A Pirate's Song.

Chapter Fifteen.

Leyland Manor.

1739.

Caleb.

Claudia Campbell was a rich noble girl around Rebecca’s age. She was known throughout the city for her beauty and grace that could captivate any man. Her hair was said to be as black as a raven’s feather and her eyes could see straight through a man, burning as brightly as the sun.

As a thief, I had heard many rumors, always keeping up with the gossip of men and women alike in case I would ever need to make due on the information. Only a handful of people had ever laid eyes on her since she was rarely ever seen outside the manor.

I crouched low on top of the bell tower that was positioned near the manor, my hand gripping the edge as I observed the structure, taking in every window that was within my line of sight, every door, every balcony and every guard that passed by the gates every few minutes.

I had discarded the shirt that I stole and was once again left only in a pair of trousers, the cool breeze hardly doing anything in comparison to my wounded shoulder.

The blood had stained my skin and ran down my left arm as I tried forming a plan to get from where I was to inside the manor.

My eyes locked onto the sea behind me, its waves sending an annoying chill through my spine as I slowly stood upright. There was just something about the water that I hated, something I couldn’t explain no matter how long I would ponder over the possibilities or reasons. I glared at the water then began my decent from the tower, using my arms and feet to scale down the side of it until I was close enough to leap down onto the cobblestone road, my knees bending to absorb the shock.

There were few people in the streets at that time of the night which made it easier for me to move around without being detected. I headed in the direction of the manor, my mind repainting the image of the windows, the doors and balconies as I planned the rout that I would take.

My feet came to a stop outside the old black gates of the manor that were locked to the public and I found myself staring up at the sigil of a lion that had been fastened into the iron. It was their family crest, symbolizing the Campbell line and for some reason it intrigued me as I stood there, almost mesmerized by its roaring face, canines bared and eyes glaring.

I was snapped out of my trance by the sound of a door slamming and a woman screaming in frustration.

My eyes darted towards the double doors of the manor where a young girl was rushing down the steps, clutching the skirt of her emerald green dress that stood out against her pale skin tone.

I hid behind some bushes, peering out to watch her as she stormed off in the direction of the garden, muttering things under her breath.

While I was following her movements, I noticed a tree that stood close to the fence and crept towards it, all while keeping my eyes glued onto her petite frame.

She entered the rose garden, stopping at the center of it, surrounded by thousands of red, yellow, white and pink flowers that seemed to glow in the light of the moon.

I ducked down behind the tree then began to climb, hoisting myself up onto one of the highest branches to creep along it until I could jump down and onto the Leyland manor’s property. She didn’t realize that I was there, too furious and distracted by her own rambling to see me approaching her, slowly moving closer like a lion would when stalking its prey.

The guards didn’t petrol the gardens which provided me with the perfect opportunity to attack.

I was just about to grab her from behind when she abruptly turned, nostrils flaring as she glared up at me with fierce, golden eyes, eyes that reminded me of my own.

“Can I help you?” her voice was delicate but strong, feminine but held the tone of a highborn woman.

I halted, my eyes scanning her features, taking in the sight of a very beautiful young maiden. Her black curls were braided in an intricate up do on the top of her head with some of the strands framing her face while others had already broken away from their woven bounds to hang down in the back. Her nose was small and her lips were thin with high cheekbones and a long, thin face. To me she looked like a percaline doll, flawless and close to perfect. There was no doubt in my mind that the girl who stood before me was the Campbell family’s most prized possession, Claudia Campbell.

She hardly seemed phased at the sight of my wound or the blood staining my skin.

“Well?” she pressed, her voice laced with irritation, the kind of annoyance and impatience that I recognized in myself.

I didn’t really care for anyone other than my mother or Rebecca but something inside of me drew me to the girl that stood a few feet across from me, her chest rising and falling from every breath she took.

“Well?” she repeated, her eyes narrowing onto me, not afraid, not unsure but instead angry, frightening like that of a hungry beast. I had assumed that I was the predator and she the prey but her blunt response and calmness made me realize that it was in fact the other way around. She was the predator and I was her prey.

