Summary: Bella is running from her old life when she is taken prisoner by an evil, ruthless pirate crew. Quickly, she finds that the cruel pirates might just be running from something, too. But when things start to heat up, can she love one?
Im just gonna try this one out. please review to let me know if i should keep going with this story!
"Prepare for battle!"
Huh?
I snapped up in my dank cot, the bandana holding my hair from sight almost coming loose. Quickly, I tightened it as the men around me drowsily pulled their boots onto the wrong feet and hitched their swords onto their belts.
Battle? What for? All I'd expected when I snuck onto this ship was an easy passage out of my country and to a far, far away place. No one had said anything about fighting.
I wasn't afraid, though. How could I be? I'd learned how to fight for myself at a very young age. When you're alone and everyone's against you, that's all that you can really do. I'd survived this long. Hopefully my rough past was enough to get through another battle with another country's navy. I was probably better than all of these sailors on this trading ship, and I'd seen navy ships fight before. I was sure I could take them.
As I yanked my own boots on and found my own sword, the area around me cleared as the men raced loudly onto the main deck. Now, without their eyes, I was able to tighten the cloth around my chest and slip my personal dagger into the pocket I had sewn into the inside of my left boot.
I hurried upstairs, ready to fight. The deck was swarming with busy sailors, and the moonlight flickered on their worried faces. I saw their eyes glance out at sea, and I followed their gaze to see... a pirate ship. The pirate ship. Not the navy, but a pirate ship, filled with unorganized, treasure seeking men. This wasn't just any pirate ship, either. It was the ship that even I had heard of, in my far away land. A name renounced for its winning ability. It had never lost a battle. In a way, I was rather awestruck at the sight of it. But I was also afraid. I wasn't so confident about my fighting abilities now, now that I was up against the Dark Water.
But I'd made it this far, and if I had to die, I'd do so only after giving every ounce of energy trying to survive.
Adrenaline pumped through my blood, mingling with a tang of fear, as the forboding ship drew nearer and nearer. The moon was brighter than ever when they pulled right besides us, close enough that its railing bumped against ours, rocking the ship and making me wobble.
"Hold your ground, men," my captain, Captain Eric, commanded from in front of me. I briefly admired his bravery under the circumstances. He could be cowering in the back somewhere, but instead he stood front and center, ready to face his doom.
Realization hit me. I probably wouldn't be making it past this night. But I had to try.
"Ready, Bert?" It took me a second to recognize the name I was using. I turned to Tyler, who had said it. Tyler had been the closest I'd gotten to anyone so far, and now I wouldn't have the chance to make friends with anyone else. I swallowed hard before I spoke in my deep whisper.
"No, but who really is?"
Our eyes met and we exchanged a knowing glance, his dark eyes reflecting the moon.
"Prepare yourselves." The voice came from Captain Eric, and I stood on my toes to see over the heads in front of me. I nearly fell over with surprise when I saw that their ship's deck was empty except for five men, one of them approaching our ship's railing.
I glared forward, waiting, my stance ready to run forward if there was a surprise attack from their side.
A voice was raised in the silence.
"If you surrender your ship and crew to me now, I may spare your lives," the voice said, and I assumed it was the Dark Water's captain.
"We are nothing but a trading ship, and I do not see what you could want from us," Captain Eric replied.
"You have goods stored on this ship, do you not? Now, what will it be? Will you surrender?"
A short pause went by before there was noise again.
"My crew does not fear your thieves and criminals," he said. I felt the air around me move as the crew slightly stirred. They were incredibly afraid. And their fear was only making mine worse. But still, we stood our ground and held our hands on our hilts, waiting.
"Very well. Then we will fight, and you will lose."
I heard it before the others, I guess, because within seconds the deck was flooded with men pouring out of our ship's lower decks and at least ten of our forty man crew were slain. I only just in time whipped around to face one that was about to kill me.
Our swords clashed, the first of them all, but others immediately followed around us. I was faintly aware of Tyler's bleeding body to my side as I fought my pirate opponent. Because I had responded so quickly, I held the advantage, and I saw his corpse fall upon my dead friend's soon enough.
I barely had enough time to move away from the bodies before another pirate came at me. I caught a glimpse of him as we moved. He was in his thirties and had already graying hair from the stress of constantly fighting, I guessed.
