"Prisoners?" Tessa spat in disbelief.
"Why else do you think I attacked your ship, Miss Gray?" said the pirate, his dark blue eyes sparkling in a manic fashion. "I choose my victims wisely."
"Where's Nate? And the rest of my men?" Tessa pressed on.
"Oh, they'll be fine," the pirate said with a careless wave of his hand. "That is if they survive."
"Survive?" Tessa asked in surprise. They seemed unscathed when she left her ship, but then again, everything was a blur due to the terrible storm.
"You really are dim-witted," he snarled. Tessa was beginning to dislike him more and more each second. "My men shot through the bottom of your ship, so it will only be a matter of hours before it completely submerges."
Tessa gasped.
"Now don't worry, my dear," he continued, animosity underlying his voice, "they're smart men. They shall figure it out sooner, but we're just in luck. They won't be able to get on our tail now, will they?" Tessa said nothing. "You bore me. Rise. You too," he gestured to Sophie. Tessa nearly forgot the other girl was there.
Sophie slowly rose, trembling in fear. Tessa wished she could rush over and give her a comforting hug, but she knew this was not the place to do so. Tessa, however, decided to give this man a piece of her mind. So she stayed put, still on the ground in front of his feet.
"Good girl," he said, grinning condescending at Sophie. Tessa wished she could slap that smirk off his face. "Although, that only makes one of the two of you. I said rise, Miss Gray, and if you don't, then you will face horrors much worse than this."
Tessa knew that there was no other option, so slowly she complied. Her bones felt weak and tired, but she would not give in.
"That's more like it," said the pirate, peering down at her. He was tall, Tessa realized, for she was a tall girl herself. He only had an added few inches on top of her tall height. He was young too; maybe only a year or two older than Tessa. His black hair was curling at his temples, due to the rain. He would have been handsome if he wasn't such an ass.
"It seems I have not introduced myself, how rude," he said, though he didn't sound sorry at all, "I am Heron the Great, captain of this great ship, Ithuriel."
Tessa gaped. Now this is one pirate she heard of; everyone in Idris and the neighboring kingdoms knew who Heron the Great is. Stories of him looting village to village, killing person after person. He was ruthless, vile, and selfish. Tessa had heard many myths, ranging from him being an orphan to him being from a rich family. Regardless, he was feared throughout the lands.
But Tessa never expected him to look like this. He was so young for such a horrible reputation. The stories had always made him seem a lot worse than he appeared, minus his arrogant attitude. Then again, stories only go so far.
"Shocked, are you?" Heron the Great said, glancing back and forth between Sophie and Tessa. "While you both are aboard Ithuriel, you shall call me Lord Heron."
Tessa scoffed. "That's rather cheesy, isn't it? Some lord you are."
Crack.
It happened way too fast. Tessa placed her hand to her cheek, which burned in pain. She looked at 'Lord Heron', who lowered his hand, pure loathing storming his eyes.
"How dare you!" Sophie shouted, anger lacing her voice.
"Do you want to be next?" Heron challenged. Sophie shrank back and shook her head in fear. "Good. Then keep your mouth shut."
"That's no way to talk to Sophie," Tessa said, narrowing her eyes coldly.
"Sophie, is that your name?" Heron turned to Sophie, who was still shaking in horror. "What's your last name?"
"Collins," Sophie whispered, barely audible.
"Ah, Miss Collins. Do you think I should give Miss Gray here a piece of her mind?" Sophie said nothing, so the Heron raised his voice. "I said, do you think I should give Miss Gray a piece of her mind?"
"Yes," Sophie said so quietly that only he and Tessa could hear.
"I can't hear you," he said, craning his neck towards Sophie.
"Yes," Sophie said louder, her voice quivering.
The Heron turned away from her. "Lightworm! Over here, front and center." Tessa had barely noticed the pirates standing around them. There were about twenty of them, and they were all young like Heron the Great. One of the men emerged and made his way towards Tessa and Sophie. He was taller, even taller than his captain, if that was possible. He had messy brown hair which was darkened by the rain and piercing green eyes. He seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.
