Gilbert
My head was throbbing.
It wasn't the only body part that hurt. Underneath my body wasn't the cosy matrass I was normally sleeping on. Even though my eyes were close, I registered the feeling of a swaying move that did not ceased. It was constantly present.
I ignored the fainted calls of my name. Couldn't the servants let me sleep in? It was totally unawesome of them to wake me up so early while I had to deal with the headache from the alcohol consumption. How much had I drunk yesterday? The voice next to me grew louder and I felt two hands touching my shoulders and shaking them softly.
"…you need to wake up."
I responded with a loud groan; making me realise how hoarse my throat felt. As I opened my eyes, all I saw was wooden construction. It was dimly lit but I could make out the contours. Where was I? Was this a boat? Why were iron bars all around me?
"W-Was? Wo?" I mumbled.
Last night when the ball started… The dance… Those beautiful green eyes…Pirates. Everything from the earlier events replayed again in my head just to the point where my body went unconscious.
The voice next to me spoke once again.
"Your Royal Highness?"
This time I looked at the source of the sound. It was one of the most skilled Colonels of my kingdom. He worked for the Royal family however we weren't on good terms because he was more skilled with the sword. We had a few sparring years ago and I lost most of time; it seemed that luck was always on his side when we fought.
This man was a genius on the battlefield, a tactic mastermind. Undoubtedly the kingdom wouldn't be so strong in their military forces without him.
And yet he was by my side, trapped in a prison.
A baffled sigh escaped my lips. "How long have we been here?" I questioned him.
"I do not really know, Your Royal Highness, but I think more than just a few hours. But I cannot say what time it is." He was addressing me with the formalities he was told to use. For me, as being captured on a darned pirate-ship and hold in a stuffy room, the need to use the formal addresses was not necessary.
"We are in a problematic situation. Our first mission it to get off this boat. And call me Gilbert. Here is not the place to call me 'Highness'."
His lips made a lightly grim expression, as if he wanted to deny my wish, but nodded nonetheless. Furthermore one question lingered on my mind that held more importance than the others.
"Did they take any other member of the Royal Family?"
As if he knew what I wanted to know, he responded quickly. "Your brother is in safety."
Gott sei Dank. As long has he was save, my will to endure this nightmare would be strong enough to get back to him. If he is told about my abduction, he will be worried. And that was exactly what I wanted to avoid. So the first goal was to break out of this 'prison'.
"Before I got here, back up was called, so I assume that the Marine is already on its way." Toris informed me. At least reinforcements were taking actions. Staring at the iron bars another query popped up in my head.
"How did they manage to catch you? I mean you are one of the most skilled warriors of the world." I cringed at the last sentence. I had to challenge him once again after we would be free. And this time luck wouldn't be on his side. He did not answer immediately, so I turned my head to see his reaction towards my question. Expecting a defeated look from him, I caught him looking content at me but changed his gratified expression into an unsettled look. His furrowed brows now graced his face. What was that supposed to mean? With a sigh he gave in and told me his little adventure. After five minutes I stared at him with a dumbfounded face.
"A woman?"
He nodded with his head down. Was he ashamed about his defeat or sad that the beautiful – as he told me – woman was a pirate. In favour of lighten the mood, my mouth formed itself into a big grin and I started to laugh. Loud. He was not the only one who struggled with the thoughts of a beautiful woman who turned out to be an enemy. But I knew he was more affected by those female pirates than I was. It was only a few minutes of weakness in my case, before I knew what that woman was. By clapping his shoulder with my hand, I calmed lightly down. "Believe me Colonel, these women are our downfall."
"These?"
He had no idea who I was alluding to but I only shrugged his inquiry off.
After a few minutes of silence, the ship made a rough movement and stopped abruptly. Loud steps made their way downstairs to us. Had the ship been forced to stop? Was the Marine here to help us? As I was still musing about the possibilities of freedom, the footsteps from before grew louder.
