[Crestshot]

Hey hey mates! Just want to give a slightly late (for her time at least) birthday shoutout to me mate angel 4ever here on the forums before we start this chapter! Happy birthday, mate! This one is for you!

Trapped



Light slowly slipped between Kat’s eyelids. She felt soft fabric beneath her hands, and she hummed contently as she lightly moved her fingers across it. Her hair was spread oddly across something fluffy underneath her head. She felt as if she was floating on a cloud.

Then reality kicked in.

Her head pounded worse than the worst rum hangover. Her back had a sharp pain in the very center. Most prominent was the red hot sting of her left side. Kat hissed in pain as feeling rushed to her.

“You’re up?” The voice entered her ears as an unrecognizable echo. Her gaze begun to open, then shut again quickly. A cool, wet cloth was placed upon her forehead, making her sigh in relief.

She tried opening her eyes again, slower this time. The light gently filtered in, and it became apparent that she was in her cabin. Her gaze travelled slowly around the room, taking it all in, finally landing on her brother sitting in a chair next to her bed.

“What did I miss?” she rasped to him.

He shrugged. “Not much, really. After you passed out, a few soldiers tried to start the fight up again, but their comrades were unwilling. There were maybe twenty of them left. We didn’t kill any more. They took the bodies of their dead, hopped on one of their ships, and left at dawn.”

“Dawn?” Kat asked. How long have I been out?”

Charles smiled at her. “It’s afternoon of the next day. To be honest, I think Sarah put her sleep spell on you so you might actually heal this time.”

Kat rolled her eyes and gently rubbed at the new bandages on her side. “It certainly doesn’t feel like I healed,” she grumbled. Charles chuckled softly at her.

“She probably did it while we were still in the cave. The moment you fell, she rushed right to your side, doing all sorts of funny things with that doll and pushing a potion into your mouth. Right after she finished with that, she yelled at Chris to grab you and carry you back to the ship. Of course, when we got here, Lawrence nearly had a heart attack at the sight of you. I think Sarah locked him out of the cabin, he was so crazed.”

“Yes, well, wouldn’t want the two of you getting in a fist fight over my unconscious body again, would we?” she said, trying to sit up. Charles had the decency to look sheepish.

“Yah, well…” he muttered. “What’s going on between the two of you anyway?” he asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

She shot him a quick glare, but it quickly softened when she realized the innocence of the question. “There’s nothing 'going on' between us, Charles,” she told him.

He raised his eyebrow in a way that Kat herself did far too often. “Are you certain?” he asked again.

Kat smiled lightly at him, but there was a hint of sadness behind her bright eyes. “Yes, Charles, I’m sure.” She put her arms underneath her and tried to push herself up again, but found that she was unable to do so. “Bloody hell… Charles, will you find Sarah and tell her to come here so I can figure out what she did to me?”

Charles smiled a little at her frustration. “Sure thing, Kat.” Before leaving, he knelt by her bedside and kissed her forehead. “Thank you for saving me. I know what it meant,” he whispered, then exited.

Kat stared blankly where Charles had left. She had forgotten about that, to be honest. All she had remembered was her screaming and ranting through the cave, but hadn’t thought back as to why she had been doing so.

Oh god. The Code…

Sarah ran into the room and quickly slammed the door behind her, breaking Kat's train of thought. “Sarah Crestshot, let me see her!” Lawrence’s voice screamed from outside. A banging on the door accompanied his yells.

Sarah glanced at the wide eyed Kat from her place flat against the door. “Oh good, you are awake,” she said.

“Sarah!” Lawrence roared again.

Sarah rolled her eyes and flung the door open. Lawrence almost fell through, but seemed to get pushed out by an invisible barrier. “She’s breathing, she’s alive, she’s awake! You see her? Good!” The words were said lightning fast and she slammed the door in his face immediately afterwards. Kat heard Lawrence curse.

