Hello there. It has been a very long time since I've posted anything and it makes me sad. What makes me more sad is when i came on here the other day one of my stories was gone. I have no idea why it isn't up anymore, hmm. Well anyway, this is just a little something I've been playing with in my head. Hopefully i won't get that nasty writer's block anytime soon. I'll try to post as often as possible but just stick with me here, I've got loads to do at school.
Love always, .GD.
P.S. My other story is still up and will be updated soon, just not tomorrow soon.
Enjoy.
A light breeze blew across the clear blue waters of port Majesty. People were walking here and there. The baker had just finished his first order of the morning and the blacksmith was busy with a few last minute horseshoes before he opened shop for the day.
The sights and sounds of port Majesty were busy and welcoming. Out in the open waters, just off shore, were a few tiny fishing ships gathering the day's catch. In the square there were tidy little carts set up for merchants to sell their findings from all over the world. And just above the town, in a mansion, which looks over the entire cove, stood a girl 17 years of age, watching the port wake to the glorious Caribbean sun from her bedroom balcony. She closed her eyes and sighed happily as a light warm breeze washed over her face. The wind blew her hair back off of her shoulders and then died down, letting her soft burgundy locks drop gracefully down onto her shoulders and back.
A knock from inside her room brought her back from her daydream.
"Sage, are you awake yet?" Came the voice of a young woman.
"Yes, I'm up." The girl, Sage, called back, now standing in front of the door in her lavishly decorated, silk housecoat.
"Your father is outside. He wanted to say goodbye to you before he left to see the Governor, but you must hurry, you know how the Commodore is."
Without another word, Sage ran back to the balcony and almost fell over the rail from the sheer speed she was running.
"There's my princess." A tall lean man with salt and pepper hair called from down on the stone tiled road which led to a main street from their house, a horse drawn carriage stood waiting for him to get in.
"Good morning father." Sage greeted him with a glowing white smile. "Going to see Governor Wrime this morning I see, and without giving me a kiss goodbye?" She pouted dramatically.
"Commodore Edwards, we must be going." The driver interrupted.
"Sorry darling but I must be off, I'm late as it is." Pulling out his pocket watch to emphasize, the Commodore winked at his daughter.
"All right, see you tonight then father." Sage waved quickly and was about to go back inside when she heard her father's demand that she stop. Turning back around, sage walked back to the railing and smiled impishly. "Yes?"
"Please, Sage, promise me that you wont get into any trouble today?" Her father look stressed now, his brows lifted and the few wrinkles he did have seemed a bit more visible.
"I promise father, I wont do anything a proper lady wouldn't do. I'll just stay inside while everyone else is enjoying the warm beautiful sunshine and sew for hours. Then I'll read a book about nothing, and maybe, just maybe I'll have time for tea with the old ladies you insist on me socializing with." She said this all with a sickly sweet smile on her face, though it was obviously she was being sarcastic.
"That's my girl. Oh and don't forget today your piano teacher comes at one and tonight you have writing lessons at four." He gave her an evil smile before stepping up into his carriage and closing the door.
Sage moaned, knowing how boring those lessons were, and how long they felt though they were each only an hour long. But then there was the half hour after each class of practicing alone, and then there were the proper etiquette classes the maid gave her before dinner.
Once inside with the balcony doors closed, Sage let out a loud, frustrated breath.
"Blasted lessons, blasted society demanding a proper lady of me." Sage grimaced at what she saw when she looking around her room. The walls were covered in an off white wallpaper with tiny intricately painted red roses all over it. The bed on the far side from her was plump with a stuffed feather mattress and covered in white linens from Egypt, accented in frilly pink lace. The worst of it was the vanity right across from her, chalk full of Europe's finest 'maquillage'. She didn't even like wearing makeup, but every high-class woman was these days, so her father thought it would do her good to try some out herself.
Turning away from the frills and lace of her sleeping quarters, Sage walked to her sitting room and opened a trunk hidden in the back of her linen closet. Inside the trunk was an old pair of her brother's riding trouser's from when he was a boy and a white linen shirt she borrowed from her friend, Thomas, and forgot to give back. Running back to the other room, Sage ran behind her changing screen and quickly washed her face with a warm damp cloth. She then changed into the shirt and pants the pulled her hair up into a tail and tied it up with a leather cord.
Once she was dressed and ready she ran downstairs, quickly running through the kitchens to grab a slice of bread and an apple, then out through the kitchen doors to the back of the house where the stables were. Sage tried to stay out of sight from the stale master and the stable boys but they always seemed to know she was there.
"Out for another adventure this morning missy?" John, the old stable master in charge of the Edwards' horses, said without looking up from his task of sweeping.
"Yes, but please don't let my father know. I promise to be back before he gets home." Sage smiled charmingly, wining a grin from the old man.
"Your secret is safe with me miss." John gave her a smile of few teeth.
"You're the best John." Sage hugged the man before running off to the end of the stables to an empty stall where she hid her older brother's old practice sword and dagger beneath the straw.
She was just strapping the weapons on when a hand came over her mouth roughly and pulled her back against something solid.
