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Belle had been sneaky- she had found out this ship was going that morning and jumped into the bottom of a crate right before they got to loading them.She was hidden under some lighter objects and knew she'd make the box as heavy as the barrels they carried currently.She bit his lip when she felt the box move, then fall.Her long black hair was a mess- she'd been in there a bit more then a hour but there was a tiny hole in the box that provided air for her.All she had to do was hold still and wait for one of two choices - to be found, or to make it on the ship.
ClaraBelle Mayna had been in trouble with the law quite recently and was running from the island to get away from them.She didn't care where she went as long as she made it off alive.She prayed that no one would be needing anything from this box once they set out though because they'd come upon a nasty surprise.She finally peeked out the small hole to see part of a man's shoe.It wasn't big enough to see anything else though, she heard the man shout "This one's a good filled one!Give me a hand ov' here."
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As the sailiors walk around loading the ship the captain comes by and starts barking orders. "Oy you lot of ingrates, hurry up and get them crates loaded on the ship. We ain't got all day you know." As they all finish loading they all get onboard and were soon to cast off. All that was left was getting all the cargo downstairs into the storage. He noticed two men having trouble carrying a crate which appeared to be marked "Cannonballs". "You two, if you can't handle it let two of the bigger men carry it downstairs.
As he says this the two scrawnier pirates begin working the sails and two big brute types pick up the crate without ease and carry it all the way downstairs. They throw the crate all the way down in the storage and start walking upstairs turning off the lights.
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Belle yelped when they let the crate go- not a good thing to do.She hifted slightly to be compleatly covered.Cannonballs?man, they were stupid.She prayed to not of been heard though. (And in the time it wouldn't be electric- would it?or did we never say i it was more medevil or not? ) She sat there with no light in there- she felt closed in and looked at the small hole- hoping it wasn't covered or blocked off.
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As the captain gave the orders to hoist the sails and to raise the anchors. He gave the crew the heading and watched over his ship. He overheard the two brutes talking.
"No, I swears I heards a noise commin from that box we was carryin" says the first brute. The second scoffs, "What kind of balls make noise, you dimwit." replies the other. "Hey, don't calm me a dimwit... you dimwit." Then the captain stopped lisetning because he knew they would start arguing like children calling eachother dimwits for about 5 minutes.
The captain got a little suspicious after hearing about the weird yelping, the fact that the two men coudlnt carry the crate. He thinks to himself, "Them cannonballs must have been quite heavy, as if a human were inside of it. If there is a castaway aboard my ship... I'll have his HEAD." The captain unsheathes his cutlass and began descending the stairs, making a clanking noise on the wood lal the way down.
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Belle heard his footsteps and waited, praying not to be found.She was glad to be hid underthe clothing but still, she could be found with any possibility from it. 'Oh god..i'm done for if they heard me...Please don't let them be looking for me..SOr let them pick the wrong box even...No, this one's marked..' She thought silently, heart beating loud enough she'd of been surprised if it couldn't be heard.
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The captain reached the bottom of the ship and lit a match and turned on the lights. He was so certain someone was here so he started taunting and jeering. "I know you're here you filthy little stowaway. You think you can get a free ride off of me? Not a fat chance!" he starts opening each crate one by one to check the contents inside. "Rum, check. Muskets, check. Weapons, check. Food, check." He begins getting nearer and nearer the crate with the clothing inside. "I'm gonna find ya, I can smell your dirty little freeloading hands from here. When I find you I'm gonna gut you like a fish, and then I'll make you walk the plank!" he says laughing a very cold, sinister laugh.
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Belle took silent, deep breaths and didn't dare move more then she must.She listened closely to his footsteps, she didn't want to hear his words.how close was he now?She could tell he'd lit the lamp though- that was about it.
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The captain neared the crate with clothes. He was three crates away. "Are you hiding in the box of lanterns? Nope. Don't worry, I've only got so many boxes left I'll find you eventually." Only two boxes to go. "My next guess, are you in the crate full of sheets? Nope guess not." He walked to the next crate. "You've gotta be hiding in with the extra bottles of ink. Oh I guess you don't." The captain finally reaches the crate full of clothing. The lid opens ever so slowly. "Are you hiding in the crate of clothes?!"