His sword shot out at me and I leaned to the side, avoiding it and counter-attacking it with my own sword, which I noticed was considerably lighter looking than his. He swung his weapon out to defend himself, and when the metal met mine, I felt it vibrate from the force, going all the way down to my shoulder. This shocked me for a moment, and he saw his opportunity, taking a swipe at my stomach.
"Ah!"
I jumped back as fast as I could, but not fast enough. Though the blow wouldn't be fatal, it still had struck me across the lower part of my ribcage, stinging like hell.
I didn't have any time to dwell on the pain, though, as my opponent realized that I wasn't going to die from his hit and attacked again.
But now I was mad, and the adrenaline was burning me from the inside out. That had been a close call that had nearly destroyed fifteen years of working my ass off to keep breathing.
My sword met his again, more powerfully than before, and I felt the rage twisting my face as the vibrations shot up my arm again. This time I did not hesitate to continue fighting, though, and I quickly ducked down for a swipe at his legs, which split open enough to distract him from attacking. I took advantage of this and plunged my sword through his chest, ending his life to save my own.
Without stopping to catch my breath or check if my wound was too bad, I searched the screaming, blood-filled scene around me for another victim to take my hatred out on. After killing three more, I heard it.
"Help! Bert!" someone cried out behind me, and I raced quickly to the source to assist my crewmate, Tomas, who was weaponless and facing his death.
I hit the pirate on the side of the head as hard as I could manage, grunting as the flat side of my sword made him collapse, whether unconcious or dead I didn't know. I didn't have time to find out, either.
I saw the look of panic come over my saved crewmate's face as a shadow flitted toward me in the moonlight. I ducked right in time, the attacking pirate tumbling smoothly over me, his sword meeting nothing but air where my throat had been, and he was immediately rolling back onto his feet in the blink of an eye.
Resisting the sudden urge to stick my tongue out at him, I twisted my sword through the night air at him, and he ducked out of the way, bringing his sword around his head and at me more quickly than I was expecting. I tried to spin away while bringing my sword around again, but his sword's tip caught on the back of my shoulder as I spun, drawing a line across my shoulder blades to my other arm. I lost my balance, having to step too close to him to regain it. He was ready to deliver the death blow.
"No!"
Another sword collided with his, and I saw Tomas holding its hilt; I had saved him, he saved me. Quickly, Tomas was disarmed and his throat was cut open. I was slightly shocked, but it only made me realize how dangerous of a situation I had gotten myself into. I was going to get on top of my game, and fast, unless I wanted even deeper wounds.
I tried my classic move, smoothly swinging my weapon at his legs. Just as smoothly, he jumped over it, twisting his sword back toward my side as I was ducked over.
I didn't have time to stand up, so I did a sort of side twist in the air as it went right under me.
"Nice," I heard him mutter as our swords clanged together again. I could hear him panting, and I was sure that he could hear me doing the same. Faintly, I could see his green eyes gleaming with excitement in the moonlight. He found this exciting? I sure didn't
I heard a pained scream right behind me, but I didn't dare to even acknowledge it as he started using a new tactic, trying to get closer to me for a deadly blow. He stepped forward as he swung, and I had no choice but to lean back as far as I could as I stepped back. My back hit the railing and I nearly fell overboard, but I rolled around so that I was facing him again, immediately launching my own attack, getting so close to him that I could feel his shirt's sleeve against mine and spinning around him so that he was the one back against the railing.
"Tricky, aren't you?" he said, a playful yet pained tone to his voice, and I knew that he was just trying to distract me. He was too focused.
"Aren't you a bit young to be working on a traders' ship?" He swung his sword at my throat, but I met his attack, shoving the sword away from my body. In that movement, he pushed into me, trying to push me over, but I recovered, holding my sword out, waiting for the next move. My face was distorted from concentration, and I was upset. I was extremely well matched. That wasn't a good thing. Would this battle ever end?
He made the next move, trying to copy me by swinging at my shins. I copied him, then, jumping over them and bringing my sword down at him. He spun out of the way, but I caught his hip. I heard him grunt, but he did not pause as he kicked out at me with his foot.
So that's how it was going to be.
