Chapter Two: The First Day At Sea
A cold splash of water was what awoke Theresa from her sleep; she looked to see none other the Bucky standing over her bedside with a now empty bucket in his hands. She had only been on this wicked ship for only a night and already she hated being here, she could only imagine the suffering she would endure during her stay among this crew of rouges.
"Rise and shine Theresa" he said with a joyful smile "Today is your first day of being part of our family"
"More like being part of a madhouse" Theresa grimly thought to herself
"I see you haven't changed into your new cloths yet" the cabin boy pointed out "You might wanna do that now before you get to work"
The admiral's daughter knew she couldn't talk her way out of not wearing the new clothing she was given, so she decided to just stick it out for now and change into new attire, besides it would be nice to get that rather tight corset she had on under her dress off of her person.
"Um, is there somewhere I can change in private?" she inquired
"Not really, no" Bucky answered "But don't worry, I'll leave you alone so you can get dressed in peace. Meet me on deck when you're ready"
"Shouldn't I take a bath first?" Theresa asked
"You already took it" the cabin boy said, referring to her wake up call a few moments ago
Having said that, the blonde haired pirate left the new recruit alone to change into her new uniform. The young girl quickly got changed into her new outfit, which was a white shirt and shoes with a dusty old purple jacket over it and a pair of brown shoes that had been clearly seen better days. She looked over to her purple dress and started to think about of all the horrid things the band of cut-throats would do with it and without giving it a second thought, she tossed it out of a nearby porthole. After doing away with her dress, she made her way out to the deck where Bucky was waiting for her.
"So Theresa, what kind of skills do you have?" he asked
"Well to be honest, I don't really have many skills to begin with" the captive girl replied truthfully "I've had servants take care of me all my life, but I do know how to sow and I've had some fencing training-if that helps at all"
"I would've put you to work as the ship's tailor, but Morgan already has that job filled" the blonde haired boy said
"Who's Morgan?" Theresa questioned
Just as the boy was about to answer, an arrow came sailing in between the two teens before striking the black wooden wall of the ship. The pair looked over to where the arrow was fired from to see a slightly older girl with reddish-brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail with a hunting bow in her hand and a pack full of arrows on her back walking toward their direction. The girl was dressed in a blue tank-top and a black dress that hung around her waste with brown sandals on feet.
"That would be her" Bucky said
The older girl silently walked in-between the two younger pirates and pulled her arrow out of the ship before putting back in her pack. She turned to look back at Bucky and Theresa with a gaze that was cold as steel that made them both cower before her.
"I wasn't aiming at you" she told them in a stoic tone before walking away
"Then what where you aiming at?" Theresa asked
The older pirate showed them both a small fly that was impaled on the very tip of the arrowhead before putting it away. She gave Theresa an icy glare before walking away, leaving the younger girl feeling a sense of dread.
"Morgan doesn't like using muskets or pistols, she prefers using arrows, but she's the best damn shot on this ship-maybe even the whole world" Bucky explained "She was trained by her mother who was a Seminole Indian how to use them before her farther who was a Spanish sailor took her away with him"
"How did she get here?" Theresa wondered out loud
"We all have our stories of we found our way to The Tengu, but we like to keep them to ourselves" the cabin boy said before getting back on track "Now let's see, what can we have you do…Ah-Ha! I know!"
Before Theresa knew it, Bucky had put a mop and bucket in her hands.
"Well don't just stand there, that deck isn't gonna clean itself!" the boy commanded "Chop, chop missy!"
So much to her chagrin, the admiral's daughter had become nothing more then a cleaning maid. While she did that, she watched as Bucky went off to the lower decks, more then likely to carry out his own chores for the day and leaving her alone to be surrounded by a good number of people who would love nothing more then to disembowel her with a smile on their face. As she swabbed the deck, she kept her eyes on the ship's crew that were currently on deck at the time, who either gave her a quick nasty look or paid her no mind at all and went about their business. It wasn't to long before Theresa's line of sight eventually found its way to the captain, who was currently steering his vessel across the sea.
She watched as the wind blew his cape off to the side, making it gracefully dance across the oceans breeze while he keep his single eye locked on the vast waters before him, almost never blinking at all. His raven was perched on his shoulder, ever moving an inch as it sat there. The morning sun cast a shadow around his person that made him both terrifying and magnificent to gaze upon, Theresa was so enamored by the young captain that she was wasn't paying attention to what was in front of her and crashed right into the portly boy she had encountered yesterday.
