A Pirate's Song.

Chapter Ten.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I didn't dream about Mary, I could sleep, regain my strength and when I finally woke back up, I found Ben seated on a chair beside the bed in the Captain's quarters. He was staring down at the book of the seven treasures, unable to read but looked to be intrigued by the letters.

“Be-n" I managed to get out, wanting to move my arm but all I could do was twitch my index finger. I was frail and weak, I was starving and my throat felt dry.

He looked up at me with wide eyes and quickly moved to get me a cup of water, supporting the back of my head as he pressed the cup to my lips. I gulped down most of it before I started coughing. He set the cup aside and eased me back down onto the mess of pillows and blankets.

“You're awake" he breathed almost in shock. Slumping back down into his chair, hand gripping the arm of it as if to steady himself.

My eyebrows furrowed up in confusion as to why he sounded so shocked, his eyes filled with relief as he ran a shaky hand through his blonde curls.

“Why do you…look-?" I began, needing to stop to take a deep breath before I could finish my sentence "So sur-prised?" my voice was husky and almost nonexistent with a few letters barely coming out and others coming out as too high pitched.

He looked at me laying there with my hair knotted and my eyes drooping, my leg bandaged and my voice all but gone.

“Evangeline, when we left the Pirate's Nest you were asleep for three days, this time it was five" my muscles stiffened at his words. Had I really been asleep for so long? It didn't feel like it, it only felt like a couple of hours.

The ship wasn't moving which meant that we were docked somewhere or were currently stationed in the middle of the ocean with the anchor lowered.

“What?" I questioned my eyes slightly widening as best they could. I tried to sit up, gritting my teeth as I pushed myself into a sitting position. Ben was up on his feet again, easing me into the pillows instead of helping me onto my feet like I wanted him to.

“The…trea-sures" I protested, again fighting to throw my legs over the side of the bed. He sighed at my persistence and watched when I flinched at my wounded leg scrapping across the mattress.

I could hardly keep myself upright, one leg almost useless while the other steadied me against the floorboards. My hands gripped the sides of the mattress as tightly as possible.

“Forget the treasures. You need to rest" he argued, coming to a stand in front of me. I was panting when I looked up into his concerned eyes.

He had most likely been sitting at my side for days on end, hoping that I would finally wake up and there I was, awake but determined to get back on my feet as quickly as possible.

“At least eat something" he reached for the trey on the night table and took a seat next to me with the trey in his lap. My stomach groaned and I realized that I was hungry. I nodded, allowing him to feed me the cold vegetable soup that tasted terrible but went down quickly, any food was better than no food at all. I ate like a starved animal until everything was gone and I felt like I at least had some strength back.

I went to stand, Ben having to catch me when pain shot through my right leg "Take it easy" I breathed hard, using him to support my weight then pushed off, hobbling towards the stairs.

My hands slapped against the wall beside the steps that headed to above deck and I looked up to find my first mate's hat dangling there on a hook. I took it, placing it on the top of my head before forcing myself to climb up the steps.

“Evangeline!" Ben yelled and rushed after me, moving behind me in case I was to fall on the steps. I got to the deck and everything fell silent. Snaggletooth, the Irishman, whose name I still didn't know, and the rest of the crew all went still at the sight of me.

I ignored their reaction and turned, my hands gripping the railing as I ascended the steps to the bow. Rebecca's voice went quiet when she noticed me, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape as the open sea stretched on for miles behind her.

The foot of my wounded leg slipped on one of the steps and I bit out a cry as Ben caught me.

“Be careful" he scolded, steadying me back onto my own feet. I rolled my eyes at him for worrying too much and continued on until a familiar back came into view. Caleb's back clad in a red coat was turned to me and somehow made me feel safe. I opened my mouth, my hands still clinging to the railing for dear life.

“A m-move-." I flinched when I accidentally placed too much weight on my injured leg "Moving island" I got out which caught Caleb's attention. He turned to look down at me his eyes filling with a mixture of relief and worry only to be replaced by anger.

He moved towards me, Ben sinking back and away from the predatory man that was on top of me within seconds.

