#yaaaaahhhhh

A strong wave cut into the ship and she was flung starboard, her sea legs failing her while her brain turned over and over on itself again because… she swallowed as she pushed herself into a standing. All of these men, the brothers she had got to know while working as part of the crew, she doomed them all.

She doomed them all.

“Whumpee?” Whumpee’s head snapped in the direction of the door. She didn’t hear it open in the storm. Caretaker stood in the doorway, his crystal eyes wide as he took her in. She wanted nothing more than to run into his arms and let him hold her while she apologised for bringing this storm upon them. “Whumpee… what are you doing down here?”

“This storm,” Whumpee said with bright eyes and a startled gasp. “It’s—” she grabbed her chest, the bandages suddenly too tight as a searing ache cut through her chest. She longed to cut through the blasted things and breathe properly for the first — and possibly the last time. “Oh gods. I did this… I brought this storm upon us.”

“What’re you talking about?” Caretaker demanded. “Whumpee, no man can control the weather nor the seas.”

Oh, she wanted to reply, oh that was true. No man could influence anything on something as tumultuous as the sea except a woman with her iron will, and her wiles that the skies and storms like to punish for daring to venture too far away from the life of parasols and proposals.

“I did—” Whumpee said, her inhales becoming more frantic and then another jostle of the ship and she was thrown forwards this time. Caretaker caught her, hands on her shoulders and pushed her to her standing, shaking her slightly.

“Whumpee! Now is not the time to lose your steadfastness. Trust the captain, trust me, have we ever steered this ship wrong?”

Whumpee’s chest loosened slightly. “No,” she said, looking up at him from below the rim of her hat.

Caretaker beamed his handsome smile down at her that made her heart quicken for an entirely different reason than panic. Something sweeter, something her sister Anne talked about when she started to court her future husband.

“Keep your balance low in your hips, drop your weight to your feet. Keep your eyes steady on the horizon and we’ll survive this.”

“Yes sir,” Whumpee said with a smile and a salute.

“Good,” Caretaker beamed. “Now, Captain said we have to—”

“PIRATES!”

Their expressions wiped clean from their faces, mirroring the horror on the other’s face. Caretaker frowned. “Pirates in a storm… that… it doesn’t—” he trailed off and then his head snapped up, eyes focused on Whumpee’s. “The Black Dread.”

Whumpee lurched forward when Caretaker turned and bolted up the stairs to the deck. “The what?!” She cried after him. She only barely caught herself on the door frame when the next wave struck the hull but then she smelled the gunpowder in the air and she blanched. She sprinted up the stairs after Caretaker and onto the chaos of the surface.

Winds howled, pulling at her hat and clothes, carrying the screams and orders barked around the ship but Whumpee wasn’t looking for an order to follow she was searching the sea with her sharp gaze. She didn’t see any sign of pirates.

Her eyes found Caretaker’s distinctive first mate jacket and took off after him over the deck, ignoring the shouts from her fellow crew mates to help tie the sails and secure the masts and life lines. She didn’t have a life line, either did Caretaker.

She didn’t think as she raced after him, up to the quarterdeck. He was speaking frantically, gesturing to the captain who had taken control of the helm. Captain’s eyes widened at Caretaker’s words that Whumpee couldn’t hear. A bang to the stern and Whumpee whirled on her feet.

It was hard to see in the mist and the fog, but she could’ve sworn she saw a glimmer of clear weather behind them. In the opposite direction than what they were sailing.

She ran up to the helm and interrupted their conversation. “Captain! We have to turn around!”

Both men’s heads snapped down to Whumpee.

“Who do you think you are, boy?!” Captain gruffed. Caretaker caught Whumpee’s gaze over the Captain’s shoulder and shook his head in warning.

“Please, Cap’n. I saw a ray of sun towards the stern, sir. If we turn around now we can outrun the storm and not—” another blow jostled the ship, but it didn’t stop after the wave struck. The sound of screams and creaking wood behind her drew Whumpee’s gaze.

The main mast creaked and groaned, threatening to split in half and fall onto the deck. “CLEAR THE DECK!” Captain ordered frantically. “All hands to the quarterdeck now!”

“Captain, it’s the dread—”

“Aye, I know who the blasted devil is,” Captain snapped. His steel gaze found Whumpee’s. He started to furiously turn the ship around until they were 180 degrees and sailing with the wind. “But soiling our britches won’t solve any of our problems, Caretaker, will they?” He gruffed.

