Flashback to the Singing Siren
Marietta leaned on the rails of the Siren, listening to the lull of the ocean waves. Her younger sister Miabella snuck up quietly behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist. Marietta looked down at the young girl of fifteen, brushing back the golden strawberry blonde locks of hair that were billowing across her face. Mia, as Marietta and her father called her, was extraordinarily beautiful, blossoming with an innocent beauty that men would kill for. Father said that beauty like that was dangerous, but he gave both her and Marie everything they could ever hope for, unbeknownst to them out of his means. He was in debt to a large organization in Italy, known as the Fratelli Sanguinali, The Bloody Brothers. And as a result of being unable to pay back what he owed to them, The Brothers intended on taking it back through his daughters. Unwilling to let that happen, Dante Cavaliere boarded the first ship that set sail for the Caribbean, hoping they'd be far enough gone that The Brothers would find it pointless to follow.
Marietta smiled at her little sister, placing an affectionate kiss on her forehead, knowing that Mia was melancholy about leaving her beloved Italy for a foreign land. Marie on the other hand was excited of the prospect of adventure in the Caribbean. With the recent passing of their mother, Marie took it upon herself to see to the welfare of her little sister. Being four years older she took on the role of teacher and mother to Mia, and tried to care for her father as best she could. They watched the sun creep sleepily beneath the horizon before either of them spoke.
"Marie, che cosa voi lo pensano sarà come là?" Mia asked in their native language.
"Tisk, Mia, we'll be in Port Royal soon where they speak English." Marietta scolded softly. Mia huffed with her lower lip pouting out, but nodded.
"What do you think it will be like there?"
"I think it will be beautiful, warm and sunny all the time. You'll love it there I promise." She smiled, taking her hand and leading them away from the rail. "Come now let's get rest, and tomorrow we'll find something new to do."
"Will you teach me swordplay?" Mia asked excitedly.
"No, a girl like you doesn't need to learn such things." Marie chided, watching her baby sibling pout again. "Oh, alright, perhaps I'll show you a thing or two, but you really shouldn't. Father lost hope with me being a pristine lady, no reason I should lead you away from it."
"Grazie Marie!" Mia kissed her sister's cheek before rushing up to the main deck to kiss her father goodnight. Marie followed and said goodnight as well, then headed down to their shared cabin.
Marie had just gotten comfortable in the bed and blown out the candle when there was a loud rumbling from the above deck. She sat up alertly and strained her ears to listen. Suddenly, their two maids came rushing in, speaking in fast Italian.
"Hurry signorina, we are being attacked." One shouted, startling Mia out of her sleep as well.
"We must hurry, pirates taking ship." The other shrieked in broken English, helping the girls out of their beds. Marie quickly pulled on a gown and barely fastened it closed and helped Mia get one on as well.
"Mia, go hide yourself in the wardrobe, no matter what, don't come out. Please, promise you'll stay there." Marie grabbed one of the swords from a mount on the wall. Mia, already crying, nodded and ran to the large cabinet of clothing. The maids scurried to find somewhere to hide themselves while Marie stood steadfast, waiting for anyone to enter. The door burst opened to reveal her father, wounded at his arm and forehead, falling in and a medium height lean man following behind laughing.
"Well, well. Who is this lovely little lady? Dante, shouldn't you introduce her to me." The man taunted her father. He had an eye patch over his left eye and a visible scar coming from both sides of it. His voice was haunting, raspy and cruel. He dressed in black from hat to boots, a blood red sash around his waist. He held a long sword down to the back of Dante's neck. The pirate suddenly kicked him in the stomach, sending the old man to the floor. He immediately stepped over him and up to Marietta's blade. "Well, if he won't dispense pleasantries, allow me. Captain Theron of the Sea Harlot. Would you be Marie or Mia, lovely girl?"
Marietta glared at him fearlessly and spit at him, ready to fight him with all her might. He smirked and tapped her sword with his, tauntingly, daring her to initiate anything. She did so, faking a plunge before planting a foot to his middle. He seemed unbothered by the little attack, flicking her sword right and left as he advanced on her. He faked a lunge at her causing her to miscalculate a counter attack and he knocked the sword from her hand. As he came closer to her, she pulled a dagger from its sheath on the desk behind her. Frantically she slashed through the air. She looked up at the face of her adversary and saw a thin stream of blood at his cheek. The anger flashed through his eye and he balled his gloved fist and hit her smartly across the face. The blow sent her falling, crashing her head on the table. She opened her eyes, dazed and saw the pirate standing over her.
