...

Amy squirmed and shook her head. The sun pierced her vision as she opened her eyes. A few people looked at her pitifully. As she snapped to her senses, she realized that many people around her were shouting, they were all men, and they were all tied up with either coarse rope or chains. The floor was wet, moldy, and smelly and the room they were in seemed to rock slowly.

"What! Matthew? What happened?" she shouted in alarm.

"Amy? Good, you're awake." Amy struggled to turn her head and found that Matthew was chained up next to her.

"Matthew!" He grimaced and tugged and his chains. "Do you know what happened to us and all these people?" Matthew took a glance around. He looked at a door in the ceiling with stairs leading down from it and the barrels in the back of the room.

"I think we were kidnapped," he said simply. "I think we were kidnapped by pirates." The door slammed open and an Asian man with black hair almost touching his shoulders and blank eyes walked down into the room, followed by a blond man with messy hair, bright green eyes, and fancier clothing than the first man. The green-eyed man walked to the center of the un-orderly room and stood atop several boxes.

"Quiet, you bloody wankers!" he shouted. Nobody heard him over the noise.

"QUIET!" he shouted again, this time louder. The captives continued yelling and panicking. Amy looked at him with curiosity. Was he their captor? He reached into his blood red coat and pulled out a pistol. The Asian man ran against a wall as the blond pointed it into the air and shot a blast. The room silenced itself.

"Good. Now to answer some of your questions I presume?" he said in a thick English accent. The prisoners stayed quiet, staring at the weapon in his hand. "Well, if you don't bloody know already, I am Captain Arthur Kirkland," he sneered. "You may now consider yourselves slaves to this ship. Yes, I am a pirate and this is the beautiful ship, Alice." The newly proclaimed slaves whispered among themselves with worry.

"I demand you set us free right now!" Amy shouted at the pirate.

"Oh what do we have here, laddie?" Captain Arthur glared at Amy. Amy remembered that she was wearing boy's clothes. "Who do you think you are, boy?"

"The one who'll beat you're bloody-"

BLAM

Arthur shot his pistol right above her head.

"Watch what you say, boy."

A new set of feet pounded down the stairs.

"Captain! French ships spotted in the east!" A small boy yelped. Captain Arthur growled.

"Good lord, Peter! Tell them to fire a few shots but don't waste anything." The Captain waved the boy away. "They are just the frog Frenchies anyways."

"Frenchie pirates! They've got a piece of that map. I heard they stole it from the Spaniards!" the boy continued. "They're finally after the treasure, too!" Captain Arthur gritted his teeth.

"Oh, bloody hell! I'm coming but the French are still the French." Arthur followed Peter up the steps. "Lee will show you what to do!" He shouted over his shoulder. As soon as they were gone, the slaves started to talk again. The Asian man stared at them blankly.

"You will wash the decks and clean basically. Also fix torn clothing and make food. Some of you will be sold as slaves to other pirates or for extra money." He took a musket and stood by the door.

Amy giggled to herself. Captain Arthur and his crew weren't like the pirates she had imagined at all! He was actually quite soft in her opinion. Next to her, a lady with silver hair and also wearing boy clothing took out a knife and slit the rope, freeing herself, Amy, and a few others. The lady stood up and stretched and sat back down again. A bunch of people close to them, including Lee, looked surprised for a second but then decided they didn't care anymore.

"Hey, you freed yourself!" Amy said and stood up. "Why did you sit back down instead of running away?" The lady looked at her.

"You're a girl, too, aren't you? What's your name?" she smirked.

"Hey! Answer my question!"

"Because I'd have to fight a bunch of pirates and we're on a ship so if I manage to fight off those pirates I would have to swim to the nearest town! Duh…" The silver-haired lady rolled her eyes.

"Oh… Yeah…" Amy sat back down. "Well, I'm Amy. What's yours?"

"Gilberta. I'm a well-known thief." Gilberta smiled at Amy's reaction. "That's probably why I was captured onto this Alice. I've heard that Pirate Kirkland captures either random people off the streets or criminals with a name." Matthew squirmed at his chains. Gilberta looked frightened for a moment at the sudden movement.

"When did you get there!" she asked.

"Oh sorry, I forgot about you, brother," Amy apologized and looked at his chains. The chains wrapped around a pole and had a lock securing him and others. "Um, Gilberta? Do you happen to know how to pick a lock?"

"Yeah, sure." Gilberta took her pocket knife and inserted it into the lock. She twisted it for a while and with a clink it unlocked. Matthew threw the chains to the ground.

"Thank you," he said.

"Not at all," Gilberta replied.

"Hey what do you that little kid meant by the map and treasure?" Amy asked and leaned her head back on to the rotted wood.

Gilberta rubbed her chin. "I think he meant the legend of Alice."

"What? This ship?" Matthew said confused. Gilberta shook her head.

"That's what this ship is named after. Here I'll tell you a bit. A lot of people who is after fame and fortune know this stupid tale."

...

Ok so This story was written on a whim and I have no idea how to trasition it. Man, my sister keeps coming in my room and bothering me to read it!

Well, the story is getting a little better...

Reviews wanted!

The next chapter will be about the Alice thing...