Chapter 7

The night was very still, and the creaking of the wooden beams of the mast put Cordelia on edge. The hairs on her arms stood up despite the warm humidity. Behind her, Wes and Geralt stood ready for action, ropes already tied to pulleys to expedite a rescue.

Cordelia went through a mental checklist, everything the Jonas had instructed her to do.

Distract and welcome the girls, check.

Release the charter in direct view of the port, check.

Attach a longboat filled with fireworks, check.

When the fireworks go off, meet on the west side of the town, Jonas will come to you.

All that was left was to wait for Jonas' next action. It physically pained Cordelia to have to be this patient. She was a woman of purpose.

The jovial music on the main deck echoed up to the bow where they waited. She squinted, begging her eyes to adjust to the nearly moon-less night.
She'd instructed two of her men, the most expendable two, to row out to shore and light a torch. Jonas was meant to meet them there and be rowed back to the Jewel. Before they leave they were meant to light a second torch to signal that the rendezvous had been completed, and to prepare to welcome Jonas.

In her correspondence with Jonas, he seemed rather interested in the girls' well beings. He'd wanted every detail to be perfect, which was difficult to do on such short notice, but they'd managed regardless. Cordelia slightly hoped that the small party she'd prepared for the girls would put him in good spirits as well. He just hasn't been himself recently, she thought.

Then again, neither had she. The stress Jonas was under was expressed only around Cordelia in private. That was a lot for just her to bear.

Finally.

In the shadows of the island, she saw the single torch become two. "Prepare to lower to ropes," she commanded. Wes and Geralt worked seamlessly in unison to lower the weighted ends of the ropes to the water. They stood on the opposite end of the pulleys in rigid attention, ready to move at a moment's notice.

Only a few minutes later, there were three tugs on the ropes leading to the water below. With a grunt, each man began hoisting up the boat below with a great deal of effort.

Cordelia anxiously stuck her head over the side, and saw the boat rise over a hundred feet up to the helm deck. Three men sat patiently in the boat, looking up to meet her gaze.

At one end, the two men she'd sent, and on the other was Jonas. His hair was drenched with seawater and sweat and his eyes fell down away from hers, like he was disappointed.

Once the long boat was level with the bow, Wes and Geralt tied it off, making sure it was steady and stable. Jonas, of course, was the first to step out, his worn leather boots thudding on the wood of the deck. He began to walk past Cordelia, but she stepped into his path. His scowl appeared, but Cordelia was the only one in the whole world who could get away with stopping him like that.

"What did he say?" Cordelia asked.

At first he said nothing, and you could see behind his eyes that he was still processing his mission. "Can we discuss this later?" He calmly requested. Cordelia understood… things hadn't gone well.

Without a word, she stepped to the side. Jonas crossed the helm, the four men following him. Cordelia stood alone on the helm, counting her breaths to calm her growing frustrations. Behind her, the sounds of five men stepping down the stairs, in front of the whole party.

Victoria stood to the side as Viola was deeply engaged in a conversation with a man by the name of Louis. They looked so mismatched, Viola in her maroon satin gown with perfectly coiffed blonde hair, and Louis a young man with a face full of scars and soot. He was telling her how me was in charge of manning the canons. It was obvious that he was boasting his position, but she ate up every word. She leaned forward and hung on every word, taking it as gospel. Victoria had watched as Viola had gone from awe, to fear, and back to awe over the course of the day. There was a moment when she and Joyce had to calm her down, after she was separated from Eliza, but it didn't take long to redirect her. She was fascinated by the men aboard the ship, while Victoria simply kept her distance. Too many men, if you ask her. Victoria observed how close some of the pirates leaned towards the girls. Once or twice, a sweaty and drunk man would slowly approach her, and she sent daggers to them with her eyes. Not a single drop of rum had touched her lips. There was going to be no way she was letting a pirate anywhere near her today, or any day.

If anything, she was curious about what they could offer her. There was a part of Victoria that enjoyed the looseness of conversation and the excitement brought on by danger but it was hard to let her walls down and enjoy it all.

Victoria sighed and turned her attention to Nell. They'd met earlier that evening, when Nell had gotten her finger tied up in her corset strings. The only time Victoria had smiled the whole day was when Nell bashfully knocked on her cabin door with one hand stuck behind her back and only half dressed.

But now, Nell stared into a glass of wine, swirling it and watching as the legs of alcohol slid down the glass. Unfortunately, the two women did not have similar opinions of pirates. Nell seemed to side with Viola in that she was truly fascinated by the dirty men. Victoria had no idea why.

There was a lull in the conversation, and all around her the pirates stopped their talking to look up. The ones leaning close to the women seemed to back away from them, like they were caught taking extra servings of dessert. Even the musicians among the pirates stopped playing. Whatever it was they were looking at, Victoria had her back to it.

She turned her body and saw what, or rather who, the pirates stopped for. Slowly descending the stairs from the secondary main deck, was a tall man. He looked disheveled, dirty, and weather worn. His inky black hair fell in wet strands in front of his eyes, but did nothing to hide the light hazel color. Underneath a linen undershirt that seemed to barely cover him up, his golden tan chest peeked through. His boots were aged and thin. Despite his poor attire and his unkempt presentation, Victoria couldn't help but feel light headed. Not only was he absolutely gorgeous, but his features were so incredibly similar to that of Charles.

Even just the thought of her abusive husband made her stomach leap. Her heart raced and she felt sick, but she stood steadfast, not letting her emotions get the better of her.

He's no longer my problem. I'm safe now.