“Is it gold that you seek? Silver? Jewels?” she demanded, her one hand letting go of her dress skirts to reach for the necklace that dangled around her throat. It was made of gold and had emeralds imbedded into it. To me it would’ve meant buying nice clothes, food for a month, a beautiful dress for my mother and some more of Rebecca’s cookies but to her it was useless.

“Then take it” she tore the thing from her neck and tossed it onto the gravel at my feet. I had to take a step back when she threw it, her aggressive movements catching me off guard as my eyes landed on the jewelry piece below.

“It is not like I care for any of it” my eyes flickered up to look at her. She had turned so that her shoulder was to me, eyes scanning over the flowers, statues and hedges that made up the whole of the garden. I could tell that much like Rebecca, she hated the life she was born into, hated the pampering, the lessons in proper manors, the strict schedules. She was just an ordinary girl like any other despite what I had heard, she just wanted to be free.

I felt a pang in my chest when I began moving towards her, the gravel digging into the soles of my feet as I neared her, my hand reaching out to grab hold of her forearm.

“What are you-?” she cut herself off when a strangled cry escaped her lips. I twisted her arm behind her back and bent her over the garden table, pressing her into the cold concrete. She turned her head to glare back at me, not afraid but enraged.

“You will let go of me at once!” she yelled, her eyes scorching, dangerous. She could easily bring a man to his knees with those eyes, eyes that made me pause for a moment as if to reconsider what I was doing.

I shook my head, an image of a woman dressed in red silks flickering past my eyes, the image of my mother’s smiling face clouding my better judgement.

I leaned most of my weight onto her, forcing her down.

“Forgive me” I whispered then struck her in the back of her head with a small stone object that had been resting on the table as decoration, causing her to fall unconscious, her muscles relaxing and her eyes growing empty.

At first I had thought I’d killed her, moving back a few paces, the object slipping from my fingers and falling with a loud thud onto the gravel. There was blood on my fingertips, blood that wasn’t my own and I raised my hand to stare horrified down at the crimson liquid, my body trembling.

Claudia didn’t move, staying in place as her arm slipped from her back to dangle down beside her body. Her dark hair seemed almost wet from the blood that pooled out of the gash I had made.

I glanced toward the manor then around the garden before moving closer, placing my hand close to her nose. A sense of relief filled me when warm breath struck my skin. She was still breathing.

I heaved her up onto my shoulder and started heading for the fence, planning my escape now that I had a woman in tow. I paused in front of the fence, eyes searching for a way to heave her over it when my gaze landed on what looked to be rust. The bars were old, the iron most likely eaten through by the ocean air.

I gently laid her down on the grass, my hands moving from one bar to the next until I found one that was lose enough for me to bend, just enough so that I could crawl through and finally slip her underneath as well. I tucked my hands underneath her arms and dragged her over to the tree, trying to think of a way to not make it look suspicious that I was carrying an unconscious girl around the city.

I knelt down beside her and started untying the laces of her dress, tearing the heavy thing from her body, leaving her in only a white under gown that went down to below her knees. I tossed her shoes aside and tore some of the material from her dress to tie around her head like a sash to cover the cut and blood.

I then heaved her onto my back like I would a sleeping woman and began my walk, sticking to the back alleys as I made my way towards the docks.

I was wounded, covered in blood while carrying a girl who I kidnapped to hand her over to a band of pirates. For once in my life, I found myself breathing a laugh and shaking my head, wishing that I had listened to Rebecca and stayed away instead of finding myself in that type of situation.

I reached the docks a few hours later, tired and warn out from the wound I had endured. I staggered over to the ship, stopping where the netting was hanging from the side. There was a plank there, acting as a ramp that had been placed there for me hours beforehand.

I climbed it, the crew noticing my appearance. They called out to their Captain as I fell to my knees onboard the deck, moving the girl so that I could take a look at the back of her head. The wound was no longer bleeding, to my surprise and a relieved sigh escaped my lips at the thought of her being okay.

