Lunar Gaze

Chapter 11

About a century ago, a wise man by the name of Shakespeare wrote "care will kill a cat". And that's precisely the situation Josephine found herself in. Josephine ignored Kidd's command to stay put, giving into her curiosity and peeking up at the deck. She found men sword fighting with each other all over the deck. She wondered how the fight broke out and with who.

Walking forward, she tried to find a place to hide on deck during the commotion. A large boom echoed in the air as a cannon ball shot across the deck. Her ears began to ring for the noise was so great. That is when Josephine realized there was an enemy ship at hand.

Off in the distance she could spot Kidd with his sword out fighting the enemy. Mighty and brave he appeared as he strategically fought the men who had come on deck. He was perfectly concentrated on his defense and attack, that is until he spotted Josephine hiding behind a barrel. He paused, staring at her in fury that she disobeyed him.

But in that moment, it allowed for an enemy to slash his arm. He groaned at the now bleeding cut on his arm. Then quickly stabbed the man that dared slash him right in the gut. Josephine screamed, shocked to see a man die so brutally at the hands of Kidd. But with that scream, she brought attention to herself. A man walked to her and grabbed her. She looked into the eyes of the man, and it was no other than the old man who attempted to sell her.

Josephine screamed in terror, wishing not to once again be snatched. He tried to drag her across the deck, all while men slashed and stabbed each other around them. But Kidd spotted him immediately, and quickly pointed his sword at the old man's throat.

"You dare threaten me?" The man asked. Josephine looked up at him as he held her arm. It seemed as though the man had clout within their world of danger. But Kidd had no fear, he didn't flinch at all. He simply held his sword exactly by his neck. The old man grinned, then threw me in Kidd's direction. "There's more where that came from."

After a whistle from the old man, his crew (or at least what was left of them) followed him as they made their way back to their ship. The dying were left for dead, and looted by the men of Kidd's crew. Then thrown overboard to their aquatic graves, even if their breath had yet to cease.

After the atmosphere of the ship calmed, Josephine was grabbed by Kidd. He held her face in his hands. "Do you not know what danger you put yourself in?"

"What was I to do? Stay down there?" Asked Josephine.

"You do exactly what I tell you to do! It's as if you'd like to be dead!" Kidd reprimanded.

"And you are not my father. You cannot tell me where I can and can't go." Josephine removed his hands from her cheeks. The remaining men of the ship laughed at her comment, and then began sitting down. Their injuries were bad, bleeding and oozing gashes from the swords and knives they endured. Josephine could hardly believe her eyes. "Will you guys clean the wounds?"

"That's unnecessary." Kidd told her. Josephine could see one man in particular who only had one leg. She looked to Kidd's arm and began reaching out to the slash that bled on it. Kidd sucked in a breath.

"It seems absolutely necessary." Josephine answered. Then she looked him directly in the eyes. "Do you have alcohol?"

Moments later, Josephine had all of the men on board lining up to get their wounds cleaned. Kidd stood next to her with his now bandaged arm.

Virgil stepped up with a gash on his forearm. Josephine began pouring rum on a cloth. Despite being a man who just shameless fought in a feud, he seemed a little worried about the rum. "How much will it burn?"

"Not nearly as much as the gangrene you may get from not cleaning that." Josephine answered as she placed the soaked cloth onto his wounds. Virgil cried out almost like a child. The men expressed both concern for Virgil and fear as well, since they were next in line.

Suddenly, these men didn't seem as frightening and dangerous to Josephine. They were humans who felt the same emotions as everyone else. After everyone had their turn cleaning their wounds and bandaging them, they showed Josephine where they store the liquor so that she may return left over unused alcohol.

Along with the liquor, Josephine also found books. "Oh, this is just delightful!". Immediately, Josephine walked over to the books and looked at them. "Cecilia, John Locke, Pamela... you've got plenty of amazing books."

The men watched as she reached and picked up one of the books. "Arabian nights... you know, I used to love reading this as a child."

The men looked at her blankly. And then Josephine realized what was wrong. "You guys don't know how to read, is that it?"

The men were silent.

"Well I can read to you if you'd like that." Josephine smiled. They all looked to each other, and spoke softly to one another. Then in no time, Josephine was sat in a chair while all the men gathered around her, listening to her stories.

Kidd watched in amazement at how Josephine could made a whole crowd of old, hardened pirates love her. Never had he seen such reception for one person before. All the men listened intently as she softly read the words off the page. They all looked to her as though she were an angel personified.

"And that was the story of Aladdin. There's plenty of other stories in here. How would you like us to read 'The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles'?"

"Sounds splendid!" One man shouted out.

"We'll enjoy anything you read to us." Another answered. Josephine pressed her lips together as she turned to another story to read more.

In the back of the room stood Jack West, and just like the other men she too was amazed by Josephine. She was joined by Captain Black Bill, who couldn't believe what was happening. Jack tensed once she realized the Captain's presence.