Caretaker nodded resolute, his eyes slid behind Whumpee, then to Whumpee directly before he took off. “Whumpee,” Caretaker commanded. “With me. We’ll loose the sails.”

“You better be right, Whumpee.” Captain said as they turned and disappeared down the stairs, running through the throng of sailors and crewmen who were ascending the stairs. “By the Gods, Whumpee” Captain grimaced. “You better be right.”

A strong hand, big enough to encase Whumpee’s upper arm stopped her in her tracks. Whumpee’s eyes went to the owner. It was Struman, her bunk mate, his eyes hard. “Where’re ya going? Cap’n said to—”

Caretaker was at the bottom of the stairs and climbing the ladders to the sails. “We have to unfurl the sails, we’re sailing out of this storm. Caretaker’s orders.”

Struman nodded stiffly. He released Whumpee’s arm and gestured for three other crew men to follow him while the rest retreated to safety. Whumpee ran to the main sail on the starboard side and began to climb. She was small, swift and agile, her hands already calloused before she joined the crew. She wasn’t like Anne or any of her sisters with soft, dainty hands. And it was a good thing in a storm like this, giving her grip so she didn’t blow away. Her masculine muscles keeping her strong and steady as she ran across the beam and began to unknot the ropes securing the sail.

Caretaker was crouched down opposite her. He flashed her a handsome, charming smile as his ropes came undone. The salt and sea spray mixed with the rain and the wind pulling at his shirt and hair made him look more attractive than Whumpee thought a man needed to look. Why couldn’t she be pretty like Anne? Would he smile at her like that if she would act like a good wife?

Oh blasted! That’s not what she should be thinking about at a time like this! Her hands worked quickly and the sail unfurled down, material rippling against the wind as it shucked down and immediately caught the wind. She glanced back at Caretaker and sighed a sigh that was stolen by the wind. It wasn’t her fault he consumed her thoughts like that, she thought looking at him, Caretaker looked like a God of the sea, with his tanned skin from so many days spent in the sun on the ship.

Another crack against the sky and Whumpee flinched. Caretaker ran by her. A hand brushed hers. “Come on! To the deck.”

She turned and followed him. She would follow him anywhere, she realised as the wind caught his shirt and sent it billowing. He turned and dropped to the first rung of the rope ladder and looked up at her, his smile golden and Whumpee melted a little.

Then his gorgeous eyes flashed with a horrible, terrible danger and he screamed her name, but Whumpee didn’t hear it over the crashing sound behind her. The crack ripped through the sky. The mast wobbled and she slipped on the wood. She screamed as the mast turned and toppled. She grabbed a rope but it slipped through her fingers and she cursed as she fell. A strong hand grabbed hers as her feet slipped from the wood and were falling with nothing below her but the sea.

She screamed as her wrist snapped against her arm and her descent was halted. Caretaker. He… Whumpee was swung into the rope ladder and she cried out, gasping as it stole the wind from her chest.

“Caretaker!” Captain? Whumpee couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the clouds that roared like an angered beast; over the sound of the crack of canons; over the rushing sound of blood in her ears. “THE LADDER!”

But it was too late. The mast dislodged. The rope attached and it was falling. Whumpee and Caretaker tried to hold on as much as possible, shifting, trying to get to the deck but the mast fell too far out and they were dangling above the sea.

“Whumpee!” Caretaker screamed as her grip faltered. “Whumpee! Let go!” He ordered.

Let go.

Let go.

Just… just let go.

Why wasn’t she letting go?

If she let go she would drop into the water. It was the most logical thing to do. She just had to let go. She wouldn’t even hurt breaking the film over the sea. She was in the perfect position of a solider dive so…. Why….

Her fingers wouldn’t release the rope.

She shook with the wind, no. She trembled with the paralytic fear that consumed her blood and turned her muscles rigid and heavy.

“I—” she stammered. Wet eyes met Caretaker’s gorgeous gleaming crystals. “I—” but she never finished her sentence. Another car tore through the sky and her grip faltered and she fell with a yelp. She didn’t know if Caretaker followed, but she only had a moment of a gasp in breath before she hit the icy waters below.

She opened her eyes but the waters were black and she kicked her legs on instinct more than anything else. She broke the surface with a gasp, her lungs screeching at her and grumbling as she gasped. But the salt water entered her mouth and she spit it out as the rocky tides overwhelmed her and she was submerged again.

