"Nowbe a good girl" said a voice in my ear causing a shudder to rundown my spine as his warm breath fanned my ear "and come with me,and don't make a single noise"

Iwas shaking with fear as he moved his arm from around my waist andthe dagger too I waited until I heard the shing of it being seethedbefore I took in a deep breath causing my body to shudder

"startmoving" he growled

andI forced myself to walk down those stairs my body began to shake as Ifelt his hand on my lower back pushing me to keep going and remindingme that he was still there

"Good"he said his mouth now closer to my ear "be scared your lucky I'mnot going to end your life here oh no I have a much worse fate inmind for you"

Picturesflashed through my mind of the horrific things I've heard thatpirates do. But what exactly would I do if this man wasn't there.there was really no were to run on a ship sailing on water and Icouldn't swim and we were practically thousands of miles away fromthe nearest shore was I really going to play cat and mouse with abunch of blood thirsty pirates. The pirates parted to let us throughhe pushed me towards the mast where Limerickand the captain were tied up I saw them sigh with relief along withall the other men I stood there disorientated I was suddenly pushedforwards hard I staggered and fell between the captain and Limerickall my weight pushed into the mast I winced I heard yelling behind methey were arguing in different languages the captain spoke out as Islid down onto my knees

"she'snot a sack of potatoes" he snapped "so stop throwing her around"

Iturned my head to look at the large group of men behind us one facestood out the one whose eyes burnt with anger and hatred I gatheredthat he was the captain he marched over bobbing down in front ofGazpacho who looked relaxed even with the peril he was in

"I'lldo what ever I please with the girl" he said looking to me hesmirked then looked back to Gazpacho "and the same for you what Iplease when and how I please because you are in no situation to bebarking orders yes?"

thecaptain clenched his jaw and nodded slowly the man smiled

"butbecause I'm feeling nice and your all being so cooperative I'llleave her untied for you" Gazpacho sighed his eyes narrowing

"yourso kind" he said distastefully causing the man to frown

"justfor that" he said grabbing my arm and roughly pulling me to my feethe pulled me closer to his body

"w-w-whatare you doing?" Stammered Limerickthe man chuckled

"tyingher up"

andat his words I began to try and move out of his grip but he held metighter smirking down at me moving away from my friends all my fearvanished

"letme go!" I shouted at him my voice holding

heseemed surprised for a few seconds before his smirk was back

"Alec,Alex"he barked

Iwas pushed into two people who grabbed my arms with both hands Isquirmed around the two of them looked identical except one was blackskinned with black hair and the other was white skinned with blondalmost white hair they both had piercing silver eyes

"Tieher up" he said walking away but he turned back to them sharply"and no funny business!"

Alecand Alexnodded with a sigh as they got to work binding my hands behind myback and then tied my legs together with much difficulty as I kicked,squirmed and wriggled my legs flared out and my foot hit somethingsolid and I heard a loud crack noise as the white one fell backholding his nose as it gush blood down his face he fell back cursingas the other twin forced me to the ground and tied my legs togethertightly then when they were done they left me on the deck to fliparound like a fish out of water for a few moments. the man that hadforced me down the stairs made his way towards Limerickhe was not a very bulky figure though I wouldn't go all the way tosay he was thin either he looked well muscled and had longish blackhair that fell over his eyes he flicked it back showing the litestubbles growing on his face and strAngelyenough I found him alluring. he stood in front of the two tied uphostages ignoring the person behind him which was me. I began towiggle around in my bounds again trying to work myself free but to noavail. But I continued any ways in the hopes of slipping my bonds notreally sure of what I was going to do afterwards. someone stompedthere foot on my back hard I screamed out in pain and fright as theair was forced out of my lungs I coughed hard gasping for air I frozein surprise then I dropped my head for a few seconds trying to calmmy breathing before I lifted it up again

"Careful"the man growled

turningback to look at the person who had their foot placed in the centre ofmy spine he turned to the other man and grabbed the his collarlifting him off the ground slightly

"Jowl,if you hurt her again" he said in a harsh whisper so only he couldhear "I will make you regret every second of going againstan order understood?" and he whispered more words that I couldn'thear but I heard something about walking the plank

thepirate gulped and nodded taking his foot off my back as the man lethim go allowing me to breath freely

"hemight not know how to swim?" I thought

notknowing the meaning of his words I began to wriggle again

"ahem"said the man

Ifroze then slowly looked up at him and him down at me he actuallytook note of me for the first time in five minutes wait why was Icaring about that? His hazel eyes stared into mine like he could seewhat I was thinking he blinked and I blinked twice he seemed tohesitate but I was wrong he can't hesitate he's a pirate and piratesdon't hesitate ... right?

"andyou" he said his eyes narrowed and darkened nope no hesitationthere "stay still or he won't be the only one swimming with thefishes"

myeyes widened before my head sank down slowly until I rested my chinon the decking boards

"Idon't know how to swim though" I thought submissively

Isaw him smile as he turned back around allowing his smile todisappear

"nowthen pleasantries out of the way, Armenian where do you keep yourtreasure chest?" the man asked he had one hand on his sword

"wedon't have one" the captain said calmly clenching his teeth

"youknow" said the man

walkingaround the mast where they were tied up

"Ihave boarded and raided many ships Armenian and you know what thecaptains of all those ships have said to me?" he asked rhetoricallya wide fake smile on his lips

thetwo of them stared at each other for a number of seconds before theman answered himself

"Idon't have one" he said still with that mock smile

"butwe don't" said the captain trying to control his anger but from thelook of his face he was having a hard time doing so

"ohI know you do" said the man the smile slowly slipping off histanned face

helooked to where I was laid with my chin on the deck having given upall hope of escaping I examined him carefully as that small smilecame back to him

