Pirate Princess (20 page)

One of the older pirates sat down and patted my back. “Easy girl. You’re still alive.”

“Not for long,” I murmured.

Esmeralda stood in front of the cage and asked, “Did any of you see a girl at the festival?”

The pirates looked at each other and a few looked at me. “Just Jax here,” one finally said to her.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“No girls ’cept Jax was allowed at the Festival last night,” the old pirate told her with a thick accent, “Only captains and their crew are allowed and Jax is the first female captain in fifty years.”

She exhaled and said, “Thank you.” She looked at me and said, “I heard you challenged my husband to a fight.” I nodded my head once. “Didn’t work out like it planned did it?” I shook my head. “You remember that when you get the notion in your head to escape,” she said and then left.

The day passed in a blur as pirates were interviewed and some moved to other cells and some to their punishments. Soon there were only a handful of pirates in the cage with me. I napped on and off and tried to amuse myself by counting the cracks in the floor.

Faxon walked in the next morning and stared at me. I continued to stare at the ground, hiding my hands in my lap so he couldn’t see my jewelry. I was actually shocked Jared and Griffin hadn’t noticed. I waited for him to say something to me, but he just left after almost an hour of silent staring.

Griffin came to the cage and said, “Jax, let’s go.”

I stood, winced at my soreness, stretched and followed him, putting my hands in my pockets. He led me down the hall, down some steps and into a thick walled cell with one small window with bars. “These will be your new accommodations until the King and I agree what to do with you,” he said.

I walked in calmly and sat on the floor. It smelled like rat crap and urine.

He stepped inside, shut the door behind him and walked towards me with a vicious smile. “Now, let’s remove that mask.” I jumped up and backed away from him. He glared at me. “Stay still or I’ll tie you up.”

“Did you send word to my dad?” I asked.

He grabbed my arm and said, “You don’t need to worry about that.” He ripped the mask off of my face and stumbled backwards, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water and his eyes as wide as they would go. He tripped and landed on his butt in the center of the cell. “Tilia?!” he asked in shock.

“Tilia Jasmine Swanson,” I answered, “But when I’m on the sea they call me Jax.”

He stood up and paced back and forth in the front of my cell, blocking my escape. I grabbed my mask, slipped it back on and sat down in the back of the cell.

“You’re Jax?” he asked, stopping his pacing to look at me.

“Yes.”

He started pacing again. He stopped. “Are you really Rocco’s daughter?”

“Yes.”

He was muttering to himself about Jared and Esmeralda and Rocco, but I couldn’t make any of it out. He stopped and then smiled and left.

“What are you going to do with me?” I yelled after him.

“You’re going to sit in that cell while I put my plan into action,” he said and then laughed happily.

I put my head against my knees and cried again. It was the only way I could ease the emotions that were swirling inside of me. Dad had been right. I couldn’t trust anyone, not even those I considered family. I slept on and off, looked out the window at the ocean and lost track of how long I was in the cell. Food was brought to me and I ate and drank enough to stay alive. I was so bored that I started doing exercises in the cell. A few days later I realized that I was a complete moron. I faced the cell and used my ability to unlock the door. It swung open and Griffin stood on the other side with a letter in his hand. I sat down, pretending I hadn’t just opened it since he didn’t seem to have noticed.

“You know what we received today?” he asked me. “We received demands from Captain Rocco. Demands from a pirate to royalty!”

“Have you told Jared and Esmeralda about me?” I asked.

“Release Jax alive and unharmed, in a boat that she will row to my ship, or I will destroy Markleville. He’s got some audacity and knows how to write,” he said.

“He’ll do it,” I warned him.

“If he blew up this town he would risk blowing you up as well,” he reminded me.

“He probably thinks I’m dead,” I offered.

“I think I shall send him our own demands. Surrender yourself and your entire crew or we will deliver your daughter’s head to you.”

“You wouldn’t kill me,” I said even though I wasn’t so sure anymore.

“Of course I wouldn’t,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m not a barbarian, but your dad doesn’t know that.”

“How long have I been here?” I asked.

“One week and two days,” he said.