Something above them. Another crack and Whumpee glanced up. The mast fell now, falling towards them and Whumpee didn’t think. Her body pushed against the water and she tried to clear the hulk of wood before it crashed into her.

Too slow.

Something hard and unrelenting caught her ankle and she heard a crack throughout her body and she gasped, swallowing lungfuls of water as she was dragged below the surface of the angry tides.

She yanked her ankle forward and screamed into the water as it caught on something. She turned and tried to quiet her mind, she could free it. She could free it. Her eyes found the rope ladder it was caught in like a fish in a net. She hooked her other foot to the rope and yanked herself closer, knees to her chest as she grabbed the injured foot and pulled it free from the rope.

She unhooked her other leg and pushed up, her lungs screaming for oxygen. She pumped her arms up, she could see the light, see the sun, feel its heat and she let out a startled yelp as she surfaced again. The waves pulled at her bad ankle and she winced as she kicked with her good leg to keep herself afloat.

But there was no sun… they were still in the storm… but the heat? Whumpee gulped as more debris fell around her. Burning debris.

“Caretaker! Caretaker!” She screamed. Her bright eyes searched the sea around her but it was no good in the fog and the darkness. A hand found her shoulder and she screamed and turned. And two eyes made of crystal found hers and she weeped. “Oh Caretaker… oh, thank the gods you’re okay.”

“Whumpee! Are you hurt? I was looking everywhere for you.”

“I’m— I—” I love you, she shouldn’t say. Even if they were about to die. Right? “My ankle,” she finished pathetically.

Caretaker nodded. He searched the tides with his calm, eagle eye. “There,” he said, and he put a hand around Whumpee’s arms. “Hook your hands around my shoulders,” he said.

Whumpee blushed at the command, but she obeyed, happy he couldn’t see what effect his words had on her. She clung to him, she could feel his defined muscles in his shoulders and back as she clung to him. “Okay. Hold on. Don’t let go! No matter what. That’s an order.”

“Yes sir!” She screamed against the tides. Caretaker started swimming, and Whumpee locked her fingers together in front of him as he pushed against the frigid waters. They would freeze if they stood still, Whumpee realised as the chill of the sea seized her burning leg.

They reached a floating piece of debris from the ship, Whumpee couldn’t really make out what it was from. Caretaker unhooked Whumpee’s arms from him and wrapped them over the debris that acted like a rafter.

“Okay,” Caretaker said. His lips were blue from the cold. “I need you to wait here and—”

But Whumpee didn’t hear the final command. Another bang and something fell and Caretaker screamed and then darkness.

*~*~*~*~*

Whumpee woke up bleary eyed, only vaguely aware that they were being dragged somewhere. They didn’t manage more than a groan and a whimper before they passed out again.

*~*~*~*~*

A splash of cold water jolted Whumpee awake. She gasped reflexively, eyes open and mouth gaping like a fish. She went to her side and hit something solid. Whumpee frowned at the boots in front of her. They were some fancy looking boots for her crew and her arms weren’t responding to her commands.

She was on deck. She knew that. The waves quietly tippling them along.

“Get them up,” a voice commanded. Whumpee’s eyes widened as hands were upon her and putting her on her knees again. She yelped as her weight was put on her broken ankle and shot up on her good leg.

The sound of a pistol being cocked froze her in place. “Stay down, shark bait.”

“Please…” she said, biting her lip to stop from crying out in front of unfriendly sailors. “I— I hurt my foot, I can’t put weight on it.”

“Whumpee…” Whumpee’s head shot up at the voice but she didn’t see Caretaker in front of her. No, instead she saw a woman in an exquisite purple captain’s jacket and tricorn hat with a long, inky black feather that gleamed in the sunlight.

The woman smiled down at Whumpee. She crouched so she was at Whumpee’s eye level. Her eyes were unlike any Whumpee had ever seen. They were as radiant as the woman herself, enthralling Whumpee and leaving her speechless, but she also reeked of danger and pain so Whumpee cowered away from her despite her alluring beauty.

“Whumpee?” The woman purred, a soft hand found Whumpee’s chin and pulled her back so there was little distance between them. Whumpee flinched at her name. “Is that your name, sweet thing?”

“Get off of him!” Caretaker said somewhere to Whumpee’s right. Whumpee jerked her head in his direction but it didn’t budge, the woman didn’t release Whumpee’s head enough for her to turn and see Caretaker… but he was alive… he was alive.

Her eyes glazed as that realisation set in and she had to keep the relieved smile off her face this close to this beautiful lady with such soft hands for pirate.

