Temptations

ɎChapter♠TwentyFourɎ

 Elias was so tired of all these pirates; so incredulously daft and ridiculous. He hadn't as so much as said a word before they decided he was worth provoking. So when his fist connected with the pirate's nose and the crunch of broken bone echoed in the hushed room, he sighed in pleasure.

The quiet stillness of the rest of the crew was unnerving, but Elias found himself unable to care. They wouldn't kill him, not when their captain commanded otherwise. But they would beat him to the point where he'd be bedridden which was an option increasingly more appealing compared to working for his captor.

The shock lasted but a moment before the brawl broke out. Elias dodged the fist aimed at his face, attacking the two pirates in front of him with a jab to the leg and another to the stomach. But he didn't see the third pirate come out from the corner of his eye and smash a bottle on his head.

Only three pirates. That was all he could manage to take down before they'd subdued him. Two pirates held him up by his arms, and one held his head back. Black spots replaced his vision and his body lost the strength to hold him up, but the pirates at his side did it for him as each member of the crew took a turn punching, kicking, cutting, and brutalizing, to the point where he embraced the darkness lurking at the border of his mind.

The pain was excruciating. He'd experienced his fair share of torture, but the pure animalistic way they beat him, hitting all the right spots repeatedly, left his body near numb to the pain. The hissing and burning of his skin beneath the heated knife they pressed to his flesh suddenly bringing him back and away from the sleep he desperately hoped to achieve, if only for the sake of his mind.

He knew that in time, Gaspar would break him. He'd interrogated men her crew had left behind, whose thoughts were so destroyed and plagued by the traumatizing experiences aboard her ship but who never managed to see her face.

She'd wanted him to interrogate them. She let them free for the sole purpose of instilling fear in the hearts of her hunters. Because Gaspar was never hunted. She was the hunter. Forever and Always. Elias understood, even then, what she was doing. He'd be no different from those other men, not to her. But he'd make it harder than ever. He'd make it last, slow down the process by taking away his consciousness, leaving her unable to break what is not awake.

He'd get out of this alive, and mentally intact. If it was the last thing he did.

He spit out blood to the side. His jaw sore and his body groaning at the thought of any movement. He could feel the swelling of his face begin as his vision became blurrier. Then he looked up, into the eyes of his next assaulter, and saw the cutlass in his hand and the burn mark on his neck. He knew he wouldn't listen to Gaspar's orders. The burn alone told him all he needed to know about how the pirate would avenge his past in English slavery.

No one stopped the pirate as he neared, bringing the edge of the cutlass to his neck. They all wanted him dead. A Rear Admiral was just as responsible for their lashings as the soldiers who did the whipping, even if he was just a lad when it occurred. The pirate grinned, his putrid breath fanning Elias'.

But the quiet stillness returned, and the tension in the air thickened into a suffocating grip. No one dared move as the boots stomped down the stairs into the room. The black, heeled boots took their time with each step. The waiting became the worst kind of torture amongst the men.

Jack hadn't come with her, but the boy at her side had. She placed a hand on her hip as she scanned the pirates, taking in the situation before her eyes landed on Elias. A fire erupted in her eyes, like waves crashing against a rocky shore with a force so strong it moved boulders like pebbles. Her eyes moved slowly, from his face to his chest, to his legs and feet, then back up, her body suddenly tense as if restrained. Her voice dropped to a tone lower.

"I believe I remember specifically saying not to touch him."