Never Trust Your Demons

39

"Captain, we-" Gideon walks in, but stops when he sees my predicament.
"What is it, Mister Gideon, I'm a tad busy at the moment," Cipher growls, the barrel of his pistol digging into my neck. It's making it a bit harder to breathe.
"Sir, don't kill her yet!" He runs up. "Eyes on the prize, sir! The pirate king could be the king of England too!"
After a moment, he lowers his pistol, shoving me to the ground.
"Lock her back in the brig. I don't want to see her again until I have to," His voice has taken on a terrifying tone. "And don't forget," He glares at me. "I can live without England," He rips my bag off my shoulder. Literally, ripping the strap in two. "But you won't, Conifer." His foot makes contact with my face, right where it had last night.
"Ow..." I groan in pain as Gideon hoists me to my feet. I yank my arm away from him, starting out of the cabin. "Never have so many people called me conifer at once...why not just throw in the Pines, call me by my full-"
"Pines?!" I hear a "shing" and turn to find Cipher's sword drawn. "You're one of that pesky Pines crew?!"
"I... I," It seems he's still got a problem with my family. "Well.... not exactly! You see-"
It takes all I have to not shriek in terror as I narrowly dodge his swing.
"Look, I'm sure we're talking about two very different Pines families! Listen, you obviously don't like me, so how about you just let me leave and get out of your hair?!"
"That's not how this works, lass. I either tolerate you, or you're dead," He turns away. "Seeing as I'd still like a shot at England, you'd be one of the lucky few I'll tolerate," He quickly turns back to me and there's a loud cracking sound, and something nicks my ear. I open my eyes to find his pistol pointed at me.
Oh my gosh, he actually shot at me. And hit me, sort of.
"But only if you get out of my sight this instant," He finishes with a growl, holstering it.
"I suggest you accompany me to the brig," Gideon hisses, grabbing my arm and dragging me out.

I'm thrown into a different cell than last night (well duh, I tore the door off that one.), and there isn't even a bench in this one.
"I'd strongly advise you to stay locked up this time," Gideon tells me. "At this rate, you'll be lucky if you make it through the week."
"And even if I do, there's no guarantee I'd live at all after this endeavor. Therefore, no one's telling me what to do or what not to do," I reply, leaning against the wall.
"But," He says exasperatedly. "If you do what he says, your chances of living might increase drastically."
"Hm," I pretend to think. "No thanks. I have every intention of leaving this ship as soon as possible."
"Your funeral," He walks back up on deck, the key in his pocket.

Time passes. Maybe days, maybe hours. I don't exactly have my watch anymore. All I know is I can't take another wolf-whistle as a pirate walks past, or another minute with nothing to do but pace.
Thing is, I'm not about to escape in broad daylight with the captain dying to kill me. Not having a sword would only make it worse.

At some point it's quiet again, like when I'd first escaped. Great conditions for getting out of here.
"Now if only i had something to work with," I groan quietly, pacing the cell. My foot stomps down on something. "Gah!" I wince as a pretty large splinter of wood scrapes my leg. There's so much more I'm going to have to hide when-if we ever get back. I look at it, then at the lock.
Worth a try. Even if I know nothing of lock-picking. I stick in the wood into the lock, and it almost immediately opens.
Talk about convenient.
Pacing around did help with gaining my sea legs. Even so, I'm still clumsy.
I hear footsteps as i move up the stairs. I quickly duck behind some barrels of something-most likely gunpowder as a few somehow familiar pirates rush past.
"I told you!" I wince at Gideon's angry, guinea pig like squeal. "We can't let her escape again," His voice lowers to a hissing whisper. "So keep an eye on her!" They rush past me, down to the brig.
Well, it appears my escape will once again be short lived. But, with every single convenience I've had, I'm not about to stop. As soon as Gideon leaves from the stairway, I continue on my way up.
It's indeed still night, but there's a hint of dawn at the edges of the horizon. Looking around, there's once again no one on deck. I'm a tad more skeptical though. I quietly make my way over to the captain's cabin.
I'm not leaving without my coat, sketchbook or sword.
It's dark inside. I'm taking my chances, which is an incredibly dumb.
I wince as the door makes a small creak, but it's soon countered by a loud snore. I think I'll be fine. A small lantern sits on his desk, illuminating Cipher's features as he slumps over the desk, a bottle of rum still in his hand. Reminds me some of how Bill was when I last saw him.
I pick up the-now empty, excepting the compass-bag next to his chair. I tie the two pieces of the strap together slinging it back over my shoulder. My sword is also once again at my side. My notebooks sit on his desk...under his hand. He seems to be sleeping sound enough. I slip them out from under his arm. He grunts, and I freeze. When he only shifts slightly, I sigh in relief and put the notebooks in my bag.
"MASTER GLEEFUL," I gasp in surprise at a shout out on deck, the sunlight growing every second. "SHE'S GONE AGAIN!"
"What's this?!" I turn and find Cipher awake again, staring at me, his eyes glazed over with drowsiness.
"Well, crap..." I grumble. Before he can truly wake and figure out what's going on, I rush out of the cabin and onto the slightly busier deck. I'm only unnoticed for a couple seconds, but it's enough for me to bring together a bit of a plan.
Ignoring shouts under/around me, I climb up the rope ladder leading to the halyard, stopping there. A pirate charges at me, swinging his sword.
"Ah!" I raise my own sword to block it. There's a clang as they meet, and i shove him back. Somehow. We both stumble, and I grab a rope to steady myself as the man falls back to the deck. "Sorry!" I call after him. Wait, why am I apologizing?
Looking back down, I see a whole crew of pirates, as well as their captain coming out of his cabin.
None of this, from the instant I decided to escape again, was not thought out well at all. You couldn't have given me a gun or something, Bill?
"You know," I shout down. I gasp as a bullet flies at my face, once again from Cipher's flintlock pistol. "Well, it appears drawing attention to myself wasn't a good idea..." I grunt, wincing as I touch where the bullet grazed my cheek. A bit of blood comes off on my fingers. Anyways... "You could keep locking me up and I'll keep escaping, destroying parts of the brig while doing so and quite possibly your pride, or you could let me leave like I want. Or, even better, take me back! Would certainly save time for both of us don't you think?"
"Not exactly what I have in mind!" He growls in response.
Another bullet flies at me. I bite my lip, but I can't hold back a yelp of pain as it hits my outer, middle thigh.
"That isn't exactly what I had in mind," I grunt, trying not to stare at the wound. "Then again, what'd I think would-" I feel something around my hurt leg. Looking down, a thick rope has become animate and wrapped itself tightly around my ankle.
Another shriek escapes my mouth as it yanks me off the beam. I fall, stopping short as it hold me up, upsidedown right in Cipher's furious face.
"Aaaand just when I thought things couldn't get worse..." I grunt in pain.
"Just when you thought you'd make it out alive," He growls.