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Belle held her breath, waiting.If he looked far down in it he'd find her.Among the clothign though her blue dress showed just a bit- and really stuck out.She hadn o way of knowing that though.Was this like a game to him?He had done it so slowly.It was bad enough him just comming closer.now that the box was open she was freaking out.
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The captain stared for a moment and then he grunted. "I guess you're not here then. Moving on to, this means you're in the crate of tools and supplies." he opens the crate and closes it again and starts to move on. "Come on, I know where you are, don't think your fooling anybody for a moment."
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The captain continued searching a few more crates. After failing to find anyone he muttered, "I guess noone was here afterall." He closed the rest of the crates and he went to one of the barrels full of rum and took a swig from one of the bottles. He put the bottle back and closed the lid of the barrel and starting blowing out the candles one by one.
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Belle shifted when the light went out, thinking he was upstairs, her head hit he side though with a small thump and she let out a muffled yelp of surprise.
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Suddenly a laugh, cold enough to pierce the skin like ice filled the room as did a flicker of light. "I gotcha" was all he said while snickering. He began walking towards her and he said "I finally found you, you low-down, free loading... girl?" he said confused. In all his years of sailing the seas has he ever ran into a female trying to hide away on his boat. "What in the name of Davy Jones are you doing on my ship?!" he asked with a ferocious tone, lady or not, nontheless he was still very angry.
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Belle looked at him- wide eyed, she tried to studder out an aanswer but failed badly "I..I'm."She looked roughed up and was formign something in her mind " I'm..Not..Sure.."She finally said, she made to get out of the crate and away from his range now though.
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As she stuttered, fumbled around and attempt to get out of the crate he started walking up to her and smiled. "You've walked onto the wrong ship today lassie, but you're not totally out of luck. You see hear, It's not in my way to hit a lady, but that doesnt go for my crew." he laughs again and grabs her arm and starts to take her upstairs.
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Belle yelped "Let gio!Please!I'm sorry!"She said quickly.
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"Sorry? Sorry? Sorry for lieing to me by sneaking onto my ship. By making me search for you in all those crates. For actually making me have to hide on my own ship? Theres more then sorry to be payed for this." He walks all the way to the top and as he is walking to his own quarters all the other pirates are whistling and jeering at the girl. "Quiet ye scum, and get back to work washin the deck, polish those cannons, and for christs sake someone please get rid of those two idiots that carried the crate of cannonballs onto this ship without checking it."
As he throws her into his quarters two gunshots followed by the sound of an object being thrown into the ocean is heard. "Now my lass you will be "hanging" around here for a few days." He locks her into a set of shackles on the wall for special prisoners, normally reserved for high ranking naval personel, but this would do fine. "Oh and I hope you understand, we only brought enough food for the crew, so you might get a little hungry." he laughs cynically and starts walking out the door.
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Belle said "Wait!Please don't leave me here.."She looked pissed off " can't we make..Some sort of deal?Please?"This wasn'tl ooking good- what did he have planned for her?
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He stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned with an evil look on his face. "A trade you say? A master in the arts of pirating can never refuse a good trade. What do you have to offer, which doesnt seem like much but I'll hear you out anyway" he said smirking.
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Belle sighed and said " I said a deal- not a trade.I have no worthly objects for trade...But, if you let me down then I could..I could do the cleaning I guess..just being here I'm not of much use, now am I?Unless you acctually have something planned for me..."
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"Deal, trade, there ain't much different. Well if you're going to be offereing help around here then you better not get in the way and you better not think about jumping ship. It wouldn't be to bright to jump ship out here anyway." he said walking towards her. "Oh, and as far as I had planned, I was just gonna let you rot and throw your carcass off when you were dead." he said smirking. He got to the girl and he undid the shackles and pointed down at the ground. "Ye can start by cleanin my cabin." he said as he turned around and began walking.
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"It'd help if you'd tell me where anything FOR cleaning was!"Belle said ,following him quickly.She did wonder if the other crewmembers would react to her being there.
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The captain rolled his eyes and walked outside picked up a bucket, a mop, and threw it into her arms. "There ya happy now? Now get ter work you hear me! I want this cabin to be spotless." he said scowling and closing then locking the door behind him.
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Belle sighed and tried the door, then just went on to cleaning.There wasn't much else she could do right then anyways.
