-Life then-

July, 1624.

Aerugo Coast.

A few yards into the sea lay, rocked by the waves, a beautiful ship of dark wood, three masts and luminous white sails. "The Arrow of the Seas" was a magnificent ship. A brig of 24 meters in length with ten guns per band had capacity for 90 well-off men but despite its size was light and moved quickly both in the deep sea and on the coast, but certainly its most recognizable part was the bow mask, a representation of Medea, mother of witches, daughter of Triton and a nymph, was painted in bright colours and her hair at the wind seemed to break the waves. It was also the ship of a terrible pirate, Berthol Hawkeye, feared and known from one side to the other.
The kids threw themselves exhausted on the sand, covered in sweat, letting the waves wet their bare feet.

"Look at this," Roy said as he stood trying to catch his breath. He reached into his pocket and showed her a thin gold chain from which hung a medallion in the shape of a burning heart. "It's my part of the loot, the Captain says I earned it on my own merits," he said with pride.

"It's a Sacred Heart," Elisabeth murmured, looking with attention at the little heart that swayed in front of her eyes.

"It's for you," he smiled extending his hand but she turned her head.

"I don't want jewelry. What I want is to be able to participate in the pillages," she muttered angrily, snatching the chain from her hands. "This is ridiculous, till a few months ago I was"the little captain" and now I'm just the girl on the boat. How is it possible they didn't realize I was a girl?"

"I guess they didn't pay attention to the captain's little brat but now you're twelve years old and you have tit...," He turned as red as a tomato when he realized what he was going to say and quickly changed the subject. "You've never behaved like a girl does," suggested the young boy shrugging his shoulders.

"How's a girl supposed to behave, Roy?" she asked irritated, pursing her lips.

"The crew is very superstitious, and your father wants to protect you..."He stuttered more and more nervous.

"You have no idea what you're saying," she interrupted full of anger."I don't want it," she grumbled, returning the necklace.

He looked at her sadly, without taking his eyes off the small piece of gold that swayed in front of him.

"Listen to me carefully, Liz, when I become captain of my own ship, you will sail beside me and you will be able to do whatever you want. You will see, you are an excellent pirate, a great swordsman and your aim is impressive. It doesn't matter you are a girl..."

She smiled at that childish statement of intent and sat a little closer to him.

"Keep the necklace; it's not a jewel. It's a promise, my promise," he said, placing the necklace in her hand and closing it with his own.

"Thank you Roy" whispered squeezing the necklace against her chest.

They stared at the sea in silence until they heard the screams of the helmsman approaching from the beach, professing all sorts of insults to the boy for not being at his post and skipping his chores.

"And now get to work because from a cabin boy to captain you can't go by magical means" Elisabeth stood up holding out her hand to help him up"

"Yes, little captain, I guess for the moment I'll have to take your orders..." he joked blocking in front of her. "If Old Will doesn't hang me from the major mizzen," he added as he listened to the plethora of punishments the helmsman had prepared for him.

...

September, 1628.

Pirate life, best life prayed the old song. Which was only true if you were something more than an eighteen-year-old sailor, perched on the ratchet stick, punished to stand guard for sighed as he sat on the sail and saw the captain's young daughter holding the helm while the old helmsman gave her lessons in navigation. She was wearing black trousers and a blue shirt. The rising wind her hair her laugh and distracting from the of her master. A and badly faced who was only in a mood if around, although him for that. Liz looked up at the sky and greeted him smiling, it was as if she could tell he was looking at her. But it wasn't very difficult either, he always did.
He lifted himself up again and contemplated the magnificent horizon. Enjoying the view, the smells, the colours, the sun warming his face. He loved the sea, there was something wild and untamed about it. The song told no lie, even when he was punished.

At that very moment something caught his attention, a ship sailing too close to them.

