'Are you ready then?' She looked at her brother Edward, trying to hold back a gigantic smile, hiding it behind her hand. She looked around the cabin for a second, and then nodded. As she got up, she stroke her silver gown straight, and she took Edward's arm.
'I do find it a shame that we won't be sharing last names after the night is over.' Edward spoke as he led his sister through the ship, to the captain's quarters. Maud giggled as she gave him a gentle, playful nudge. 'Are you that attached to me, dear brother?'
'Of course I am.' Edward said, not joking in the slightest. 'But you think he's a good man? George?' 'He's my best friend.' he confirmed. 'I hope we'll stay on the Sceptre forever. So I won't ever have to miss you and father.'
'I doubt it, little sister. But I think you and George will do just fine, the pair of you.' Maud smiled again, then they reached the great wooden doors to the captain's quarters. She looked at her dress, and sighed. 'Don't worry.' Edward said, and that was enough to comfort her, and to make her think she was doing the right thing. The doors were opened, and the inside of the room surprised Maud.
She had never seen her father's office like this. Chairs had been dragged inside for the entire crew to attend her wedding. Her father's desk had been emptied and laid over with a white blanket, presumable an old piece of sail. And there stood her father. In his best attire, ready to solemnise his daughter's marriage. George, as opposed to Harry Davenport, was not wearing a wig. He never did. His ginger, curly hair was playfully draped around his head and face, and he looked ever so lovely. Maud found trouble keeping her eyes of him, but looked down shyly when George smiled at her.
Edward led her down the 'isle' (which was really just a gap between the chairs), while the men watched them in silence. There was no music, as the Sceptre unfortunately lacked a good fiddler or two. The only one able to play an instrument was Maud herself, and that instrument was a harpsichord, which they did not keep on the ship.
Edward let his arm slip out of Maud's hand, and walked to the side, allowing George the space to stand next to his wife-to-be, for them to face their captain, and her father.
'Dear men, we have come together on this fine evening, to see this young couple wed. May their marriage last forever. If George Flanning would say his vows first...' George turned to Maud, and she looked him deep in the eyes while he held her hands.
'I, George Flanning, take thee, Maud Davenport, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, and cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.'
'If Maud Davenport would say her vows next...' Maud smiled as she spoke her words. 'I, Maud Davenport take thee, George Flanning, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I give thee my troth.'
Her father seemed to even take a moment of happiness for himself, as he was about to give his daughter away to a man he could trust with his life. 'I pronounce you... husband and wife,' He turned to George. 'You may kiss the bride.'
And so he did.
The wedding feast was ever so merry. Dusk had already begin to set, but Maud was not sure whether nighttime had truly already arrived. She did not care. She was having too much fun. She sat at a long table with her husband, her father, her brother, and quartermaster Basil. The men were in a good mood, as they were feasting, eating good food, and drinking good rum. Perhaps they did not intendedly feast on Maud's marriage, but they were feasting because of her and it made her feel good. She conversated over many good things, mostly with her brother, who sat left from her, but also George, on her right. Then suddenly, the Sailing Master, a good friend of Maud's father, stood up, raising his cup.
'My good Lords!' he shouted, quite a bit drunk, but it did not matter. He looked around the people. 'Wouldn't we say it is time for the newly wed, to consummate their marriage?' The men agreed by joyfully shouting all sorts of things. Maud felt embarrassed, and could only smile softly while looking at the table before her, somewhat trying to hide her face.
'It is time for the bedding ceremony!' More shouting, as Harry Davenport stood up, and gestured his hand towards the couple. giving his crew permission to carry out their mission. The men fastened to their victims, lifting George up into the air first.
Just as they got ready to put up Maud in their arms, they heard a shouting voice. All the way from the deck, it reached everyone's ears, and they immediately let go of Maud and George, as the laughter and talking stopped.
'Sails!' Maud's eyes immediately averted to her father, who'd already gotten up and walked to upper deck with quickening paces. She didn't know what else to do but follow him: she needed to know what was going on. When reaching deck, she realised it had indeed gotten dark, and the tiniest bit of sunlight still shining over the horizon, lit up a ship, coming straight towards them. Her father had already been handed over a binocular, and he was peering through it.
'Spanish flag.' he immediately stated, and he looked at his daughter standing behind him. She looked confused. 'It can't be.' she whispered.
'What do you mean?!' Harry sounded immensely stressed and demanding. It scared Maud. 'I studied the plans we obtained last week. I studied them just this morning, there's no Spanish man of war supposed to be sailing these waters right now.'
'Pirates?!' A sailor shouted. 'I can't be sure!' Maud immediately stated. 'Where the hell are we even?'
'We lost course!' The boatsman quickened to her, holding a map and a compass. 'What do you mean we lost course?' Maud herself was starting to sound angry at this moment. 'Tricky winds, it was dark I...' She snatched the compass from him without responding, looked at it, and then looked at the ship approaching them.
