Chapter Eight: Comfort
~~ I paused as the gaggle of women and I walked down the stairs; I was the last one out of the room and therefor the last one to leave the stairs. I stood in the middle of the stairs and stared down at the women who waited on the floor for me; they looked at me expectantly, but, I couldn't bring myself to step down another stair. "Oy! Come on! Your Cap'n's half way through his second drink; get your lazy bee'hind down them stairs now!"
One of the ladies yelled at me; I bit my bottom lip and sighed. "M-May I speak with you, please?" I asked, pointing to the woman who applied my makeup. "In private?"
" 'Course, darlin'." The woman said, lifting up her dress and walking up the stairs; taking my arm gently in her hand and leading me back up to the room I was taken into to get dressed. "Now, what's the matter?" She asked, closing the door behind her; without all the rest of the women there, she was sweet and a façade need not be put up. It was hard for me to admit to anyone my feelings, the only one I talked of them to was Sophie, because, for some reason or other I felt completely comfortable with her and she understood me.
I sighed and lifted my little taters of courage from the ground, knitting them into a blanket and wrapping it around me; I breathed out: "I'm...I'm scared." I paused and the woman sat beside me on a large bed; gently touching my knee. "No...I'm not scared I'm...terrified. I'm alone and I don't know what he'll do to me now...I mean, he's abstained from touching me so far but the sheer number of innuendos he's made so far is unsettling enough-" I attempted to say, but, the woman interrupted me.
"Start from the beginning of your troubles." Said she, I nodded and poured my heart out to her, the excess liquid dripping from the cotton of our dresses onto the floor and falling through the cracks in the floorboards; no doubt the steaming hot, crimson liquid fell onto a few heads of the bar-goers. I was sobbing on her shoulder to the point where I began to feel nauseous; I looked up to her and nodded.
"That's why I'm terrified; my parents and nanny are dead, I'm stuck on a pirate ship with a Captain who scares me so bad sometimes that..." I faded and sighed "but" I began again, wiping my tears away. "He's not like that all the time, sometimes he can be very sweet; I-I found a note I suspect to be written by him and though I can't quote it from memory, my god, that was the most romantic note I've ever received! A-And he gave me my own room and...well, didn't kill me." I paused "but, what frightens me the most about him is that, one day, what if he just wakes up and decides not to abstain from touching me any longer? What if he decides that he doesn't want me around the boat anymore and orders his men to kill me?
I...I won't stand a chance! I can barely roll a barrel of gun powder let alone protect myself from a man of his strength and...to be completely honest, height." I finished, the woman enveloped me in a hug and sighed.
"It's alright, I don't believe he'll do either of the things you worry of; he's too scared to do that. I've known him for years, Anna, to those he's close to, his bark is severely bigger than his bite. However, to those who oppose him and/or hurt his family and friends? His bite is the most devastating, nightmarish thing in the world. He can go, from full of life and love to cold and emotionless within seconds; but, he won't do that with you.
Something tells me he just likes to toy with you, as most men do to women they fancy." She said with a grin; I blinked for a few moments, her words entered my ears, but, I couldn't comprehend them! I had so many questions and she read them upon my face with a laugh. "Darling, I put on that accent for the other women; I was once like you, save, I lived in Victoria Falls, Africa. One day my sister and I decided to go sailing and, to say the least, it ended in disaster; she and I got picked up by the man you call 'The Captain' and brought here, where we made good of what we had.
You know, the rest of The Captain's family lives here too." She said; I paused, he had a family? I had forgotten, in those strange days, that he had a family too! He had to be a baby at some point, he had to have a mother and father take care of him, maybe even a sister or brother to play with him. But, I hadn't really given much thought to that, I just figured he kind of popped out of air as he is and never aged.
"He does? Is that why we're ported here?" I asked, the woman smiled.
"I don't know; I actually think he ported here so you could meet me. You more than likely don't see it but, he's actually the best, most observant person I know of; he knows when people are sad, or angry, or happy and that's why he's such a great captain, he knows how to keep his crew happy." She replied, I nodded. "I believe he saw that you were depressed and needed to talk to another female of around your age; to get things sorted out, for, it seems everything's been so tangled lately in your life, I don't know how you do it!" She cried, laughing; I smiled.
"Me too" I said and we both laughed; whether he meant it or not, I felt quite relieved to open up to someone else besides purely men. To have someone to empathize with me; it was wonderful. There came a soft knock and the woman said for, whomever it was, to come in and there stood the Captain; as per usual, leaning on the doorframe.
"Come, Anna, we've got to go" said he in his usual, smooth tone.
"But...we've only just ported" I said, I didn't want to leave my new friend; I didn't know how I would fend without her!
"I know, but...we've just...we've got to go" said he; the woman grinned.
"Mummy here?" She asked and he gave a deep sigh.
"Isabelle" He hissed, pausing. "Yes" he answered after a few moments of silence.
"Oh, let Anna meet her!" The woman beside me said.
"You've gone mental" the Captain said, lighting up a cigarette. The woman glared at him until he walked into the room and through it out of the window. "Happy?" He hissed.
"Perfectly" she answered. "Now, why won't you let Anna meet her? She said not to return without a woman and here you are! A woman and everything!" Isabelle (the woman who sat beside me) cried; a smile enveloping her features.
"No" he said, tapping the windowsill. "We have a mutual hatred and she can cry about me in her grave" he hissed; Isabelle sighed in exasperation.
