I had time enough to write this one quickly before I got in trouble for being out of bed. I didn't have a lot of time to read over it before posting so sorry if there are many mistakes.
Enjoy.
James Edwards stood tall and strong at the helm of his ship. His crew was scurrying about on deck making sure everything was tied right and clean while his first mate Dominick was busy behind him plotting course after course of possible areas they had not yet searched. James could all but see the guilt running off of Dominick's skin.
"Why don't you go down and get some rest, Dom." James laid a strong hand on his friends shoulder.
Dominick shuddered at the contact and looked up at James with exhausted red eyes.
"I'm fine." He stated before taking a sip from his personal supply of whiskey.
"It will take more then maps and whiskey to retrieve my sister. You need rest." James said in a pitying voice. "Don't make me order you to go." He looked seriously at Dominick.
"You will wake me if there is anything?" He asked as James helped him to his shaky feet.
"You have my word." James said as he gestured for a sailor to help Dominick to his cabin. "Make sure he is in bed before you leave him." James whispered to the sailor.
"Aye captain." He nodded courtly before taking on most of Dominick's weight as he slumped weakly to one side.
James ran a hand over his face and let out a frustrated breath as he looked over the maps Dominick had been working on. They had searched all over the coasts of the South and still no sign of the ship he learned to be called the Widow Maker.
"Where are you?" He asked no one.
Twenty miles north from James and his small fleet, but still on the same coast was the camp that held empty tents and an over turned longboat. Five more miles inland was a group of three young people making their way through a riddle of vines, trees and undergrowth on the jungle floor.
"How much further do you suppose we must travel?" Sage asked out of breath.
"Much farther." Falcon said with one backward glance.
"Great." Sage frown as she kicked at a fallen branch, then screamed when it coiled and began to hiss.
"Don't move!" Falcon ordered as he held his hands up to gesture for his sister to back slowly away from Sage.
"Oh my god, a snake." Sage whispered as the snake slithered slowly towards her.
"Don't move." Falcon said again only more quite.
"Do I bloody look like I'm moving?" Sage whispered harshly as the snake slithered over her feet.
Its body was thick and more then half of it was still invisible under the undergrowth of the jungle floor.
"It's an anaconda." Dot whispered. "Young one still, it isn't full grown. I'd say it just hatched maybe a week ago?" She finished before giving Sage a pitying look as the snake started up her leg.
"I don't care how old it is, just get it off me." Sage squirmed a bit earning a tightening sensation up her leg from the snake.
"Don't move it will only hurt you more." Falcon said as he looked around for anything that might help.
Dot looked down at her right side and found a hook shaped branch that had fallen from a tree and picked it up.
"Try this." She called to Falcon before throwing it over Sage and to Falcon's open hand.
"I need you to stay as still as possible, all right?" Falcon asked quietly as he very slowly approached Sage.
"Mhmm." Sage nodded slowly, wincing and tearing at the rim of her eyes as the beast tightened around her abdomen now.
"Okay, here goes." Falcon slowly maneuvered the hook side of the sturdy branch under the snake's jaw and let out a shaky breath when the snake acted as though nothing was happening. He started to slowly pull its head away from Sage's body when it began to hiss loudly.
"Slower Falcon." Dot warned.
"Please, don't let it crush me." Sage whispered looking into Falcon's eyes with tears running down her pained face.
Falcon stopped for a moment to look into her eyes, wordlessly promising her he would do his best. Then he slowly pulling it away again, this time when it was far enough away he reached out and took hold of it's neck, just below the jaw. When Sage let out a cry of pain Falcon pulled out his dagger and sliced through the smooth scaly skin, decapitating the snake in an instant. The body loosened and dropped to the floor like a fallen bundle of thick rope.
Sage brought her arms around her body and coughed as breath made its way back into her lungs.
"Are you all right?" Falcon asked as he kicked the limp carcass to the side to get closer.
"I think there might be bruising, but other then that I should be fine." Sage said as she pushed the vest back and lifted the hem of her shirt to see bruises already forming.
Falcon reached out slowly and ran his hand over the tender area where little white scares were in place of the cuts she had weathered on her way to his ship for the first time.
Sage jumped a bit at the feel of his cool hands on her bare skin but calmed when she saw the look in is eyes was a friendly one.
"We should get moving." Falcon spoke quietly to Sage.
"Yes, the crew need our help." Sage whispered as Falcon took a small step closer to her.
