A Pirate's Song

Chapter Three.

Land ho!" someone bellowed and awoke me from my sleep. I pushed myself into a sitting position and glanced around to find that I was alone in the room. The book was placed on the nightstand beside me, along with a piece of bread and cup of water. I reached for the bread and scarfed it down, followed by downing the water.

I slammed the cup down beside the book and decided to head towards the deck to see where we were but as soon as I exited below deck, I noticed that the entire crew was gathered to the side of the ship, staring at something on the horizon.

I ran the back of my hand across my lips and ascended the steps to the upper deck to find what looked like two rock towers, stretching high above the sea surface. Caleb stood near the wheel, looking out onto the same spectacle.

“The first treasure lies between two mouths where a light is cast upon it" I repeated, looking towards the sky where the sun was starting to set in between the two towers. I rushed past Caleb and pointed towards the sight.

“There, we will find the first treasure, there!" I announced and Caleb harshly turned the wheel of the ship. The crew was sent flying as the ship turned and I had to tighten my grip on the railing to prevent myself from flying overboard.

“Set course for the sun!" Caleb yelled and the crew jumped to their feet to readjust the sails to accommodate the ship. As soon as the wind caught the sails, the ship jerked and sped up. I watched as the two towers crept ever nearer until we were sailing right in between them.

I stared up at the flat, rock walls on either side of us and felt my mouth drop open at the sheer height. The sun was setting faster and we only had a little light left to find the treasure.

“Anything else ye like to add to finding this treasure?" Caleb asked, looking back at me from his place, steering the ship. I tried remembering what I'd read about the first treasure and looked up at the sky where gulls were flying.

“Not above" I muttered, looking down at the clear, blue waters below us "Not below" I repeated the words that had been written in the book "Follow your eyes" I looked towards the setting sun and noticed something catch my attention from out of the corner of my eyes. I turned my gaze to find something gold shimmering in the light of the setting sun.

“There!" I cried out, pointing towards the glowing shard. Caleb steered the ship towards it, being careful not to hit the sides of the narrow towers that rose up, out of the water on either side of us.

“Lower the anchor!" Caleb demanded when we reached the glowing speck that was encrusted into the side of one of the towers. The anchor dropped and with a loud thud beneath the water caught on something, steadying the ship.

“Fetch the hooks!" Caleb's voice yelled out as I stared up at the source of the speck which was in the mouth of a small cave. Ben, appeared beside me on the side of the ship with a hook and rope in hand, looking up at our objective.

“Quickly, before the sun sets!" I ordered and they hurried, a few of the crew members appeared, tossing their hooks to hook the mouth of the cave. They then scaled the side of the tower as darkness began to fall and the sun disappeared behind the horizon. My breath caught in my throat as I observed them climbing but they quickly returned to the deck of the ship, shaking their heads from side to side.

“The hole's too small, Captain" they argued and Caleb slammed his fist down on the table behind the helm. I looked back up at the cave and began to unbutton the front of my dress.

“Give me your shirt" I insisted, glancing at Caleb before turning my back on the crew. Wolf whistles and cat calls filled the air when my dress dropped down to the surface of the deck. Caleb appeared behind me, shielding me from view as he shrugged off his jacket and tugged his shirt over his head, handing it to me. I pulled it on over my head, expecting it to go down to mid-thigh from the vision I'd had where my prior reincarnation was wearing the same shirt. I stepped up onto the railing of the ship and reached for one of the dangling ropes.

“This is madness" Ben argued but I shook my head and looked back up at the crevasse above.

“I'm the smallest person here, I might fit" I argued and tightened my grip on the rope, leaping into the air and swinging until my feet collided with the rock of the tower. I glanced down at the water below then turned my head to look back at Caleb.

“Anything specific that I have to find?" I asked as his jaw tightened. Ben was looking at me like I had lost my mind but I wanted to get to the treasure and find the others. In my mind, the quicker I could get them the treasure they wanted, the quicker I could go home.

“Find me a red gem" I nodded and started climbing, using all of my strength to get to the cavern. It took me twice as long to reach it as it had the crew but it was because my arms were much weaker. I heard Ben yelling when I was high enough for the crew to see up the bottom of the skirt and figured that he was telling them to avert their eyes.

