Swashbucklin' Seas

Chapter 1

That word stabbed me in the gut. That ugly, ugly word. I was a fool, not expecting a huge ship with black sails to be a pirate vessel.

I was always told tales of pirates as a little girl. Even back when my dad was still alive, I remember he told me of the time the harbor of Gedros was bombarded and plundered.

I came to know pirates as ruthless, cold-blooded cutthroats. To sink massive ships and drown thousands of innocent people, to steal thousands of years' worth of work for their own entertainment, to pillage entire villages without breaking a sweat... this was the lot of the pirate.

So now, what was I? A captive? A slave, a prostitute?

No, it couldn't be true.

I lurched backwards in shock. "P-pirates?!"

Permyse looked me dead in the eyes, now looking more like a savage beast than a beautiful woman. "Welcome to the crew," she told me, her voice seeming deeper and more raspy than before.

At least that assured me that I wouldn't become a sea wench.

"I..." I was at a loss for words. For some reason, it still just didn't seem real that I was aboard a pirate ship. And now I was expected to join the crew?! I didn't know if I'd ever even be allowed to get off board.

"I can't be a pirate," I told Permyse, almost on the verge of crying. "I... I can't."

She let go of my shoulder, walking down the stairs to the main deck. "That's what you think," she told me. I turned around and went to go follow her.

"No... no, really," I detested. "I couldn't kill someone if I tried. I just... I just wanted to get on board so I could leave that island for once.

' She walked forward without even looking back at me. "You know, killing isn't the only thing that makes you a pirate."

She slowed down and looked over her broad shoulder, back at me. "You're aboard the Dreadnought now. And that's what makes you a pirate."

The Dreadnought. What a terrifying name. I was starting to think about jumping off and trying to swim my way back to the island, which wasn't even in sight anymore.

I was speechless. This all felt like a nightmare already... and I wasn't even in the thick of things yet.

I followed her through a door which led to a staircase, leading below deck. She opened the creaky old wooden doors without even holding them open for me. She really did lack respect.

There was a huge room below deck, packed with crates, barrels, and bags full of Uton-knows-what. There was somewhere around 30 people in the room, each one either handling storage and organizing things, or lazily dozing off with their back against the wall. Most of them were large, threatening men, but all of them, male or female, wore the same outfit of a brown-and-white striped tank and brown pants and boots. So far, Permyse was the only person I had seen who was wearing anything different. It still confused me why she was wearing such heavy armor.

"This is storage," Permyse told me. "Probably where you'll be working for most of your time as a recruit."

That made me feel sad. For one, I didn't want to work with a bunch of lousy, sweaty sea dogs, and for two, I just wasn't a strong person at all. Sure, I could catch a box that fell out of my grasp if I slipped on something and nearly fell, but I doubt I could carry any more than one box full of something relatively light. If I were still unaware that this was a pirate ship that I was aboard, I would have approached the task more diligently, but now I only wanted to go back home.

"Why are there so many boxes being moved around?" I asked.

"What, did you think we just docked at that island for no reason?" Permyse asked, rhetorically. "We stole a great deal of plunder."