We set off tomorrow. Bondvik is already ambushing the area. We can't fall behind. These words of Niall replayed in my mind, highlighting Bondvik. I didn't give a damn about when we were setting off, or whether he was beating us at the battle but what Niall said about him. It could just been a dumb pirate tale, but the evidence – him being familiar about my surname, or rather my brother's surname, and getting plunged into Davy Jones' locker by a Spanish privateer. It was obviously Antonio who had provoked him, but the timing was too off. Ten years ago, Antonio was my guardian.

That blood-freezing night, I was about to fall asleep when I stopped thinking about Bondvik, but Lars came into my cabin when I was alone and threw a pistol at me. "Wake up." He said coldly.

I jolted up when the steel pistol tube hit my foot and glanced at Lars. "What is this?"

"Take it and kill the creature. Make sure it dies, but loses as little blood as possible. Captain's orders."

"Why can't I just suffocate her and knife her? It'll ensure least blood loss."

"It's not that easy to suffocate a mermaid, Rio. It could just play dead and come back up and bite you."

I picked up the pistol. "With Arthur in there?"

"That's why it's loaded with two bullets."

"He wants to kill his own brother?"

"It's to scare him off."

"But why me?" I whined.

"Captain says Arthur hating you is not going to change anything. After all, you're a girl."

I groaned and fell back into slumber, but Lars was still there. "What?"

"Do it now."

"It's one o'clock in the morning."

"When Arthur's guard is down. There will be sailors backing you up."

After Lars left, I grabbed my jacket and pulled it over my upper body. The room itself was too cold even with the jacket on. I wonder what the temperature was like below deck. I quietly walked downstairs, cursing my noisy boots. When I reached the room, I was startled to hear noises. Could the mermaid be attacking Arthur? Then if she were, there would be hissing and Arthur's cry for help. Instead, I heard laughter. I leaned against the door as I took the pistol out and unloaded one bullet. I put the other bullet in my pocket. My heart was beating so fast that I could hear it, and I had the fear of not hearing it anymore when I sneak into the room. I waited until all was quiet and I opened the door slightly. My jaws dropped to the sight of clothes scattered on the floor and Arthur salivating in the mermaid's mouth.

It took a while for them to notice me. I had to be quiet after all. "Rio! You…I…this isn't what it looks like!" Arthur said anxiously as he rolled off Victoria.

I said nothing. I grabbed the pistol and put it behind my back, took the bullet from my pocket and loaded it in. I pointed it at Arthur first.

"Rio…this is…" He glanced from the weapon to me.

"Get off the bed."

He was stoned for a while until I yelled, a bit too loudly, "Get off!"

"He did nothing to you!" Victoria hissed.

"Shut your face hole, thing, before I kill the both of you." I snapped, pointing the pistol at Victoria.

By then Arthur had his bottoms on and grabbed the tube of the pistol as I struggled. A gunshot was heard, but nobody was shot and the bullet was wasted on a cheap painting. "Bloody hell!" I swore. "Get the fuck away from me!"

Arthur hugged my arms, trying to control my grip on the pistol. "Rio, don't do this. Don't!"

Another gunshot was heard and my target was hit. The crimson red gash on Victoria's shoulder started leaking blood. She touched her bleeding shoulder as she touched her wound. I soon forgot that I had to conserve the blood. The blood on her fingers cleansed her hand and made it look younger, but it couldn't take the bullet out of her.

Arthur glared at me, his eyes forced on me like the bullet I just blew into Victoria's shoulder. "Damn you!" He whipped out a knife and I suddenly regretted shooting Victoria. He held me and the blade was forced into my abdomen, right below my chest. It wasn't too deep, but it did cut me badly. I was bleeding as well, but my blood will never be as worthy as Victoria's. Arthur stared at his knife stained with my blood and he looked at me, teary. "What have I done…"

I clutched my wound as Arthur went to tend to Victoria. The sailors were outside the room. "Commander, are you in there?"

"Yes…yes…" I said, my voice suddenly hoarse. I started crying but I couldn't see much. The sailors barged into the room, pushing Arthur out of the way as they drained the blood from Victoria. If I were to die that moment, I'd like to die happy. The last face I saw was Arthur's. The last voice I heard was his as well. His words weren't of care and concern, all he said was: Why did you do that, Rio? Why?

Captain's orders.

XXX

The morning air the next day was indeed very fresh and while everyone was as fresh as the air, I was rotten like a wormed apple. There was an unnecessarily thick and long bandage wrapped around my waist. It didn't cover my chest though. I was disgusted at the thought of a man seeing my bare chest, but did it matter? They've all seen it. I was in a separate cabin, with one large bed and the design as palace-like like the other cabins. Why did I have to move rooms? It was Arthur in wrong, I was just following Captain's orders.

