Arachnid

Chapter Five

The entrance of the ship began to close after the boy pulled me on board. I looked back one final time to see the guards walking back to the castle. Knowing how quickly the empress loses her temper, they were all probably going to be killed when they tell her they failed to catch me. Better them than me.

"Whew!" the troll said enthusiastically. "That was fun, huh? Those guys were really trying to get at you."

I looked down and said blandly, "Cool. Can you let go of my wrist now?"

"What?" His eyes moved to where I was looking, and he quickly let go. "Oh! Oh yeah, sorry."

This guy was a little taller than me. His horns curved inwards and were a bit spiky. He wore an orchid coloured open vest with a white shirt underneath, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His pants were long and a sort of beige colour, and his sign was represented with a light purple necklace.

"Where am I?"

"On our ship, of course," he said as if I was an idiot. "We saved you, so you're staying with us now."

"It's not like I have anywhere else to stay, anyway." I turned my head to see my surroundings. There were many separate rooms, an upper deck, a bar.... "Hold on. This isn't a cargo ship."

"Nope. It's a pirate ship. We don't move cargo. We take it!"

I instantly whipped my head back at him. "Pirate ship?" This has to be some kind of coincidence. No matter what it was, I probably had the dorkiest smile on my face right now. My dreams were being set into place, and all it took was pissing off an entire town. This was my chance to work my way to the top.

Suddenly, a hand waved in front of my face, snapping me back into reality. "Miss, are you alright?"

I blinked and looked back at him. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. My name is Aranea Serket, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Aranea." He shook my hand. "The name's Ekliat."

"Ekliat who?"

"Just Ekliat," he said with a small smile. "Here, let me show you around." He offered me his hand, but I declined. Despite his slight tendency to cling, he seemed okay.

We first explored the lower deck. A lot of pirates were gathered down here. Some of them minded their own business, but a lot of them turned my way and gave me weird looks. An older troll, probably seven or eight sweeps, leaned against the wall and called us out.

"Hey, Ekliat!" We both stopped and moved our attention to him. "Who's the honey you brought onboard?"

"Oh, this is Aranea. She was going to be executed by the empress."

"You think the captain is gonna let this runt stay?"

"She's not as weak as you think. I believe he'll let her stay!"

Did they really need to have this conversation while I'm standing right here? I know I've been a bit of a bitch lately, but come on. The older troll sashayed towards me and leaned down to my height.

"And if he doesn't," he said in a husky voice, "she can stay in my room as a slave."

That's where I drew the line. "If your captain refuses to let me stay on this ship, I'm asking him to kill me. That's probably what he'd do anyway, so it isn't much of an argument."

"Ahaha, okay!" Ekliat stepped in awkwardly. "I think we can skip the rest of the introductions in here. Let's go talk to Captain Silversea." This time I let him grab my arm and direct me out the room. If he hadn't, I would have been having a long stare off with that other guy.

Once we were out of everyone's sight, my arm was released. Ekliat faced me with more serious face than I had seen. "You really shouldn't pick fights with these guys. Sure they do lots of roughhousing, but you're new here. And you're also...."

I stared at him, waiting for him to finish. "I'm also what?"

"Uh.... Smaller."

"I'm not that short."

"No, not height." Ekliat held out one of my arms. "You don't have a lot of muscle. If you fought with them physically, I can't say you'd win."

"Wanna wager on that?" I threatened, making a fist with my other hand.

"Let's not!" he answered immediately. "How about we just introduce you to the captain?" Letting out a grunt, I followed him into the captain's room. "Alright, Aranea. This is Captain Silversea. Good luck!" Before I could say anything, he quickly left the room. He's helped me with everything else on this ship, but not this?

Silversea stared at me for a few seconds. He then pointed to the chair sitting across from him, so I sat down.

"So you want to stay on my ship, do you?" he started. "Why, exactly?"

In all honesty, I hadn't really thought of a legit reason to be on this ship. I do want to stay, but only because I'm still working out the details of my future. I'm also wanted dead back in town.

Thinking about that town made my mind wander further. Back before I even arrived there. Back when I still lived with a ferocious spider of a lusus. I hadn't just left my lusus behind. I also left Latula. She's probably wondering where I had gone. There's also that boy; Rufioh, if I remember correctly. I hadn't known him for very long, but for some reason, I miss him just as much.

Silversea must have realized I blanked out because he suddenly snapped his fingers in my face. "You still awake?"

I shook my head to clear my mind of those old thoughts. "Sorry. Probably a lack of sleep." That's right. I haven't slept in a while. I was going to back in town, but those guards stopped me. The sun must be out by now.

"I guess I can let you stay. I'll see how you fit in around here." I was surprised about how welcoming he was. Something seemed terribly off here. I took my piracy book out of my bag and flipped to a page I marked. The page about the captain.

"This is all wrong," I accidentally said out loud. Silversea gave me a questionable look. I lifted my eyes off the book. "You're really the captain? The most savage, the most cruel, the most greedy.... You aren't like the description at all!"

The captain took the book out of my hands and started reading the page. I couldn't read his face anymore. He stood up, never looking away from the book, and walked toward the window, which I assumed was for better lighting. But boy, was I wrong. Silversea opened the window and dumped the book into the ocean, causing me to go wide eyed.

"Why would you--" Cutting me off, Silversea's hand grabbed under my chin, making me look him dead in the eyes.

"This is my ship, and I'll act how I want to," he said lowly in a more aggressive voice. "That book is useless. If you're going to stay here, you're going to learn about pirates the hard way. Got it?"

"Y-Yes," I choked out.

"Yes what?"

"Yes, Captain!" He dropped me on the floor and gave me a chance to breathe.

"Good. Now since you're new, get cleaning!"

"Yes, Captain." I stood up and got out of that room. After a couple seconds of heavy breathing, I felt my mouth forming a small grin. Then it grew bigger and bigger. That's the captain I was looking for.

I walked back to the room with all the other pirates who were drinking and fighting and stuff. They all stopped and moved their attention to me. The pirates seemed very surprised.

"Didn't she just come out of Captain Silversea's room?"

"She's new here. There's no way he went easy on her."

"Why on Alternia is she smiling!?"

Ignoring the comments, I walked over to where Ekliat was sitting. He looked just as shocked, though he didn't say anything. My smile became more innocent as I asked him, "Could you show me where the cleaning supplies are?"