Victoria took a deep breath and studied this man. He obviously held influence among the crew, otherwise there was no point in everyone stopping to watch. It wasn't hard to guess that this was the captain that she'd heard so little about.

The captain seemed to be caught off guard by the party happening on deck because he stopped after the first two steps of the stairs and took in the sight of the many women in extravagant dresses socializing with his crew. Without a word, though, he continued down, walked directly through the middle of the party to the stern of the deck, where he opened a heavy wooden door, carved with delicate designs, and locked himself in.

What a disappointing first impression, she thought. A moment later, the conversations picked back up, and the music slowly began playing. Cordelia appeared at the top of the stairs where the captain had come from. She looked upset, but not in the same fierce and strong way as before. This time, she appeared like a strong woman, dressed in jewels, who could break down into pieces at any moment. With less of a dramatic promenade than the captain, she too walked down the center of the deck and carefully opened the door and closed it behind her.

Victoria and Nell exchanged a look, before Nell shot up from her seat to go speak to the pirate that Viola was still enthralled with, Louis.

"Was that the captain?" she asked, the words spilling out of her mouth. Louis looked up at Nell, upset that she'd interrupted his conversation with Viola. He sat up, looked back at the wooden door, and then said, "Sure was."

"Where has he been?" Victoria chimed in. She was physically removed from their conversation but leaned forward, her curiosity getting the better of her anxiety.

"He's been on some mission. He's been doing a lot of that recently. We don't know much about the actual purpose behind it. Personal matters and such."

"Does he usually just lock himself in the room like that?" Victoria asked.

"Didn't use to. Maybe in the past year it's been getting more and more frequent. Everything about him has changed."

"How so?" Nell pressed.

Louis sighed, like recalling the past was difficult. "Well, he used to be more fun, first off. He would steal stuff just for the fun of it. He'd have nightly parties aboard his ship. He'd even invite governors of the ports aboard- shower them in riches just so he could have a free pass when in town. Earned a reputation. People called him 'The Pirate King' in his prime. Now? Well now he obsessed with something, but refuses to tell us about it. He and Moss will spend hours in there, only coming out to give new orders. It's changed her too. She's got a firmer hand than before, more bossy. Still good at what she does but such a shorter fuse."

Victoria mulled on this for a moment, a million questions racing through her mind. "What do you all think is going on?"

Louis rubbed his neck, thinking deeply, before leaning forward like it was a secret. "Well, we all know Captain Jonas has got some deal happening with the devil. He's mentioned it before, but never in too much detail. For as long as we've all been part of the crew, he's had these abilities. I think something's finally going bad with that. The strangest yet is you lot. No idea why Jonas would want a bunch of dames on the Jewel. Spells trouble for a captain because a crew will tend to focus a bit too much on things we aren't meant to be focusing on when working."

"You mentioned abilities, what abilities?" Victoria questioned Louis, becoming more and more interested in her purpose aboard the ship, and why 'The Pirate King' would have a need for so many women. The first thought in her head was some sort of ritual, maybe even involving sacrifice. The New World had a reputation of debauchery and paganism, one that Victoria had no intentions of falling victim too. She needed to know what she was up against.

Before the man could answer though, the wooden door opened, revealing Captain Jonas. He had changed out of his soiled clothes to nearly new everything. His boots were shiny black, his pants were tight fitting and free of any holes or even scuffs, and his shirt was immaculately white. It didn't seem fitting for a pirate to own such nice linens. On top of it all was a dark coat with an exaggerated collar and a red oversize tricorn hat with a white feather plume attached. He was adorned with gold jewelry from his ears to his fingers. His was dressed to be the center of attention, and he certainly was as every woman stopped to look at him. A quick sweeping gaze across the room gave him a smile, and he stuck his chin out and approached everyone. He hadn't even taken two steps forward when the door swung open again, revealing Cordelia, her face red with anger.

"Don't you dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" Jonas stopped, nothing but mere exasperation on his face as he turned to face Cordelia.

"Here we go again," Louis muttered under his breath. There were gasps from girls as she drew a flintlock pistol from her waistband. Every girl ducked and some shrieked in fear. There was a loud bang as she shot at Jonas' chest and then dead silence.

Victoria peered over the shoulder of Louis to see Jonas turn away from Cordelia, a blossom of bright red blood on his white shirt. Cordelia stood there, her arm still outstretched with the pistol in hand. Jonas' face grimaced in pain, and Victoria's hand shook. She thought she was safe aboard, but this crazy harlot of a woman had proved her otherwise.

"Cordelia!" Jonas shouted, breaking the ring of silence. He coughed up blood, and growled. He tore off his coat, while his shirt continued to stain red with blood. He threw the coat like a child at Cordelia's face, and she caught it and threw it to the ground.

At this point, any man would've been on their knees at least when getting shot in the chest. Instead, Jonas seemed to be fueled by anger.

No. Not anger. Annoyance.

He pulled the shirt over his head, revealing no wounds. There was no evidence that he'd ever been shot, let alone that he'd been shot just moments ago and was bleeding out.

"You wanted to know what he could do?" Louis leaned over to Victoria. "Well that's a start."

Thanks to everyone for reading! I hope this wasn't information overload. I am so excited now that Jonas is in the story! This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Let me know what you thought of him, and let me know if there was anything that was unclear. I'm always aiming to improve my story telling and writing.

I want to hear your theories on what's going on with him and Cordelia! Or everything in general in the reviews.

Also, if you submitted a girl, I'm going to send you a little questionnaire. It's very short, but I need it in order for your character to appear in the story from here on, so please don't forget to check your PMs and respond! Thanks!