Angel At Sea

Pirates!

Chapter Two: Pirates!

~~ "P-Pirates?" I asked, not believing my ears; I trembled in fear and Sophie nodded quickly, yanking me away from the stairs. All of a sudden a canon ball came blundering through the boat, shooting a hole straight through both walls of the boat, not even five feet before Sophie! I screamed and double timed it back, running up the stairs. Sophie grasped the back of my nightgown and pulled me back down.

"We can't go up there! We'll be killed!" She cried.

"Well, we can't just sit here either!" I yelled back. "If we can make it to the map room, we'll be fine; that door locks and is quite strong" I added, I grasped her hand and smiled. "But we have to hurry" I yelled over both gunfire and canon fire. She nodded and ran up the stairs, leading the way; it was absolute madness on the deck!

Imagine, if you will, Piccadilly Circus smashed onto the deck of a boat! And, those people roaming Piccadilly Circus, carrying guns and knives and all dangerous weapons; aiming to kill you! I ran behind Sophie, that is, until two large, muscular arms went underneath my own and jerked me away from Sophie, I screamed for her; but she didn't hear me, and she continued running until she hit the map room and slammed the door behind her, not even checking to see if I was still behind her. The man threw me to the ground and pointed, inches away from my neck, a large, silver sword with a fatal point at the end; I just breathed for a few moments and time seemed to slow. My eyes traveled up the sword to a disgusting man with hardly any teeth, and, those he kept were brown with holes in them; the whites in his eyes were bright red and his pupils were so large I thought they could engulf his entire body! 

He wore a long, brown, curly beard with golden skin and brown, soiled overalls covered his body. Though, my eyes floated from this man, across my own boat, to the boat apposing us; the pirate ship. There was a man standing at the wheel, he was incredibly tall and wore a large, black hat with a large brim and a black feather; his clothing consisted of a white, cotton shirt, a black vest, a large, black trench coat, two black belts that carried holsters for three guns and two rapiers, and black trousers with black boots. This man's eyes burnt a hellish yellow and his face...his face was long and his skin...like green parchment! Going back to his face, it was...disfigured, to say the least; I couldn't see it too clearly from a distance, but, what I did see wasn't pleasant, at all.

His cheeks were sunken in so his cheekbones were more than clearly visible; his eyes, too, were sunken in, and, his nose...he didn't have one! His mouth was tight lipped, and his ears weren't big, however, nor were they small. They were wrinkles running vertically from the bottom of his eyes to this mouth, but, in no way did he appear old. He gave me, in fact, quite the opposite impression; he appeared young and agile, he was as skinny as a skeleton and, because of his height and length of leg, he glided about the boat with a suavity that could never be recreated by anyone; he wasn't muscular, almost at all, but he struck me as incredibly masculine and dominant. There was no question in my mind that he was the captain.

And he was staring straight at me.

I couldn't move, his gaze paralyzed me where I lay; the man holding the sword to my throat was yelling something to me, but I heard not what. The man I figured was the captain, was now walking down the stairs from the wheel to the deck; not breaking eye contact with me. Now, time rushed back to me and I snapped back to attention to the man before me, he was looking away, at something else, and I made a break for it; even though the captain caught me in a trance, I didn't want to go over to the pirate ship, what self respecting woman would? I ran up to the Captain's Quarters and shut myself inside; locking the three locks and pressing my back against the door, my heart was fluttering and my chest rose and fell quickly, I was surprised I wasn't shot or something like that!

Moments after I pressed my back to the door people, pirates, were banging on the door and slamming their bodies against it; the door moaned and cracked with their combined strength blowing against it. Honestly, I am surprised the door held out for as long as it did; I glanced desperately around the room for something, anything to aid me in hand--to--hand combat against a pirate. Finally, I saw a rapier, stuck to a plank of wood, which also held a giant swordfish; I bolted from the door and, with several yanks, the rapier came free and, the moment it fit in my palm, the door broke in half and flew to the back of the room. I barely moved out of the way in time. Four pirates stormed the room and two challenged me; I swung the rapier in every direction, striking their rapier's once or twice and causing a loud ringing, a ringing I wasn't prepared for. 

Upon instinct I dropped the rapier and covered my ears, which was, my worst mistake of that day.

There was muffled laughter around me and I was hauled up, thrown up for a moment and then a man's hands took me beneath my arms; I would've fought back, but, every time I went to uncover my ears, they ached and a loud throbbing beat against my eardrums. By the time I realized what was going on, I was upon the deck and the fighting had stopped; mother, father, and Sophie were on their knees with a man behind them; a gun in one of their hands. Finally, I widened my pain threshold and took the ringing; I bit, kicked and screamed, kicking one man in the genitals. He gave a sharp intake of breath and fell to his knees and another man took me up, and punched my cheek; I fell to the deck and someone screamed at him. I pushed myself up a little and saw hot, red, blood dripping from my bottom lip.

I was yanked up again and was being dragged over to the pirate ship; I screamed and fought ever harder. Yelling for my parents and Sophie. "Fight!" I screamed "please, fight....mummy!" I yelled to her, the pirate that held me threw me down upon the deck of the pirate ship; and I couldn't breathe for a moment, not because I was in pain, but, because it was all so surreal.

I glanced before me to see shiny, black boots; I looked up now to see the man that I assumed was the captain, he stared at me for a moment and then nodded to one of his men. 

Three guns went off at the same time.

I looked back down from the man; my breathing was weak and tears burnt my eyes, this couldn't be real. None of this could be real! The captain said something, but, I was too incoherent to hear it; my feet wouldn't work, so, the pirates had to drag me. I turned one final time and saw Sophie's lifeless eyes staring back at me, her face was expressionless and her golden, Italian skin was turning pale; a dark red hole in the back of her head. My eyes floated over the deck to find two pirates throwing my mother and father's bodies overboard; I had not the time to look at them.

The pirates took me below deck, to a prison they called a 'brig'. There were many other men down there, most of them made catcalls at me as I was dragged; however, I was given my own cell. I scrunched to the side of the cell; which was the side of the boat, when I was thrown inside. The pirates slammed the cell door and one addressed me. "The Cap'n will be callin' ya soon, lassie" said he, laughing and walking off, twirling the keys to my freedom on his finger.