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The pirate who shoved Lovina onto the Green Revenge marched her below decks, holding her arm high and tight when she started to struggle. The hold was tight enough to be painful, and left her the option of scuttling along or being dragged. Needless to say Lovina was cursing him the whole way down to the bottom level of the ship.

Antonio had threatened her with the brig, but when she'd gone looking she hadn't found one. The Green Revenge, however, was a bit different. There was a section of the lowest level that had been sectioned off, and held several barred cells. The crewmen wrenched one open with a shriek of metal, shoving her in and slamming it shut again.

"Ye stay put until the captain decides to do with ye," grumbled the pirate, turning a key in the lock and stalking back towards the stairs. She could hear him grumbling as he went. "Should 'a signed on with a captain that lets us have fun..."

Lovina glowered after him, but it didn't have her usual enthusiasm. She gripped the bars, letting her forehead fall against the cool metal with a plunk. This was not how she'd wanted things to go. As much as she was loath to admit it, she'd rather have stayed on theDelfín Rojo. Besides that, what she didn't understand was why Kirkland had been so quick to believe her. Yes she'd been trying to keep him away from the map, but she'd expected to have a bit more of a challenge. It had been harder to convince Juan for pities sake. For all he knew, she could have been a-

"Hello."

She swung around, startled. Then she blinked, realizing for the first time she wasn't alone. A girl was sitting in the cell next to her, back to the wall, legs folded.

"I thought they were attacking a pirate vessel," the girl noted, a bit of confusion in her voice.

"They did," said Lovina, frowning. "Who are you?"

The girl got to her feet, dusting off her dress. It was simple, though well made, the sort of thing well-to-do ladies wore for travel. Bobbing a light curtsy, she said, "My name is Madeline. It's nice to meet you, circumstances aside."

Lovina returned the gesture out of habit. "Lovina," she said, deciding to leave her title aside for now. "Did you get captured too?"

Madeline smiled tightly, moving to sit next to the bars separating their cells. As Lovina sat across from her the girl said, "Yes, about a week ago I think. My sister and I were visiting relatives in England, at least we were supposed to be. Things were still settling down from the revolution, and mother wanted us to meet her parents before they died. We were making a stop for supplies when the Green Revenge attacked our vessel."

"Wait, I thought he didn't attack British ships."

"He doesn't. My sister and I are from America, but we were on a French merchant ship at the time. It was cheaper passage. That's why we went south first instead of east, they had to make a stop in the Caribbean to exchange cargo for extra supplies. The captain hates anything French, though I'm not sure why."

"So that bit of his reputation about leaving women and children is...

Madeline chuckled, which surprised Lovina. "No, that part is completely true. He had no idea we were on board. His crew found us and captured us, without mentioning it to him. They knew he wouldn't have let them otherwise. He didn't find us until that night. They were trying to...anyway Amelia managed to get in a good scream. The captain came running and shot two of them on the spot. He was absolutely furious."

"So where is your sister now, then?"

"In his cabin. He locked me up down here and took her with him. He has a fondness for her. He lets her visit me and bring me food, but she has to pay a price. It makes her mad."

When she saw Lovina's expression she shook her head quickly, blushing.

"No, nothing like that! He just makes her kiss him. As I said, he is fond of her, even after she gave him a black eye when he first found us."

"I thought you said he came to help you."

"He did, but we didn't know that at first. Amelia is the best sister I could ever ask for, but she is very...spirited. The first week we were here Arthur had to make rules for her. She has to kiss him before she can visit me, and she's not allowed to kick him, punch him, slap him, or hit him with anything afterward."

"I think I like this sister of yours," mused Lovina, admiration in her voice.

"Most people do," said Madeline with a philosophical nod.

"So you don't think anything...bad will happen while we're here?"

"No, I don't think so. Like I said, we've been here about a week, eight days I believe. I think he would have let us go at the first port we came to after he found us, but he wants to keep Amelia, and the only guarantee he has of keeping her from running off on him is to keep me here." She shrugged. "I don't like being locked in a cell, but there are defiantly worse positions to be in. I just wish she wouldn't antagonize him so much. If you don't mind my asking, why did he take you? Amelia said he was going to attack Carriedo, and he wanted some sort of map."

"He did. The map is gone so he took me instead." In a grumble she added, "Not sure why though."

"He must have thought you would hurt him more. Amelia said he was dead set on that map." She paused, and then added, "I don't usually talk this much, it's just there's no one who will listen most of the time."

