Figured I better post something before Turkey-Day.

Chapter Four: The Timbers Are Shivered

A few days had passed in cold silence; Captain Campbell rose early to take the helm and stopped into the room only long enough to deliver meals. Then she would make a weary appearance after sunset and head straight for the hammock. Emily began passing her days at the window or pouring over the books from the captain's shelves. Even though the captive girl had always been the quieter of the sisters, she had never gone so long without any human contact what so ever. On the third night Naomi entered the room earlier than normal and the redhead jumped at her one chance to make conversation.

"You have a rather fine selection of books," she said as the captain pushed back the roll top and sat down.

"Well I can read," the blonde said without looking up. "We'll be in port by morning. Your ordeal is almost over."

Emily chewed her lower lip; even once they made it to port, she knew it would easily be months before the deal was struck and she was returned home. Her father was in the merchant shipping business and she knew that even straight forward dealings could be easily delayed at sea; she couldn't imagine how much longer it would take for a sordid arrangement of clandestine exchanges to be carried out. All she knew was she couldn't maintain her sanity without some semblance of civility.

"What are you reading?" Emily asked.

The blonde sighed and turned towards the redhead. "A map."

"A map of what?" she asked, desperate to get her talking.

"What do you want?" Naomi asked bluntly.

"I just…" Emily stammered, "I just want to talk."

"About what?" the captain inquired.

"Anything. I don't care; it's just so quiet out here…" She sighed.

The blue eyed girl sighed again. "Ok, you just start talking then."

She couldn't fault Emily for wanting to talk; Naomi often felt the same way.

"Well," the redhead thought out loud, "I could thank you I suppose."

The captain gave her a strange look. "Thank me…for…?"

Emily wasn't sure why that had slipped out. She felt stupid for blurting it out; logically the most she could thank her kidnapper for was not letting the crew have their way with her. Even as she thought that it didn't really seem true, the merchant's daughter was fairly sure that most prisoners didn't get treated as well as she had been over the many days she had been on board. Deep down she knew there was truth to the blurted out thank you. But why?

"I don't know…" Emily wondered aloud, "I mean you've been surprisingly…nice..." She shrugged.

The blonde shrugged back and turned back to her maps; she was charting possible places for the exchange, but was finding it hard to select the perfect location. There were few areas that were safely accessible that would give them proper shelter without hindering their ability to make a quick escape if the deal went south.

"I suppose this isn't exactly what you would expect," Naomi said. "You probably thought you'd be dead by now."

"It's funny," the red haired girl mused, "I was kind of hoping to escape from my father's ship just before this all happened."

"Really?" the captain said with eyebrows raised. "Well I doubt this is anything like what you had in mind," she added, shaking her head.

"No, not exactly," Emily confessed. "I had actually just told a friend of mine that I hoped I would drown."

Once again, the girl wondered why she couldn't seem to stop herself from saying these things. The captain dropped her quill and nearly knocked the bottle of ink off the table. Naomi cursed as she pulled out her handkerchief to mop the spill off of the papers she was working on; when she was done, she turned a skeptical eye to her captive.

"And just what was so terrible that you would want to drown?" she questioned. "Had the dressmaker's run out of your favorite color of silk?" she added sharply.

Emily stuck her chin out defiantly. "We were headed to France so my mother could find me a financially lucrative arranged marriage."

"I thought all you wealthy types lived and breathed that stuff," Naomi said.

"And I thought all pirates raped and slaved and murdered," Emily pointed out. "Marrying a complete stranger is definitely not something I dream about."

Naomi nodded; she could see where the girl was coming from. Now that she thought about it, that kind of marriage wasn't much different than selling your daughter for a tidy profit. There was a fine line between love and necessity; when she had been desperate to leave her mother's seedy tavern, she had let herself believe she loved the man that offered to whisk her away to far off lands. When he had abandoned her in an even seedier port than the one she had started in, she believed that she loved the next person to come to her rescue. It had gone a bit better that time, for a while, but by now the blonde didn't believe in love anymore. Still, she thought, those had been her choices. Her mother hadn't handed her over; in fact, she had fought her daughter tooth and nail trying to change her mind. For all the aristocratic boasting, they were no better than common slave traders in the blonde girl's opinion.