"What are you going to do now miss Edwards? Fight or scream for help like the little princess you are." A cold voice whispered harshly in her ear.
Without even thinking much on the matter, Sage kicked her right leg back into her assailant's right shin and had his left hand behind his back while he knelt on the ground in defeat.
"All right, all right I give up. Let me up!" He yelped as she gave one last satisfied tug on his twisted arm.
"What was that you were calling me again, a princess?" Sage smirk as the boy stood and rubbed his sore arm.
"It was just a bit of fun, you didn't have to hurt my arm like that." He pouted while still rubbing his left arm.
"Don't be such a baby Thomas. I didn't pull that hard on it after all." Sage smiled at her friend, and his weak attempt for pity. Standing before her was a boy with curly dirt-blond hair and green eyes. His face was sprinkled with freckles giving him a childish appearance, which he hated very much. He wasn't very tall for his age, nor was he too short. He was a fit boy, although his muscles had much room for improvement, as did his skill with a sword. Thomas Drake was a fine boy and a good son, and a very good friend of Sage Edwards.
Thomas looked up into his friend's eyes and smiled back before pulling her into a bear hug.
"A week is much too long without seeing your fair face, Sage." Thomas smiled sheepishly at his friend.
"I've missed our little outings too Tom. I've been trapped in my house like a prisoner, forced to study proper etiquette and how to write and read and all that boring rubbish. It was a nightmare." Sage went on completely oblivious to her friend's eye rolling and fake yawning as he checked his pretend pocket watch for the time.
"Well that's all very interesting but I'd really like to get going, you know, before the sun sets maybe?" Tom grind while ducking away from a hand full of hay that flew towards him.
"All right, we'll go, let me just find my hat." Sage rummaged through the pile of hay again until she found her father's old leather three-corner hat. She tucked her hair up so that it was completely concealed under her cap, and made sure her sword was fastened to her waist before she gave the OK for them to exit through a loose board on the back wall of the stables.
Sage and Tom walked to the edge of the Edwards property where tropical forest met nicely groomed grass, then proceeded into the forest without a backwards glance at the port behind them.
"So tell me again, how much did you have to pay Mr. Barkley back for that broken vase?" Tom asked over his shoulder as he hacked away at wild growth in their path.
"About two crowns and a half dozen shillings. I had never seen my father so angry." Sage kept her focus on the forest floor as she dragged her sword behind her.
They were twenty minutes into the wild trees before they stopped for a short break.
"I don't think I've ever cut back so many vines in my life, I think we took the wrong path." Tom sat on a semi flat rock beneath a banana tree, fanning himself with his old felt hat.
"I think we might have taken the wrong path too. Usually there's a cave near here. We must have gone too far east." Sage sat beside him and pulled off her coat and hat to let the soft breeze air her out.
"Want to turn back then?" Tom asked.
"Thomas, how long have we been friends?" Sage asked sternly.
"Forever, I think." Tom made a mock thinking face, resting his index finger on his chin.
"Then what do you think the answer will be?" Sage asked with a smirk.
"On we go then?" Tom sighed as he held out a hang to help his friend up.
"Lead the way my brush cutting friend." Sage smiled.
"Can't you be in charge of cutting away the brush for a while?" Tom complained.
"Fine, step back so I can get ahead then." Sage made to move past him but wound up tripping on a root and falling into his arms.
"Careful, you don't want to fall and break something now." Tom joked as he caught her.
"I would never break anything." Sage announced with her nose in the air.
"Save for Mr. Barkley's vase." Tom said quietly behind her back. Not quiet enough however, as Sage heard it she picked up a soft rotting log and threw it at Tom's head, hitting her target smack on.
"Come on Tom, we don't have time to play in the mud." Sage laughed as she left her friend sitting in a pile of soggy dirt, picking chunks of log-rot from his already messy hair.
A good half hour later, Sage and Tom stopped at a familiar sound.
"Do you hear that?" Sage asked with a wide grin on her face, holding up her left hand to halt Tom in his tracks.
"Sounds like gulls to me." Tom said with half interest.
"And where do gulls usually like to be, my dear friend." Sage asked eagerly.
"Near the ocean, more or less, why?" Tom asked, now a little confused.
Sage turned to face Tom with both hands on her hips and a face that clearly said 'you're an idiot'.
"Come on." She brought Tom's cutting machete up and hacked away at a few vine plants before the marvelous view of an untouched shore shone through before them.
"Wow." Tom whispered softly.
"It's beautiful. Not even port Majesty compares to this." Sage walked forward onto a short cliff of twenty feet. "It looks like no one has even been here. I wonder how we haven't ever found it before." Sage began to walk closer to the edge to find a way down onto the beach.
"Well I don't think we've ever been this far. Sage, where are you going?" Tom asked as Sage sat on the edge and began to lower herself onto the rocks below.
"I'm going down for a closer look." Sage winked at Tom before disappearing below the cliff's edge.
Tom, being terrified of heights, was a little less hasty to go down to the lovely white sands below.