Dot stood to the side with her hands on her hips and just rolled her eyes at the pair. "Or you two could get a bloody room." She finally spoke up, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Falcon and Sage both shook their heads clear and looked over at her. Sage smiled while Falcon frowned before taking a step in retreat.
"We need to keep going." He said before clearing his throat and turning to continue through the vines and trees.
Sage smoothed her shirtfront down then pulled the vest tightly around her before following Falcon on through the jungle maze.
"Oi, Falcon!" Dot called from behind Sage.
"We don't have time to keep stopping Dot." Falcon turned patiently.
"Just thought you'd like to know, the trail stopped a couple feet ago." Dot looked down at the unmarked ground at her feet then back up at her brother.
"What?" Falcon looked down then around for any sign of the path they were following. "Damn it!" He swore as he kicked a rather large rock into the trees.
"They must have covered their tracks." Dot said as she pulled up loose bushes and leaves for any hint as to where they went next.
"What do we do now?" Sage asked as she pulled out a bothersome thorn from the bottom of her foot.
"We keep going until we pick up another trail." Falcon said before he dropped unceremoniously on his face.
"Falcon!" Dot screamed rolling him over onto his back. "Falcon, wake up!" She pleaded, but there was no answer. "What's wrong with him?" Dot asked blindly as tears clouded her vision.
"I don't know." Sage said as she pulled something sharp and feathered out of his neck.
"Oh, no." Dot whispered as she looked upon the poison dart in Sage's hand. "Sage, run!"
"What is it?" Sage asked, but was unanswered as Dot too fell unconscious. "Dot!" Sage found a similar dart in the back of Dot's neck.
Sage reached over and pulled out Dot's hidden Dagger and crouched low near the sleeping bodies. She was about to reach over for Falcon's gun when a feathered dart flew past her hand and hit a tree. Sage's head shot up lightning fast and she was able to catch a glimpse of long black hair retreat behind a large cocoa tree. She quickly stood and began to run, as Dot told her, in the opposite direction.
There were footsteps just behind her, she could almost feel them on her heals. There was more then one now, at least five she guessed. They were shouting after her in a tongue she couldn't understand, and didn't care to get close enough to try. All Sage could do was run as fast and far away from them as possible.
Almost completely out of breath, Sage came to a clearing. It felt more like a cave with tall lanky trees covered in vines and leaves surrounding her everywhere. She could feel sharp pains in her feet and knew they were cut and bleeding from all the jungle debris she must have run over in her haste. Turning quickly, Sage noted that there was nothing and no one behind her anymore. She quickly limped over to the other side of the small clearing and screamed as a dark creature fell from the trees before her. She backed away quickly and turned to run back the other way but was blocked by yet another dark creature.
"What are you?" She shouted through tears of frustration as all five of the things that were chasing her circle around her as though she was their prey.
The tallest of the pack stepped forward and started speaking in the indistinguishable tongue Sage heard earlier. She used hand gestures and spoke quickly with a voice of authority, obviously the leader of this party.
Sage stood dumbfounded on shaky legs as she listening to gibberish emitting from a masked jungle person.
"I-don't-understand-what-you-are-saying." Sage spoke every word slowly and clearly, hoping to god they could understand some English.
The tall one looked from side to side at her group before looking back at Sage and lifting her large wooden mask away. Sage gasped as she now looked into the eyes of a beautiful dark Amazonian woman's eyes.
"Why are you here?" She asked Sage in a deep yet smooth voice with an accent that Sage had never heard before.
"I…I'm looking for my friends." She looked around at all the rest of the masked creatures and noticed they were all dressed similarly in small pieces of leather cloth covering there least modest areas and leaving everything else exposed. Sage also noticed they were all wearing finely tailored leather boots, and one of them was even wearing hers.
"Hey, those are mine." Sage said as she took one step towards the Amazon wearing her boots. In an instant Sage had five spears pointed at her throat. The warrior to the right of the leader took her mask off and threw it to the side and sneered at Sage. "Fine, she can have them." She held her hands up in retreat.
"What purpose do you and your friends have in the Amazon?" The leader spoke again.
"We were headed to the witch in the swamp." Sage said still eying her boots and the masked woman who wore them.
At her mention of the witch, all the jungle warriors began to speak amongst themselves in their tongue. Finally after a much argued discussion between the leader and the woman standing to her right, who appeared quite angry, the tall dark Amazon nodded to Sage and spoke. "You are now our prisoner, we will be taking you to our camp where you shall go through a trial." She said before signaling for the other three women to leave.