"Watch it you idiot!" the pirate known as Howard snapped
"I-I'm sorry!" Theresa squeaked out
"Not yet your not" he growled before reaching for something in his vest
"Ahem…" the captain's said sharply from where he was "Shouldn't you be peeling potatoes right now Howard?"
The heavyset boy grumbled a few nasty words as he pulled his hand out of his vest and walked away from the girl.
"Thank you captain" she said as she bowed her head
The boy gave said nothing and continued on with looking out to the sea, but the girl had a sense that in a strange way it was his way of saying your welcome. Theresa made a mental note to stay in the young leader's line of sight as she continued to scrub the deck or else she may fall prey to one of the crewmen's wrath. It was at that time that Bucky had returned however this time he had a young girl with glasses on at his side. The girl had a flute that was strapped to her belt on one side and a pistol strapped to the other side.
"Ah there you are Theresa; right where I left you" he said before introducing the other girl "This is Flute Girl"
"Nice to meet you" Theresa greeted nicely, though not knowing if she would get a warm reception
"Same here" flute girl answered in a sweet tone
"Flute Girl's gonna be helping you on kitchen duty tonight" the cabin boy explained "I figured I'd introduce you two first"
"I might not be able to help, I don't know how to cook" the purple-haired girl admitted
"No worries, Flute Girl is our resident chief, you just need to be her extra hands" Bucky informed her "speaking of which you two better get started, it's almost time for lunch"
The admiral's daughter nodded acknowledgement before following the other girl down to the lower decks, however she failed to see the silent look between the cabin boy and the cook had between one another before descending down to the ship's lower levels.
As Theresa followed Flute Girl down into the lower decks, she suddenly a sense of fear creep her spine, as if her body was trying to warn her of some impending danger. Flute Girl made it done the steps first, who looked back up at Theresa who was suddenly frozen where she stood on the steps.
"Well come on, don't be shy" Flute Girl urged with a warm smile
Theresa smiled back, feeling as though her fears where simply holding her and began walk done the rest of the steps. Just as the admiral's daughter stepped off of the final step, a fist slammed into her left cheek, knocking her to the floor from the force of the impact. She looked up to see her attack was none other the Heidi who was alongside a few other crew members such as her brother, the boy with the big purple tog hat and young Asian girl, all of whom had a look of malice in their eyes. Standing among the group was Flute Girl, who looked down at her with such disdain.
"W-why are you doing this?" she choked out
"Your farther took my parents away from me" Flute Girl hissed "Think of this as payback"
"Enough talk, you know what to do" Heidi commanded "don't leave any bruises on her face or anywhere else the captain could see them"
Before she could even scream, Heidi stuffed a rag into the poor girl's mouth to prevent her from crying out for help. For the next eight agonizing minutes, Theresa was brutality beaten by the very people she was being forced to work with. Once they were finished with the purple-haired girl, they left her in beaten a bruised heap on the floor, walking away in a fit a laughter as they did. Once they where gone, Theresa's blurred vision came upon Bucky, who was currently looking down at her with pity for her on his face.
"Your living on a ship of wolves Theresa" he told in somber tone as he pulled the rag out of her mouth "You can either die a lamb or become a wolf and live"
After saying that, he walked away just as Theresa's vision blacked out from the amount of pain she was in.
John Fowler crumpled up the message he was just given before tossing it into the fire. The said message was given to him only minutes ago by one of his servants which informed him that the ship that was escorting his only child aboard was sunk to the oceans depths by the pirate ship The Tengu and her crew and while there had been no survivors after the attack, his daughter's body was never recovered among the dead.
"I'm so sorry sir, Theresa was such a wonderful young lady" his butler said sadly "it is a tragedy that this happened to her"
"I refuse to believe that my child is dead!" the admiral snapped in rage "Those savages must have taken her hostage for ransom!"
"But sir if that is true, you could not send help for her at this time" his servant reasoned "The fleet is already battling both the French and the Spanish for control over the island and who could possibly stand against The Tengu and those band of monsters?"
John Fowler knew of one man in his fleet that not only had experience with the Tengu's crew, but also its evil captain as well. Someone who clashed blades with the mysterious Randy 'The Red' Cunningham and made him turn tail and run away in past battles. If there was anyone in the world who had any chance of saving his daughter, it would be him.
"Get me Commodore Mcfist" the admiral ordered