No One Ever Told Me Pirates Were Hot (Theyna)

The beginning

Date, November 15th, 1773

The night was quiet as the boat slowly made its way across the frozen waves of the Atlantic. A small girl the age of 13 sat silently aboard the small military vessel's deck. She shivered and drew a ratty blanket tightly around her, the wind howled around the boat quietly. A hand gently pat her shoulder and she looked over to meet the dark eyes of her cousin.

"Captain says we're about a month off from England," said the Italian boy, his long inky hair brushing against his shoulder, matted and soaking wet like her own mane of black curls. Thalia sighed and stared out at the empty sea that stretched out endlessly.

"Do you ever wish we could just stay out here, away from them?" she asked softly. Her cousin laughed, shaking his head.

"What? Out here where we could be attacked by pirates any second and we're forced to work as slaves for grown men who care more about their next cup of beer than their own lives? Not for a second," the boy's thick Italian accent had been replaced with a bitter tone she'd heard so many times from older men on the boat. She shivered at the thought that eventually, she'd be just like them. Emotionless and careless, only in it for the money and her heart frozen like ice. 

"It's better than being stuck in an old house that smells like soot. You'd choke to death on smoke. At least out here, the air is fresh," she muttered. Her cousin rolled his eyes.

"Just saying that I would prefer it if the ship didn't almost launch me over the side every five seconds," He huffed.

"You're impossible," she bit back.

"That, we have in common." Thalia shoved him backwards onto the deck. He lay there and laughed, dark curls spilling into his face. That's when she saw the boat approaching.

 It was huge and beautifully battered, the sails were old and frail as if it had never been taken out of the water. It rose in the night like a mountain on the horizon, towering in black detail that hung over their smaller vessel ominously. A flag hung from the topmost mast, the splattered image of a rose with a torch and spear crossed over it. It had been painted in a fashion that suggested the artist had been fighting with their dominant hand at the same time. Pirates.

 Her cousin saw it and, somehow, turned pale. He started screaming for the captain and soldiers, but Thalia just stared in awe at the boat. Slowly, parts of it folded upward and cannons were pointed at their boat in seconds. A voice called over the roaring sea, echoing as if it were coming in on them from all sides to smother them in the sound.

"Ye, try anything and we'll blow your ship to bits!" It was a female voice and, clearly, everyone aboard her ship was surprised. Thalia had only heard stories of crews with female Pirate captains. The only one she could think of off the top of her head were the Amazons, but they were Northern pirates so who were these? Their captain regained his composure and reached for his sword.

"Cowards! True men fight in hand to hand combat and go down with the ship!" He roared and the crew cheered.

Thalia didn't want to go down with the ship. Thalia wanted to live. She gulped when the pirate's cannon's fired, and missed completely. Before Thalia could register what had just happened wires wrapped around the boat and howls of laughter erupted. It had been a trick. Somehow the pirates had made it seem like they had been coming at them from the complete opposite direction. Pirates were on their ship and in minutes and fighting was turning into a full out war. 

Thalia had no weapon and was smaller than most toothpicks, so fighting was out of the picture for her. She jumped back as two boys her age, one with an eye patch and another with a hook charged past to tackle the Cabin boy Octavian. She'd never felt smaller, more insignificant surrounded by the chaos and destruction roaring around her. In a way, it was kind of like the operas her mother used to force her to attend when she was young. Loud and roaring and dizzying at first, but if she learned to listen to one thing, focus on only one aspect, she could stand it. She could understand.