"This ain't lookin' good, boss," Kenzi yelled, her crossbow contraption letting fly a small arrow into the gullet of their enemy. Blood spurted from his mouth as he tried to breath, filling the bloodied deck with more of the crimson liquid, and his legs moved him backward as if they were on autopilot. Instead of dying on the ship, the man's legs hit the lower part of the bannister and he catapulted into the ocean.

And the ocean just happened to be filled with bloodthirsty sharks.

The barmaid heard the squelches and guttural screams almost immediately from the enemy as he was bitten into by multiple razor sharp teeth. Her face grim, she looked around to her captain that had contracted her only a week prior.

"The Ailech is gone, we have lost our prize, and-"

"Don't you think I know that," Ysabeau shouted as she skewered the last remaining enemy aboard her ship. Her dark hair was plastered to her face, her dark eyes scanning the bloodied mess that was her deck after the man slid from her blade, and she flicked her hand across her face to remove some of the strands. The woman looked down to the right of her, exactly where Lauren had been hit by the bloody Fairchild, and she growled as she moved to the bannister just in front of the steering column.

Raising a hand and bringing it down hard onto the wood, she felt it crack beneath her and sighed. Ysabeau would have to find the very expensive and rare wood to fix her ship, and the bannister in which she just broke, very soon if she would hope for the Dal to run smoothly again.

Ysabeau's hair rained down from the clip that had secured it just a few hours before, and she sheathed her weapon into her sheath as she looked down aimlessly. Her forearms were laying on the bannister and she would have tried to jump across it, braving the steep fall, if it meant she would have been able to rescue the pretty blonde that had come to her weeks ago.

She hadn't been aware that Ciara Fairchild had come aboard her ship near the end of the fight. The captain had been too late, shouting the blonde's name, as Ciara had brought a hard fist into the woman's right cheek. Lauren was strong, Ysabeau thought as she raised a hand to her forehead, the woman had never dropped her weapon even in unconsciousness.

The captain would have moved down the steps to challenge Captain Fairchild, but just as her legs carried her to the stairs, Ciara had sent another wave of her pirate mates to take the ship. In the heat of the moment, Ysabeau and the others beside her, had lost Lauren to the Ailech.

Almost immediately the ship pulled away from the Dal Riata, the plank that had been connecting them fell into the ocean uselessly, and in the state Ysabeau's ship was in, they couldn't very well catch up to them.

"Whatever we need to do, we should do so quickly," A honey voice came from behind the captain. Turning, Ysabeau saw the tall recruit, her hair was also undone and falling in strands around her face, kicking the dead bodies into the water to be feasted on by the sharks. "If they take her to the cove, that's fine, but she told me that Ciara the Fairchild didn't give two spits 'bout her."

Ysabeau let the small of her back rest on the bannister, but her eyes pierced the blonde's with venom. "I only allowed her on my ship because she promised me fortune. We go to find her so I can get my money."

"Oh please," The blonde scoffed as she kicked the last body, a little too aggressively, overboard, "we both know you care about her, so shall we cut the farce and get under way?"

"How dare you talk to me like-"

"Oi!" A voice yelled from beside the advancing women. Brunette and blonde looked to their respective lefts and rights, and saw the raven haired girl with her hands crossed tightly across her chest. "I didn't sign up so we could lose our only piece of leverage."

"Actually," Ysabeau said, her own hands clutched firmly around the hilt of her weapon, "you came aboard 'cause you're a thief and was chased by a copper. I doubt that counts."

"Aye, and see how that 'as gotten me," The girl said, glaring quickly toward the blonde. Green eyes darted downward and to the captain, and Kenzi looked back toward Ysabeau. "I heard the blonde poppy talkin' about the cove. I know where it is, and I can take us there, but only if you'll stop acting like you're mortal enemies and work together."

"She's the one that threatened to kill me," Tamsin said, her green eyes piercing the captain's brown ones. "If you wanted Lauren, fine, say so but don't think she's going to want you back 'cause you threaten the person she's attracted to. If that were the case, Nadia is certainly doomed."

Ysabeau's jaw clenched, but instead of punching the woman opposite her and skewering her on the spot, the captain simply turned toward the steering column and shouted out toward the remainder of her crew- which happened to be only five people counting the three she had just talked to, "We're in for a hell of a ride to get the Dal to the cove. It takes at least eight to steer her properly and we only have five left. Everyone does their part, and I promise ye, the fortune will be immense. Now stop your gawking and get this ship ready to sail!"

