1 Chapter 1: The Marketplace

I closed my eyes as the cool air from the sea blew over me. It's strong winds blew through my hair, pushing it away from my face. I cast my gaze on the dark blue sea below me, reflecting the dark starry sky.

"Whatcha' doin' up so late young lad?" The familiar croaky voice spoke behind me.

I sighed and drew my legs closer to my chest as I rested my head on my knees.

"Somethin' the matter?" Captain Roebuck asked as he leaned against the barrel I sat on.

"I was just thinking about my mother. I never met her before. You never told me much about her. What was she like?"

Roebuck shifted his weight uncomfortably on one leg to the pegged, "Er..."

I let my legs fall on either side of the barrel and looked at him.

Old age was evident on the Captain. Grey hairs were woven in the long black curly beard that covered his face down to his chest. More grey hair was evident, poking from underneath his hat. His trousers were worn at the knees, his shirt mostly covered in beer and sweat stains.

"Your mother was a very beautiful woman-" he broke out into a violent coughing fit, hacking out flem from his throat.

"Do you need some water?"

Roebuck pounded on his chest a couple of times and spit a large blob of saliva overboard, "No but a cigarette would do me good."

I reached in my bra and pulled out a rolled tobacco, handing it to him. He took the cigarette from me and used a match to light the end of it.

Roebuck took a long drag from his cigarette before continuing, "A beauty she was. Jasmine was her name. No one had beauty like hers." He laughed to himself, "Nor did anyone have a fiery soul like hers. Men on my ship shook at the sound of her voice the same they did mine. She would bark orders and men would run around the deck doing whatever she asked. It was as if she was the Captain!"

I smiled at his words. I never got to meet my mother. She died in a ship wreck when I was a newborn. I asked other crew members if they ever met my mother but they all said the same thing. I had the same aggressive personality like my mother and took charge. I wasn't like one of those skimpy gypsies that would let men take advantage of them. I would never sink that low.

Roebuck let out a loud yawn, "It's getting late deary, you should get some shut eye before dusk. We have a long day ahead of us."

We were sailing toward the Malkyn Kingdom. We were running low on supplies for the ship so we were going to spend the day at the marketplace. The dangerous thing about this was that we were pirates.

With a target on our backs.

Other pirates had also stopped by the marketplaces often so if we ran into them we would have to be ready for battle. Not only that but we had obtained quite a few riches from the royal kingdom and guards were constantly on the look for us.

But that wouldn't stop me. Fight was my middle name and I'd never go down without a good one.

Roebuck took another drag from his cigarette before burning it out on the side of the ship, "Ya hear?"

"Yeah," I hooped off the barrel, "Goodnight. Let the bedbugs bite."

He barked out a laugh and said something about me being a survey old bastard.

•.•.•.•.

I awoke to the sound of waves crashing against the boat and the annoying squaks of seagulls by the bay.

I slowly brought myself to a sitting position, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hands. I swung my legs over the bed and made my way to the corner of the bunker. There I had a small bucket of water with a rag that I used to freshen up. I picked up the small handheld mirror and did what I could to make my hair look a bit more presentable. I put on my leather sashes before I made my way onto the deck.

"Ahoy, Sayyida!" I heard Roebuck bark from across the ship, "About time you got your lazy bones up!"

"How about you scallywag!" I hollered back at him, "Someone get me a drink." I ordered the men that were on ship.

A couple of the hands greeted me, saying good morning and the do. While others scurried around the deck looking for food to bring for me.

Roebuck sat on a stool at the small table with a mug of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"Isn't it too early to be getting drunk ya dungbie." A buccaneer placed a glass of water in front of me as I sat across from him, "If you don't pace yourself you'll be three sheets in the wind by noon."

Roebuck threw his head back and barked out another one of his ugly laughs, "Yo ho ho! Take it easy on your old man. You might cause me to go into cardiac arrest."

I couldn't help but laugh at him. Roebuck was something else. Our relationship wasn't like that I had with the other men on board. I was able to joke around with him and call him a bunch of names and he'd just laugh about it. Unlike the like other people on board who just seemed to be all uptight whenever I was around.

I watched the men haul anchors over board to ground the ship as it came to halt. Many of them swayed with the impact but I stood, managing to keep my balance.

"Weak," I muttered to them as I pushed my way through them. I hauled myself onto the side of the ship not waiting for them to lower the bridge and jumped onto the sand.

"Don't waste my time," I yelled over my shoulder as I marched my way up from the beach. I wanted to reach the marketplace before the other men did because whenever they arrived they'd always start fights, causing us to leave early.

As I approached the marketplace the buzzing of lively conversations reached my ears and the strong aroma of spices filled my senses.

My stomach growled viciously when I caught sight of someone selling fried salmon. I dug my hands into my pockets and only pulled out two small coins of very little value.

If I wanted to calm the beast that was raging in my stomach I would have to get some money. I placed the coins back in my pants and looked for my target.

I spotted a merchant with a belly protruding a meter ahead of him standing in line where a man was selling berries. This would be an easy snag.

I sat on a nearby barrel by him, "Hey~" I sang out.

He eyed me and approached me with slow steps. The man flashed me a toothy grin and a lot of his teeth were missing. The ones that remained were chipped, or a horrid decaying green colour.

"Hello precious," his breath fanned my face. I've killed many men before. I'd smelt urine, body odour, feces, even decaying bodies, but I had never smelt anything as bad as his breath. I had never known something could ever smell worse than death itself. I immediately lost my appetite.

I subconsciously barfed in my mouth and backed away from him but bumped into someone who smelt almost as bad as his breath.

"What's a pretty young lady like you doing all alone at the marketplace?"

"My, what nice long red hair you have," a low rough voice snarled in my ear from behind me.

I was pushed into a circle and was soon surrounded by a bunch of men. All of them were friends of the merchant's, all of them wore dangerous smirks.

"Hey aren't you one of the Black Foot's?" The merchant sneered.

"I knew she looked familiar, those good for nothing rotten bones stole somethin' of mine not too long ago," another growled.

I widened my stance, my hands on the handles of my cutlass, ready to slice these ugly merchant-thieves into pieces.

They all chuckled at my actions, "Oh, shes a feisty one, eh?"

"Take any step closer and you'll curse the very day you were born." I warned as I drew my blades out from their holders.

"I hear the royal kingdom are paying many riches for any member of the Black Foot that they can lay their hands on," The Merchant said.

Just as one of the men stepped closer, I heard the all familiar crazy howl and screech. Roebuck and a bunch of other men attacked the men that surrounded me. I went after the closest one, slicing the hairs of his beard off his chin. He shrieked when he saw the hair fall to the ground and tripped over himself as he ran away.

Without a warning someone came from behind me and hit my cutlass out of my hand, it made a clank as it hit the ground. Another person grabbed hold of my hair and yanked me backwards. I lost my balance and was sent rolling.

"Argh, Guards!" I heard one of my men yell.

I groaned as my body came in contact with a cart.  I watched as my crew stopped fighting and started off towards the beach. I tried to get up but pain shot through my right leg, losing my balance I fell back to the ground.

"There's one over here!" a man yanked me off the ground. I attempted to rip myself out of his grasp but when I did so, he growled and hit me across the head with his hooked hand.

I don't even remember my head hitting the ground.