Nobody Likes Fairytale Pirates (15 page)

She considered that silently.

“You remember that you’re a
hostage, right?”  She reminded him.  “So, I don’t know where you think you’re
going, but it’s not through that door.”

He let out an annoyed sound.  “Oh,
come on!”  He sounded incredulous again.  “After our big bonding moment and
everything? 
Really!?!”

She shrugged helplessly. 
“Pirate.”  She said simply, since it explained everything.

He let out a frustrated sigh and
stalked back to flop into his chair.  “I really hate travelling with you, have
I ever mentioned that?”

She didn’t bother to respond to
that.

“Your wife and baby?”  She asked
him.

“They…  They didn’t make it.”  His
voice was tight.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.”  He said solemnly.  “Well…
I guess we’ve both ‘put our traumas in the past.’”  He laughed humorlessly. 
“Haven’t we?”

“Yeah.”  She agreed softly, trying
not to cry.  “I guess we have.”

“Completely over it.”

“I don’t even remember it anyway.” 
She started to feel around the table for the bottle of rum which she knew had
to be somewhere nearby.  “So what does it matter what happened?”

Five Years Ago

The whip descended for one last
lash and it felt like all the skin on Uriah’s back was on the verge of tearing
away and falling onto the deck in one gruesome sheet. 

He’d been trussed up by his former
crew and they’d been taking turns whipping him on and off all day.

His childhood and lifestyle had
given him a better than average pain tolerance, but he honestly didn’t know how
much more he’d be able to take.  He’d passed out several times already, but the
torture showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

His back was now one large open
wound, dripping hot blood onto the back of his knees and staining the boards
beneath his feet.

His captors were growing bored
though.  He could tell.  As it turned out, the large stockpile of wine found in
the Adithian vessel had proved to be more interesting to most of the crew than
torturing him.

Sadly, that wasn’t true of all of
them.

“My arm is getting tired, Uriah.” 
Marston complained, walking around to face him.  His features illuminated by
the shifting light of the lamps he’d set up so that his fun could continue even
after the sun had set.  “Frankly, I didn’t expect it to take this long to break
you.”  He wiped his hand across his face.  “You got anything to tell me yet?  A
plea for mercy?  An apology?  Anything?”

Uriah met his eyes, willing himself
to keep from screaming in rage and pain.  “Well, as a personal matter, I’m
really going to miss the tattoo inked on my back.”  He let out a sigh, as if
picturing the mess Marston had made of the art.  “I had that done by the
loveliest
little whore in Nodachi, and I’m sorry that it’s now going to be nothing but
scars.”

Marston laughed and calmly decked
him.

Uriah swore and let out a cough,
spraying more blood onto the deck. 

“Speaking of ‘little whores’,”
Marston started to pace in front of him, “as soon as
yours
wakes up, the
men are planning on having some more fun with her.”  He gestured to the girl,
who was sprawled unconscious in a bloody pool on the deck.  “In retrospect, it
probably would have been more enjoyable for them
before
I cut off her
pretty face, but we all make do with what we have, I suppose.”  He leaned
against the railing.  “If you tell me what I want to hear, I’ll try to make it
quick.”

“Funny, your wife told me that’s a
frequent problem for you.”

Marston stared at him for a moment
and then let out a bark of laughter.  “I don’t even have a wife, Uriah.”

“I know.”  Uriah nodded.  “Guess
that means I got further with her than you did.  No surprise.”

Marston laughed again, either out
of amusement or just because he was insane and taking far too much enjoyment
from his task than he should have.

Marston hit him again, coming close
to dislocating Uriah’s jaw, then followed up with a punch to the gut.

Uriah gasped for breath, held up
only by his bonds.  “Shit, who taught you how to punch, Marston?  All these years
together...”  He swallowed, trying to keep from vomiting.  “…and my… my kid
sister still hits harder.”  He shook his head in disgust.  “Worst…
quartermaster… ever.”

“I really hate you.”  Marston told
him sincerely.  “I really, really do.”

“Story of my life.”  Uriah agreed. 
“But everyone hates their betters, I suppose.”  He started laughing.  “I’d give
a fuck about that, but like I said, I already gave it to your wife last night.”

Marston hit him again.

“Do you think I w
ant
to be
doing this?”  His former partner and friend asked.

“Yes.”  Uriah nodded, meeting the
man’s eyes.  “I think you made your choice.  I think you’re doing exactly what
you want to do.”