"So when I hand you back over to your father?" Naomi asked.

"…I don't know…" Emily answered. "Maybe I won't have to marry after all."

It was possible that once word of this situation reached France, the various families would withdraw their offers. Many would assume that she no longer had her virtue; her mother, who already seemed to count her as less than her sister, would be furious.

"Well we can toast to that," the captain said as she searched through the desk.

Emily watched nervously as the blonde realized her bottle of alcohol was missing. Naomi looked at her suspiciously and then searched the desk again; the brown eyed girl looked out the window and focused on the stars. She heard paper shuffling and drawers being opened and shut quickly.

"…did you drink my rum?" The captain asked.

"No…yes…I…uh…" she stammered as she looked at Naomi guiltily.

Emily's eyes were like big brown saucers. What answer could she give that would get her in the least amount of trouble?


It had been four days since Katie had stepped foot on Captain Effy's ship, The Bloody Whore, and she felt they were getting absolutely nowhere. The first few nights she had been wracked with terrible sea sickness and was just now adjusting to life on the ship. Despite the fact that she and Emily had always shared a bed, the redhead found it difficult to get any sleep with Effy in the same bed. It wasn't so much that the wild captain stole the covers, or talked nonsense in her sleep, or even that she invaded the other girl's side of the bed—what unnerved Miss Fitch was the look. The suggestive gleam in those icy blue eyes, the mysterious twist in the brunette's smile, and the way she tilted head the way the street boys back home always did when Katherine had passed by in her finest dresses. The pirate captain was giving her that look now as they stood at the wheel of the ship.

"Lovely night, isn't it?" Effy said.

Katie rolled her eyes; it was cold and the night was dark and they were surrounded by a dense fog.

"Oh yes," the redhead spat. "Why if I have do be hopelessly lost at sea, I'm so pleased that I can't even see how lost I am thanks to this lovely fog."

"I'm insulted!" the captain pouted. "I'm never lost."

"Oh forgive me," Katie replied. "I must be confused by the little details. Like the fact that we haven't found any hint of where the Lament has gone."

"It's a common mistake," Effy chided. "Don't beat yourself up over it. You didn't know any better."

The redhead clinched her fists at her sides and the brunette smirked; most of their conversations went this way. With Katie feeling she just might get the last word in and the captain she had hired twisting it back around on her. It was not in the girl's nature to concede defeat, nor was it in the pirate's nature to stop playing her game while it was still so much fun. Personally Effy thought the girl's brown eyes were particularly fetching when they flashed with irritation.

"Land ho!" a voice called from the crows nest.

A tall boy descended the mast quickly and padded barefoot across the deck to the captain and whispered in her ear.

"I know you don't like this place Mr. Thomas, but I promise you can stay with the boat this time," Effy said.

The crewman breathed a sigh of relief and ran off to attend to something below deck.

"What's his problem?" Katie asked.

The captain eyed her with amusement and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Oh same old tale, some woman done him wrong…"

The red head rolled her eyes; she never seemed to know when Effy was joking, but she was almost sure this was one of those times. Instead, she squinted into the fog trying to see any hint of land, but she could barely see past the main mast.

"How can he possibly know there is land out there?" The girl sighed.

Captain Effy simply smirked and called out to the men to drop anchor for the night. She brushed past Katie and headed to their room; the brown eyed girl jogged to keep up with the brunette's surefooted strides. When she entered the room, the captain stood in front of the bed with a mock perturbed expression on her face.

"I don't mind you borrowing my clothes, but you really could hang them back up nicely you know…" she teased.

Katie scanned the room, which was always littered with clothes and other items, and crossed her arms. The blue eyed girl laughed and fell back on the bed.

"Suit yourself; I like a girl with some fight in her," She added.

Katie shuddered and slipped under the sheets quickly, avoiding eye contact with her bunk-mate who continued to giggle at her own joke.

"What is the plan for tomorrow?" the red head snapped.

"Visit a sea witch or two and find out where the Lament is," Effy said.

Katie took several deep breaths and groaned angrily as she adjusted her pillow. It was getting harder and harder not to give in and throw a full blown fit around this girl, but she needed her to find her sister; so instead, she focused on a happy thought and tried to make herself drift off to sleep.