'They're coming from the north.' she then proclaimed, and then looked up at her father sternly. 'Nassau.' Her father closed his eyes in defeat. 'Pirates.' he whispered. 'What will we do?' 'We must flee.' he answered. 'Father, we cannot. They have a speed of perhaps 11 knots, they are presumably a mere mile away.' Her father sighed. He looked helpless. Maud had never seen him this way. He had always been the bravest man she knew, especially the bravest Commodore. And now he looked helpless. 'What say you then?'
'I say we fight.' she replied fiercely. But at that moment exactly, the sailor all the way up in the crow's nest cried out. 'They're sailing the black! It's the banner of Captain Flint!' And immediately after that, Maud fell off her feet down to the deck, as she was blown over by the impact of a cannon ball, that had launched straight into the ship. She cried out in shock.
'Maud!' Her father had been able to keep upright, as he'd been holding onto the prow. She looked at him, blowing the hair that had escaped from her bun out of her eyes. 'Hide! Larboard! Lock yourself up! Don't let anybody in!' She nodded, and got up, but the next shot was fired from Captain Flint's direction, and she tripped over her dress, right into the arms of her newly wed husband, who'd come up, followed by Edward, to see what was going on, and to follow orders.
'Maud, are you alright?'
'We're being attacked by pirates.' she gasped as he helped her stand upright. George glared into the distance, but the distance between the Sceptre and the black had already been diminished by half a mile.
'That's Flint's banner.' George muttered, and then he looked back at his wife, with the most stern face she'd ever seen on him, grabbing her shoulders.
'Maud. Hide. The powder room has the strongest doors. Do not let them get to you.' She nodded, gave him a last passionate kiss and wanted to run below deck, but her arm was grabbed once again which flung her back. Edward's face was close to hers
'Take the pistol,' He pressed it tightly into her small hands. 'And use it when you need to.' 'But I don't know how to aim!' Maud cried in panic. The harsh but calm face of her brother shushed her.
'It's not meant for aiming.' After a last embrace, she fled downstairs.
Of course it was not for aiming. Her brother knew what these uncivilised pirate men were prepared to do to women. Especially to women they would find on a ship. She would have to end it, before they could do that to her.
She found the powder room quickly, grabbed the key from the hook next to it, went inside, and locked herself up. Out of breath, she sat down on a barrel of gunpowder, the pistol still in her hand. Now all she could do was wait, and listen.
And well enough, soon enough, she could hear the sound of grappling hooks clinging to the Sceptre, and then she almost got swept to the ground again, because of the gentle impact of the clash the two ships made.
Then the screaming started. Tears just bluntly streamed down her face as she realised her companions were being butchered by these animals. It went on for minutes after minutes with no sign of surrender, and then she heard men emerge below deck. Cowardly crewmates hiding about, and below deck gunners were heard being stabbed to death, or having their throats cut. Then Maud suddenly heard the lock to the powder room rattling.
Cold sweat broke out as she clutched onto the pistol in her hand, and aimed it at the door. Before long, she noticed how someone was throwing an axe at the lock, breaking it out within three strikes. A bald man entered. Scars everywhere across his face, a malicious look in his eyes, and a filthy grin when he saw her.
'Well, well, well... Look what have here. You can be nothing less but the captain's daughter by the looks of you.' Maud cocked her pistol's piece, still holding it up to him. 'What do you want from me? You want gold? I'll give it to you.' She tried her very best to sound brave, but he only laughed.
'We got gold, alright. We killed all your men for it. You, though, I think I'll take you for myself before anyone else finds out.' He came at her quickly, and in a moment of shock, she pulled the trigger. The pistol jammed.
The pistol fucking jammed. He grabbed her by the shoulders, and quickly overpowered her, lifting her up and putting her back down on a barrel, as the pistol dropped to the ground. She screamed as he ripped her silken underskirts, and started kissing her neck and the side of her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks as he started untying his trousers. She had never experienced so much panic before.
He shoved up her dress, exposing her naked legs and hips, and got out his junk. Out of breath, crying, and panicking, while the man was trying to find his way down there, she saw no other way out, than to attack with what she still had left: her teeth.
She bit straight into the man's neck, which immediately made him shout out in pain. She bit down good, harder than she had ever bitten anything before, and it wasn't because of her ferosciousness, but because of the man trying to flinch away, trying to pull away from her, that she ripped out his main artery running through the shoulder. The screaming stopped as the man dropped down, his body in shock. He bled to his death in mere seconds.
Maud was traumatised, and spit out the metallic tasting blood that had gotten squirted into her mouth.
She did not even get a chance to wipe the blood of her face, before she heard footsteps coming her way. She let her skirt drop back to the ground, but the tearing had made one leg exposed, as she grabbed the pistol of the ground, ready to aim it at whoever would come through that door.
