Treasures & Tragedies {LIS: Pricefield AU}

Chapter I | The Lost Child

Rachel looks outside through the door and turns to me with a grave expression etched onto her face. A combination of rain and seafoam splatters across the small windows as the ship rocks side to side, throwing the small candlelit room in and out of the shadow. I sigh and put my head in my hands, pinching the bridge of my nose as Rachel's eyes bore into me.

"I'm not sure we'll survive this one," she mutters, unable to mask the anxiety in her voice. An ear-shattering sound comes out above the roaring thunder. A cannon, the shell crashes into the water creating a giant splash blocking my view on the ship chasing us. Way too close for comfort. The entire room stares at me, intense silence growing, waiting for my order, but all my usual plans have failed us up to this point.
"We have no choice," I say quietly, my eyes shut tight. " If we keep sailing, we'll end at the bottom of the ocean. If we turn around and fight..."

"With all due respect Captain," Kryp interrupts. "How will we fight with half the crew still recovering from injuries from the last battle? We have to keep sailing, we can't win this," he says, slamming his hand down on the table valiantly. He's got guts. Speaking out of turn like that, he's the only one that has the balls to do it. One day it might cost him those balls though. Everyone around the table starts debating, but no one is listening to each other, they're all just screaming their own idiotic plans. "We should surrender," "No we should stay and fight," "Continue sailing!" Rachel tries desperately to calm everyone down. She raises her voice significantly, screaming at them to shut their mouths, but to no avail. Another cannonball is fired, this time tearing right through one of our sails. That's only gonna slow us down more, there's no way we'll make it to our bay in time. I can feel frustration bubbling in the pit of my stomach, as the combination of noises begins to overwhelm me. The thunder, the deafening cannon shots, all these morons screaming over each other...
"Enough!" I desperately yell, causing everyone to suddenly fall silent. "I am still the captain! Now shut your mouths and listen." I stare intensely at Kryp. "None of us will make it home unless we take the fight to them. We don't have to defeat all of them, we just have to find their captain and deal with him. The rest of the crew won't be so motivated to fight without their leader. Numbers don't mean a thing, we've handled worse," I say defiantly, an underlying tone of reasoning in my every word. They know I'm speaking the cold hard truth. "I need you all to fight as one. We can't be divided, or our death tonight will be inevitable." The crew turn to each other, all of them weighing out the options. Death tonight, or a slow death in prison by starvation or hanging.

"The captain is right. At this point we've got nothing to lose," Torvald is the first to speak up, his tone somewhat defeated. He locks eyes with me and puffs his chest out bravely. "I pledged my life to you and this ship when I set foot on its deck. All of us have. Abandoning it now would be cowardly, and I am no coward." The rest of the crew is silent, but they nod along with Torvald's speech, or maybe they're just too afraid to say anything to the contrary. Either way, they're on board and we desperately need to work together. There's no foolproof plan, even I realize I might not survive tonight, but I'd rather die in a blaze of glory than surrender and live out the rest of my days in prison. At least if I die today in battle, I would die a free and honorable woman. I turn towards Rachel, who looks at me with a devilish glint in her eyes.
"Rachel, how fast can you turn this ship?" I ask, to which she smiles slightly.
"Depends. If I can get 4 crew members on the anchor, I could turn us fast enough to avoid being split in half," she replies rather calm, looking at our ragtag crew of pirates.

"You got it. Anyone who's able to help, report to Rachel," I say towards the large group of men, who murmur in agreement. I turn myself towards Quill. "Get everyone who's able to wield a crossbow out on the deck. Ready the oil barrels and don't stop shooting until we're out of arrows." I load up my guns as the rest of the crew sharpen their weapons and fill their pockets with ammo. With one last deep breath, we step onto the deck and watch the ship closing in on us. The seawater stings my eyes as I grip the wheel tightly, yet I can't help but smile as I watch my loyal crew man their positions. Looking behind me the enemy ship has already caught up on the little space that was left between us. I swallow deeply. Rachel's tactic better work, or we'll all be sleeping with the fishes tonight. As the ship towers high above us, nearly touching our own vessel, it almost seems impossible to outrun it. Even as the rain pelts it's enormous sails and waves crash against it's hull, the ship continues on at full speed, quickly closing the remaining distance between us. My heart is beating hysterically, yet my body is not shaking. I'm in full control, despite the underlying fear of certain death in the back of my mind.