Shout out to 1, Hinotori-hime, Rani-girl, MiserableAnon, Angy, ShadowFox197, Mizushi-Hime, Vintage Sherry, Phantom Ice, and IvyTheKitty!

Sorry for the suspense, couldn't resist, *giggles evilly*. I hate being on the receiving end up I enjoy dealing it out. Hope it was worth it!

Enjoy!

Lovina didn't bar the door. Outside, she could hear the crew yelling and running to and fro, prepping for a fight. Antonio bellowed orders over the chaos in a mix of angry English and Spanish.

"Move it, lazy perros! Más rápido! Ready the cannons! Someone shoot that traitor down! Get every weapon ready! Ve! Ve! Ve!"

Lovina pressed her ear to the door, frowning. She felt a little sick when, after a few pistol blasts, something heavy hit the deck hard. Pedro? Pedro the fifteen year old look out had betrayed them? No, wait, it was sunrise. Pedro was their day look out. The cranky old man who returned her glower was their night look out. She felt a little less sick after she realized that.

Turning back to the window, Lovina watched the Green Revenge get closer. She could see her crew on deck, scrambling around a good deal less as they too prepared for a fight. The side doors opened, cannons poking out of the ships sides. Lovina counted fifteen cannons on the starboard side. That meant thirty in total. The Delfín Rojo only had twenty.

Worse, when she looked farther back, it occurred to her that the two other ships Antonio usually kept within sight range were gone. What happened to them? She hadn't given it much thought before, but the two vessels hadn't been there to begin with.

Lovina closed her eyes slowly, fists clinching. That is why Kirkland was striking now, she thought angrily. That damn traitor told him we were alone. He's coming after Antonio when he doesn't have two extra ships with him. Why the hell did that idiota sail without them, anyway?

By this point the Green Revenge was starting to overtake them, the point of her bow out of sight. Lovina strained to watch it for a moment, and then ran back to the door. Rather than bang on it, though, she grabbed the curved dagger and jammed it between the door and it's frame. It fit, barely. Slowly, straining, she dragged it upward, tying to catch the lock. The door opened inward, if she could lift the lock then ducking under the outside bar would be no problem.

Ear pressed to the wood, Lovina heard metal clink. Catching her breath, she eased it upward...only to hear metal scratching metal. She cursed, yanking the dagger from the door. It wasn't long enough, but only just if the tip had scraped the latch. Hurriedly she dug out the longest dagger, only to find it too large to fit in the crack.

Giving up on that plan, Lovina grabbed one of the pistols, eyeing the door. What if she blasted it, right around where the latch should be...

Lovina's plotting came to a halt when she heard it, a roar of challenge voiced by the entire crew. More cannons were going off, and judging by the tremors under her feet it was from both sides. The fighting had started...it didn't sound like they had been boarded yet though. Had they boarded the Green Revenge? No, the shouting sounded just as loud as it had to begin with. No loss of numbers. Yet.

Antonio might set a higher standard for himself than his crew did, but not all of them were bad. That they might not all make it made her feel a little queasy. Kirkland was supposed to be good, very good. A virtually undefeated admiral before, he'd adapted more ruthless tactics that made him the feared scourge of the sea. The only question was, was he better than Antonio?

Lovina prayed he wasn't. Setting the pistol aside, she went back to the door and pressed her ear to the wood, trying to make out what was going on. Antonio was shouting orders again, but it was harder to hear with the commotion. It sounded as if the two crews were having some sort of shouting match, seeing who could make the loudest and most offensive yells. At least that fight sounded pretty evenly matched, maybe more so since half of Antonio's crew were native Spanish speakers, and she at least could understand precisely what obscenities they were yelling. Lovina found herself making mental notes for later use.

More cannons started going off as the ships drew side by side. If what she recalled about ship battles was accurate, one would try to land grappling hooks on the other, pulling them together so crews could cross decks to fight. Lovina did a quick calculation, wracking her brain to work out how many people would probably be on Kirkland's ship. It was a bit bigger, hence the extra cannons, which meant more crew members and more fighters. With no backup on the way, Kirkland still had the advantage.

Lovina banged a fist on the door angrily. Damn it, why did he have to be smart?! Why couldn't he have been a lucky idiot?

The more she listened, the less she found she wanted to. The Spanish-accented and Spanish-riddled voices of theDelfín Rojo crew was starting to mix with different voices. English voices. English voices with British accents.

Metal clanged and clashed on metal. Swords, she realized. They were on deck, the Green Revenge's crew had gotten across first. Not good.

Lovina cursed every last lord or servant that had refused to teach her any sort of fighting. Even if she could aim a pistol it would be better than nothing. She hated this, hated being helpless. The only thing keeping her from joining the fight, aside from a door, was the fact she wouldn't last long. They'd cut her down in less than a minute.