When I reached the cave, I dragged myself up onto its floor and sat, panting heavily. I looked down at the ship to find Caleb watching me with a worried gaze but as soon as it was there, it was gone, replaced with an impatient scowl.

I forced myself up onto my feet and started towards the back of the cave where a c***k had been made in the rock. It was a narrow fit but I managed to squeeze through it and into what looked like a sea of gold. My feet were met by a few inches of water and above that was enough gold to fill an entire room, spread out along the bottom of the cave.

I had to remind myself that I was searching for a red gem and raised my head to find a pile of gold sitting on the opposite side of the cave. Moonlight was starting to spill into the cave, catching the gold but my eyes noticed a gleam of red. I threaded through the water and gold to a gem that was placed, perfectly on top of a golden trey.

I picked it up and twisted it back and forth in my grasp before the cave started shaking. I looked up at the ceiling in fear as bits of it were starting to crumble down. The towers were collapsing and I knew that I had to get out, quickly. I ran for the c***k in the wall and tried squeezing through it as fast as I could but when I reached the other side, I realized that there wouldn't be any time for me to climb back down to the ship. I glanced towards the water and then to the ship where the crew were struggling to raise the anchor.

“Evangeline!" Caleb called up to me as the walls beside me started to crumble. I was breathing hard as I desperately searched for an escape. My eyes landed on the water which looked too enticing for comfort.

“Catch!" I yelled, tossing the gem into the air. It twisted and fell until it landed perfectly in Caleb's clenched hand. I looked back at the cave behind me and reached for my necklace.

“Go!" I ordered and the ship began to sail for the opposite end of the towers.

“No!" Ben cried out, climbing to the far back of the boat as he looked up at me, fear and worry in his eyes as they searched for a way to get to me. I gripped the edge of the cavern and waited for the ship to exit the towers before I tore my necklace from my neck and jumped into the air.

I dove down into the water just as the whole of the towers came crashing down on top of me. My legs morphed into one single unit, tipped with a fin and I thrashed it, diving as far down as I possibly could where a coral reef was sat. I tucked myself underneath the reef and prayed to the gods that the pieces of the towers wouldn't crush me through the reef.

After a few minutes of trembling, the waters went silent and I opened my eyes, sucking in a breath of air in relief as I swam out from beneath the reef to find that there was a large chunk of the towers resting on top of it. I heard a crash of water and looked up to find that Ben had jumped into the water as an attempt to try and find me but he was sputtering about the surface for a moment until he finally decided to dive down in search of me. He dove and swam further down until he lost all air and breathed in water.

I swam towards him, wrapping my arms around his torso as I dragged him towards the surface. Once we breached, I pretended to gasp and cried out a frantic "Help!" the ship was nearby and the crew quickly spotted us. Caleb ordered them to lower the row boat and I threw Ben into it before tying my necklace back around my neck.

I heaved myself up onto the side of the boat so that my lower half, down to my knees were out of the water and paused to allow my thighs to separate properly. I then sat up, tucking my legs beneath the side of the boat. Water dripped from my fin down, onto the water, casting a violet glow that I prayed, only I could see. Once my feet were fully separated and we were hoisted onto the ship, I turned to Ben and tried to feel for a pals.

“He's not breathing" I announced as the crew dragged him out of the boat and onto the deck. I fell to my knees beside him and tilted his head back, placing both hands on his chest and pressing down hard. I repeated the motion a few times until my hands started to cramp.

“Wake up!" I yelled at him, slamming my fists into his chest but he didn't move. I looked up at Caleb who was stood nearby, my fingers pressing Ben's nose shut before I delved in. I pressed my lips to his cold ones and breathed out. Ben instantly started coughing and vomiting up water. I hurriedly turned him onto his side and hugged him to my chest, petting his back as he coughed and gasped for air.

“It's alright, you're alright" I assured him as the crew cheered and Caleb shot me a look before heading back towards the wheel where he began to steer us away from where the towers had once been. I could've sworn that I saw a glint of jealousy in his eyes but I shrugged it off and grabbed Ben's face in between the palms of my hands, forcing him to look at me.