“Lawrence, will you-” she began to shout, but her side protested to the yelling. She grimaced and gripped it. “Will you tell him to shut up and relax? I’m fine,” she whispered through her pain.

Sarah scoffed softly. “Of course you are,” she muttered, but passed the message on.

“How am I supposed to relax when she almost died again!” he yelled through the door.

“Get out of here, Lawrence!” Kat burst, not bothering to acknowledge the pain in her side. She heard some grumbles from the opposite end of the door, but through the window she saw his bright red head disappear down the steps.

Sarah turned back to her. “Hi.”

Kat glared. “Hi,” she said flatly. “Would you mind telling me why I am physically incapable of getting out of this bed?”

Sarah grinned triumphantly at her. “It’s a little something I discovered. You won’t be able to get out of that bed until you are fully healed, or until I release you.”

Kat kept her glare steady. “Then you should really release me.”

“What, and let you bleed out again?” Sarah scoffed. “No. Sit and heal for a little while.”

Kat let out a huff of frustration. “I do have a ship to run, Sarah!”

“You do have a first mate that can do that for you, Katherine,” she retorted in the same tone.

“Yes, one who is half crazed over concern for my health! He’s in no state to do any sort of leading, so give me back my Captaincy!” Her voice got steadily louder over the course of her tirade, and on the last note, her side violently barraged her with new pain. She gasped again, and Sarah looked at her skeptically.

“It certainly looks like you’re fit for duty,” she said in an uncharacteristically sarcastic manner. “Tomorrow, perhaps, but after all you did yesterday, it’s a wonder you didn’t tear your stomach in two. For once, you’ll listen to me and rest.”

Kat slumped back in the bed, knowing the uselessness of arguing with her sister the voodoo mistress. “Can you at least let Lawrence in? I don’t relish the idea of him laying siege to my cabin for the next 24 hours.”

Sarah sighed. “Fine.” She left the cabin and found Lawrence, removing whatever spell she had placed that had barred his entry. Kat spoke with him briefly about how the battle had gone on his end, and how to prepare for shipping off once she was out of bed. When he tried to interrupt with concerns about her health, she reminded him to stay calm and not worry about her. He grumbled in his way, but accepted.

About an hour after he left, and Kat had stopped struggling against her invisible bonds, Kat began thinking. Sarah and Charles in the Caribbean still irked her some. She didn’t like them getting involved in what she saw as her battles. In her opinion, they didn’t belong out of safe England. Death at every turn was not an inviting prospect that she wanted to witness with them. Besides, she knew that the only reason they had come was to find her. Well, now they had, so that meant they could leave, yes? She fell asleep with these thoughts in mind.

Two days later, her ship was bustling with activity again. Her men had gathered all the supplies from Tortuga Town, and they were due to ship off at any moment. For this, Kat was glad. She had somehow become a celebrity in the town. It was an odd sensation, to say the least. She didn’t like going out there much anymore, and had even forced some of the crew to fetch her special batch of rum for her, rather than getting it herself from Johnny McVane.

Kat positioned herself next to the wheel of her ship. “Hoist anchor!” she yelled. The command echoed down to the crewmates on the anchor. “Release sails!” Again the order spread through the crew. “Hoist the colors, mates and let’s set sail!” she called out with a smile. The crew cheered to have their sea legs back and useful again.

They soon left the Tortuga Bay behind them. “Captain, what be our heading?” Tim called from his place on the wheel.

“Set course for England, mates!” Kat yelled out. A few crew members looked at her in confusion. Charles approached her.

“Kat, England? Why would we go there? What’s the point in leaving the Caribbean?” he asked. Sarah stood by his side.

Kat leveled her gaze upon them. “We’re heading for England so I can drop you two off at home. You found me. You succeeded in your journey. Now it’s time for you two to get back to your lives.”

Charles and Sarah looked at her, and then each other, in clear shock. “What do you mean, ‘drop us off at home’?” Sarah asked. “Why can’t we stay with you?”

