In such moments as these, you begin to wonder what exactly you are and how you became it.
I am a pirate. I am a captain, a woman, a leader, a friend, a fighter, a wife. I am a scoundrel of the sea, a renouncer of my role on land. I am an outlier, a crashing wave in a small pool. I am either a killer, or about to be killed.
Billy Robertson stands with his pistol to my neck, right on the forehead of the skull tattoo. The barrel digs into my skin, a cold metal circle to seal my fate.
I've lost my cutlass in the fight, and my pistol, I gave to Celia who came to me, crying and unarmed. I can have no frightened tears on my ship, so I shall give this arrogant pirate captain none.
There are things I could do. He holds his gun in lax, overconfident enough that I might snatch it from his hand with a quick maneuver. But to catch him off guard may yet be the end of me. The plank wobbles, reminding me that one good push should do me in.
I dare not push him while he still holds the pistol. If I know Billy Robertson, a shot will follow his scream. It is merely stimulus-response, for him.
My women are too caught in their own battle to help. Pride swells my heart as I watch my brave buccaneers, fighting with such cohesion that they could have been one single entity. We're outnumbered, I know -- nearly three to two. But the gap closes as more bodies fall.
Billy smirks at me, fingers drumming over the trigger of his gun. "This will be the end of you, then, Young? Aye, no last words for Ole Billy? Mayb' a goodbye kiss?"
That foolish, arrogant pig of a man. I have half a mind to hawk one at him and push him overboard. I mayn't mind dying so long as my spit in his eyes is the last thing he sees on this side of eternity.
But I catch sight of someone behind him, and my bloody fantasy melts away.
Cassie inches onto the plank, glancing between the fight and I with darting green eyes. Her brother takes no notice; I shift my feet to mask the shake she's caused.
My heart floods with love, then sorrow. My lovely, brave rose, about to be rid of me for good. Well, I think, mayhaps it's for the better.
Her eyes lock on mine, tightening the thick bind on my chest that keeps me from breathing.
"Aww, I've scared the lass, haven' I?" Billy continues. He digs the pistol further into my neck, drawing closer. "Ye were always a pretty one, Delanie," he breathes. "What'dye say, love? No need to die t'day. Join me, submit. I've always wanted a sea wench of my own."
Bile builds up in my throat, nausea nearly taking over. I swallow, forcing myself to look away from Cas. "Never," I say, words stunted by the dig of metal on my throat.
He chuckles. "Aye, aye, cap'n." Cassie inches closer, hardly a yard from the wretched man. "Overboard it is, then."
"No!" Cassie cries, such a startle even to me that the plank is amuck with violent tremors from all three of us. Billy cries out, nearly losing his gun which he lunges to save. He almost falls into the ocean doing it, but no such luck. He rights himself, turning for his sister.
"Cassandra!" He screams, hands shaking with rage. "Ye unholy seacow of a lass! How dare ye even speak t' me, ye soiled trash?"
So enraged by his insults, I am, that I nearly tackle him and end him right there. But Cassie demands my eyes, hers calming me. She then looks to her brother with the same steady, measured gaze. "I am no longer yours to insult," she spits.
Without any other words, Cassie lunges for him, tossing that sorry excuse for a pirate from the plank with a furative roar so loud, all the crew pauses to hear it. As I knew, he shoots off a shell, but it soars into the sky disappearing into the endless blue somewhere.
"Three cheers for the Captain's Wife!" I hear.
Three cheers.
Cassie grabs me, pulling me from the plank. I watch Billy's crew scatter, jumping in fear from my ship back to theirs.
All around me, my women hug and cheer for one another, a blanket of victory binding us together. I hold my wife tight enough to crush her, listening to her trembling breath against the skull tattoo on my neck.
And in all my years on the seven seas, I never met a braver woman.
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