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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review chapter one!
Chapter Two


When I awoke, it was with a different feeling than the one I’d grown used to. The bed beneath me was soft and warm, and the air about me did not seem the same stagnant air of the brig. I opened one eye, and saw that I was not in the brig at all. I was in a bed chamber.


Opening the other eye, I saw just whose bed chamber I must then have been occupying. The pirate woman sat, curled up in a chair to the left of me. My Red Coat was strewn over the back of her chair, and its long sleeves must have fallen in the night, because they were, at present, wrapped delicately around her small figure.


She didn’t look so tough in slumber. Certainly not brawn enough to be the preposterous captain of a pirate ship. She looked like the product of good breeding (as, no doubt, she probably was). She looked like a woman who would not be out of place in a well furnished parlor. I could imagine her with those blonde tresses done up in ringlets, and her lithe body tucked away beneath a corset and gown.


Obviously, those pants and the shirt that she wore were nothing if not inappropriate. They made her look like a common thief (which again, she probably was).


I got up quietly, so as not to wake her. Wouldn’t do to have her know that I was up, and feeling most healthy once more. She’d have me off again to her prison in an instant. Better to at least lay eyes upon Cecily, before I was incarcerated again. My beautiful wife must have been in tremendous fear.


I tried the door, and practically yelled my offence when I found that it was locked.


“What the?!” The pirate woman had woken with a start, and was now sitting upright in her chair. The sudden noise had left her looking bewildered, and gazed around herself without clarity for a moment or two, before setting her gaze on me, “William, what are you-“


“Don’t presume to address me, pirate!” I snapped, offended more so by her assumed familiarity. She looked startled for a moment, and then rose from her chair as if remembering herself. She straightened her back, her expression haughty.


“You’re out of bed, I see.” She said, looking me over.


“I am.” I affirmed, with a slightly menacing look. I felt suddenly like I was a threat again. Outside of this room she was a captain with men at her command, but inside of this room she was just a woman. Just a little woman in pantaloons. “You want to give me the key to this door, or am I going to have to take it?”


It seemed necessary to give voice to my physical menace, since the moment we were back out of this room I would be overpowered by the sheer force of her men once more. But right now I had the upper hand, and I felt that I wanted her to know it.


Infuriatingly, she produced a chuckle. “Come now,” she said, “We were getting along so nicely last night. Don’t make me regret keeping you from the brig, William Arlington.”


“I warned you not to address me, Madam.”


“’Lizbeth, you alright in there?” The voice came through the doorway, and the pirate woman roused a smile.


“I’m fine, Alexander. I have everything under control.”


“Under control?” I repeated, outraged. “You have no such jurisdiction, miss. Are you so deluded by your captaincy that you think I could not overpower you if I chose? Why, I could slice you very throat, here and now.”


The pirate – Elizabeth – did nothing other than smile more widely. “My my,” she said, shaking her head, “He talks more and more like a pirate every day!”


“Why you-” I started towards her, but she reached for a sword mounted over her bed, and held me off immediately. The tip of the sword rested on my jugular, and she looked at me with dark and dangerous eyes.


“I see no reason why I should not rid myself of a problem this instant.” She continued to glare at me, and I glared right back. “When will you learn to accept my help graciously and just behave?”


I took a slow step back, and she kept her sword tip steadily where my throat had been. Her arm did not quake, and neither did her gaze. “I am not an irrational woman, William, but you are beginning to test my patience.” With that, she snatched the sword back, and the blade dropped, just missing my bare feet by an inch. She sheathed the weapon, but kept it at her side.


“You are not leaving this room.” She announced, heading herself for the door and nodding back towards her bed. “You may sleep, sit or pace. You may not leave, and you may not threaten me again. You seem to think that you have the moral high ground, Mr Arlington, but I am the one with a sword to my disposal, and a crew of men just waiting to hear the word. Think about that, if you will.”


I watched her unlock the door and leave. Then I heard the door lock again from the other side.


*


It was a whole day before she came back again. She unlocked the door, and looked at me distastefully. I was glad to displease her, so I made myself even more comfortable against the pillows of her bed. I hadn’t bothered to remove my boots, and it was quite obvious that I had investigated her room during her absence. I gave her a smug smile and she narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.


She went to the chair that I had seen her sleep in the night before, and she sat down without a word. My Coat was still over the back of it, and she didn’t move it. Just sank back against it and closed her eyes.


I felt enraged by her dismissal. Would she not even reprimand me for my overtaking of her room? What was the point of it all if it did not glean a reaction?


“Ahem,” I coughed, kicking my boots out across her red sheets. She did not even open an eye. “Elizabeth- is it?”


Her eyes snapped open, and she fixed me with a steely glare. “William, it’s been a long day.”


I sat up into a more domineering position. “For me also.” I decided to tell her. “I wonder if I might enquire about the well being of my wife?”


The pirate woman seemed to pale slightly at that, and for a moment I felt my heart catch. Was Cecily not alright? “What’s wrong?” I demanded, but she just shook her head.


