Rough Seas

1

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, also known as the Terror of Gibraltar. A feared pirate captain known far and wide for his ruthlessness. A man with a fierce temper and an even fiercer cutlass. May God help anyone who crosses his path. It's said that he was a servant boy, an orphan abandoned on a ship. That at twelves he organized a mutiny against the ship's captain and killed him and his loyal crewmen. They say that he has a small armada controlling the Mediterranean, and that any ship in those waters that refuses to pay tribute to him is overtaken and sunk.

One such ship is the "merchant" ship, The Philip. And this little ship has the pleasure of being stopped by The Terror of Gibraltar himself.

"I want all crew and passengers above deck!" Antonio orders as his crew begins to board. "Separate any women and children!" The crew follows his orders, finding that there were no women on board, but that there were ten to twelve young children on the ship. As the adults are being rounded up, Antonio goes to the group of kids, noticing that there are some poorly disguised girls among the boys. He kneels down in front of them. He waves over another member of his crew and begins speaking to kids.

"Hola niños," he greets kindly. "Can you tell mi amigo here about the captain and crew?" A couple of the kids nod, some of them visibly afraid. Antonio nods, clapping his crewmate on the shoulder before standing up.

"Captain!" Another member of his crew calls out. From the hold, he escorts out a young nobleman, his status obvious by his clothing, though it's rumpled and in rather poor shape – likely from sea travel. The man has porcelain pale skin, violet eyes framed by a pair of thin, rectangular glasses, and his hair is brown, an odd wayward curl sticking up. . Antonio's lip curls, he's beautiful, but it's a shame that he appears to own such a ship. Nobles are usually all the same: stuck up and ignorant. And from this noble's rigid posture and raised chin, this is one such noble. "We found him in the hold!"

Antonio nods, motioning his crewmate and his captive forward. Said Captive opens his mouth to speak, but Antonio is quicker. "I've heard it all before. Daddy's money won't get you out of this one. I'm the Terror of Gibraltar himself, and your ship and crew are now mine." His voice is arrogant and proud.

The man's violet eyes widen, and he tries to speak again before he's cut off once more, this time by a voice from behind them.

"Mr. Roderich!" A young voice shouts out from within the hold. The noble turns on his heel to face the source of the voice. It's a young boy being carried up from the hold.

"Feliciano!" He exclaims in relief. The boy struggles in the grasp of the man holding him, and the "Mr. Roderich" turns back to Antonio, a desperate look on his face. "Please let him go, he's a child, innocent!" Antonio gives the signal for the boy to be released, and he runs to Roderich, who picks him up and holds him protectively. Antonio suddenly gets the impression that this situation is much more than what it appears to be.

The crew member that was speaking with the children approaches Antonio again. "Captain, we have a situation..." He mutters in Antonio's ear. "This isn't a merchant ship... this is a slaving ship."

Antonio looks to Roderich, as if to confirm this information. Upon further inspection, the man's pale face is gaunt, and his clothes hang off of him. Roderich lowers his head a bit shamefully and nods.

"This is not my ship," Roderich admits. "I was sold here."

A/N: Short I know, but give it time