Jack

I hate my life. Ever since my dad died my uncle has been in charge of the ship and he's treated me like rotten fish. He makes me do all the dirty work like clean the waste area and gut all the fish. He treats the other pirates like decayed rope as well, but they don't mind so much. I try to be a better pirate and please him so he lets me do the hard jobs but he is hard to please. I never liked being a pirate anyway. Killing people to get gold is not really something that makes me happy about myself.

My name is John, by the way, but everyone calls me Jack.

My father wasn't the best man in the world, but he would be kind and patient with me. I wish I had gotten to know him better, but he died when I was five. Everybody says he fell overboard, but I don't think so. I think my uncle killed him. He had always wanted to be captain and had never liked his brother much, anyway.

I never met my mother. She died when I was born. Father said she was wonderful. I wish I had gotten to meet her too.

Anyway, I hate life on this ship. It's dull and boring. Sometimes we go hungry because we haven't seen any ships. That's when the pirates force me to starve so they can eat. I would give anything to leave. In fact, I promised myself the next time I have a chance to escape undetected, I would. I can't escape in a city or town because if they found out they would go to the lord. Secretly, though I don't think my uncle likes me, the other pirates are alright.

"Land Ho!" I quickly scrambled to get off the ship to get a good look at the town.

It was a huge city, with a castle looming over it on a hill in the middle. I could see a plaza with many shops. The plaza was full of people buying things. I wished I had enough money to get what I want: a beautiful iron sword with a curved blade and a smooth gold grip.

Then I decided I was going to commit my first crime alone. Maybe this would even please my uncle. The only problem was, there were many guards walking around and two people that worked in the store where it was being sold. I needed a distraction.

I entered the store to see if I could come up with a plan. I spent about five minutes in there and nothing came to me, but then I saw a huge crowd gathered around something. Sadly, the workers here didn't think it was important, so I thought: Might as well go.

I wasn't really prepared for what I saw. I was expecting something bad, but when I finally got to see, I had lost my ability to speak. I saw the four most beautiful girls I had seen in my entire life. They were wearing beautiful and expensive dresses, and held themselves in a way they looked like royalty. One of them, the littlest, was about ten and was clearly feeling like the luckiest person alive. She didn't act much like royalty, but she was probably just friends with the others. The second youngest one, probably around twelve, was the one that caught my eye. She was my age, and had soft orange hair, freckles, and an orange dress. This one was definitely a princess. She was holding hands with a blonde girl wearing a golden dress, who looked like a princess, but they were certainly not sisters. She didn't carry herself like her friend, though, so I decided she was probably not royalty. The last one, about 17, was not a princess. She was a queen. She carried herself with more pride than the princess, who I deduced was her sister. They were all extremely beautiful, but the small one was too childish, the blonde was too quiet, and the Queen was too serious. I decided I liked Princess best.

"What's your name?" I asked Princess.

"Lucy." She answered. Lucy, I thought, it suits her. A minute later, trumpets sounded. Everybody, even the people in the stores, were going to a stage in the middle of the square. This is my chance.

I quickly ran into the store, careful not to be seen. I checked to see if the coast was clear, the grabbed the sword and dashed out. I went directly to the ship so I wouldn't get caught. There, some of the pirates told me that my uncle had gone to call the pirates back to the ship.

"Hey, where did you get that?"

"I stole it."

"How much was it?"

"'Bout a thousand gold coins."

"Well done, kid!" I just nodded and headed below deck to wait for the Captain. He could probably take a couple of hours. I was right; he came with the other pirates a few hours later. There was talk on the deck about something that happened with the King. I think someone killed him. There was also rumour that a bunch of kings and queens were on a ship nearby. Soon enough we were called to the deck to hear the plan. They must be rich, being royalty, and they would most likely be defenceless. So we were going to steal from them. I was meant to stay on the ship, as always.

"I see it captain!" Someone yelled and pointed to a galleon not far away. Soon enough, the other ship had noticed and taken out their weapons. It was a battle between the pirates and the kings. And then I spotted something that made my heart stop. A young girl with her hair in a ponytail was slashing away at my crewmates, killing everyone that came near her with a knife. She was fierce and brave. She was beautiful. It actually looked like the royals were putting up a good fight. But then, my heart stopped again as I watched someone killing the captain of the ship. My uncle was dead.

I had once decided I didn't like being a pirate and now, here was the opportunity to leave. So I took my sword and jumped on their ship. I quickly got below deck and hid under the bed in a magnificent room. When the fight was over, I scrambled to get out, determined to find the captain of this ship. I was walking, my mind in how I would explain the situation, when I bumped into someone. That someone put his sword to my throat.

"Caspian, there is a pirate on the ship, still. Should I kill him?" A young man with blonde hair asked.

"No, he's just a boy, I want him to explain."

"He's armed." The blonde said. I dropped my sword to prove that I came in peace.

"Now he's not. Follow me, please." Said a young man with a hint of an old Telemarine accent. He took me to one of the rooms, and sat down on the bed.

"I'm King Caspian, the Tenth." And he shook my hand, he seemed nice enough, he treated me as an equal.

"High King Peter, the Magnificent."

"High King Peter, as in…?" I thought back to the legends of a group of kings and queens from some kingdom that had apparently disappeared then came back.

"Yes." He cut me off. "But now it's time for your story." He seemed a lot more suspicious than King Caspian.

I told them about my life, how my parents died, how my uncle mistreated me, even how I came partly because of the girl. King Caspian looked at me with deep pity, but Peter didn't soften.

"He's a pirate. We need to get rid of him." He said. "He's trouble."

"He's like me." King Caspian responded. At this, Peter softened.

"Right." The door opened and what I saw next made my heart stop for the third time today.

Lucy.