8 CHAPTER 8: FORCED CONFESSIONS

Marina slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding a lot. She tried to massage her temples to ease the pain but she could not move her hands. It was as if they were pinned to her body. Marina looked down and she could see she was wrapped with a thick rope that made her keep her hands pinned to her torso. She kept looking down and she could see her legs were chained to a ring bolted to the floor. Marina started remembering the day she was kidnapped: tied up in the very same way, but with a fishtail instead of legs.

The sound of a grunt from the cell next to hers brought Marina out of her thoughts. She looked in that direction and she saw Ismael with his hands tied behind his back and his legs chained to the floor. "Ismael!" Marina exclaimed in a muffled scream. "Are you okay?" Ismael heard the girl but took him a while to figure out the direction where her voice came from. He had to make an effort to move his body and look for the girl, and after struggling for a bit he could look to Marina.

"Marina!" Ismael exclaimed. "I am so glad that you are okay."

"I would like to say the same about you," Marina replied while looking at the white cloth wrapped on Ismael's left shoulder. When he noticed that, Ismael replied relaxed: "Do not worry about this. I have suffered worse wounds than this one in the past." Marina looked at him with surprise and incredulity after that comment. "Now, we just need to find Charlotte," Ismael commented keeping his cool.

At that moment, groans started to sound from outside the cells. Both prisoners tried to look through the bars of the doors of their cells and they could see the silhouette of a girl tied to one of the pillars holding the ship structure. This girl had her head down, so her face could not be seen, but Marina knew who she was when she noticed her strawberry blond hair. "Charlotte! Are you alright?!" Marina said almost shouting. The girl tied to the pillar heard the siren and tried to raise her head. When her face was visible, Marina was perplexed with what she saw: Charlotte's nose was swollen, and the area under her eyes was purple.

"Charlotte! Please tell me you are okay," Marina said worriedly.

"I think I am…" Charlotte replied weakly. After a brief pause, she continued talking: "You should have not come back for me." Marina and Ismael looked at each other with guilt, and right before they could say anything Charlotte continued talking: "I told you very clearly that you had to leave while I dealt with the pirates…"

"I could not abandon you!" Marina replied. "I could not help but think something bad could happen to you if we were not there to help you that is why I convinced Ismael to go back." Charlotte went from staring at Marina with angry eyes to stare at Ismael with a furious look, and he just told to her: "I am sorry, but she was very convincing."

"Well, well, well. It seems our prisoners are awake," said a man who was coming down the stairs. The three friends looked at him and they saw him standing at the bottom of the stairs accompanied by two members of the pirate crew. He walked to Charlotte, took her by the chin to make her look at him into his eyes and said: "Our captain is really mad at you, and she is getting anxious to punish you and your friends." The man started to untie her while his mates took Marina and Ismael out of their cells. Now Charlotte had her hands tied behind her back and her legs were tied with a length of rope around her ankles to make her hobble. Marina and Ismael kept all their bindings except for the ones on their legs. "Let's go. Everybody is waiting for us on deck," said the pirate escorting Charlotte, giving the girl a little push to make her move.

On deck, all the crew members were doing a semi-circle waiting for the prisoners. The crew was formed by the few survivors of the attack to the previous Captain Anna's ship, and they were as fierce and brave as before. Captain Anna was in the front of all of them, awaiting impatiently the arrival of her old shipmaster to get even with her.

Charlotte, Marina and Ismael finally appeared coming up the stairs followed by the pirates who picked them up. The three friends walked slowly until they made it to the front of the pirate crew, and they started to surround the trio of friends. Anna walked towards Charlotte, and when they were standing face-to-face, the captain punched Charlotte on her belly, making her fall to her knees and making the crew shout in excitement for that show of strength. Anna raised her fist to the air to make everybody go silent, and once everybody was in silence she said: "This is how traitors must be treated: as trash that must be reduced to nothing!" Right after saying that, Anna kicked Charlotte on her face, hitting her left eye. Marina tried to let loose from the man holding her to go and help her friend, but the hold was very tight so she could not go anywhere. Charlotte had fallen because of the kick and tried to kneel, and when she got back on her knees she could see there were some droplets of blood on the floor. Ismael and Marina looked at her and they were horrified by what they saw.

