Chapter 15
"Do you have anything more… understated?" Lara appraised herself in the mirror. The normally leather-clad woman appraised herself in the mirror.
"I think the color suits you," Charlie teased, to which Lara nudged her roughly. Her gown was a soft lilac color, with giant roses embellished on the skirt and a white lace hem.
Robin sat on a small cushion off to the side, a dress laid lazily on her lap. "I'm not wearing a dress."
Cordelia, on the opposite side of the room, was lacing Zephora into a vibrant red bodice adorned with jewels. "You have to wear a dress to hide your weapons unless you prefer to go in unarmed?" Sweat fell from Cordelia's brow. The stagnant air this far below deck was suffocating, and Cordelia was running back and forth between all eighteen women.
Robin's face was red, though whether it was from her irritation or from the heat it wasn't obvious. She stripped down and began putting on the soft white dress. It was the only one that Cordelia had that would fit Robin's short stature. Robin had become far more indignant recently. She seemed angry but instead of outwardly expressing it, she became more withdrawn, more than usual.
Maia, already dressed in an exotic black and gold gown that revealed her midriff, began helping Robin dress without being asked. She had been immediately drawn to her own dress, but quickly put her father's belt around the waist of it despite the fact that it didn't quite match.
Joyce came down the stairs on her own. She noticed that Florence wasn't there, probably ditching the dress fitting. Joyce joined her circle of friends, most already dressed without the help of Cordelia.
"We picked out this one for you!" Celandine offered her a beautiful cyan blue gown with delicate flowing sleeves. The girls fell upon their friend, dressing her meticulously despite just dressing for practice.
Joyce looked at herself in the mirror. She was reminded of everything she came to the new world for. The gown fit every curve and still held onto her modesty. Adrian would love this dress, she thought. Her heart longed for her fiancé. It had been nearly a year since he left her to prepare their estate, and every second was agony. Originally, when getting kidnapped, she was terrified. It was another obstacle, another wall to jump over and survival was her first concern. Anything to get to Adrian.
So why did she feel this? She wasn't having second thoughts- not at all. Was it the fear of missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime experience? There was a taste of freedom and control that she'd never been given before, and it urged her to stay, even just for a little while longer.
Joyce shook her head and put on a smile for her friends. There was no room for that kind of thinking, not when she was so close to getting out. "It's beautiful, ladies! Thank you, it's perfect."
Once everyone had been fitted for a dress, Cordelia had them line up. "This works…" she said to herself before going to a large chest. She pulled out a drawer to reveal rows of unique handguns. "If you've shot a gun before, you have the first pick." Robin immediately pushed her way to the front of the line, picking out the heftiest gun available. On her tail was Lara and Charlie, and surprisingly Maia joined them as well. One by one, each girl grabbed a gun that caught their attention and carefully appreciated it.
"If I see a single finger on a trigger, you'll be sorry. Save it for above deck." Cordelia eyed every one of the girls as they fiddled with their pistols. At some point Florence joined in, donning a random gown and leaving it unlaced.
There were over half the guns still left in her drawer when everyone had picked theirs out. Cordelia gathered a plain petticoat under her arm and picked a random gun from the drawer. She led the way up the numerous flights of stairs to the deck. Once in the open air, Cordelia quickly fastened the petticoat around her trousers, looking quite ridiculous. She wasn't naked by any means, but the presence of the petticoat being exposed seemed to lack some decorum.
All the girls were lined up in front of Cordelia. She asked that all guns be placed in front of them, laid out on the floorboards. She pointed her gun at the sky while she demonstrated the safety measures needed to properly operate it. Within an hour, she had the women aiming off into the horizon and firing their guns to get used to the sound and feel. Her strongest advice was to try to keep their arms as rigid as possible, while still bending to allow for recoil. It was difficult to get a feel for the explosive power behind the handgun. The women who manned the cannon's adopted it much faster, but it was still quite a stark change.
At some point, Cordelia had rolled an empty barrel to the bow and carved with a small knife, a bullseye. She took care to remove anything valuable from the area before calling out to everyone to ceasefire. Leading by example, Cordelia stood among the women. She aimed at the barrel in front of them all and shot once. Like a well-practiced pirate, she hit the center of her rudimentary bullseye.