Turning, Ysabeau looked at both the barmaid and the blonde in turn, turned her head slightly and called out, "Dyson, Trick, get up here and help with navigation!" She waited for a few moments and turned when she heard scuffling of someone ascending the steps. Looking to her right, she saw her first mate come up the stairs, his chest and face splashed with blood from the slain, and his brown eyes found the captain's. "Where is Dyson?" Ysabeau asked, scavenging the deck again as she tore her eyes from her friend.

"Ysabeau," Trickster said, his eyes downcast, "the Quartermaster has been taken by the Ailech."


Lauren Lewis woke up with her left side pulsating with pain, and her cheek stinging just the same. Her head was cloudy and she had no idea where she was, though she felt the rocking force that signified her to be in the belly of a ship; much as she had been when she stowed away on the Dal Riata a few weeks prior. Her hair fell in strands in front of her eyes, and her face, making it almost impossible to see anything without flicking them away. She did, however, feel a strong yet gentle hand dot her cheek with a cloth filled with ointment that smelled much like castor oil. The pain in her cheek dwindled slightly, and her head cleared only a smidgen when the hand patted her cheek again with the oil.

Why would an Ailech lackey be helping sooth her pain, Lauren thought as she pressed her eyes closed to not alert the man- she assumed it to be a man from the strong and callused hands- of her consciousness.

She couldn't think about it for much longer as she felt the strong hands push her onto her right side, presumably to get to her injured stomach and shoulder, and lift up her shirt slightly.

"Okay, enough!" Lauren got onto her knees, as she kicked out and away from the man who was helping her, and flicked her hair out of her eyes. "I think that is enough healing for-" The woman stopped mid-sentence when she saw who was actually helping her. "Dyson," She breathed her question and almost hitched in a breath from hopefulness.

Crouching over as she got to her feet, she almost tackled the Quartermaster as she hugged him, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and squeezing. Her smile radiated across her face as she squeezed the man tighter, the Quartermaster's own hands coming up to press gently onto her back, and she finally let him go after one more tight hold.

"Dyson, where are we?" Lauren finally looked around, the hope in her eyes dwindling as she looked at her surroundings. The two companions were locked in what seemed to be the brig of the ship, it looked exactly like the hold of the Dal Riata the blonde found, and she looked with worried eyes back towards the Quartermaster.

"Ciara the Fairchild had come aboard the Dal after you. When she got you, she's the one that gave you the impressive bruise, I quickly left my position at my captain's side and followed. I was captured before I could rescue your ladyship."

"So.. she's taking us to Lochlainn Cove?"

"I assume so, my lady." A few more moments passed and Dyson watched as the darker blonde placed her right hand on her lower stomach. "May I continue to bandage your wounds?"

"What?" Lauren asked, as she looked questioningly toward the Quartermaster. Glancing down at her wounded side, she said, "Oh, yes, of course. Thank you," She added when she turned onto her right side and let the man lift her white blouse a little ways above her ribcage.

The discoloration was great, it was already starting to heal only slightly, and Dyson took great care in smearing the oil across the woman's side and upper arm. After he was done, he took the gauze bandages Ciara had given him, and quickly wound the cloth around the darker blonde's chest and upper arm.

When he was finished, and Lauren could effectively move her shoulder as she rolled the socket back and forth, Dyson sighed and rested the bowl the oil was set in, and the bandages, outside of their cell. Moving away from the bars, the Quartermaster looked gravely into Lauren's eyes and tried not to alarm her.

"I need to tell you something, Lauren," He finally spoke, his fingers dancing across his lap in a nervous habit.

"What is that, sir Quartermaster?" Lauren asked, her eyes meeting his as she raised her head from peering at her bandages.

"I will understand if you think less of me, my lady, once I've told you. Ciara and I... we are-" Dyson cut off as a loud bang came from across the room; someone was coming into the hold.

Lauren turned quickly toward the sound, getting onto the balls of her feet immediately, her eyes focused only on the person coming into the room. If she had her weapon with her, Lauren thought, she would have been a much more menacing force than what she must have looked like then.

"There is no need to fear me, Lauren. I am not here to kill you," A sweet voice said, the words resounding off the inner walls of the hold.