Captain Anna walked to the shipmaster, took her by her chin and made her look to her eyes and asked her: "Is there anything you want to say before we begin with your punishment?" Charlotte stayed silent and looked with rage to Anna, who released her chin and said: "It seems the little traitor does not have anything to say, so we may begin." Anna pointed to Ismael and the pirate escorting him dragged the man to the centre of the circle. "Let's start the punishments with the man who helped the traitor," Anna said while getting closer to Ismael. One of her sailors handed her a knife and she put it on her prisoner's neck.

"When I met Charlotte again, she told me she woke up in what I guess now is your shack. She also told me that you healed her wounds and gave her a job. Is that correct?" Anna asked while staring at Ismael with such intensity. The captain did not care about the story; she only wanted to be given reasons to make her old shipmaster to pay for her treason.

"That is right. I saved her," Ismael replied unfazed. Anna simply smiled.

"Did you know she was a traitor of her crew and that by saving her you would share her very same fate?" Anna asked with a mix of clam and firmness.

"I imagined something like that would happen when I helped her and Marina," Ismael replied still keeping his cool.

"He confessed his crime!" Anna shouted making all the crew shout in excitement for what was about to happen. "The punishment for helping traitors is immediate death," Anna said while walking to one of his men who had brought her sabre.

"I understand that I have to be punished for my crimes…" Ismael said while Anna was inspecting her sabre. "But to punish me, you have to get me first."

Right after saying that, Ismael stomped hard on the foot of the man holding him, gaining release to immediately run to the rail he had in front. The other pirates tried to stop him, but Ismael was capable to tackle them off to open his way to the rail. He was also very fast, so no one could get to him, especially when he jumped overboard. The men looked out the rail but the only thing they saw was the water's surface slightly shaken. Captain Anna walked to them and looked out as well, seeing the same thing as her sailors. "I do not think this matters," Anna said. "With his hands tied behind his back he will not be able to swim and he will drown. He only saved us the effort of killing him."

Captain Anna and the men came back to surround Marina and Charlotte, who were still in shock after what just happened. Anna grabbed Marina by the chin and made her look into her eyes. "You caused me so much trouble," Anna said with contempt. "And you will have to work very hard to compensate me."

Charlotte tried to jump to attack Anna, but two men were holding her down by her shoulders so she could not try anything. The captain released her grip on Marina and walked towards her other prisoner. "And now, you damned traitor... Any last words before I take care of you?" Anna asked Charlotte scornfully, but the shipmaster only looked intensely at her old captain and said "I do not regret anything."

When she heard this, Anna got mad and punched Charlotte on her face, breaking her nose. Then, she took Charlotte by her chin to make her keep her eyes on her and shouted: "You do not regret anything?! After all that we have gone through together… After all the fights we have had and all the places we have seen around the world… After all of that, you are telling me that you prefer to be with that insignificant creature instead of being with me?!"

Charlotte stared at Anna, showing no fear towards her, and with a confident voice she said: "That creature is the most beautiful living being I have ever laid my eyes on."

Marina was surprised beyond words with what she just heard. Even though back at her home she was praised for her beauty and kindness, listening to Charlotte said she was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen in her life made her feel very happy. She was so deep in that feeling that she did not notice how Captain Anna was looking at her with disdain just as she was looking at Charlotte a few moments ago.

"Make her stand," Captain Anna ordered to the men holding Charlotte and they obeyed. "Hold her tight."

Anna pointed her sabre to Charlotte's chest, but the girl did not show any emotion with this action. Marina, on the other hand, was horrified for what was about to come. "I hope you enjoy the afterlife," Anna said menacingly, getting ready to give the death blow. Charlotte only closed her eyes.

Suddenly, the ship gave a jolt, making everybody lose their footing for a moment. Some of the men went to look overboard to check what was going on, while some others kept their position. "Keep your eyes open! No one is taking us down this time!" Anna ordered keeping her place close to Charlotte and Marina.

In the blink of an eye, something came out of the water and landed on the ship's deck. The whole crew saw the object and when they noticed what it was they were totally surprised. Marina and Charlotte shared the feeling, but for them, it was mixed with joy.

"Have you so quickly forgotten about me?"