Still more nice reviews - all you people are so lovely. Thanks as always to
my 'creative director' ha ha ha, my proof reader, and ginger Sarah for
making fun of me. She wanted to be credited for something, so here it is.
***
A Hard Man To Predict
Faye has not been missed. She sneaks up to her room, and lays on her bed thinking about her visit to the cells until tea time, when she sits with all the other servants in the servants' dining hall, and watches Susie flirting with Stannard. Maybe they'll get married too, and she'll have an uncle.
The servants eat late, after the Governor and Miss Elizabeth, so Faye generally goes to bed straight afterwards. It's the only thing Susie is strict about, and Faye really doesn't mind. By the light of her solitary candle, she washes her face and hands in the freshly filled jug and basin on her dresser, and puts on her nightdress. She takes her scarf off her head, settles down under the covers, and blows out the candle. She lays in the dark, thinking about Jack, down in the cells. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep, but she can't, so she just lies there, waiting for slumber to overtake her.
Faye doesn't understand why she can't sleep. She assumes it's because her brain is buzzing, but when she reaches out under the covers for her wooden bird, she realises it's not there, and that's why she can't sleep. She panics for a moment, thinking that she's lost it, but then she remembers leaving it in the kitchen, before she went to the cells. She sighs, exasperated. She doesn't want to get out of her nice warm bed to go and get it, but she knows she won't sleep without it.
In the darkness, she gets out of bed, and fumbles around on her bedside table until she finds her tinderbox, and carefully, she relights her candle. She puts on her dress again, and ties her scarf back around her head. Taking her candle, she opens the door and listens for the sounds of anyone moving about, but hears nothing. Odd, she muses. It must be later than I thought.
Silently, Faye creeps along the hallway, and down the many stairs to the servants' passage that has a door through to the kitchen, with her candle flickering wildly and casting strange shadows on the walls. She gently turns the handle of the door to the kitchen, and eases it open. Holding her candle high above her head, she scans the room for her bird. She sees it, half hidden by an upturned breadbasket. As she grasps it and pulls it away, she hears a loud thump that seems to echo through the entire house. Another one comes, and then another. What is it? She can make out something else too; just on the edge of hearing.....it sounds like..screams?
She scurries down the passageway again, passing by the storerooms this time, running noiselessly up past the door that connects the passage to the entrance hall. As she dashes past, there are three very loud knocks at the main door. Quickly, she runs up to the passageway door and eases it open just a crack, so she can see out of it without being seen. She sees Hendon going to answer the main door, and hears Miss Elizabeth shouting a terrified 'Don't!' at the top of her voice.
It is too late. Hendon opens the door, and on there other side is a filthy rabble of men, with the leader levelling a pistol straight into Hendon's face.
'Hello, chum,' he says, and fires.
Faye jumps back in horror, feeling the bile rise in her throat. Miss Elizabeth screams, and Faye listens to the pounding of her feet as she makes for the upper stories. The men surge through the doorway, the leader and another one following Miss Elizabeth, the others making their way through to the main rooms, presumably to steal anything they can lay their hands on.
Faye has never been so terrified in all her life. She thinks of nothing but the desire to survive. She feels tears of panic running down her cheeks as she sprints away down the passage. A tiny germ of logic in her fear-filled brain tells her to get out of the house and into the open, where there is a greater chance of escape. She is wearing black, and in the dark grounds of the house she is unlikely to be seen. The main servants' entrance is too exposed for her to leave from safely, how can she get out?
She thinks of the window in the large storeroom. It's high up in the wall, and not very big, but surely she could climb up the shelves and squeeze through. The door isn't far from where she is now, and she speeds up with the comfort of escape at the forefront of her mind. It has been left open, and Faye darts through it, trying to block out the yells of those in the house and the shouts of their attackers. She slams the door behind her, praying that the noise has gone unnoticed.
It is dark in the storeroom, and her candle has gone out, but dimly she can just see the outline of the window. By touch alone, she walks over to it, and begins the climb up the shelves towards her goal. It is difficult, without dropping the bird, but she manages it, and standing on the top shelf she eases the window open. As she looks out, she realises two things. The first is that it is a long way down to the ground, and the second is that for a few moments until she can reach the trees on one side of the vast garden, she will be open to the view of anyone who looks out of one of the back windows. She has come this far, and she has no other choice.
She hauls herself up onto the window ledge, shuts her eyes, and pushes herself through. The jolt as she hits the flowerbed below is more painful than she had thought it would be, and now half of her is caked in mud. Quickly, she presses herself against the wall of the house, and looks up. She can't see anyone, but then for her to be able to they would have to have their head stuck out of the window itself.
Faye takes a deep breath, thinks to herself that Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't be afraid, and runs up the gentle sloping ground to the trees. Every breath she takes she expects to be her last; she expects to hear shouts and feel shots ripping through her. But she doesn't, and when she reaches the trees, she drops to her knees with relief; her breath coming is great gasps.
When she gets her breathing under control again, she gets to her feet. She is safe, standing as she is in the black shadow of the largest tree. She finds herself looking down on the house, courtesy of the uphill slope. Faye stares in horror at the burning town below, and further down, in the bay, she can see a ship. It is almost a blur, but the shape can be seen by the light of the fire that is now Port Royal. It is this ship, she realises, that has caused the devastation - it has still not stopped its bombardment of the town. This ship, she realises, must be a pirate ship. Those evil men who killed Hendon were pirates. Faye is horror struck, although she sees now that what else could they be?
Faye's idyllic vision of the wandering loveable rogue pirate is shattered. Somewhere in that devastation are the people she loves, in her way, and they might even now be dying or dead. At this moment, as her childhood world is laying in pieces, her body can't take the strain. Faye falls forward in a dead faint, and knows no more of the night.
