Swashbuckling in the Dark

Chapter One

It was a good day for sailing; the sea was calm and there was a clear sky. The hot sun bore down on the crew without mercy as we worked. Not even the salty breeze coming from the west brought any relief. It did us one favor, though, which was to push us east as the ship swathed its way through the Atlantic. With any luck, we would reach our destination sooner than predicted.

The heat made me sweat as I toiled, and I longed for respite. Work on the ship was from dawn until dusk; no bellyaching tolerated. I glanced at my fellow crewmen, all busy with their respective duties. Most of them had stripped their shirts off to tie around their heads like bandanas, shielding their faces from sunburn. Their browned skin glistened with sweat as they laboured in the summer heat. I envied them for that—the liberties they could take with their dress and comportment.

I paused in my work, dropping the heavy wooden brush I had been using to scrub the deck. I stood up and wiped the beads of sweat from my brow. It was a comfort to be able to stretch and crack my stiff knuckles, or fan my face to stave off the heat.

Being constantly exposed to the elements like this had been only one of the challenges I'd had to overcome.

Johnny, who had been scrubbing away next to me, looked up through his flop of dirty blonde hair to see why I had stopped. At fifteen years old, he was the youngest amongst the crew. Because he was rather short and skinny for his age, he was also pushed around the most. I was another prime target, which is why he preferred my company. The two of us were the ship's misfits.

I sighed and leaned my elbows on the nearest railing. Staring lazily out at the green ocean, I pushed my hair out of my face. Johnny cast a quick look around before joining me. Together, we watched the waves move gently with the breeze. Turning my head east, I squinted at the horizon, but couldn't make out any sign of land yet.

"Master Sykes will be angry if he sees that we're not working," Johnny said meekly, his speech slightly accented.

I rolled my head around on my shoulders, sighing contentedly as the muscles eased. "Let me worry about Sykes," I told him.

Sykes was the ship's first mate. For a pirate, he was a rather good-natured man, but he wasn't someone to get on the bad side of. He liked things done quickly and done well, and you were lucky if your punishment was a mere sharp word. Taking orders, and receiving punishment when they weren't followed, had been another challenge.

In the foreign and harsh world of pirating, I was a visible outsider. Not only was I considered ignorant of the ways of criminals and soft when it came to hard labor, I was also a rarity. Women pirates were almost unheard of, and seldom welcomed.

"Sykes is kinder to you," Johnny agreed.

I shrugged. "An advantage of my situation." In the nearly four months I'd been a pirate, I'd learned some lessons. How to work harder than I'd ever been expected to in my life, for one. How to get along with a ship full of rowdy, rude, stinking, superstitious, foul-mouthed, vulgar pirates, for another.

Johnny nodded solemnly and turned his gaze once more to the horizon. He'd been orphaned when he was five, and had had to fend for himself until the captain of the ship had taken him in.

Like me, Johnny had joined the crew to escape the cruel world. He'd been tempted by the lure of the open ocean, like many before him, and had jumped at the chance to sail her. Despite the teasing, he seemed happy on the ship. Certainly, the crew treated him better than the streets had. Here Johnny had a meal, a bed, and a certain amount of companions. Not to mention freedom.

Heavy, booted footsteps pounded my way, interrupting my thoughts. I started and stood up perfectly straight; a habit that had been beaten into me since childhood. The sensation brought back memories of my childhood governess, and I recalled how I had handled her disappointment with me. Deciding to employ my old methods, I took a breath and turned to face the towering figure that had approached us.