The girl rolled over and rubbed her brown eyes groggily; she didn't want to be awake yet but the sea gulls were too loud to ignore. Katie jumped out of bed, steadying herself as her stomach gave an all too familiar lurch; she hadn't heard sea gulls in weeks. This must mean they actually were near land. She fumbled with her shoelaces and rushed onto the deck. The air was unexpectedly warm and the little island was much closer than she had expected it to be. Katie marched to the front deck to get a closer look; the beach was thin and rocky and most of the island was a mountain. The redhead squinted, but couldn't see any buildings or signs of human inhabitants. The captain walked up behind her and handed her a spyglass.

"This works a lot better than squinting," Effy said.

Katie peeked through the instrument and scanned the coastline more closely; she couldn't see any roads or paths, and the face of the mountain seemed dangerously steep.

"Nobody could live here," she scoffed.

As she continued examining the mountain side, she noticed a glint of yellow and focused in. At the edge of a particularly precarious ledge stood a wispy blonde girl; Katie's jaw dropped as the girl seemed to turn and wave at her.

"It's not possible," Katie gasped.

"They never are…" Effy said knowingly and snatched the small telescope. "Now do you want to go ashore or would you rather stay back with the crew?"

Katie looked around the ship at the grizzled men who scurried around at their tasks. "I suppose I should go," she said. "To make sure it gets done right," she added.

The captain gave her a smug look and spun around to head for the longboats. Once again, the redhead found herself shuffling after the brunette and before she knew it, the two of them were in a boat being rowed by Thomas towards the shore. She could barely contain her excitement at setting foot on dry land and she stood for a moment, in the sun, just experiencing the wonderful feeling of solidity; when she opened her eyes, she only saw Thomas lifting a small chest from the bottom of the boat. She spun around looking for the captain and saw her tossing stones into a small cave just off the beach.

"What are you doing?" Katie panted as she caught up to the brunette.

"Knocking…" Effy said as though it were perfectly obvious. "Go get the chest."

"What?" the brown eyed girl sputtered.

"Mr. Thomas is staying with the boat and the ladies will like you much better if you are the one holding their gifts," the wild looking girl stated.

"So it's not that you don't want to have to carry it?" Katie scoffed.

"Well they already like me," she answered with a twinkle in her blue eyes. "Most of the time…"

The girl huffed and stomped back to the boat to retrieve the box, which was thankfully light, and was just reaching the captain again when the witch appeared at the mouth of the cave. She was definitely the girl from the cliff only an hour earlier and Katie couldn't imagine how she had made it down so quickly; the girl was very thin and her hair reached to her waist in light blonde waves, her eyes were soft brown and her face vacant of expression.

"…we brought some gifts as well if she'll see us," the brunette was saying.

"Oh…wow…" the blonde said. "Lovely to see you Captain Effy…really…lovely." She reached to open the chest which was full of random shiny trinkets and baubles. "So…lovely…Your hair is really red…like red!"

"Cassie, this is Katie. She's hired me to find her sister," Effy said offhandedly.

"Really red…lovely…" Cassie said as she turned and entered the cave.

Katie looked at the captain in confusion; Effy waved her on ahead, giving her that trytokeepup look again. The redhead stumbled on the uneven ground after the skipping blonde; Effy lit a torch and followed behind them, laughing a little to herself as they walked. The cave was damp and slick and seemed to go on forever, but then the tunnel ended abruptly in a valley; Katie could now see that the walls of the valley had natural stone steps that lead to the top of the island. Sunlight poured into the open land and glistened on a little spring in front of a shabby cabin.

Cassie slowly twirled in the sunshine for a few moments before sashaying up to Katie and taking the chest out of her arms.

"Thanks ever so much…really…" the sprightly girl said as she carried the box into the cabin.

Katie started to follow after her, but Effy pulled her back, motioning for her to wait. After a few minutes passed a stockier blonde stood in the doorway of the cottage; her straight blonde hair was pinned up in a lopsided and frazzled bun and her blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Back again Captain Effy?" the witch said. "And I think the same question as before…" The girl's face fell "The answer will have to be the same again you know…I can't help if the fates say no…"

"It only seems like the same question, Pandora…" Effy said warily. "Completely unselfish reasons this time—I promise." She gave the witch a charming smile.

