Hey guys! Sorry for the delay, i know what's going to happen in the story but i'm making it up as i go along so please bear with me. And thanks for the reviews! Special shout out to green eyed owl who is my first ever reviewer! You rock! Two of you guys mentioned that i went a bit too fast in the first chapter and if you read on, you'll see why, hopefully.
Oh, and housepoints to anyone who spots the harry potter movie reference ;D
Again, i don't own POTO or any of it's characters but i forgot to mention, i do own Mrs. Brown and Baron Louis d'Etienne
Chapter 2
"There it is," Erik murmured, peering at the elegant merchant ship through his telescope.
His ship, the Garnier, was near-invisible to the other due to its pitch black body and sail, the darkness of the night camouflaging them in the murky waves.
If his calculations were right and the moon remained hidden in the clouds just a little bit longer, they would remain unseen until the other ship was close enough to jump onto...
He had to admit, his plan was foolproof; with his disciplined crew they'd yet to fail since the first time they did it a few years ago.
It only worked in the night but involved the most discreet and efficient half of his crew swimming up to the enemy ship while the rest of the crew, including him,
steadily got closer.
The swimmers would climb into the ship, kill as many as they could from the inside out until the rest came to finish the job.
Silence and speed were the keys and often it was only the poor Captain of the other ship and the men patrolling the decks left, completely unaware of their already murdered comrades, so it was a quick, unfair death.
He smirked. He was a pirate.
Soon they were close enough so he could see, without a telescope, the looks of surprise and pain on the other crew's faces through the portholes as his men went on with the slaughter.
On deck, he could see a few men scrubbing the floor, too engrossed in their work to notice another ship looming painfully close. More men were sitting, relaxed and chatting away. A grey-haired man was on the prow playing a melancholy tune on his fife.
At the door of the upper cabin, he could see two women talking- both dark haired but one was smaller, slightly plump and older while the other was the opposite.
Before he could look closer they went inside their cabin, followed close after by a young boy holding trays of food.
"Too bad they won't be able to enjoy it," he smirked.
But the smirk quickly disappeared when the moon came out of hiding and exposed them.
The old man's head whipped round the same time Erik's crew jumped up from inside the ship.
The old man snapped into action, drawing his pistol and yelling, "WE'RE BEING ATTACKED! GET YOUR SWORDS AND RIFLES YA BUNCH OF SCUM, GO!"
Quickly Erik and the rest of his waiting crew climbed up the rigging and swung over onto the enemy deck, a resounding crash coming as a sturdy wooden plank was placed between the ships as a bridge for his less nimble men.
He landed sure on his feet but momentarily staggered back as the old man bashed his pistol across his head.
He touched his face.
Good, the mask was still on.
He turned back to the old man just as he was pointing the gun at his chest; he knocked his wrist away as it went off, smashing glass somewhere, and he quickly reached for his Punjab lasso and snapped the man's scraggly neck before he could do further damage.
"Doctor!" he cried and a plump man appeared seemingly from nowhere.
The contrast of his kind face was almost comical against the violence happening around them.
"The cabin!" Erik said, jerking his head in that direction and flicked his hand so the dead man's corpse shielded him from an oncoming sword thrust.
The young man holding the sword stared at him, terrified, and he smiled.
He swiftly lengthened his lasso, wrapped it around the young man's neck and twisted until he heard that satisfying crack.
He let the two bodies drop; around him the battle was won and his crew stood satisfied above the fallen.
The doctor shouted from the cabin; two of his men ran in and dragged the plump, older woman he'd seen earlier, now bound with her hands behind her.
Moments later the younger woman stepped out of the cabin, the doctor pressing a gun into her back.
His breath caught.
She was possibly the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
The masked man looked her up and down, making her blush furiously.
The man smirked.
"Well, gents," he said in a velvet voice. "Where are your manners? Bow to the ladies."
They all guffawed and bowed deeply, whistling and whooping and giving her suggestive gestures.
"Good work, doctor," the man went on.
Dr. Copper nodded and pushed her forward.
"Thank you Cap'n. As far as I know, no one is left."