I avoided his oncoming boot and grabbed the leg, twisting it around so he lost his balance and fell onto his hands and knees on the blood-stained deck. I saw my opportunity as his grip on his sword slipped in the light of the moon, and I kicked it out of the way as hard as I could as he tried to get back up and held my own sword-tip to his throat. He realized how close he was to death and put his hands up, surrendering. All traces of playfulness were gone now, and I was about to cut his exposed throat open when I caught his stare.
His green eyes were filled with sadness and defeat as he stared at me, his soon-to-be killer. Sweat shimmered on his face in the moonlight, and he was panting. He looked young, perhaps eighteen or so, and I felt myself blush slightly under his intense gaze.
He must have noticed this, because confusion was added to the emotions I saw in his face. That made me slightly angry and quite a bit nervous. I knew I had to end it. He was about to twist my sword out of my hands and plunge it through me, so I'd better act fast. That's what all of my rough years had taught me.
I brought the sword back, ready to swing it, when I heard cheers go up around me suddenly.
"We've done it! Battle's over, boys!"
I didn't recognize the voice, so I glance quickly over to where the opposing captain had his foot on Captain Eric's lifeless body. They had won.
Before I could even lower my sword, my other arm was twisted around my back and my grip on the sword faltered. It fell to the ground, bouncing twice.
"Arh!" I grunted in pain, hunching over to try and get the man to let go.
"That was far too close for my liking," the man holding me said as cheers went up around us. I glanced around to see the same green eyes I had been about to end seconds ago. "You are very good, though. I'm sure you'll sell for a pretty penny somewhere." He grabbed my other arm, holding it behind my back, too.
I felt fear twist itself into my face and heart as he began to push me along.
Only now did I look around. Our crew was nearly completely destroyed. Only seven remained, and I was one of them. Bodies from both sides, mostly ours, littered the ship's deck and were now being thrown overboard. The pirates were already hauling our goods over to their ship, which was still positioned right next to ours.
We walked over to that side.
"Unless you want this to hurt, you should help me get you over these railings," my captor said. Now I knew how he must have felt a minute ago, because I felt utterly defeated. He was still going to get me onto his ship, whether he had to drag me or throw me, so I let him help me stand on one railing, his hands tight around my wrists behind me, and I jumped at his command onto their ship's deck. It was much cleaner that ours.
All around us, gruff pirates carried things below deck.
"Edward!"
The man holding me, Edward it turns out, spun us both around to locate the voice. I tried to stop myself from wincing in pain, but it still slightly showed.
Two men, about the same age as Edward, walked over to us.
"What have you got there?" The bigger, scary looking one said. I knew that if I had been faced against him, I wouldn't be here right now. He was pure muscle.
"A survivor. Something that I nearly wasn't, today," Edward explained to them. I looked at the ground. I would've killed him, too.
"You can tell us about it later. He looks like a young one. 'at'll be good, I suppose," the other man, a blonde one, said, frowning.
I heard Edward's intake of breath, like he was going to say something, but he didn't get the chance.
"Check in your survivors!" someone yelled.
"I guess I'll talk to you guys more later. Gotta check him in now," my captor told his crewmates.
Quickly and somewhat roughly, he began to move us to the other six pairs of people. The sudden movement made me gasp in pain as it twisted my wounds, the one across my back and the one across my lower ribcage. I was suddenly aware of the wet feeling of blood around the areas.
Edward must have noticed, because he said, "We'll get you cleaned up soon, but it might be a day or so."
They couldn't do that, or they would realize I wasn't a boy. I would have to find a place to hide on the ship before they came. I was very good at finding hiding holes. I'd been doing it forever.
After my description had been recorded by a man with a harsh face, and my name (I had told him it was Bert), Edward led me down two flights of stairs to the cells. There were probably about thirty-something men in there, eight to a cell. I was added to the cell that was being filled with the new prisoners. There had already been five men in there, though, so only three of us went in there. I didn't know anyone.
"Like I said," Edward said as he shoved me in the cell, "someone'll be around in a day or so to clean your wounds up. The crew's gotten be tended to, first."
He slammed the cell door shut, turning away. He paused midturn, though, and looked back at me.
"You are a good fighter, though. I wasn't 're young and strong. You should make it."
With that he left up the stairs, my eyes and at least two dozen others' eyes following him.
Seeing the blood around his hip gave me a smug feeling that stayed with me until I fell asleep minutes later.
should i keep going with it? please review and tell me, even if you hated it!