No it was not the Marine, otherwise there would be a fight with canon shots and typical fighting noises.
A person stood in front of our cell and tried to get our attentions with a slightly cough. Ignoring the noise, I refused to even look at my abductors.
"I would rather be in that damn Edelstein's presence than facing some pirates." I murmured to myself. However with a voice like mine, a murmur could not be considered as quiet. The pirate grunted out of frustration. Good. I wanted them to feel just like I did.
"I am sorry that I had to take you with us. It wasn't planned." A familiar feminine soft voice filled the stuffy room. Albeit my mind refused to look up to her, my eyes involuntary shot towards the source of the voice. And it was again those damn green eyes I gazed into, just like the night before. The mop on her head wasn't blonde but honey brown and pulled up into a ponytail. Snapping out of my daze, I glared at her. Toris on the other hand gave her a neutral look. He was kind towards the female sex, even if they were his enemies. What he already proofed a few hours ago.
Commenting her 'apology' with a loud pejorative snort, she continued to speak. "We arrived on land, but only to buy supplies. We are in need of them, especially the medical cares," she shot Toris a dirty look. "It will take less than a few hours to get it all together, but we won't free you afterwards."
"Of course you won't." I grumbled bitterly.
The response I got was a hard stare. "I have no other choice. My fat-"
"We all have a choice," My interruption sounded grim but it was justified. "Do you, dear pirate, have any idea what it means to abduct a crown Prince?"
She tried to hide her face with an emotionless mask, but failed greatly. Everyone in the world knew what would happen if one of the most important member of the royal family got kidnapped by some delinquents.
Death.
Her eyes told me that she was very aware of her fate. Even if she sounded a bit regretful. No one knew what would happen to me or Toris after they 'used' us for their purpose.
"Either way, we a-"
"Lizzie! Come on, we totally need to hurry up!" Someone shouted from the deck, making her blink a few times and sprint towards the loud voice.
What is happening with the world? I have never once heard of a pirate crew consisting of females until now. The man next to me made a fast move towards the bars and shook them in a very desperate way. My eyes lingered on his hands and it was that very moment I discovered the white bandage around his fingers.
"Toris, your fingers," He ended his attempt to break free and gave his injured hand a look before he looked back at me.
"I-It's nothing," Sweat ran down his forehead and his moves grew fidgety. By now my feet had pushed me on my legs. Due to his lack of attention, he hadn't noticed my presences beside him. The silent man was still observing his hand, not noticing my prying eyes. Removing the white strip of cloth, the lightly deformed fingers didn't hold the normal skin colour. They were completely blue. The water droplets on his face grew bigger.
"They are broken." I told him matter-of-factly. Seconds after my comment, he bashfully turned to me. I was not prepared for his next remark. "No they… T-They just bend that way."
What? My jaw almost hit the floor. Clearly he was exaggerating, hadn't the female pirate broken them? His tied-back hair was a bit messy –which wasn't surprisingly with all the fighting and running- and his eyes refused to look at me.
The conversation fell into a long silence. Footsteps of stressed pirates echoed through the vessel and faded as time passed on. I lost track of time as we spent few hours in the dimly lit room and my brain shut down. Being worn out form this "adventure" made my body a bit numb. Making my heavy eyelids closed themselves.
A rather loud crash woke me harshly up. My sight found Toris instantly who was quite startled too.
"What was that?" I sounded awfully croaky. Despite the poor lightning, the both of us could see the shadow of a small person near the bars.
"Who is there?" Toris voice wasn't as bad as mine. It held softness even though we did not know who was going to face us.
A small blonde boy shyly approached our forms. He was shaking and looked just as tired as we did. His eyes widened at the sight of us, Toris in his army uniform and me in my royal clothes. One could tell that he knew who and what we were. As if the bars weren't there, he walked up to us faster with relieved tears in his reddened blue eyes.