Wait, what about a cannon? she thought, her temper pausing in its escalation. She'd seen them used before, knew how to load and fire one. What's more, in a fight like this, you didn't really have to aim it. Just light the fuse and stuff your fingers in your ears. What was keeping her from firing a cannon? That would mean at least one more crewman who could fight, and she'd have the pleasure of seeing holes splinter in the side of the Green Revenge.

Warming to her idea, Lovina went back and grabbed the pistol. She'd never been allowed to fire one before, but Lovina decided there was no time like the present. She pulled the hammer back, pointed it at the area she knew the latch to be, and pulled the trigger.

Lovina stumbled back a step, her arms flying up with the force of the kick. A resounding bang that struck her as louder than the cannons rang through the room. Ears still ringing slightly, Lovina looked at the door, and swore.

There was a decent sized hole in the wood alright, a good foot from where she'd been aiming. Muttering under her breath, Lovina fetched the second pistol, marching over to the door. This time she held the end of the muzzle inches from the wood before she pulled the trigger.

Well, the hole was where it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, it only went halfway through the thick wood. Temper broiling, Lovina threw the weapon across the room. A pistol was no cannon, it was a more delicate operation to reload, one she had no desire to risk, even now. A more careful look at the first hole showed the bullet hadn't gone all the way through. Close, but not quite.

Lovina paced furiously in front of the door, listening helplessly as the fight raged on outside. What if they tried to sink the ship? Would she go down with it? What if they lost?

Stop it! she told herself angrily, shaking her head. Antonio said the only reason Kirkland had a bigger reward was because he was a traitor to the British crown. Not because he was a better or more deadly pirate. It was implied they were on level ground on that front. Still, there were numbers to think about. Lovina knew enough to appreciate just what a slight change in numbers could do.

It took far too long in her opinion before things started to die down. Gradually cannons fired less and less, the shouting and clang of weapons growing silent. She strained to hear, pressing an ear the newly formed holes to try and listen when voices started speaking rather than yelling.

"Not a bad fight, considering you left your real fighters in Tortuga," a man was musing. His accent was undoubtedly British. Lovina's blood ran cold. Antonio had won, right? It was at least a draw, right?

"I thought you hated mercenaries," the Spaniard was growling. "Why did you take on an entire garrison?"

"The reason is obvious, isn't it? It worked, though I was prepared to fight all three of your ships. How lucky for me you left port before them."

No, no, no, no, damn it don't tell me that bastardo lost!

"Instead of bragging why don't you tell me just what it is you want. You're usually more interested in killing than taking prisoners."

"In due time," the British man chuckled, his voice getting closer. "Now as I recall you keep something quite special, something I have use for."

Lovina looked around quickly, snatching up the curved dagger and stepping behind the door. No sooner had her back hit the wall than the door was thrown wide. Moving on instinct rather than thought, she whirled around, dagger out as a man stepped into the cabin.

An iron hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. Lovina found herself staring into a set of acidic green eyes, and her heart sank. She'd know that face anywhere. Pale skin, messy blond hair, huge eyebrows...the healing black eye was new, but everything else was almost identical to his wanted poster, at least the few that held a sketch of him. The fact that he was shorter than she'd expected, shorter than Antonio, didn't do anything for the fear brewing in her stomach.

A chilling smile touched his face, and Kirkland shifted his grip, forcing her to drop the knife. Snapped out of her initial shock, Lovina jerked at the grip. "Let me go, bastardo!"

"Hardly," chuckled the pirate, starting to lead her outside.

Lovina dug in her heals, automatically delivering a roundhouse slap to the man's face. When that didn't seem to faze him she drove a foot down on one boot while aiming a punch at his stomach. She had the gratification of hearing him grunt in pain, though she found herself gritting her teeth as the grip on her wrist tightened.

"What the bloody hell is it with women hitting me of late?" he growled, yanking her outside.

"It's not anything you don't deserve!" snapped Lovina, still digging her heals in.

Ignoring this, Kirkland raised his voice as they came out on deck. "I never pegged you as the sort to keep a vixen on board, Carriedo. Don't you know they're bad luck?"

Lovina spat some of her newly learned obscenities at the pirate, yanking at the grip though it hurt. She could feel the sheath of the small dagger pressing into her skin like a brand, though if she'd learned anything recently it was to bide her time. This was her last weapon, she couldn't throw it away.

"There's no way you could have known she was on board," said Antonio. The icy tone finally made Lovina look up, and what she saw froze her where she stood.

The fight had not gone well. Remembering what had been said about mercenaries, it made sense, but that didn't make the scene any easier to take. Weapons lay strewn across the deck, usually by the body of their owner. There was dead on both sides, though she noted that at least the numbers were pretty even. More were still alive on Kirkland's crew, though. Too many. For every one of Antonio's men still alive there were two pointing sword's at their throats. Three were restraining the captain himself, one on each side holding him down on his knees while a third held a sword close enough he wouldn't forget it was there.

