Ok, next chapter. Why do I always post these at like, midnight? Urgh. Oh well. Quick warning about this chapter: Kat actually fights in it, and there's mentions of blood and what not. I'm just throwing that out there so you know and so that I don't get in trouble later.
Also, thank you for the reviews for
Her Dance. I really, truly appreciate it. Seriously, you guys have no idea. And yes, Amelia, Lawrence is a bit clueless, but, you know, he has his reasons....kinda....
Anyway, onward we go!
Her New Morning
“Throw her in the brig!” he commanded in a harsh voice. His eyes looked cold, and strong hands grasped her arms, dragging her across the deck of the ship.
“No, sweetheart, I swear I didn’t! I would never…I, I couldn’t!” Katherine struggled viciously against her captors, yelling out to her husband. They only held her tighter, not caring about the fact that she was female. That only made them fiercer towards her.
“You think I can believe you?!” her husband thundered. “You are nothing but a stupid, stupid woman! I should have never brought you aboard this ship!” His voice quieted with his next line. “The men were right. A woman on a ship is bad luck.” With that the men dragged a struggling, crying Katherine across the deck and into the dark, dank brig of the ship…
Kat sat up quickly in bed, breathing heavily. Her eyes looked around frantically, and she relaxed a bit when she saw the drawers and desk of her room in the Royal Anchor from the gentle sunlight coming through the window. She fell backwards in the bed with a sigh, trying to get her breathing under control. Her eyes blinked rapidly, as if trying to determine whether the image of the ceiling would suddenly change into the darkness of the brig. When her mind seemed to straighten out, she sat up again and swung out of the bed.
She glanced out the window towards the town. The sun had risen just over the mountains. Kat decided it was time to get up and out. She remembered Sam Seabones’ warning about Tia Dalma leaving soon, so she grabbed her cutlass and clipped it on, and put on her coat, slipping the gold and the chest into the inside pockets again. She put her boots on and went down the stairs to the bar of the Royal Anchor.
Josie was down there, cleaning behind the bar and seemingly getting ready for the day. She noticed Kat walk through the door that leads to the rooms. “Morning Kat,” she said cheerily. “Sleep alright?”
“Yes,” Kat muttered, rubbing at her eyes. Josie noted the light bags under Kat’s eyes, but decided not to mention it. The girl had enough on her mind it seemed. She went over to the coffeepot on the stove and poured a cup for Kat. The young woman sat down heavily at a bench at the bar and graciously accepted the cup of coffee Josie placed in front of her.
Kat glanced at it and picked it up. “Thanks Josie,” she said, taking a sip of the warm brew. Even though she wasn’t much of a coffee drinker- not black anyway- Josie had one of the best coffees she had ever tasted. It made her feel revitalized. She took another sip before saying, “I have things today.”
Josie looked at her in surprise. “Things to do? But you just got here.”
“Um, yes,” Kat responded nervously. “Well, you know, Sam Seabones over at the dock asked a favor of me. Asked me to kill some skeletons.” She didn’t want to reveal to Josie that there was more to it than that. Kat trusted her, but didn’t want to reveal she was going to see Tia Dalma. Something told her that the news wouldn’t be greatly welcomed.
Josie wasn’t too happy with the news of the skeletons either. “That Seabones, always trying to do things he’s perfectly capable of doing himself.” She sighed. “Just be careful, alright? Those skeletons are nasty when provoked.” Josie wasn’t really certain about Kat going and doing favors for Sam, especially defeating skeletons, but she knew he paid well for so little work. He really wanted those pesky skeletons gone, and he recruited all the help he could from newcomers at the dock, hoping that it would bring more people to the fight for the Caribbean.
Kat saw the conflict and Josie’s eyes and nodded her consent. “Don’t worry Josie, I’ll always be careful.” The two sat in silence for a little while, Josie making her bar ready for patrons and Kat sipping her coffee, until Kat decided it was finally time to leave. She gave Josie back the empty coffee cup and bid her goodbye, leaving out the front door with her cutlass at her side.
She walked through the town and back to the place Sam Seabones had pointed her to when she had arrived yesterday. She crept through an archway into a small graveyard. What she saw there chilled her to her very alive bones.
There were skeletons there, at least ten, and probably more, just standing there or digging through the ground with their bony claws. They were just out in the open, apparently not caring who saw them. It seemed Jolly Roger wasn’t exactly keen on the secrecy of his presence.
She slowly snuck towards the one closest to her. When she was only a few feet away, she drew her cutlass, ready to strike. The skeleton heard her, though it didn’t appear to have any ears. It drew a small dagger and lurched toward her, shouting “Trespasser!”
Kat threw herself to the side, avoiding the dirty, pointy piece of metal. She took only a second to try and get herself together, remembering what the man in the warehouse had told her. Her eyes narrowed in determination as she hacked the skeleton, then coming across its middle with a slash. She gathered her energy and swept through it in a huge arc. The skeleton fell to the ground and disappeared in a green glow, its soul freed from the clutches of Jolly Roger.
