The Pirate Queen

"The Pirate Queen

She's as dangerous as she is beautiful

Give the girl a shot of whiskey

Set the pirate lady free

Let her rule the sea!

Tell the English merchant ships that pass here,

Treasure in their hold

That the Queen has come to liberate their gold!

Feel the ocean rise and fall

With pride and thirst for gold

The Pirate Queen is here!"

A little girl sat by her mother's bed, tears trickling down her cheeks. She held her mother's hand firmly, and her head was buried in the bed. Soft sobs came from her, her shoulders heaving with every sob.

"Don't die, please, momma," she begged into the sheets. The tears pressed on and started running down her flushed cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy, with purple bags underneath them. She looked as if she hadn't slept for days. "Please…"

"Kaelyn..." Her mother's voice was struggling and cracked. Her hand went to her daughter's chin and lifted it slowly to face her. "Don't ye cry for me, baby. I will always be with ye." She let out a cough that left blood on her sheets. "Find yer da, Kaelyn. Tell 'im I never stopped lovin' 'im." She gave her daughter a reassuring smile of love. "Here, this will help ye find 'im." She opened her other hand, revealing a piece of paper. "I love ye, Princess." These were her last words, and only seconds after, her hand went limp and she closed her eyes. She was dead.

Kaelyn began crying hysterically, struggling to breathe as she lay by her mother's side, still holding her hand. Several minutes passed, then she lifted her head and let go of her mother. She dried her tears with the sleeve of her dress and took the piece of paper from her mother. Without taking anything with her, she left the little house outside of town.

As fast as her little feet could carry her, she ran to town. She ran until her little body was exhausted and couldn't move anymore, then she collapsed. She lay on the ground, breathing heavily for some minutes, the paper still clutched in her hand. When she got her strength back, she opened the piece of paper. On the paper was a drawing. It was the drawing of a bird. She couldn't understand why her mother had told her this would help her. She had never met her father and her mother rarely spoke of him; she had never even told her his name.

Kaelyn's long, tar-black hair was tangled and greasy, her face and body muddy and sweaty. She was merely a child, no more than 8 years old. She might be covered in dirt, but she was still a beautiful girl. Suddenly, she heard someone laugh and shout, and her head snapped up to see who it was. Coming her way were a bunch of people – women, to be precise. They didn't wear dresses, but pants, shirts, and hats. She stared at them with wide eyes. Pirates! Women pirates, and they were coming her way!

Her first reaction was to hide, but as she looked around, she discovered she was by the docks and there was no place to hide. She sat up and backed against some barrels, trying to make herself as little as possible. She could hear them getting closer and she closed her eyes tightly, her little body shaking.

"Make her ready to sail, Ladies!" A deep, commanding woman's voice shouted to the others.

"Aye, Captain!" The rest of the women exclaimed dutifully, but also with cheerful, adventurous voices.

Kaelyn could feel a dark shadow fall upon her and curled up more, terrified. They had noticed her! She didn't want to die! What was she going to do? To her surprise, the woman spoke with a friendly voice. She recognized it as the Captain's voice.

"Well, aren't you a beauty?" Her voice was calm and friendly, but she also spoke in a sophisticated way. She didn't sound like a pirate at all. "Don't be afraid, love, I won't hurt you. What's your name?"

Kaelyn slowly opened her eyes and looked at the woman kneeling in front of her. She gasped a little. It was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She had long, wavy dark hair and a pair of emerald-green eyes. She hesitated, but the woman's eyes were friendly and inviting. "Kaelyn," she finally said in a low whisper, staring down at the ground.

"Kaelyn, what a beautiful name," the woman told her. "My name is Regan. I am the Captain of that ship over there." She pointed towards a big, fine-looking ship nearby. "Beauty, isn't she?"

Kaelyn nodded as she watched the ship. It was true, too. The ship was amazing and gorgeous. She had never seen anything like it. She had always felt drawn to the sea, and she had a love for ships that she didn't even understand.

"Where are your parents, love?" Regan asked her calmly, a little worry in her voice.

"My momma is dead. I never knew my poppa." Kaelyn felt the tears pressing again, and even though she tried with all her strength, she couldn't hold them back. The tears prickled down her cheeks.

"Love, what do you say to a life at sea?" Regan stood up and held out her thin, elegant hand to Kaelyn.

