Logan's ship arrived in Bowerstone Industrial, to a crowd of people awaiting its return. The search for my crew and my beloved ship must have been publicized greatly. The ship docked, and my crew members were forced one by one onto the dock, myself being last. I heard the insults and rather crude remarks being hurled at my boys, myself not excluded. However, I held my head up high and did not let the insults affect me, as the guards clearly intended them to.

We all traveled through the streets of Bowerstone Industrial and Bowerstone Market heavily guarded. We approached the castle quickly for what I assumed would be royal judgement. I swallowed with fear at the thought of King Logan on his throne, giving us all the death sentence. Chills ran down my spine.

I had seen the king in person only once, a few years back, while sneaking about the Old Quarter. He was parading the streets with his array of royal guards. He was tall, pale, and very miserable looking. His sad eyes surveyed the area, and then moved along with the herd. There always seemed to be something troubling King Logan, but then again, he always seemed to be a bit...off.

I snapped to attention as a soldier grabbed my arm and dragged me up a set of stairs, spiraling to the large door of the castle. He pushed me up the large grand staircase in the front hall with the rest of my crew to a large throne room. Many people were there, standing behind rope fences. On the throne sat the miserable Logan. Next to him, was someone I never expected to see. The tall-hat man who attacked my ship was standing next to Logan, with a large smirk on his face. He looked completely unscathed, and was clad in his same white attire. I only just stopped my mouth from dropping open in shock.

"This is Reaver," Logan said, gesturing to tall-hat man. "He will be overseeing royal court this afternoon."

Reaver smirked in my direction. It was obvious to me that he was overseeing this trial to contribute to my misery.

One by one, my men were seen by Logan and were all given the same sentence: a twenty-year period behind bars. They were all relieved that their lives were spared, but I doubted my fate would be quite as merciful. Logan leered at me as I was brought to the carpet in front of his throne for my sentence. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"For the past five years, you have been terrorizing our seas, preventing safe passage from Bowerstone to Aurora. You have looted and burned many of my ships, not exluding the ships of innocent people. You are a threat to our land and a nuisance to our economy. Your crimes are punishable by death and only death," Logan said, leaning forward and setting his elbows on his knees. I cringed, but did my best to mask any fear I felt at that moment. Reaver's expression was almost unreadable. There was a thick silence.

"Tear 'er bloody head off!" someone in the crowd shouted. Their comment was followed by many others, all worse than the first. This caused uproar from both sides of the crowd, competing to decide my unfortunate fate. I wanted to tell them all just to shut up, but I held my tongue in fear of losing it. Reaver spoke,

"My dear people," he sneered. "Let His Majesty have silence."

This caused everyone to fall silent and look to Logan, who was studying me thoughtfully. Reaver looked at him once more before speaking again.

"Your Majesty, let me take this despicable ruffian with me. I have rather industrious things to be done and she can...become a representative of your authority among the common people!"

"I'm no ruffian!" I spat, lunging towards Reaver but instantly being restrained by two guards. This caused a collected gasp from the crowd. Logan stayed silent, thinking.

"All right, it's decided. This filthy miscreant will become your disciple," Logan decided. I sighed with relief with the knowledge that my life would be spared. My death was still far off. Reaver looked at Logan with disbelief.

"Your Majesty, my disciple? I believe you heard me wrong-"

"Yes, Reaver. You will train this girl to become an addition to my army. You may send her to perform your petty tasks, yes, but if any harm befalls her, you will be severely punished. I will regularly hear of her progress. She is yours to command, but keep in mind that her life is in your hands. You may take her now."

After saying this, Logan rose from the throne and walked out of the throne room while the crowd hollered and cheered. I sighed with relief once more as he exited the room. I was dragged to my feet and brought face-to-face with Reaver. Or rather, face-to-chest. Reaver was a good few inches taller than me, and his hat added to both his height and intimidation factor. As his dark eyes surveyed my light ones, any relief I had left was chased away by fear.

I think I would rather be behind bars, I thought to myself. Reaver smirked and nodded to the guard behind me.

"Take off her shackles, please," he said. The guard unlocked my shackles and freed my hands, which immediately went to Reaver's neck. Unfortunately, he was too fast for me. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them behind me, the smirk never leaving his face. As we left the throne room and made our way towards the carriage outside the castle, I made quite a scene struggling against Reaver's iron grip. My fits of struggle caused him to pluck me off the ground and throw me over his shoulder, as if I were nothing.

"Let me go!" I screeched, kicking my legs and beating his back with my fists. It was hopeless. He said nothing.

Reaver rudely stuffed me in the door of his carriage, saying nothing as I yelled rather vicious things to him (or anyone that was anywhere near me). He ignored me as he climbed in the carriage and seated himself directly across from me in a rather dignified manner. I fell silent, rather shocked at his calm demeanor. I heard the cracking of a whip and felt the carriage rumble into motion. I glanced at Reaver, and found him looking at me rather smugly.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," I mumbled. He tossed his head back and laughed.

"Oh-ho-ho! You really are hilarious. I am so excited to have acquired such a deliciously daft apprentice," he said, smirking once more. I scoffed.

"What can you teach me? You're just a stuck-up, rich prig!"

His upper lip curled up with disgust. His eyes narrowed as he let the comment sink in.

"Well, my little ruffian, all I have to do is tell Logan you're breaking his rules, and-" he made a chopping motion with his hand. "-it's off with your pretty little head."

I shivered and his smirk returned. I looked out the window of the carriage, avoiding his evil eyes. In my peripheral vision, I saw him take off his hat, revealing a mop of raven-black hair.

"Although you may be only a piece of dung on the bottom of my boot, this could be an interesting partnership," he said, raising his eyebrow. I had a rather sarcastic reply for him, but I decided holding my tongue would be better. There was a rather long period of complete silence, most of which Reaver and I spent looking in opposite directions. The carriage suddenly came to a rather abrupt stop, which caused me to propel forward from my comfortable seat. I would have landed right on top of Reaver, has he not avoided me and almost jumped out of the carriage.

"We're here," he sneered, glaring at me from the outside of the carriage. I got up from my hands and knees and hopped out. Reaver chuckled as I nearly pitched forward after my uneasy landing.

"Anyway, this is my humble manor, sea-rat."

I looked at his lavish estate, pretending to be uninterested.

"If you even think of breaking any regulations of your training and...dwelling here, I will not hesitate to ship you right back to the castle and to King Logan himself. Is that clear?" he said, looking at me with disdain in his eyes. I nodded stiffly.

"Good girl."

He continued his walk towards the front door, turning to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, come on, you slimy mongrel. I am getting quite tired of waiting around for you, you know."

I rolled my eyes and trudged along after him. After all, if I wanted to stay alive, I had to follow his rules. I had lost everything. My ship, my crew, my dignity, were among the things I lost.

And Ben. I had lost Ben. But that was a long time ago.