"Bril!" Pandora smiled. "Come on in…shoes at the door."

The brunette kicked off her boots at the door and the redhead looked at her to be sure she was serious; she received a very stern look from the captain and quickly bent to untie her shoes. Inside, the cabin was dimly lit and the short witch already sat at a small table surrounded with candles. There was an empty chair opposite her and the captain gestured for her to sit. Katie sat down nervously and stared across the table.

"Well…you have to ask a question…of course…" the witch said.

"I…" Katie stammered and then cleared her throat. "I want to find my sister Emily."

"Who's currently on the Lament," Effy interjected.

"One questioner only. Eff…Captain Stonem…" the witch corrected.

"How do I get my sister back?" Katie clarified. "Where will we find the ship?"

Pandora's eyes clouded and she emptied the contents of a small bag onto the table; Katie leaned forward to see a jumble of broken shells spread across the table. The redhead leaned back and rolled her eyes; she couldn't believe her sister's fate lay in the hands of a crazy woman who believed a bag full of broken husks would tell her the meaning of the universe. The brunette leaned over her shoulder to take a peak as well and smiled; even though she didn't know what the shells meant, they were much different than the time she had asked to find the ship two years ago.

"One questioner!" a sharp raspy voice came from the witch's mouth and Effy backed away, hands out to the doorway.

"A peaceful home in warm waters…home and hearth and haven…" the voice continued.

Katie's face blanched and her eyes went wide; she'd never seen or heard anything like this before' the witch's eyes rolled back and she spoke with two voices—her real voice like an echo.

"Twists and turns…lost in the waves…" the voices continued. "The doll under the bed…the island forgotten—left in ruin…she will not return…"

The witch slumped and her face came down hard on the table. The brown eyed girl tumbled out of her chair, but quickly sprang to feet and dashed out the door, nearly knocking the brunette over in the process. The captain strode over to the table and shook the blonde gently; the witch quickly came too and sat bolt upright in her chair, several shells stuck to her face. She looked around with a vacant expression.

"Where's you're friend gone?" Pandora asked.

"She's indisposed at the moment," Effy answered. "Maybe you could tell me so that I can let her know…"

The girl looked at her skeptically. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone but her…" she thought aloud.

"I would have heard it anyway you know? She would have to tell me seeing as how I have to set the course…" the captain reasoned smoothly.

"Yeah! Right!" the blonde chirped. "You know the island; you've been there."

"I've been to a lot of islands you know," Effy pointed out.

"It's the best I can do…she won't return…don't go Eff…it won't end well…" Pandora pleaded.

"Nothing is set in stone Panda," the brunette persisted. "You know me…I have ways…I've always had ways."

Captain Effy turned to leave and the witch stood up quickly, pulling a shell off of her face with a cringe. "Take this—it's hers now."

"Thanks…she'll love it I'm sure." The brunette laughed as she left the cottage.

"Thomas is with you…I saw that in my tea this morning…" the witch asked cautiously.

"Still too soon Panda dear…" the captain called over her shoulder as she picked up the redhead's shoes and caught up with her at the mouth of the cave.

Katie had thrown up and glared angrily at the wild woman who had a bright look on her face and tossed her shoes at her with a cheerful look.

"Well that was a waste of time…just like I thought," Katie spat.

Her brown eyes were dark and hard as she turned to enter the cave and the captain followed her in silence. Katie was furious, but it was hard to tell if it was because she felt they had wasted over a week to get here for nothing or if it was because she believed what the witch had said. She refused to believe it; they would find Emily, she would be fine, and she would save her and bring her back home. So what if the crazy blondes had mesmerizing tricks up their sleeves; they didn't know Emily and they certainly didn't know Katherine Veronique Fitch. The redhead sat down in the boat quickly and turned her back to the other two passengers. The captain lounged at the back of the longboat and gazed at the shell Pandora had given her; it meant something, she supposed, but what she didn't quite know yet. She gave Thomas a soft pat on the shoulder and they headed back to the ship.

I am so grateful for every review I get, you all keep me writing when I feel like I should just throw in the towel and give up. Thank you all so much.