"In the end No one can resist me charms!" she stated before getting tackled to the ground.
"ORCS!"
"Oh dear! I underestimated my own charm! Listen, your nice but this-" Y/n tried to get up and push the elf away right as a black arrow burrowed itself into the ground near her head. A terrified squeak that much resembled the sound of a dying mouse left her lips.
While she was still looking around for the shooter, Legolas was already standing and firing arrows at their attackers.
These monsters were vaguely human looking, their skin was dark and muddy, the faces puffed up and scarred. They seemed more like animals than intelligent beings. One was running towards her and proudly presented its rotting teeth in a stomach-churning grin.
"Eww! What are those things!" she screamed as it was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground in front of her, missing her foot by a hairs width. Fear was setting in her stomach; she had dealt with things similar to this before but at least then she knew what to expect.
"Orcs!" Legolas called again, still fighting. Three of the attackers had already fallen, two more stood close to the elf who was doing a great job at mowing the beasts down. Three were still charging towards them.
Finally y/n got up and gripped the sword at her hip. And not a second to late as another of those monsters tried to swing at her with a metal club.
She turned in the nick of time and sliced its weapon in half. The orc gave her a shocked look.
"Yeah. I'm just as confused as you!" she muttered before slicing its head of. Then she turned to see only two of the remaining Orcs still standing. The others were dead on the ground. Arrows explaining how they died.
The three that were running at them hadn't even come close yet and were already laying on the ground unmoving.
Legolas jumped atop the shoulders of a specimen with Grey skin that had a weird oily black substance dripping from his face, then shot down at its head. As it fell to ground, he jumped of it kicking the last one standing to the ground and killing it with another arrow between its eyes.
"Well." Y/n said while cleaning her swords blade on the dead beasts clothing in front of her.
"I'd say we had an equal share in that win."
Legolas chuckled. "Oh, yes. I don't know what I would have done without you. The lack of my dagger could have severely endangered me today."
"That's what I'm saying!" the pirate exclaimed ignoring the elfs sass.
"I promise you, if I had had enough rum, I'd have killed more than you!"
"Maybe you're right." he spoke slowly picking up her triangular hat that was laying before his feet.
"Fighting like that. It could only get better when drunk!" he threw her the hat that she easily caught. Chuckling she put it on her head.
"I know that that was an insult." she spoke while pointing a finger at him and then sheathing her sword in a grande motion. Hissing in pain for a second when it was secured again.
"But!" she quickly made her way over to her bag and opened it to retrieve a bottle.
"It is also the truth. So!" she bit onto the cork and opened the bottle with a pop before spitting it out again.
"Cheers!"
With that she raised it to her lips and took a large swig as Legolas gave her hand which she shook slightly as if it was hurting a suspicious gaze.
The sun was at its highest point now as the two continued their journey. Slowly a few trees were appearing scattered throughout the landscape.
"Are you sure you don't want to try?" the pirate inquired.
"Quite so, yes." the elf repeated for the fifth time that day.
"You truly are missing out." she slurred. "You know, now that I've had this, I wouldn't mind fighting those-those Blorks again."
"They're orcs."
"Yeah, yeah. Orcs, Blorks. Whatever." the woman waved him off.
"Have you ever met a siren? Err mermaid I mean?"
"Mermaids? Those are truly just legends." Legolas opposed. That made y/n chuckle.
"Oh, I wish. I truly do. Had a few to many encounters. I'm only alive 'cause I'm woman. A woman I mean."
"Do mermaids not like men?"
"They hate 'em! Ah, but who could blame 'em?"
Legolas nodded before looking away awkwardly.
"Do you hate men as well?"
"Oh yeah!" she burst out before realizing that she might have answered too quickly.
"I mean I like man. A man. Singular. But Men. Generally? Not at all."
"I don't quite understand."
