Palace to Plunder (AMBW)

9 PTP

Before I fell into the water, I gripped onto some rope, probably the ropes that lowered and raised one of the sails. I clenched onto it for dear life, as my body flung from side to side against the wooden sides. Peters rushed over to me and shoved the eye-patch man away from me.

He held his hand out to me, and I grasped onto it firmly. But instead of pulling me aboard, he smiled and let me drop a bit. "What are you doing!?" I yelped. "Pull me back up!"

"I don't save lives for free, Lass." His smirk widened and a glint of another unidentifiable emotion flashed in his eyes.

"I'll give you anything you want, just help me!" I begged. I wasn't ready to die, and at that point, I was humbled majorly.

Peters nodded and gently pulled me back up, but when I was about to use my feet to climb back over the ledge, he dropped be back down. I whined and used my other hand to grip onto his shirt. "Please!" I begged.

"I'm still waiting." He used his free hand to point to his cheek. He wanted a kiss.

"Okay! Just let me up!" I panted, because my arms were getting tired from holding on for so long. Peters swiftly raised me back to the same position. I leaned forward to plant a kiss on his cheek, but he grabbed the collar of my dress, and snatched me forward into an abrupt kiss. A real one.

What in the world was he doing!? I felt my eyes almost pop out of their sockets, and pressed my hand against his shoulder. I tried pulling away, but felt my body slowly give in the more I resisted. When his lips parted from mine, I exhaled so hard it came out in a suggestive manner, almost implying that I'd been wanting him to do that. He smiled and brought me over the ledge, and my legs turned into jello and collapsed against the hardwood.

My cheeks flushed and I reached up to my lips. I bowed my head in humiliation. Peters brought his attention to Mr. Eye-patch, who attempted to murder me and him and he whipped out a cutlass from his leather sheath. "Let's see how ye' like the hard side o' the water, aye?" He guffawed and swung his blade upwards, cutting Mr. Eye-patch in the stomach.

Peters' swift moves with the blade overpowered Mr.Eye-patch's blunt movements with his dagger. After minutes of both men dodging and swinging, Mr. Eye-patches stamina began to drop because of his open wound. He stumbled with every step and swing he took towards the Captain.

Never had I thought in a million years that I'd see an Asian pirate professionally sword fighting with a White Sailor. It was almost mesmerizing.

Mr. Eye-patch almost gave in, and rammed his foot into Peters' shin, causing them both to fall. Peters grabbed Mr. Eye-patch by the throat, and screamed in his face. "Ye' bilge-sucking no good old-salty—" and a few other pirate curses I wasn't able to make out. "Avast ye mateys!" He called out to the crew who were all tied up in their own battles. "Dead men tell no tales! Leave them to Davy Jones' Locker!" He spat and hoisted the man with the eyepatch overboard.

The rest of the crew followed, and through all the intruders off the other side of the ship. However, some of them didn't land in the water. The sounds of bodies cracking as they hit the dock terrified me. The sudden weight being put off the ship caused it to jolt back the other way. I felt my body roll back to the other side, but I almost fell off the boat. I screeched as loud as I could, trying to fight against gravity. Luckily, a pair of arms wrapped around me and caught me before I fell off.

The ship rocked back and forth as one of the crew members lowered the sail quickly and another raised the anchor. Whoever had caught me, I'm sure it was Peters, I gripped onto them until the ship was at a balance. "Are ye well?" His voice rang in my ear. I looked up and nodded frantically, but my body was still shaking from all the adrenaline.

Peters relaxed his hold on me when the boat was finally at a steady level. Before I could walk away, he grabbed my face and swooped in for another kiss. I heard him let out a slight moan and pulled my face back in disgust. "What in mother Mary's name are you—"

"I told ye' Lass." He pursed his lips together to form another smile, "or should I say, Charlotte." He pronounced my name in a suggestive way. "I don't save lives for free."

~

"Here you go." I said while handing Jon and a few other members of the crew small bowls of rice. It was served with some dried crackers I found in another barrel. I was finally figuring out how to cook with that cauldron.

One of the crew members snatched a spoon out of my hand and took a large bite of the food. He hummed in a hearty tune and smiled with his mouth full of food. "Aye, it tastes amazing! Better than our ole' chef McGhee used to make!"

"Mhmm!" Another one spouted. "I'll be so happy if the Cap'n chooses ya to be his wife. Cook fer us every day!"

Jon laughed at the two through his chews. "Aye, after seeing that romantic site this early evening, I think she'll be cooking for little ones before she cooks for us." The crew laughed in agreement with him.

I blushed at the sudden reminder. The night sky hid my embarrassment well, so I was able to ignore their teasing.

After feeding the crew, I brought the last two servings of food to the person I didn't want to see. I went to the upper deck and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so I gently opened the door and peeked inside. There was no shirtless man anywhere, so I guess the coast was clear.

I brought open the door fully and walked in, and noticed Peters dead asleep at his desk. His arms were sprawled out over some papers, looking like he fell asleep writing something. I tip toed over to his desk, nudged one of his arms off the surface and quietly placed the tray of food down. "Excuse me." I poked his forehead.

He was no longer wearing his captain hat, and I was able to see his disheveled straight long black hair held together by a red rag. "Hello?" I poked his cheek some more. His eyebrows furrowed and his lips pressed together thin, before his rest expression relaxed completely. And that's when I realized how handsome he actually was. Especially when he was asleep.

I sighed and moved some things off his desk, but a sketch caught my eye. I nudged his other arm to the side to get a better glimpse. It was a drawing of what looked like to be him, and a white family. A man, woman, and small little boy. They were all smiling. It was obviously an old sketch of younger him. The younger him had shorter more styled hair, and he was dressed like a noble.

I skimmed my fingers over the sketch and looked at the paper beneath it. It was a letter. Before I could read it, a strong palm gripped onto my hand, catching me off guard. I looked up to see Peters giving me the look of death.

"I—" I started, but he interrupted me with a growl.

"What the bloody scum are ye' doing?"

I blinked frantically, trying to come up with a good answer. I didn't have one. That's what I got for snooping around. I suddenly remembered the reason I came. "Uh.." I grabbed a cracker from the tray and held it up for him to bite. "Do you want a cracker? Or biscuit? Whatever you may call it?"

"No, get out." He barked. I grabbed my bowl of rice and crackers before hauling myself out of his main office. He looked very angry, and if looks could kill, I'd be six feet under. Hundreds more, considering the fact that we were above water.

~