“Well, would ye look at that-.” the Captain’s voice reached my ears, followed by the thudding of his boots. The crew parted, allowing him through. He glanced from my hunched form to Claudia then back to me with a sinister grin plastered across his face.

“The boy held true to his word” I glared up at him, the light of the lamps striking the side of my face. The man in front of me was a pirate and all pirates were monsters in my eyes. He looked at Claudia, his eyes moving over her, taking in every inch of her body.

“She be the Campbell’s daughter, correct?” he asked, not sure if he could believe me or not. I tossed the piece of torn and bloody emerald material up for him to catch. He studied it, pure silk and embroidered with gold thread. He gave a satisfied hum then threw the rag down onto the deck, turning to address his men.

“Take the city!” they erupted into cheers, drawing their swords as they threw themselves overboard, cutting down anyone that stood in their path including the watchman. I watched in horror as he bled out near the water, arm dangling off the side of the docks as one of the crewman lit a torch, grinning wildly. I moved to stop him from jumping over the side of the ship but the Captain clamped his hand down on my shoulder, forcing me onto one knee as he dug his fingers into the wound that resided there.

“Watch boy, watch while ye city burns” he whispered into my ear, bending to chuckle at the sight of pure horror clouding my eyes.

Two crewman stayed behind with their Captain and I knew I would be no match against them, not in the state that I was in.

My eyes landed on the post office as orange fire consumed it, a fire that began to spread deeper into the city.

“No” I breathed out, my mind going to my mother, to Rebecca.

“No!” I yelled, going to stand but I was forced back down by the Captain.

Claudia began to stir, her eyes fluttering open from where she was splayed out across the deck a few paces behind me. I turned my head to glance back at her, her fierce gaze landing onto me once she could register what was going on.

“You-.” she was cut off by the two men dragging her onto her feet and to one of the poles, tying her to the pole to keep her rooted in place. She glared at one man then turned her heated stare to the other, her teeth gritting and hands balling behind her.

“You will pay for this!” she snapped at them, her eyes then finding mine, her chest rapidly rising and falling as hatred burned in their depths. She looked to the Captain, no fear, no uncertainty in her voice when she spoke “All of you” her threat rang through my ears, followed by the sound of women screaming and children crying in the distance, men were laughing while others were yelling for reinforcements.

The Captain stood up, letting go of me to draw his sword, aiming it at her throat but to his shock she didn’t so much as flinch.

“Ye best keep ye mouth shut if ye want to live, girl” he warned her, pretending to be at least half as brave as she was. I could move, my head turning this way then that for any sign of a weapon that I could use, for anything to help her but before I could, she parted her lips once more and spoke the words that would be scorched into my memory forever.

“I’d rather die than live to see this chaos” her statement was followed by the sound of a sword cutting through the air, a cry of agony and fabric ripping as blood splattered onto the deck of the ship. I watched in horror as she was cut open, her eyes still glowing with anger as she met my gaze from across the ship.

“Y-Your faul-t” it was a low whisper before her head hung and blood trickled from her parted lips, those very same eyes growing empty. I had never seen so much blood and the sight of it made me almost frantic with panic. She was dead, Claudia was dead and it was my fault, the city was being burned to the ground and it was my fault.

The Captain’s laughter snapped me out of it. I had to get away, to get to Rebecca, my mother. I shot up from the deck and leapt over the side of the ship, landing on the dock below, rolling to catch myself before I broke out into a run.

“Bring him to me!” I heard the voice order from behind but didn’t dare look back as I raced through the chaos. Everything was burning, bodies littered the streets, blood flowed like a river against my feet. Women were being r***d, men cut down like they were nothing but statues, children were being killed.

My heart hammered in my chest at the sight, the thought that I had caused it was enough to convince myself that I deserved death.

I stopped in the middle of it all, my eyes staring down at my hands when two faces illuminated the darkness I found myself lost in. I began running again, rushing towards the w***e house since I knew that the bakery had a hidden room beneath the floorboards. I knew that if anything was to go wrong, that would be where Rebecca would hide. My mother didn’t have anywhere to go, anywhere to hide so I had to reach her first.