“Why haven’t you told Jared and Esmeralda?” I asked.

“Because they would free you and try to work things out,” he said as though that were obvious.

“What do you plan to do with me?” I asked him.

“I’m going to use you to kill Captain Rocco.”

“You can’t,” I told him in a near scream.

“My job is to keep this kingdom safe and if that means faking your death then so be it. You’re safer in here where you can’t escape anyways,” he told me, “Where your father can’t steal you.”

“I want to see Jared,” I said angrily.

“No.”

“Jared!” I screamed as loudly as I could, “Jared!”

Griffin sighed, grabbed me, tied my hands behind my back, and tied another around my mouth and feet. “I’ll have someone check on you later. Your father was spotted only a day away from here and I don’t need you messing things up. I’ll release you to Jared and Esmeralda as soon as we kill Rocco.”

I struggled against the constraints, but they were too tight.

He shut the door and left, humming as he walked away.

I stopped struggling and calmed myself. I had to think calmly. There had to be a way out of here.

I knew I could unlock the door, but that did me no good now that I was tied up. How could I get word to dad to keep him away?

“Jax,” someone whispered, “You in there?”

I yelled around the fabric in my mouth and rolled over to look up at the window. Cristoff held onto the bars as he looked down at me. “You okay?” he asked. I nodded my head. “Your dad is on his way here.”

I shook my head and tried to tell him no.

“I’ll find a way to get you out,” he promised. He dropped a dagger through the bars and said, “I’ll come back tomorrow night.”

I yelled at him, but it was no use since he couldn’t understand me. I rolled over and scooted backwards, my fingers searching around the dirt for the dagger. I found it and started to slowly cut the rope holding my hands.

I fell asleep while cutting several times and had to stop when someone came in to check on me. They took the gag off, made me drink water, and then put the gag back on. The sun rose, set, and then I finally cut through the rope. My arms jerked forward, released from the ropes and burned in pain. My arms, shoulders, and hands burned with agonizing pain. I pulled off the gag and started cutting through the ropes at my feet.

“Hey,” Cristoff said.

I turned and said, “You have to make Dad leave. They’re going to kill him.”

He rolled his eyes. “Obviously.”

“Then why is he coming?” I asked angrily even though I knew it was because of me.

“Is there any way you can cause a distraction inside the jail?” he asked me.

I smiled. “I can unlock every single cell in here,” I told him.

“Perfect. I want you to run in the middle of the prisoners as they try to escape. We’re going to shoot some cannonballs at the other end of the city where it isn’t populated anymore to draw them over there. You need to get to the city and find someplace to hide. The city people should recognize you and they won’t think twice about helping the princess. Get to the castle and we’ll leave.”

“That’s not going to work,” I told him. “Esmeralda and Faxon can destroy your ship faster than a cannonball flies.”

“You have a better idea?” he asked me.

I heard footsteps and a familiar humming. I hid the dagger and whispered, “Get down.”

Cristoff dropped out of sight and I sat on my butt and was examining my fingernails when Griffin opened the door. He scowled at me and asked, “How did you get free?”

“I have many secrets,” I told him.

“Come, Jared is forcing me to bring you out to the courtyard so he can decide your punishment.”

“I’ll take my mask off and ruin your plan,” I told him.

“Not if you can’t move,” he said.

A man I had never seen before stepped forward and chanted a quick spell. My body went completely numb and the two carried me by the arms, dragging my legs behind me out to the open courtyard. They tied me to the post with my face leaning against the wood so I could see almost all around me.

Jared walked towards me scowling. “Have you figured out who she really is?” he asked Griffin.

“The mask cannot be removed. I think she may have attached it permanently to her face,” he lied.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked.

“Malnourished, she refused to eat.”

Jared sighed. “You put up a good fight, but I’ve decided that I can’t just let you go without a punishment even though you’ve committed no true crime against us. You did attack me.”

“And she allowed Rocco to escape,” Griffin reminded him.

A guard brought out a whip and handed it to Jared. “Maybe the memory of these pains and the scars will keep you from returning to your life of piracy.”

He raised his hand and someone slammed into his side. He dropped the whip as the person knocked him to the ground. The person stood up and walked over to me. Cristoff!

