Skulls and Bones (For ChrisWk)

[Silverstone]

Daniel sighed, lying on the pallet of his cage, looking up at the ceiling. He had been locked up for days now, it was not quite how he had imagined his great adventure.

«Your engagement to Lady Helena will be announced in a month, at the great ball»

Those were the words that started it all.

Daniel, just turned eighteen and a rebellious character that not even his father, Baron Hernest Ashbury, had managed to break. He hadn't desire to marry for reasons of interest, especially with that harpy of Lady Helena, a complain that she could do nothing but complain from morning to night.
The day before the great ball he had therefore fled from his father's mansion, with some money and a lot of hope, and he had embarked on a freight ship, as an illegal immigrant, dreaming of a new life on the coast on the horizon.
It hadn't gone very well, he had been discovered just before the halfway point of the trip and jailed. Fortunately he had managed to convince the captain, in exchange for all his money, not to abandon him on a lifeboat in the middle of the sea.
At the next port he would have to send a missive to his father, begging him to send someone to retrieve it.

After almost an hour of stillness, Daniel stood up with a sigh, trying to stretch his legs. He took off his jacket, folding it for use as a pillow. At least they hadn't taken off his clothes too, he thought. They were of excellent workmanship, the elegant shirt and trousers and leather boots suggested that he was not a desperate poor man.

Daniel went back to lie down, he was a tall, thin boy, the physique of an aristocrat, like the handsome face on which the beard had not yet grown. His long red hair was tousled and came to his shoulders, gathered in a low ponytail, at best.
He ran his hands over the face, whose freckled skin was red with salt.
He definitely wasn't suited to life on the open sea.




Daniel didn't know when it had passed, when a sharp snap made him jump, jolting him awake.
From the deck he could see smoke, hear shouts, and the clash of swords.
What the heck was going on ?!

[ChrisWk]

It was the early 1700's, the golden age of piracy.

One of the mos infamous pirates of that time was none other than the Pirate Queen, as she was called. Many referred to her as the Queen of all pirates, given her countless battles won, rivaling the infamy of legends such as Davy Jones.

There were few who were boarded and raided by the pirate Queen and her crew that lived to tell the tale. And there were equally few who knew her by her real name: Elizabeth Kenway.

The next unlucky victim of the pirate Queen was none other than a slow, but fairly large merchant ship. Of course it didn't match the size of Elizabeth's infamous and unrivaled ship: The Devil's Pearl.
It was a large galleon, equipped with as many cannons as possible, yet still managed to be fairly fast; which was key to catch up to merchant vessels.
They had finally caught up to this merchant ship on it's way from England to the Caribbean. They didn't put up much of a fight, which made boarding a whole lot easier. Even though Elizabeth's crew were top of the line and certainly didn't need any help; she always lead her crew into battle.
Though this battle ended quicker than most.

"Grab all their loot, lads! Coins, tea, nice clothes, all the valuables you can find!" Elizabeth shouted out, and the crew cheered, immediately starting to loot the ship of all the valuables.

Elizabeth on the other hand, she was more interested in seeing if she could find new crewmembers. Strong men who would get a second chance. Though as she walked through the crowd of sailors kneeling on the deck, she only sighed.
This was a sorry bunch, no doubt about it.
She looked over at her second in command; Mr. Warren.

"It's the plank for the lot of them, see to it that they're all either shot or walk the plank. I'll head below deck to see if there's anyone else there." Elizabeth ordered, before heading down the steep stairs to below deck.

Nothing. Not a soul in sight. Perhaps they had all figured that if they surrendered they'd be shown mercy; but that wasn't Elizabeth's way.

Then she went down one more floor to the very bottom, where the brig was located as well. Some of her best men had come from the brig. Violent strong men who had been thrown in the brig; those tended to be some of the best.
However, as she walked down and to the jail cell, she couldn't help but raise a brow at what she saw sitting up against the wall.

A boy. A well dressed boy at that, and quite cute looking too. He definitely didn't belong there. Clearly not a sailor by any stretch of the imagination.

"Well well well.. What do we have here? A lost boy at sea.. Tell me, boy.. How'd you end up down here locked in the brig?" Elizabeth asked with a smirk as she leaned against one of the doorways.

[Silverstone]

Daniel was beginning to be very worried, especially by the silence that had fallen.
The young man tensed as he heard footsteps approaching, footsteps that didn't sound like the captain's. When the woman entered his field of vision, he jumped to his feet, leaning against the wall.
He was not a sailor, but he had heard several stories and didn'tt need to be an expert to understand that he was facing a pirate.
"Who are you?" he said, ignoring the woman's question. "What happened?", Although he deep down he already knew the answer.

[ChrisWk]

Elizabeth wasn't at all surprised by the boy's apparent fear, she was used to that. There were quite few normal sailors who weren't afraid of her, after all.
Though she didn't appreciate the fact that he didn't answer her question.

"What happened? Well.. We boarded your ship, isn't that obvious? So far, it's been a decent catch. You seem to have a fair bit of valuable goods here... And that includes those nice clothes you're wearing, boy.." Elizabeth said, having noticed that he wore quite nice ones. Far too nice to be some young sailor. He had both nice clothes, and a pretty face. He was actually quite cute.

"As for who I am, well.. I guess most common folk know me as the Captain of 'The Devil's Pearl' - or the Pirate Queen." Elizabeth replied with a smirk, before noticing some keys hanging on a wall close by. She quickly stepped over and grabbed them, but didn't unlock his cell door just yet.

Before Elizabeth could continue, a gunshot could be heard from above deck. A loud and sharp bang. Elizabeth ignored it though.

"Now.. The rest of your crew are walking the plank, and if they don't, well.. They get shot. Though I imagine after that first shot now that most will choose to walk the plank. Even though that is arguably a worse way to go." Elizabeth said with a shrug.

"But don't worry, kid. You're clearly not like them, or with them. Seeing as you're in the brig and all, so I will give you a chance. Now.. I will let you out of the brig, but I expect you to behave yourself. You're gonna join me over to my ship and into my quarters. There's nowhere to run, so don't even bother trying anything funny. Understood?" Elizabeth said, dangeling the keys in front of him, if only to tease him a little. She did find him quite cute, and wasn't going to waste a young man's life unless he gave her reason to. He seemed to simply find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Silverstone]

Daniel jumped at the gunshot that came from above.
Under normal conditions his instinct would have made false papers to get out of that cage, but at that moment he retreated, to the opposite bars, decidedly uneasy.
He wasn'tt used to stories of the sea, but the fame of the woman in front of him had crossed the borders of the coasts and was able to hold court in the salons of the bourgeoisie. He did not have an ordinary woman in front of him but a terrible pirate.
"Listen," he said, after swallowing. "My father has a lot of money, okay? If you don't twist a hair, you can have the richest ransom you've ever seen," he tried to mediate. He certainly wasn't a lionheart.

[ChrisWk]

The infamous pirate couldn't help but chuckle as the boy said that 'if she didn't twist a hair on his head' and had him delivered back to his father, she'd get a huge ransom.
Did this kid really think she was struggling with money?

"Listen, kid. I'm sure your father's rich and all, but you do realize that you're speaking to the pirate Queen? I have more money and treasure than I know what to do with! Besides, I don't deal with strangers. Nor do I trust those obeying the English law." Elizabeth replied, as she was certainly not going to do any deals with some random stranger who could easily tell on her to the government.

"Besides, what makes you think your father would want you back? You ran away, didn't you? What else would a rich boy like you do on a filthy and scruffy merchant ship such as this?" Elizabeth added, as she could read the boy like an open book. He did not belong here, and it showed.

"Now I'm gonna ask you one last time, boy. Will you behave yourself and join me to my quarters?" the infamous Captain asked one final time as she put the key into the lock and unlocked it, swinging the door open and gesturing for him to go out.

[Silverstone]

Daniel was still leaning against the opposite bars. He wasn't feeling very lucky at the moment, not so lucky as to tempt fate.

"All right, all right!" he said, raising his hands in surrender and taking a few steps towards the pirate. "I'll do whatever you want," the eighteen-year-old said, submissively. He was sure that pea or later he would have the opportunity to escape, he would be good and then run away at the first opportunity...


(Work, work, so much work)

[ChrisWk]

Elizabeth simply smirked as Daniel said that he would do 'whatever she wanted.' That was exactly what she wanted to hear from him.

"Oh yes you will.." the pirate queen said with a light smirk, before placing a hand on the boy's back and leading him up the stairs and to the deck of the ship, where the deck had some red stains and Daniel's crew were jumping off the plank one by one, just like Elizabeth had ordered.

"You should be glad I was the pirate to rob your ship, kid. Or you would be walking the plank along with your crew here. Now come on, let's head over to my ship.." She said, leading the boy as they walked over to one of the planks connecting the two ships. She lead the way over. Her ship was far bigger, decked out with large and mean looking cannons too. She then lead the way to her quarters, opening the door and holding it open for him.

"Step on inside, boy. We're gonna have a little talk in private.." she said with an amused smirk.

[Silverstone]

Daniel was completely terrified by that sight, with stiff legs he followed the pirate, trembling slightly. The worst violence he had witnessed so far had been seeing his mother slap a lazy waitress, this bloody sight shocked him.
Pale followed the woman to her cabin, entering it. Her courteous manner apparently failed to reassure him.

[ChrisWk]

Elizabeth smirked as Daniel entered. He was a cute young man, and she was quite interested in him. Why was he on such an awful merchant ship? He was clearly from a rich family. Which was likely why he was in the brig as well. She was quite curious to hear his story, but first, she wanted to see the rest of him, seeing as his face was already so cute.

After having closed the door to her quarters and locked it, she walked past Daniel and to her desk, where she say down and leaned against it, folding her arms as she eyed him.
"Now, those nice clothes of yours.. They are probably worth more than any single item we'll find on that merchant ship, so I'll be needing those. Strip yourself off them, boy." She ordered with an amused smirk.