“She’s fine.” The pirate said, eyes dark. “More than fine. She’s been behaving herself since the start, and she has her own lodgings now. You could be with her too, if you weren’t such a menace.” She gave a smirk with that. It made me prickle.


“You have no right to keep me from her.”


“I am keeping you from no one. She is welcome to come and see you whenever she might choose. She simply has not chosen to.” Elizabeth looked too satisfied with this information, “An interesting relationship, you have.”


I felt my hot temper flare up, and suddenly I was standing. “You have no right to demean the relationship that I have with my wife. Captain or not, I won’t have you talking down at me.”


Elizabeth chuckled. She had not even risen from her seat. “Pipe down,” she said, “You’ll have Xander out here again. He’s desperate for a reason to have you taken back down to the brig.”


I sat down slowly. “I want to be allowed more than just a room to roam.” I said, voice harder than it felt. “I’m going crazy. First the brig, and now here.”


“Well, you’d be more than welcome to help my men about the ship.”


I felt the offence materialize on my face. “Not a chance,” I said, “Not helping out on a pirate ship.”


Elizabeth grimaced, “Then you will stay here until we reach dry land.”


I grunted. “You intend to keep me in your bedroom for the next month?” For some reason, the pirate woman flushed deeply at this. “I’d sooner be with Cecily.”


A look crossed her face. “No.” Elizabeth’s voice was firm now. She sat back in her chair and shut her eyes. “Go to sleep.” She commanded, closing herself up for the night. I stared at her: watched her fall asleep.


It was a long time before I was able to do the same.


*


The next morning I felt as if I had outwitted her at last. I offered her a duel, and like I imagined any pirate would, she was unable to forgo her pride and refuse me. Instead, she seemed invigorated by the idea, and I hid a secret grin, thinking of how I would take her down and pierce her throat with my sword. She stood no chance, despite the firm arm I knew her to possess.


“Buffy, you sure about this?” I heard the one called Alexander ask in a hushed voice. The pirate woman just raised a smile.


“Of course.” She said. “It’s not like I haven’t been fighting for years. It’s a fair enough fight. If he wins, he may take up lodgings with his wife. If I win, he will remain with me for yet another night.”


Alexander sent me a dark look, as if he thought to threaten me with his eyes. I wasn’t intimidated by it. I grasped my returned weapon, and strode over to the short, blonde pirate.


“I’m ready.” I said, “Where is Cecily?”


As if on cue, my beautiful wife emerged from within one of the cabins. She wore a new dress of shimmering emerald, and I laid eyes on her with surprise.


“It’s one of mine.” The pirate said from beside me with a sly smile. I felt the red tendrils of rage tickle me as I glared down at her. “Oh, relax.” She said, shaking her head. “It’ll only be a month before she’s back in her own clothes again. Honestly, I’ve never seen a man make such fusses over everything. It’s embarrassing.”


“Having my wife clothed in the rags of a pirate is embarrassing.” I countered, though I could see that she was not affected by my words.


“Come on.” She said, leading me into the center of the vast deck. Her men rallied round us in a circle, and Cecily took up residence at the head of the ship. She looked at me with strange eyes, and I couldn’t help the sudden increase in my desire to win, if only for the reclamation of my wife.


The pirate and I circled each other, weapons sheathed, and then someone let out the commencing cry, and we were launched like bullets.


She attacked first, coming down hard upon me with an overhead slicing motion, which I blocked instantaneously. “Nice.” She murmured, and I brought my weapon ‘round with a smack into a block at her side. She laughed, picking up spirit. Then we were dancing.


It was unlike anything I’d experience during my military training. She wasn’t quite the mindless machine we’d been taught to survive against, although she held the impressive level of skill that one might expect from such a monster. There was something different in her fight though, and that was her joy. She sparkled as she fought me with all her might, and joy lifted her lips into a smile as she blocked my offensive and I blocked hers.


It went on, and the men cheered louder with every exchange.


“You’re marvelous!” The young pirate called out to me as I blocked her ferocious slash once more, and she managed just barely to keep a hold of her weapon.


I couldn’t help the laugh that tore out of me, though an instant guilt tripped me, and my eyes went to Cecily at the head of the ship. It was enough of an opening for the pirate, and she got her foot behind me, causing me to fall back against the deck. She stomped a heavy, boot-clad foot down on top of my wrist, and I felt the sword drop out of my grip and clatter down beside me. She grinned viciously then, leaning down to rest the tip of her sword on my Adam’s apple, she raised twin brows. I swallowed.


This was it, I supposed. She had me in a fair fight, and there were plenty of witnesses to confirm it. I was done for.


But then she laughed, drawing her weapon back and pushing it into the sheath at her waist. She reached down and took my hand. “Quite the fight.” She said, pulling me up again with minimal effort. “I should think that my men would have a lot to learn from you.”


Chapter End Notes:
Thank you again for taking the time to read this chapter.



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