A Pirate's Song

Chapter One.

I stirred as the morning light crept into the room and shown onto my face. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and tried to roll over to escape the sharp rays but instead, I collided with something solid. My eyes shot open and I found the face of the pirate staring back at me.

His arm snaked around my waist when I tried to escape, preventing me from falling off the bed.

“Calm down, love, I won't hurt you" he assured me and slowly let go of my waist to roll over onto his back. He sat up on the edge of the bed so that his back was to me and stretched out his aching muscles.

His skin was dark, burnt from the sun and his back was covered in scars. I wanted to reach out and touch them but I restrained myself and sat up among the bed spreads. He looked back at me from over his shoulder and for a moment the sun reflected off his golden orbs, making them seem as if they were glowing.

He stood and started getting dressed, tugging his shirt over his head, buttoning his brown under shirt and tugging his jacket onto his shoulders. He strapped his sword and his guns to his belt and stuck his pirates' hat atop his head.

“It's time to go" he announced and started heading for the door. I followed his movements with my gaze and watched as he dragged the chair in front of the door aside. He opened it, then turned to me expectantly. I looked down at myself, wearing a white, thin and sheer type of dress that would look like a sleeping gown to most women of much higher status. It dipped low in between my breasts and was tightened around the waist with two strips of thin material.

“My crew is waiting" he said and it was then that I realized what he meant. He wanted me to go with them. My mouth dried and my eyes widened as I looked up at him. The inn was most likely empty and all was silent as he waited for me to protest.

“You wish for me to go with you?" I asked after a moment's pause. I wanted to protest but I didn't want to test his patience so I decided to play it safe and tread a much lighter path of conversation. He shifted his stands, weight moving from one leg to the next "I am in need of a singer and you will do" with that he turned on his heels and disappeared down the hall. I looked at the balcony beside the bed and glanced at my reflection in the mirror.

My hair was a tangled mess and my face was free of all makeup. I looked tired and drained but I decided to follow the man none the less, knowing that if I didn't, he would most likely hunt me down and not be so generous as to only ask me to sing next time. I hurried down the hall and to his side.

“Me? But Sir, I'm sure there are many more beautiful than I to take" the pirate did little in response to my words and thudded his way down the stairs. The boots he had tugged on earlier, sounded like heavy stomps on the thin wood as he moved. I clutched my dress skirt in hand and scurried after him, out the door we had entered the night before and past corpses of various men.

“There's a brothel just up ahead, the men speak of a woman with hair of gold who knows how to properly pleasure a man" I tried again to get him to reconsider. At the end of the alleyway, he turned, sharply and suddenly, causing me to stumble into his hard chest before he spoke up in a stern tone.

“I don't want a w***e" he said, biting out the word 'w***e' and grabbing hold of my wrist to steady me. His grip tightened when I looked up into his golden gaze "I want you" for any woman it would've made quite the romantic moment but for me it was anything but.

He let go of my wrist and stormed off down the street, shifting his Captain's hat as he walked. I glanced in the opposite direction, once again contemplating whether it would benefit me to run but I knew he would find me eventually and when he would, it wouldn't be pretty. I followed him, heading for the docks as the sun rose up above the horizon and the streets were coated in a layer of morning dew.

“If I may ask, Sir, why?" I was curious as to what his intentions were and what had attracted him to me. Perhaps it was because I'd been on the rocks the night before or because of my attire, my portions of exposed breasts? I stepped around a man, lying in a pool of blood and felt the warm liquid stain my bear feet.

“It's because of the way ye look" was his reply. I glanced down at my breasts and nodded my head but he noticed and once again paused to turn to me with a sharp, deadly look in his eyes "Not ye body, love, ye eyes" his eyes pierced mine and I felt my heart stop in my chest for a moment as I watched his features change from calm to irritated at the sound of laughter and an approaching voice that yelled out above the rest.

“That's where Captain went, found himself a woman for the night!" his head whipped towards the direction of the voice and I began to fear for the man who had dared speak. I trailed after him until we reached the docks where a total of fifteen men were waiting for us, including one wearing a similar hat to the Captain.

