Princess of Pirates

3_Captured

Zelia

Everything stills within me as I stare into the captain’s eyes. Even my heart stops beating. Then alarming sirens go off in my mind like crazy. If we were on land, I would have been running for the hills. I have no idea if it is his beauty that has this effect on me or fears itself.

The captain does not say a word. His eyes just ever so slowly move over my body. When he meets my eyes again, there is an amused smile on his face, and he is even more handsome to me.

Suddenly, an urge to slap that arrogant smile off his face takes control of me. Who does he think he is? He might be the captain of a ship and I might be at his mercy, but I am a countess. No man has the right to treat me like this and stare me up and down as if I am on the market.

Stubborn, I lift my chin and look him dead in the eye.

“It is impolite to stare,” I say as I pull my shoulders back. “You might be a pirate, but that does not exclude you from manners.”

I have the pleasure to see him lift his eyebrow, taken aback by my words. But the pleasure is short-lived as he bursts out laughing and soon his crew joins him in laughter.

Infuriated by this disrespectful treatment, I glare at him. I refrain from saying any more. I know I am on the losing end of this scenario. If I respond, it will just fuel his amusement.

“Pardon, Mademoiselle,” the captain finally stops laughing and bows slightly. But the dancing devils in his eyes tell me that he is not done having fun at my expense. “I am Captain Jehan Lampert, please to meet your acquaintance.”

His sultry voice makes me go weak in the knees and this upsets me even more. I do not want him to have this effect on me. I should be repulsed or even scared, not infatuated.

“Unfortunately, I cannot say the same,” I state coldly. “You are disrupting our journey.”

“Mademoiselle,” Jehan clasps his heart, pretending to be offended. “This hostility and without having the pleasure of knowing your name.”

“Pardon, monsieur,” I smile sarcastically. “But you seem to enjoy quite some pleasure without knowing my name.”

“Indeed,” he winks at me wickedly before his face turns hard and cold.

“Bellamy!” He bellows without taking his eyes off me. A sailor comes running towards us. “Loot everything. Then throw the injured and dead overboard and escort our … Uhm … guests to The Whydah’s hold.”

“Yes, Captain,” Bellamy nods and grabs Charlotte by the arm.

Charlotte releases a small scream and I pull her closer to me as my eyes throw daggers at captain Jehan. I turn to Bellamy where he is still trying to take Charlotte from me.

“Remove your disgusting hands from her at once,” I hiss at Bellamy and turn back to Jehan. “We will go to your ship willingly. There is no need for assistance.”

It feels like a small eternity as Jehan and I stare at each other with an extremely uncomfortable Bellamy, unsure of what he should do.

“Very well,” Jehan finally nods, and Bellamy lets go of Charlotte. “Fair warning, if you try anything, you will be swimming with the sharks.”

I do not even justify his words with a response. What on earth could we possibly do? There is no escape. We have no choice to oblige if we want to see another day.

Along with the remaining sailors, officers and passengers from our ship, we get into the rowboats and make our way onto The Whydah.

I look back and bite the tears back as I watch the pirates throw the bodies overboard. I want to scream at them that they were people. They had loved ones and deserves to be laid to rest with dignity. But I just bow my head and stare at the bottom of the boat as anger and hatred grow within.

The instant we are on deck, The Whydah fires two more cannons, successfully sinking our ship. We are tied up and let down to the ship’s hold. Cold, black tendrils of fear creep up my spine as we go below deck into the darkness of the hold. It smells stale and rotten, and nausea threatens to take over, but I swallow hard and try to breathe through my mouth. It does not help; the air is thick and heavy and my skin starts to crawl. Without mercy, we are pushed down, untied, and they take the only light with them as they close and lock the door.

“Zelia,” Charlotte whimpers as her hands frantically search for mine.

“Shhh,” I hush her as I take her hands and pull her down to sit next to me.

