Chapter Two: Reborn Anew
A steady stream of bright light slithered across my eyelids, wretching me peacefully from a dream so deep, I was unaware of how something so miniscule as a sliver of light could possibly wake me. Had a crack formed in the wall of my cell enough to allow such light? It was highly doubtful, considering all the cells were below ground and encased in many layers of stone. My eyes flutter open, trying to make sense of such a feat, and I am pleasantly surprised.
The room was lavish, filled with priceless artworks depicting raging seas and calming islands, decorate in all sorts of rich, deep colors. A startling crimson hue raged the hardest in the multitudes of blacks, whites, reds, and golds, weaving in and proving itself dominant, especially against the mahogany of the canopy bed my body rolled against. My fingers clench around the decadent satins, lavishing in the feel of the cool texture against my burning skin.
All at once, the memory of my final moments awake shoot forth, body flinging upright and a frown pushing against my lips. The usual carelessness of fatigue did not rake my form, and as my boney fingers begin rummaging through my once-tangled locks, I realize just how soft the mane had come to be. 'What in the hell is going on?'
"Oh Miss, you are awake!" A short, plump little woman waddles into the room, wearing the ceremonial maids attire of the grandest structure of Albion and all of the world itself, a smile as wide as the mountains across her narrow lips. "Shall I assist you out of bed?" The woman, obviously a decade or two older than myself, lightly clenches my arm, helping me get to the nearby bathroom to clean up. The image that catches my eye in the mirror nearly topples me backwards, forcing myself into a chair before the massive vanity sink. "I'll draw your bath up for you, then."
I did not hear her last words, but instead stared at the woman in the mirror. Long, thick reddish locks cascaded down past my elbows, skin unmarred besides the scar that jutted across my left arm. Beneath dark lashes stood blazing blue eyes, the color of the wide, clear seas surrounding Albion and Aurora. The symbol of a pirate was marked across my heart, a tattoo from many, many years prior, and I realized I was stark naked. The form before the mirror, my form, was once skinny and boney from lack of proper nutrition, but now filled out into a beautiful hourglass, much like the queen had in her prime years. The only reminder that I had spent the last seven years in a cell was the pale, ghostly complexion, though that would be remedied soon once I took my place upon the raging tides once more.
"This cannot possibly be me," I murmur, hand touching the mirror gently, awe-struck. The maid, whom had witnessed my entire charade, was smiling softly to herself, pulling me towards the tub. "Lady, how long have I been out exactly?" There was no way it could have simply been overnight, for I was too nourished for it to be true.
"About a week Miss," she murmurs, chuckling as she begins scrubbing me in the warm, soothing waters. "The queen mentioned something about infusing you with a renewed strength when I began taking charge of you a short six days ago, I tell you. I watched you grow from skin and bones to the right beauty you are now. I've seen the pictures in the castle of before your banishment-" I snort at that word, knowing that my damned mother had told everyone I had been 'banished' and not 'imprisoned'. It would ruin her look, "-and you look even better than you did before, I say."
The rest of the bath, I ignore the woman, allowing her to scrub away what grime could not be removed from me during sponge bathes in the satin covered bedding. Once my hair is washed and dried, the elderly lady trimming up the thick mane, I'm escorted to a closet to the side of the room. A laugh breaks my still scratching throat as I realize it was a new take on my old choice of wardrobe, at last pulling an ensemble from the multitudes.
The shirt came just past my breasts, white and ruffled, and I pulled a red and black corset half-shirt on top of it, lacing up the front of the fixture. Gold trimmed lined the edges, thin strands of the precious material, and it came to match the bracelets put on both upper arms and my wrists. A set of black gloves sporting only two fingers on each is pulled onto my hands, rings adorning every finger. A set of tight red pants are pulled low on my hips, black pieces going down the sides of each leg, and a large buckled belt of gold is set to hold the skin-tight fabric in place, also quite low. The boots are heeled and black with golden designs, the cuffs turned down at the tops to show the designs within.
My hair is pulled into a thick red ribbon near the ends of the hair, allowing it to fall freely, my bangs nearly covering one cerulean eye, but brushed carelessly aside. I pull on a necklace and a set of earrings of shining gold, followed by a black captain's hat with white lace at the top, much like my shirt, and a large red bow with golden feathers sticking from the top. A quick glance into the mirror and I satisfy myself with the final touch, blazing red lipstick.
"Now what is the plan for my day, lady?" I clink the rings on my hands together irritably, following her out to a set of horses. A large black steed was saddled and readied for me, soon joined by the other horse bearing an unpleasant rider. I scowl at my mother, climbing up onto the massive horse and sighing as she begins leading me from the castle and towards the nearby docks. "What are we doing?"
"You are about to pick out your crew. I need you to get started immediately, and a ship has already been prepared and stocked, along with your personal belongings and effects," she answers, dismounting after we arrive at the bustling docks. "There's the lineup. Pick as many as you need and you may be on your way. All the paperwork needed on the artifact is also in your cabin, which has been decorated to your liking, I believe."
I stop listening to her incessant rambling, turning to the large herd of men. "Lineup! I said LINEUP!" All of the guffawing animals take their places in a lengthy line, and I proceed to go through, analyzing each and picking out the qualities in the dirty rats that I approved of or highly disliked. "Alright, you, you, not you, definitely you and you, you go but the monkey stays, and you too," and so I decidedly pick out a healthy number of sailors, knowing half of the pirates would not make it a week, maybe even a day, aboard my ship. "Alright, we set sail as soon as she's ready to go. Where's my ship, old woman?" I glare at my mother.
"Right there," she murmurs, ignoring the insult as I face the mighty ship before me. Tears nearly come to my eyes as I realize it was not just any old ship, but the very one I had seized when I was taken to my cell underground. It had been cleaned of all the old blood stains and the dark mahogany exterior shone with a new gleam, the ragged old sails replaced with startlingly alabaster ones.
"If I didn't hate you, I might very well hug you," I spit to the queen, motioning all the men onboard. "Everyone! Get to work! We have a lot to do to get this thing moving, now don't we? Hurry the hell up, I say!" I go to make my way towards the ship, but a hand on my shoulder stopped the trek before it began. I raise a brow at Valentina, scoffing at her with a deep, menacing glower.
"Be careful, Alouette. There's many things I need to tell you upon your return," she whispers, getting closer to add in the last bit, "But, I will warn you of just how dangerous this could turn out to be. There's only one person in this world with a shot better than yours, and you need to watch out for him."
"Well, we will see just how off his shot will be with a bullet between his eyes," I give a bark of laughter, walking onto the gangplank and up to the polished deck, heels clicking as I go. "It's not me you need to be worried about, oh Queen Valentina." With that said, I enter the recesses of my cabin with a loud BANG! Oh, I would certainly enjoy this trip. . . If I ever decided to come back that is.
Author's Note: REVIEW! Or I'll send my beloved Alouette and her filthy crew to hang you from the yard arm! DO IT!