"You know what to do Gabriel," he commanded the man, Gabriel.
Gabriel was holding something in his hand, and as he approached Tessa, she saw that it was a whip. Tessa felt tears brimming her eyes, but willed herself to stay strong. Gabriel raised his hand, and Tessa closed her eyes, lowering her head.
"Stop!" shouted a voice, calm and firm at the same time. Tessa opened one eye, and saw that Gabriel was paused, midway, whip still in hand. Someone else emerged from the crowd; another man, but this one with silver hair and ethereal features. He made his way towards Heron, coming eye to eye with them. Tessa noticed they were the same height, and in the presence of this silver-haired man, the Heron seemed to relax.
"I can bare no more," said this newcomer. "Please stop. I know this is not you, torturing these innocent young women." A look of understanding passed between them, and the Heron subdued.
"Very well," he said, "you always know how to get the best of me, James." The pirate – James – smirked at the Heron. "And Lightworm, you're dismissed." Gabriel huffed and stormed away from them, clearly not happy with the outcome of the situation.
"Take them to the brig," the Heron commanded his men. "We'll figure out what to do with them then."
"This is awful," Sophie said. Tessa could only agree.
They were sitting in the cramped corners of the brig below the main deck of Ithuriel. It was awful, it really was. There were no windows and the only thing between them and the outside was the heavy cell door, which they could barely see out miniscule window at the top. Actually, they could barely see each other because it was so dark and damp inside their cell.
"Why are there such horrible human beings in this world, Sophie?" Tessa murmured. "Why can't we all just get along?"
"I dunno," Sophie said quietly. "And I'm sorry, miss. He should not have treated you that way."
Tessa shivered. She was still wearing her dressing gown with her overcoat, which she tugged on tighter to keep herself warm. "I told you not to call me that, Sophie. If we want to get out of this together…"
"We will Miss Tessa, we are going to get out of this alive," Sophie said, softly, but firmly.
"What do you think they want from us? I mean they obviously knew who we are."
"They knew who you were," Sophie corrected.
"Oh Sophie," Tessa trembled. "This is all my fault. I dragged you in this, when all they wanted was me."
"No, don't say those things Tessa!" Sophie exclaimed. Tessa smiled at this. "You know that I'll always be there for you. We're in this together."
"Thanks," Tessa said, wrapping her arms around Sophie and pulling her into a quick embrace. "You're the best friend I could ever wish for."
She didn't even hear Sophie's response, for she had drifted into soundless sleep.
Tessa awoke with a jolt to the sound of her cell rattling. The heavy door opened and standing before her was a tall, but muscular man. In the dim lighting, Tessa could make out the halo of sandy hair and sea green eyes, which were staring right at them.
"Sophie Collins?" he said in a pleasant voice.
"Yes?" Sophie said, unsure of herself.
"I am Gideon Lightwood," the pirate introduced himself, "and under captain's orders, you are released from this prison."
Tessa and Sophie gasped simultaneously.
"But what about Tessa?" Sophie commanded.
"I'm sorry Miss Collins, but the captain's orders were only for you," Gideon said apologetically.
"I am not leaving without Tessa," Sophie stated firmly.
"No, go Sophie," Tessa urged Sophie, though she hated saying it. "You saw how he acted last night. I think it's best if you obey his orders."
"But –," Sophie started to say, but was interrupted by Gideon.
"I think it's best if you listen to Miss Gray," he said. "We don't want to anger the Heron even more than he already is." There was a certain bitterness to his voice.
"Go, Sophie," Tessa pressed on. Reluctantly, Sophie rose from her spot and slowly sauntered towards the open door. She looked over her shoulder and Tessa gave her an encouraging smile.
"I'm sorry Miss Gray. I truly am," Gideon said, and he sounded like he really was.
He turned around and shut the cell door behind him.
Tessa had nothing to do except sit around and wait. Literally sit and wait. There was nothing to see around her, so she just sat around for some activity to happen. The most that happened was that one of the pirates had come to hand her food – stale bread – and then wordlessly left.
