Chapter 2
By the time Cady roused the next morning, it was near noon. She sat up with a start and shook her head. She immediately was met with a throbbing. If it had been a hangover, it wouldn't have phased her in the slightest. Unfortunately she had a small lump hidden within her hair. She sighed and decided to check to be sure all of her effects were still with her.
Her eyes roamed the empty room she was in. She had apparently been sleeping in a pile of straw, as there was no furniture in the room. Her things were tossed haphazardly in a corner. No harm, no foul so long as nothing was missing. She scooted across the rotted wood flooring and began to rifle through her things.
"Pistol…check. Money…gone. Rapier….gone. Dagger…"she sighed in relief to find her dagger. At least she still had two weapons. She then began checking the items she had been wearing. She reached down her shirt and pulled out three chains, two gold and one silver. On the end of one chain was the piece of eight that was left to her by none other than Elizabeth Turner, Sao Feng's successor and Pirate King. The exchange of powers had only happened twenty four hours prior. Elisabeth had entrusted The Empress and her position to Cady, due to Elisabeth's pregnancy. Cady had only just met Elisabeth, but Mrs. Turner had insisted that she take over. Cady tucked the small sea shell away bitterly. If this is how things were going to go, she was having second thoughts about accepting. The second chain held a gnarled golden key. She didn't know what it was to, but her father (also a pirate) had left it with her when she was a baby. The final chain held a small hummingbird charm with a black pearl as its body.
"Now to find my ship," she grumbled. The men were supposed to be coming for her today. She had bartered a passage from Port Royal to Tortuga on a merchant ship. Along the route, they were stopped by a rather ragtag bunch of novice pirates. Novice or no, the merchant ship could not handle them. When they discovered a disguised Cady aboard, they gave her two options: provide company for their captain or walk the plank. Knowing they were only a mile from Tortuga, she chose the latter. She wrapped the elegant armor Elisabeth had given her in cloth, tied it to her ankle with a piece of rope, and gracefully dove from the side of the ship into the waters below.
When she finally managed to drag herself ashore in Tortuga, she decided to dig a hole in the sand near some rocks and bury her new clothing until the morning. It was then she began her drunken escapades for the evening. The very escapades she was now deeply regretting. She hadn't seen John Devery in years. She was amazed he had remembered their bargain. She had no ship to pay him with.
Cady stood and crept through the maze of hallways and out what appeared to be a kitchen door in the back of the tavern and headed for the shoreline to find her clothing and meet her new crew. She weaved her way through pirates and whores and many a domestic dispute over the previous night's activities. By the time she reached the rock she had buried her clothing near, she was ready to be off of this sloppy island.
Using her bare hands, Cady dug down deep enough to pull her packaged clothing up. Standing behind the rock and enough out of sight that anyone who saw wouldn't matter, she stripped off her clothing and pulled on the strange, traditional Chinese armor. It fit her well, though a little snug. At the bottom of the package was the Dao Elisabeth had given her. It was tradition, she had insisted. She slipped it into its place at her left hip and looked toward the crystal clear ocean waters. The sky and sea were both so blue that she couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
After only a moment of staring, a large ship came into view. It flew no colors, but she knew what ship it was. It was the Empress. It was her new home.