This man looked a lot younger and gentler, but was followed by men looking just as malicious as the one she'd just murdered with her bare teeth. Some were dark skinned, looking absolutely terrifying by the warrior paint on their faces.
Maud cocked the pistol's piece again, but as she knew it was jammed, and she was not prepared to murder six pirates with het teeth, she saw no other option but...
'Parley!' she cried out. Another man approached from around the corner, seeming like an authority figure. 'What is all this?' he spoke as he looked at the mess. The young man turned to him.
'A parley. She wants to speak to the captain.' Only just now, the bald man, quite a bit large, saw the woman on board, and he sighed. 'He won't be happy when he hears this.' 'You have to!' Maud desperately pointed the gun at the older man. 'It's in your pirate code. You have to let me speak to your captain.'
'What do you think you're gonna get out of this? Do you know which captain we speak of?' Maud looked him dead in the eyes and nodded, then the bald man scoffed. 'Very well. But I'm warning you. You don't know what you're getting yourself into.'
The young one approached, snatching the pistol out of her hands and then grabbed her arm, dragging her out. She was led and followed onto the deck, where she peered around desorientedly. There was no sign of a captain-like figure, so all her eyes could fall on were the bodies.
Her father laid dead on the deck, having been shot through the skull after being stabbed in the guts. Next to him was George, his throat simply cut to the bone. A few metres out laid Edward, still breathing.
'Edward!' Maud couldn't but start crying hysterically over the death of her father and husband as she pulled loose from the pirate's grasp and kneeled down next to her brother. He was barely alive, but around him laid a dozen pirate bodies, of which Maud knew exactly whose blade they had died from.
'Edward, please. Please don't leave me.' She lay his head in her lap as he drew his last few breaths. He had been stabbed in the chest after someone had had the audacity to gouge out his left eye. But now, he was gone, and she wept as the young pirate retreived her again, pulling her upward. He glanced in another direction.
'Captain!' Her eyes followed his, and she noticed a man turning around as he heard his call.
Captain James Flint. She had heard all about him before in many tales of men who only just survived his wrath but the stories never said what he looked like. Maud had imagined that he'd look like a monster. A scar over his eye, or an eyepatch, a big black beard and jewels hanging around his neck, sharpened teeth and a large had with perhaps a feather on it. That would be a frightening sight... This man, however, the real Captain Flint, looked awfully normal, but to Maud, this normality of a greatly feared pirate was even more frightening than her own picture she had had of him before.
The captain approached. 'We have had some losses.' he first told the young man before putting his eyes on Maud. 'Now what in the bloody hell is this supposed to mean?'
'Quite a large number of losses,' the man corrected. 'She was in the powder room, she exclaimed a parley.' Flint simply looked at her in disgust and disdain.
'I haven't got the fucking time for this, we need to secure this cargo.' he prepared himself to walk off again, but the young man interrupted him.
'What will you have me do with her?' 'Slit her throat, she is of no use.' Before Maud could protest, the young man did.
'She ripped out Singleton's throat with her bare teeth.' Flint slowly turned back around. 'I beg your pardon?' he muttered. This time, Maud was clever enough not to let anyone speak before her anymore.
'Captain Flint,' she spoke sincerely, sounding more brave than the first time she tried to. 'It is in your pirate code to let me speak to you to negotiate my fate.' 'The codes are guidelines, give me one good reason why I should bother talking to you.'
'I am a navigator.' 'We already have a navigator.' 'I have schedules of Spanish gallions.'
'How lovely, but I am of a mind that my navigator will do just fine himself after he's obtained your paperwork, now speak any more words I don't want to hear and I will slit your goddamn throat myself.'
'God damn it! It's doomed.' A man with salty hair and small round glasses looked up to Flint through the loading passage.
'They've burnt all the books.' he said, after which Flint immediately turned to Maud again. He came at her, raised a knife and put it to her throat all while the young man still held her in place.
'You made this happen.' he grunted. Maud actually had trouble not to smile like a madman. She knew, she just knew that her father had ordered some crew-mate boy, too weak to fight, to set his whole office ablaze once he realised that they would not win this fight. All so Maud would have a chance of survival with these savages, because all the information in those books, was implanted in her head.
'Will you talk to me?' she asked. 'What do you know?' 'Everything. Everything that was in those books.' 'What was in them? 'Schedules.' Maud spoke loudly. 'The English navy, the Spanish navy, the French navy, anything. A total worth of over 30 million Spanish pieces of eight.' Captain Flint thought for a second, and then removed his knife from her throat.
'Mr. Dufresne.' The man below deck looked up to his captain again, Maud reckoned this man was his navigator. 'Meet me in my office in five minutes. I trust all cargo will be secured. Billy,' He turned to the young man still restraining her. 'Find some shackles, put them on her, and sit her down in my office.'