It was absolutely disgusting to eat and as hard as a rock.
Nevertheless, Tessa ate it. She realized she hadn't eaten anything since her meal with Nate the night before.
Nate. She ached to know what happened to him and if he was still alive. But Tessa had faith in her elder brother. He was a fighter and never gave up, even if it was a band of notorious pirates that attacked his ship. He would make it alive, along with Magnus Bane and the rest of his crew.
Nighttime eventually fell upon the ship. Well, Tessa guessed it was night because it became darker in her cell, despite the fact that it was already dark.
The familiar jolt of the door came, and Tessa craned her neck to see yet another figure standing there, but this time holding a candle to illuminate the whole place. It was the same silver-haired pirate – James – who intervened the other night.
"Apologies Miss Gray if I disturbed you," he said kindly, and gave her a warm smile. Tessa liked him already. He seemed to be one of the few nice people aboard this hellhole.
"Oh, don't worry, you weren't disturbing me," Tessa said hastily. "There's nothing to do here anyway, so this was a nice change."
James chuckled. "I forgot to formally introduced myself to you. I'm sorry, that was rude of me. My name is James Carstairs, but call me Jem."
"Well, it's nice to meet you Jem," Tessa smiled.
"The pleasure is mine," Jem matched her smile with one of his own. It really was infectious. "Unfortunately, I'm here under the captain's demands."
And Tessa's good mood just spiraled downwards. "What does he want?"
"I know that he's been tough on you," Jem said, "but you have to understand that he can be… difficult.
"Tough? Difficult?" Tessa retorted. "More like the devil. I wonder who raised him to be such an awful person."
Jem seemed to flinch as if that physically pained him. "He's a good man, he really is. It's just… this is not him. He was once a man that went by the name of Will Herondale."
"Herondale?" Tessa asked. The name sounded familiar, but Tessa couldn't place a finger on it.
"Do you know the name?" Jem asked, arching a delicate silvery eyebrow.
"No," Tessa said dismissively.
"Anyway," Jem went on, "he was struck by a horrible tragedy and took up this lifestyle to escape the demons of the past."
"Well, if it was so horrible, you would expect him to be kinder."
Jem stared at her pensively, and then, "I'm here because he requests to have dinner with you."
"He what?!" Tessa asked, thoroughly confused.
"He wants to have dinner with you, Miss Gray. And I think it's best that you do not turn down the offer, otherwise he will be furious with you. Who knows how much longer you'll be down here then."
"Fine," Tessa obliged, seeing no way out of this.
"Oh, and before I forget, wear this," Jem threw her a dark blue dress. Odd; it matched the color of Will's eyes. Tessa hadn't even noticed she thought of him as Will – it seemed to suit him better.
"You probably don't want to wear that thin dressing gown anyway," Jem said, gesturing to Tessa, who flushed. "I'll let you get dressed." Jem stepped out and shut the door behind him.
Tessa scrambled up from her spot and took off the overcoat and the nightgown, which was a breeze. Now putting on the new dress was a lot more difficult, for she didn't have Sophie to have her. After what felt like forever, the dress was finally on, her clockwork angel necklace tucked beneath it. She walked over to the door and knocked on it.
Jem opened it and offered Tessa his arm, who took it. "Shall we go to dinner, Miss Gray."
"Yes, let's just get this over with," Tessa said, and Jem led her for the first time out of the darkened misery.
And another chapter, as promised.
First off, let me just say that YOU GUYS ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! All I asked for was the three reviews, but I got 14! That's like nearly 5 times as much! And thank you for everyone who favorited, followed, or even just read this story. You all get a virtual cookie!
So what did you think about this one? Will's just an ass, huh? Or Heron the Great, as I should say... yeah sort of a cheesy name. I was originally going to put the dinner with Will, but this chapter was getting too long, so I decided to put it in the next chapter. And boy, are you guys in for a treat ;)
Oh and sorry for taking long to update this... I've been caught up in watching Game of Thrones hehe. So let's say 5 reviews for the next chapter, and I update fast?
You guys are the best!
Peace!
~The Pale Red Queen