Pirate's Promise

Chapter 3

Alice's journey had taken her through the night and well into the morning before she felt as though she was a safe enough distance from home to stop for rest. More than a little tired, she'd found a spot in the woods to lie down. The only problem was that she was far too wound up thinking of all the things she had to do. Unfortunately, in her haste she hadn't really thought through what to do when she got to Pierce. Would she be able to just kill the man? It wasn't as if she had any definitive proof that he'd been the one to try and poison her family. Then again, if her parents said he did it, she had no doubt he did it.

Somehow she'd have to find the man and then get him to admit what he'd done. That was no doubt going to be much harder than she thought it was. The only thing on her side was the fact that he would have no idea she was coming, and who would suspect a female to come and exact revenge on a man she's never met? Alice just hoped that it was enough.

After getting something out of her satchel to eat, she sat down by the small stream she'd come across. Sticking her toes in the cool water relieved the sore spots from her long run to get help for her father. Her horse stood nearby waiting for his next command.

Alice began to wonder how Charlie would react when her mother gave him the pouch she'd left with more than enough coins to pay for the beautiful craftsmanship of the dagger she'd taken. Thinking back to the previous evening when she'd taken it, she remembered all the times she'd touched his weapons only to have him slap her hand away. She imagined he wasn't going to be too happy about the fact that she'd stole from him.

At least she'd made an attempt to pay for it.

Even after he'd casted her aside at thirteen, she couldn't bring herself to stop caring about him. Mad? Oh she was plenty mad at him still. She'd given him her little heart only to have him smash it into a thousand little pieces by ignoring her. If only she'd known what she'd done wrong. It didn't matter now.

Alice stood and packed up her makeshift camp that she'd spent too long at already and readied herself to head to the nearest town for information.

After hours on her horse that seemed more like days she finally saw smoke in the distance. She would have traveled much faster except the setting sun made the road dark and she wasn't so stupid that she would travel the road at night alone. That meant she'd had to forge her own path through the woods with her horse, Evernight. Thankfully Evernight had been her horse for nine years. He was older but he trusted her and she him. So he worked his way through the trees and up steep hills for her without protest, and in exchange she didn't ask him to move quickly.

Alice stood outside of a tavern near the outskirts of her home. No one would know her here as she'd rarely left their property. As long as her name wasn't used, no one would be the wiser since the only men she'd really come in contact with, other than local farmers, were noblemen who'd come to call upon her. Glancing up at the ramshackle shack, she guessed there weren't going to be any noblemen inside. Dressed in a simple blue cotton dress she'd swiped out of one of the maids rooms, she looked like anyone else, or so she thought. 

It irritated her to no end that she'd had an education and the freedom to roam their vast property but hadn't really been able to experience outside life. No doubt her mother was trying to keep her innocent and her father never wanted her to grow up. Most girls her age had already been wed and were working on their first, if not second, child. 

She couldn't help but think back to those prancing peacocks that came to their home. Each one of the so-called "men" had been so snooty with their outrageous clothing and perfectly groomed hair. She'd actually snorted out loud at the first one she came in contact with. He'd been introduced to her with her mother nearby. The man, Sir Paddington the Third, was in head to toe ruffles and a silk coat so shiny she actually had to squint to see him. With a round pink face, and even rounder stomach he looked like farmer Joe's pig, Betty, dressed up. She supposed he was nice enough, though stiff. He'd refused to take tea outside because it was "unbecoming for a lady to sit in the sun."