Pirate Chronicles

"You called for me, sire?" I asked. My heart was pounding and my palms began to sweat. Ramos calling for me was never a good thing. I kept my eyes on my feet in hopes that I would not offend him. 

"Look at me, Angela," he ordered.

I clenched my trembling fists. Did he find out that I was secretly practicing in the training room? What would he do to me?

"I SAID… LOOK AT ME!" he thundered.

I was startled but obeyed. Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes. He gave me a sly grin and took a vial from his pocket. He opened it and took the goblet on the table filled with red wine. He then poured the white powder on it and stirred. 

"Drink," he told me.

My lips trembled. I knew what he was trying to do. Those powders were sleepers. One tear fell from my eye as I remembered the last time he did the same thing. At that time, I was unaware and woke up on his bed not knowing if he did anything with me. This time, he was letting me know and it was more humiliating.

I shook my head, "Please, sire. No."

Ramos walked towards me and held my chin, "You do as I say, you are my slave."

I remembered my sight dimming and before I could fully grasp what was going on, my hand moved quickly as if it was reflex and drew the sword that was on Ramos' waist. Then, I slit him from the navel to his nose in such a swift motion. His blood splattered on my cheeks and that brought me back to reality.

He looked at me with surprised eyes and I screamed.

"AHHHHH!!!"

*****

I quickly sat up as I opened my eyes from that nightmare. I was panting so I did not realize the face that was intently watching me.

"Good morning, Angel," he said.

I looked up to the voice and saw his familiar genuine smile. He tipped his hat. I blinked and tried to remember where I was. Then, it all came back to me. I stowed away.

After escaping from Sandlot, I rode to the docks but was devastated to see that the ship with red, white, and blue sails beginning to depart. I quickly jumped into the water and swam as fast as I could. I was lucky at that time because the ship did not pick up its speed just yet and I was able to board it discreetly and hid myself by the barrels.

"Welcome to Pioneer DES," Jeu told me that brought me back to the present time.

I opened my mouth to respond but instead of words… "ACHOO!!!" I sneezed instead. I sneezed right onto his face!

Jeu closed his eyes and I saw some of my spittle on his cheeks and nose. I widened my eyes. I opened my mouth again to apologize but again instead of words, I sneezed on his face yet again! Not once, but thrice! "ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!" It was unstoppable.

When I was done, I felt my cheeks were hot and I was embarrassed beyond measure. I quickly placed my hand over my mouth. Meanwhile, Jeu opened one of his eyes to look at me.

"Are you done yet?" he asked amusedly as he wiped his face with a scarf he took from one of his pockets.

"I beg your pardon," I quickly muttered, though muffled by the hand on my mouth.

After that, I heard footsteps coming in our direction to look at the commotion. My other hand quickly found my sword and I looked up to see ten men and one woman surround me with their arms crossed. 

"What do we have here?" the woman uncrossed her arms and played with her long braided hair on the sides instead.

"Did she just sneeze at you, Captain," asked one of the men with spiky hair.

Jeu chuckled, "That she did."

"Do you want me to throw her overboard?" the smallest man said.

Jeu smirked and his eyes did not leave mine for even a second, "If she does not fight back, Waldo, you should."

Waldo began to walk towards me but I immediately unsheathed my sword and directed a slash towards the small man. He raised his palm up to catch my blade and I knew I would cut his hand in half if I made contact but I heard the clashing of metal to metal instead. My eyes widened in surprise. Waldo caught my blade barehanded and was looking at me intently.

"Tsk.. tsk.. tsk.. your face does not match how fierce you wield the sword," Waldo told me.

Jeu laughed, "I said the exact same thing."

I tried to free my sword from Waldo's hold but his grasp was immovable. How can a small man be this strong?

"Should I break her sword, Captain?" he asked.

I quickly looked at Jeu and shook my head. He smiled at me sweetly, "That sword does not suit you, Angel," he said then gave Waldo a nod.

Waldo clenched his hand tighter and my sword's blade broke into two. I narrowed my eyes and swiftly caught the other half and attacked Waldo with two blades from my broken sword. He was caught off guard and my blades aimed for his neck. I wasn't doing it on purpose. My body was just trained to move on reflex to assassinate and defend myself.

Then, I saw a flash of movement. Jeu pushed Waldo back and received my blow with the sheath of his sword. We seceded for a moment. Jeu looked at me straight before looking at my bleeding hand which was holding my broken blade. He sighed.

"I like her," the woman said and smirked. I looked at her and she grinned mischievously. "I'm Teresa. What's your name?"

"Angela," I replied without loosening my grip on my blades.

She narrowed her eyes playfully and looked at Jeu, "Angel, huh?" Teresa looked back at me, "As I said before, I like her… such an irony… very poetic even… we found ourselves a fallen angel."

"I am not an angel. I am an assassin," I said warningly.

Teresa snickered, "You're an assassin?" she said and chuckled. She looked at all of the men and repeated, "she's an assassin, everyone," she announced with sarcasm dripping in every word. My forehead creased as I looked at all of them.

Some of them smirked. Some chuckled while others raised their eyebrows. However, they were all unfazed. I looked back at Teresa who smirked at me while playing with her long braided hair once again. "Assassins do not scare us, Angel," she paused and looked at me amused before continuing, "... After all, ALL of us here walked the same path before."

I tightened my grip on my sword some more. What have I gotten myself into? They were all former assassins?! I looked at Jeu. He smiled at me yet again.