There is nothing worse for a pirate than dying on dry land. Except, maybe, swinging two feet above it.
When their captain is imprisoned, facing the gallows, the men and women of the Lady Lesya's crew will try everything to break him out--even if it...
Everyone on deck could hear the prisoners shouting from the hold. Some of them cursed. Others, braver or more foolish, made threats, promised retaliation. Most of them were just pleading. The pirates above only laughed. However, Captain Etienne Desjours, huge and terrible in his bloodstained, mismatched uniform, did not share in their hilarity. He just smiled. A cold, terrifying, satisfied smile that heightened the fear of the other officer aboard. Robert Perrault, deposed commander of the slave ship Mother of Louisiana, was shriveling up in the menacing shadow of his victor, surrounded by murderous sailors and stoic freed slaves.
Suddenly, the wall of armed brutes opened and gave way to a young lady. Her fine gown, even torn to shreds, contrasted sharply with the rags of many from the crew. The laughter dwindled, then died altogether. One hand over her breast to prevent it from being revealed, the Lady walked with slow dignity. Barely hidden behind long, loose hair, her face was bruised and swollen. However, she expressed no pain. Only anger and what seemed to be sadness. Yet, her voice never trembled when she addressed her husband, cowering on the floor. "I gave you so much... I gave you everything... But you had to have more... Always more..."
Desjours looked at the frail woman he had just freed from a locked cabin. He remained silent, holding both his blades over the vanquished captain, waiting for her to pronounce the sentence. But Savannah Marie Perrault turned her head toward her savior and plunged her eyes into his.
"Why? Why did you do that to me?" Without warning, her mouth twitched, bloodied lips curled into a hideous rictus. "Why, Etienne?"
Her dark hair faded, turned golden blond. She closed her green eyes to reopen her lids on deep blue ones.
"Why did you leave me?"
The bruises on her face dissolved and the split in her lip closed. Her jaw and cheekbones seemed to flutter.
"Why did you abandon me?"
She opened her arms to reveal a simpler dress, whole again. Below her cleavage, a red stain expanded quickly on the ivory fabric. Blood ran down her chin, almost elegantly, pouring out of her mouth when she opened it again.
"Why did you let me die?"
Her hair became damp then soaked, flattening and sticking to her face. Her wet dress clung to flesh that became alarmingly pale, almost transparent. She coughed violently, spitting out the blood and water that was choking her. In a desperate gasp, she asked once more.
"Why did you kill me?"
Cap woke up screaming the name he had screamed many times already since her death. His eyes opened only to meet a different blackness. He laid there, panting in the dark, unable to discern where he was. For a second, he thought he had finally gone mad, when a voice he had never heard before rang out.
"Who is Lesya?"
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