The Fallen Stars

Chapter 7 María

"For the Locker of Davy Jones, not again!" I mutter.
My father sent a letter... biweekly, he sends a letter to me, telling me his progress... on the uncharted waters.
Not to tell me of his well-being, but to tell me he's still alive, he's still coming back and expecting that I'll be the queen of Mar y Tierra.

Now his letter has inturupted my swordplay with Connor. I was so close to beating him for the third time.
"I'll be finished in a minute!" I call back to the messenger boy.
He runs back into the dark tunnels.
"A minute? That's how long it's going to take you to get me on the ground?" He asks rhetorically with a smirk. His sword against my sword, between us
"I don't want to be unfair towards you." I state innocently.
"Ha! We are pirates. We don't play fair." He replies with a chuckle.
"Are we going to fight or talk about doing it?" I ask with a smirk.
He answers with lifting his sword and bringing it back down.
I block the hit.
I push him, and he stumbles back.
I make a 360-degree turn and launch at him. He blocks me just in time.
"Nice try." He comments with a smirk.
"Who has said I tried yet?" I gloat.
Confusion covers his face... then he realizes what I was doing, but he was too late.
I twist his sword with mine... it flies over my head, landing somewhere in the back.
My blade against his throat, he lifts his hands in surrender.
"Okay, you win." He admits with a small smile.
"Remember, I should get you on the floor." I throwing my sword to the side.
"Okay." Is all he says before he tackles me to the ground. He's on top of me, cold rock under me. He's holding my hands so that I can't move.
He smirks.
"You had your chance for victory. You should have taken it." He's the one who gloats now. He let's go of my hands, putting them next to my head.
I smirk back.
"What can I say? I love a challenge." As I finish saying it, I grab his back, bringing him down... I grab his arm, and I push us to roll over. Now I'm on top.
"See? I took it." I snickered.
He smiles up at me, let's out a sigh.
"Alright, now you really won." He admits.
He puts his hands under his head.
I swallow.
My legs are on either side of his waist.
A few locks of my brown hair escaped from my low bun, and now is dangling, my hands on my waist.
He's wearing a white loose, low v-neck shirt, with black long pants and brown boots.
I clear my throat.
"I have to go." I say, standing up, lending a hand to pull him up. He takes it. He's heavy, so when I pull him up, I take a few steps forward, ending up almost against his chest. I look up into those dark, mysterious eyes...
"Mia..." he starts.
Only he and my brother are allowed to call me Mia.
He clenches and unclench his jaw.
"Your father is waiting." He finishes, looking down to the ground.
I take a few steps back, rolling my eyes.
"It's not like he's here... it's only a letter. But yes, you're right. I should go." I say, walking out of the room.
He doesn't reply back.

Stupid of me to keep my father waiting, I should have left immediately.
But what can I say? I can't leave it unfinished.
And yet... I did.

***

As I walk through the underground village, people walking past me with a nod, drunk men with women on either side of them... laughter and conversations, yells, doors slamming, and bottles breaking. That's all I can hear.
Rum, manure, salt water, damp, and musty. Is all you can smell.
Buildings of wood have floors until the ceiling of the cave.
Small taverns here and there, inns are usually above the taverns.
Shops of clothing, trinkets, and food.
Houses are found between all of this.
A small sickroom building in the middle of it all.

"That's her the future queen." A little girl whispers to her friends.
I stop walking, I look over my shoulder, looking at the trio of girls... they are all wearing brown dresses with white aprons.
One is dark skinned with her hair in a low bun. One with pale skin, loose orange hair, freckled skin, and blue eyes.
The last one with olive skin, brown hair in a loose braid.

"You lasses are smart." I begin with a smirk.
"Maybe, if you're smart enough, you three could join my crew one day. When you're old enough." I whisper to them.
"Really?" The orange head asks excitedly. The other two look terrified of me.
"Mimi, we should go." Whisper the dark skinned girl, to the orange head.
"But the queen is talking to us." She states back.
"Mama is waiting for us." The dark girl replies back.
"Ah! Your mother has a much higher rank than me in your life... best to run along." I say, pushing them gently away.
The girls giggle.
I watch run towards a house close by, they greet a woman. A few years older than me, with black hair tied into a bun, she's wearing a blue dress with a white apron.
She scolds the three little girls, and Mimi says something to her mother. The mother looks in my direction, her face goes pale in the lantern light, and she gives a small curtsy.
I turn back towards my path.

When I finally got to the ships, all I could hear was ships creaking and waves crashing. The cave's entrance shows that it is afternoon. Four ships are anchered here, two which belong to me. And two that stayed behind from my father. My brother is back to Isla Nunca Más, for personal reasons he never wants to share with me, and also to bring food supplies.

Meghan came running towards me.
Meghan is my second mate.
She's wearing a brown skirt lifted on one side, so from her knee is showing, with a black corset shirt on and dark brown boots that end below her knees.
"What is it?" I ask nonchalantly.
"Here is the letter." She says a little bit out of breath.
I take it from her hand.
I stare at the folded letter, curious of what it's holding, I look up at her.
"Thank you. You can go." I say waving her off.
She looks at me and then walks away.

I take a breath, then I open the letter.

Hello María.
I hope there is some progress being made back at Isla Maldita.
We saw some sirens, but thanks to Davy Jones... they left us alone.
Now the uncharted waters are empty, and there is not another island insight!
So I decided to come back home, I'll be back within two months.
And I expect everything has run smoothly.

Your Father

Great!
Two months!
Two months to defeat Ainsley Pan and his clan.
Two months to create my rule.
Bloody fantastic!