Chapter Three: The Frozen Scarlett
"I still can't believe you did that. I didn't know you had it in you Chris, but it was bloody brilliant though. He was right in what he said you know; he doesn't give his ships to just anybody." Captain Owens stated as she continued to ramble on at me. She hadn't stopped since we left the tavern, it was quite amusing actually. I even laughed a few times, but she gave me a few looks as she couldn't see how it was funny, so I ended up apologizing and shutting up to let her carry on.
We eventually reached the docks and made our way over to the group of ships, where I could choose the one I liked and keep it for myself. I still couldn't believe that Captain Shade had given me one of his ships. I think I was still getting over the shock, and knew that later on I'd end up either being really happy and spreading my joy with my new crew members, or being so happy that I'd end up crying. Either way, I didn't mind, I was getting a ship, I had always dreamt of having my own and sailing the sea's with my very own crew.
There were three ships to choose from and I was looking at each one individually and trying to imagine myself sailing it. My Captain had stopped talking now and was suddenly very quiet, probably because she knew I'd be leaving her to go off on my own ship soon. It wasn't like I wasn't going to see her again; I'd always find a way of seeing the first Captain I ever had. At the moment though, she was just looking at the ships in silence and it felt like she was a little kid, tugging on my shirt and telling me not to leave. I was growing up now though, and I wanted to do my own thing, but I'd always miss her. I concentrated my thoughts onto the ships again, wanting to get it over and done with quickly because I didn't think I could see my Captain's face like that for much longer.
The first ship was the smallest one out of them all, and looked a little too much like what the East India Trading Company would use. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't piratey enough for me. It had way too many windows, and the shade of brown was too light. If it wasn't for the old cracks in the wood in certain places and the pirate flag, I wouldn't be too sure if it was a pirate ship. Although the sails were a bit ragged also, which was good, but I still didn't think that it was the right ship for me.
The second ship was better compared to the first. For starters, it definitely looked more like a pirate's ship, the wood was a darker brown and was nicely carved in the right places, and the flag, sails and windows were also good. It was a little higher than the first, but by what it looked like, only by the length of another flag so that wasn't much. I decided that this wasn't the ship for me either; maybe good for one of my Captain's other crew members, but not me.
The third and final ship caught my eye straight away, and it looked like this was the only good one left out of the three. It was a lot higher than the other two, making them seem small up against them. There were the right amount of windows, the flag was black and had a white skull in the middle, with red crossbones underneath it. The sails were also black and had a few rips but not too many, and the wood was black all over, with the exception of certain parts being blood red. I loved it, and I knew that this was my ship. It was the greatest ship I'd ever seen in my life, and I was in awe as I just seemed to stare up at it for the longest time.
I finally snapped out of it though and I smiled, looking over to Captain Owens, "That's it, that's my ship right there." I told her as I pointed to the third one on the end.
She looked over towards it and nodded her head, while seeming to inspect it with those eyes of hers, to see if it'd be good enough for me. Eventually she nodded again and smiled a little, "It's not too bad actually." That was all she said and I was going to ask her if she was really ok with me leaving, when she looked back over to me wearing which was obviously a fake smile to cover up how she really felt. "I guess you'll have to think of a name for it, 'tis your ship now, after all."
I nodded and looked back over to my ship, a smile on my face as I had already thought of a name. "I'm calling her, The Frozen Scarlett." I said proudly, thinking the name was perfect for it. "What do you think?" I asked my Captain as I looked back over to her.
She gave yet another small smile and a nod of her head, "Aye, it's good." Even though she was smiling, I could clearly see that she didn't like any part of this; it was obvious. "I better go find you a crew." She added flatly, before turning and walking off down the docks, back into town.