“Is she ready?" the Captain asked the man in the hat and he nodded, he reached out to place his palm flat against the ship's side as if brushing the neck of a horse "Ai Captain, that she is" the Captain didn't say a word as he boarded the ship and shot a look in the man who I assumed to be the second in commands direction.

The man instantly knew what his Captain wished for him to do and before I knew it, I was being hoisted over his shoulder.

“Up ye go las" he said in a thick Irish accent as I screeched and grabbed hold of the fabric of his shirt. The second in command with the brown hat grabbed onto a piece of rope from the ship and began scaling the side of the ship.

“Don't look down, miss" and just as he said it, I looked down at the smiling, grinning faces of his shipmates.

I yelped when I was thrown onto the deck of the ship and landed in a thud. I groaned and shot a glare at the second in command from my place on the ground "Sorry about that, lassie" I could tell it wasn't a sincere apology but I let it go and tried standing, only for the man to toss me back over his shoulder again like some rag doll or play thing.

“Let go of me!" I demanded as the rest of the crew crawled their way onto the deck of the ship. The Captain stood at the head of the ship, watching as I kicked and thrashed in the man's dirty grasp.

“I said let go!" I barked, to the amusement of a few crew members. They laughed and one even nudged his friend to say, "She's a feisty one" his friend snickered and nodded his head in agreement "Ai, she's the Captain's type" I shot a glare in the snickering pair's direction as the man carrying me turned to face his Captain which meant giving him a full view of my rear.

“What will it be, Captain? The cells?" he asked, expecting to hear the same thing he had heard many times before but instead of that, the Captain turned his back to us and said in a low, monotone voice that growled as he spoke "Take her to my chambers" the crew laughed but went silent at the Captain's orders. None of them were expecting to hear that and froze for a minute until the Captain shot them a look and the man carrying me bowed.

“As ye wish, Captain" he then turned and started towards the doors that lead down to the Captain's quarters at the back of the boat, giving me a clear view of the Captain's back as we thudded down the stairs and into the room below. I hit my head on the door and the man, carrying me chuckled lowly as if it had brought him pleasure.

“Let me go right now or I swear, I will cut off your fingers and feet them to the fish!" I bit out just as I was flung down onto a large, soft mattress. I gasped and hurried to sit up as the man grinned down at me.

He raised his hand, wiggled his fingers and shot me a crazed look "Ye can go ahead and try, lassie" I crawled back into the corner of the room where the mattress was pressed up against and the man burst out laughing as he turned and headed back above deck. I tilted my head back to look up at the wooden flooring above as a pair of heavy feet moved across them followed by a familiar voice.

“Ready the sails!" the Captain called and the men cheered. I waited until I felt the ship jerk and the wind start to catch in the sails, taking us out to sea to relax and take in the room around me.

There was a small night table beside the bed and a desk pressed up against the opposite wall with a map of the world hung above it. There was a thick, red Persian rug with a few chairs scattered throughout the room and a dresser. A toilet sat off to the side. I noticed something on the nightstand and started crawling towards it. It was a book with a brown cover that read 'A map of the seven treasures'. I reached out to trace my fingers across the words but pulled my arm back by a sudden voice.

“Can you read?" I turned to face the familiar face of the Captain and thought whether it would be a good idea or not to answer truthfully. I decided that I needed to stay useful to him in order to survive.

“Yes" I said as I followed the Captain's movements. He strode over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. He pulled a red dress from it and placed it on the seat beside the dresser.

“Get dressed" he ordered, taking a seat in a chair on the other side of the room. I looked at the fabric then at him and wondered whether he was going to give me some privacy or not but he didn't move.

I got up from the bed and made my way to the dress, untying mine and allowing it to drop down to the floor, leaving me naked with my back to the Captain. It was a frilly, short red dress with a brown corset middle. I tugged the material over my head and tried tying the corset but I couldn't reach it.