"I-I am … save," was all he said. Toris gave me an unsure look thinking the same thing. The small kid had not realised that we were imprisoned. Strangely this little lad reminded me a bit of Ludwig even though my brother was younger. The meaning of his statement was a mystery to me. How could he be safe on a Pirate ship? Or was it because of our uniforms? But we were prisoners.
"What is your name?" By now, due the height differences, Toris was sitting in front of him and offered his hand through the bars. The Colonel was always very worried about innocents, especially if they were mere children. While he was soothing the younger one, I thought about the circumstances. The little one could be a great help and free us. It would be the first step of out escape.
"R-Raivis… M-my name i-is Raivis." The poor creature was shaking in fear. Stricken with relieve and worry.
"Tell us, what happened?" I almost commanded as a result of curiosity. Nervously he looked at his feet without uttering a syllable. Refusing to meet my gaze, he took Toris' good hand, waiting to be assured.
"Everything will be alright, tell us please." The softness of green eyes must have calm Raivis who responded with much more confidence but his eyes could not completely hide his panic. "I fled from them," after saying those four words, the tears ran down his face once again. "The p-pirates… t-they were forcing me to smuggle for them."
Four eye pairs watched him carefully. He must have gone through a lot to successfully escape the pirates' claws. Flustered and embarrassed by his crying, Raivis wipped his teary face with his small hand. Looking up at Toris; who smiled lightly and whispered the words "you are save"; the child's fear decreased. He felt save with his new made friend. The Colonel surely was a good role model for the youngster. Still sitting near the wall and observing the scene, I reminded myself in which situation we were stuck. And apparently I was the one to destroy this atmosphere by bitterly exclaiming that this place wasn't the safest one. "I am sorry to interrupt you both, but Laurinaitis, didn't you forget to mention something?"
As if he was sensing my grim look, the called man's light smile faded and was replaced by a worried expression. "R-Raivis? Are you certain of the safety where you are right now?" The question was now in the room. Surprisingly he nodded. "Yes," he timidly admitted. Baffled as to why he fled on another pirate ship, my mouth brashly formed the next words out loud. "But why did you come on this vessel with the knowledge that another group of delinquents are here on board?"
With light shrugging shoulders he replied shyly. "I don't know… My instinct told me to get on this ship." His eyes were downcast.
"I will protect you, if they try to hurt you," Toris attentively reassured him.
I could already see their brotherly relationship forming a strong bond. The King's most beloved Colonel had a sense for children and protecting them.
"How do you plan to do this when we are stuck in this hold? We are hostages." I questioned him with a raised eyebrow and he answered immediately. "Do you really think the women on board would injure him? I strongly doubt that. Besides I saw a few of the crew and there was another boy who joined them." He sounded extremely angry and ignored the lack of respect he hold for his Prince. How could he believe in the good in people?
"Yes, and making him smuggle something other instead!" My retort was louder than I expected it to be.
"As long as they don't work with the Kingdom of Borussia." Raivis comment threw me off guard. "W-What did you say?"
He gave me an uneasy look. "Those pirates I had worked for had agreements with that kingdom," he was making sure to emphasise the word 'work'. "For every smuggled item, such as gold, food or other things, the responsible authorities would pay them and grant them freedom."
Anger raised in my chest. Was my father informed about this 'treaty'? My country supported pirates for those unimportant widgets. I stared ahead of me at no one in particular. It was unbelievable.
Just as Toris wanted to say something, shouting voices interrupted him. They were back… and made their way to us hearing that the steps got louder every second.
[A/N: I adore Latvia *must protect him with all cost* he is a little precious cinnamon roll and needs more love :O. And knowing Liet, he will protect him. And for all of you who don't know whom Liet was referring to with 'the other boy' it's Luxembourg :3 And the Netherlands is also on board (They could throw a Eurovision Song contest party on that Ship ~). And I only posted one POV because otherwise the chapter would be too long *whispers* and I am not finished with Lizzie's part in that Chapter. But I will split this chapter in 2 parts :3.]
Translations:
Gott sei Dank – Thank God