Chapter Six: Deal
~~ The men took me back into the captain's quarters and placed me gently down in the circle of satin pillows, turning and leaving without so much as a word. A few moments later and the Captain approached the threshold, leaning on the doorframe with his right hand sunken into his pocket and his left holding the cigarette which he retrieved between his lips and puffed out smoke; like a dragon. His yellow eyes burnt softly now and lazily drifted over to me, a smile inked upon his lips. The cigarette died within moments and the Captain threw it do the deck and squished it with his shiny, black boot; sinking both hands into his pockets and closing the door behind him; locking it. "Why?"
He asked simply, standing before me. "Why what?" I asked, attempting to sound casual, but, by the way he smiled, I figured I did that in vain.
"Why did you escape? Have I not treated you regally? Have you not gotten the utmost respect? Have the men harmed you? If they have I swear I'll have their heads" the Captain hissed, walking over to me and sitting down before me; I scooted back a little.
"No...no one's hurt me since the whip accident. You have treated me quite nicely, and I thank you for that but...I want to go home; back to London, I never wanted to go to Port Royal anyways." I explained; The Captain nodded and grinned.
"Let's make a deal" he started; leaning closer to me. "I'll take you back to your home in London, unscathed, unharmed in any way. But, you've got to do anything I want, whenever I want, where ever I want, when I want it; as long as you stand on this ship." Said he with a smile, sticking out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"
He asked, coming closer to me; I paused and pondered over the idea; but, I didn't take long, the thirst to go home was so overwhelming, without a second thought I grasped his hand and shook it. His grin returned. "Good, now, first order of business; go to sleep and stay asleep; no leaving the ship whatsoever." He ordered, he grasped my arms and heaved me up, so I stood with him; I nodded and sighed, looks like I would be seeing Willy after all! As we walked out of his room together he grasped my hand and stopped me.
"You're no longer sleeping in there, come, your new bedroom is this way" said he, his hand was warm and his skin was surprisingly velvety; I didn't mind holding his hand. He lead me back up the stairs and to a room to the left of his own! It didn't have a plaque on the door, however. "Here it is" said he, as he unlocked the lock with a giant ring of thousands of keys. The door swung open and revealed a quite big room fit with a bed, a built in wardrobe, a built in mirror, a personal WC, and a few built in candelabras.
It was quite bland but it was a hell of a lot better than that prison cell!
"Thank you" I said, turning to him; he had lit up another cigarette and stood behind me; his eyes were soft again and he nodded. He turned to leave, but, before he did I heard his footsteps coming closer to me before I felt a sharp smack on my behind! I cried out and whipped around to see him strolling out of the room; a wink upon his eyelid and a large smile painted upon his lips.
~~ I did as he instructed and fell right to sleep; only to be woken the next day by hands shoving me out of the bed! I gasped and struggled as I fell upon the floor, I looked up with eyes still half asleep to see the Captain standing over me; a cigarette hanging between his lips. "Get up, you have a full day ahead of you" said he; I rubbed my eyes and pushed myself up, only to fall once again upon my butt! He chuckled lightly and helped me up; lifting me by my underarms.
"A full day, what do you mean?" I asked, yawning. He paused.
"Remember our deal? Whatever I want, whenever I want, where ever and whenever I want it." He said, pausing; he leaned close to me and grinned.
"Welcome to the crew" he said with another wink.
~~ My first order of duty was to climb up the mast and clean the crows nest. "Are you insane?" I asked, turning to the Captain; he smiled and shook his head.
"Not yet, sweet cheeks, not yet" he answered; sweet cheeks? Where the hell'd he get that? I shook my head and sighed.
"How am I even supposed to get up there?" I asked him; he pointed to a large rope that was tied to the top of the mast; a bit beyond the crows nest. He was officially insane. Did he really expect me to climb up that with a full bucket of water? "I can't climb up that holding the bucket; I'll fall" I said, turning to him; a cigarette hung between his lips.
"Well, if you can't do that you might as well go back to my quarters and strip naked; you, at least, must entertain me." Said the Captain giving me a sideways glance and smile. I blinked in surprise and lifted the bucket, walking over to the appointed rope and stuffing the rag in my pocket. The Captain laughed until tears fell from his eyes and I was more than half way up the mast! He yelled something to me and I glanced down to him, which, was a terrible idea; I became dizzy and nauseated as I saw how I up I was, I wasn't afraid of heights, but, nor was I fond of them.
The bucket now seemed to weigh ten hundred pounds as it rested upon my arm and I clung to the rope; praying to every god I knew the name of that I wouldn't fall off. I clenched my eyes shut and continued climbing until I felt something tap against my foot; I opened my eyes and found that the top of the mast was only a swing away! I sighed and, as I was about to jump off of the rope and onto the mast, I realized, a bit too late, that my foot was tied up in that very same rope that I clung to. I still have no idea how that was done, but, when I jumped the rope yanked me back by my foot and I dropped the bucket of water; falling downwards, my face smashed against the mast and, after that I hung limply; only staying in the air by the rope. I opened my eyes a bit to see the Captain was soaking wet and the bucket lay beside him, overturned; his cigarette was killed prematurely and it lay before him.
He yelled at me to get down, but, I could only groan in response; when my face smashed against the mast it caused my teeth to dig into my lip, and, with the pressure of the mast upon the front of my lip, it busted! My lip busted! The Captain growled curses and took off his hat, slicking back his hair and ordering the cabin boy to hold his hat; within moments the Captain was climbing up the rope and reached me, he shook his head and from out of his pocket he took a small knife and cut me free. Catching me before I would, ultimately, plummet to my death; he slung me over his shoulder and there I laid limply, feeling bruises form on my cheeks. When we were upon the deck again he yanked his hat back from the cabin boy and ordered for a few things, one, for a physician in my room immediately, two, for a more experienced crew member to clean the crows nest, and three, to not be disturbed.
