The Princess and the Pirate, part 4: The Battle in Dead Man's Lane

Laura and Mirabelle screamed, and even Princess Fioretta looked shaken. The two young maids looked to their mistress to tell them what to do next. Princess Fioretta immediately took control of the situation. "All right. Let’s do as the Captain has asked us. Girls, hide everything that will fit under the beds in the two rooms. I will keep my day valise with me and you girls do the same with your day valises. Let’s put them in the hiding places first. Then, Mirabelle, I want you to quickly change into one of my day dresses. If you are captured, tell them you are Lady Mirabelle of Turn and Laura is you handmaid."

The maids did as they had been bidden, first stowing the day valises, then dressing Mirabelle, and finally hiding the other luggage under the beds. As they busied themselves, they could hear the sounds of battle raging and felt the shudder of canons being fired and the ship taking hits. Sometimes the force of a blow would cause the ship to rock crazily and the luggage under the beds would slide around causing the girls havoc. The sounds from the men were so frightening that the maids often cowered on the floor with their hands covering their ears.

They finished as quickly as they could, stowed the princess in her secret hiding place and then hid in the closet themselves.

In the dark of the closet, the sounds seemed amplified. The girls put as many of the Captain’s things in front of the door as they could and kept their skirts tucked in around their feet. They held hands in the darkness and hugged each other whenever scary noises or terrifying canon fire rocked the ship. They imagined blood spilling onto the glistening decks. They hoped and prayed that their favorites amongst the princess’s guard had not fallen to the pirates' bloody swords or evil guns. Sometimes they could here someone slam against the outside wall or door, and they had to fight their own instincts to scream in desperation and hopelessness as the men fought for their lives outside on the decks. They knew all too well that if the pirates suspected women were aboard, it could mean their virtue or even their lives.

Princess Fioretta tried to push the sounds completely from her mind as she worked to go deeper and deeper into prayer. Her prayers were not the shallow I’m-desperate-so-will-you-help-me-now-Lord-and-I-will-do-anything-you-want-me-to-later-Lord prayers that most people pray. Hers were the deep prayers of someone who loves God as a father and as a brother. She had been so deep in prayer in the past that she sometimes did not come out of a prayer for three hours, even in the midst of tremendous bustle. Even now she was able to do those things, supernaturally connecting with God himself. She did not worry. She did not wonder. She simply lost herself in the ecstasy and intimacy of the Holy.

None of the young ladies knew how much time had elapsed, but it suddenly became very quiet and deathly still. Princess Mirabelle did not notice as she was so deep in prayer, but the two maids pricked up their ears intently. They were desperate for news. They eventually heard the scuffling of many feet, and then it was quiet again for some time. Finally, the sounds that reached their ears terrified them all the more. They heard doors banging open and things being roughly moved around. They heard furniture being dragged and glass being broken. They barely breathed. It had to be the pirates.

It was not long until the Captain’s door banged open and things were being knocked around in the cabin. The closet door was flung open. The girls shut their eyes and mouths tightly, trying to will what was hunting in the room away from their persons. The man left them without seeing them and continued his work in the room. Then he left! The girls were so happy, they hugged each other tighter, barely daring to breathe. Then someone else came in the room and began searching through it, too. Then he began to shout.

"Captain!! Get the Captain, you dogs! The Captain!"

The maids did not know what the man had found, but they knew it would not be good for them.

"What is it, Smith? You know my rule about being called away from the ship!" The captain had apparently slammed the man who had called him into the wall next to the closet.

"But, Sir," the man whimpered, look under the beds. The maids could hear the heavy footsteps of the captain and they trembled in spite of themselves. They knew what was under the beds. Two sets of fine luggage. Mirabelle's and Laura’s matched, so they could be considered part of the same set. The princess was so smart!

"All right, Smith," said the captain. "You were right to call me, and you were right not to tell another soul. He closed the door, and the two of them tore out all the luggage, then the big man went to the closet. He moved all the clothes out of the way until he found the dual prize: Mirabelle and Laura. He pulled them out gently but firmly, and they stood blinking in the light of the late afternoon.

The pirates had ransacked the Captain’s lovely cabin. The bedclothes were crumpled everywhere. The luggage had been knifed open. The princess’s beautiful trunk had been axed to smithereens and it lay empty in the corner.

The largest man either of them had ever seen, even compared with the King of Christland, stood in front of them. His muscles bulged everywhere, even in his strongly-featured face. He towered over the maids as if they were flowers and he was some mighty oak tree. He was young to be called "Captain," only in his twenties, yet they could tell he allowed no one to get by with anything, young or old, man or woman. His hands were like hardened steel tools. The only thing that was not terrifying about this man was his eyes. They were oh-so-blue and softly fringed with brown, curling lashes. He had a look of deep concern and pondering on his face.

The dirtiest man either of the maids had ever seen stood next to this man. He wore no shirt and looked like he had not bathed in a year. He had a long black mustache and his head was completely bald. He had a green, moldy smile that sent shivers down to their marrow. His black, piercing eyes were as cold and calculating as a demon in the night. He stood a full two heads shorter than his captain. He wore no shoes on his feet, and his pants were torn and even bloody in places. His arm also bore a deep wound that had been tied up with a clean, white rag.

"Leave, Smith," the captain growled, and the man left immediately without question. Laura and Mirabelle trembled, fearing what the captain might do next. They braced themselves, wondering how they would be able to fight a man so large and, obviously, so strong. What he said next shocked them to no end.

"Did you bring along any veils?" he asked. His facial features had softened, and he looked much less intimidating. "Be quick, ladies, we don’t have much time."

The maids nodded.

"Get them and put them on. Do not take them off when you are with any of the men, including me, for the entire time you stay with us."
Mirabelle, the bravest of the two said, "And why can’t you let us be? Must you kidnap us?"

He smiled and said, "You’ll see soon enough."

As the girls put on their veils, he continued, "Do you have good walking shoes as well? You might as well wear shoes that are comfortable."

As soon as the girls had completely complied, the captain took them out of the room. They followed him into the bright sunlight, each carrying a valise and wondering at their fates. They had anticipated a lovely time on the ship followed by festivities and dancing and rich food and such. Now, they would be lucky to ever see home again.

No one was really left aboard the once majestic ship. The girls could see the captives from their ship aboard the pirate ship. They wondered why the pirate ship was so much taller than their own.

Their new captain stopped at a narrow plank that bridged the two ships.
"You will have to walk across, but be careful. Our ships are in the midst of Dead Man’s Lane, a place well-known for shark attacks." He helped the girl’s up one by one and followed them across the plank. As they walked across, Mirabelle and Laura saw shark fins with their ghostly bodies circling underneath them, obviously drawn to the blood that had dripped and spattered from the men walking across the gang plank to the inky waters below. The girls tried their best to stay focused on making it across the narrow bridge.

Once they were aboard the pirate ship, pleased with themselves that the pirates knew nothing about the princess, they stood alongside the other prisoners from their ship. All of the men had brave yet concerned looks on their faces, but it did not look as though too many of them had died. As a matter of fact, they could not see that any of them had died.

The captain ordered the plank withdrawn and for the men to make ready to sail. His orders were instantly followed by dozens of people. He also ordered that the men from the ship be taken to the cells below. The maids watched the bustle, so they would not give away their concern for the princess and thus give away the fact their was something very valuable left aboard.

The captain came up to them next, and told them to follow him. "Now do you understand why you could not stay aboard your ship?" he asked, pointing toward their old ship as they walked toward the front of the pirate ship. The girls looked and gasped in horror. The ship was sinking, fast.