The Pirate's Creed

3. The Deck

Luc lead and showed her the Anne's Trident underground cabins, with a lamp in one hand as they navigated through the dark corridors while the ship rocked from side to side.

"Ye be careful now, ye dun wanna be throwing up any food over the side of the ship." Luc warned her. Miranda bore a bare grin, as she tried to remember all the routes while stopping the spinning inside her head. She had been sailing on the ships before, but it had never affected her like this. Suddenly, the corridor folded in at the corner of her eyes, and before she could stop herself, she stumbled into the back of First Mate Luc.

Miranda woke in her cabin feeling the motion of the tides rocking the ship back and forth as she lay back on her bunk; watching the sun bob restlessly up and down. Her head had considerably cleared since last night- thank god for small miracles. Suddenly, the familiar smell of gunpowder filled her nose. She leapt out of bed and stalked closer to the door. She could hear the roars of the attackers and the screams of the fallen as it twisted her heart into one big wrenching agony. Without a delay, she grabbed her sword, flung the door open and ran through the twisted maze towards the noise.

After finally running through endless corridors, she found herself on the deck. Blood spewed across the wooden boards and a striking monster caught her attention. His strong tan muscular arms had guns blazing in both hands as he shot the bodies without a second thought. His captain uniform was stained with dark patches that began to spread. Miranda suddenly realised that he was injured - and badly. Her heart began pounding, and with a tightened grip on the sword in her right hand, she began to dance between the fallen bodies to make her way towards her captain.

"Blast it! Miranda? What are you doing here? Stand down, you'll get hurt!" Captain Jonathan Batman growled in her direction. "Actually...shouldn't you be in the cabin resting?"

"You look like you need some assistance. Hang on- why is everyone in the crew out here fighting for you? What about me? I thought we had a connection!" She sarcastically bit back.

She harshly breathed out as she ducked under the sword swinging her way. She felt someone advancing behind her, and without a second thought, she twisted around and stabbed the heart of the advancing pirate. She began to be distracted by the masses of bodies edging towards her and fuelled by the adrenalin in her body, she wanted to take them all down. She knew she could do it. She hadn't had a challenge as great as this since- well, since she was younger. With a grin, she began to calculate the path of her movements. Each would have to be precise, and she trusted her new sword completely. The balm of the sword pressed against her hand urged her forward and as cliche and it sounded, she knew that this was where she needed and wanted to be.

Before Miranda knew it, she was barely standing on her own knees and her sword in her left hand. She quickly transferred it to her right hand and she assessed the fallen bodies before her. A little blood never worried her, after all, she was a woman but a blood bath of this degree would make a grown man flinch in his boots. Perhaps Captain Jonathan Batman would turn a blind eye to this incident.

A sudden thought dawned on her - she hadn't met her crew yet, what if she killed one of her crew members by accident? It had happened before, and she was cast off the ship immediately and then she was caught by the goddamn Royals. Panic began to set into her weary body because there wasn't enough time to find another ship that would dock at Shipwreck Cove. A familiar touch steadied itself on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Captain Batman asked concerned.

"Yes sir." She could barely make out after all the wheezing.

"Who the hell taught you how to fight like that?"

"Someone close to me... sir." She didn't want him knowing too much about herself - or he could figure out how potentially dangerous she could be before they reached the treasure. The same treasure that she knew he was looking for.