Wicked Sea

Chapter 2

Besse woke to the sounds of thumping and frantic running of the crew men from above.

She lifted her head and sniffed the salty ocean air, giving her a calm feeling amongst the anxiety she was blanketed in. She noted that the air had an electrical charge to it, making her hairs stand on end and goose flesh to decorate her skin.

Then came the horrible pain from the lashing Pistol-Grin gave her the night before.

Hot pain engulfed her as she slowly screamed out. Her body lurched forward to get away, only to be stopped by the chains.

She pulled but the metal cuffs bit into her wrists hard enough that she started to feel blood trickling down her hands.

Glad the cloth was gone from her mouth, Besse screamed for the men to come release her, but the franticness above drowned out her cries. She waited till the pain had dulled before she listened to what was going on.

She could hear the crashing of the waves hitting the sides of the ship, the sound of loud thunder mixed with cries from the crewmen and shouts from the Captain. No wonder the air felt charged, there was a storm brewing.

Though, depending on how long she was out for, the storm may not be too far away.

"Turn ta prow! Angle against ta waves!" She heard the Captain bellow out when the thunder died down.

The sudden silence was more deafening than the thunder, making Besse bite her tender swollen lip.

Silences were never a good thing, it was the calm before the storm.

The Captain must have shared his thoughts with her, because he was taking advantage of the silence and barking more orders to his crew, his voice becoming more frantic as the seconds ticked by.

The ship rocked gently, barrels that had tipped over rolled back and forth in the hold.

If there was anything to be grateful about when being chained up in the brig, was that the barrels and anything loose would be stopped by the door.

Suddenly, a large thunderous crack broke through the silence as lightning lit up the sky. The tiny window that was located way above Besse's head showed just how bright it was. The ship tipped to the side, a wave coming up and hitting the side so harshly and high that a little bit of sea water came through her window.

Besse cursed loudly before angling herself to shout out the window the best she could.

"Cap'n! Release me!"

The wind was blowing crazily at that point, she could feel how cold it was from the way it blew into the brig and practically swirled around her.

She shivered, trying to cover herself with her arms.

"Cap'n!" she tried again. "The Sea God will torture ye if ye leave me like this! Ye know the brig is a death sentence far us pirates!"

The brig was the lowest area of the ship, no one could care less about the prisoners if the ship was rammed by another and the whole bottom area takes on water.

Though she loved the sea, she did not want to drown in it. Not quite yet.

She struggled against the chains some more as the storm outside started to pick up. She knew the men had tied themselves to the ship at this point, the best possible way to avoid going overboard, so no one was coming to get her.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Besse tried to make her hand small so she could slip out of the cuff. The tightness and the sticky blood was not helping.

As she considered her next move, which would be breaking her wrist since she had no saliva in her dry mouth nor any type of liquid to help ease the process, she felt something brush against her leg.