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Only 10 minutes had passed and the captain new there was noway she would be done. He just came in to harass her for stealing away on his ship. "Aye, lass, be you done yet with the cleaning of my room? There's much more for you to be doing." he said opening the door.
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Belle acctually was near done " Are you gonna lock me in here all day?"She asked with a frown
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He was actually suprised at the speed she worked. She was a lot more effecient then some of the lazy scoundrels on his ship. "Maybe I will maybe I won't, no need to frown you should have thought of this before you stole away on someone elses ship." he said smirking.
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Belle looked over at him " Still, I see no reason to lock me in..It's not like I could run off at all- now is it?"She said "I'd of rather have the door open while I'm cleaning.
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He scowled. "Well, mi'lass, its not about what you prefer or what you hate. Its about the way its gonna be. I can't be seen taking orders or giving liberties from a stowaway, especially one of the female persuasion." he says looking her down and up. "Your request has been denied, now after you finish cleaning the room you may take a break till I find something else you can do." he says smirking and slamming the door ehind him.
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Belle kicked the door angrily, then finihed up then kicked the door and again " Hey."She called " happy to know I'm done?"
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"Well, I'm glad your done but do you mind not scratchin my beautiful door love? I wouldn't want my door getting scratches." he said, makin the door seem more important than she was. "Anyway now that you're done you can prepare me a special dinner." he said scoffing, taking her hand and leading her to the kitchen.
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"Did I not say I haven't a clue on how to cook?"Belle asked " I think anything I made would be deadly to even smell."She wrinkled her nose at the thought.This was true- she could not prepar anything worth eating "Even if it doesn't involve actual cooking...Eh.."She shook her head
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He stopped dead in his tracks. "You, can't cook? What kind of lady are you." he asks laughing hysterically. "Well then, theres not much else for you to do on this ship, why don't you go clean out the storage deck below, god forbid theres so much junk and dust down there, I'm starting to think the spiders are going to overthrow us on this ship. Hope you're not afraid of spiders." he said smirking as he started leading her downstairs.
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Belle growled and said " Sorry I'm not lady-like then."She looked angry now and gave him a small push as he walked " And no, I acctually think spiders are neat.."She added with a small smile "I'd hate to destory their webs though.."
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He scoffed. "Ya well for ever spider web I find you were too sad to destroy down here, thats how many nights you'll go without food! Now get to work." he says shoving her down the stairs in retalliation for her pushing him. "Be happy I'm at least letting you work in light." he said as he started lighting some of the lanterns.
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Belle stumbledd down a couple of steps when he pushed her but regained her balence quickly "Fine then.."She muttered with a frown " Well- I'm sure you wouldn't want me to miss anything so light is good, eh?"She commented, she looked annoyed still though.
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He stopped to think. "Not necessarily, because if you miss a spot, thats a few pounds of food we save." he starts laughing like a maniac and starts his journey back up the stairs. "Tata lass, do a good job if you want dinner tonight." he says chuckling.
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Belle concidered throwing something at him, but decided she would rather eat.So once he was gone she worksed fast as possible, eventually she finsihed and sat down on a box to rest a little.
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It was 15 minutes after she finished he came down and was suprised with the way the storage looked. "You're a pretty quick cleaner now aren't ye." he said smiling. He looked behind every box and every barrel for spider webs. He then motioned for her to go upstairs as he was blowing out the candles. "You earned yourself a meal lassie." he said smirking.
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"I work fast so I have more time to rest."Belle said simply.She went upstairs though.She was unsure of being around anyone there though.She had heard too many stories about pirates.
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He started following her up the stairs and then he told her "Go wait in my cabin, I'll bring up dinner in a second, because I'm sure you don't want to eat with the crew." He beckoned her upstairs and walked into the kitchen.
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Belle nodded and silently walked to his cabin to wait for him.She was glad he wasn't making her eat with the crew though.
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Soon he opened the door, carrying to trays of food. He walked over to Belle and handed her a tray. "You know, you've been on this ship a few hours and I haven't even caught youre name yet." he said as he handed her the tray. He turned and sat down at his desk waiting for a response.
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Belle said " ClaraBelle- or just Belle..I was acctually going to ask you for your's.."She gave a small thank you for the food as well.