" 'As far as you know'? Have you checked?"
"Err...no..."
"Well then, go check. Chagny! Rock! Go with him."
A fair young man and a rough looking brute with an eye patch followed Copper into the ship; the brute ignored her but the young man smiled kindly.
She instinctively started to smile back but then he remembered what he was.
A calloused hand suddenly turned her face and she found herself staring into shining silver eyes.
"My, my, what a beauty," the Captain smirked, taking in the sight of her delicate features, clear brown eyes and now mussed-up curly russet hair.
The annoyance in her demeanour brought fire into her aura, enhancing her radiance.
"Get your hands off me," she hissed, trying to jerk away but he held her chin firmly.
"I...understand we've started on the, ahem, wrong foot, shall we say?"
His crew laughed as he kept that confounded smirk on his face.
"Let me introduce myself," he went on.
He stepped back, spreading his arms like a showman and his crew knelt on their knees in mock reverence.
"Captain Erik Jacoby William Samuel Brian-" he smiled and his crew sniggered "-Guerrier."
Christine's eyes widened in fear at the sound of his surname.
She'd heard from her brother and friends in the Royal Navy near-horror stories of the Guerrier Pirate Family and how their cruelty and cunning was famed even in the 13th century.
Only now did she realise the full extent of her dilemma.
She laughed.
The smirk faltered at the sound and she laughed again.
It wasn't funny at all but she laughed.
"And what, my dear, is so funny?" Erik snarled.
Christine giggled.
"I don't know," she said. "It's like something from a book isn't it? I'm coming home from Spence, then captured and could get killed by pirates captained by a lunatic in mask-"
A sudden wrenching pain around her neck choked her violently.
Erik held the other end of the Punjab lasso.
He sneered at her terrified expression.
"Your hand at the level of your eyes, mademoiselle," he whispered, making her break out in cold sweat.
He tugged and she gasped.
"No!" Mrs. Brown cried. "Let her go, please!"
"Shut it, woman," Erik growled.
He twitched the rope and Christine collapsed; he caught her before she fell, took the rope from her neck and slung her over his shoulder.
"NO!" Mrs. Brown screamed, rushing forward but she was held back.
"Oh, calm down, woman," Erik said, walking away. "She's unconscious, not dead."
"I demand that y-"
"Demand?"
He whirled around, eyes flashing dangerously.
"No, no no, you do not demand. You either beg or stay silent. Even if you begged I wouldn't really care. What were you going to demand about, madam? That I sail to the nearest port so you and your little friend run around telling the most amazing story of how your demands for freedom scared the Captain Erik Guerrier into actually obliging?"
He laughed.
"For that audacity, madam, you are not going with us as prisoner. Oh no, we'll give you a fate wishing you were the fleas on the rats crawling my ship. Khan!"
A dark skinned man with brilliant jade eyes stepped forward.
"Tie her up and send her adrift."
The man's expression didn't change but he simply nodded and dragged her over to the ship's side where the lifeboat hung ready.
"The rest of you," Erik said, stepping onto the long board between the ships. "You know what to do. It's a merchant ship, meaning surplus cargo. Bring everything valuable on board and burn this ship afterwards."
And he turned and crossed onto his ship, Christine never once stirring on his shoulder.
"Madam, if you will just listen to me," Nadir Khan said quietly, shaking her.
"Why should I listen to a filthy pirate?" Mrs. Brown cried.
Nadir clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Because this filthy pirate is about to help you."
Mrs. Brown stared at him. "Why?"
The Persian just shrugged and undid the knots that tied her wrists together but didn't unravel them.
"Now listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, madam," he said, getting more rope from the bottom of the small boat and wrapping it around her ankles.
"What are you doing?"
"I said listen, madam," he said, starting to get impatient. "I am meant to row you quite a ways from our ship, anchor the boat and leave you to the mercy of the weather and sea but instead I will help you and you will hopefully survive. Now, I am 'tying' you ankles to make sure you can't struggle, you understand? Your wrists and ankles are actually free but do not move them until it is safe to. When I've rowed far enough, I will swim back to my ship and only when it has disappeared completely from sight can you free yourself. I will make it look like I dropped the oars into the water but I'll leave them here. And have this."
