TW// Violence, murder, blood, execution
Rea grabbed her bow and ran outside on the deck. As soon as she opened the door to her cabin, she had to dodge the main mast crashing down at a rapid speed. She watched the mast as someone pulled her on her feet.
"Captain, are you okay?"
"Who's attacking us?" She looked around to see the ship that attacked them, but she only saw darkness surrounding them. "Where are they?"
"We don't know. There is no ship anywhere around us."
Rea ran up on the Quarterdeck and focused her eyes on the sea. The ship attacking them must've had its lanterns lights off. She looked for any slightest movement till she saw a light and a cannon ball approaching them.
"Down!" She screamed to her crew, covered her head, and dropped down to the floor. The blast from the explosion still pushed her against the sidings. A lantern crashed to the ground. She ignored the pain, grabbed an arrow, ripped the fabric from a sail of the fallen mast and wrapped it around the tip of the arrow. She covered it in lamp oil from the lantern and lit it up.
She taut the bow, pointed it at the direction from where the cannon shot and let go.
Rea hit the ships sailing, which lit up in a second, spreading fire to the main mast. Rea looked down at her crew.
"Prepare the cannons. Fire on my signal." She looked back at the ship and raised her hand. "Ready." She could still not see the flag of the ship, but she could see they were preparing their cannons to shoot. "Fire!"
The cannons fired, but the ship had already moved, hitting only the back of the ship. It started sailing towards them.
"Prepare your swords!" Shouted Rea, grabbing an arrow and adjusting it on the bow.
When both ships were close enough the bloodshed started. Rea shot her arrows true, not missing a single target. She hadn't had a chance to look at their flag, but she was certain that they were pirates. And they knew what they were doing.
There were more of them, and she could see the numbers of her crew falling down rapidly. They were outnumbered. Rea saw someone approach the commander of her ship from behind. She reached for her arrow, but she had run out of them. Rea dropped the bow to the ground and pulled out her sword. She hoped all the trainings with Ivan and Elias would do her good now.
Rea ran down the stairs and sliced the man behind his knee. The commander turned around, reached for his pistol, and shot the man. He looked up at Rea. "Thank you."
She smiled and nodded. He signalled her to duck down, so she did. He shot someone behind her. They pressed themselves back-to-back as the pirates surrounded them. Rea looked over them to see the rest of her crew surrounded and pushed back against the railing.
"Drop yer weapons."
The crew looked at Rea. She gripped her sword tightly. She could still fight.
"Drop them!"
Realizing that fighting wouldn't help her she dropped the sword as did the others. They pushed Rea and the commander towards the rest of the crew.
"Where's yer Captain?"
Rea saw her commander stepping forward. She wouldn't let him. They may have promised they wouldn't give away her true identity and to protect her life, but she wouldn't stay low and lie, just because she was a princess.
She stepped forward. "I'm the Captain."
There was a low silence. She had doomed herself. They were going to recognize her and kill her. Rea was ready for a hit of a bullet in her head when suddenly they all started laughing.
The man who was pointing a gun at her laughed the loudest. "Stop lyin' woman."
"I'm not lying."
He took a step closer to her. Rea could smell the alcohol off him. "Prove it."
Rea didn't take her eyes off him, her posture straight and steady. "Take me prisoner and leave my crew to sail home."
"Take ye prisoner, ay?" He closed the distance between them and brushed his finger through her hair. "We would love to have such a beauty on our ship. Right boys?"
An agreeing ay rose amongst them. The commander stepped forward. "Hands of the Captain!"
Rea moved her hand in front of him. He stepped back.
"Oh, a feisty one." He looked back at Rea. "Okay, come with us blondie and we leave yer crew."
"Captai- "
"It's okay, commander." Rea straightened her back and followed them to their ship. When she was there, she turned around. "Now leave my crew alone."
"As you wish, Captain." He mocked her.
He nodded to his troop. They pulled out their swords and pistols and killed off Rea's crew.
"No!" Screamed Rea. She ran towards them, but someone grabbed her. All emotions flooded her at once as she watched the blood leave the bodies of her crew. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to run.
"You said you would leave them!"
The man smiled. "Ya never said in what condition."
She was still looking at her crew. "You- " Tears fell down her cheeks, but she didn't feel sadness.
Anger.
She felt rage.
"You filthy, lying fernty!"
Rea slammed the heel of her boot into the man holding her. As soon as he loosened the grip, she kicked him and pulled the sword off him. She lunged at the man, slicing the sword across his face. They all jumped at her in a second. She didn't care if she was outnumbered. They had sliced her skin, they had punched her, and she fought on.
They managed to knock her sword down, so she started to use her fists. Out of nowhere a knife, cut her cheek. Everyone stopped. Rea, her hands still raised, took a moment to breathe, looking around confused to why they had stopped.
"Enough!"
A woman's voice. Rea looked up. Someone was standing on the gaff of the main mast. She grabbed a rope and dropped down. The crew parted as she walked towards Rea.
She's beautiful.
That was Rea's first thought. The woman standing in front of her had deep dark skin, dark brown, curly hair, tied down into a low ponytail. She was dressed in black pants, tight against her curves, a corset of belts round her torso, a white shirt with a deep alluring cleavage. Her beige boots were high up to the middle of her tight, daggers and knives fastened behind the belts. She wore a long, heavy black coat and a big hat ornated with feathers. She wore a nose ring and two big circular earrings.
She grinned. "And what do we have here?"
Her accent was not one Rea couldn't recognize.
"She claims she's a Captain."
"Oh, really?"
Her voice was like velvet, Rea could sink in it. She reached her left hand to her chin. No, not a hand. Cold metal met Rea's skin, as she moved her face up. The woman's left hand was a hook.
"Tell me." Rea watched her eyes, trying hard to steady her breathing heart and shaking body. She was so beautiful, Rea wanted to punch her. "How did a woman become a Captain of one of the royal ships of The Kingdom of Naydawin?"
Rea clenched her fists and reached up to punch her. She was surprised how heavy her arms felt. The woman lifted her hand and stopped Rea's fist.
"On, no." She smiled and shifted her weight on one leg. "I don't think that's a good idea." She gently stroked her cheek over the wound from her knife. "You're too tired to do that."
Rea wiped her cheek and looked at her fingers. It was wet with blood. She felt a sudden tingly feeling in her fingers. Emxios. The sleeping poison Tivon had warned her about it.
Rea looked up and the last thing she saw, was the woman's beautiful dark eyes, before she fell asleep.