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"Me names Randal, Captain Randal Cutler, at ye service." he said swishing his mug around and taking a swig from it. He took off his hat and he began eating his food. "So, what was the reason you stole away on this ship anyway"
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Belle took a bite and swallowed before she answered "I got in..A fair bit of trouble with some lawmen.."She said finally."I was acctually putting on a good chase..I think that they know I jumped on a ship but how would they know what one?Clearly i didn't either..
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He stood up furious. He walked over to Belle and raised his hand like he was about to stirke. But he let it down and just shouted instead, "You what?! You're running from lawmen and you jumped on MY boat, a pirate ship for that matter. If they decided to follow each an everyboat and you were found on MY ship, a PIRATE ship for that matter. As if we didn't have a bad enough reputation, we try putting on a good reputation, as far as everyone can see anyways." he said smirking. He ran outside and started motioning to the crows nest. "Oi you up there, make sure you are paying attention, it seems theres a high chance we could be followed." as he was walking back inside one of the crew members asked him what all the ruckus was. "Nothing you fool, get back to work and scrub that deck clean." he said closing the doors behind him. "You best pray to whoever you pray to lassie, if any ships are following us, you'll have lots to answer for."
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Belle looked away from him and muttered something as if on cue she heard a voice shouting out Oi!You're right capt!Somethin's in sight! She winced when she heard this andjust waited for the captain's reaction.
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He scowled. It was time to do what he did best. "You, stay in this room and lay low, under the bed and try not to be killed, I don't want to have to clean up after you." he said laughing. He ran out and started yelling orders. "You bunch of lazy rascals, if you don't arm those cannons any sooner, I'll have you stuffed in it instead." he said with a loud voice. "You up there, turn that wheel, have us face our followers. And you big-good-for-nothins, go down and get some more cannonballs, get the muskets." he said smiling standing at the head of the ship. "You better not be slacking, every hand better be working, if I see otherwise I'll figure you have no use for that hand if you catch my drift." he said.
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Belle sighed What have I started?She wondered silently, but sat near the bed- only when there would be need to hide would she.She wished she could simply leave the cabin but knew she shouldn't.She fought herself to just stay put and finally, before they got in any sort of range of the ship she ran to the captain "Do you have an extra set of clothing?"She asked "And something I might cut my hair with?If they looked over the ship they would find me.I shouldn't look like I did when I left.."she smirked- she could pull off looking like a guy if she didn't hae to talk much.
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He raised an eyebrow. "So, you figure we can get out of this without fighting?" he said rubbing his chin with his hand. "Hmm..." As he thouhgt he knew he didn't have much time, so he threw her his cutlass and pointed into the cabin. "Take my extra clothes, I'll just tell them you are the captain, and take my hat." he says throwing her his hat. He figured if there was a way he could get out of this without losing any of his men he would. "Aye, mateys, holster your weapons, were getting out of this without a bit of bloodshed."
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Belle went and changed, and cut her hair short enough to pass by with it and came back out.The clothing was just a little overlarge but it worked still " Now if I can keep from talking too much.."She said softly to him " But, does this work enough for me to pass a a guy instead?"
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He had it all planned out already. "Look, all you're goin to do, is whisper in my ear and you don't even have to be saying anything, I'll speak for you. I'll tell them you're the captain and that you had a grave injury to your face and your throat and you don't like to speak out loud nor have anyone look at your face, so keep your hat low and dont look up. I'll introduce you as the captain, and me as your first mate." he said quickly and quietly.
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"Alright."Belle said with a smal nod, lowering the hat a little now once she looked to see how near- they was accutaly close enough to raise a white flag up with their other and someone was shouting out to see if some of their crew could come aboard.
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"Aye laddies, I'm ca.. casper, "he almost called himself captain but caught himself in an instant. "I'm the captains first mate, his personaly speaker, because the captain does not wish to speak out loud or wish to be seen due to very bad wounds to his face and throat.
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Belle moved closer and appered to whisper something but really had only said for him to hear " Albniti..That's their flag..Make sure you know when they ask.."
"We are searching for a girl..Perhaps just ounger then you."The officer spoke to the 'fIrst Mate' " and we think that she's hopped on a ship when you was in port..Would you mind up doing a check around?"
The other man said "We would like to see his face, just to be sure..We can not take anychance with this girl..Admittily..She has managed to slip on to one of our own ships and flooded it out."