Kaelyn sat, hesitant for a moment, not knowing what to do. There was nothing holding her here anymore, and this woman was really beautiful and nice. She didn't have much of a choice. She would die if she stayed, since she didn't have money for clothes or food. At last, she decided to take Regan's offer and took her hand.

"Everything will be alright now, love," Regan reassured her as she led her to the ship, which was ready to go whenever the Captain commanded.

Chapter 1: The Pirate Queen.

"The Pirate Queen

She's as dangerous as she is beautiful"

10 years later.

"Captain, we're approaching Tortuga!" the second-in-command yelled to the woman who was steering the large ship from the poop-deck. The woman had black hair, with a string of beads hanging from it. Her eyes were bright green, and her grown body was curved quite nicely. She was wearing a pair of tight breeches, high boots, and a loose white shirt, the first few buttons undone, managing to stay modest. She had on a brown, worn out tricorn hat, and under was a red sash, firmly tied around her head. She was a real beauty, yet dangerous looking.

"Finally home…" the captain whispered to herself as she watched the docks of Tortuga coming nearer and nearer. "Alright, ladies, bring her in gently!" she barked at the rest of the crew with a strong and commanding voice.

"Been ten years now, right, Cap'n." The older brunette didn't direct this as a question as she stepped up beside her captain.

"Yes, Neely, that it has." The captain didn't take her eyes off the city as they came closer. She had a sad tone in her voice as she spoke, like the city brought her sad memories, but it was still her home. "I wish Regan was still here," the captain sighed, talking more to herself than to Neely. It had been only a year since they had lost their former captain in a fight against the Royal Navy. She had taken a bullet to her heart and was dead before she even hit the ground.

"She is, lass. She is always with us." Neely gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder and a comforting smile before making her way down to the main deck.

"Captain Kaelyn," the captain mused to herself. She hadn't gotten used to the title yet. She smiled a small smile, and took her hat off for her former friend and captain. Putting her hat on again, she left and joined her crew at shore.

--

Kaelyn entered the Ye Old Tavern with a bang of the door. The entire room went quiet and every eye focused on her. She didn't return the looks she got, nor did she react to the occasional whistle and horny comment. She simply made her way to a table, her crew right behind her.

"Morning, gentlemen," she spoke to the five men occupying the best table in the tavern. "I suggest you bilge-rats move your ugly arses out of the way, as these lovely ladies and I would like to sit." She spoke in a way that a noblewoman would speak, with a fluent and well-placed English.

The men looked at her for a moment, then at each other. Soon they were laughing their asses off. "Ye can sit right 'ere, love," one of the older men said, and patted his lap with a dirty and rotten smile.

"Ladies," Kaelyn said calmly, ignoring the man. "It seems they will not move." She had a smirk on her face that made the men stare at her in confusion.

"Aye, Captain," Neely said, and came to stand by her side. She had a smirk on her face, as well. "We'll just 'ave to do sometin' 'bout that, won't we?"

With that, the fight started, although it wasn't much of a fight. The men were driven out of their seats by the brutal women, as were the men at the table next to it. While the fight was going on, Kaelyn found herself a chair and sat by the table, watching everything. She had a bottle of rum in her hand and was drinking right from it while watching the entertainment.

"Ladies, drinks on me!" Kaelyn roared out, and it was followed by a cry of happiness from the crew. They were all women, but looked almost more intimidating than anyone else in the room, thus the other men kept away from them.

An hour went by and Kaelyn just sat still, without saying a word, while her crew made a hell of a ruckus in the tavern. She grabbed a full bottle of rum (Her third one, actually) and made her way out of the Tavern, unnoticed.

She made her way down one of the more abounded streets. Her balance was not very good and she kept tipping to either left or right; she walked as if on a ship on a stormy night. Her rum bottle was half-empty, by now. Suddenly she hit something hard and stumbled backwards. She looked up at what she had hit and noticed a man.

"Watch it, ye lubber!" she slurred, and tried once more to catch her balance, look less drunk and more dangerous... Something she didn't really pull at all.

"So sorry, Miss." The man had a surprisingly soft and sweet voice. "Miss?" She tried to focus her eyes and get a better look at the man. For the first time, she noticed he was fairly young, around her own age, she would say. He had halfway long, brown hair and a lovely pair of brown eyes.

"This ain't the bloody governor's house, love. The right term is Captain!" she corrected him with a less hostile voice.

"Captain?" He questioned, confused. "You are a woman…" He was about to continue, but was cut off by a small dagger pressing against his neck.

