A Pirates Life for Me
Author's Note:
I don't know if anyone is actually reading this story but if you are, thanks.
One thing: I stumbled upon another swashbuckling tale about Lily and James where there is a ship named The Emerald, now I am debating whether to change the name of the ship. I don't want to but I don't want to be accused of copying. In my story, The Emerald got her name from Lily as her father got the ship when she was born. It is a testament to her eyes.
Read and Review
BTW I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything that remotely comes from the books.
--
Lily felt the sweat trickle down her face but could not spare a hand to wipe it away. He eyes were focused intently on her opponent. She felt her chest rising up and down as she allowed herself to breathe. She stood across from her opponent as the both warily circled each other. A step for a step, identical masks of concentration on their faces, swords held at the ready, waiting for the attack.
The man across from her smiled a superior smile and she could tell what was going on in his mind. In his opinion no woman much less a girl would ever beat him. He was so full of smug superiority her lip curled in distaste, she would show him, when the time came. For the moment she was going to let him attack her, let him think her a weak female.
The man snarled and lunged forward suddenly, feinting to the left. Lily simply sidestepped the blow. He came at her again, this time not fainting, simple lunging. She stepped back, out of reach.
"What's that," he taunted, "don't know how to use a sword."
In the crowd surrounding them in a ring, some voiced their agreement with this vile man. Thomas, who stood apart, just shook his head, along with the others who knew her. He felt pity for this man because Thomas knew that he would be trounced by Lily.
Lily stayed silent as they continued to fight. She hardly used the sword which seemed to infuriate the man. She used her agility to keep away from his blade. She snorted to herself, was he so stupid that he couldn't see what she was doing? She was just wearing the fool out, making him slower, angry, and apt to do something stupid. Lily never responded to his jests or mocking, she found keeping silent not only helped her concentrate but either unnerved or enraged her opponent.
Enough of this she thought and as he lunged forward again she parried his blow. He looked shocked for a second, he hadn't expected that. But Lily knew that, that's why she had done it. His surprise slowly turned to a smile as he tried to use his weight against her blade, trying to push it back. It didn't move. Anger flitted through his eyes and he brought his sword back, attempting to make another lunge.
But Lily was too quick for him. Before his muscles could even think about striking her again she leapt to the side and started attacking him ferociously. He blocked her first blow, barely. As she whirled about around him her blows became faster. Left, right, feint.
He tried to put her back on the defensive by lunging forward when Lily, anticipating his movement flipped over his head. As he turned around she snaked her sword around his, and with a simple twist, sent it flying out of his hands. Lily brought her sword up so the tip brushed his neck.
"Do you yield?" She asked quietly. The man nodded, to out of breath to say anything at the moment. He looked at her to find she was hardly breathing hard at all.
Lily turned and started to stride away when the man regained some of his pride and called out to her back, "Next time you won't be so lucky wench."
Anger rose in her body but she refused to let it show, keeping emotions from her face was another thing she was good at. The audacity of him, to say such a thing, and call her a wench!
She turned around and walked back over to the man who was surrounded by his mates now. Lily looked him straight in the eye and tried to keep the smirk off her face, half failing.
"Next time, you'll be smart enough to recognize when your opponent is just tiring you out, so you'll be that much easier to beat." She said. The man gaped at her with shock and fury.
"You little bitch!" He snarled.
Lily just sighed, keeping her temper in reign. "Your very original," she said sarcastically, "you can't say anything about me that I haven't already heard." She held her sword up again, "but if it makes you feel better about losing to a girl, go right ahead, say what you want."
He had no choice, if he wanted to leave with any dignity that is. He knew she would beat him again in another sword battle. He closed his mouth and glared at her as Lily turned and walked away. He spat on the deck.
Lily walked up to Thomas. He looked at her and shook his head, "You probably shouldn't have said those things to Geoffrey, like he needs another reason to dislike you."
"Don't worry Thomas," she said with a smile, "he doesn't dislike me; he despises me. There's a difference."
