Dead-or-Alive

-Chapter 1.2-

-Chapter 1.2 🌊 Ahoy Matey-

Thatcher chortled and decided he had had enough. Pushing his left arm and leg into the sand, he flipped himself over, sending the girl flying off his back. "As Red Jack lives and breathes, what did you just ask me?" he laughed, brushing off the sand from his clothes.

Her eyes narrowed. "I said let me join your crew, or are you as deaf as you are drunk?"

He smirked, rising to his feet with surprising grace for someone who Sybil had watched chug down pint after pint of rum. She stood up after him, fuming at the seams. "Why would I ever let a girl join my crew? It'd be the same as asking for Aguadon to rise up from the dead and swallow my crew whole."

"You don't really believe that silly legend, do you?"

The Captain's eyebrow twitched and he took a cautious step backwards. "You have neither brains nor heart if ye have no faith. How else do you explain the sea or stars or sun or moons?"

Shaking her head, Sybil saw no value in arguing. Although, the answer remained clear to her. Science. Still a fresh concept at the time, the logic could not be more sound. Flying beasts creating life out of nothing made no sense to her. "That is beside the point. Let me join your crew," she reiterated for the billionth time, praying to whatever dragons he believed in it would finally sink in.

"No, that is the point. No women can board my ship and distract my men. That'd be a death sentence one way or another."

"That's a load of hogwash! I am just as capable as any man and I won't be a distraction. I can keep to myself just fine, mind you."

A low rumble came from Thatcher's throat as he attempted to subdue a laugh. One glance at her and anyone could tell that wasn't true. Most of his men, while still the best pirates around, couldn't tell one pair of legs from another so long as they were a woman's. Her blonde hair glistened with strawberry highlights in the fading sun, framing her heart shaped face and making her baby blue eyes shine. Even through her cape he could tell she was round in all the right places. Maybe she wasn't the belle of the ball and her foul mouth sure made her difficult to be around, but she'd have to be stupid to believe any of the words she said. No distraction his arse.

Turning, he deemed the conversation over and began the short trip back to his ship. It was time to get out of that scorching hellhole she called home. Sybil's heart fell when his back turned. "You can't leave. Please, you have to help me."

"I really don't, and unless you suddenly become a man there is no way my crew would ever agree to help you either."

Sybil kept shut briefly before an idea made her eyes light up, her iridescent irises glowing like two small stars. "Done."

The Captain choked and gave her a look that spoke volumes.

"It's simple. I'll dress up like a boy and push my hair up under a hat. If you keep me busy working below deck where no one will see me, your crew won't be able to tell a difference. Look at yourself, right now," she rambled on, gesturing to his overall drunken state of being, "I doubt your crew is renowned for its sobriety. Will anyone really be able to tell?"

His jaw fell open a crack while he himself realized she had a point before he chided himself for even entertaining the notion of letting a woman- no, not even that- a girl aboard his ship. "Not going to happen."

"Please, Captain Thatcher."

"Why do you want this so badly? The sea is a dangerous place even for the most experienced pirates. There is nothing out there that a lass like yourself should have to endure."

Biting her lower lip, Sybil thought back to that moment all those years ago. "They took him," she confessed, tears brimming her eyes.

"Took who?"

The words didn't immediately come to her mouth. They were trapped inside her head echoing like a bad hymn, reminding her of the person she'd lost. "My father," Sybil revealed, taking in a deep breath, "It had been the hottest evening in months and everything looked like you were seeing it through a haze of lava. Even the sky was red.

"Nothing that day had boded well with me, so when the moons had risen well into the sky and my fears still had not subsided I begged my father not to go to work the next day. He shook his head and told me, 'Sybil Collier, we are not cowards.' My mother said the same thing, so I pushed my worries away.

"The next morning, workers claimed pirates raided the mine my father worked at for treasure, but no gold or silver went missing. Only my father vanished that day. With some persuasion, I found out the flag of the ship the pirates sailed on and I need your help to find them. I'm not taking no for an answer."

Nodding solemnly, the pirate damned himself for having a weak spot for all things of the opposite gender. To top it off he too had lost his family. It was a sore subject he longed to forget about. "Then let's go get you a change of clothes."

The feared pirate captain started to walk back into town, but Sybil still itched for a fight. "You can't stop me. I will board your ship whether you... Wait what?"

The corner of Thatcher's lips quirked up mildly amused. Pausing for her to draw near, he made his warning very clear. "Would you like to find your father or not? The ship is supposed to leave at sundown, so I reckon we don't have more than half an hour at this point. If you continue to move as slow as molasses the ship will leave without us." Imagining his ship leaving him behind as he had done with former crew members made him shudder.

Sybil sped up as fast as her oppressive skirts would allow her. "They would leave you behind? Aren't you their captain?" she gasped, nearly tripping over her own two feet.

"Aye, the first rule of pirating is every man is replaceable, even the captain. My men were already antsy about setting foot on this wasted inferno," Sybil sneered at the insult. Only the locals had a right to mock the island. All others could rot in Fuegoryth's belly. "Given the opportunity we'd rather spend the day in the capital's prison cells."

Having had enough she intervened before he could add to his pile of rude remarks, "Okay, I get it. Your crew doesn't like it here."

He rolled his eyes at her tone. "No need to get your feathers all ruffled. I just speak the truth."

"Oh yes, you pirates are always praised for your honesty." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

He would've stopped to put her in her place, but he didn't have the time. Instead, he had to settle for a snide remark, "Then, a true good-natured woman such as yourself should fit right in."

Sybil bit her tongue, confident steam rolled out from her ears. "Are you sure we'll be able to find clothes in time? Most tailors should be about ready to close shop and head home," she worried, the time constraint they shared ridding them both of any spite they might have been inclined to push onto the other.

If possible his face grew even smugger. Gripping the hilt of a cutlass Sybil never noticed before, Thatcher's eyes glinted with mischief. "Aye, I can't imagine any man saying no to two honest pirates such as ourselves."

She laughed, more thrilled than horrified at being called a pirate. It only meant she was one step closer to finding her father because to find the people who took him, she had to become them.