The Pirate Princess

CHAPTER 1

I walked out of my cabin, in to the cramped hallway ready to explore Dead Man’s Island. I had heard that it was named after the sharp coral that welcomed foreign ships by cutting holes in the bottom and sinking them to the bottom of the sea. I had not witnessed it because I was so exhausted from keeping a double watch for eight hours the night before and had slept into the morning.

 Jace, who happened to be almost like my brother and best friend on the ship, had come to tell me that we had reached the shore. But I had told them to go without me for awhile and that I would come out later. I told him that because I knew that is was a lot of work bringing me, a woman on shore. There always had to be a man watching over me, even though I told the Captain that I was fully capable to take care of myself. I had decided to give them a break.

I had dressed in a white baggy long sleeved shirt that was tight at the wrists. Over this I had a thick brown vest with buckles lining the front. It was comfortable and easy to move in. I was wearing my black boots and loose fitting pants that bulged were my boots began. They were men’s clothes, but were way more comfortable that walking around in a heavy dress all day. I had a bandana over my wavy, pitch black mass of tangled hair to keep it out of my face. I had just started to climb up the stairs to the main deck when Captain Flinn came running so fast he nearly crashed in to me.

“Ari,” He started in his thick French accent, he was breathless. “I need to talk to you, now! I just heard some bad news on shore at the bar.” He paused then looked at me with worried eyes. “Ari, it’s about your family.”

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Captain Finn led me to his quarters and sat me down at his table. To me, the Captain was like a father. I have had to trust him with my life on some occasions and he has saved me many times. Now as I stared at him waiting for him to begin, I felt safe and I knew that I could trust him once again.

“Ari tell me if you recognize this;

My ship, Shadow’s Wind had boarded the Revengence. They were a known to be merciless and very rich pirates, but we had our own reputation, I was a very popular pirate as well. We fought bravely, three of my crew members, snuck below deck to search for treasure. While looking in the nooks and crannies, they found a child crying in a cupboard that was blocked by boxes. One man asked the child why she was there. The little girl said that pirates had kidnapped her from her mommy and daddy. The man took pity on the child and brought her to the Shadow’s Wind promising that he would help her.

“When I heard about the girl I ordered the crew to grab as much as they could and board our ship. We sailed away the man asked me if we could bring her to her home. I agreed as long as the man promised to have full responsibility of her. That child then spent a many weeks on that ship while we sailed to her homeland. She learnt to love the wind in her hair, sun on her face and sea spray on her face. She also learnt the ways of a sailor, not a pirate, for we didn’t raid any ship or village while she was on board. She was the bravest little girl I have ever seen.

“When we were in sight of her homeland, she came up to me and said, “Captain, One day you will see me again, when I am old enough I will look for you and your ship. I will join your crew. I promise.” I smiled at her and told her that I would love her on my crew, but I took her words as ones that would disappear when she got older.

“We docked in the harbor and followed the girl to her home. But there was one thing that she didn’t tell us; this little child was a daughter of the King and Queen, who made the rules that we had broken multiple times.

“The royal family took their long lost child into there arms, warmly. The family thanked us and gave us goods of food and gems, despite our habit of piracy. Just as we were leaving, the child came up to each one of us and gave us a big hug. When it was my turn, she whispered in my ear; “I promised. Wait for me.” But again I didn’t take it seriously.