Finding Grace

By: BelieveInFaeries

Chapter One: Grace

One Month Later, St. Croix Port

Grace O'Conner craned her neck around the side of the building looking for any sign of life coming her way. Her skirt made a slight rustling sound and she cursed inwardly. How could women wear these torture chambers they called 'dresses' all day long she had no clue. She could barely stand them when circumstances called for it.

It would not be so bad if it were just the thin material outer dress that one must wear but it was not only that but all of the under garmets that went with it that irritated and aggervated Grace. Pantaloons, slips, corsettes, it was all frustrating especially if one tried to put them on themselves, like she had to do. It had taken her a bit of time as well to do so, and that hadn't made the situation any better. She had been late for the gathering that the Smith's were throwing and her party had almost left her because of it. One was just simply not late for something this important. But somehow, she'd managed it.

But even with all of the stress and aggervation she had endured throughout this night, that was still not quite over, she had to admit that seeing herself in the looking glass in her room had brightened her mood somewhat. It was not everyday she dressed in the finest silk and pulled her hair up with tendrils cascading downwards. Her auburn hair had highlights courtesy of the Carribean sun and she was confident that it looked it's best tonight and not it's usual stringy mess that she just tied back with a leather band.

Yes, Misses Grace O'Conner was looking every bit the part that she had to play tonight.

And she had played the part. Extremely well, she would tell you if you asked. She had acted accordingly, speaking only when spoken to so as not to draw to much attention to herself but not acting suspicious either. She was aloof this night and no one at the party seemed to notice her much. And that's how she liked it.

She looked back towards the dimly lit street again and almost screamed in frustration as she saw no one was coming. Where were her companions? They had all agreed to meet here by the Smithy Shoppe after attending the party. And now she was the only soul around, save for a few mice that had come by earlier.

A late drop of rainwater fell onto the skirt of her dress and she wiped it off subconciously. She contimplated leaving without her companions when the moon moved behind an unseen cloud throwing the earth below in to near pitch black. Should she stay and wait for her companions or someone else to find her? Or should she go and make her way back by herself?

It only took a two minutes for her to decide.

She took a deep breath before stepping out from behind the wall of the smithy and headed towards the docks. She tried to minimize the sound of her heeled shoe by not alowing the heel to make contact with the stone street. The front of her shoes betrayed her and clicked none the less as she quickly made her way downwards.

Grace could now hear the rythmatic sound of trained footsteps behind her and she increased her speed. She had just a three more corners to go and she'd be home free, so to speak. She rounded the first trying to keep her breathing somewhat steady and resisted the urge to break into a run. The second came around and she threw cation into the wind, letting her heels click as she sped a little more, not caring if they heard her or not.

Coming upon the third and last one she felt a calmer emotion overtaking her knowing that within a few more steps she would be out of harm's way all together. The emotion soon lead to fear as she rounded to corner and slammed into some kind of wall. She looked at it more closely in the dark and realized as two arms came to steady her, it was no wall at all.

However she did not have time to see her captors face as he quickly ushered her into the nearby alley. With fear rising her in throat in the form of a scream she was pressed against the wall. She bit back her scream but a small squeak managed to escape her lips. So her capture's hand came to rest upon her mouth silencing anything else that might try to come forth.

With mind fully comprehending the danger she had placed herself in, she could feel her body go into a panic. She swallowed hard and tried to asses the situation as best she could from her stand point. She moved her foot inwards slightly so that she could use it to knee her assailent and run for the docks again.

She had nearly accomplished this when a whispered voice stopped her, "My apologies, Miss. I will release you soon, please do not scream." he removed his hand from her mouth as his whisper reached her ears. His voice was hurried and she could barely understand it but she did feel his tense body pressed up to hers and she knew that he meant her no harm. Well, not at this moment, he didn't.

The footsteps drew nearer and nearer and she realized that they were now coming from both directions. She heard her captor suck in a breath and followed suit as to groups of naval officers met just to the left of the alley. They were close enough to hear their voices.

"He is not down this way, Sir."

"Nor, this way." another voice responded, sounding more irritated than the first. "We shall look on the other side of town, perhaps he is trying to throw us off."

"Yes Sir." the first voice agreed and Grace soon heard the footsteps fading into the distance.

The moon was back and lit the alley with a glow that allowed Grace to get a good look at her captor. He was lithely built but had muscles that suggested he knew what work was. She looked up towards his face and found dark eyes staring back at her.

"My apologies again, Miss. I did not mean to frighten you." he said in a hushed tone, though he did not step away from her.

"You are running from the navy?" she questioned just as quietly though suspicously, looking towards him with a raised eyebrow.

"I fear that they do not take kindly to persons in my profession." he replied.

"Your profession?" she questioned him again. What was he? A thief? A pick pocket?

He nodded slightly, "I'm afraid I canno-"

"Here he is Sir!" a new voice had both Grace and the young man whipping their heads towards the alley opening. More soilders appeared behind the first and Grace tensed knowing what was to come next.

She was soon thrown back into unawareness as the young man pulled her in front of him and held a knife to her throat. Her eyes widened as she felt the blade against her vocal chords. She did not struggle for fear that his hand would slip and cut her.

"Hold fire men!" an authoritive voice comanded as the Captain forced his way through the crowd of soilders.

"Stay back!" the young man ordered in a voice that spoke of warning. He slowly stepped forwards toward the right side of the alley where the soilders had left a consideribly large escape route for him to take. And it seemed as if he were planning on taking Grace with him.

"There is no need to come to this, Pirate." the Captain spat out the name like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

Pirate? Grace was being held at knife point by a pirate? She immediatly wanted to scream in frustration again.

"Let her go and we won't shoot you." the Captain finished.

They'll just hang you noon tomorrow, Grace thought sardonically.

"Stay back and she won't die." the pirate retorted still moving himself and Grace slowly towards the only availible exit. As soon as he was close enough he threw the knife towards the crowd of soilders distracting them as he pulled Grace along his get-away route.

Grace found herself running behind the young man who still had quite a grip upon her arm and she silently cursed the shoes she wore as she felt them rubbing blisters onto her heels and toes. They ran until they had come upon the docks and a small row boat resting in the water bobbing with the waves as it did so. He hurried her inside it and began rowing as fast as humanly possible as the navy made their way onto the docks.

The moon seemed on their side as it decided it too would make a fast get away behind a cloud, purging them into darkness once more.

Grace did not utter a word for fear the the naval officers would change their minds and fire into the darkness. And while she needed to get off of her feet and out of these shoes, she didn't feel getting shot to death would be the correct solution. So she sat quietly as the young man rowed the tiny vessel towards the open sea.

She wanted to inform him of what might happen but wasn't sure was what worse, being shot, or being out in the middle of the ocean in a row boat. She decided maybe he knew what he was doing and gave him the benifit of the doubt, keeping her mouth shut and allowing him to row wherever he was rowing to. She soon found out her instinct was correct as faint lights came into veiw.

Grace looked towards them and realized her kidnapper had rowed them to a ship. And not just any ship, she realized as she was taken aboard and examined the crew and captain. Grace O'Conner had been taken captive on the one and only Black Pearl.