Lovina started to tell her it was fine, but then the door at the top of the nearest stair banged open. She stiffened, but then frowned at the pad of bare feet stomping down. The step was light, even for a barefooted pirate.

"Unbelievable! That stupid, perverted, son of a- oh. Hello, you the girl he took from Carriedo?"

Lovina looked from Amelia, who had come to stand in front of the cells, hands on hips, to Madeline, and back again. Well, they were defiantly sisters. They even wore the same dress. There were a few differences, though. Both were about the same height with honey blond hair and lightly tanned skin. Amelia's eyes were bright blue, identical to a clear sky, while Madeline's were an interesting shade of lavender. Madeline's hair was long while Amelia's was cut fashionably short. There was also a sort of cowlick in place of Madeline's long curl...

"Amelia, this is Lovina," Madeline was saying.

Remembering she'd been asked a question, Lovina said, "Yes, he took me from Antonio. Not sure why, though."

"Artie's an idiot," said the girl, waving it off. Plopping down outside their cells she grumbled, "Honestly. Apparently now that there are two of you I have to kiss him twice if I want to come and see you."

"Is that why you're mad?" asked Madeline.

Amelia huffed, folding her arms. "That, and the jerk locked me in his cabin during all this."

Lovina was quiet.

"You still okay, Maddy?" Amelia asked worriedly, turning to her sister. "None of them got this far?"

Madeline gave her sister a sweet smile. "No. I doubt anyone would have noticed me if they did, though."

"Kirkland's crew had the upper hand most of the time, I think," said Lovina grimly, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. "The tea bastard snuck up on the tomato bastard."

Amelia giggled. "Tea bastard. I'll have to remember that one."

Madeline winced. "Amelia, don't you remember what mother said about swearing?"

"She said I'd never catch a husband," said Amelia, rolling her eyes. And, in a cheerful tone, added, "Frankly I don't give a damn."

Again, Madeline winced, but sighed. "Where did Captain Carriedo find you, Lovina? If you don't mind my asking."

"Port Diego," she said, mouth set. "They raided the whole town. One of the crew grabbed me."

"Wait, I thought the captain had you? Or did he snatch you from them?"

Lovina smiled bitterly. "Idiota seemed to think he was saving me. He didn't force himself on me or anything, but still."

Amelia was quite, staring down at the wooden deck. After a moment she said slowly, thoughtfully, "It was the crew that grabbed us too. Artie didn't know about us until later. They were trying to, you know."

"I already told her," said Madeline. It wasn't until now Lovina realized how soft her voice was. This fact was supported when Amelia plowed on, oblivious.

"I got one of them to take their grubby hands off my mouth and screamed for all I was worth. Arthur came down, pretty pissed we'd woke him up, but he blew his top when he saw what they were trying to do. Shot two of them then and there. Threw Maddy down here and brought me with him."

Lovina was starting to realize just how right Antonio had been on that point. One pirate crew wasn't much different from the next, but it looked like this didn't always extend to the captains. It seemed he really had saved her.

"Thought he was going to finish the job, that's why I punched him." Amelia laughed a little. "He didn't appreciate it, but he didn't hit me back either. More than can be said for the rest of this crew. Said if I didn't settle down he'd toss us both back to the crew. Artie can be a controlling pervert, but that's about it."

Lovina stared down at her hands. This man was the one person Antonio considered a serious threat, the person who he and everyone else painted as a marauding monster. Yet this girl brushed him off, even referred to him as 'Artie'. Even the one who was kept locked in the brig night and day didn't seem to have a serious hatred of him.

Finally she asked in an appreciative tone, "So you're the one who gave him the black eye?"

Amelia grinned. "Yep. Listen, don't worry about getting half decent food or anything around here. He lets me bring Maddy down the good stuff, I'll see if I can't get more for you."

"Thank you," said Lovina. "How long does he plan to keep us?"

Madeline and Amelia exchanged looks. It was Amelia who said, "Unless we can escape, I think he plans to hold us indefinably. I'm not sure about you though. I think he has a soft spot for girls. He may just hang onto you to get under Carriedo's skin."

The door above them opened, and a scowling crewman stalked down the steps.

"Captain say's your time's up," he grunted.

Amelia scowled right back. "I'll be up in a minute."

"He said now, wench."

Amelia turned to faced him, hands on hips. "For the last time, moron, the name's Amelia. It's not girl, or wench, or bitch, or whatever else you sewer rats have been calling me."

The man growled, taking a step forward.

"I asked you to retrieve her, not get into a fight with her," a cool tone said from the shadows at the base of the stairs.

