Ahoy, ahoy, and ahoy some more me mates! Ready for another chapter? Well, if you ain't, then just don't read ahead, savvy? Haha. And now, for you specifically - Yes, You POF! - I give you...
Not As They Seem
Luckie had decided to take the pair in after hearing their story. She was a nice woman, and kind, with her bakery open most of the time for those pirates with a sweet tooth. Every once in a while, a poor soul would come into the store without anything to spare, and so thin that he would look like a servant of Jolly Roger. Luckie would grant them some food free of charge, without thought, and send him on his way. In this way, she mostly avoided raids and thieves in her shop.
Her features were delicate, almost like a creature from fairy tales Sarah had loved as a small girl. Dots freckled across her pale face, a sharp contrast to her dark green hair. She was shorter than the both of them, not looking as if she belonged to the ragtag town of Tortuga. Some things are not as they seem though.
They had only been there a few days when a random riot broke out just outside of Luckie’s shop. A man smashed through the door while she stood there, slicing up a fresh loaf of bread. Sarah and Charles had been in the back kneading some dough for her when they heard the crash. They burst from the back to see the man creeping towards Luckie with a worn, yet still useful, cutlass. Charles began to pull his pistol, but Luckie beat him to it, taking the breadknife and flinging it at the intruder. It embedded in the wall next to his head, and the man fled back to the riot. Luckie’s apron fluttered angrily as she moved to close the door.
“An’ Stay out, ye rabid pack o’ jack wagons!” she shouted, before slamming the door. She eyed the knife sticking out of the wall and tsked. “Another hole…” she muttered before pulling it out of the wall. It was then that she noticed Charles and Sarah standing there, mouths agape. She laughed, a tinkling, bell-like sound. “Ye two think I’m ‘ere and don’ know how ta defend meself?” She laughed again. “Come in the back with me, mates. We’ll talk.”
Luckie began kneading the bread the other two had left in their haste. “Ye two can’ believe tha’ I’m in Tortuga ‘cause I wan’ ta be, do ye?” She let out a short, barking laugh this time, with a bitter edge to it. “Nay, tha’ ain’t the case at all.” She sighed and gave the dough a rather vicious hit. “I’m from Ireland, ye probably assumed tha’. I didn’ jus’ come ‘ere ‘cause o’ the fresh blue waters.” Her kneading began going slower and slower as she delved back into the past. “There was a lass… annoyin’ like the devil, she was. Always passed by me house with a sneer an’ insults, even when I tried to be polite. More than once, she practically forced herself into me home to ‘talk’, and I’d find things missin’ later. Ah, how I hated the woman, bu’ no other soul would believe me when I said she was bad. Nay, perfectly glorious was she.
“There finally came a time when me husband walked in to tell me tha’ I had been accused of witchcraft. Apparently, dyin’ me hair in honor o’ St. Patrick didn’ fade quite fast enough. Unnerved people, it did… or a’ leas’ one. Well, before I fled onto a ship headed ‘ere, I stopped by a lil’ cottage with a small flame…” There was a slightly sinister look in her brown eyes. “Bettie go’ her due.”
She seemed to come back from her past then. “Anyway, I ended payin’ for me passage ‘ere by cookin’. When we arrived, it was jus’ the nex’ step for me to open a shop. I’ve learned from experience ‘ere, though, tha’ ye go’ to expect anything, so I quickly learned me way ‘round a blade, and me kitchen knives are useful a lo’ o’ the time as well.” She grinned. “As ye saw. I dabble in a lil’ voodoo as well – I suppose Bettie had a poin’ on tha’ aspect – bu’ nothin’ major.
“Now, ye two,” she said, finishing her beating of the dough and wiping her hands on her apron. “Ye go’ ta learn how ta defend yerselves, aye? We’ll find ye a pair o’ blades and begin learnin’. I know of yer sister, and if yer goin’ to keep up with her, ye’ll need to know yer way around the cutlass. To be hones’, I admire her a lil’; she’s taken ‘er place in the Caribbean withou’ backin’ down.”
Sarah gave a wan smile. “That sounds like Katherine,” she said softly. So their training began.
Luckie obtained a pair of old cutlasses – how, she didn’t tell them – and began teaching them in the ways of the blade. The training was long, tedious, and difficult, with the pair constantly leaving with bruises and small cuts.
When Charles’ hand first wrapped around the handle, he scoffed. “Please, it can’t be that difficult,” he said smugly. He swung it around clumsily, but to him, it appeared fluid and quick.
Luckie grinned. “Try an’ attack me then, lad,” she challenged, raising her own sword. Charles rolled his eyes and tried to charge her, his blade swinging wildly. She sidestepped him, and Charles nearly ran into a wall. He looked around confused for a second before trying again. Luckie met her blade with his this time, parrying it easily. He tried to strike her again and again, but no hit ever came close. Sweat began pouring down his face with the effort, but Luckie just smiled unperturbedly. Suddenly, she switched to offensive, surprising Charles. In just a few quick moves, he found his sword ripped from his hand as he lay on his back, with the tip of Luckie’s sword at his neck.
Luckie burst out laughing and took her blade away from him. “Tha’ was fun! It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good sword figh’!” A sparkle came to her eye. “Unfortunately, mate, tha’ ain’ ye.” She laughed again and held out her hand to haul Charles to his feet. He was properly sheepish now while he listened to Luckie teach them.
After a few weeks, when they had begun honing their new cutlass skills, Luckie introduced them to a small, straw doll. “C’mere, mates, I wan’ ye ta see this,” she said. “Ye know wha’ this is?” she asked, holding up the doll proudly.
Charles and Sarah looked at each other in confusion. “Um… a teeny tiny person that holds your sanity and sense?” Charles offered.
Luckie rolled her eyes at the crack. “Nay, Mr. Crestshot,” she said with only slight annoyance. “’Tis a voodoo doll! C’mon mates, take it an’ jus’ tell me wha’ ye feel.” She handed it to Charles first, who held it for all of 30 seconds before handing it back.
“Nothing here,” he said, shrugging, and Luckie just rolled her eyes again as she handed it to Sarah. She held it delicately, feeling the rough edges of the straw and how brittle it was. There was a tangy, yet earthy smell to it. She turned it around in her hands gently, seeing the age it had, with a smear of dirt here, and the frayed string that held the body together and the arms out. On the next turn around, she noticed something that hadn’t been there before; a face looked as if it were etched into the head. She brought the doll closer to her face.
Charles began leaning over her to look. “What are you loo-”He was cut off by an invisible force pushing him backwards, making him stumble. Sarah’s blue orbs widened in surprise at her brother.
Luckie’s brow furrowed. “Lemme see tha’…” she murmured, and began moving to grab the doll. There was a soft clanging sound, and Luckie was pushed back as well. The three looked at each other in surprise for a few moments, until Sarah looked back at the doll. It’s small face seemed to be smiling up at her, a feature that had not been there before.
Luckie’s shocked face looked at the young woman carefully. “The voodoo is in ye, Sarah,” she said softly. Sarah looked scared, glancing from Charles to Luckie, and she clutched the straw doll tightly in her hands.
If you mates didn't know, each of my in-game characters have their specialties.
Thanks again to Luckie for letting me use her name!
Well mates, tell me what you think! I appreciate reviews, and much thanks for all the ones I've gotten. They warm me little pirate heart when I hear that buzz.
Haha, thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot