Tora Barbossa || A Pirates of the Caribbean Story

Prologue.

The sky was black, the wind was cold, the air filled with ash. Shouts echoed around me. A battle had started, my father's ship on fire.

A woman screamed. I ran across the deck, dodging swords as I did so. The woman lay on the floor, without moving. Her eyes wide with terror.

I gasped. This was my mother. I hadn't even recognised her. I should have saved her, but there was nothing I could have done.

A pair of hands grabbed me by my shoulders, thrusting me over the side of the ship. I had no way of holding on to anything, so I fell, plunging into the dark waters below. My head emerged only to see my father, Hector Barbossa, shouting to me. "Swim Tora! Swim away from this place!" he cried. "Remember that-" he dodged a sword. "That I love you!"

I nodded, and dived down until I rose out of the water, still swimming.

*

I climbed out of the sea, dripping wet, and onto the sand. I spluttered and plonked myself down under the shade of a palm tree. I brushed the wet strands of hair out of my eyes, blinking rapidly. If I had washed up at Tortuga, people would wonder where on earth a seven year old girl had just appeared from.

I breathed deeply, letting the tears splash onto my cheeks. I swore to myself that I would return to my father one day. I looked to the horizon and briefly smiled.

"I am Tora Barbossa," I said to myself. "I will never give up. I will rejoin you father, mark my words."