He reached into his pocket and handed her a small wooden compass.
"Row as far as you can north eastwards and hopefully you manage to travel 20 miles into the shipping lanes."
She was stunned but couldn't help but ask, "What if I don't?"
Nadir shook his head. "I would think positively, madam."
Erik laid Christine on his bed then kept his hands either side of her as he studied her more carefully.
She was indeed a beautiful girl, he had noticed that when he first saw her and again when he scrutinised her on the deck of her ship but up close, and the golden candlelight illuminating her features, she struck him speechless.
Exquisite, he thought. The perfect and only word to describe her.
His hand acted of its own accord and gently brushed stray brown curls from her face, softly tracing the curve of her lips and skimming over the delicate beauty spot on her right cheekbone.
He jumped back as if he'd been scalded.
What was he doing? Where had this foppish caressing come from?
Sure he was stunning but it wasn't as if he'd never seen a gorgeous woman before.
Hell, there was one in his crew right now!
He stared at her again, recalling the fire that burned in her eyes when she spoke back to him- fire probably induced from fear and panic but fire that nonetheless hinted at a passionate nature.
Was that what he found so alluring? The clash of that hidden passion and exceedingly innocent aura?
No, it couldn't be. He'd just been out at sea too long and she was the first woman apart from his cousin that he'd seen-
"What are you doing?"
He spun around to the source of the voice and saw it was the girl that he'd just been thinking of.
"Meg," he said, surprised. When had she learned to move so quietly?
"I was just-"
The blonde moved past him and sat on the bed, looking at the sleeping brunette's face.
Meg looked at him with a sceptically raised brow.
Erik raised his brow in return.
"My intentions were nothing less than honourable."
"And I'm meant to believe such words coming from a pirate?"
"Yes, considering you're one yourself."
"I can hardly call myself one when you don't even let me go with you on raids. And anyway, I am a woman and therefore have better self control."
"I object."
"She's coming with me, dear cousin."
"And who says so? She's a captive!"
"I do," and she proceeded to lift the much taller, unconscious girl. "And if she was a prisoner, why haven't you thrown her in the brigs?"
He was silent then decided to ignore her statement and tried a new tactic.
"Margaret Claudia Giry, I order you to put her down."
Meg groaned. "I told you never to call me that! God, I hate that name...And I am doing this to save her from a disgusting fate."
"You dare imply that I'd use her as a whore? Tell me again why I don't shoot you?"
"Because you love me, really. Come, tell me, Erik, what you and the rest of the crew did the last time we came docked?"
Erik sighed, knowing what she was getting at, and walked into his study, pretending to ignore her.
"Exactly," Meg went on, now at the door. "By the time you all came back you reeked of drink and whore. I was almost choking."
"Pity it didn't work..."
She rolled her eyes and shut the door, leaving him alone.
He stared at the bed thoughtfully.
He certainly had no intention of using her just for her body, even if he did desire her.
There was something about her that made him respect her, as well as triggering something he never felt in all of his 35 years.
He'd killed, used, tortured and scared women before- much to Meg's disgust- so why had he chosen to bring her into his room for safekeeping instead?
He groaned, shook his head and practically ran up to the deck, needing a distraction and to see if his crew had finished the job so they could leave already.
Two hours after that damned pirate ship disappeared, Mrs. Brown was exhausted, hungry, scared and quickly losing hope.
She was thankful the moon shone brightly as her lamp but, as the Masked Captain predicted, she did wish she was at least on their ship.
Despite the night and cool sea breeze, her hair and clothes clung to her thanks to the humid Atlantic air.
The Persian informed her the tide should be going into the shore and should she fall asleep it would be safe that she didn't float to some unknown place.
"Well I just hope he's right," she muttered, gathering the oars in the boat and trying to get as comfortable as she could on the gently rocking wooden vessel.
please review! i got quite a few hits for the last chapter but please, reviews make me jumpily happy!
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