The WindFlyer

Chapter 3

Draen's PoV

I sit in the brig, a straw mat below me with a thin wool blanket. My back rests against the wooden hull of the ship as it rocks back and forth with the waves. I've always loved the sea. Ever since I was a boy, but when I was eight, my father ended all my dreams of open waters. He told me I was to be married to a princess upon my 22nd birthday. I would have gladly chained my heart to the land for my country. I bound my fate to the land for my people only to realize it was all for nothing. The princess is dead. Everything I denied my heart a waste. And now? Now I don't know weather I'll live or die. The captain of the infamous WindFlyer hold my life in her hands. Her hands that have murdered so many. A ruthless captain and a woman no less.

Tales have reached my ears of the pillaging and adventures. No one has ever encountered the ship and lived. I wonder how many people have sat in this cell and feared for their lives. I do not fear for my life, oddly, I regret all I gave up and all I did not do. I denied myself sailing and the sea because I knew my marriage would restrict it. My title would restrict it. Princes don't become admirals. Princes rule from a stone palace on a throne.

I begin to go over the diner I had with the captain. She's younger than the tales make her out to be... the tales also make her out to be a man so how much they can be trusted is up for debate. She's not like a pirate, though. She is well spoken, she doesn't use the language of pirates. She is cold and cruel. She clearly does not regret what she has done nor does she regret killing the princess when she was a child. But, how old could the captain have been when she killed her? She can hardly be much older than I am. Perhaps I can be the first person to survive an encounter with the deadly ship.

I must stay alive. I must find a way to escape. I am my fathers only heir, my two brothers not fit to rule. I am smarter and stronger than both of them. I have trained my whole life for this and I'll be damned if I let a pirate take it away from me. The only question is how I will go about it. Perhaps I can gain her trust so that I can escape my guards and flee. That does mean I will have to be civil to the pirate girl, a feat that will put all my court training to use. The darkness sets in around me. Tomorrow, tomorrow I will begin setting my plan in motion. But for now... for now I will sleep.

<•> <•> <•>

I awaken to the sun in my face and the taste of salt on my lips. A tray of food is waiting in my cell. Bread and some hard cheese and a few limes. The limes and citrus fruits keep scurvy away. How thoughtful of my captor I think with a roll of my eyes. However, I eat them anyway. I pull myself to my feet and begin pacing around the small cell. The pirate girl, for I refuse to give her the title of captain, promised I would be allowed on deck. I hope she intends to make good on such promise. If it is to be my last day, I should like to feel the sun just one last time.

My cell door swings open and I am met with a scarred face of one of the crew members. She has three large gashes on both sides of her face and her hands are riddled with what looks to be burn scars. "Cap says you're allowed to roam the deck, if ya'd like," she says with a cruel smile. I am taken aback when I see her menacing smile. Her teeth have been replaced with metal fangs. They look sharp enough to rip through flesh. I swallow slowly and give her a wide breadth as I exit the cell. No chains are clamped around my wrists today, a good sign perhaps.

She leads me down the narrow corridor and up a ladder leading to the crews quarters. We walk up the corridor here until we are just above where my cell is on the level below. The girl winks at me and says, "Just so you know how far ye will have to go should ye escape." before forcing me to climb another ladder and following close behind me. The taste of salt in the air and shouts of the pirate crew meets me first, then the rays of the sun bathe me. I take a deep breath into my lungs, relishing the clean and fresh air, relishing the smell of the sea.

At the helm of the ship is the girl captain, her blond hair pulled back from her face. A few loose strands billow about with the wind. She wears a captains coat of the darkest blue silk, that which matches the sails, and the three point hat of black trimmed with red. There is a hard set to her eyes as she surveys the deck below her, but her lips are tilted upwards ever so slightly. She hands the wheel over to her first mate, a hulking male with bulging muscles and tattoos. His dark black hair also tied back and his mouth set in a smile of carnal joy. The girl pats his shoulder with a laugh and struts away. Perhaps more than just her first mate. Maybe he is her lover as well.

My eyes follow the pirate, trying to decide how to best begin winning her trust as she makes her way over to me. "So glad you could join us today, Prince, I trust you slept well and that my crew has given you the courtesies you are granted?" She asks. Again, her words are not those of pirates but those of someone who has grown up with education.

"Very well, my thanks, and your crew has been quite civil to me," I respond with a tilt of my head. The words taste some what vile in the back of my mouth as I say them. But I must win her over if I ever wish to return to my father and my kingdom.

"Excellent," she purrs at me, reminding me of the tales of mountain leopards. "I do hope you will join me for a sweep of the deck. The WindFlyer is a most magnificent ship to behold." She motions her arm around the large deck with a cunning smile. I bow my head in a show of respect and give her a smile that used to make girls swoon.

"If would be my pleasure to tour such a fine vessel as this one," I reply. In truth, the ship is well made, a master builder surely oversaw her creation. I wonder how it fell into a pirates hands.

As we begin to walk around the ship, several crew members stop and salute as we pass, giving several variations of "Captain". The girl merely nods to them with a hard face. We pass the first mast and the crew snaps open the massive sails. They immediately catch wind and puff out. A beautiful color, too. So at odds with the usual white sails of any ship. As we pass the second of three masts, a small boy scurries down it and stops before the two of us.

"Mornin' Cap!" He says with a salute. The girl gives him a nod and he continues speaking. "Ter be a warshin shi a scor off ta starboard." The words the boy says are heavily accented and I can barely make out anything he says. In fact, I do not think they are of the common tongue at all. But the girl seems to understand him clearly as she responds.

"Welen da, Sam, upin pos ya," I look at her incredulously. How anyone could manage to understand the mess of sounds is beyond me, let alone speak it. She notices my look and moves to explain. "Sam is one of my two look outs. He comes from Tellar." That explains the strange language. Tellar, while part of the archipelago, still uses its own language first before the common tongue. A lowly pirate would not have been taught common language likely.

"You speak Tellarnese?" I inquire. It is not an easy language to master, nor would most people want to learn it. Even I, as a royal, do not know it... who is this girl?

She does not answer my question, opting instead to just nod at me. The iron teethed girl comes up to us next, her teeth flashing in the sun as she bares them at me. I cringe inwardly at the sight. "Cap, I be hearin what Sam say, ya want the boy back in 'is cell?"

The girl looks at me and cocks her head with a little smirk. "No Ren, have him tied up by the helm. I think he should watch," she keeps smirking as she yells to the crew "Ready positions! Merchant ship approaches!" The crew scrambles to their positions as I am dragged to the helm with the girl taking back the wheel. The crew, including their leader, clip blue masks into place, leaving only their eyes visible, as the remaining two sets of sails snap open.

I hear the girl say under her breath, "this should be fun."