"Ship in sight," he shouted with all his might. "The Hammer to starboard"

No matter how much he shouted, no one seemed to hear him. The wind carried the sound of his voice in the other direction. Until it was too late, the first cannon fire made him lose his balance and he had to hold on to the order to avoid falling into the deck and breaking his head against the ground. He descended the ladder as fast as he could. Bradley's ship attacked them by surprise, the entire crew ran to defend their posts. The guns made a deafening noise. Everything was chaos around them. All were screams and orders that were repeated from one to another. He had to defend The Arrow. He had to defend his home... He crossed with his companions who, covered with blood, constantly loaded the cannons. And with an unusual speed. In a consciously meditated plan they were boarded, the ship was filled with pirates. Who shot down the unprepared crew. He ran through the fortress dodging bodies and enemies. He was one of the youngest sailors, more agile, but seemed incapable of repelling the attack. He ran to port, looking for something to fill the cannons with, something to defend himself with. He could hardly hear anything and the smoke barely let him see.
Suddenly he saw someone approaching him; it was Old Will with an inert body in his arms.

"What happened,?" he asked frightened as he recognized her, she was very pale from the loss of blood, she wasn't moving and couldn't even tell if she was breathing.

"A cannon shot...I found her under the rubble; she doesn't wake up...we have to get her out of here," he explained hysterically. "She can't stay on the boat."

"What?" He couldn't understand anything; they were in the middle of a fierce battle.

"We are losing," Will said in defeated form.

"We have to fight," he insisted, a part of him wanted to go back to starboard. Kill all those bastards who came to disturb his home. But something tied his feet to the ground.

"What do you think Bradley's men will do to a young woman like her?" cried the angry old helmsman. "Don't be an idiot boy, help me get her on the lifeboat."

"Damn it, old man, I want to fight, a man does not abandon his boat, it is cowardly. Why do you do this?"protested angrily, The Arrow of the sea seemed to be in flames and he was being treated like a small child.

"If there's anyone who loves her, more than I do on this damn boat, it's you, boy," he shouted from the top of the deck. "Protect her."

He didn't know what to say as the waves that the Arrow produced as it moved removed the small boat away from the battle.

They had been three days in a small semi-abandoned fishermen's cabin, placed in one of Turtle Island's that time Elisabeth had been travelling between consciousness and unconsciousness, ravaging from fever, had cleaned and bandaged her wounds and felt unable to leave her side. He wet the cloth and returned it to his forehead, then leaned against the wall with his head in his hands. When he lifted his head again, she was looking at him, and she was pale and thick drops of sweat bathed her forehead.

"Hey, where are we? What the hell happened,?," she asked in an exhausted whisper.

He was unable to answer her questions, and she tried to sit up, released a groan full of pain and he ran to hold her.

"The Arrow was assaulted a few days ago by Captain Bradley," he explained in calm, meditating on the following words.

"Has no one survived?" she asked after a dread silence.

"I don't know."

He tried to explain to her what had happened. What he had seen and how they had reached that place. Liz listened in silence, without taking her eyes away from him. She looked tired, there was much sadness in her eyes, but she didn't say a word, nor cry. She only hugged her knees in silence, hiding her head between her legs. Leaving him paralysed, unable to do anything but squat in front of her and remain silent.

"Can I ask you something?" he muttered nervously, not quite sure how to start the conversation.

She didn't lift her head, but she noticed how all the muscles in her body were tightening. Feeling where the whole thing was going, after all the clothes she was wearing weren't hers.

"Your back... What?," he swallowed, he didn't know what to say, he had been thinking about it for days, searching for explanations, looking for a meaning to what he had seen.

But she didn't say anything, nor moved, she just let out a long sigh.

"I don't want to be intrusive but... Did you want that?,"he insisted on caressing her head with care.

"No!" she said almost shouting "Of course not," she continued lowering the tone of her voice to just one inaudible whisper.

"I don't understand anything... it's a map... a part...The map on your father's wall... in his cabin... I spent hours looking at it and couldn't even understand it...Why? When? I can't understand it...

"It turns out that your beloved captain wasn't as good as you thought," she said, raising her head to look into his eyes. "He was nothing but a monster."

"Fuck, Liz, when did this happen? Why,?"Everything was more and more confusing, he reached out to touch her face but she turned off.

"Two years ago," she said, looking away.