"Ciara," Lauren breathed, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, the memories from months ago flooding her mind as the dark blonde woman came into the room, her sword hanging loosely on her belt. Despite herself, Lauren felt her body begin to shiver and she could not control it. Digging her nails into her knee, the woman hoped the pain would soothe her feverish memories, and looked daggers toward the captain of the Ailech.

"You are shaking like a leaf!" Ciara exclaimed, her feet bringing her closer to the bars of the hold. "I will not hurt you, Lauren. I only wish to bring you to the Cove and be done with this."

"Why," Was the only word Lauren could push from her lips.

"Because if I don't, Evony will kill me and my lover. I will do everything in my power to keep you alive, Lauren, but I cannot risk the life of the man I love."

"The man you... love?" Lauren's eyes widened and looked back toward Dyson, who immediately lowered his eyes in guilt. "Before she came in, you said you needed to tell me something. 'Ciara and I'-, that's what you said. Oh God, you're the one that gave her our coordinates. You're the reason dozens of men died aboard the Dal Riata!"

"Lauren, please," Dyson said as he stood, trying to go to the blonde's side.

Swatting him away, and standing herself, Lauren quickly aimed a hot retort toward the Quartermaster, "You don't get the opportunity to touch me ever again! Countless men are dead because of you. The captain, Kenzi, Tamsin, they could have all died because of you and your betrayal!"

"Dyson was only doing it because of his love for me," Ciara cut in, her hands flying to her hips. "His loyalty to the Captain Ysabeau is what kept most of the crew alive. They have enough men to sail to the Cove after us, and fight against Evony and the monsters the little man has created."

"Monsters?" Lauren asked, her eyes widening as she wondered who the 'little man' Ciara spoke of could be. Her mind reeled over the revelation of Dyson, the second only person she felt as if she could trust, betrayed her and she wanted to smack the living hell out of the man. She wondered briefly if the Beau would be able to really follow the trail to the Cove and Lauren shivered at the thought of the place they were heading.

Ciara had opened her mouth to speak but, presumably, her first mate came crashing down the stairs and huffed out a breath before he spoke to his captain.

"We've reached the Cove, 'aptain."

Raising her eyebrows in question, Ciara the Fairchild looked back toward her first mate and said, "Thank you, Cayden, alert the men to be armed and ready for anything the Cove will throw at us on our arrival."

"Aye, ma'am." Cayden left immediately, leaving the three blonde's alone again in the darkness of the hold.

"Please don't do this," Lauren whispered, her eyes turning slightly bloodshot from unshed tears of anger and fear combined.

"You will be reunited with Nadia again, Lauren," Ciara said, her eyes turning downcast as she said the words. "I thought that was what you wanted."

"Don't you dare turn this around on me, Fairchild," Lauren said with such venom both the enemy blondes took a second glance toward the woman. "You have no idea what they want to do with me, what they'll do to Nadia to force me into compliance, so don't act like you do. You still have a chance," Lauren pleaded, her tune swiftly changing, "you can let me go in one of the longboats. I'll find the Dal and we'll come back in force. Please, don't let me go in there unarmed and unprotected! Please, Ciara!"

"T-there is nothing I can do," The Fairchild said, her eyes darting from Lauren's solemn brown to the brilliant blue of Dyson's. "I am sorry, but the Cove beckons, you will be put in shackles and lead out of the hold in due time."

"Ciara, please, wait!" Lauren called, her hands hitting, pulling, battering the bars as she flung herself at them again and again. "You don't understand what they want from me! You can't possibly understand!"

The woman's words were hollow as the hold doors closed swiftly behind Ciara. The two blondes were plunged into darkness for the second time that day.


Thomisina the Copper quickly followed the captain into her cabin and quickly shut the door before Ysabeau knew she was there. When the brunette turned, her brown eyes glaring back toward green ones, Thomisina swiftly closed the distance between the women and got into the captain's face.

"Look, I get you don't like me, that's fine, but if we're going to rescue Lauren we have to work together. I don't bloody like it, but we have to, savvy?"

Ysabeau's eyes never left the blonde's and she slowly said, "We are under way, hot on the heels of the Ailech, and I just got chewed out by a barmaid who, strangely enough, could be me friend in another life. I have lost my Quartermaster to Fairchild and I have lost the woman I feel that I can have some type of connection with, I feel it in my bones, and you think now is the best time to talk about this?"