Marston rolled his eyes.  “Oh,
don’t look at me like that.  Like some kind of pissy old woman,” he adopted a
high-pitched voice, “How could you do this, you mean mean man!’”  Marston
snorted in dismissal.  “Because we’re pirates, you asshole!”  He spread his
arms wide, as if presenting the scene to Uriah.  “This is what we do!  This is
what we’ve
always
done, it’s just that you never let us do it!  Piracy
is a dirty business, but you never wanted to do any of it!  I don’t know if
it’s because you’re a coward or weak or just don’t realize how this job works,
but this is how it’s
supposed
to be. 
I
am a pirate.  You are
just some… terrible thief from the swamp.  You have no idea what it takes to
succeed in this field.  No idea how to survive.  And you have
no
idea
what loyalty is, or you
never
would have treated your crew like this. 
Sided with some Adithian bitch over the rest of us.”  He leaned closer.  “I hate
you more than words can possibly describe…”

“Well, using
your
vocabulary
anyway.”  Uriah thought aloud.  “You understand like…
two words
,
Marston.  One of them is ‘fuck’.  The other isn’t.”

Marston ignored that.  “…but that
doesn’t mean that I want to be here, doing this.”  He slapped Uriah on the back
of the head.  “But you just can’t ever see the big picture, can you?”

“I see the ‘big picture’ just
fine.  It’s a large portrait of you being a sadistic asshole committing mutiny.”

“
I’m
not the mutinous one!” 
Marston cried in anger.  “I’m doing what we were
all
supposed to be
doing! 
You’re
the one who turned against
us!
  We could have been
pirates, we could have both had some fun with that little whore over there and
stolen all her gold.  That’s what pirates do.  That’s how pirates get rich and
how they have a good time.  But you had to go and murder poor Captain Rowland
and try to ruin the nice partnership we had going.  Had to try to take what was
ours, because you’re a selfish asshole.”

“Marston, like my dear mother used
to say: ‘Sometimes when…’”

The other man made an annoyed
sound, cutting him off.  “Oh, fuck your mom!”  He threw his arms wide.  “I’m
sick of hearing about her all the damn time!  For years, that loony bitch is
all I’ve gotten to hear about!”

Uriah’s eyes narrowed in theatrical
fury.  “Okay…
now
you’re crossed a line, my friend.”

Marston chuckled.  “You’re just… 
You’re just the hardest person in the world to get along with.  You were a pain
in the ass when I was trying to work with you, and I don’t know why, but I
always figured that you’d be easier to deal with if I could just beat the
living shit out of you.”  He hit him again.  “
But you’re actually not! 
You’re even worse!
”  He punched him in the face.  “How is that possible!?!”

Across the deck, the Adithian girl
stirred and made a horrible gasping murmur of a sound, as her brain and nerve
endings tried to process the unimaginable pain from the catastrophic damage done
to her face and body.

It was the most awful sound Uriah
had ever heard and he instantly knew it would stick with him for the rest of
his life.  However short that life was looking at the moment.

Unfortunately for her, her small
sound didn’t go unnoticed by the crewmen sitting near her, and they seemed to
view it as some kind of invitation.  They began to pull the girl to her feet, no
doubt to hustle her down to their bunks to “entertain” them.

The woman was an artist.  And a
warrior.

No warrior deserved that kind of
death.

Uriah’s head hung limply for a
moment as he tried to regain his senses.  He looked up to meet the other man’s
gaze.  “I’ve killed better men than you.”  He told Marston flatly, his words
slightly slurred.  “And I swear to the wisest gods and cruelest demons of this
world and the next: I’m going to look into your eyes as you die, Marston.  And
you’ll have just enough time to think back on this and recognize that I warned
you.”  He was silent for a beat.  “I’m a dangerous man to disagree with,
Marston.  And one day…
I’ll show you
w
hy.
”

His former partner was silent for a
moment.

“I’m terrified, Uriah.  Truly.” 
Marston finally decided, rolling his eyes.  “See, I would be intimidated, if I
hadn’t known you for so long and know that you simply don’t have what it takes
for this line of work.”  He sighed, obviously believing himself to be the most
put upon man in the world.  “It does seem like there are still a few people on
the crew who have a soft spot for you though, so I’m currently unable to simply
kill you and be done with it.”

Uriah gave a humorless laugh.  “If
you’re asking me to be captain again, I should warn you that your next
performance review is going to be fairly
bleak
, Marston.”