“That was incredibly idiotic" I scolded him as if he was a mere child. He managed to calm down enough to look me in the eyes with a relieved and grateful look in his.

“You're okay" he breathed out, his eyes moving to glance down at my slightly parted lips. I cleared my throat and stood on the deck, feeling the cool breeze hit my nude form and I realized that the white shirt I had been wearing was soaked through. I quickly raised my arms to cover my breasts and nodded.

“Yes, I am fine" I announced then stormed off below deck where I stripped out of Caleb's shirt, tossing it off to the side as I searched for something else to wear, digging through his dresser in search of a better color shirt. I found a similar shirt in navy blue and tugged it on, followed by my boots.

As I sat on the edge of the bed, doing up my laces, I could hear music and singing, coming from the deck. I stepped out onto it and found the crew dancing and drinking, cheering as they laughed at the simplest of things. One of the men stumbled over to me, placed his arm around my shoulder and offered me a drink of his rum.

“Tonight we celebrate, love" he announced then stumbled off to join the rest of the crew after I politely rejected his drink. Ben was sat on the stairs beside me with a cup in hand.

“Want a drink?" he asked, holding his cup out to me. I took it and sniffed the content, finding a strong, sweet smell that went with it. I took a swing of the wine and handed the cup back to him.

“Loosen up a bit" Ben said when he noticed how tense I was. He downed the rest of his drink and got up to go fill it with some more wine through a large barrel. He then handed the cup to me and found another one, filling it with wine as well. He turned to me.

“Cheers" he cheered and clanked his cup against mine before downing his drink. I followed his example and drank the whole cup, stumbling and nearly falling as I finished it and had to lower my head again.

“Now you're getting the hang of it" Ben pipped, reached for my cup and refilled it again, stuffing it back into my hands. A few drink and a few hours later, I was dancing around the deck with Ben, singing along to a song that I didn't know the words too and cheering along with the best of them. Snaggletooth snapped his jaw and the man beside him nodded.

“Ye said it, mate!" he agreed and burst out laughing. I raised my cup.

“Here, here!" I bellowed and laughed, throwing my head back to chug the rest of my drink but a man grabbed my cup and held it out of arm's reach.

“That's enough" Caleb said, reaching for my upper arm with his free hand. I hiccuped and tried to reach for my cup saying in a drunken voice "Give me that" but he refused and handed my cup to the closest pirate before dragging me off below deck. I nearly fell on the stairs and was swaying from side to side when I reached Caleb's room.

“Ye need to sleep" he insisted, motioning to the bed. I closed my eyes, swaying back and forth on my jelly legs as every few second a hiccup escaped my lips.

“Why?" I asked, not moving from my spot as Caleb watched me with an annoyed scowl. I opened my eyes and leaned forward, waiting for him to respond "Because ye need to read, not get drunk with a few dirty pirates" I raised my arm and pointed a finger at him with a pout on my lips.

“Hey, you're a dirty pirate too" I stated, not caring what the consequences of my actions and words would be. Caleb's golden gaze narrowed into an intense glare as he watched me sway.

“And besides, I already know where the next treasure is" I babbled, raising my arms to shrug my shoulders just as another fit of hiccups escaped my lips. Caleb's eyes glistened with a gleam at my words and he quickly proceeded to ask, "Where is it?" I placed a finger to my chin and looked up at the ceiling in thought, tapping my foot against the floorboards beneath me as I tried to remember the exact words.

“The cold is next, in a crow's nest near a white sea, or was it a white plain? I can't remember. It was something or the other" I sang the riddle instead of saying it but the rest was all babble which added to Caleb's annoyance. From the look on his face, it was clear that he didn't understand a word of it and was waiting for me to explain.

“The cold?" I tried to give him a hint but he just kept staring at me so I threw my hands up in the air and stalked over to the bed, falling down onto it with boots and all.

“North, we head North" I muttered, throwing a loose arm over my eyes as I tried to get the room to stop spinning by placing one foot on the ground. Caleb grumbled and began to strip out of his jacket and boots, placing his hat and weapons aside so that he could climb into the bed beside me. I felt the mattress dip and groaned when a sudden jolt of nausea hit me.

“Please stop" I begged but there was no reply, only silence as Caleb fell asleep and I finally dozed off myself.