"And I like her too," Thomisina said, forgetting everything else the woman said, "and I also like Dyson, he's a pretty upstanding guy, so I'm going to ask ya again if we can put aside our differences and get Lauren and Dyson back?"

Ysabeau, still keeping her full attention on the blonde, took a seat at the end of her table and touched her fingers to the small map that was uncovered on the wooden table. "We'll be there in less than half an hour, Tamsin. I expect you to be ready to go into battle."

The blonde smirked and said, "I was born ready for this, Captain Ysabeau."

Thomisina had turned to leave the room, satisfied her voice had finally been heard from the past few weeks, but stopped as Ysabeau called out to her. "It's just Beau to you, darlin'."

Looking back, Thomisina smirked and mock saluted her captain, before shutting the door and walking back up to the deck of the ship, ready to save the woman she had also come to have a connection with.

It seemed only yesterday, Thomisina thought as she took up the steering column and continued to follow the small trail of barrels that Dyson must have thrown secretly overboard from the Ailech, only yesterday that she had met the darker blonde and formed such a connection with her. It was all too easy, it seemed, and that was how Thomisina liked it.

She would rescue the darker blonde and then have her run before Thomisina would haul the bruised and battered Dal Riata, along with her pirate crew, into the Royal Navy's port. She would only be a constable for just awhile longer.


Lauren felt a harsh hand, which belonged to Cayden the First Mate, hit her bruised shoulder as he ordered her to keep up with the rest of the pirate crew. There was only five of them entering the Cove, Ciara, Dyson, Cayden, Lauren, and a random crew mate that could have been the Quartermaster, and the rest of the crew stayed aboard the Ailech.

The group had taken a longboat into the cove, while the Ailech stayed at a safe distance away, and they had gotten onto the sandy beach when Lauren had pointed a finger to the far side. A small, hidden, cave which was the meeting place no doubt, was tucked into the far corner of the beach and wasn't easily found. It was the perfect place for a group of pirates to want to meet and Lauren had to bite her lip from letting out a cry of pain from the harsh hand.

All pleas had left the dark blonde as she set foot onto the beach and she quickly caught her footing and continued to keep up with Dyson and Ciara. There was nothing else to do, Lauren thought, she had no weapons and the Dal Riata's Quartermaster held the broadsword that he had given the blonde just earlier that day. Lauren was the only one without a weapon as they walked into the dank cave.

The cave was filled with pools of water that had seeped from the stalactites above them. The walls seemed to shine with water and small patches of moss crept across the area. Taking her eyes off of the magnificence of nature, Lauren was suddenly in a very large room that housed almost two times the pirates that were once aboard the Dal Riata. Their swords were thankfully sheathed at their sides, their eyes pinned on Evony, who was simply pacing back and forth in front of some type of altar.

"Fairchild," Evony said happily, her eyes finding the individuals, "it was so nice of you to finally show up!"

"I never break a promise," Ciara retorted, her eyes slowly counting the men in the room.

"No, you do not. Now the ritual may begin."

"What ritual?" Ciara interrupted, her eyes rising up to Evony's.

"The ritual to make us immortal, of course."

Evony raised her hands and the men before her began to bang their feet into the ground in some type of chant. Lauren, who had not tried to look around nor cared about the superstitious ritual as she already knew that was why the brunette wanted her, saw the woman was standing in front of a large man. The man, Lauren found, had a woman, who looked so tiny compared to the one who held her, in front of him and the blonde found the brunette seemed to have been sleep deprived. Her body hunched slightly as she tried to keep her knees from bending below her, and her head was held slightly downward, unseeing of the newcomers into the vast room.

Lauren's breath hitched when she saw the darker woman and she forgot her place for only an instant. "You," She whispered first, her eyes trying to find the beautiful green of the woman being held. It had been so long, such a very long time, since she had even laid eyes on her lover and her mouth went dry as she saw the woman's broken form. She wished then for her broadsword that Dyson carried, and to be able to run toward the man who looked dead, and squelch it into his chest. What had they done to her?

Taking a deep breath, deeper than she even thought possible, she let out a roar that echoed through the cave's endless corridors, making sure the woman being held had no way of missing her.

"Nadia!"


Thanks for the support and hope you enjoyed the chapter. Hope to get the next one up a lot sooner than two weeks.