Kat watched the disappearance of the skeleton with disbelief. Had she really just done that? The skeleton wasn’t technically alive, but…she had killed it. Destroyed it. She looked at the cutlass in her hand. This was her life now. Now, it truly occurred to her that she definitely wasn’t in the tea parties and formal balls of high class England anymore. It was time to fight for her place in this world. She had to make this world her own. Her eyes hardened. She grasped the handle of the cutlass so hard her knuckles turned white. Her hazel eyes turned upwards, away from the cutlass towards the next skeleton.
Without warning, she charged at it, not giving it a single chance to fight back. It was down before it had even raised its tiny dagger. She went onto the next one, and the next one, getting each skeleton she saw in the graveyard, knocking them down and freeing them from Jolly Roger’s clutches. When she finished, she was breathing heavily and her eyes softened once again, but not all the way back to where they had been. With the annihilation of all of these skeletons, she had changed. She sheathed her cutlass and walked through the tunnel made from a tree, just like Sam Seabones had told her to do.
She came out the other side of the path and came face to face with a woman with red and orange streaks in her hair, earthy clothes, and a piercing look. Kat stopped dead in her tracks at the sight. The woman seemed to be waiting for her. “Tia Dalma?” Kat asked hesitantly.
“Aye,” said the woman. “And you are Kat Crestshot, formerly Katherine Randolph, no?” Tia Dalma gave her a small smile that held the hint of more knowledge than the woman was letting on. To say that Kat was creeped out would be an understatement. The woman knew more about her than Josie and Lawrence combined, the only two people she had really interacted with in her time here. There was something about the woman that rubbed Kat the wrong way, but she ignored it as the woman swept towards a pair of tree stumps, picking up some crab claws as she sat down on the smaller stump.
Tia Dalma shook the claws in her hand, throwing them down on the larger stump. She observed them for a moment before speaking to Kat again. “The claws lie true. There is a touch of destiny in you.”
Destiny? There was no such thing as destiny. Such a thing was only created by fools who wanted to believe that the things that went on in their small lives actually meant something. It was something that was created to make people believe that there was no other way, and that you could not escape the inevitable. Kat did not believe in destiny.
This woman though, this Tia Dalma…she had a way of speaking that swayed Kat a little from this steadfast opinion. It made Kat think that perhaps there was more than this. Was there a touch of destiny in her? No, Kat thought.
There is no such thing as destiny. She turned back into what Tia Dalma was saying, shaking destiny from her mind.
She spoke, just like all the other odd people she had encountered, of Jolly Roger’s army. However, a new threat was brought to her attention as Tia Dalma went into an odd trance, bringing images from her hands as she spoke to Kat. She spoke of the Black Guard, the henchmen of Lord Cutler Beckett and the EITC. The powers of both parties were growing, and growing immensely from the shuddering way Tia Dalma spoke of them.
Then Tia got up, walking toward her in a non-threatening manner, but Kat still backed up a bit. She spoke more of the part Kat must play in helping Jack Sparrow recover the Black Pearl. Kat wondered if the voodoo woman meant more of destiny
Tia Dalma granted Kat with a gift: a small, worn compass. She was told that it would help her find the way. Kat wasn’t entirely sure on that point; the compass wasn’t even pointing north. It was pointing toward the tunnel entrance. Before Kat could investigate the compass further, Tia Dalma spoke once more about destiny, about it whispering, before ordering Kat to leave.
Kat turned and fled the presence of the voodoo mistress. As…interesting as she found Tia Dalma, there was an eeriness to her that disturbed Kat. She shuddered a bit as she exited the tree tunnel.
Clearing her thoughts of the mysterious mystic, Kat glanced down at the compass she still held. Odd, the arrow had changed direction. Now it was pointing towards the governor’s mansion, and staying steady. This is no ordinary broken compass, Kat thought, following where the arrow was pointing. She went back through the archway of the graveyard and up to the entryway of the mansion lawn. The compass pointed her in the direction of a Navy Cadet (that is, if she remembered her ranks correctly).
At the sight of the military uniform, Kat felt something in her chest tighten. Her teeth clenched together, her eyes narrowed, and she felt her cutlass heavy at her side. Almost on instinct, she drew it, as if only lightening the weight from her belt, but she clutched it in an offensive direction. Without looking, she slipped the compass into her coat and began walking towards the Cadet.
The Cadet turned around and saw Kat standing there with her sword drawn. “A pirate!” he cried, placing his bayonet in the offensive fighting position. He didn’t get far before Kat struck, her cutlass swinging down onto his shoulder. Kat swung her sword once more into his stomach, and he fell to the ground. While he was falling, a small, formal looking sheet of paper fell out of his jacket onto the grass.
Kat drew her sword away from the dying man lying on the ground. Her expression suddenly changed, becoming softer, much like it had earlier after she had destroyed the skeleton. However, the expression changed to one of horror as she noticed the blood on her sword. Her mouth agape, she stared at the boy on the ground, his eyes open in death. Shakily, Kat knelt down on her knees and closed his eyes.
She brought a trembling hand to her temple, trying to massage away the headache that had just started pounding on her brain. Her own eyes closed, blocking out the light of this horrible day.