You wouldn't have known it to look at Antonio's face, though. Lovina had never seen such a look of chilling hatred on anyone before. Even though he'd lost, or perhaps because of it, Antonio was murderous. A quick second take around the deck and she was able to locate his axe. Its blade was buried deep in the planks not far from him, and what she could see of it was solid red with blood. There wasn't any on the grip.

"I was going to find that map of yours," Kirkland was musing. "I can't understand a word of Spanish, which would have been an issue, but I would have taken it simply because it was so precious to you. Though if her choice of swearing is any indication your little wench here is quite fluent. It seems Lady Luck has developed a liking for me."

Lovina glowered at him, noting she didn't have to look up very much to do it. Only the fact she was losing feeling in her hand already kept her from snapping at him. Noting his attention was on Antonio, drinking up the hatred with more pleasure than Lovina thought was healthy, she took a moment to glance down at him. While he didn't have the additional belts crisscrossing his torso, he did have several weapons on a wide belt at his waist. The sword was in his free hand, but there were two pistols and four daggers still resting there.

Not willing to take a gamble on an empty pistol, Lovina decided to settle for a dagger. Glancing up quickly to make sure his eyes were still on Antonio, she threw herself into the pirate with as much force as she was able. He only stumbled a single step, but it was enough.

Lovina yanked a dagger from its sheath, making to plunge it into his chest. Kirkland dropped his sword to catch the hand holding the dagger, and while she felt a surge of anger when he stopped it, she did note it was mere inches from his chest when he did. So close!

To her surprise, as he twisted his grip on her wrist as he had before, making her drop the dagger, he chuckled. Actually chuckled. Was he insane?

"Not bad, for a wench. Though you will have to stop this, I might get irritated. Unless of course you know where the map is."

Lovina gave him her best glower and snarled, "I burned it!"

The caterpillar-like eyebrows shot up. "Really? And how would you know this is the map I'm searching for?"

"You said the damn thing was special," snapped Lovina, heart pounding. She had no idea why she was doing this, all she knew was that she couldn't let Kirkland get that map. "I saw the bastardo hide it in the cabin. I burned it to spite him. Why the hell do you think he keeps me locked up all the time?"

"I don't suppose you looked at it before you burned it?" asked Kirkland, his tone icy.

Meeting the chilled gaze head on, Lovina growled, "Of course I did. I wanted to know why it was so special, see if it was worth burning. Idiot had to keep checking it, that's how it was so easy to find."

That part was as much a lie as the rest of it. From what she could tell Antonio had the thing memorized. Not that it would fit into the story she was weaving.

Kirkland seemed to be buying it, if the irritated, angry look was any indication. Scowling darkly, he shoved her over to one of his men. "Take her on board," he snapped.

"No se atreven," growled Antonio.

"I'm not going to walk away empty handed again, Carriedo. Besides, if she burned your map then it's a fair trade."

"She didn't-

"Get me the hell away from him! No way you can be any worse than him! Do you have any idea what he said he'd do to me when he found out? The only reason he's keeping me around is so he can punish me."

Lovina continued rambling, wondering wildly why he was trying to protest. That map was the most important thing on this ship to him, he'd said so himself. Part of Kirkland's reputation, the part that usually got skimmed over, was he never hurt women and children. As ruthlessly as he slaughtered the men, the rest were left alone. They said the same of Antonio, and while they were enemies she was gambling he wouldn't do anything too heinous to her. She could deal with being locked up or marooned or dumped on a distant port, at least. If Kirkland really believed women were bad luck then he would be inclined to dump her as soon as possible.

Kirkland sighed, lazily drawing a pistol and pointing it at her. Once she'd clamped her mouth shut he drawled, "I don't care if you really burned it or not. Apparently you mean more to him than it, so I think I'll be taking you instead. And for pities sake stop swearing. It's not ladylike." Holstering his pistol he barked, "Get moving!" at the man holding her.

Lovina wiggled, though didn't protest against that part too much. It wouldn't go with her story if she was reluctant to leave the ship. As she was half led half shoved over to where planks lay across the stretch between the ships, Lovina took one last look over what remained of the Delfín Rojo's crew.

In the moment before she was shoved out of sight, Lovina caught Antonio's gaze. The anger was gone, replaced by a look of agony. There was no other word for it, that she could think of.

A heavy hand shoved her in the back, and Lovina stumbled across one of the planks, leaving Antonio behind.

Perros- dogs

Más rápido!- faster!

Ve! Ve! Ve!- go, go, go!

No se atreven- do not dare

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