The Captain's Daughter

Chapter 3

It was dark and cold in the cargo hold. It creaked and groaned with every rock of the ship and it had a smell of something foul that permeated the entire space. The scampering of rats could be heard all throughout. "Search everywhere! Take anything of use or value." James commands. The pirates nodded their heads and dispersed in different directions. The pirate captain had been wandering around when, " Cap'n! Come'n look at this! " He huffed and started making his way toward the area the pirate had shouted. Following the sound of voices of his men, it took him to the deepest, darkest corner of the ship there was. Fumbling around in the dark, James' hand touches something cold and slimy. upon closer feeling he realized that it was a cage; one meant to hold prisoners until docking. There on land, they are sold into a life of slavery. James didn't like where this was going. His eyes, now having been adjusted to the dark, spotted a crowd of his men. It would appear that what ever this one pirate found has captivated the attention of the rest of his men. James tried to move past the crowd of his men, but that proved to be a bigger challenge than he first anticipated it to be. James, now irritated, shouted at his men, "Part the seas men! I didn't come all the way over here just to get caught in the middle of your ogling.!" With that said, his men snapped out of their trance-like state and created a path for him. James starts to make his way through the path, "Alright lads, what did you find that's so important that you called-" he stopped in his tracks when his eyes fell upon the cage they all were standing in front of. Huddled in the far corner, staring at him with eyes filled with fear, was a little girl no older than five. He takes one step closer to the cage and the child ducks her head away from him. James immediately raises his hands, " Hey, hey it's okay, it's okay I'm not going to hurt you." he tried to soothe. The girl only whimpered and pulls herself into an only tighter ball. Trying a different approach, he drops down to the girls level and slowly crawls toward the cage. In a soft, calming voice he says, " It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." After repeating this a few times, he finally reaches the cage. The girl is still in the corner, but not hiding herself from him anymore. Now closer, he gets a good look at this poor girl. She has long, coffee brown hair that's matted and greasy paired with dull green eyes that seem to have lost their natural hue. Her dress, nothing more than rags that covers a skeleton with skin that wears a layer of dirt and grime. James couldn't help but feel pity for this girl, having to live in these squalid conditions only then to be sold for a slave. Knowing that he's not going to get anywhere trying to talk to her, he turns to one of his men, " You man, go into the ship's kitchen and bring me some food; bread if you can find it." The pirate nods his head and runs off to find the food. The other men just cock their heads in confusion. One young man gathered the courage to ask the pending question, "What's do you need the food for, captain?" Kidd looked at him and said, "Look at her lad nothin' more than skin an' bone. She probably hasn't eaten in days, maybe weeks. With food maybe- maybe I can show her that I'm not a threat and get her to trust me enough to get her out of there and off this bloody ship."

"Why don't you just go in there and grab her?"

"That's the last thing I want to have to do. The kid's scared out if her bleedin' mind; if I go in there, she'll probably act like a cornered animal and end up hurtin' herself." At that moment the ordered pirate came back with a full loaf of bread. "Here ye are cap'n, as ordered." and hands the loaf of bread to his captain. "Good work." James takes the bread and breaks a chunk off of it. The girl stares at the bread wantonly with hunger. James then sticks his hand in between the bars of the cage with the bread. The girl stares at the bread, but doesn't move, unsure if she can trust this stranger. "Go on take it." James says, "It's bread." He takes a bite of the loaf in his other hand, "See, it's food. It's not going to hurt you and neither will I." The girl slowly creeps toward him, still suspicious of his words."That's it, come on. Eat, I'm sure you're hungry." James urges.  Finally, the girl is close enough to take the bread from his outstretched hand. with the bread finally in her grasp, she scarfs it so down so fast that all the men, including James, were sure she ate it in one bite. "More?" the child asks in such a small voice it's almost like a whisper. James chuckles and smiles kindly at her, "Sure." he says and breaks off another piece of bread and hands it to the girl. She takes the bread and eats it much slower than the first time. "Do you have a name little one?" James asks in a kind voice. The girl looks at him, "Samantha, my name is Samantha." she responds in an audible voice. "Samantha, pretty name." James compliments. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome. My name is James, James Kidd."

"Tehe." Samantha giggles. "What's so funny?" he asks. "Your name, Kidd." she responds. James arches his eyebrow, knowing the reason she thinks it's funny, but decides to humor her. "What's so funny about it?" 

"I'm a kid, but your not."  

James laughs, "I suppose that's true," The onlooking pirates stare in shock, some with their mouths agape. This girl just made fun of their captain's name; if one of them did that they were usually thrown overboard and weren't rescued until James said to pull them back aboard. "Achoo!" Samantha sneezes. James looks at Samantha and busts up laughing, "Now that was pretty adorable. Samantha glares at James and grumbles in a low voice. James lets out a one last chuckle, "I'm guessing that means your cold?" Samantha sniffles, "A little."

"Do you know where the key to this is?" he taps the lock to the cage. "No." Samantha shakes her head. "It's always in their hand when they come down here to check on me- if they're down here to check on me that is."

"Welp," he stands up, ""guess we're doing this the hard way." He ejects a hidden blade on his right hand  and stabs it into the lock. After wiggling it around for a bit, the lock clicks and he opens the door. He steps inside and removes his gold leather jacket with exotic patterns on the lapels and sleeves and wraps it around the small frame of the girl. "There, that better?" he asks. Samantha nods her head in response. "Good let's get you out of here shall we?" picks up the small girl into his arms and carries her out of the cell. Only in his white undershirt, he can feel why the girl was cold,; he already had goosebumps forming on his arms. HE couldn't imagine how cold it would get when the sun went down. "What now, cap'n?" a pirate asks. "Gather what you can and head back to the ship." James commands. " Where will you be?" the pirate asks again. "Back onboard our ship waitin' for ya." The pirates nod their heads in understanding. nd get to work. With orders in place and being carried out, as well as the girl held tightly in his arms, James walks up the stairs into the sun's bright rays and leaves the darkness behind him.