Pirate's Life For Me....

Head Held High

  5,000 pesos worth of black pearls had been lost at the wrecks the night Jack and Vane went to fetch the information needed to capture the prize Bonny had told me about. All those pearls....they were nearly the whole of the money the Ranger crew possessed. They had been lost when Jack had fallen into the water, and the crew was divided now that their money was gone.

  And I, being nearly a complete stranger to it all, tried to remain as a neutral party to it all. I wasn't about to take sides, but if it came down to where I had no choice, I sure as Hell wasn't going to be on the opposing side of Bonny. She was fierce, and not only that, she showed genuine concern for me despite her being a pirate. Sure, she showed it in strange ways, but the fact that she did at all meant something.

  I was new to this pirating world, and I held no standing with the men. That was another reason why I wouldn't oppose the person that was helping me gain my footing here. Bonny, Jack, and Vane in their own times were teaching me about the politics and rules of this island.

  So far it was clear to me that you do not cross Vane, and you do not cross Eleanor. Other than that, all I really had to be concerned with was Captain Flint's crew. It seemed he and his men were the only competition for those of the Ranger.

  "Deana." I looked up from my chicken leg and bit of bread to see Vane and Jack leaving from their meeting with Eleanor and Captain Flint. They were arranging a sort of agreement to try and use the Walrus and the Ranger together to capture the gold of the Urca de Lima. However, as the captains were not on good terms, the quartermasters were to handle the negotiating. "We're done here." Vane stated.

  Stuffing what was left of the bread into my mouth, I carried the rest of my chicken with me out of the door. I had only tagged along to try the food at Eleanor's place, and Vane hadn't lied about it being good enough that you didn't barf. It was fair in taste, but it was nothing compared to what I could make.

  "I was getting somewhere." Jack grumbled while putting on a ridiculous pair of sunglasses.

  "You're too clever for your own good, Jack." Vane replied.

  "Regardless, our fortunes appear to be on the rise." I glanced at a horse walking past as the scrawny man spoke. "So...." They paused in the middle of the street. "perhaps it's time you finished cleaning up last night's mess before someone finds out and everything we've achieved here goes up in smoke." Vane glanced at me, and I knew that Jack was talking about the whore Bonny captured the night before.

  She apparently had a part in all of this, and her night with the crew was to make up to them for her share in the lost pearls. I understood the reasoning behind why she had been taken, but that didn't mean that I agreed with how she was being treated.

  Walking back towards the beach, we stepped up to a wooden shack, and Jack leaned on the wall by the door.

  "You're going to help clean her up, okay?" The captain said to me softly before he opened the door and went in. I frowned, seeing the woman naked and chained to the wall as she was curled up. She was dirty, and I could see bruises on her skin. "You do understand I had no choice." Vane stated but spoke in a low tone. "What you did, it required an answer."

  Going over to the pitcher of water, I began to pour some into a bowl as Vane crouched by the whore.

  "I've been meaning to ask you. Our mutual....friend, she put guards at your door, tried to protect you. Yet....you left anyway. Why?"

  "You really have to ask? How did you feel when she threw you aside?" The woman replied, her voice having a French-sounding accent. Vane didn't respond, but I heard the clicking of the lock on her cuffs as I grabbed a rag and took the bowl of water over to her. Setting it down, I stuck the rag into the water before wringing it out and looking at the woman.