended over the bow. She was a peculiar attribute, but apparently a peculiar asset as well. "Percy, come over hear for a bit." He called across the ship, watching as she immediately perked up, pushed herself to her feet and took long strides over to them. His eyes caught the confidence in her stride, and he was truly curious as to what brought that on. Not to mention the new weapons he saw strapped various places. The question was, did she really know how to use them?

Marianna stopped just at the mast of the ship; a few feet away from the crew assembled in their circle, and she folded her arms. Her eyes met Carlisle's with an odd glint to them.

"Yes, Captain?"

"The lads tell me you were quite the help to them... Thank you."

She managed a shrug. "They were a help to me, so I thought to return the favor, but I wouldn't say what I did was marvelous." She put a hand to her face and playfully whispered. "They're over-exaggerating, Cap."

"Bull shite!" Snorted Andrew, and even though it was fairly early in the afternoon, the droop of his eyes said he was falling into a drunken state. Marianna cast him a curious eye, mentally urging him to continue. "Helped me learn to man a sword! And I'll be damned, he taught us to man a ship."

"You already know how to man a ship, Andy." Carlisle rolled his eyes, but suddenly Edward was shaking his head.

"Not like that. He told us the rolls of a ship, and what they did. Damn good thing too, 'cause we wouldn't have known otherwise."

There came a rumble of agreement through them, and then Connor managed a laugh. "None of us knew a damn thing when we joined this crew, thought we were just gonna hit the seas and that'd be that, eh? Thank God one of us knew our shit."

Carlisle kept himself quiet while the group came to consensus, and toasted Percy with their rum and whiskey in gratitude, then sucked back their liquor, parting with satisfied sighs.

"Perhaps Hornigold's crew will tell you about your jobs. Seems he's got his ship in order, so maybe they'll teach you something. I don't know everything, after all." A gleam lit Marianna's eye, one that went unnoticed by most save for Carlisle, who eyed the spot. Had she always been so interesting, or did Carlisle miss the youngest pirate more than he cared to admit?