"You don't mean that"
"Damn if I don't!" He yelled at her, he looked to me and sighed. "Come on, Anna, we need to leave" he said very calmly; I stood from the bed and waved goodbye to Isabelle.
"Thank you" I said to her; she nodded and the Captain grasped my wrist, pulling me out of the room so fast my feet could hardly keep up with my legs! He ran with me to the boat and I could barely keep up. "Slow down! I can't really run in these!" I cried, motioning down to the large heels I was stuck in; he sighed and lifted me into his arms, bridal style, and ran to the boat.
Setting me down upon the bow where he grasped the wheel and barked orders for us to get away from port. As we pulled away from port, however, I turned and saw an oldish woman with greying hair and wrinkles all about her face; she wore a lavender dress and hat and held a charcoal black pistol in her hand. She, originally, held a sour expression on her face, but, once she caught sight of me her expression lightened and she placed the pistol back in a small, lavender purse that swung on her left arm. "Who is she?" I asked; looking from the Captain back to the woman, the Captain turned from the wheel and stood beside me.
"My mum" he replied, disgust contorting his already disfigured features ever more.
~~ Thankfully, the Captain allowed me into his room once more, where he picked out the smallest of his clothes and gave them to me; he stood in the threshold and stared at me as I held the clothes. "Aren't you going to change?" He asked, smoking a much needed cigarette.
"Yes...but, I was thinking of doing so behind a dressing screen" I replied; he smiled.
"You're on a pirate ship, sweet cheeks, there is no such thing as decency." He said, smirking.
"I don't see your men out there getting naked...ever. I don't see you in your birthday suit, why need I be around you?" I asked, stepping closer to him; a smile developed upon his face and let the cigarette drop from his fingers onto the deck, crushing the last breaths out of it with his shoe. He stepped out of the way of the threshold and allowed me out of his room; whacking my behind as I left. I gasped and whipped around, glaring at him as he snickered and watched me walk into my room.
~~ I smiled at myself after I changed; this was so much more comfortable than a dress! No breath yanking corset, no scratchy bodice, no sucking in and looking proper; ah, men didn't realize how wonderfully easy they had it! I wore his cotton shirt and black vest along with black trousers and black boots and a black belt with holsters built into it for a gun and a rapier; I stood and stared at myself in the mirror, I looked truly like a pirate now!
I walked to the small porthole window in my bedroom and glanced out of it to see something upon the horizon. It wasn't small enough to be debris, and yet, it wasn't very big; then again, it was far, far away. As it approached I saw defining shapes of a ship; the sails were white and the wood was light, a French flag whipped about from the top of the ship. I bolted out of my bedroom and ran up to the bow; where the Captain stood, his yellow eyes narrowed at the approaching ship. "Raise the flag" he ordered to the cabin boy, who ran to the other crew members and, within seconds, the Jolly Roger flew proudly; meaning to intimidate the other vessel.
"Do you think" I started, gaining the Captain's attention. "Do you think they'll want to fight?" I asked nervously; glancing up to him, he smiled.
"More than likely not; usually when people catch sight of me they turn and run." He explained; I nodded and attempted to calm the fear that was bubbling in my chest. He smiled again to me and grasped my hand; leaving his first mate, of whose name I knew not, to steer the ship. He gently pulled me down the stairs, across the deck, and into his room where he sat me on the bed and told me to wait. Within moments he returned bearing a large shiny sword with a golden handle and golden designs and words carved into the blade; he held this lightly and sighed as he placed it in my own hands.
"You wanted protection, there's a rapier for hand to hand combat" he said, and, taking a pistol out of his own holster, he put it in mine. "Do you know how to use a gun, Anna?" He asked; I shook my head and he took the rapier from me; placing it in my holster and taking the gun out again. He placed the gun in my palm and stood behind me; his hands still held the gun too, though, they laid over my hands and fingers. "What you do first is cock the hammer" he whispered into my ear, both of our thumbs pulled back a strange, little switch thing on the back of the gun which was, apparently, the hammer.
"Next, you aim" he said, our arms were already outstretched and the gun pointed to the door. "Finally, you pull the trigger, and fire" he finished, looking down to me; our fingers sat on the trigger, he was waiting for me to pull it. I closed my eyes and pulled back the trigger and the gun went off! It forced me backwards, into the Captain and he chuckled; he patted my shoulder and put the gun back in my holster. "You'll use that in farther away combat, say, if someone's shooting at you, you shoot right back and aim for their forehead or chest."
He paused and sighed; walking around me and back to the door. "And, if you feel the need that I am becoming too harsh with you...me" he said finally, clearing his throat and leaving me in his room. I paused; he heard my conversation with Isabelle. He may have not heard all of it, but he heard enough; I sat down upon the ground and thought over everything I said, finally shaking my head. He was giving me permission to possibly maim or kill him if he goes off the deep end, hell, he was giving me a gun and a rapier to do so!
All to make me feel more comfortable.
...I wanted to hug him.
I needed to hug him.
And, that's just what I did; I ran as fast as I could out of his room, down the stairs, and to him. Throwing my arms around him and holding him to me; my face burying into his chest. His hands fell to my waist and he held me close; stroking my hair. Then, I realized, everyone was silent; I looked up from his chest to see that he was smiling to me, and not his normal, sarcastic smile, this was genuine. I smiled back to him and glanced over to see the boat that was once miles behind us, floating alongside of us; all of the men aboard the ship were grinning and snickering.
They were at once called to attention when a familiar face stepped forwards; a face I invited for a drink, a face I met in Tortuga.
Privateer Raoul de Chagny.
