When The Tide Is High

Chapter 11

[Killian]

"Leave her alone!" I demanded as I saw two men grabbing Emma. Unfortunately, I couldn't help her, other men from the crew came and grabbed my forearms. One punched me in the face, right on one of my cheeks.

"Stop!" I heard Emma yelling. Somehow she was able of releasing one of her hands and pulled away the three men around me with a single movement. One of the big men grabbed her hand and placed a black cuff on her wrist.

"There. You can't use your magic anymore, pretty face" the man said laughing. It couldn't be possible. That cuff looked similar to the ones Peter Pan had created to immobilize magic.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed.

"Do you like it?" The gross man continued "We traded it some years ago. And it's all ours now"

"You don't even know to whom it belonged" Emma said.

"We don't need to know. As long as it helps us with sorcerers like you"

The whole crew began to laugh. The men who grabbed Emma placed her next to me. We couldn't move, they still had their filthy hands on us. I glanced at Emma and sent her an 'everything's gonna be fine' look. I was just trying to calm her down, but we both knew we were in disadvantage.

"What is all this fuss about?" A strong and hoarse voice yelled. We tilt our heads to the left. Coming out from the cabin was a robust man. He had a long brownish beard and wore a grayish coat. He walked towards us calmly.

"The prisoners demanded to talk to you, Captain" Guy responded.

"Oh, I see" he made a face and guided his green eyes to us. He examined us thoroughly and scrathced his messy beard "Are you gonna talk or not?"

"As prisoners," I begun "we have the right to know the reason of our captivity"

"You magically appeared from nowhere and landed in my ship. I took that as a threat"

"A threat? We're just two common persons who had the misfortune of falling into a portal" I replied with a fake innocent voice.

"Common persons? The lady has magic and you know very well how to use a sword. Who are you?"

Emma and I were clever. Telling him our identity would lead us to death. It was even worse for Emma, so we didn't say a single word.

"Challenging the law aren't you?" He laughed "Let's see if you think the same when you feel the swords cutting your necks"

The men who grabbed us put their sharp swords on our throats. It began to hurt me a lot, I even began to bleed.

"I'll ask again, who are you?"

We both stared at the man firmly. I wasn't afraid about my life, I was afraid about Emma's.

"Captain!" Guy interrupted "The man has a hook instead of his left hand"

"A hook... Oh, I see" The bearded man glanced at me "I feel honored to have the one and only Captain Hook in my ship, which used to be yours right? Lower your swords men, from both" He chuckled. Damn. I had been recognized. Our throats were sword free, however they didn't let go of our arms.

"Yes, indeed. But I think I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you, Captain" I continued, trying to make him forget about Emma's identity.

"Oh, where are my modals. Captain Shaw" He said proudly.

"You're not any pirate, are you? Pretty disappointing"

"I'm more of a business man. I travel through many realms in search of merchandise to trade and sell. And everything became easier when I bought the Jolly Roger" he made a small pause before continuing " By the way, how did you lose the ship? Cause I've heard many stories... with different versions"

"Really? Don't believe them, most of the time they are full of lies people like create"

"There is one, though, which says you gave up everything... For a woman" once more the crew and Shaw laughed out loud. My eyes never looked at Emma, I had to protect her. If anybody knew she was that woman they would make us both suffer and treat us as their puppets.

"A woman? Do you really think I gave up everything for a woman?"

"You tell me. That's the version most people say it's true" he crossed his arms.

"Then hear it from me: that's the wrong one" I answered confidently.

"So you don't have anyone special?" He asked.

"No. I don't like formal relationships. Not my style" he nodded and shrugged. Suddenly he turned his malevolent gaze to Emma.

"And who's this beauty?" His hand took one lock of her hair and smiled. She moved away her head from him "A tough one, aren't you? What's your name?" Emma looked at the ground with a serious expression refusing to speak.

"Maybe she needs a lesson, Captain" the fat of Guy said. Shaw took out a small rusted dagger.

"I really don't want to ruin your beautiful face" he said as he took her face in his dirty hands, placing the dagger inches away from her "But I will if you don't answer"

Emma was resisting. She was strong but I was fearing for her. I wanted to punch that horrid man on his ugly face and throw him to the sea.

"Not answering?" Shaw asked "Fine"

He pressed the dagger ready to cut Emma's face when she answered rushed.

"Leia. My name is Leia" He kept his weapon and smiled at Emma.

"What a beautiful name. And who might you be, Leia? You're not from around here that's obvious"

"I'm...I'm just a woman"

"A woman with powers. Who taught you?"

"Nobody. I discovered how to use my magic alone"

"Interesting" he continued to scan her with his eyes. I really wanted to kill that man "You have an interesting company here Hook, have you realized about that?"

Of course I know that.

"I don't" I said "I just found her and thought it would be nice to have a servant"

"I bet she can be more than just a servant" Shaw said caressing Emma's left cheek. She turned away her head once more, this time with more hate. The man just chuckled and turned to me "Did you know she had magic?"

"No"

"Do you mind if I take your servant to my cabin?" he asked glancing at my Emma.

"I'd prefer you didn't"

"And why is that?"

"She is my property, you have no power over her"

"But you are in my ship, under my rules"

"Captain" a skinny man with a spyglass in his hand interrupted "We have almost arrived"

Shaw snatched the spyglass and looked through it. I couldn't see where we were heading to, I was still kneeling on the floor.

"We'll discuss this later. Take 'em down again. We have to prepare"

The men tied us, this time leaving us next to each other and locking quite well the door. We were able to listen Shaw saying to his crew:

"Gentlemen, Neverland awaits us"