"You make me bleed, lovely girl, and I'll make you bleed." Theron bent down to her and picked her up by her long dark hair. "But first, I think I'll make Daddy bleed." He nodded to one of the two pirates that had followed him in. They immediately stepped up and picked up Dante, holding him half kneeling before their captain. "Now, I'll collect the head I'm after, and then I'll get to the fun part with you, lovely…"
Marie struggled against Theron, trying to get to her sword to aid her father. Her father looked up at her sadly, almost apologetic as Theron tossed her to one side and stepped forward with his cutlass. Marie screamed out as the glittering blade sliced through skin and bone, and Dante's head made a sickening thud to the floor. With only blind rage Marie attacked the evil pirate, pounding her fists as hard as she could into his chest. He grabbed her wrists quickly and spun her around to pin her back to his body.
"Now now, lovely," he whispered, bringing the bloody blade up to her throat, "If your little sister will come out of her hiding place, I might let you live." He stated loudly, scooping out the room for Mia's hiding place. "But if she decides to make me come looking for her, I'll have to leave your body here with your father's."
Marie heard the armoire door swing open and knew Mia had given up her hiding place. "No, don't please!" Mia's silvery voice cried out, but then she shrieked loudly upon seeing her father's decapitated body on the cabin floor. The pirates stepped away from the body to capture the young girl.
"Leave her alone…" Marie went rushing forward, only to be knocked back by Theron's strong arm.
"Now, now lovely, we aren't going to hurt her. She has to be returned to The Brothers in her purest form." Theron's raspy voice informed her, making her shiver. The other pirate in the cabin had jerked both handmaids from their hiding spot as well, yelling to the captain about it. He smirked and leaned down to pull Marie to her feet again. "The Brothers want your darling little sister to be untainted when we return her to them, but you, my lovely, are my prize…"
The Black Pearl
Marie shivered visibly in the tub, the memories of her father's death and the capture stirring nausea in her stomach. Jack sat beside the wooden tub, handing her bits of food and drink as he listened intently to her story.
"That's alright, lass. Ye can stop for a bit." He sat the plate of food to the side, and nudged her shoulder for her to lean forward so he could examine the whip marks again. "He did quite the marking on yer back, love. Captain Theron ye said?"
"Yes." She just barely whispered as his rough fingers grazed along a few of the lashes. "Do you know of him?"
"Me and him have managed to steer clear of the same waters, suppose. Heard of him and the Sea Harlot, tend to be hired mercenaries more so than pirates really." He kept dabbing the wounds with a damp cloth, "How in the bloody 'ell did ye have the strength to move after all this? Really love, a beating like this could 'ave easily subdued most of the strongest men out there."
"I kept the memories of him alive in my head, watching him murder my father, knowing that he was taking my sister to a punishment she didn't owe. Remembering what he did to me, leaving me to suffer on that ship with no hope. It's the hatred I have inside of me for him that keeps me from surrendering. And my need to save my sister…"
"So those stories of the feisty Italian spirit aren't just folklore." He grinned at her, hoping to inspire a little optimism in her. She gazed up at him with those eyes, dark eyes of a feline, and gave a weak half smile.
"I suppose not. I will not give up until I find my sister. I don't care if I have to go to Hell and back, I have to find her. And if anyone stands in the way, I won't hesitate to take them down." Her voice was not threatening like her words were, more determined than menacing. But he had to admit, there was something intimidating to this young woman. She turned back in the tub and splashed the still warm water to her face, scrubbing gently with a rag to get the grime and tears from her face. Jack had been correct, there was a very lovely face under the dirt and sweat and tears. Her skin was a rich tan and her lips were full and soft and pink, though it looked as though she split her lip at some point in her ordeal. There was a small bruise at her temple, probably from colliding with the table as she had mentioned in her story. He watched her face grimace as the small rag brushed against the bruise, and silently wondered what other damage had been done to her.