"Your turn," she said flatly to nobody in particular. The girls naturally created a line and took turns firing at the barrel. Most missed completely, but a few lucky hits were made followed by excited squeals.
Joyce was one of those lucky hits, and the exhilaration overwhelmed her. "I did it!" she squealed. "I hit the barrel!" Victoria jumped to her friend and hugged her tightly.
"Watch the guns!" Cordelia snapped at the two of them, but a faint smile pulled at her lips.
The girls practiced their aim for what must've been more than an hour. Cordelia wouldn't let them stop until everyone at least hit the barrel, let alone the bullseye. She then made everyone empty the ammo out of their guns, just to practice drawing the guns from their petticoats. Once again, she led by example, verbalizing what she did. Burying the gun between layers of fabric, and the swift and well-practiced motion of reaching through those fibers to grab the gun and aim it at an attacker. She made it look easy.
The sun was starting to hang low in the west by the time Cordelia was satisfied with their skills. Their movements were a bit clumsy and jerky, but the principle was there. Hopefully, they wouldn't even need to use this on St. Martin.
There was no time for the girls to change out of their dresses before Jonas held his ship-wide meeting. It was difficult, but every crew member had managed to squeeze onto the main deck. It was shoulder-to-shoulder, with Jonas standing up at the helm with Cordelia at his right hand.
The speech was less of a speech and more of a battle plan. It seemed they were going to either reform a deal with the governor or cause absolute mayhem. Half the crew was going to stay on the ship to have cannons aimed at the port city, and the other half including the girls were going to be a show of force to the governor's estate. They explained that the girls were meant to blend in and seem like normal guests of the estate. Jonas assured them that many members of society spent the season at the estate. At best, they would be underestimated due to their sex if they were found out.
The crew lingered for a short time after the battle plan before Cordelia kicked them all back to their stations in order to continue training the ladies. They practiced their quick draw from the petticoats for hours in the heat of the day. As the sun began to fall low in the sky, a faint line of land appeared on the horizon.
"You've done well, ladies. We go to shore after dark. Take the next hour to complete your disguises and make the necessary preparations. I'll need two leaders to make sure everyone is in acceptable condition before leaving. Any volunteers?"
There was a moment of apprehension before Brett raised her hand. "Is that all?" Cordelia asked, strangely patient. Celandine quickly shot hers up too.
"That will have to do. You have one hour before we board the rowboats." Cordelia waved her hand lazily, and with heavy feet secluded herself in the shared cabin with Jonas.
Some women might have enjoyed taking the time to get dolled up but attempting to get 18 girls completely dressed with makeup and hair was a large undertaking. Below deck in the yellow room, all 18 women scrambled to get powder, hair clips, wigs, petticoats, and every other necessity in order. Several women had never even used face powder, so their friends helped them with every step.
Cordelia was also getting made up, on her own in the cabin, while Jonas fastened his coattails in the same mirror. His suit was white, with gold threading, his dark hair inky black in contrast with his shirts.
Cordelia's dress was a powdered pink, with dainty silver lacing and large ostentatious bows. She'd altered the neckline from its original modest height and long poofy sleeves, but for this occasion, she tied them on over the dress she'd originally designed. She powdered her face into a blank white canvas, before applying pink pigment to her cheeks, eyes, and most importantly her lips. "What do you think, Jonas?" She asked as she applied a beauty mark to her cheek. Her hair was clipped tightly to her scalp; the vibrant red curls tried to escape their bonds.
"I think you look lovely as always." He glanced up and gave her a soft smile. She couldn't ignore the stress in his eyes.
"Jonas," she cooed, "Tonight should be fun. Don't be so much of a grump. You look dashing."
She was in character: the costume, the makeup- all that was left was her wig. She held her arms out to the sides like she was floating, and with great exaggeration, she tip-toed over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. He smiled but wiped the makeup off of his cheek with his palm. "I can't have Amberly see me with another woman's makeup on my cheek," he jokingly scolded.
"Amberly has always been a bitch anyway. And you only have room in your life for one woman anyway, so hmph." Cordelia feigned jealousy as she placed her tall powdered wig upon her head.