"Captain?" I turned and asked in concern, but as she didn't answer I figured I'd call her by her real name thinking it might make her stop and come back, or at least turn round. "Vanessa?" Still, she didn't turn back or answer and I frowned; I hated seeing her in this way. I wanted to catch up with her and talk to her about all of this, but knowing her like I did, it was best to just leave her on her own for a while until she came back. So, turning back round I looked over at the ships again and a young man caught my eye. I guessed he was the one I went to talk to about getting my ship, seeing as he was asking other pirates questions and making sure none of them went onto the ships without him knowing that they were meant to, by the acceptance of Captain Shade. I walked over quickly, wanting to snag up my ship before any other pirate got their hands on it. Besides there were only three ships, and I didn't know how quickly pirates came and grabbed them before anybody else could.
As I was walking over, I had thought that there would have been more than three ships when I got here, but then again, how could I complain? Captain Shade had given me permission to have one of them for myself, and I definitely wasn't going to start moaning about how many there was to choose from now. Eventually I reached the man and gave him a smile, which soon faded as he looked over me as if I weren't capable of having any ship at all. "So lassie, what did you do to get Captain Shade to give up one of his ships to you, eh?" he suddenly asked, and eyed me curiously.
I raised an eyebrow for a second or two, before stating what I did. "I shot him in the foot." The tone of my voice made it obvious that I was being serious, and as he just stared at me for a few moments, I actually thought he believed me. That was until, he burst out laughing. I blinked, was it really that hard to believe? 'It's probably because I'm a woman.' she thought and rolled her eyes, before narrowing them. "Would you like a preview?" she asked him, her voice now at a lower tone as one of her hands moved to her belt to grab her pistol. At this point he stopped laughing abruptly, his expression now serious as he matched her look and narrowed his eyes.
"You don't have it in you." he said in a low tone, although she could tell he sounded unsure, causing a grin to tug at the corners of her lips.
"Believe me, I do. You can go see for yourself if you like, I'm guessing Captain Shade will still be in the tavern and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show you his bloody foot. I would just shoot you, but I don't want to waste any of my gunpowder."
He slowly looked convinced enough to step aside to allow me to go collect my ship, and just as I was about to pass he put his hand up stopping me in my tracks. "If I find out you lied to me, I'll come looking for you, mark me words." he said in a warning tone, pointing a finger at her like he was getting his point across. I sighed impatiently and took one step towards him making him take one step back in a feared manner, even though he still looked at me like he wasn't a coward at all.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not lying then, eh?" I replied in a slightly husky tone, my grin widening in a some what sadistic manner for a second before I made my way past him. Hurriedly, I made my way straight to the third ship that I was going to claim as my own, a smile on my face as I got closer and closer to it with thoughts of sailing it already coming into my mind. My smile was wiped away, however, as I then spotted another pirate eyeing it up, so I made my way over to him. I thought I'd play it up a little just to convince him that it was mine and suddenly said, "Ah, looking at my ship, I see. Aye, she's a real beauty, she is. I'll be sailing away with her in no time."
The man looked at her and raised his eyebrows in surprise, "This is your ship?" he asked dumbly.
I had to stop myself from furrowing my eyebrows when he asked me that; how dumb was this pirate exactly? Did he not know that pirates had to grab the ships quickly before they were taken? "Aye, it's been mine for over an hour now." I replied, a forced smile on my face as I really couldn't be bothered to deal with this man.
"Oh, well, what about those two? Have they been taken yet?" he asked me while pointing to the other two ships beside mine. I glanced over to them for a second and saw nobody there but ended up shrugging my shoulders as I turned back to him.
"I don't know. Maybe you should go check." I said in a tone that would sound like I was talking to a child, my smile widening as I held back my laughter. He nodded and walked off without a word and I had to quickly run up onto my ship before I actually did start laughing. Then after a few minutes I calmed myself down and looked around, taking in every detail that I could while I stood on the deck of my very own ship. Noticing the wheel I made my way over, going up the steps to get to it and then taking hold of it, pretending I was sailing as the slight breeze blew through my hair. I couldn't help myself, I had always wanted to be a Captain and now for the first time in my life, I was going to be one. Taking a deep breath of the salty air, I smiled to myself and happily made my way back down onto the deck and over to the edge, looking out and making sure no one else came to try and claim my ship for their own.