Thomas just chuckled,"At least someone's having fun."
Lily smiled brightly, "Well you certainly don't have fun, so what else am I for, Cap'n."
"Take your cheek elsewhere lass," he said, not really meaning it.
"Aye Cap'n, I'll be in the look out." And with that Lily scrambled up to the top of the mast.
--
Lily woke up with the midnight bell to start her watch. She looked around her small, one man cabin, and grabbed her clothes and knife, which she tucked into her boot. As a rule she never went out without a weapon, even if it was just a knife. If there was an attack she could simply run down and get her sword.
She could faintly hear the groaning of the other men with this watch in their cabins. Forcing their cold and sleep deprived bodies out of their hammocks. She grinned. Even if she was tired she always liked the night watches. They were her time to think and look at the stars. It was quiet, with only the sound of the waves against the boat breaking the silence.
This night was no different, as she reached the deck she looked towards the sky. It was a cloudless night and one could see the stars clearly against their midnight blue backdrop. Lily climbed so she could sit comfortably in the netting of the rigging. She looked towards the sky, finding the constellations her father had taught her many years ago.
A warm hand grabbed hers as she looked into her father's hazel eyes. He took her hand and pointed at the stars, making sure she was seeing the same ones he did.
"See that one, the one that looks like a W my flower?"
She nodded and looked at him for more information.
"That's Cassiopeia. She was the wife of King Cepheus of Ethiopia. But you see, besides being the wife of a king, Cassiopeia was also very beautiful, and very vain. One day, while she sat coming her lustrous locks she dared to say she was more beautiful the the sea nymphs called Nereids. The Nereids were the daughter of the Nereus, the Old-Man-of- the-Sea."
Lily stood silently, her eyes traveling between her father and the stars, her mind enchanted, and ensnared by the tale her father was telling her.
"That can't be good," she breathed softly, but her father heard her and laughed quietly.
"No it wasn't good. One of the Nereids, Amphitrite, was married to Poseidon, the sea god. They appealed to Poseidon and asked him to punish Cassiopeia for her vanity."
"What did they do father?"
"The sea god sent a monster to ravage the coast of King Cepheus's country. To appease the monster, Cepheus and Cassiopeia chained their daughter Andromeda to a rock as a sacrifice, but Andromeda was saved from the monster's jaws by the hero Perseus. But, as an added punishment Cassiopeia was condemned to circle the celestial pole for ever, sometimes hanging upside down in undignified posture. And she still sits in the sky today, combing her hair."
"Well," said 7 year old Lily, "after that I'm not so sure I'm as keen on brushing my hair."
Her father smiled and kissed her hair, "you and Cassiopeia have something in common, you are both beautiful; though I do hope you are not as vain as she is."
"Never," his daughter giggled.
Lily loved gazing at the stars. They didn't change and whenever she looked at them she was reminded of her father. And, for some strange reason, they reminded her of her mother. She had never met her mom, didn't know if she was dead or not. All her father could say was the last time he and seen her, right after she was born, her mother was alive.
Lily kept hoping that one day she would meet her. Find out if she inherited her brilliant emerald eyes from her mum, as they were obviously not her dads. Her father always told her that Lily's mum had the same fiery spirit that she did.
But the stars were Lily's connection to her far away mum. Lily hoped that if she was alive, maybe she would be looking at the stars too, and thinking of her daughter. After all, they would watch the same stars.
--
It was the end of her watch. Lily yawned and started to make her way below deck. She was walking along the galley when a man stumbled out, clearly drunk. Upon closer inspection, Lily realized this was the man she had fought this morning, what was his name? Geoffrey, right?
Geoffrey caught sight of her and walked unsteadily towards her.
"Pretty wench," he slurred while making a grab for her arm and stepping closer.
"Your drunk," Lily spat at him, hoping he would leave her alone. She could smell the alcohol and rum on him and she rinkled her nose in distaste.