When they opened again, her eyes fell upon the piece of paper that had fallen out of the Cadet’s uniform. Her fingers still shaking, she picked it up and opened it. At the top of the page, she noticed the title “Black Pearl Release Orders.” That was all she needed to see. She folded the orders back up and put them in one of her many coat pockets.
She pulled the compass out of a different pocket, seeing what direction she had to go now. It pointed her up the hill towards the front doors of the mansion. She sheathed her sword and tried to avoid any more conflicts with Cadets as she snuck up towards the doors. As she walked in, she encountered a woman in a fine dress, not unlike the ones she used to wear in England. She assumed this was the governor’s daughter. Just as she was about to turn around and run back out the doors, the girl turned around and spotted her.
Kat felt herself freeze as she felt the governor’s daughter’s eyes on her, sizing her up. She grinned a little. “So, you’re Jack Sparrow’s newest protégé, hmm?” Kat couldn’t respond. She was in shock. The governor’s daughter was in league with the pirates? What a world this Caribbean was, where everybody had a little bit of a difference in them than they appeared.
The daughter spoke of the trouble Jack was in, and more warnings of Jolly Roger and Lord Beckett. She also said that Jack would need Kat’s help with recovering the Black Pearl. At this point, Kat remembered the sheet of paper hidden inside of her coat. She pulled it out and handed it to the fine lady. She took it with a small gasp of shock. “Release orders for the Pearl?” she asked, apparently astounded. “I can see why Jack has taken a liking to you!”
Yes, he had taken a liking to her because she was ruthless, willing to kill in cold blood. He had taken a liking to her because she had nothing left, and would take anything to giver he life meaning. He had taken a liking to her because she was a pretty face that had been abandoned, and he had taken advantage of her vulnerability. That was the only reason he had taken a liking to her.
The daughter handed her back the orders with the governor’s seal decorating the edge. She warned her not to get caught with them, or else the Navy would give her no trial, so she should make to Tortuga, the pirate town. Kat nodded her consent, understanding the “without trial” part completely. The daughter wished she could follow, but was awaiting the return of the governor. Kat found it odd how the girl apparently lived two lives: one, the life of the good daughter, the fine lady, raised in the upper class ways; the other, that of a pirate, a sneaky one at that, granting people what they needed to make their way through the Caribbean, and she seemed to have a soft spot for Jack Sparrow. Before she could question the daughter on it, Kat was told to leave quickly, and that a boat would be arranged for her at Darby Drydock’s.
Kat rushed back through the front doors of the mansion, avoiding the military uniforms, afraid of another confontation. With all of her things placed safely in her pockets, she made her way quickly back to the Royal Anchor and Josie McReedy. She burst through the front doors of the tavern, breathing heavily, much to the shock of Josie. She came from her perch behind the bar to Kat’s side.
“Kat, you look like you’ve just been chased by the ghost of Captain Blackbeard himself!” she cried out. “What in the name of mother and child happened? The skeletons didn’t get you, did they?” Josie sounded worried, as if she was a mother hen watching after her young chickadee that had just wandered out of the nest. She leaned over Kat and brought her over to a stool at the bar, trying to get her to sit down, but Kat wouldn’t have any of that.
“I don’t have time Josie,” she told the barkeep quickly. “I have to get out of here, and soon. There’s a boat waiting for me at the docks that I have to catch.” Kat took Josie’s hand and gripped it tightly. “Thank you so much Josie, for everything,” Kat reached into an inside pocket of her jacket and grabbed a few coins, throwing them on the counter. “It’s not enough for what you’ve done for me, and Lawrence said you wouldn’t take payment, but I refuse to take it back,” she told her.
Josie looked down at the coins on the bar. Kat truly was something else. If she was trying to be a pirate, she was going about it the wrong way. All the pirates she had met did anything they could to take what they could for the least amount. Josie picked up the coins and tried putting them back into Kat’s hand. “Kat, I can’t-”
“Josie, I don’t have time,” Kat said impatiently, keeping her fists tightly closed off from the coins. “I have to go now.” With that, Kat gave her hand a small squeeze and ran towards the front doors almost as fast as she had appeared.
"Be careful!" Josie cried out to the woman before she could exit the tavern.
Kat turned back towards Josie with a grin on her face. "I promise Josie, I always will be." Kat turned away, shouting a quick "Goodbye!" as she left.
“Goodbye,” Josie said quietly, even though Kat wasn’t there to hear it. She clutched the coins in her hand tightly. Yes, that Kat Crestshot was something else.
So, you know, kind of working with the game story here, but I tried adding my own little twist. Again, not the most exciting chapter, but I promise you it will come! I have my own little (big) outline that I'm trying (kinda) to follow, but the whole creativity thing gets in the way, you know....
Haha, next chapter is going to be a bit of the same, with the whole game story going, but I'm gonna try and get as far as possible with that part of the story there in the next chapter so we can get into the whole meat and beans originality nonsense. Again, I'll try and post once a week, but I have tests and Heck Week for theater coming up soon (if you're in theater, you know what I mean) and........yah. Don't be afraid to review! Good, bad, never want me to write again, just make it along the lines of the whole "Constructive Criticism" thing. Thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot