Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

:  C H A P T E R  F I V E  :

I sat in the blackness for an eternity.

At first I sat, yes, but after a while I tipped onto the ground with my cheek pressed up against the sleeve of the stranger's coat. There was nothing more upsetting than not knowing when day would rise, or knowing that my family was in Valens without me.

I regretted being furious with Father, though he never knew that I was, in fact, plotting a revolutionary speech. He did not deserve to have my childish anger forced upon him, not in a time like this. Theo was probably going mad with distraught, which in turn pressed a wave of guilt to lash up at my ankles all the way over my shoulders, engulfing my hair in its cold embrace. I trembled at the thought of being beneath the waves, and recalled Theo's twisted arm after he fell from a high boulder.

I feared the ocean, and here I was, on a pirate ship of all things.

When my tears dried out and I had worn myself down, I fell asleep at a point I could not recall. It was all exclusive darkness, though when I was awake, I could hear the roar of waves crashing in our wake, and the moans of the prisoners. Try as I might, no amount of plugging my ears could rid me of their sounds.

At some point I did not know which way I was facing--was it north? East? I hadn't a clue. But I saw a dim figure become visible in front of me, and found that candle light was being scattered over the bars of my cell. I bolted up into a sitting position, going dizzy from the abrupt move, and spun around in search of the lantern-keeper.

"Rise and shine, princess." It was the cat-eyed pirate. He clasped the lantern over his head and I watched as he bent down. He was bowing.

"What're you-"

"Cody, son of Captain Aloysius Avarice of The Avarice of the Sea. Pleasure meeting you," he announced in a bold voice before popping back up into a standing position. As he swung out the ring of keys, shuffling through them until he found the right fit for my cell, I stared blankly at him.

"Wait, what?"

"If ya weren't payin' attention the first time, it'll cost ya fer a second." I went bright red when he winked at me, a sly smirk playing on his lips. He stuck the key into the door, and I hastily stood up and walked over, observing the numbers etched on the metal as the lantern swayed overhead. When the door creaked open, I moved back and away from the man named Cody, son of Avarice, as he came over to unlock the cuff on my ankle.

My hand reached for my necklace, but was lost in the air of where it used to be. I felt as though a hole had been punched through my heart when Avarice took it away, and only now I was just feeling the pain. I felt it all the way to my stomach, which was growling out of hunger. I hadn't minded skipping breakfast, considering the vast meal I had eaten the day before, but now I was starting to feel the grumbling.

"Is there anything to eat?" I asked hesitantly, and brought my hands to my stomach rather than the absent necklace.

Cody looked back at me from where he was retrieving the lantern. "What? Ya feeling hungry already?"

I remained quiet. He made it sound like a meal a day was hardly amiss. For some odd reason, I had the urge to one up Avarice's crew in this so-called game of life. To them, being a royal was a sign of weakness out at sea. They took it as a lack of experience, and years of living the sheltered life. When I tried to rationalize that it wasn't all that, I had to step back and realize that it was, in fact, a limited lifestyle. I may be worldly and cultured, but against the rough and tough barbarians out in No Man's Land, I was just a mouse against a hawk.

He swept his arm through mine and walked me back through the maze of cells. He was humming a pirate's tune under his breath that I had heard multiple times before, but as far as I was concerned, it was probably just from the sailors on the ship we took to Valens. I half expected the two of us to start skipping through these halls of despair.

I inched closer to his side when we passed the other inmates. We were suddenly bombarded by a hoarse, raspy voice up ahead. Screaming out in terror, I bolted away from Cody and the noise, only to ram straight into a wall in my attempt to escape.

I groaned and rubbed at my nose, stomping my foot on the ground and cursing aloud.

"Aw, did someone give themselves a black eye, princess?" he taunted, and I merely glared at him as he took hold of my arm again and trudged along. I saw the smirk on his face all the way to the stairs, and hated every second of watching his amusement. My delicate nose was still throbbing, and it heated up my entire face out of both pain and embarrassment.

I needed to get ahold of myself if they were to take me seriously. My first task today would be to convince Avarice to release me--he had what I assumed he wanted, the medallion, so I had no purpose of being here other than to endanger their travels.

Any crossing with a Damunian ship would only end in disaster for The Avarice.