Oh…

Oh.

The relief was washed from her bones and replaced with cold quick dread that flushed her body and made her shiver. The grip on Whumpee’s chin tightened.

“I asked you a question.”

“Y—yes, yes ma’am.”

“Tch. Ya hear that lads?! This young pup called your Captain ma’am!” A chorus of jeers and Whumpee flinched, but the woman wouldn’t release Whumpee’s chin from her iron grip.

“I’m sorry, Ma— I mean… Captain. I really— I didn’t mean any offence, I—”

The woman placed a dainty finger on Whumpee’s lips which instantly silenced her. Whumpee trembled as she stared into the woman’s eyes like coals that burned as bright as her inky feather.

“Whumpee is your name?”

Whumpee blinked. “Yes,” she squeaked.

“Your real name, darling?”

Whumpee shivered. “Y-yes.”

“Get away from him! He’s just a ship hand—” a dull thud cut Caretaker off with his own groans of pain.

“Please—” Whumpee pleaded, trying to turn her head. “Please…” but she didn’t know what she was pleading for. For the woman to release her, or not tell this group of hostile, male dominated sailors that she wasn’t in fact a man. “Please,” she whimpered against the Captain’s finger.

The Captain’s lips were painted a glossy red, so bold for a lady to wear, but Whumpee got the distinct impression that the woman in front of her was anything but an ordinary lady.

The captain pursed her lips. She released Whumpee’s face and stood. “This one comes with me to my quarters,” she announced. Whumpee flinched. “Wha-what?!”

A chorus of raunchy voices cried out in disappointment and approval. “You know the best pick of them, Cap’n,” someone said as Whumpee was hauled to her feet. She cried out as she put weight on the bad leg and Caretaker called her name again.

“Oh, whoops. I forgot about your foot,” the captain said with a smile that could cut through the hide of a whale. Whumpee gulped. “First mate, darling, be a dear and carry my loot back to my quarters, I will be there in a moment.”

“Wait!” Whumpee cried. “Wait, please! We’re peaceful, we’ve surrendered!”

More scathing laughter that boiled Whumpee’s blood. “Please! Just bring us back to—” Whumpee’s head jolted to the side suddenly. A warmth bloomed on her cheek as she righted herself, eyes shining at the woman in front of her. Did she just slap her? Only her governess had ever slapped her before and that was when she was a girl.

“First of all, sweet thing,” the captain said, grabbing Whumpee’s chin again and tilting her head up to look the startling woman in the eye. “You didn’t surrender, you were overwhelmed and invaded and now you are prisoners and spoils of battle well fought.”

“We were a trading vess—” Another slap. Harder this time. Whumpee cried out. “Oh, I love it when they’re mouthy,” she purred, as she stepped closer and planted a kiss on Whumpee’s cheek she just struck. Twice.

Whumpee went colder than she thought possible.

“Let him go!” Caretaker screamed as Whumpee was picked up and thrown over a broad shoulder. She raised her head, her eyes briefly met Caretaker’s wide gaze as he was wrestled back into a kneeling position. The Captain stepped between Whumpee’s eyesight of Caretaker.

She started to struggle, but it was a vain, pathetic effort. With her hands tied behind her back she probably looked like a fish on a hook. “Don’t touch him! Get off him!” She screeched, but the First Mate took her further and further away until the deck disappeared altogether as she screamed. “Let go of me! Get off of me you brute!”

First Mate threw her to the ground as soon as they entered the captain’s quarters. Whumpee saw stars as pain shot from her ankle up her leg and she cried out.

“Oh, the captain’s gonna have fun with you,” First Mate told her in a gravelly voice. “So pretty, too. She likes pretty boys, you’re exactly her type.”

Whumpee scurried back on her hands and her good foot but the first mate followed her. “But she always tires of them after a while, and when she tires of you, gorgeous, I’ll be next in line.”

Whumpee couldn’t speak she was that scared. There was nothing in her brain, in her body, nothing except whimpers and screams and fear and SHIVERS. Why couldn’t she do anything except tremble like a frightened dog?! She was stronger than this!

“You wait right there, shark bait, the captain will be with you shortly.” The brute turned and grabbed the door. Before he left, he stopped and chuckled darkly. He glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes half lidded and filled with something monstrous. “And when she’s through with you, you’ll wish you stayed with the sharks.”

With that the door slammed shut with a bang. Whumpee flinched. Then she waited and prayed that Caretaker was okay.

*****