It hadn't been too long before I noticed Captain Owens walking back down the docks with a bunch of pirates following behind her. She started looking around to see where I was, which is when I shouted out to her as I was still standing at the edge of my ship. "Captain, up here!"
When she looked up along with the other pirates, I motioned for all of them to come up and join me on my ship with a wave of my hand. Once they were all on board Captain Owens took over and ordered them to stand in a line so I could check them over and see if they were good enough to become a part of my crew. I started on the opposite side of the ship and started walking along slowly as I looked at them, my Captain standing beside me as we went along. When I reached the other side I looked at all of them for a moment; there were twenty in total and all of them were women; before I then looked at my Captain who also looked my way as she knew I was going to say something. "You did good, Captain. I think I've got me self a loyal and trustworthy crew here. Thank you." I said in a warm tone, giving her a grateful smile.
"You're welcome, and I should be the one calling you Captain now." she replied, chuffing a little as she smiled back slightly. I could still see the sadness in her eyes and sighing lightly, I then pulled her into a hug which she returned by wrapping her arms around me and giving me a friendly squeeze. "Take care of yourself, for me." she then said, like a mother would to their child.
Squeezing her back gently I smiled and rubbed her back a few times, "I will," I promised, "and you better do, too."
At this she chuckled and pulled back, nodding her head telling me she would do. Looking at my crew members for a second she then looked back towards me and let out a long sigh as she spoke up again. "Well, Captain, I think it's time you set sail with your crew."
I grinned and nodded my head, "Aye, I think it is." I replied, catching her grin before I looked over to my crew to start giving them orders. "Alright, weigh anchor! Make ready to set sail!" With a reply of 'Aye, Captain's coming from my crew and watching them of set off to work I couldn't help but grin wider, looking back over to my Captain. Although, I then noticed her making her way off and going back down to the docks so I quickly ran over to the side and called down to her. "I'll be seeing you soon, Vanessa." I promised, and gave her a respectful nod of my head as she looked up at me.
"Aye, you can count on that, Chris!" she called back to me and nodded her head also, then waving as my ship started to pull away from the docks. I waved back and just stayed at the side watching my Captain as she got further away by the minute, and once she was too far I turned back to my crew and saw them getting to different jobs even though I hadn't told them to. A smile then came to my face as I guessed that Vanessa had told them what to do before bringing them to me. 'She really was a great Captain.' I thought to myself warmheartedly until I then realized that I didn't know any of my crew member's names. Although, I knew I'd get to know them all eventually, but for now I was enjoying the moment. Being a Captain for the very first time and having my own crew and my own ship; something I knew I wanted to last for a long time.
"Where are we headed, Captain?" a young girl then asked me bringing me out of my thoughts.
She was stood at the wheel and steering my ship and I walked up the steps and came up to her, and she must've known that I wanted to steer myself as she instantly stepped away. Giving her a thankful smile I then stepped up to the wheel and took hold while looking out to sea and replying to her, the smile still remaining on my lips. "Right now, I'd say we're heading anywhere the wind may take us."
I didn't know where we'd end up, obviously, but I didn't really mind. It was the start of a new day and new adventures to look forward to, and even though I knew we'd probably end up coming into trouble at some point, I wasn't worried. That was all part of being a pirate, after all.
Authors note: I'm so sorry it's taken so long to post this, i've just been so busy and i haven't really had any motivation to write anything up until now. But yeah, i hope you like it and feel free to leave any reviews and add it to your favorites. Hopefully if i can fit it in or even think of a way to do it, Jack should appear in the next chapter, and i will try not to leave it so long this time. If i do, then i'll try and make it longer and add two more chapters instead of just one, so yeah anyone who is reading this at the moment, then please just bear with me. I will add more to this story eventually, i just need to keep at it and not get so lazy lol.