The sound of a chair shifting caused my back to stiffen as someone started tying the corset for me. His breath tickled my neck and his hands worked quickly, skillfully as if he had tied and loosened many corsets in his days.

“I need ye help" he began in a much gentler tone than before when he spoke to his crew. He let out a long, exaggerated breath and finished tying up the corset.

“I need ye to read me that book so that I can find them treasures" he explained, nodding his head in the direction of the book, I had taken an interest in earlier. I turned to look at it, the dress moving along with me as I stood on what remained of my white dress. I started towards it, picking it up and turning it over and over again in my grasp.

“Is this why you took me?" I asked, referring to the novel as being the reason why I was aboard the ship in the first place. The Captain stayed silent for a few moments until I looked up at him and found him striding across the room towards me. He reached out to take the book from my hands as his eyes locked onto mine.

“Ney" he began, blinking then looked down at the book in his hands, flicking through it and stopping on a page that had a hand drawn map on it. He slowly traced his index finger along the lines but paused to look back up at me.

“I took ye for me" he slammed the book shut and tossed it down onto the nightstand with a loud thud that made me jump. He closed the distance between us until he was standing a breath away. I staggered back on instinct but met with the side of the bed, trapping me in place.

He reached a hand out, running the back of his knuckles along my cheek bone. Tingles shot through my skin at the gentle contact and my eyes began to droop in response to his touch. His large palm cupped the side of my face and I instinctively leaned into it as his eyes trailed over my features from my small button nose to my plum, pink lips.

“Ye better start reading" he suddenly said, dropping his hand back to his side. His relaxed posture shifted to that of a tense one and he backed away from me, looking off to the side as he spoke. He then thudded his way back towards the stairs and disappeared to the main deck, leaving me standing there breathless and alone in that room.

I glanced down at the book and slumped, numbly down onto the edge of the bed. My legs felt like jelly and my stomach fluttered as I struggled to catch my breath.

After a while, I reached for the book and started reading, eventually falling asleep among the pillows and bed sheets.

Something heavy slammed down on the night table beside me and I jerked awake from the sudden sound which was followed by a loud, bellowing laughter. The book I had been reading tumbled to the floor as my chest rose and fell in rapid sync.

“Didn't mean to startle ye, las" a familiar Irish accent said from beside me and I instantly knew who it was.

I turned to look up at the man wearing a brown Captain's hat. He chuckled, holding on to his stomach until he eventually stopped to look at my glare.

“Captain said to bring ye dinner" he explained and motioned to the nightstand where a wooden trey sat. Atop it was a piece of bread and what looked like a stew of vegetables that didn't look at all appealing. He breathed a laugh and turned to leave but paused to glance back at me.

“Oh and Captain wants to see ye above deck" with that he was gone and I noticed that candles were lit inside the room to give off some form of light.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed and reached for the book, closing it and neatly placing it down on the bed beside me before reaching for the trey. The bread was stale and the stew was disgusting but I was starving from not having eaten anything in over twenty-four hours so I hurriedly and unattractively scarfed it down. I gulped down a glass of water and ran the back of my hand across my lips.

I stood up from the edge of the bed and headed for the stairs where a skinny man with rotten teeth and an eye patch jumped up out of nowhere, scarring me. I shrieked and shrunk back, nearly tumbling down the stairs as a chorus of laughter echoed throughout the night. Another pirate stepped up and grabbed the one-eyed man by the shoulder.

“Come Snaggletooth, leave the lady alone" they staggered off and I reached up to grip my chest as a few men nearby chugged down cups of rum and wine. I tentatively stepped out onto the deck and had to do a turn to survey my surroundings. I was trapped in the middle of the ocean with nothing but the open sea on all sides, stretching out onto the horizon.

My body quivered and I felt my legs weaken as I stared out onto the open ocean. It called to me, like an enchanting curse. My feet started moving on their own accord, carrying me towards the front of the ship where the figure head was placed. My mind went blank with nothing but the water in mind as I ascended the steps and reached out to grip the front of the ship. My leg raised as I tried to step out onto the front piece but a strong hand grabbed hold of my shoulder and pulled me back, out of my daze.