***
This was a hard chapter to write, seeing as how I didn't know what was going to happen. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think!
***
A Hard Man To Predict
Faye has not been missed. She sneaks up to her room, and lays on her bed thinking about her visit to the cells until tea time, when she sits with all the other servants in the servants' dining hall, and watches Susie flirting with Stannard. Maybe they'll get married too, and she'll have an uncle.
The servants eat late, after the Governor and Miss Elizabeth, so Faye generally goes to bed straight afterwards. It's the only thing Susie is strict about, and Faye really doesn't mind. By the light of her solitary candle, she washes her face and hands in the freshly filled jug and basin on her dresser, and puts on her nightdress. She takes her scarf off her head, settles down under the covers, and blows out the candle. She lays in the dark, thinking about Jack, down in the cells. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep, but she can't, so she just lies there, waiting for slumber to overtake her.
Faye doesn't understand why she can't sleep. She assumes it's because her brain is buzzing, but when she reaches out under the covers for her wooden bird, she realises it's not there, and that's why she can't sleep. She panics for a moment, thinking that she's lost it, but then she remembers leaving it in the kitchen, before she went to the cells. She sighs, exasperated. She doesn't want to get out of her nice warm bed to go and get it, but she knows she won't sleep without it.
In the darkness, she gets out of bed, and fumbles around on her bedside table until she finds her tinderbox, and carefully, she relights her candle. She puts on her dress again, and ties her scarf back around her head. Taking her candle, she opens the door and listens for the sounds of anyone moving about, but hears nothing. Odd, she muses. It must be later than I thought.
Silently, Faye creeps along the hallway, and down the many stairs to the servants' passage that has a door through to the kitchen, with her candle flickering wildly and casting strange shadows on the walls. She gently turns the handle of the door to the kitchen, and eases it open. Holding her candle high above her head, she scans the room for her bird. She sees it, half hidden by an upturned breadbasket. As she grasps it and pulls it away, she hears a loud thump that seems to echo through the entire house. Another one comes, and then another. What is it? She can make out something else too; just on the edge of hearing.....it sounds like..screams?
She scurries down the passageway again, passing by the storerooms this time, running noiselessly up past the door that connects the passage to the entrance hall. As she dashes past, there are three very loud knocks at the main door. Quickly, she runs up to the passageway door and eases it open just a crack, so she can see out of it without being seen. She sees Hendon going to answer the main door, and hears Miss Elizabeth shouting a terrified 'Don't!' at the top of her voice.
It is too late. Hendon opens the door, and on there other side is a filthy rabble of men, with the leader levelling a pistol straight into Hendon's face.
'Hello, chum,' he says, and fires.
Faye jumps back in horror, feeling the bile rise in her throat. Miss Elizabeth screams, and Faye listens to the pounding of her feet as she makes for the upper stories. The men surge through the doorway, the leader and another one following Miss Elizabeth, the others making their way through to the main rooms, presumably to steal anything they can lay their hands on.
Faye has never been so terrified in all her life. She thinks of nothing but the desire to survive. She feels tears of panic running down her cheeks as she sprints away down the passage. A tiny germ of logic in her fear-filled brain tells her to get out of the house and into the open, where there is a greater chance of escape. She is wearing black, and in the dark grounds of the house she is unlikely to be seen. The main servants' entrance is too exposed for her to leave from safely, how can she get out?
She thinks of the window in the large storeroom. It's high up in the wall, and not very big, but surely she could climb up the shelves and squeeze through. The door isn't far from where she is now, and she speeds up with the comfort of escape at the forefront of her mind. It has been left open, and Faye darts through it, trying to block out the yells of those in the house and the shouts of their attackers. She slams the door behind her, praying that the noise has gone unnoticed.
It is dark in the storeroom, and her candle has gone out, but dimly she can just see the outline of the window. By touch alone, she walks over to it, and begins the climb up the shelves towards her goal. It is difficult, without dropping the bird, but she manages it, and standing on the top shelf she eases the window open. As she looks out, she realises two things. The first is that it is a long way down to the ground, and the second is that for a few moments until she can reach the trees on one side of the vast garden, she will be open to the view of anyone who looks out of one of the back windows. She has come this far, and she has no other choice.
She hauls herself up onto the window ledge, shuts her eyes, and pushes herself through. The jolt as she hits the flowerbed below is more painful than she had thought it would be, and now half of her is caked in mud. Quickly, she presses herself against the wall of the house, and looks up. She can't see anyone, but then for her to be able to they would have to have their head stuck out of the window itself.
Faye takes a deep breath, thinks to herself that Captain Jack Sparrow wouldn't be afraid, and runs up the gentle sloping ground to the trees. Every breath she takes she expects to be her last; she expects to hear shouts and feel shots ripping through her. But she doesn't, and when she reaches the trees, she drops to her knees with relief; her breath coming is great gasps.
When she gets her breathing under control again, she gets to her feet. She is safe, standing as she is in the black shadow of the largest tree. She finds herself looking down on the house, courtesy of the uphill slope. Faye stares in horror at the burning town below, and further down, in the bay, she can see a ship. It is almost a blur, but the shape can be seen by the light of the fire that is now Port Royal. It is this ship, she realises, that has caused the devastation - it has still not stopped its bombardment of the town. This ship, she realises, must be a pirate ship. Those evil men who killed Hendon were pirates. Faye is horror struck, although she sees now that what else could they be?
Faye's idyllic vision of the wandering loveable rogue pirate is shattered. Somewhere in that devastation are the people she loves, in her way, and they might even now be dying or dead. At this moment, as her childhood world is laying in pieces, her body can't take the strain. Faye falls forward in a dead faint, and knows no more of the night.
***
This was a hard chapter to write, seeing as how I didn't know what was going to happen. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think!
