Chapter 2
I would love so much to write that the story ended there. That I ended up growing in the safe and capable hands of Old man Gray and his little library on the outskirts of Siren Cove. That I eventually gave up with the beatings and grew into a respectable young lady who lived a peaceful life with a doting husband and three children in a small cottage overlooking the sea.
But alas.
We all know that would be a boring tale.
My story is a tragic one. It does not feature a happy husband and children, nor does it involve an ideal childhood in a safe library. It is a story of danger and pirates, mermaids and leviathans bigger than any vessel you could find. Forbidden love and a revenge so strong it's rage could cut you.
My story was not a happy one.
So let me begin.
11 Years Later…
"Is that the best that you can do you twit?!" I spat some blood out to the floor grinning madly from the feel of adrenaline pumping through my veins. Stepping to the side we danced around each other throwing a punch whenever the opponent had left themselves open. My opponent was a man several feet taller than me and way more stronger. Probably. It was definitely a one sided fight. He looked like the kind of man any sane person would never want to cross when passing through an alleyway at night. I swear his fists were the size of my head even! Most people should be on the floor now probably out cold.
Yet somehow I had been able to keep myself up on my feet.
"Keep your mouth shut if you know what's best for you!" My best friend shouted from behind me. I rolled my eyes running at my opponent, he held his hands out as if to catch me but at the last second I slid beneath his legs kicking them out beneath him. He fell to the floor in a crash and before he knew it I was delivering punches to his face at lightning speed before everyone even figured out what was happening. Before he could get up on his feet.
One thing that I had learned from all those years of getting into fights when I was a kid, if you've got an opportunity go in and strike fast for as long as you can, especially if you were a little tyke like me. You have to take any opportunities as you can, even though it might not seem like the best way to fight, if it kept you alive then is there really a wrong way?
"Oi! That's enough! Break apart you two!" I felt a pair of hands holding onto my upper arms pulling me away from the dickhead on the floor, I quickly sent a kick to his prized jewels with a laugh. He writhed in pain on the floor seeming to try tending to his broken nose, broken wrist and possibly crushed family jewels all at the same time.
"Okay! Lemme go! I'm calm!" I snapped at the pair of hands taking a swig of rum offered to me swishing it around my mouth to try and get rid of any blood left. Why is it that I can't avoid the punches to the face but I can avoid just about anything else?
"Must you get into a fights so easily?" My partner Gabriel grabbed my arm pulling me to the side, I raised an eyebrow at the crowd that was watching me with unease. What? It's not like I was gonna kill the guy. I'm not even tipsy yet, I need to save something for later- "Celeste!"
"I am listening!"
"You need to take into account, the fact that the more you keep putting yourself into these fights the more you ruin your reputation!" He snapped. Ignoring his pleas for me to stop these fights my eyes scanned the crowd for our codger of a Captain. Finally spotting our Captain, I felt his eyes lift to mine and looked away quickly.
"What reputation? I don't have a reputation to uphold." Gabriel grabbed my arm pulling me to sit down on a vacant table.
"Just relax for a bit okay. No fighting for a while."
"Why? So you can take my place? Have a bit of one-on-one with these scallywags?" Elbowing his hands off my eyebrow as he tried to take a look at a gash there.
"It's like you've read my mind." He rolled his eyes ruffling my hair up. "You're an fucking cocky idiot Celeste." Ouch. I nearly gave a fuck there.
"Why thank you!"
I met Gabe when I joined The Fall Of Hades, the vessel that I had stowed away on when I was 12. At the time when I had first met Gabe, he was this soft spoken boy at the tender age of 9 who had just escaped from the workhouse. He was a small boy, soft features with a tuft of blonde hair atop his head. He was the one who always kept me back from doing spontaneous things when we were kids, even though most of the time he found himself joining in anyway.
All the years at sea had served him good though. At 19 I considered him my partner in arms, like a brother I never had. His soft edges had hardened, he grew taller than me and became a man. His blue eyes entrancing every female they came across. But the gentle soul I had met on that first day had never left. He was still as soft as we was when we were children. Even though, he tries not to act it he tries to act as though he was the elder of us two. Nowadays, he still tries to keep me from doing anything spontaneous without thinking it through but he's more likely to join in than before.
"Hey! Lass!" I turned to find another crewmate by the name of Gibbs walking over to us. Gibbs was an old man, short and stout like a teapot you would be surprised whenever you saw him in action. He'd been on the Fall of Hades for as long as I could remember. Probably been on it longer than I have. He wasn't the wise old man you'd expect him to be, most of the time he was the one suggesting the bad ideas to me and Gabe, or doing things that would piss off the darling Captain. He handed Gabe and I another pint of rum which we took gladly. Giving Gibbs a nod of thanks I realised then that the looks that were on me but a few minutes ago did not go away.
"Where be the Captain?" I motioned my head towards the back of the tavern where the Captain sat with his companion. "We must be ready should any trouble arise." Gibbs was probably talking about the looks we were getting from the people here in the tavern. "I don' like the looks we been gettin'."
"Well." I say finished my pint. "It's not like I can blame them. I'm possibly the best looking person here." Gabe and Gibbs groaned looking away from me.
"One day that mouth of yours is gonna get you in more trouble than you can handle."
"Darling Gabriel if I couldn't handle myself in trouble then how could I still be alive?" I pat him on the shoulder earning a grin from Gibbs. I heard someone bark my name, knowing immediately that it was our captain. The two in front of me shared a look of worry and confusion. With a straight back I gave them both a nod, handing Gibb's my cup before heading over to the Captain.