I looked up at my savior to find a young man, dressed in dirty, brown rags. He was taller than me but around my age with blonde curls and a crooked nose "The Captain is that way, miss" he directed, jerking his head in the opposite direction as the figure head where two men were placed high above the rest of the ship, hunched over something and arguing. I looked at the man and swallowed hard.

“R-Right" I said, heading towards the steps but paused to look back at him "Thank you" with that I descended the steps and shook my head as an attempt to clear it. I tried my best not to look at the water as I climbed the ladder that lead to the back of the ship. I reached the highest deck and approached the two men.

“You wanted to see me?" I asked in a small tone, catching the attention of the two men. They looked up at me simultaneously and I instantly felt a pressure in my chest as I took a small step back. The Captain looked at his second in command and jerked his head as a single for the man to leave. He left without a word, leaving the Captain and I alone, beneath the stars.

“What did ye find out?" he questioned me, placing his palms down onto the surface of a table that looked to be connected to the ship. There was a large map on it and a compass that sat close to the Captains hands.

I knew that he was talking about the book and the seven treasures so I swallowed hard and threw my head back to look up at the small lights in the black sky. I followed them until I turned a hundred-and-eighty degrees and looked towards the black horizon.

“The first treasure, lies towards the East where two mouths meet and a light is cast upon it" I repeated the words from the book and turned to look back at the Captain. His facial expression didn't change as he watched me then suddenly turned to face the crew.

“Change course to East!" he snapped and the crew sprang to life. Men climbed up the sides of the sails and some loosened ropes "Ai, ai, Captain!" they bellowed and the ship jerked. I stumbled and staggered as it changed course and I found myself falling into the Captain's arms.

He managed to catch me as the ship steadied itself and pressed my back flat against his chest. I stiffened at the touch and gripped his strong arms through the material of his coat.

“Captain Caleb, Sir" the second in command said as he reappeared on the deck. I wrenched myself from Caleb's arms and scurried off to the side to place some distance between us. A murderous look flashed in his golden eyes as he turned to his right-hand man.

“What?" he demanded and the man shrank back in fear. Caleb waited impatiently for him to speak up and when he finally did, his Captain's nostrils flared in anger "W-Why have we changed course?" Caleb glanced over the man then started towards him with slow, threatening steps. He resembled a panther, stalking its prey as he moved. I watched his posture relax slightly as he reached the man wearing a brown pirates hat and glanced at the thing atop his head.

“Your hat" the Captain began, motioning towards it. The pirate tilted his head back slightly and reached for his hat, placing his palm flat against the top of it "What about it, Captain?" Caleb straightened out his shoulders and dropped his arm back to his side before turning slightly to look back at me in the corner of the deck.

“Give it to her" the man's breath caught in his throat and the crew went dead silent as everyone placed their attention on the conversation between their Captain and his first mate. The man who for some reason enjoyed torturing me glanced at me then back at his Captain who was retreating back to the map.

“But Captain-." he tried to argue but Caleb left little room for argument. He rounded on his first mate and snapped in a loud tone that held a hidden roar beneath its surface "Now!" I stood frozen in place as the second in command scurried across the deck, towards me and placed the hat atop my head. I half expected him to toss me overboard from the anger in his eyes but he didn't. Once the hat was on top of my head, he left the deck and the crew went back to their sniveling.

“Why-?" I began but was cut off by Caleb who didn't bother looking up from the map "Ye are of more use to me" I reached for the hat, pressing down on the top of it to get it to more comfortably fit my head. The warn and dark material of it stood out against my silver, white hair.

I allowed my feet to glide across the wooden flooring until I was stood at the very back of the ship, looking out onto the horizon with the wind whipping through my hair. I raised my hand to grip the necklace, dangling around my neck.

In just a few days, my life had gone from being an orphan in an orphanage to somehow becoming the first mate of a pirate Captain, sailing to find the seven treasures of the world.