We came up to the pirate's quarters, lined on the walls with rickety bunks and ragged hammocks. Light streamed overhead through the cracks in the wooden planks, and I saw shadows pass across the floor and sprinkle sunlight here and there over our trail. I looked above, watching the dust particles glow while the commotion above consisted of chants and calls across the floor from the quarter deck to the bow.

Cody stopped me at the staircase leading up to the deck. He pinned me with a harsh stare that halted me in my tracks, and he had his finger pointed to my throat. "Listen up, princess," he started, leaning across the railing to look me in the eye. Even still he was taller than me by far. "Ya best believe that we ain't gonna treat any other prisoner as best we do you, but any tricks you pull up on deck where the captain can see ya, it'll be more'n just a slappin'. Ya see?"

I was mainly intrigued by his speak. It was slurred and lulled like he was born on the sea. I had so many questions, and the first that popped clearly in my mind flew straight out my mouth. "What am I supposed to do then?"

He grinned, seeming to be enjoying himself. "Just sit pretty and don't say a word, eh princess?" I scowled at him, but followed his lead up the stairs nonetheless.

The wind barreled through down into the hold where we were just standing, and blew my hair back from my face in just a single gust. The ship swayed with the waves, and I became conscious of the swinging lanterns and the ropes that came into view overhead. I stumbled at first over the deck, but caught my balance and sustained a look of pure astonishment at the sight of what laid ahead.

The men were tossing ropes to and fro, tugging the sails into place, and shouting over the breeze that threatened to spill me overboard. It was incredible how the brute strength of two dozen men could steer such a powerful ship, and I found myself lost in the way they coordinated chants that I later learned were the task procedures. A bottle of liquor was being passed around.

I leaned my weight on the railing and tilted my head back up to the midday sun. My eyes burned under the brilliant rays, but as the darkness from down below faded, I grew to appreciate the warmth the sunlight provided. I never thought I would miss it so much.

"Quit yer dilly dallying and come 'ere once," Cody shouted over to me. Reeling myself back from my reveries, I chased after him across the main deck. He brought me over to the quarterdeck stairs, just a few paces away from the captain's door beneath the overhang.

"This is incredible! I have never seen pirates at their work ever," I exclaimed over the wind, laughing as I spun back around to watch them. A few of their eyes were on me, and I found myself ignoring them in order to drink in the way a man began to shimmy up the mainmast, his feet hooking on the spokes all the way up. A dagger was clenched between his teeth, and the wind was carrying his filthy blouse close to his chest.

"Hm, yes, pirates," Cody mused thoughtfully, acting as though he had never heard the word in his life. "Just keep here and stay steady. Ya see, I could tie ya up, but that just wouldn't be right, now would it?"

I grimaced and brought my narrow eyes to face him. He returned it with a smile before walking around and kicking a crate out for me to sit on. I took my place there, and decided that if I could not at least swim to shore, or man this ship myself, I would simply observe.

Watching Avarice's crew work was a magnificent experience. I had seen sailors man ships before, but it was nothing compared to this. There was an art to the way they worked in unison, and even relaxed together against the railing of the ship. The day was calm, calmer than the night before. I had felt the waves rocking the ship as I tried to strategize a plan worth using.

There were none.

Considering my first confrontation with Avarice hadn't ended so well, I figured none else would be better. He did not appear to be a logical man, and so any rationalizations made on him were not rationalizations at all. Avarice was a problematic fellow, and that was the best I could come up with.

I had been sitting there on that crate for a good twenty minutes when the sound of boots descended the stairs behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to where a long-haired fellow pranced down, a string of papers clutched tight against his chest. At first I did not recognize him, but then I saw his smile and the scrapes across the right side of his face that reminded me of the Nash I saw yesterday.

Bloody hell.

"Well if it ain't Princess Maxine! Comin' out to enjoy the good weather, I suppose?" he questioned, propping himself up against the side of the quarterdeck to smalltalk me. I stared ahead and tried my best to ignore him, mainly due to the fact that he smelled even worse than Cody did.

"It's gon be difficult to turn a deaf ear on me for long," he commented after receiving no reply. I blinked swiftly at him, and afterwards turned my head completely away. He sighed and trudged along while calling over his shoulder, "'Twas nice talkin' to ya!"

"Yeah, maybe for you," I muttered under my breath as I propped my ankle up atop my knee and leant my elbow on my thigh. I had only known Nash for no more than a day and he already knew how to turn my mood sour.

And that pretty much set my whole day off to a mucky start.