Jared drew his sword and Cristoff drew his. “I don’t want to fight you, Your Highness. I just want you to let her go.”

“She’s a criminal!” Griffin yelled, attacking Cristoff before he had a chance to say anything else. Cristoff blocked his attacks and tried to attack him, but Griffin was obviously the better fighter. I tried to break the spell. I tried to do something, but all I could do was breathe and watch them. Cristoff slipped on the dropped whip and Griffin stabbed him in the stomach.

NO! Cristoff! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I was going to kill Griffin. I would kill him and set his body on fire! Cristoff clutched his stomach and tried to keep fighting. Give up. Put your sword down and give up! You can live! Griffin stabbed him again and pushed him over. I stared at Cristoff who smiled at me as he died. I struggled for all I was worth. I tried to use my magic to undo the ropes, but apparently I could only unlock things, not untie them and my magic wasn’t working at the moment.

“Seems that she had a few pirate friends,” Jared muttered. He walked back towards me and stopped short as a dagger buried in the ground at his foot. If he had taken another step it would have hit his shoulder. He spun and I watched as someone walked straight towards them.

Finn!

“Are you okay?” he asked me softly. I couldn’t move because of the damn spell. “What did you do to her?” Finn growled.

Griffin had his sword drawn and raised at Finn and Jared was standing with his sword in his hand. “Who are you?” Jared asked.

“I’m the pirate your niece is seeing,” he told Jared.

Jared’s eyebrows raised in shock. “Where is she?”

“What do you mean where is she?” Finn asked angrily.

“Where did you take her? Is she alright? Did Rocco take her?” Jared asked as he walked closer to Finn.

“She’s right…”

Griffin knocked Finn out by hitting him in the back of the head with the pommel of his sword.

“What did you do that for?!” Jared yelled at him, “He was going to tell us where Tilia is.”

“We’ll take him to the cell and deal with him there,” Griffin said.

“I want him woken up and I want his answer now,” Jared growled. He turned back to me and grabbed the whip. “Now, let’s get this over with. I don’t like hurting women and I am not going to enjoy this.”

The whip cracked as it hit my back. The pain was excruciating and if I could have, I would have screamed. It felt like my back was split open and on fire. He raised his arm again and I imagined the whip catching on fire and turning to dust. Jared grunted and stepped back. Finally something was working! I struggled against the spell on me and felt my fingertips move. I rubbed the ring Faxon had given me and prayed he would rescue me.

Another whip was brought out and the mage healed the burn on Jared’s hand while he looked at me. “I didn’t know you had magic,” he whispered, “But I have a large amount of whips so no matter how many you burn there will be more.”

Faxon, hurry up!

Dammit!

Faxon!

Jared tossed the whip back and struck.

Chapter Seven

I didn’t feel the whip hit this time. I opened my eyes that I had closed and found Faxon standing between Jared and me with the whip around his arm.

“Faxon, what is the meaning of this?” Jared asked.

“I think I should be asking that question!” he bellowed. His body was glowing and I had never seen him so angry. “Griffin, what is going on here?”

“What are you talking about?” Griffin asked.

Faxon made the whip disintegrate and started untying my hands.

“Stop it!” Griffin yelled. “She’s a prisoner!”

Faxon knelt down and looked into my eyes. “Who placed this spell?” he snapped. The mage stepped forward. “Release it!” he screamed at him, “Or I will kill you where you stand.”

“Faxon, you are out of line!” Jared told him.

Griffin moved forward and Faxon punched him in the face as hard as he could while still supporting my dead weight with his other arm. Griffin stumbled back and Faxon yelled, “You’re out of line! If I had known this is what you would turn in to I never would have returned to your service.”

Jared moved forward with a scowl on his face and reached towards me. The mage released the spell before Jared could touch me and I screamed the pain I still felt from the whip and started crying.

“What?” Jared asked.

“They put a spell on her so that she couldn’t move or talk or scream or even cry,” Faxon said through clenched teeth. “It’s a spell that isn’t supposed to be used unless they have to subdue a wild prisoner.”