Revenge So Sweet

Sweet Revenge

Esperanza stood before Gonzalo, his face in utter disbelief and disdain.
She saw Danielle took advantage of his momentary shock, elbowing him hard in the face.
"Run Danielle!"  She screamed and Danielle ran quickly sheathing her sword and diving over the rail and into the water.  Gonzalo had recovered much too quickly.  Esperanza watched it all happen as if in slow motion.  Gonzalo was right behind Danielle his arm was outstretched before him.  She saw the faded half skull tattoo and the chunk of flesh that Perra had taken out of his arm when last he had tried to hurt Danielle.  She watched as Gonzalos fingers just barely grazed a golden locket of Danielle's beautiful hair.
Esperanza had bolted when Gonzalo did and rammed her body against him pushing him over the edge.  A wave of heat hit her from behind and she spun to see a wall of flames licking it's way rapidly towards her.  She frantically located Perra and scooped her up into her arms jumping into the turbulent ocean below.

Esperanza woke in a panic.  Perra was licking her face trying to get her attention.  She gasped for air her face and hands was covered in sand.  She dusted them and rubbed her face.
"Bonjour."
Esperanza reached for her sword and was about to unsheathe it until she realized it was a little dark skinned girl.  She relaxed.
"Bonjour.  Où suis-je, can you tell me where I am?"  Esperanza asked.
"Yes.  You are on Turtle Island."  The little girl answered matter of factly.
She breathed a sigh of relief.  On Turtle Island or Tortuga she would be safe.  She just needed to find Pierre and Hugo they would likely be with Danielle.  She could not have drifted very far from her and Perra, they had dove into the same waters.  She decided to be on guard, because the bastard Gonzalo also went over in the same place and could be anywhere.
"Do you know where Pierre is?" She asked
The little girls little face tilted up in confusion.  Then she shrugged.
This was odd to Esperanza.  Everyone knew Pierre.  The island was very tiny.
The little girl studied her, probing her with innocent but wise eyes.
"What about Hugo?  Do you know Hugo?"  She tried.
"Oui!  Mon grand père!  My grandfather!"  The child exclaimed confidently.
"I don't think so."  Esperanza said.
"Are you le pirate?"  She asked.
"Oui."
The girl practically jumped up and grabbed Esperanza by the hands tugging at her.
"Come!  Come!  I will take you!  Come!"  She insisted.
Esperanza followed the little girl who led her not towards Hugo and Pierre's house but to the center of the island.  It must have been a very long time since she had last been to that part of the island because it was not the same.  The sturdy houses she passed weren't there before.
"Grand père! Mama!"  The little girl called out as she led her to a house that was surrounded by a strange metal wall.
A man with tufts of patchy white hair greeted them at the door.  He looked at Esperanza strangely.  She looked down at herself, she had already buttoned her jacket to cover her exposed chest.  What was the old man looking at?  She wondered.
"Bonjour mademoiselle."  He greeted politely.
Esperanza did not have a chance to respond because the little girl cut in.
"Grand Père!  I found her!  Le pirate captain Esperanza!"  She said proudly.
Esperanza peered down at the girl in astonishment.  She had never given her name.
The old man seemed taken a back.  He circled her studying her more closely.  This made her uncomfortable, she pulled slipped her gun from its holster, careful to keep it half hidden within her buttoned jacket.  She only meant to warn the old man, and not to frighten him or the child.  They seemed harmless enough. 
The old mans eyes widened and Esperanza knew he had gotten her wordless message.  He stammered.
"Please.  Are you who my grand daughter says you are?" He said holding his hands up as a show of keeping peace and calm.
"I am."  She said eyeing him suspiciously.
"How does the girl know."  She asked.
"Gabrielle has always had an unusual ability to read people.  She has heard the stories passed down for generations.  I myself have told her these stories."  He paused and looked at her.  "Your story."

Esperanza sat with the old man and child and ate with them.  She was famished and so was Perra.  He told her of how his name had been passed down throughout the years every so many generations.  It was an ancestor who shared his name in fact who first told her story.
Esperanza listened in quiet contemplation.  Her face a rigid mask of someone struggling to understand.
"What is this story of me that you speak of?"  She demanded.
"Well it's actually a song.  An old shanty from the 17th century."  He said.
"The 17th century?"  She repeated.  She mulled it over.  What a strange way to describe a year.  17th century she repeated over and over in her mind trying to decipher it.
"Oui.  17 centuries A.D." he supplied.
"A.D. meaning Anno Domini, the year of our lord."  She determined. "The year of our lord seventeen thousand.  Meaning the years 1600-1699?"  She asked for clarity.
"Oui."  He said concerned now, at the paleness that came over Esperanza.
She gulped audibly.
"You say it is your ancestors Hugo who told my story, meaning the past.  1697 is the far past of this current day."  She said and he watched her horrified face, putting together his words in terms she could understand.  She was certainly beginning to understand.
"And what is the date monsieur?  She finally asked.
"The year is 2010."
She gasped and her hands shot to her mouth, her eyes wide in fear.
She covered her face with her hands and fought to control her racing thoughts and heart.  She breathed deeply for several minutes.  When she gained her composure, Danielle came to the forefront of her mind.  Danielle would be here, she thought.  Esperanza rummaged frantically through the conversations that she had with her.  She needed to put that to the side for the time being she reasoned.
"What is this shanty you spoke of."  She asked the man.
He looked at the young girl and smiled.
"Ready mon chèri?"  He asked her and she nodded enthusiastically.
Together they sang: