I wake up to the sound of shattering glass. I jolt awake. It takes me a second to wake myself up to take note of the surroundings. Then I remember that I am not at home; I am at the Livingston estate.
Should I be concerned over the shattering sound? Maybe someone got up in the middle of the night and dropped a glass or knocked over a painting. It will probably be best to leave it be. I turn over in bed to try to get some more sleep.
A moment later, there is a scream. I sit up and practically launch myself out of bed. I quickly put my slippers on and rush out the door to see what happened. Someone might have injured themselves on the broken glass. I have to make sure that they are not too seriously injured.
I turn out into the corridor and make my way towards the end of the hall where I can still hear a thumping noise. There are multiple voices outside of one of the doors.
"That is more like it." I hear a low raspy voice from through the door.
Someone is murmuring in response.
"Come on. Let's settle this like adults, without all the whining." The mystery voice draws out the end of his sentence. Then there is another muffled scream and a faint cry.
I open the door a crack to get a look at what is going on. Aiden is on the bed with his arms and legs tied together with fabric. There is another piece of fabric that is tied around his mouth. A man is standing over him dressed head to toe in black. He has one foot on the ledge of the bed and he is holding a sword up to Aidens cheek. There is a drop of blood making its way down the blade.
"Are you ready to talk now without yelling." The man says and removes the sword a little from Aiden's check.
Aiden nods his head with tears in his eyes. The man in black grabs the fabric from around Aiden's mouth and cuts it off.
"Where is the money you owe us?" The man says. Pointing the sword towards Aiden's neck.
"I...I don't have it" The man steps in closer and puts an arm on Aiden shoulder glaring at him, he brings the sword closer to his neck.
"I mean... I don't have it yet! I don't have it yet!" Aiden exclaimed. The pirate gives him a head gesture to signal for him to keep going.
"The plan is already in motion. I will have the money in one week time. I promise. I promise"
"Now, give me one good reason why we should trust you."
Just then the door is pulled open all the way and I am standing in the middle of the entryway in plain view for everyone to see. A second man dressed in all black grabs me by the wrist and drags me forward.
"Look here what I found," man number two says then pulls me closer to him.
"Why, who do we have here." The first man says. "I do not recognize this lady."
Aiden stays silent looking at the ground refusing to look any of us in the eye.
"I said," the man grabs Aiden and throws him towards the head stand. Then he grabs him by the collar and brings Aiden's face a few inches from his own. "Who do we have here." He leaves a brief pause in between each of his words.
"She is my fiancé. We are set to marry in two days." Hmph, he still thinks that is going to happen? After I get out of this I am going to do everything in my power to get out of this marriage. I am not going to be with a man that associates with these shady characters.
"Hmm. Interesting." The man says and then a smirk appears on his face.
"I thought of an idea on what we can take as collateral. Tie her up." The man says and then throws some rope towards the other man.
My wrist gets pulled and the other man traps me with one of his arms. I squirm and try to run away but it is no use, he is grabbing me too tight. He loosens his grip for a second while he is finagling with the rope.
I escape from his grasp and manage to just take three steps before I am knocked to the ground again.
"Wait a second. You can't take her, I need," Aiden begins to say before the first man hits him in the head with the back of his sword. Aiden immediately falls and becomes unconscious on the bed.
The man walks over and takes the rope from the second guy. While the one prevents me from moving, the other begins to tie me with the rope. He wraps the rope around my arms and my legs. Then grabs the sheet of the bed and cuts a strip of fabric to wrap around my mouth.
"Now grab her and let's go."
The second and larger of the two men lifts me up and throws me on his shoulder. I feel a little dizzy from being jostled around.
The second guy walks over to the window and has half his body out of it before talking to the first guy.
"What are you doing? Let's go."
"I am just writing him a little note. He has one week to deliver us the funds or else we will kill him and make his fiancé work to make up for his debt."
Just how much trouble did I get myself into. This must be the work of the curse. I should have listened to my grandmother and never spoken to Aiden. This must be the bad luck she was talking about.
"Ok, we'll hurry it up. We do not have all night" the second man says and then he starts to climb out the window. As he is climbing, my legs scrap on the side of the house. I give a little whimper from the pain, but he does not have any intention of slowing down.
He lands on the ground and starts to sneak quietly along the line of shrubbery. I try again to roll out of his grasp, but he is holding on too tight. They walk to the back of the house, which directly faces the port.
I turn my head a see a giant ship carrying a black flag with a red harpy painted in the center of it. It is a flag that is described in horror stories and cautionary tales. It is the ship Neptune's Shadow. Known for recking havoc all across the land, willing to do men's dirtiest of work if they pay the right price.
I struggle more and more as they get closer to the boat. I can not let myself get on that thing. There is no telling what they will do to me on that ship.
When we get close to the boat, I hear the larger man grunt and he hold me tighter.
"If you keep squirming, I am going to throw you into the water. Damn the consequences."
I hold myself stiff as a board. I feel my heartbeat in my head and I begin the panic. I take some deep breaths. It will be all right. I am sure my grandparents will pay to help get me out of this predicament. It will only be one week at most.
The man climbs aboard the ship. There are several men aboard the ship, but they just glance at me before returning to what they are doing.
We make our way to the inner part of the ship and he drops me in a room. I roll back and hit my head on the floor. I close my eyes and give myself a minute to orient myself.
"We brought you something captain." The first man says.
"This does not look like the money I sent you to collect. " a low rich voice replies.
I hear footsteps coming towards me. And a calloused hand strokes both of my cheeks and grabs my chin to steady my head.
"Open your eyes." The voice tells me. I open them and I find dark brown eyes staring back at me.
This man has long, wavy, velvety, brown hair. A two inch scar on the lower left side of his face that is peaking out of his neatly trimmed beard. He is wearing a black captains hat on top of his head.
This is him. The notorious Captain Bloodstone.
YOU ARE READING
A Pirate Melody
RomanceGrowing up Lucia had two rules: 1. Never speak a word to another individual 2. Never set forth in the ocean She was told that she was cursed as a baby and if she did either one of those things, terrible misfortune would befall both her and those...