"Good morning, my lady. Is there anything I can get you?" Niall said as he walked into my room.

"Don't say that." I said coldly, not even looking at him.

He frowned. "It was supposed to make you laugh."

"Can I laugh?" I snapped, pointing at my wound. "Hahaha, ouch."

Niall was about to open his mouth, probably talking about changing the day we set off, but out the blue, their ears were split due to the alarming sound of the bell and a sailor shouting his lungs out, "Pirate ship ahead! Pirate ship ahead!"

Alerted, Niall quickly ran out of the room, warning me to stay in the cabin first. For the second time, I disobeyed captain's orders. I went out of the room, though my wound was still torturing me. The sailors were running from end to end of the ship with guns and cannon balls. "Cannons and guns take your positions and await orders!"

The pirate ship which everyone was so alarmed about turned out to be another privateer ship – led by the Spanish navy. "What are those Catholics doing here?" Niall snorted. The sailor who had rung the bell and alarmed everyone early in the morning hid himself. Niall glanced from the Spanish ship to Bondvik's vessel, The Unsinkable Ghost. "We're going to have to go on land."

"But it won't be long until the next pirate ship arrives." I said.

"Right." Niall pondered for a moment before reaching a decision. "Lower the longboats! Half of you come with me! Rio, you stay on board with the cannons and the guns. Only attack the pirate ships that are stationery or attacking you, do not touch any others. Especially those pirate ships that are attacking other pirate ships."

"O-Okay…"

Just as Niall boarded a longboat with Lars and a few sailors, I noticed Arthur wasn't in any of the longboats. There wasn't a need for two commanders for that, but was Niall underestimating me because of my wound? Did he want Arthur to stay on the ship to make up for what he did? I searched all the cabins for Arthur to get him off my post and I finally found him in Victoria's old cabin, sleeping on the bed with the blood-stained covers.

The images of Victoria's death came back to me. I was so tense that I couldn't even think smartly. Arthur and Victoria making love on the bed, followed by my finger on the trigger of the pistol, the round bullet pushing its way into Victoria's flesh and ending her life. Only now I realized these memories haunted me like a ghost, especially when I returned to the room. Arthur seemed to embracing something, as if it was Victoria's spirit. I couldn't hear the second bell and the shouting of the sailors for me. I was deaf in the room and all I could hear was the sudden creaking of the door and floor. Of course. I wasn't welcome.

Arthur's eyes fluttered open and his gentle green eyes turned hostile at the sight of me. "What are you doing here?"

"No, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be off this ship, on a longboat with Niall."

He stared at the creased bandage on my ribs. He didn't answer, he just walked out of the room and noticed that the gunners and cannons were in place. I followed him. He glanced at me and asked, "What's going on? Are we being attacked?"

"No, but we might be ambushed."

"Where are Niall and the rest?"

"They've gone on land." I didn't want to tell him about the Spanish. He didn't deserve to know.

"Why?"

I didn't bother to answer him. A sailor was running towards me, panting. He gesticulated wildly, asking me to go to the navigation wheel. I did and he passed me a telescope. I looked through it and I saw a real pirate ship which looked much more threatening than The Unsinkable Ghost, and rather deadly. It had red, blood-stained sails, the wood of the ship was as black as charcoal, it had real skeletons hanging on the ends of the ship. It almost looked like Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge, but Edward Teach, as I heard, was far too intelligent to participate in a war over a rumored treasure.

It was stationery and the ship wasn't lowering any longboats. I wondered if they spotted us. The sailor said anxiously, "Orders, commander?"

"Shush, everyone. Don't make a sound."

The ship fired a few cannons, the sound alarming Niall and his group, but our ship was undamaged. The Spanish ship was split into half and both sunk. "Now, orders?"

"We're too far away. If we sail forward, they'll attack us."

"Oh, Rio, you've only been a privateer for a few weeks. What do you know about pirates?" Arthur snorted.

"I don't, but I'm following Captain's orders. I hope you don't mind, Arthur."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Just because Niall is the captain, it doesn't mean he knows everything."

"It is a crime to disobey the commander-in-chief. You've been on board for years, shouldn't you know?"

"Niall survived being thrown into a pool full of mermaids thanks to me."

I continued to ignore Arthur and lowered a longboat for myself, leaving a sailor in charge. I know Arthur would probably shoo the sailor off as he was a commander, but he wouldn't be as immature as to leave with the ship without me. I made my way to The Unsinkable Ghost, climbed on board, expecting to find Tino the first mate. Instead, I encountered a few filthy pirates that looked nothing like Bondvik or Tino that smirked at me before locking me below deck. I was locked in a crammed room with Tino and the whole of Bondvik's crew.