Kat glared at her sister. “I am not arguing this, Sarah. This is my life, not yours. We’ll get to England in a few weeks, and then you two will stop this insanity that you’ve been on and return to something safe.”

“You think I want to go back to that, Kat?” Charles demanded of her. “You remember what it’s like there! Not a drop of freedom! Not free wind in your hair, or the free sea foam hitting your face, or the ability to wander wherever you please! I’m not going back there and becoming Father’s pawn for his business!”

“Yes you are.”

“No, I am not!” Charles shouted. “I won’t go back to that messed up, insane, miserable life!”

Kat felt her teeth clench. “It’s better than facing death every day, Charles! I won’t see my brother almost die again!” she yelled in his face.

Charles was about to respond with the same amount of fervor, but a barrel next to them suddenly tipped over. A brown, sticky liquid washed onto the deck, but that wasn’t the only thing. Out tumbled a small girl right onto Kat’s feet, wet all along her side from the rum that had been in the barrel. She smacked the deck with a small “Oof!”

Kat’s eyes widened in both anger and shock, and she drew her sword. “Who in the bloody blazes are you?!” she roared. The girl jumped back from her place at Kat’s legs. She lightly shook her head, and drops of rum flew from the tips of her long, dark auburn hair. Her face turned up towards Kat, and she was shocked by the youth in it. “You can’t be any older than 18!”

The girl let out a small grin. “Hi. I’m Angel,” she said nervously.

Kat glowered down at her. “Just because I asked who you are, doesn’t mean that I actually want to know,” she growled. “And you certainly don’t seem like your namesake if you stowed away on my ship. In fact, just the opposite. I think I was searching more along the lines of why are you here?!” She took a small step back and pointed the sword at her. The girl squeaked and scrambled backwards a little in fear.

“I wanted to join you…” she muttered. “After what you did to them Navy blokes, I figured…” She trailed off.

“You figured what?” Kat asked harshly. “That I would just let you aboard my ship? Sorry, only big girls allowed.” She picked the girl up by the collar of her grimy, rum coated shirt, and forced her to the edge of the ship. “Now, jump.”

“What?!” Angel yelped. Kat noticed her begin to tremble.

“You heard me!” she yelled. “Tortuga isn’t that far away! Jump off, swim back to shore! Just get off of my ship!”

The girl’s breathing began to quicken, and she was quite literally trembling in her boots. She took a small step to the edge of the ship, then quickly jumped back, but she only met Kat’s bracing hand. “I can’t!” she screeched.

Kat put the hand on the small of her back and pushed a little forcefully. “Then open your wings and fly, oh Angelic one!”

“Kat,” a voice said calmly from behind her. She turned to see Luckie standing there, looking solidly into her eyes. “Le’ tha lass stay. She’s jus’ a girl. Ye know how Tortuga can be.”

“Yes, that’s exactly why she’s going there and not here, Luckie,” Kat said. She saw the baker’s eyebrows furrow.

“I’ll take her under me wing, Kat,” she said, trying to reason. “I’ll let her be my responsibility.”

Kat stared at Luckie for a moment, then glanced back at the shivering girl, mulling it over. This was certainly an odd occurrence. However, if Luckie was willing…

Kat took the girl by the collar again and twisted her so that she faced the green haired woman. “Alright then. She’s all yours, Luck,” she said, giving the girl a small push in her direction. She practically ran to Luckie and clutched her tight. Kat hmphed and sheathed her sword, then beckoned to Sarah and Charles to follow her. The three disappeared into her cabin.

“Calm down, lil’ lass, calm down,” Luckie said soothingly, stroking the girl’s hair. “You’ll be fine now. I’m Luckie O’Clover.”

“I’m Angel.”

“Nice to meet ye, Angel.”



Happy Birthday Angel!!!!

Haha, I feel like that chapter went perhaps a little quick, but I got what I needed done. So, thank you for the reviews from YESTERDAY'S chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one right after it! Thanks for Reading!

- Kat Crestshot