The boat's physician, an older man of Indian decent, rushed after the Captain and I, carrying a red, shiny box with a white cross on the top. The Captain gingerly laid me down upon my bed and stepped out of the way of the physician who quickly took a seat beside me and began assessing the damage. He made a clicking noise with his tongue. "Tisk, tisk, you'll need stitches" said he; stitches? Stitches mean needles...and I hate needles. You see, when I was younger I needed stitches and, after I got them, my wound became infected and escaped death by the skin of my teeth! The physician rummaged through the box and pulled out a shiny, silver needle with some type of white thread; I scooted away from the physician and looked pitifully up to the Captain.
"What? You've been whipped before, sweet cheeks, and yet a needle scares you?" The Captain asked with a laugh; the Captain stood behind the physician with his arms crossed and, now, the physician came close to me with the needle. I whimpered and backed ever more into my pillows, away from the needle. "For the love of god, Anna, let the man do his job; do you expect me to stop him from helping you or something?"
The Captain asked when I looked to him pitifully again. It hurt too much to speak, so, I only stared at the Captain; he sighed and shook his head, walking around my bed and placing his hands on my shoulders, holding me down. I trembled as the physician came close to me with the needle; I clenched my eyes shut so as to not 'freak out' when the needle touched me. Soon, water began to gather in my eyes beneath my eyelids and I was forced to open my eyes; staring directly into the Captain's. His eyes were soft and his hands no longer applied pressure to my shoulders, now, they simply sat there, resting; he saw how scared I really was.
How I know this? Well, his right hand lifted from my shoulder and he allowed his fingers to ghost over my flesh, giving me small waves of satisfaction before he took up my hand and held it tightly within his own.
He was comforting me.
I gave a weak smile to him and then the physician sighed. "Alright, Miss. Anna, you're all done" he said; I paused, I hadn't felt a thing! I tore my eyes away from the Captain and they moved to the physician who was smiling, amusingly, at the Captain and I; soon, the Captain realized this and ripped his hand from my own, clearing his throat and straightening his damp trench coat.
"Good, well, uh, go back to scrubbing the deck" the Captain ordered the physician, the physician nodded and smiled to me. He had all of his teeth and they were quite white to be a smile of a pirate! The physician was golden skinned with chocolate eyes and curly hair the colour of mud with a goatee to match; he seemed quite amiable and winked to me before leaving the Captain and I together. The Captain sighed and turned to me. "Can you speak?"
He asked; I sat up and opened my mouth, making nonsense sounds, finally, I nodded. "Good" the Captain said again, more to himself than to me. "Stay out of the crew's way, do whatever you like, I don't care" the Captain ordered; I nodded.
"Yes" said I; the Captain turned and gained one last fleeting glance of me before closing my door. Moments later I heard a small thud and a sigh; the Captain's room was right next to mine so I could hear most of everything that went on in there. I stood from my bed and walked out of my room, attempting to close the door quietly but a wave hit the boat and caused it to slam shut; I heard footsteps to the left of me and then they just stopped. I walked down the stairs to the main deck and then walked down one set of stairs more, to the prison deck. "Willy?"
I asked, walking carefully down the stairs. "Pumpkin! You're back!" Willy cried, standing; I hurried over to him and hugged him through the bars of his cell. He smiled and now turned his attention to my pirate dressing; he shook his head and grasped my hands.
"So, what's happened?" He asked, and I told him everything; he smiled a broken toothed grin. "I think this is the appropriate time to say 'I told you so'!" Willy cried, laughing afterwards; my cheeks flushed crimson and I sighed.
"Today's been a strange day" said I, Willy smiled and gripped my hands within his; his were old, cracking, work hands whilst my own, in contrast, had never done hard labor, as Willy had once done. Willy used to mine for gold before his mining company was put out of business, then, he fought as a privateer in the war and was broke after the war ended, only to become a pirate, and, the Captain's ship to capture his own; killing everyone on that vessel save Willy. Willy still didn't know why the Captain did that. I was at a loss for an answer too. Willy and I spoke for hours in the cool darkness of the prison deck, and, when darkness fell, I decided it was time to leave; saying my goodbye I made my trek up the stairs only to step on something.
I glanced down only to see a piece of paper lying upon the deck. The night was crisp and fresh as the wind blew through my hair; apparently, we had left port some hours earlier, for, we were upon open sea now. I picked up the paper and squinted to read:
'Dearest, Anna,
I'm a hopeless Romantic. Walk with me in the graveyards of gothic cathedrals, transcend the confines of elitist and rationalistic structures of discourse, and join me in an eternal spiritual quest for the strange and sublime'
I paused as I read it; several times had this paper been crumpled and words struck through with red ink. The words were so intellectual and oozed passion onto the deck as I held the note before my eyes; I turned the note over to find coordinates to where we (the boat) was going! My lips curled into a smile as I suspected who wrote this adoration letter; I glanced up from the letter and saw a glowing, yellow eye peeking out from the peep hole of the door from the Captain's Quarters. He yanked himself back and quickly hid from my gaze; I smiled again and slowly made my way back to my room, laying down upon my bed. "Yes" said I, loud enough that he could hear me through the wall; there was noise that sounded like me moved closer to the wall.
"Yes, I will" I said, softer this time; placing the note upon a small table beside me and curling up against my pillow, a smile glued to my face the entire night.