"That's not true, considering I currently have 18 other women aboard as we speak."
Cordelia gave a slight chuckle, before adding some last minute… accessories. Like some strange satire of high society, Jonas offered Cordelia his arm and they exited the cabin together to find a large crowd of ladies and pirates looking nothing like themselves. They were dressed in the finery they'd stolen throughout the years and had managed to make a convincing troupe. Rowboats were being lowered into the still waters below. Being of such a sizable and recognizable ship, the crew had hidden the Jewel of Hades some couple miles along the coast, out of view from the port's lookouts.
"We'll have to sneak into the estate. We've done it plenty of times, and typically the security has been less than impressive. There's always far too many guests and far too few guards," Cordelia assured the girls. She spoke with a high-English lilt, fully immersed in her character. You could tell this is what she enjoyed the most about being a pirate.
Zephora stood out amongst the women. She was the only one other than Cordelia who had a powdered wig on. Several large feathers stuck out from its towering curls, matching the reds and blacks of her dress.
The other girls had skillfully heightened their hair as well, but it was far more downplayed than the wigs that Cordelia and Zephora sported. The crowd of pirates and ladies climbed aboard several rowboats and began the journey to shore.
Joyce was shaking and fighting hard to hide it. Every time she glanced up, Florence was staring at her. Joyce thought that she would be ready to leave, ready to abandon this mess of insanity the moment she got there, but guilt weighed heavily on her. The girls she'd grown so attached to over the last few months would be left with the pirates they'd known for a week. They couldn't all possibly leave, despite what Jonas had promised them the other night. The pirates would never allow it- why go through the trouble of kidnapping and housing them if they weren't there to serve their purpose. To find his successor, Joyce recalled Jonas saying to them. It was ridiculous to think that Jonas truly wanted to find a pirate captain among these women. Certain ones, namely Florence who was boring holes through Joyce's head, maybe could become captain, but it wasn't a woman's job. It wasn't a woman's place. It was even superstitious to have women aboard a ship at all. There must've been another reason, one more sinister. They were pirates after all. They couldn't be trusted to tell the truth, especially to captives.
Joyce reminded herself of this constantly as they came closer and closer to shore. Anything to keep the guilt from paralyzing her. One glance at her friends Celandine and Victoria was enough to make her sick.
As they came closer to the ports, there was a particular liveliness that the town seemed alive with. There were various strings of mismatched music that floated on the breeze and loud hollers of drunken men and women. The sun had completely set by now, and the town had a candlelit glow that permeated every alley. It was alive with merriment.
The group was silent, a rare moment among pirates, as they watched the shore for lookouts. They pulled up on the sand behind a fort wall. Four pirates stayed behind with the boats, guarding their escape route. Governor Schreave's mansion was positioned on the inland side of the fort, to protect it in case of an attack from the sea. Unfortunately for them, it provided a route along the outer wall that led to the main gardens of the mansion.
Two pirates ran ahead, in full society garb, to check the hedge entrance. The girls in the entourage hiked their skirts and petticoats above their ankles and carefully avoided any muddy patches of grass. A few moments later, the two scouts ran back and gave their report to Jonas and Cordelia, out of earshot for the rest of the group.
Upon hearing it, Jonas and Cordelia quickened their pace towards the hedges in front of them. The music grew in volume and the hum of voices became more distinct. They peered through an archway in the hedges to find the gardens full of guests, more than usual. Each one had a mask over their faces and a large table with a tiered display of masks was available for guests to choose from. "This just became much easier," Jonas said with a grin.
Big oof.
Okay. So nursing school, working two jobs, volunteering on weekends, and taking care of my house is really hard. Who knew? Not me.
Seriously though. This is incredible that I'm updating. Do you remember what this story was about because I seriously needed a refresher? lol jk
I hope you enjoyed this! Some of my favorite scenes planned are coming up at this party, so I'm really excited to write them. This hurricane gave me the time to finish up some school work in order to write, and hopefully, it doesn't take another hurricane to keep me writing.
Also, Discord. Please let my OCs live. I gave you what you want!
Love every one of you, and I really appreciate every reader for this story. :)