"Well, there is Jack. Whom I love dearly. Will was nice. Gibbs is lovely. Ragetti and Pintel had their moments. Then there is Cotton, oh lovely old Cotton. Oh, and how could I forget! Marty! Oh Marty! I love that guy!" she cheered.
"A-a-and you of course. I mean. I don't really know ye yet. But ye seem alright."
"Did you know that your accent strengthens when you drink?"
"Does it. Huh. Fancy that!" with that she emptied the bottle.
"Can you tell me more about mermaids? Why do they hate men?"
"We'll legend says that mermaids are women that died tragically at sea. And sailors say traveling with a woman is bad luck. I think you understand from there."
But he didn't. So, y/n continued.
"They were drowned. By superstitious men."
"I see." He spoke slowly. He knew of the cruelty of mankind yet it could still be shocking.
"But no one knows where they come from for certain. Only that they like to drown sailors. Killed many of my friends. Well almost friends, people I was traveling with would be more honest. But when they saw me, they'd let me be. Once got a kiss from one too! Tasted like fish."
The elf chuckled. Somehow the woman could turn awful things into silly stories within seconds.
"If sailing with women is bad luck, how did you manage?"
"By having me own boat n' crew. And Jack of course."
"You speak of that Jack a lot. What was he to you?"
A smile found its way onto her face and she just looked at Legolas not saying a word. He looked back trying to decipher her expression but coming up empty. After a while he simply looked away.
"It's hard for a woman everywhere when she doesn't want to be a wife and raise children." she spoke solemnly.
Legolas thought about that for a little. It was true he had never really seen a woman in the towns of man who wasn't working as a cook, a waitress or mother. Sometimes they worked in the stores their husbands owned. With elves it wasn't really like that, elleths and ellons both had equal opportunity to become soldiers.
"So, the only chance you have is to be better! Better fighter. Better sailor and better drinker! And as hard as that sounds its actually quite easy. Most men aren't actually that good at anything, they're just prideful. Break that and their little boys crying for their mama. 'Course not all men. Jack never treated me as less. 'S why I liked him so much. We became pirates together, got branded together. No matter how often we got separated we found our way back to each other. Always. 'Till now."
"I don't quite understand. What do you mean by got branded together?"
She gave him a sad smile.
"I love being a pirate but no one becomes a criminal because they want to." she slowly rolled up her sleeve revealing a scarred P and a tattoo of a black sword with five stars in the background. They were in the shape of a cross with one extra star smaller than the others beneath the right one. Carefully Legolas took her arm in his hand letting his fingers glide over the scar making her flinch slightly. Then his fingers slid over to the tattoo.
"What does it mean?" he whispered.
"Well, it's me name for one. Y/n Blackblade. The stars are the southern cross. They help with navigation. Atop is Garcux." She pointed at it, then moved to the one on the left. "That's Mimosa. Then there's Imai and Ginan." She pointed to the left stars. "And lastly Acrux. If you follow that star you get to my hometown. Used to." Legolas nodded before his hand travelled back to the scar.
"And this?"
"Once a pirate always a pirate. The British present to everyone who opposes them."
"What did you do?"
Y/n hesitated.
"We were young, stupid and in need of money so we agreed to ship some cargo for the East India Trading Company. Only it wasn't cargo. 100 humans on a boat taken from their homes to be sold as objects. Once Jack and I realized that we knew what we had to do. We fled, freed them. But the brits found us. Shot down our ship and sunk it as revenge. Jack and I got branded but were left alive. It's their way of taking a life without killing. Jack couldn't live with the loss of his Pearl, 'n I couldn't either. So, he made a deal with Jones to get his boat back. That's how that whole thing started."
Their eyes met.
"A scar like that, should be worn with pride. It matters not what it was supposed to represent and for what reason it was given. Only what you achieved, what you sacrificed and who you saved."
The pirate blinked in surprise before grinning.
Yer a real charmer arent ya?
~~~^~~^~~~^~~~^^~~~^~~~^~~~^~~~
Oh emotions. I sure have them.
(edited)
~1633 words