Sage stood still for a moment before being painfully shoved into movement by the angry right hand Amazon. She was just as beautiful as the leader with long brown hair, light brown eyes and deeply tan skin. Sage wondered why they had such trouble with men.
"Keep moving." She shoved Sage again even harder.
"Ouch, stop that." Sage held her sore shoulder while glaring at her assailant.
"Or what, you'll kick and scream until you faint?" She teased before pushing Sage down into a thick puddle of mud.
"Kashka, that is enough." The leader warned.
"Pesaroso, Léunia." She bowed her head in apology before pulling Sage out of the mud. "You're lucky." She whispered harshly so that only Sage could hear.
They marched for half and hour before the leader, Léunia, held up her hand in a signal to halt Sage and Kashka. She stood in front of a tall wall of vines and leaves and began to say something in her language.
Sage stood in wonder as the wall of vines began to slowly swing open.
Kashka pushed her until they were inside then the huge wooden doors closed behind them and Sage found herself trapped in a jungle fort of tree houses and leather tents. There were old wooden carts and leather booths set up as shops. Léunia and Kashka led her through tents and trees and through a path laid out in stone. Straight ahead of them was a huge tree and a large staircase that led up to fairly sized tree house.
"This is the Queens home." Léunia spoke quickly as they walked towards the stairs. "She will determine weather you live or die." She sounded deathly serious which worried Sage.
Just behind her, Sage could hear Kashka laughing and frowned as they made their way up the stairs.
At the top was another large set of doors flanked by two strong looking guards. The doors opened as the three approached and Sage was met with the sight of a large room covered in silks and cloth. There were over sized pillows here and there and some of them held women who were sitting and speaking to each other. There was a long red carpet down the middle of the room that led to a large and very comfortable looking thrown at the far end. Sitting on the thrown was an elegant and fierce woman with lots of curly gold hair and dark blue eyes. She wore leather like the other girls but was more covered and very decorated with beads and jewels and feathers in her hair and on her crown.
Sage swallowed hard when they got closer to her. She stared into Sage's eyes with cool contemplation. Léunia and Kashka got down on one knee when they stopped before the thrown and Kashka pulled Sage down to do the same.
The queen signaled for them to rise and began to speak with Léunia in the language Sage could not understand.
Léunia pointed at Sage then back towards the doors. The queen held her hand up for her to be silent and she obeyed.
"You seek the lady of the swamps?" She asked Sage.
Sage nodded quickly.
"And you also seek your friends?" She got up and began to step down the few steps that held the thrown.
Sage nodded again.
"You are very pretty." The queen said as she ran a hand over Sage's left cheek.
"Thank you." Sage stuttered and cursed herself for it.
"And you travel with men I've been told." The queen looked to Léunia who nodded.
"Yes, I do." Sage said as she bravely looked up into the eyes of the Queen.
"And you love these men?" The queen asked.
"Yes." Sage began to shake, fearful the crew was already dead.
"I see." The queen turned and went back up to her thrown. She said something to the girl still masked and standing at the right side of the thrown, the same girl, Sage noticed, who stole her boots. "Kashka, go with Lilia and take the prisoner to the cell where we hold the other girl. Help Lilia prepare her for torneio tonight." The queen smiled wickedly at Sage before Sage was turned and escorted out of the room and brought down to a bamboo cell in a dark corner of the enclosed camp.
"Someone will be back to prepare you." Kashka said before slamming the door shut and tying it off. A guard took place in front of the door to watch over Sage. Sage watched the girl wearing her boots shake her head gravely before turning to follow Kashka.
Sage turned when she heard something behind her moan. "Dot?" She almost cried in relief as she fell down beside Dot and took her face in her hands.
"Ouch." Dot said as she brought a hand up to her neck.
"Oh, Dot." Sage hugged Dot tightly.
"All right, enough bear hugs, it hurts still." Dot moaned as Sage squeezed her.
"Sorry, I'm just so glad you're all right." Sage smiled warmly as Dot sat up on her own.
"Where are we?" She asked as she looked around at bars of bamboo.
"The Amazons have us in their camp." Sage said as she walked over to one side and put her fingers around the bars and stared out at the camp.
"We're in their camp?" Dot asked unbelievably. "Where are the boys?" She asked noticing a lack of the male gender in their cage.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling they're still alive." Sage said while taking Dots hand and squeezing it reassuringly.
By night fall, Dot and Sage had tried three times to escape the cage, and each time earned them a painful shoved back into the cage and a crazed jungle woman yelling at them. The camp had become dark with the night and torches were being lit everywhere for warmth and light.