The door to the building hung on its hinges, the cries of women coming from within. I shot through the door, ignoring the pirates below and headed for our room, the room at the very top where my mother and I would stay when she was not busy working.

The door hit the wall when I stormed through it to find my mother stood by the window, watching with fear in her aged eyes as the city fell into ruin before her.

“Mother, we have to go!” I hurried, reaching to grab hold of her arm to start dragging her towards the door. She stopped in her tracks, her hand moving to gently cup mine as if the world wasn’t ending and she gave me a faint, sad smile.

“There is something that I must tell you” she insisted, removing my hand from her arm as she held something out towards me that she had been clutching in her other hand. I looked down at it to find that it was a pendant of a roaring lions face, the Campbell house sigil.

My eyebrows furrowed up in confusion, not understanding why she had it or what it meant.

“A long time ago a man came to me in search of my talents-.” she began, going back into the past as she ran her thumb over the pendant that was nearly the size of her palm.

I could hear the men coming ever closer, going up the first flight of stairs and made to grab her arm again but I froze when she interrupted my movements “He left this behind” her hand shook when she spoke of the crest, my eyes staring down at it.

What did that mean? That Vincent Campbell, Claudia’s father had come to the w***e house and paid my mother to be able to bed her? Why was it even important? She had been with many men over the years, all to provide for me, what did one more man matter?

“And-.” she breathed, her eyes filling to the brim with tears. Those tears, coming from those gentle, warm eyes made me forget about what was going on around us. I didn’t want for her to cry.

“A-And nine months later, you were born” her voice broke when she said those words. It was like someone had dowsed me in ice water, the color fading from my face as I stared at her in both a mixture of shock and horror.

Vincent Campbell was my father; Claudia was my half-sister. My bottom lip began to tremble, my eyes starting to well up with unwanted tears as I realized what I had done. I not only kidnapped and killed a nobleman’s daughter but my own sister, I sentenced my sister to death.

There was a loud banging and my mother shoved the crest into my hands, moving to push me into the cupboard, locking it so that I wouldn’t get out and endanger myself. I was frozen, unable to move, unable to breathe as time slowed down around me, my eyes wide as the men broke into the room, grabbing my mother by her hair and forcing her down the stairs of the house.

I could hear her screaming but I couldn’t do anything no matter how badly I wanted to help, I was too dead inside to react. I stayed there for what felt like an eternity, weeping, screaming, thrashing until all I could do was just exist. I was consumed by anger, my eyes growing blinded by a need to kill, to seek revenge.

I kicked the doors open to the cupboard and made my way outside. The sight of my mother’s body, laying bare and lifeless in the street only fueled my anger, my hand grabbing for the first weapon I saw laying on the ground which happened to be a kitchen knife.

I didn’t stop moving, the world around me not seeming to matter as I retraced my steps back to the ship with black sails. I had to avenge them, I had to do something, I had to stop the growing need and hatred inside of me from spreading even farther than it already had.

The Captain was alone on the ship when I stepped on deck, busy drinking and singing along with an old pirate tune. He sat with his back to me, feet kicked up onto the railing of the ship and didn’t notice until the blade of my knife was at his throat.

“I figured ye’d return” he calmly said, lowering his bottle to his side as he stared out onto the sea beyond. There was a deep love in his eyes as he appreciated the sight.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful sight” I tore the blade away, fast and without hesitation, slitting his throat and causing him to slump over in his seat. My eyes landed on the bloody knife that I held in my no longer trembling hand and to the girl beyond it that was still left tied up against one of the poles, long since dead.

I tossed the knife aside and began to dress in the Captain’s clothing, his hat, his red coat, his boots, then threw his body onto the deck for his crew to see when they would return.

My hand gripped the back of the chair he had been seated on, turning it so that I could face the opposite side of the ship where the crew would climb back onboard.

There I stayed as the sun rose behind me and the crew came back to find not a boy but a Captain waiting for them. One by one they went down on one knee, bowing their heads to show their devotion to their new Captain