Rip Current

Chapter 1 (present)

I never intended to start a fight in the tavern. In fact, I never intended to go into the the tavern itself in the first place. I had been strolling back to my ship, when I saw something curious.

Something curious that I'd been looking for all day. Or rather, someone.
But that was not of current importance, for now I must fight my way out of this sorry excuse of a tavern that I never intended to enter in the first place.

Of course that wasn't a problem for myself, I was just slightly concerned for my opponent.
Slightly.

It wasn't as if he were a small man, in fact, he was rather burly. But I, on the other hand, was not only a pirate, but an extraordinarily trained fighter.

I made a show of sizing him up, then offered him a very condescending smirk.
Concealed under my cloak, the only thing he could see of me, was my mouth and chin. The cloak could hide the obvious signs of my gender but, alas, it hid not some small, but detectable signs.

My height, for example.
Or my pink, rose bud lips and feminine chin. But there was nothing I could do about that now, not as my opponent unsheathed his dagger from his side, and returned that condescending smirk of mine.

I charged at him without another thought. Thrusting my elbow into his throat, I snatched the knife from his hand.
Within seconds, I had him disarmed with his very own knife, now in my hand, to his throat.
"I win," I hissed into his ear, and gave a small, satisfied smile at his expression of shock and horror when hearing my feminine voice.
"What the devil-" he started, but I was already walking away. And I was definitely keeping this dagger.

I wouldn't kill him. Let him live out the rest of his miserable days knowing a woman had bested him in a fight.
I smiled as I sheathed the dagger at my side, my sheath being empty since my previous dagger had been stolen.
It wasn't until I was several blocks away from the tavern that I pulled off the hood of my cloak, letting my wavy, light brown hair flow freely.  I tied my red bandana onto my head and slipped off my cloak, tossing it to whatever urchins were lucky enough to find it.

Underneath, I was wearing a brown, knee length, leather jacket with cuffed sleeves. There. Now I looked like the captain of the pirate ship, the Havoc.

I made it down to the docks in record time, and walked onto my ship with smooth confidence.
"Your hat captain," said Dalia, my first mate and dearest friend.
"Thank you very much Dalia," I said as I fixed my captains hat onto my head, "but you know, as my first mate you have been granted permission to address me by my name." I smirked at her. "It's Faune, in case you've forgotten." She merely rolled her eyes at me.
"Do we have a heading Faune?" she asked me. I nodded.
"Head east, to Starhaven" I commanded, my playful self gone, replaced by a captain.
"Starhaven?"
"Yes."
"But captain, weren't you banned from Starhaven when you swore in it's governor's face and spat at his feet?" Dalia questioned cautiously, her brown eyes wide with worry, as if trying to tell me indirectly that going to Starhaven was a very bad idea.
"Was I? That's funny, I can't seem to remember," I said brushing her off. "Set sail" I yelled to my crew,"we don't have all night." I marched over to the wheel, the rest of my crew bustling around me preparing to sail.

How I've yearned to be back on the sea, I thought to myself, I've spent far too long in this wretched place.
We were sailing now at high speed, leaving the dreaded Springsville far behind.

                                                                        ***

        Finally, we were on the open ocean. Just us and the beautiful blue green colour of the waves that splashed against the side of my ship, making an alluring lullaby.
"We're about a day from Starhaven" one of my crew members named Austin informed me. I nodded to him.

I was reaching into my coat for my compass when a member of my crew called,
"What's that?"
I turned, following the direction of his gaze. I snatched up my telescope and looked through it towards the north. A ship.

It was coming towards us with cannons already out, and it was coming very quickly.
"Judging by the cannons and the speed of the ship, I'd wager they're not here to make friends," muttered Dalia. I smirked at her.
"I'd wager we're about to have some fun," I said with a smile I knew drove her crazy.
She just shook her head and yelled at some of my crew to load the cannons.

Everyone was frantically preparing for battle, but panicked as they were, they still prepared efficiently. I knew I'd picked a productive crew.

I continued to watch the opposing ship as they glided smoothly through the water towards us, searching for any sign as to why they might be attacking us.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not overly surprised, I have not exactly made myself a load of friends over the years. And I certainly have my fair share of enemies.

But I don't recognize the ship, and there are no markings on the sails.
Oh well, it's not as though that matters. We're just going to blow them up anyway.
But still, I kept my eyes on the ship, waiting to see a familiar, perhaps angry face emerge.

But all I saw were fast moving crew members preparing to kill us. I was just about to lower my telescope when I glimpsed someone emerging from below deck.

They turned and faced me fully, giving me the chance I have been waiting for to observe this figure of obvious authority, to look for anything that might lead me to believe I've met this man before. And that's when I saw something terrifying, but not in the way one would think.

A scar, going from his hairline to his jaw marred his face. A scar that I had given him, with a knife that I'd lost. This was definitely a man that I'd made very, very angry.
"Dalia?" I called.
"Yes Captain,"
"I thought I should probably warn you that if we die today, it will be completely and wholly my fault."
"And why is that Captain?" she asked, the wind tearing her blond hair out of it's braid.
"Because that," I gestured to the ship looming before us, "is the ship of Captain Hartles."