"I would shut up, if I were you," she sneered, taking another swig of her bottle. "The name is Kaelyn. Captain of the Sea Serpent. I wouldn't expect you to know 'bout the Serpent – you look like one of those fancy-pants nobles!" Her voice was dripping with venom as she spoke. She hated the nobles more than anybody would suspect.

His face lit up, as if he remembered something, and then again he looked confused. "I beg your pardon, Captain, didn't mean to insult you." He made his apology and she removed the dagger. He was hardly a threat to her. "The Sea Serpent hasn't been here for ten years, I remember, I was a little boy then. The captain's name was Regan, though," he told her thoughtfully.

"Yes, the captain was Regan. But I'm the captain, now." She got a sad look as she yet again remembered the horrible death of her friend. No matter where she went, she was always reminded of it. It had been a year, but it still hurt.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly as he saw the look on her face. He was surprised by this, though. She could hardly be more than eighteen-years-old and she was the captain of a ship. A big one, at that. It was quite impressive.

"Now get out of my way, lubber!" she said loudly as she took the last swig of her bottle and tossed it to the ground, causing it to smash into dozens of pieces. She moved her hand to push him out of her way, but faltered and fell forwards instead.

He caught her easily as she fell upon him. Taking her in his arms, he sighed a little and made his way to the docks. She was young, she was unbelievably drunk, and she was passed out. He couldn't just leave her there. And besides, he somehow felt attracted to her.

And she reminded him of Jack.

--

Kaelyn woke up the next day with a splitting headache. She clutched her head as she sat up in the bed. It took her some time to gather herself and remember what had happened last night. She could only remember that she had met a man, far cleaner than a usual pirate would be, and she had thought he was one of those nobles who had taken a wrong turn or something.

Looking around the room, she felt confusion rush through her. This wasn't her room! Her room was on the ship, and this was clearly a room in an Inn. She didn't remember checking into an Inn. Looking around, she found several items that no doubt belonged to a man. As she was about to stand up, the door swung open and the man from the previous night stood in the doorway.

"You're up," he said as he caught eye of her. She rolled her eyes. What was it with people and stating the obvious? "I brought some breakfast."

"Why are you helping me?" she asked in a groggy voice. She couldn't for the life of her understand why he was helping her. "Do you have a strong need of saving a damsel in distress? If so, you chose the wrong damsel. I'm not in need of any of your help, love."

"Considering the fact that you fainted last night, I didn't think I had much of a choice. Couldn't just leave you there... you can't be…" He trailed off as he saw her face hardening, waiting for the next few words.

"Don't ya be calling me young, now. I've got more experience and balls than ye will ever have, ye lubber." She was back to talking in the way sailors usually talked. She had a foul mouth, and he noticed an arrogant pride that few pirates had.

"What happened to Regan?" he asked her suddenly, putting the food down in front of her so she could eat.

The anger was replaced with a hollow look. She lay back down on the bed, grabbing an apple off the tray in the process. "None of your business, mate!" she told him, and took a bite of the apple.

"Regan was my mother," he told her so suddenly that she started choking on her apple.

She coughed a couple of times and then looked up at him again, a look of utter surprise on her face. Regan had never had any interest in men wherever they went, and she could certainly have her pick. Her lack of interest in them was a mystery, and she never spoke of it. So, she had had a kid? And a man, too, it seemed.

"Regan died a year ago," she told him slowly. "She died saving me from being shot on one of the ships we attacked. She was dead before she hit the ground…" The guilt she felt was evident in her eyes. "Regan was like a mother to me. She took care of me when my mother died. I owe my life to her." She paused. "Why weren't you with Regan, then?" Kaelyn asked him.

"She just up and went away one day when I was a year old and left me with my father. Later, I got separated from my father, too, and I grew up as a blacksmith in Port Royal," he explained to her.

"That's why you have that fancy-pants accent and those clean clothes, no wonder." Kaelyn snorted as she stood up and pulled her boots on. "I've got to go round-up my crew. God only knows where they ended up last night. Wouldn't surprise me if they're scattered all over town." She grabbed her hat and put it on her head. "I don't care who ye are, and if ye are Regan's son, I don't owe ye nothin'." She told him as she left.

She walked right back to her ship and into her room, where she sank to the floor against the door and the tears started flowing uncontrollably. "Regan..." she whispered, and buried her face in her hands.