"Nah, I'm not," he said thickly. "How 'bout you and me find a nice and cozy spot on this ship and have some fun," he leered.
"I have no intention of anything of the sort." Lily replied stiffly. This had happened a couple of times to her, but never on the ship, maybe Thomas had been right about these vile men.
"C'mon, I know any wench has her price," he slurred and stepped closer to whisper in her ear, "whatever it is I'm sure I can pay for a slut like you."
"No," Lily pushed him away from her.
"I got in a fight this morn'n the least ye could do would be to give me some comfort," sneering at the word comfort.
That was enough! She had had it. Lily punched him as hard as she could in the jaw, which needless to say, was quite hard. He groaned and held his hand up to his face. She hooked her legs around his ankle and pulled, causing him to topple over in surprise. When he fell, she walked up and put a booted foot on his chest.
"I am not some wench, who will sleep with any scum I come across." She said, her eyes flashing in anger and her voice cold, "You would do better to remember such things next time." And with a calculated kick to his temple, she knocked him unconscious. Hoping he wouldn't remember too much in the morning.
--
This time, Lily woke to the sound of someone banging at the door.
"Oi! Some of us are trying to get some sleep here," someone called from the room next. door.
Lily threw on her clothes and answered the door, so her mates could get some sleep.
"What is it?" She asked a man, whose name she remembered to be Ian."
"The captain wants to see you in his quarters, um…miss…."
"Lily," she finished for him, "Lily Evans."
"Right."
"Thank you," Lily said, before walking down the corridor to the stairs.
Like most times she came on deck in the morning, Lily was momentarily blinded by the sun, which had just risen. She walked over to the Captain's cabin, wondering why she was there. Either it was important, or she was being punished.
She flung the door open, always one for an entrance, but stopped it before it could bang loudly into the wall. Thomas was leaning over his desk looking at a map. He looked up as she opened the door.
"Ah you're here lass," he said.
"So it would seem. Now, are you going to tell me why I'm here?"
"As a matter of fact I am." He said, a small twinkle in his eye. "You see this morning at about 4, when the midnight watch ended, one of the men, Ian, I believe stumbled across something very interesting by the stairs."
Oh, that; or more specifically, him.
"It seems one of the crew was unconscious by the stairway with a split lip and a bruised jaw, clearly he had been in a fight." Thomas fought to keep his smile down. "No one had seen him after he stumbled from the galley so I was wondering if you had heard anything."
"No sir," she said; all innocence.
"Well, would you have any idea as to why such an attack would occur."
"It seems to me sir, that as you said 'stumbled' he was drunk and got into a fight with another crew member."
Thomas tried to frown, but found the corners of his mouth turning upward at the mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
"Any reason for this fight you think."
"Well, he could have been boasting about his superiority, but it seems more likely to me sir that he had tried to get a girl to come to his bed with him, when such attention was clearly unwanted."
Thomas sighed, "I thought it would be something like that. I know you would have a good reason to hit a crew member," he looked at her still shining eyes and smile, "well maybe not, but you know this cannot go unpunished. I have to keep some semblance of order on my ship."
Now it was Lily's turn to sigh. "I know captain. What are you going to do to me?"
"You are to scrub the deck, starting now." And with that he handed her a bucket filled with water and a sponge.
Lily sighed, but did not argue. She wasn't mad at Thomas, and she knew he wasn't mad at her. She had hit another crew member and had to be punished, it was his job. And actually, situations like this commonly arose, but normally it was just a simple prank she had played.
"Aye Captain," she responded and walked out the door.
She whistled, Geoffrey had deserved it, the stupid drunk git. She got down on her knees and started to scrub.
I hope whoever is reading this liked it. I know this chapter is a little dry but I'm pretty sure the Marauders are coming in the next chapter, and if not the chapter after. Please, if you are reading this, write me a review, even if all you say is 'update' or 'liked it'. I would like to know if anyone is actually reading this.
Much Love XOXO -Casey