Estella stories - episode 004 - The beginning of Estella

part 31 Finally things are looking up

They arrived at a deep cave.
"Your treasure is down there" she pointed down into the darkness. They ventured down into the tunnel finding stacks of gold. The pirates were ecstatic and bought the boat over loading it with the gold. The captain went to Estella "we thank you for this. How may we ever repay you?" Estella smiled "well that's interesting because we can help each other" "see this is a bait for all you lot, because if you take me with you... I'll give you the map to the other half of the gold" the captain frowned "what do you mean?" "See I've been here before because of course I have, and I found another map which leads to another island. Now you can either take me with you and in exchange I'll give you the map and also the gold, or you can take what you've got and leave but always wonder what could have been, I could also be helpful for your crew" he considered her for a moment "alright... you be coming with us" she was delighted and jumped on the side of the boat holding onto the ropes. She looked down at the natives all watching her. She waved to them "alas my children, I will see you again... probably" she climbed onto the deck, and they cast off into the ocean.
The captain sat down asking her.
"so you have a map for me?" Estella looked around the ship looking interested "I do indeed, however I will hold it" "of course however we need to see the map, so we can say that it's actually real" she took out the map opening it and showing them it was actually a map "how did you receive this map?" "Apparently a few hundred years before I arrived at the island a woman arrived named Magpie who was trying to find a different island, she apparently left it in the cave and the natives just left it there. The natives were being stupid they said they kept killing her but nothing worked which just didn't make any sense to me just stab her and then get on with it" "So they killed her a few times and then stole her map?" "Yep, they put it in the cave because well what more could with it? A map to another island" they began to show her around the ship showing her how everything worked, she was pretty fascinated she really loved how the ship worked. When they were finished, the captain declared "you must prove yourself to us" Estella grinned "yeah the last time I had to prove myself to a big group of people... it didn't end well" "well, until you have, you will be working with the crew" she was with 3 other people lifting barrels of liquid which she assumed was full of rum down below. That night she told the night crew which directions to go in then went to sleep thinking of the gun in her back pocket still full of one bullet. Never used, she was waiting for the day she saw Salvador again, so she was able to use it, she had decided to make it her life mission.
The next morning,
She was awoken by a loud bell coming from above which seemed to wake everyone up. She got up still wearing her previous clothes. She went upstairs wondering what was going on. The captain was ringing the bell, when he saw Estella he smiled "that's it" he pointed towards the ocean. Estella looked to see a medium-sized island with the sun dazzling behind it. She smiled nodding "told you that existed" they lowered a row boat "you will go with another crew member with the name of Nicole who is also trying to prove herself" they descended to the boat and began rowing to the island together. Nicole was wearing a black corset a pair of grey ripped leather trousers and a short black skirt, she had black braided hair under a black pirate hat adorning a peacock feather on the right side. Estella smiled "so, how did you get on the ship?" "I was in the middle of no where, the ship found me" they arrived at the island hearing the waves crash against the rocks and cliff, the rich smell of salt from the sea filling Estella's nose. They began to look around the island finding the sharp rocked cave. They ventured in finding a massive cavern full of glittering gold more than they got from the other cave "Jesus Christ" said Estella as her eyes glowed bright with excitement. Nicole smiled at Estella's reaction "you know I actually think you would be a good pirate" "why?" asked Estella as she walked through the tons and tons of gold "Well, you like the sea and your obsessed with gold, it's almost perfect" she nodded "fair enough" they called over the ship.
As they were loading up gold,
Estella saw a small chest that was unlocked. She opened it hearing the creak of the hinges. Inside was a beautiful silver shiny sword, she grabbed it, the sword felt strangely special to her. The handle was beautiful with a curved end and 2 spikes out the side, adorning a long sharp blade like a katana. She placed it to her side with a satisfying clink. The second item in the chest was something that looked like a compass however it was full of words on a wheel. Estella noticed a button on the top, she hit it hearing the arrow on it spin extremely fast with a clicking sound until it stopped on "no fate here" she frowned shaking it a little hearing a sound like shaking cogs from inside. She turned it over reading the note in her head which seemed to be more of a warning than a message "this is the fate dial it will tell you what fate decides should happen next, don't disobey it" she smiled "that's cool I'll have to check that" she flicked it closed with a satisfying click. The last item in the box was an old metal key, a note inside declared it was a key that could open all and every lock including card locks "this is going to be very useful, why did someone get rid of this stuff?"
Suddenly, there was a huge commotion.
It came from the caves entrance as an old man stormed into the cave trying to steal a chest of gold. Estella ran her foot across the ground tripping the man, on his way down, she put her hand on his head in a fist slamming his head into the ground knocking him out. The captain stomped over "well done Estella, we'll deal with him in our own special way" "don't worry I want to test this thing I found" she lifted the fate dial "okay, we will test whatever that is" as they walked back to the boat Estella attempted to explain what the fate dial was, although she wasn't really sure herself. They got on the boat, she opened the dial hearing the cogs click into place like a clock. She hit the button hearing the cogs spin away, the arrow landed on "walk the wooden plank" she looked up "it's time for him to walk the plank" they pushed him to the plank and forced him to walk. He shakily walked down the wooden creaky plank into the ocean below. Estella heard a loud splash then a scream and heard him get pulled into the water. She accidentally hit the button again it spun into place strangely landing on "attack be placed" she turned to the captain "look" he looked at it "what does it mean?" she shook her head "I don't know" suddenly something green jumped out the water, it grabbed a man pulling him away. The captain yelled "mermaid!" Estella frowned "mermaids aren't real" as she said that a mermaid jumped out the water landing on the land with huge sharp fangs, and green dirty hair. She screamed grabbing her sword swiftly cutting its head clean off. The captain went to her "not real my arse" "yeah I gathered that, mate" Estella began work again, as she worked she wondered what would happen if she disobeyed the fate dial, but she had learned a lot in her short life, but that day she got a new lesson she couldn't ever forget and that was if a note says not to disobey the thing that showed her that mermaids were real maybe it was good advice. As Estella worked she heard the captain calling her to his office area. She proceeded down into the ship entering a large room the captain was drinking tea in front of an enormous table of food. She placed herself on a chair placing her hands on her lap looking a little nervous. The captain grabbed the kettle filling another cup "do you take sugar" she nodded "3 please" "3? That be a lot" she nodded "yeah, but I like it" "how about milk?" she shook her head "no I don't like milk" they drank their tea talking about her previous life. The captain smiled at her "I like you, you have a lot of potential... my old second in command is dead, I would like you to take her position" she looked taken aback "are you sure?" "Yes of course. You're easily able to do this" she nodded "thank you for the opportunity that was... easy"
Later that night.
She began giving out orders and felt like she was made for the job. Everyone listened to her and some even feared her because of the red hair, and she hadn't even done anything yet to gain their fear. She turned to the captain looking delighted "I think I'm going to be alright. By the way, I am keeping all of this stuff that I found" he smiled "I wouldn't have expected anything else from a pirate" she looked at the fate dial putting it round her neck "I like this thing... I can be the keeper of fate" the captain smiled "good name, we will rule the ocean together"