je t'aime Means I Love You

Chapter 4- Sunlight Burning At Midnight

 Chapter 4

I sat dejectedly tied to a stiff backed chair on the deck of the ship the chair itself had been tied to the front of the huge round wheel. This was a result of me trying to stab the captain with a letter opener, and then trying to jump off the ship whilst still tied to the chair, so now I was tied to the chair tied to the wheel which the captain was smugly operating. Christian had disappeared, but only after I had struggled so hard against the ropes to get at him that I had cut my wrists and ankles. To be honest I felt betrayed by him, I had taken him in and cared for him; and he lead the pirates right into the castle!

I watched the other inhabitants of the ship busily obey the captain’s orders as he gave them sharply every few minutes. At first he had whispered things to me, things about me and him and how we had traveled the world together. His stories made me shiver even though I was sweating slightly in the hot sunlight that unabated shined down on the ship, like a harsh tutor who would slap your hand with a ruler if you were late to his lessons. I clenched my hands at the thought feeling a slight memory of the pain.

I tugged at the ropes to see if by some miracle they had loosened, but they hadn't. "You used to talk a lot; I am glad that you finally learned how to get so mad you couldn't talk." He said laughing slightly. Wisps of hair pulled out of the delicate bun that up until now had remained miraculously fairly tidy.

I racked my brains trying to think of some excuse for him to untie me and let me up, some reason that is un-ignorable. Maybe I am hungry... no. Then an idea occurs to me, one that might just work. I fidget in the seat as if uncomfortable, or aggravated by something. Then a few minutes went by and I did it again, and again. "What are you doing?" He asked me sounding slightly annoyed. I pursed my lips and fidgeted again acting like I still didn't want to talk to him, but was incessantly uncomfortable. "Avalon! What are you doing?!" He burst out walking around the steering wheel to stand in front of me with an annoyed look on his face.

I turned my head to the side as if I didn't even want to look at him, but then fidgeted again. He grabbed my chin between his thumb and index finger and pulled my head around to look him in the face, so then I looked down at the ground seemingly stubborn and unwilling to even look at him. "Look at me." I turned my eyes up at him with the most contemptuous and loathing look I could possibly muster and stared him in the face trying to pin him to the ship with nothing more than my absolute loathing. "What is wrong with you?" I let a flicker of embarrassment color my cheeks slightly throwing him off guard slightly, and I could see his brow furrow in confusion at my slight blush.

I fidgeted again, and then whispered, "I need to go to the bathroom..." his face went blank, and then it hardened again and he let go of my chin. He walked back around to take command of the steering wheel again. I felt the wheel turn slightly, then it became still again.

"No, get over it." He said coldly.

'Please, please. I promise I won't do anything stupid! I am begging you. Please." I almost cried. Several of the men on the ship paused and looked at me confused, but then suddenly turned back to their work as if they had been silently scolded. "Please..." I whispered trying to get some sort or forum of sympathy from him. He walked back around the wheel and began to untie me from the chair, but as soon as he loosed my hands he grabbed them in one of his, then untied my feet.

I stumbled along behind him across the deck of the ship, and into a door that lead down some creaking wooden stairs. We entered a large room that was filled mostly by a huge table, and one wall covered in windows. There was a set of double doors that was opposite the one we just came in, and that is where he lead me. He pulled open one of the doors and shoved me inside.

I tripped on my dress and almost fell, just catching myself on the post of a huge bed, it was even larger than my bed in the castle, but I had to focus! How could I get away? There were no windows in here that I could get out of, not even a small one. I noticed that now that I was out of the sun that my skin in several places was red, hot and painful every time you touched it. My arms were pretty bad, and so was my face, but my legs I think were the worst considering that my hair had kept the sun off my back and most of my shoulders.

I pulled my hair out of the bun hoping to use it to keep the sun off me when I would have to go deck out. Maybe if I couldn't escape from this room I could find something in it that could help me get free of the ropes later tonight... I looked around the room, and found to my delight a small knife and a thin strap of leather. I twisted the leather around the knife a few times, and then tied it around my thigh under my dress; like I had read about in a few books for my tutoring. I would hopefully be able to reach it later and cut myself free.

I heard an annoyed grumble, then a bang on the door. I opened it and walked out of the room, maybe a little too cockily because he held out his hand to me like he wanted something I had. I blanched panicking, but I fumbled and quickly recovered looking at his hand like it was something nasty that had died and rotted out in the cold for few weeks. "What?" I asked him sounding just as disgusted as I looked hopefully.

"Fine, we can do it your way then.” he said with a flicker of a smile playing at his lips. He pulled his sword out of the sheath, and held it up in front of his face examining it slowly. I relaxed slightly not even noticing that I had tensed when he pulled out the sword. Then so fast that I didn't have time to move he slashed the front of my dress up to my thighs, exposing the knife and leather strapped there. Then he cut down on both sides leaving the skirt alone in the back but making it short in the front. He smiled and pulled the knife out of the strap. "Good plan. Where were you going to go after you had untied yourself? Into the ocean? We are days away from any land in every direction, and you would freeze to death in the waters even if you could swim."

I stared at him shocked at his reasoning, after all the times that I had tried to jump off this ship it hadn't occurred to me one time that I couldn't swim. I had never actually tried before. I opened my mouth as if to give a smart remark, but couldn't think of anything to say. "Why don’t you ever talk? Can’t you just have a conversation with me, or are you so damn innocent that you are shocked into silence! Come on, get over it! I just cut off your clothes; what are you going to do about it?" He shouted at me.

I smacked his face sending him reeling in shock, then a torrent flowed from my mouth, "I can't believe you would request anything from me! You raided my castle, kidnapped me, killed my father, you have pulled me out here and I don’t even know where we are going, my best friend is on this ship only he isn’t my best friend! He is someone that I don't know anymore! What right do you have to ask anything of me let alone have a conversation with me! So what am I going to do about you cutting off half of my clothes?" I smacked him again laughing on the inside at his blank expression. "What do you want from me now bastard?" I asked looking him in the eyes.

A few seconds went by where he just stared at me, and I waited smugly for his reply. He stood up slowly and walked across the room to the door. "After you." He said opening the door for me. I raised my eyebrows and held out my hand. He smiled slightly, but was not forthcoming, so I walked over to him and pulled the knife from his back pocket slowly, never taking my eyes off his daring him to stop me from taking it. Then I walked out of the door hearing his chuckle slightly behind me as the door closed.