“Why are ye out of bed?" he demanded, his eyes glaring down at me like they usually did. I could feel my temper start to get the better of me. There I was trying to help him and all he could do is yell at me in response.

“I thought I told ye to make sure that she stays in bed!" Caleb snapped at Ben who kept one hand on my waist in case I were to stumble and fall. I looked at Ben who had fear in his eyes then to Rebecca who was just as concerned about the situation and finally to Caleb.

“If I knew that ye couldn't even follow a simple order, I-." I cut him off "Shut up!" I yelled, wincing when my throat ached at the sudden raising of it.

Rebecca looked shocked at first then raised her hand to cover her mouth, the other clutching her stomach as she stared at us with tears in her eyes. She was trying her best to stifle her laughter at the look on Caleb's face. He fell silent and was staring at me in disbelief while the rest of the crew merely gaped.

“I can take care of myself" my words weren't as delayed anymore but they still sounded like I was having trouble speaking, sometimes going to high or going too low and it hurt to talk like that but I was past my breaking point. I was exhausted, wounded, confused and frustrated and Caleb's attitude wasn't helping.

“Bring me a chair!" I snapped at the crew below and they immediately shot to their feet. A chair was placed near the map on the table in front of the wheel in no time and I stumbled towards it, slumping down onto it as Rebecca leaned against the railing, hand still clasped over her mouth. I looked at Caleb.

“Head South-East and use your eyes instead of your mouth to look for a moving island" Rebecca lost it, throwing her head back as a rumbling laughter escaped her. She clutched her stomach and gripped the railing with her free hand, sinking down onto her knees from the laughter.

Ben was horrified, looking at me as if he didn't recognize me while Caleb looked like he had been slapped across the face.

“Oh no, stop, please, it's too much!" Rebecca kept laughing, wheezing in between her fits. Caleb turned and moved towards me, a feeling of slight fear overcoming me but I suppressed it, glaring back at him as he was glaring down at me.

Rebecca glanced at us, wiping at the tears that streamed down the side of her face when she finally regained her composure. She was sat on the floorboards, breathing heavy with a few breaths of laughter in between. Caleb grabbed the wheel.

“Set course for South-East!" he barked, the crew, including Ben scurrying off to do as he said before one of them got the fist that was meant for me.

The ship jerked, my chair scraped across the wood but I managed to stable it with my left leg. I grunted, knowing that he'd turned the wheel more forcefully than was necessary on purpose. I shot him a narrow eyed look that he ignored and stared down at the map, trying to remember what Ben had taught me about navigating.

We had been sailing for a few hours and I had asked Ben to bring me the book of the seven treasures along with a quill and some paper. He sat on a chair beside me by the table as I tried teaching him how to read in exchange for him teaching me how to navigate.

He had been so interested in the letters when I awoke that I decided to help him understand them.

“You're getting your 'd' and your 'b' mixed up again" I said, glancing down at the chicken scratch that he had scribbled onto the paper in an attempt to write the word 'rod'.

He grumbled to himself in frustration, glancing back at the sheet where I had written down the entire alphabet both in capitals and non-capitals. I had sung the song the orphanage had imprinted into our heads about a million times but he somehow still managed to confuse some of the letters.

“Try writing the word 'ore'" I urged, motioning to the ores from the rowboats that were fastened to the deck of the ship below.

Rebecca was looming over us, her head tilted slightly to the side with interest. I took it that she too couldn't read and found it difficult. She plucked the quill from Ben's hand and tried copying my handwriting, first writing an 'o' then an 'r'. She stood upright with a triumphant smirk plastered across her lips.

“There, easy" I could see Ben gaping at her like she was the fastest learner alive, envy in his eyes at thinking that she was right. I held my hand out to her, palm facing upwards, asking for the quill.

“You forgot the 'e'" I finished the word on the paper in more than half the time that it took her to copy the letters. Her face went blank and Ben's eyebrows furrowed up in confusion as to why there was an 'e'.

“Or when written with just an 'o' and 'r' is the or that you use when you say, for example 'please bring me some wine or rum" I had the two looking at me with blank stares, trying to take in everything I was saying while at the same time trying to understand what language I was speaking.