There was only one person alive on this world that I was truly afraid of. Someone that scared me to my very bones, sending chills down my spine whenever my name passed his lips. Which happened to be a lot actually despite being his first mate. As I approached the Captain I could feel his ethereal eyes glancing up at my figure from beneath that stupid hat of his. He was seated at a private booth in the back of the bar where I knew he wanted to be able to hold his conversation with his "friend" in peace.
The booth he was sat in at the back held a small, round, wooden table with a single candlewick casting a mystifying glow on his face that wasn't hidden. The Captain just somehow managed to assert power wherever he went. He couldn't help it. Whether if it was in the way he walked or whether if it was in the way he talked to people with intelligence that surpassed my own. He was a feared man whether on sea or on land. He led the ship with a strict and fair fist so I can't really say that he's a bad captain since he isn't.
"You called for me Captain?" I tried to control the wavering in my voice. As first mate I was supposed to be the one person that wasn't scared of the Captain, the one that the captain could confide in should the moment come. You'd think after being a first mate for the past five years I would be used to being his first mate.
But alas that was not the case.
"Come here." He gestured towards the seat next to him, I nodded glancing at the man sat across from the captain. The man had long dark hair, dreadlocks decorated in some places whilst ribbons and other trinkets hung from other pieces of his hair. His skin was tan, his eyes hooded as he gave me a nod of acknowledgement.
"Your first mate is a woman?" The man raised an eyebrow at me quizzically. I felt fury building up in my chest ready to snap.
"I would trust her with my life. As you should any first mate. If you do not respect that then we have nothing more to speak of." The Captain barked back. I leaned forward on the table trying to hide the smirk that was fighting to come out.
"I didn't say that there was anything wrong with that, Captain Blackwood. I was surprised is all." The man took a swig of the rum in front of him. I turned my head towards The Captain who introduced me to the man known as Edward Teague. The Keeper of the Code.
"My, My... How Interesting. The Infamous Pirate Captain of the Caribbean, Edward Teague." The man raised an eyebrow at me probably intrigued. "I had heard... from rumors shall we say... that you had passed on... Mr Teague." The Keeper of The Code, Edward Teague. There wasn't a pirate alive that didn't know his name, nor his profession. He used to be the Pirate Lord of Madagascar as far as I know anyway.
"What... pray tell does the Keeper of the Code require of us?"
"Mr Teague here was just about to give us a proposition." The Captain tilted his hat up obviously wanting to be able to meet the man's gaze in the eye. "I wanted you to be here to give me your full opinion for later." He lowered his voice at the latter part so that only I could hear. I grinned propping my chin on my palm suddenly interested. The Captain rarely let's me join the meetings with clients, so this must be intriguing to him as much as it is to me.
"Let's hear it then sweetheart."
"It's… a rescue mission… for my son… You might have heard of him actually." I raised an eyebrow casting a glance over at my Captain who was still listening intently. "Captain Jack Sparrow of The Black Pearl."
Jack Sparrow.
Why is it that wherever I go that name comes up to haunt me. Why can't I just avoid this name overall?
"I'd heard that name before... he was the fool that went after the fountain of youth." The history behind the fountain of youth was interesting. But it was an old wives tale. It's not real. It was a wild goose chase.
"How could you say that to chase the fountain of youth is foolhardly when we live in a world where mermaids exist and men can still live after being beheaded?"
"In order to find the Fountain of Youth you would need to have a map, which I heard last on the ship of Ponce de Leon. Whilst somehow acquiring a tear of a mermaid. Anyone who had read up on the myth would know that, especially on how difficult it is to get a tear from a mermaid. There is a reason they are feared." I hissed through clenched teeth. Edward Teague shared a look with the Captain surprised at my sudden outburst.
"You are very interesting. I cannot wait for Jackie to meet you." His lips spread into a grin meeting his eyes.
"Besides, I thought the infamous Jack Sparrow was dead?" I questioned. It was a long time ago that I had even heard of the black pearl, apparently she'd sunk to the bottom of the ocean never to be found again.
"That's Captain Jack Sparrow to you lass." The old man snapped. Geez. Rolling my eyes I could see Gibbs and Gabriel looking over every now and again probably to check that I was okay.
"My son was on a rescue mission you see, he was following a rumor that the person he was looking for was found on an island near the Isla De Muerta. Where the rumors of the cursed aztec gold had started. This was almost a year ago."
I could feel The Captain's gaze on the side of my face obviously wondering what I was thinking about. Isla de Muerta. Where Cortes' rumored gold is. Any islands close by should be deserted as far I know, you didn't go there by accident. People went to Isla de Muerta with purpose. A while ago it was rumored that if you were to take the treasure of Cortes you would be cursed with immortality, the details however I was only going off what I had read in books.
"I only request that you go after him and bring him back. That boy can get into the craziest of trouble." Teague chuckled probably thinking of past adventures that he and his son had gotten into, his whole body moving from the action. I let out a sigh of impatience.
"That's great and all. But what's in it for me and my crew?" I asked, the man's laughing ceased.
"Why, my dear Celeste. I can give you the revenge you want." Revenge? I'm not looking for revenge though... I could fear The Captain stiffen next to me, the muscles in his arm tensing.
"I do not seek revenge for anything Teague . There's nothing worth chasing for me."
"Are you sure about that? You don't want to even find out about your birth mother and father?" My breath caught in my throat. This had to be a trick. He couldn't possibly know. I don't even know who this man was. How could he possibly know whose child I am when I didn't even have a name up til' eleven years ago?
"How could you possibly know something like that. I had only met you but moments ago-"
"A word." Those were the only words that left my Captain's lips as he grabbed my arm lifting me to my feet.
"This will be the last that you see of me. Whether if you choose to embark on this voyage or not is up to you but I warn you… You will come back a completely different person, Celeste Drake."