"What?" he shouted angry holding her by the shoulders to make her look at his face "Why the fuck didn't you say anything to me? Where was I? Nobody on the boat noticed?

"You're hurting me," she whipped away from him without daring to look up from the floor."Do you want to hear the fucking story? Well, The bloody treasure is real. Hawkeye was obsessed with it. He was almost sick. Every night he lifted the planks of his room to contemplate it. As the years went by, he became more paranoid. He mistrusted everyone. He believed someone was going to betray him. He changed the gold place. I don't know where he hid it," she interrupted herself to get oxygen. "We had returned from Drachma, loaded with tobacco. Hawkeye took out a large amount of money on the black market and distributed it. His great act of generosity. All the crew came out to celebrate, except me, he forced me to stay."She clenched her fists tightly until they lost their colour."He came into my cabin, asked me to do him a favour... I said yes...I...let him... I allowed him..."she shut up again muttering things that only she could hear.

"Liz, it is not your fault for what that son of a bitch did to you..." he interrupted her by holding her arms gently.

"I should have stopped him. I'm a pirate. I can fight, but all I was able to do was cry and ask him to stop."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he implored incredulously, his voice full of sadness.

"My father would have killed anyone who knew," she muttered, burying the head between her knees.

"But I... would have done something... would have..."he tried to continue trying to convince himself that he would have been able to do something to help her.

"Roy... I don't want to talk about this..."she cut him dry.

"But...Liz."

"Leave me alone, cabin boy" she shouted, lying down again and turning her back "I want you to leave, please."

He went out of the hut, dizzy. He remembered that night to perfection, the men had taken him away. They wanted to make him a real "man."He got drunk and spent the night with a precious redhead with a freckled face, he still remembered the mole between her breasts. He sat on the sand feeling terribly guilty, angry with himself. He was her friend and had been unable to notice what was going on.

"It was strange to see you outside the hut," he heard behind him and became aware that it was getting dark.

He recognized the voice; it was Maes Hughes a young man who had found them on the beach, when he was so desperate to save her that he hadn't repaired on his own wounds. He offered them his help without asking questions and without asking anything in return. And if it wasn't for him, he would have gone crazy. Roy had never seen such a display of generosity on the part of a stranger.

"She's awake," he answered, standing up.

"And how is your friend?" he asked, throwing a shiny green apple that he picked in flight.

"I think she's fine, but she needs to rest."

Maes pulled as high as he could, he was quite tall and would have been imposing but there was nothing but skin and bones in him.
"I have heard rumours in the village... Bradley attacked The Arrow...And killed all the crew, they talk about the treasure. And they say the daughter has the map. But they didn't find any woman on the was three days ago...the day of your shipwreck and...I have seen her back and...".

Before he could finish the sentence he put the tip of his foil in his throat. Maes was paralysed, feeling like a small trail of blood slipping down his neck to the inside of his shirt. He raised his hands very slowly dropping the bag of provisions to the ground.

"Listen to me Maes, you have helped us. You have sheltered us and I thank you but I will not hesitate to cut your throat and throw you to the sharks. If you say a single word on the map, of her... I'll kill you," threatened him with rage. He had spent some horrible days. It was the worst moment of his bloody life. He wasn't going to tolerate being blackmailed by a punk.

"I think it would be an unfair fight between a pirate," he said, emphasizing the last word, "and a poor fisherman, we can negotiate this situation.

"We have no money; we have nothing at all. You picked us up from the shore, you know that," insisted pricking him again.

"You can offer me something I've always wanted..." despite the situation, he was calm, full of confidence, as if he had nothing to lose.

"What?" Roy raised an eyebrow he was curious, and Maes drew a sly smile full of complicity.

"Life at sea, piracy, I want to sail the seas, know other worlds, other cultures, I want to fall in love in every port, I want to drink rum..." he explained with his arms extended, full of emotion, enjoying like a child.

"You make it sound fucking romantic, Maes," he said, pulling his sword out of his throat, smiling wide. "All right, you'll be part of my crew, but you'll see that being a pirate is a far cry from those dreams of yours.

"Your crew? Do you have a ship?"he asked with sarcasm.

"That's the plan."