“And ore with an 'e' is the ore you use to row a boat with" Rebecca nodded her head violently, pretending to understand while Ben remained silent, clearly not understanding what I had just said. I sighed heavily, holding the quill out for him to take.

“Try writing your name, start with a capital" he nodded, his eyes studying the alphabet for a few seconds, lips moving as if he was trying to pronounce the word and hear the letters.

He slowly scribbled a capital b across the paper but it wasn't in cursive. If I had to teach them how to write in cursive it would most likely drive me insane. He wrote an 'e' which had me leaning forward to watch him as he started on the last letter which was the 'n'. Once done he looked up at me as if to seek my approval.

“Well done" I praised, nodding my head once. He glanced back down at the paper and seemed proud for a second, his name escaping his lips in a low whisper. I felt proud and was about to give him something else to write when he looked me directly in the eyes and said in a very blunt tone.

“I wish you could learn this quickly when it comes to navigating" my mouth dropped open and Rebecca threw her head back laughing. Ben grinned tauntingly at me as I snatched the quill from him and stuck the feather in his face.

“Don't get cocky, you only managed to write one word today" he fell silent, his grin fading into a fearful look which had Rebecca laughing even more loudly in the background. I looked at her, my eyes narrowing onto her figure.

“And you learned absolutely nothing" her laughter caught in her throat as she looked back at me, Ben once again grinning at her like a little boy as if to say 'I won'. She placed her hands on her hips and moved closer to look down at the piece of paper she had scribbled the word 'or' onto.

“Not true, I learned that one" she pointed at it and I could feel myself wanting to laugh from her lack of memory. She couldn't say the word nor could she tell me what it meant or how it was used in the English language. I shook my head and tossed the quill down onto the table.

“That's enough for one day" I announced to which Ben sighed in relief and started cleaning up the table, returning the things to where he had found them except for the book that I decided to keep on my person at all times. Becca crossed her arms over her chest when Ben had left and spoke with a confident smile.

“Well since you're teaching me how to read, how about I teach you how to drink like a pirate?" I glanced up at her as Caleb stood by the wheel, having been silent since that afternoon, not bothering to care about my reading and writing lessons as he manned the ship but it was then that he looked in our direction.

“What a useful thing to be taught" I sarcastically responded. She grabbed two cups from on top of the barrel she had been sleeping on when we were in the Northern waters and filled them with wine from that barrel, moving back in my direction.

You're a pirate, are ye not?" she mockingly used the word 'ye' to which Caleb shot her a glare. She held the cup out for me to take as I pondered over her words.

Was I a pirate? I could feel my hat weighing on my head. I was a pirate Captain's first mate; didn't that technically make me a pirate? I took the cup and held it in between my palms, starring down at the sweet liquid that Ben had offered to me before.

“If I get drunk enough, will you teach me how to dance?" I asked. She placed her cup down on the table, fingers gripping the rim as she laughed.

“If you get drunk enough not to feel the pain in your leg then yes" she replied, smiling down at me with daring eyes, silently challenging me to drink as much as I possibly could. I nodded, about to take my first sip when she grabbed hold of my wrist, stopping me. The physical contact between us caused Caleb to stiffen from behind the wheel.

“Rules are that whenever I take a sip, you have to do the same" only bad things would come of this is what I told myself but I nodded and raised my cup, still bound to my chair where I had been sitting for hours on end.

I wanted more than anything to walk, to dance or swim but I couldn't and just sitting there would be the death of me by the end of the night. The light from the setting sun caught her hair, making it look as though her curls were on fire.

“I accept your challenge" she let go of me, laughing as she leaned back against the table and took a swing of her wine. I did the same, mimicking her actions.

The sweet liquid ran down my throat, hot and strong, making the tender flesh inside feel better somehow. My voice still sounded off but with time it got a little better.

Ben came back a few moments later when I was on my sixth sip and noticed that I had a cup in my hands.

“I'm glad to see that you've finally started to let go a bit" he said, referring back to the first time I drank with him when he told me to let go and to relax. He joined us, drinking at his own pace as Caleb brooded in silence.

Challenging Rebecca would be a mistake I would come to regret but some lessons can only be learned through mistakes.