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"Welcome aboard." 

Lizzie's eyes blinked open. Where was she? 

"You're safe, don't worry. I had one of my men check out that head injury you gave yourself."

Who was that?

She blinked away the blurriness and tried to look around her. Moving her body hurt just a little too much, so she resorted to turning her head. There was a pale man with a thick black moustache standing next to where she lay. He had a nobleman's shirt on, with a ruffled section at the front. Multiple loose, brown, leather belts hung at his waist. A dagger sheath was clipped to one, but there was no dagger inside. Some small bottles full of strange liquids were also clipped to the belts. The man wore a Captain's hat, but it wasn't as polished as the Navy Captain hats. She couldn't see below his torso.

Lizzie's throat was dry, too dry for her liking. She opened her mouth to speak and it felt like she'd swallowed sandpaper. "Who—who are you?" Came her raspy voice. 

The man's eyes widened and he unclipped one of the bottles with the mysterious liquids inside. He offered her a drink. "It'll make your throat better."

"I'd rather die." She wasn't exaggerating. He was a pirate, she knew that much. She'd watched as her best friend had jumped overboard, expecting her to follow. It was this man who'd driven her to give the order. She'd had every intention of going down with him. Pirates wouldn't be the end of her life, would they? She wouldn't go down like her parents, like Myran…

The pirate shrugged and clipped the bottle back on his belt with a, suit yourself.

"Who are you?" Her voice was more forceful this time. 

"A pirate captain." He smiled maliciously. 

"Were you so ugly that your parents refused to give you a name, lest you be traced back to them?" She asked. Maybe Lizzie shouldn't be antagonising her captors, but she was as good as dead anyway. 

"Very funny." The pirate rolled his eyes. "Captain Jackson Nevara, you can call me Jack, M'lady." He tipped his hat.

"I have zero interest in flirting with, or exchanging pleasantries with brutes like you." She shot him a dirty look. Lizzie hadn't been rude like this to anybody in her life, but then again, she hadn't been this angry before. 

She attempted to sit up. She would leave this room and throw herself off the deck and into the sea before any of these pirates had their way with her, if they hadn't while she was unconscious.

She was hit by an uncomfortable force, one that could only be shackles on her wrists. She was chained to something, vulnerable, a sitting duck. The thin blanket shifted though, revealing a white dress with a brown bodice on her. She'd stained her dress with pirate blood. This was an entirely new outfit. Someone had changed her. One of this pirate's filthy men had gazed upon her naked body without her permission. 

The pirate took a swig of a drink before speaking again. "Our healer changed you, don't worry. She's also the one that attended to your head. Sorry, I use men unsparingly."

It wasn't the least bit comforting that the healer was a woman. Women were just as capable of unspeakable acts as the men were. 

"Aren't you going to ask, where am I, Jack? Let me go!" He mocked a high-pitch tone with his voice. 

"I'll hang myself." Lizzie turned her head so that she was facing the ceiling again. 

"Bundle of joy, you are," he tutted.

"Excuse me if I don't find this amusing." She felt like crossing her arms in judgement. 

"You're excused." Jack smiled to himself. 

Lizzie closed her eyes. She would wake up soon and this would all be a dream. She would be back on the deck of the fishing ship with Theo.

Wait…

Theo.

Her eyes sprung open and she struggled against her bindings. Jack's eyes widened as he took another swig from his bottle. 

"Where is he?!" Lizzie shouted. 

Jack folded his lips and said nothing. She was strange. 

"Where is Theo?!" She cried again. 

Jack slowly nodded before walking slowly over to her. His closeness to her gave her an unsettling chill down her back. She had a burning hatred in her gut for this pirate. He raised his hands and she thought it was over, he'd kill her now. 

Her right hand was free, then her left. It felt a bit unnatural for her to move her limbs again, as if she'd been restrained for so long. She didn't actually know where Theo was, and she was certain that the Captain wouldn't let her see him again. There were a lot of uncertainties zooming around in her head at that moment, but one thing was for sure; she would never sail again.

Lizzie didn't have time to ponder about why the Captain freed her. She clumsily rolled off of the bed and stumbled towards the door. It swung open and she practically fell through.

There was an audience outside the door. A dozen or more men and women were gathered, watching her every step.

That was a little disconcerting. Were all of these people pirates?

"I-" She just then realised that she didn't know what to say. There were no words that Lizzie could muster to even express what she felt in that situation. "My friend, he was taken with me. Where is he?" She asked. 

Nobody moved. Some of them adjusted themselves, like they were silently judging her. 

"I promise I won't cause any trouble… I just want to be with him." This was a strange promise. These men did not deserve her promises, they were rotten, ruthless brutes. She shouldn't have promised them anything. Yet, Theo was expendable in their eyes. She was not. Who would care about the death of a lowly fisherman if the Duchess was held for ransom? He was collateral damage in everyone's eyes. And yet, the pirates knew how much she cared for him. They knew that, by holding him from her, they'd have her under control, manipulated. 

It took a while before anyone said anything, or did anything. That is until she heard a voice behind her that made her shudder. 

