The Pirate and the Soldier Boy

Chapter 2

 Carmen lay in a canvas hammock, no longer thirsty, but with a gnawing hunger in her gut that refused to be ignored. She pulled a copper coin from her bodice and started flicking it toward the low ceiling as a diversion from her boredom. This was torture.

Tossing the coin, Carmen sighed. Judging by the light in the porthole over her shoulder, it had been at least a day and a half since she was put in here, with a glass of water twice a day placed on the floor inside the door as her only contact with the rest of the ship. It was approaching night, and she figured she had been pulled out of the hull of the ship around mid-morning.

As the sun set through the window, Carmen tried to sleep, but was awoken to the sound of her second glass of daily water coming through the door of her cell. As she slowly drank it she studied the porthole letting in fresh air from outside. There wasn't a lock, it being small enough that it was unlikely anyone besides a child could fit through. But an idea was forming. She pushed it open and stuck her head out, looking around in the forming darkness. Other portholes were visible to her right and left. Many still had candle lights burning, and there was another room to house captives next to her, but two windows to her right should have been the crew bunks.

Making her shoulders as small as possible, Carmen twisted her way out of the hole, an absurd thought she had never thought before and would probably never think again stealing into her mind. Thank goodness for corsets. And thank goodness it was too awkward to reach her arms behind her and undo the laces, or she wouldn't be executing her escape plan.

After she finally forced her hips through the small hole she turned so she was sitting on the window sill, and adjusted her shirt, planning the best way to move across the side of the ship. Spying a place where the pitch between the boards had come out some, Carmen reached out her hands to grasp the small ledge it had formed, before having to retract them and wiping them on her knees. Nerves equaled sweaty palms, which led to falling to her death off the slick and sea sprayed side of this enormous ship.

Eventually she made it across to the first porthole, giving her bare feet their first firm ledge. Her confidence boosted.

The other window was mere meters away. She made it there almost without incident, and looked through the dark window. She couldn't see anything. It was pitch black inside, and it had gotten dark enough out that no light was shining into the room. The moon was on the wrong side of the ship. Carmen figured it couldn't get much worse than it was right now, and stuck her feet through the porthole. It was significantly easier than getting out, which was good, because once she got in practically noiselessly, she realized she stood directly between two sleeping forms. One snored quietly, which covered a careless footstep and creaky board.

Slipping painfully slowly and nearly silent between the small bunks full of sleeping forms and through the unlocked door, Carmen crept along the hall. She had finally gotten used to the movement of the ship, and didn't walk into the wall as she had earlier. Making her way up onto the main deck she realized a bit too late that there was nowhere to go. She couldn't swim, and the ship, though in sight of land anchored for the night, was miles away.

Stopping in her tracks she pirouetted and snuck to the galley, stealing a loaf of bread and three apples. Not knowing what to do next, she walked to the bow and sat on the railing at the very front, carrying one of the apples in between her teeth.

In the light of the bow lantern Carmen looked down on at the figurehead that had so intrigued her the first time as she tore a chunk from the loaf of bread. A wave of memories washed over her again.

Carmen stood on the front of the ship ignoring her father pulling at her arm. She stared at the front of the approaching ship in full disregard of the yelling around her. "The Siren" was painted in large and flowing letters on the side, and the figurehead was not the classic mermaid or chained maiden.

The figure head Carmen looked down on was unique to any other she had ever seen. It was obviously freshly painted. A man, buried from the waist down in the ship, one arm and half of his chest partially gone as well, as if he was emerging from the planks, part of the ship himself. Slightly long hair was brushed across his forehead as if in strong wind. His smiling mouth was open in a battle cry, and a strong wooden arm held a sword that became part of the bowsprit. It was amazing workmanship, almost realistic. Carmen felt her heart pound slightly at the obvious beauty of the figure. There was no doubt in her mind that it had been modeled after a real person, and that it was taken very good care of, even more so than the rest of the ship, which was completely spot and barnacle free. This was the most loved part of the ship by someone.

Climbing back off the bowsprit, she sat on a coil of ropes and ate an apple, wondering about her father. She fell asleep still thinking about her last view of him, wielding a sword against the people invading the deck of the ship, his experienced yet terrified hands trying their best to defend his daughter.

* * *

A bell sounded early in the morning, shaking Carmen from her sleep. People ran out of their cabins clutching swords. "The prisoner is gone! No sign of her! I swear I didn't take my eyes off the door all night long. It stayed locked!"

No one had yet seen Carmen nestled in the coil of rope, and she quietly and swiftly raised herself to sit on the bowsprit once again. The captain left her cabin. "What is going on?!" She shouted in a commanding bellow.

"The prisoner has escaped, ma'am!" One crew member said as they all came to order like soldiers.

Carmen took a large and noisy bite of her last apple. The captain turned her head slowly to the side and stared at Carmen. The crew was all silent. "Good morning." She said through a mouth of food.

The captain stayed silent. Carmen spoke again. "I was going to swim to that island, but it's got to be at least 5 miles. And I can't swim."

She took another bite of apple, flipping her coin in the air. Sill receiving no response she slipped down to the deck and sauntered towards the room in which she had been imprisoned last night. "If anyone might have need of me, I shall be in my chamber. Please be considerate enough as not to lock me in, as it is just inconvenient. And do knock. Goodbye!"

Carmen gave her best imitation of a royal's wave and waltzed down the corridor, sliding the bolt back from the door and opening it. She placed a leg of the chair in her room through door handles as her own bolt. Ah, what fun.