The Adithian girl was simply too
injured and disoriented to put up any kind of struggle at all as the men draped
her arms over their shoulders and started to drag her away to be raped to death.

Marston chuckled in amusement,
ignoring the crewmen.  “No, thankfully, no one likes you
that
much.”  He
leaned against the railing.  “In fact, personally, I think their recommendation
is far crueler than just hanging you from the yard arm would be.”  He gestured
out over the water.  “We’re going to sail closer to shore, then toss you
overboard and let the ocean do my work for me.”  He held Uriah’s head up to
look out over the water, a thin stream of blood falling to the deck from
Uriah’s bleeding mouth.  “Now, I know you.  You’re going to want to try to
paddle and stay afloat for as long as possible.”  He let Uriah’s head drop
limply.  “If you want my advice though, as a former brother-in-arms,” he leaned
down to look at Uriah’s face again, “I wouldn’t even try, if I were you.  It’ll
be quicker and more humane if you just let yourself sink beneath the waves.”

Uriah spat a mouthful of blood into
the man’s face.

Marston let out a roar of pure rage
and punched him again, snapping Uriah’s head back.  He followed up with another
blow to Uriah’s midsection which felt like it broke a rib or ten.

One of the crewmen moved to pull
Marston away before he had a chance to beat Uriah to death right there.

“See, I
was
planning on
letting you die with some dignity,” Marston growled, his face contorted in
fury, “but now I think I
will
just hang you!”  He snapped his fingers
and pointed at Uriah.  “Boys, please help ‘the Captain’ to the yard arm,
please?  I’m going to watch that bastard dance in the wind.”

Several crewman unlocked his
shackles and Uriah fell to the deck in a heap, too weak to stand.  The men
began to laugh and bent down to haul him to his feet. 

Uriah moved.

His hand shot to the cuff of one of
his tall boots and pulled out the dagger he always had concealed there, and
stabbed the crewman holding his left arm.

Marston swore loudly.  “Just die!” 
He cried in exasperation.  “For fuck’s sake!  Just die, you asshole!”

Uriah knew he wasn’t going to be
winning any fights at the moment.  He only had enough energy to stay conscious
another minute or two.  Every inch of him was hurt, cut, or broken.

He couldn’t beat Marston and he had
absolutely no hope of killing the girl’s captors and escaping.

But she was currently situated
between the two crewmen.

Right in front of the railing for
the ship.

If he couldn’t save her, he was at
least going to make certain that she didn’t suffer any more tortures.  He’d
failed to protect her, but at least he could protect her from that.

He could make her death quick.

Uriah used the last of his energy
and sprinted across the deck, throwing himself at her.  He hit her at the
waist, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her away from the sailors as he
continued his forward momentum.

Straight over the side and out into
the nothingness.

Uriah didn’t even have enough time
to hold his breath before crashing into the cold dark waves like a ragdoll and
sinking down below.

The cold blackness took him… his
hands slipping from her.

****

No one had ever been more surprised
to wake up than Uriah was.

He came to with a start and
immediately started coughing up lungfuls of water.

The saltwater had not done his
thousands of open wounds any favors, making his entire body feel like it was on
fire, despite the fact that he was absolutely freezing.

But he was currently staring at the
sun as it rose over the sands of some uncharted island.  Uriah was fairly
familiar with these waters, but he’d never seen an island in the vicinity,
which meant it was certainly uninhabited.

He’d been pretty certain that he’d
never see another sunrise, so it was rather miraculous to witness the first
rays of morning hitting the dark waves.

In that instant, it was one of the
most beautiful things he’d ever seen.

He began to look around to try to
get his bearings when he remembered the girl-- the
actual
most beautiful
thing he’d ever seen.  He instantly scanned the water around him, looking for
any sign of her. 

But he saw none.

He let out a long sigh and looked
up at the sky, trying not to cry. 

He wouldn’t have chosen to be the
one to survive this.  Not that the Adithians were ever the victims in much, but
in this case, the girl hadn’t deserved what had happened to her.  Not by a long
shot.  She’d started out her day as a simple archer, serving her country, and
then she’d had the unfortunate luck of running into Uriah.

Uriah wasn’t meant to be around
some things.  He could look at them, but if he got too close, they were taken
from him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose,
then winced because it felt like it was broken.

Damn.

He put his face in his hands,
feeling so lost and beaten.  Whenever he tried to do something genuinely right
in his life… to protect someone he cared about… nothing good ever came of it.