"andI know just how to get it out of you"

hestrolled over to where I layed forgotten and grabbed my bounded handsand pulled me to my feet then fast as lightening he drew his curvedsword and held it diagonally across my throat I let out a strangledyelp in surprise hearing a resounding laugh from the man's crew. thecaptain and Limerickboth tugged violently on their bonds as they saw how much peril theirnavigator was in. I shuddered taking in a sHallowbreath that I held

"nouse struggling" the man smiled sweetly still holding the sword tomy throat

"leaveher alone" barked Limerick

theman only smiled and pulled me closer to him I felt his hot breathdown the side of my neck causing me to shudder and the I feltsomething wet over my ear lobe I froze

"gross"I thought trying to flinch awayas I realised it was his tongue

hechuckled lowly causing shivers to erupt down my spine what he wasdoing didn't feel as wrong as I should have thought. he turnedthe sword around so the blunt edge was under my cheek bone he tracedslow circles with the blunt edge I saw Limerickgrow tense his face started turning red the man leaned over into myear

"prettylittle thing" he said

hepointed the sharp end of the sword just under my jaw I gasped tryingto move my head away but he held me there

"whatnoise would you make if I slit your throat?" he asked directly intomy ear

Isaw a smile tug at his lips as I shivered in fear feeling tears startto cloud my vision as my heart began to thud harder in my chest

"I'mgoing to die" I thought to myself "I'm going to frickendie"

Ilooked to the captain pleadingly in an attempt to find out if hewould stop this madness my heart was humming

"leaveher be" barked the captain

hewas also tense and his muscles were bulging along his neck and armsas he pulled hard against his bonds one final time

"thenwhere is your treasure chest?" he said his tone changing in theblink of an eye

"Itold you I don't have one, I have a big crew, a big crew needsfeeding and we were caught in a storm a few weeks ago and we had topay for repairs" the captain shouted his anger slipping through

"Idon't believe you" the man said

andto prove his point he slowly pressed the tip of his sword into thesoft flesh of my neck I felt the warm blood trickle down my neck ashe left a sHallowcut I pulled back out of fear and I shivered a tear slipped down mycheek I saw out of the corner of my eye that the man was smiling, hewas enjoying my pain and suffering, I shook with fear my legs quakedas they tried to keep up right

"ifI had any valuables it would be hidden away behind the portrait in myprivate quarters" the captain yelled

theman pulled the sword away from it's trip across my throat

"really?"Limerickand I said

momentarilyforgetting the peril we were in for a moment Gazpacho scowled at bothof us I was pulled back roughly

"shutyou mouth girl or I will shut it for you with this thing or another"whispered the man

Iclamped my jaws shut tightly fearing for my own life I froze

"didhe just threaten to rape me?" I thought

Iclamped my jaw tighter but doing that only made more blood run downmy chest

"searchthere" ordered the man as I heard feet thump across the deck downto the living area

"hebetter be right" he said in my ear "your life hangs in thebalance"

Ishuddered with fear. the person who went down there was gone for anumber of minutes during that time I had calmed down the blood soonstopped flowing down my neck he soon came back saying that he foundno treasure behind the portrait but he did find a box containing asingle gold coin

"hmm?"said the man "seems you were telling the truth"

afew moments passed before he continued

"shame....."he said quietly trailing off

hisgrip loosened on me slowly but then he remembered he still had meat sword point he looked down at me then to the captain

"whatrole on your ship does this one have?" the man asked with a tone ofinterest changing his grip on my arm

helowered his sword re-sheathing it he held me higher so I was on mytippy toes I felt myself tense up I knew what was coming nextLimerickand the captain shared a worried glance with each other then knowingthat there was no use lying they looked to me I shook my headslightly making then man growl unhappily

"hurryup" the man barked they both sighed deeply giving me one finalglance before dropping their gazes to the ground

"she'sour navigator" Limericksaid narrowing his eyes at the man then giving me an apologetic glaceseeing my shoulders sag and my head drop

"hmm"said the man "can she navigate at night?"

thecaptain nodded not wanting to say anything

"thenI sHalltrade you your ship and the lives of your crew for her" he statedcoolly

"what?"all of us said

"havingan extra one on board and she can navigate at night so she will bevery handy indeed"

"butyou ...?" said Limerick

"begrateful" said the man cutting Limerickoff and shooting him a forbidding stare "most ships I leave don'thave anyone alive on them,those ones usually end up at the bottom ofthe ocean"

heturned still holding me I wriggled around in protest but I got a hitto the back of my neck causing me to gasp in pain

"hejust had to say I was a navigator" I thought

asI was chucked over the bows onto the other ship I slide across thedeck and smashed my head against the mast

"ow"I groaned

bowingmy head forwards I squeezed my eyes shut as the pain coursed thoughme a few minutes passed before the pain slowly started to fade awayand I rolled onto my stomach as I tried working off the ropes butthey were too tight the man came over again grabbed me by the collarand dragged me up the stairs to the front of the ship I coughed as hethen dropped me against the hard deck drew out his sword resting hisknee on my back and cut the bonds then left me I scrabbled to therailing I heard my heart beating in my ears. I held my hand to mythroat and rubbed it taking deep breaths to calm myself down

"Iknew I should not have read all those navigation books, I knew Ishould not have told Gazpacho I was a navigator" I told myself

asI stood up and looked over the railing and saw him with the otherpirates I leaned against it to stop myself falling off as the shipjerked to life I turned my head to see the Dragon Fly driftingaway I bet they left them tied up I looked back over the railing andI could not make out what they were saying excerpt for seven bleakwords that came from the man

"touchher and I will kill you" he said

helooked back to the front of the ship seeing me he smiled then walkedin my general direction I ducked down behind the banister feeling myheart race even faster then I thought possible and I think my facehad turned blue with fear

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