"Step aside." 

Lizzie could tell the Captain was smiling, she could hear it in his voice. 

The other pirates did as he said though, they parted and allowed her access to the top deck of the ship. 

She rushed forward, pushing a few people's limbs out of the way. Lizzie scanned the deck, where was Theo? 

Had they thrown him overboard? Had they killed him? What did they do to Theo?

She turned back around and stared at the Captain. 

"Where is he?" She asked. Her voice sounded small, reminiscent of a child's. 

The captain adjusted his hat and stepped out of the doorway to the room they had both been in. He stared down at her, still smirking. 

He looked up. She followed his gaze. 

There was one member of the crew not in the crowd, they were in the crow's nest. They didn't move. 

Lizzie squinted. Why did the captain point out a member of his crew instead of Theo? 

She moved around to the front of the mast so that she could get a better look at the crew member. "Hello?"

He was too high up to make out. She could see a mess of brown hair, steel-toed boots. Her eyes wandered to the pirates. They all wore leather boots. What need would a pirate have for steel-toed boots?

She tilted her head. The sun still blinded her. 

There weren't many professions in Achea that needed steel-toed boots. One of the only ones was a fisherman really. 

She chewed her cheek. Why would the captain point her to a weirdly-shoed pirate. 

Lizzie took a step back. More of the person came into view. They wore a different outfit. She couldn't really make out what it actually was, but the colour was blue. 

She glanced subtly back at the other pirates. None of them wore blue. None of them wore steel-toed boots. All of them wore some form of hat. This person wore no hat. All were gathered around the door. This person was not. 

A horrible thought took hold of her mind and made her stomach twist. 

Without thinking about her next move, Lizzie rushed towards the rigging. She scrambled to climb it. Truth be told, she'd never climbed something like it before. She'd never been in that much danger before. 

Her breaths were shaky and quick as she climbed and clamoured up the rigging. It was so high, impossibly high for an injured woman to climb. But, nevertheless, she climbed. She knew who was up there. She didn't want to think about why they weren't coming down. 

She slipped. Her right hand was too sweaty to hang on to the rope and her left foot went along with it. A small yelp escaped her mouth, but she quickly shoved her foot back into one of the holes in the rigging and used her very little will left to shove her hand into another hole. 

Lizzie continued scrambling up the rigging. She would get to the top. She would make sure he was okay. 

It took a while for her, but she eventually reached the Crow's Nest. There was rope around the mast, and a person in front. They were tied to the mast. They weren't moving. 

She rushed around to the front, so that they could see the person. There was the brown hair, the green streak, the blue Guernsey jumper, the darker blue trousers… the steel-toed boots. It was him. Theo. 

Lizzie's breathing hadn't been given a chance to slow once she'd made it up that rigging and found out who was at the top, who was tied to the mast like a decoration. She'd already lost someone to the brutality of these pirates. 

She wasn't religious, but she prayed. She prayed to Solomikos for Theo's life, almost bargained. She wanted him to be alright, even if Myran wasn't. She wanted Theo to live, she wanted a friend with her. 

Lizzie placed her hand on Theo's chest. How long had he been upright? She waited. The slow rise and falls of his chest relieved her slightly, comforted her. He wasn't dead. They didn't kill him. She looked around for anything to cut the rope. All she saw were the wooden railings and the deep blue ocean. What would it be like to jump? Would both she and Theo be free from the pirates? Being captured is a fate worse than death, and she'd die on her own terms. 

She couldn't make that decision for Theo. 

Lizzie searched Theo's trouser pockets. He had a small swiss-army-knife in one of them. Surely that would be enough to cut the ropes and free him. The pirates made no effort to stop her, but they made no effort to help her either. She flipped the knife up and sawed at the ropes. It took so long, the ropes were so thick. Her hand cramped halfway through, but she would not give up. Determination coursed through her blood. This was more important than herself. 

At last, before the rope was cut, Theo opened his eyes. He too blinked away blurriness and, if he wasn't tied straight up, he would probably have collapsed onto her. He seemed to be more alert than she was when she first woke up. 

"Duchess?" He asked. His voice sounded a bit dazed, but he was ultimately fine. 

"Lizzie," she corrected. There was just this last bit of rope to go and he would be free. 

"You're here this time…" He observed. 

Lizzie paused. "This time?" she repeated. 

Theo shook his head a little. "I woke up a few times before this. I think it's been a couple days. There was the first time, when they got us onto the ship." He paused. "I tried getting to you—you'd passed out—but they stopped me and made me climb the rigging. I didn't know what they were going to do…" He paused again, searching his memory. "I- They tied me to the mast and left me there. I passed out at some point, and then woke up again. That leads us up to now. I must have done it again." 

Lizzie continued cutting the rope. How could the pirates be so cruel? He'd been up there, cooking, for days?! She wished she could beat them, kill them even. But alas, they were too powerful for a sheltered girl. 

She yelped a little when the rope finally gave in and her hand jerked, planting the knife in the wood. Lizzie didn't retrieve it as she was too focused on catching Theo as he fell.

What were they going to do?