The crewman's attention snapped away from the girl. "Right sir, sorry sir."

"Come along, Amelia. Unless you want to be carried out."

With one last sad look at her sister, the American stomped passed the pirates and marched up the steps. Lovina noticed she shouldered roughly passed Arthur, who watched her climb the steps with a strangely sad look in his eyes before turning to Lovina.

"Leave," he barked at the crewman, who scuttled after Amelia. Only once he was gone did he say, "You do realize I don't believe you burned that map, don't you?"

Lovina stiffened. "Then why the hell did you...

Kirkland wandered up to the bars, studying her with an intensity she didn't appreciate. "Because more than one source led me to believe something else was of greater importance. 'Know thine enemy' is a very reliable approach, it's now I was able to finally sink that frog, Francis. It has never steered me wrong yet. It's why I had that informant aboard Carriedo's ship. I've watched him for years, lass, and in all that time he never had a true weakness. The closest I could get was that map.

"Then I get a message from my informant that he has taken a female on board, and that he intends to keep her. Carriedo is very superstitious, so you'll understand if I found this curious. I assumed he would grow bored and dump you in Tortuga."

Kirkland smiled then. It wasn't a very nice smile. Lovina fought not to shiver.

"Imagine my delight when not only did he keep you after Tortuga, but he left early and left his other ships behind. My informant, the one he had shot, insisted you were his weak point. The enemy who had always made it a point to never get attached. Admittedly I was a little dubious, but I must say I've never seen him that angry. Even when I burned that frog's fleet he never looked so furious."

"What did you do to him?" asked Lovina stiffly.

"Plenty. I let him live. I've found that continuing on is sometimes less merciful than death. You are now in my hands, his ship is burning, and very few of his crew is left alive. I think that's torment enough, for now."

Lovina stared after Kirkland as he turned, walking away from the cells. As he climbed the steps he called back, "Get comfortable. You will be here quite a while, lass."

BREAK/BREAK\BREAK

Amelia had stalked out onto the deck and gone to stand at the starboard rail. She scowled out over the open sea, the wind tossing her short hair and ruffling her skirt. When the captain joined her on deck she was still fuming, and ignored the presence behind her until she was forced to acknowledge him.

"You do realize that if I had allowed you to remain outside you would have been slaughtered? You're an easy target, and you have no means of defense."

Amelia tightened her grip on the wood. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to give me one."

Arthur chuckled. "To be perfectly honest I would rather do just that. But giving sword lessons to someone that would rather slit my throat than kiss me isn't a very good survival tactic."

"So you think by making me kiss you every damn day will make me like it better?"

"The thought did cross my mind," he said, stepping next to her.

Amelia pointingly didn't look at him. "It's not working," she said coldly. "It's just easier to tolerate. I still don't like you, and I still hate having to kiss you."

An arm snaked around her waist, pulling her to his side. Amelia struggled, but her heart wasn't in it. He was warm, he was always warm. And he never smelled all that bad, despite her complaints. He had never forced himself on her, at least not in regard to actual sex, never struck her, and made sure the crew kept their hands of both her and her twin sister.

"What would it take, then, to capture the heart of an American lioness?" he murmured in her ear.

Resisting the urge to shutter as his breath tickled her ear, Amelia set her jaw. "You could start with letting us go."

"Sorry, love. I won't do that."

"Damn it, would you stop calling me that?" she demanded sharply.

"Mmm, no. Anything else?"

"Give me your pistol and a bullet."

Now Arthur pulled away to frown at her. "Why?"

"Take a guess." Her voice was like ice, even as doubt plagued her mind. Could she really point a loaded gun at this man? She could pull a trigger in self defense, but could she do it when he was right in front of her, just staring back at her like this? What she'd told Lovina was true, he was a controlling pervert, but other than that he treated them well. Yes she'd seen him turn ruthless, particularly when it came to rival pirates, but sometimes she'd go so far as to call him kind.

"I see."

Without another word he turned and walked away. The side that had been pressed against him was instantly chilled when the wind blustered around her again. Trying not to shiver, Amelia went back to looking out over the water. If she looked back, she could see the ship they'd attacked, smoke rising heavily from its decks.

She didn't seem too angry at Carriedo, even though Arthur hates his guts, thought Amelia. I wonder why. Did he treat her like Artie treats me? I'll have to ask her about that when I bring them dinner.

Behold, the promised USUK! Will still have PruCan, but you're gonna have to wait just a bit longer, 'kay? :)

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