Somewhere in the dark, I can hear several people crying and I close my eyes. I want to cry, but what would that help? It will only lead to dehydration, and we need to conserve all our energy. There is no way to tell if and when we will be served anything to eat or drink. Pirates are not known for their compassion. What if they just leave us here to die a slow death?

“What will become of us?” Charlotte whispers my fears aloud.

“I honestly do not know,” I sigh heavily. “But as long as we are alive, there is hope.”

*****

It has been two days since we were thrown into this hellhole. Twice a day, the same two pirates bring us food and water. When the rest of the prisoners storm towards it, I sit still and observe the pirates and their routine.

The bucket they provided as a urinal has not been emptied once and the stench in here has become unbearable. I desperately need to find a way out of here. We do not have the means to escape the ship. Asking the men to overthrow two pirates is easy, but what then? No, we need a more educated way.

Calling onto pirates for compassion and humanity is laughable. They have neither. The only thing that might work, would be something of value. Something like the twenty gold coins that is sewn into the hem of my underdress.

When I hear footsteps getting louder, I know it is time to eat. Cautiously, I make my way up the steps to the door and stand so that the door will hide my presence when they enter.

Soon enough, the door opens and the first pirate with the lamp walks in, followed by the other one carrying the food. I act quickly and grab the dagger from the last pirate.

“Emmerde!” He shouts as I throw my arm around his neck and pull his back against me. The dagger pressed against his throat.

“Do not move,” I hiss as the other one turns around. “I just want to speak with the captain, understand?”

“The captain would not mind if I kill you,” he sneers. “Especially if we tell him you tried to escape.”

“Really?” I smirk. “And your captain would not wonder why I would risk it? You are convinced that he would not question why a woman would go to such extremes? Would you truly take the risk of his wrath when he realizes that I have something that he wants?”

“Fine,” the pirate finally agrees.

“You lead, I will follow,” I say sweetly, not removing the dagger from its place.

Once we are on deck, I must blink a couple of times to adjust to the bright sunshine. I have not seen light in two days and the bright light is irritating my eyes. But I fight the urge and squint my eyes to dim out most of the brightness.

“What is the meaning of this?” Jehan demands as we enter the captain’s cabin.

“Go,” I order the pirates as I push him away from me. “Your captain and I need to speak in private.”

“You will not order my men,” Jehan yells as he balls his fists. A muscle in his jaw works overtime as he clenches his teeth.

“Calm down,” I sigh as I rub my irritated eyes. “It is not like they would obey me. But what I have to say to you, must happen in private.”

Jehan looks at me for a moment before he signals his men to move on.

“I am not sure if I should be impressed or annoyed with your actions,” he grunts as he walks to his dresser and pours himself a drink.

Longingly I watch as he enjoys the amber liquid without offering me any. But I am too proud to ask and there is no way that I will humiliate myself any further in front of this man.

“So?” he flips his eyebrows. “Speak, I don’t have all day.”

“How many of your men died when you attacked us?” I ask with bravery that I do not have.

“What is it to you?” He snorts and makes himself comfortable in his chair.

“Will you just please answer the question?” I ask politely despite that I would rather kick him in the shin.

Jehan stares at his glass and swirls it around before he finally sighs and looks at me.

“Forty,” he says and takes a sip.

I close my eyes and make a quick calculation and my heart sinks. I do not have enough coins. But I made it this far, I might as well go through with my plan.

“I have a proposition,” I swallow hard as I look at him. “You pick the forty strongest men that you are holding prisoner to replace them, and I will give you twenty gold coins in exchange for the rest of us to come on deck.”

Jehan looks at me in astonishment before he bursts out laughing.

“Pardon, Mademoiselle,” he laughs. “But we took everything from your ship, you have nothing to offer me besides the clothes on your back.”

His gaze darkens as he gets up and walks to me. He is so close that I can feel his body heat and my breathing gets shallow.

“Except,” he whispers hoarsely. “If you are offering yourself to me?”