"Come on Tom, it's wonderful down here." Sage called from where the clear blue water met the white sand, her boots had already been removed as her feet marveled at the feel of the cool water.
"I can see it fine from up here." Tom waved sheepishly from farther back on the cliff, not even daring to go to the edge.
"Don't be such a baby, the water is amazing." Sage cupped her hands and threw water up into the air for emphasis.
"I am not a baby." Tom called down, sounding much like a small child might. "Fine, I'll come down, but I'm blaming you if I break my neck." He walked slowly to the edge with a terrified expression on his face.
Meanwhile, down on the beach, Sage giggled while shaking her head in disbelief at her friend's incredible fear of heights.
Finally Tom made it to the bottom, a little sweaty and shaking, but still in one piece.
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Sage asked, taking her friend's hand.
"Speak for yourself, I almost died coming down here." Tom let Sage lead him to the water.
"Just put your feet in the water, it will calm you down." Sage plunked down on the sand at the water's edge and stretched her legs out until her feet were submerged in the crystal blue sea. Tom pulled off his boots and did the same.
"That is nice." He sighed happily, his muscles finally relaxing a bit as he fell back into a lazy sleeping position. "I could stay here all day." He reached up and pulled Sage down, earning a small squeal from her as she fell back beside him.
"What shall we name this beach which we have claimed as our own?" Sage asked in an official voice, resembling that of the governor's voice.
"Hmm, I'm not sure." Tom scratched his chin in deep thought. "How about port Brave." He smiled at his crafty name.
"Why Brave?" Sage asked looking into Tom's happy face.
"Because no matter how tough a man you are, you would have to be mighty brave to climb down that cliff to this blasted beach." Tom and Sage shared a laugh for a couple minutes before getting up and discovering the rest of the beach.
Further along the shore they found a few wood boards, which appeared to be from an old ship wreck. Even further down they came upon a small opening to a cave, which was currently three quarters covered in water from the high tide. Other then that the beach was completely empty and free for the taking.
"We should get going, I need to be back before my father comes home." Sage said looking at the position of the sun in the sky.
"All right, after you." Tom gestured to the cliff.
"Why don't we just go around in through the forest?" Sage pointed to a small wild path, which visibly went up the cliff in the safest of ways.
"When did you find that?" Tom asked happily, glad to not have to go up the rocks again.
"About three minutes before you climbed down here." Sage laughed before running away from Tom's angry hysterics.
The walk home took almost double the time it had taken them to reach their new discovery. Tom had lost them at a fork in their newly cut path, which cost them more, then twenty minutes of circles and angry complaints from Sage.
Finally, three hours after they left the beach, now known as port Brave, they reached the Edwards' property.
"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Tom asked as he walked slowly away to the gate at the side of the mansion.
"Yes, I'll meet you at the beach, you remember the way don't you?" Sage asked as she removed her hat and let loose her hair.
"I'm sure I do." Tom looked sceptically at the ground.
"See you tomorrow then." Sage waved him off as he disappeared through the gate.
Back in her house, Sage ran quickly upstairs to clean and change for her father's arrival. With the help of one of her many serving maids, Sage was washed of any dirt and powdered down then covered in a light green, silk dinner dress.
"Do I look as though I've been out of town at all? Be honest Marie." Sage asked as she turned for the maid, who also happened to be a close friend and confidant to Sage.
The older woman inspected her fine job of cleaning the girl up and nodded in approval.
"You look as though you've been inside all day pampered and studying hard." Marie smiled.
"Good. If my father found out I had left the port again, he'd kill me." Sage turned back to the mirror to fuss with her up-do some more.
"Sage, why must you always go against your father's will? He only wants the best for you." Marie swatted Sage's hands away to fix the strand of hair that had fallen out.
"He just doesn't understand how hard it is to be kept locked up in this big old house just so my brain can be stuffed with useless information while my heart yearns for the open air and adventure the great outdoors have to offer." Sage slumped down onto her vanity stool as Marie fussed with ornamental flowers in Sage's hair.
"Well a proper lady needs to know how to read and right, and that is what your father wants of you, for you to be a proper lady. There aren't many men out there who are looking for a girl in boys clothing, romping around in a wild jungle." Marie stood back to see the final affect of her work and was quite pleased.
"Well then I'll just have to settle for a boy who loves a girl in boys clothing who romps around in wild jungles." Sage crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Don't you like your dresses?" Marie asked, admiring Sage's beauty.
"They're fine, but I can't do anything wearing this god-awful corset, and these skirts get so heavy." Sage pushed on her corset adjusting it to make it more comfortable.
"Well you look lovely, and you won't ever hear that from a boy if you're wearing these dirty britches and putting your hair away in this awful hat." Marie's face twisted in disgust as she picked up the dirty clothes and put them away in the trunk in the other room.
"Thank you Marie." Sage called after her as the maid left through the door, closing it behind her.
"Be down in ten minutes, your father should be home then." Marie called through the door before walking to the stairs and descending to help the rest of the staff with the dinner preparations.
Sage looked at herself in the mirror and sighed before standing and making her way to her sitting room to read until her father arrived.