Sage was about to get up and ask the guard if she could use the bathroom, hers and Dots last attempt of escape, when Kashka returned with a petite blond woman who looked a lot like the queen.
"Bring the senhora." Kashka eyed Sage up and down as the guard opened the door.
The guard came in and pulled Sage up, grabbing her hair and yanking it back making Sage look up into her eyes. "No escaping now." She laughed.
Dot and Sage's hands were bound by rope then attached and pulled together to a tent not far from their cage.
"Take the little one to the prisoners box." Kashka ordered the guard.
"Sage." Dot whimpered as she was separated from Sage and led away at the point end of a spear.
Sage watched as Dot disappeared through the tent flaps then turned back around when she felt hands unbuttoning her vest.
"What are you doing?" She shrieked as two girls began to undress her.
"They are getting you out of those disgusting mans clothing and putting you into something you can fight in." Kashka said as she stood with her hands on her hips.
"Fight in?" Sage asked as the girls removed the rope from her hands and took her vest away.
"Yes, you will be fighting tonight, in the arena." Kashka said as voices began to grow louder outside. "Everyone will watch as you fight me," She said proudly, "and fail."
Sage looked angrily at the woman's assumption that she couldn't fight. She then threw her hands round herself to cover herself up when all of her clothes were removed.
Kashka rolled her eyes then turned to the blond queen look-a-like. "Lilia, give this princess something to wear, I must go prepare myself." She said before leaving.
Sage looked down for an instant and recognized her boots on Lilia's feet.
"Why am I fighting?" She asked the girl.
"Do you ever want to see your men again?" She asked with broken English and a deep accent like the queens.
"Yes." Sage swallowed hard.
"Then you will fight." She said as she handed Sage two pieces of leather.
Sage took the two pieces of cloth and, with great difficulty, put them on.
"Is this all?" Sage asked as she looked down and saw her entire stomach was exposed along with most of her legs.
"Yes." Lilia said as she tied strings of beads and a hawk feather into Sage's hair. "The beads are for luck, and the feather is for agility and speed." She explained as she and the other two girls finished with Sage's hair.
Sage stood uncomfortably still and tried her hardest to pull the tiny leather skirt down without pulling it too far. It covered here well enough but it was nothing like she was used to. The top was something completely different. It was a small piece of leather that covered her breasts but her stomach was completely exposed.
She smiled awkwardly when Lilia handed her a wooden spear.
"You are ready." She said before making to leave. The two other girls bowed as she made for the door.
"Wait!" Sage called as she ran over to her. "I don't know how to fight." She trembled.
Lilia just gave her a sad look before leaving her alone.
Out in the arena the queen made her way into what resembled a royal seating box. Léunia sat at her left and Lilia sat at her right. There were a hand full of warriors sitting in a row just below them on benches and two guards flanking each side of the seats. All around the arena were beautiful women all dressed in leather pieces of cloth, painted faces for the festivities, and cheering for the activities to commence.
The queen made a hand signal and a large covered box was brought out to the side. Then she asked for silence and the place went dead.
"Tonight a girl will fight our most prized warrior for a chance at winning back which she has lost." Cheers came full force again and quieted as she queen continued. "She comes from a land over the sea, and speaks with a foreign voice." The queen pointed to an archway at one side of the arena where Sage was pulled out into view by her hands, which were bound by rope again.
The cheering was so loud Sage couldn't believe her ears. They were all there to watch her die, she thought.
"And to fight her will be Kashka." The cheers were louder now, with whistles and catcalls from the audience as Kashka walked into the arena already armed with a spear.
"Approach." The queen ordered and Sage was forcefully pulled towards the royal box. "Tonight you fight for your men." She looked straight into Sage's eyes with a look of disgust. "Her prize, should she win against our trained and seasoned soldier is this." The queen pointed to the box and the cover was removed to show all of the crew, still alive, trying their hardest to break the bars of the cage. "Should she lose, these men will be our prizes to share." She queen looked to her people and saw a lot of happy faces. "The match will begin at the sound of the drum." She said and the contestants were placed at either side of the arena, Sage's bindings were removed and she was given her spear.
Sage looked over at the crew and saw rather then heard them yelling at her, Sam pointing at the exit begging her to run, Falcon just stood there staring at her with a look of anguish on his face. She looked up now to the clear night sky and prayed that she would be strong enough for them all and live to see the sun rising.
.GD.