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The captain was stumped and had no idea what to do. He bent over and whispered into her ear, "What should we do, I'm fresh out of ideas." he said grabbing hold of the hilt of his sword.
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Belle whispered "Tell them they can check around- and say I will show my face after we have a short talk in your cabin....With another crew member that could pass to be me again...I've seen a few of the men who could pass as it..eLet them check your cabin first though before we go in it.."
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Then hurry up and get someone to change with you in there and hide somewhere." he whispers into her ear. He looked to the man talking to him, "The captain wishes to speak with you in his cabin, he doesn't want to show his face in mass public." he says showing him the door to the cabin.
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he men seemed impatant for they ripped oof the hat and left Belle standing there looking surprised, they spoke a moment then moved twords her and she bolted out of their way, but one had a one- shot pistol and drew it out.
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Captain Cutler jumped in the way and withdrew his sword. "Aye, there will be no bloodshed unless I know what is going on. I am the actual captain and I want to know why this young lasssy is running, what is it she did that was so wrong?" he asked trying to stall.
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" She has stole from the stores, sunk a merchant ship with a group she had round up for it..And other things such as.."The oficer said angrily "We were told to bring her in, one way or another."
" I am not on the settlement in your range of government!"Belle said angrily.
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He shrugged and smiled. "Well I did say I didn't want bloodshed unless I knew what was going on, so now that I know whats going on...." he stops midsentance and pulls out his sword and stabs the guy right in the chest. He then runs and picks up Belle and runs to his cabin yelling, "TO ARMS YE SCALLYWAGS, LET NONE SURVIVE!" He ran as hard as he could, knowing that the men were probably pulling out their guns now. He jumped into his cabin threw Belle on the bed, pulling out his own gun.
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Belle yelped when he pulled her along and once in the cabin said "I'm so sorry..I thought they wouldn't.."She looked startled by the sudden happenings, she could hear the gun shots over swords clanging as well.
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He looked around the corner and took a shot at one of the men. He pulled a shot out of his pack. "Don't worry love, this is the typical day in the life of a pirate, harhar." he says starting to laugh. "Now be a dear and lay low, wouldn't want you getting shot now do we." he said looking at her reloading his shot.
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Alright then.."She said, she winced at the sound of a yell- she wondered how many had been on the officer's ship.
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He was out of shots and he figured he wasn't goin to stand inside and hide like a ninny. "Lass, I'll be right back." he said smiling. "And don't get to scared without me, I'll be standing right outside." he says pulling out his sword and beginning to yell as he charged outside swinging at the first navymen he fonud.
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After a few minutes she couldn't stand it, she had a small poutch that had been tied under her dress.It held a gun and a few shots for it, she grabbed it up and loaded the gun and came out " Don't think I'm one to wait and wonder!"She said to him, she had a clear shot it seemed because her first shot met it's mark.
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Belle said "Thanks."She went off as well,within ten minutes time she had done her bit of damage, and one of them had tore in her arm when she was fighting another.When she ran out of shots she simply let go of the gun and kicked it from the way to keep going. She eventually went back to the cabin though- she couldn't handle more then that- she wasn't, after all, used to any of this and the amount of blood finally made her very queasy.
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Finally the gunstops were ceasing and the screaming started toning down. It seemed the rest of the men had retreated and all the pirates yelled for joy. The captain started to slump back into his room. "Hey, just to let you know you're safe and you're a pretty good shot, now if you will excuse me, I would like to lay down." he said slurring and sluggishly. He walked, his arm holding his side. "By the way love, you might want to find me some cloth to stop all this bleeding." he said falling to his knees.
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Belle ran over to him when he fell and said " how bad is your side?" She pulled his hand away to see- figuring that would be the reason he was holding his side like that.She forgot about her arm in he rush already.
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"Oi, love, I'm totally fine." he said, obviously delirious because he took a good slash to the side, and it was bleeind horribly. "I'll just need some sleep and a good piece of cloth to wrap this up with." he said smiling and finally collapsing onto the floor unconcious.
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Belle managed to gethim up on his bed- not worring about staining it in thee least she ran and got some clothes and got his shirt off of him, then carefully wrapped the large cut the best she could to stop most the bleeding and sa down next to the be after, fixing her own arm.
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He was out cold. Minutes passed while she fixed her own wound. He opened his eyes for a minute and struggled to say water. His throat was dry, and he was already having trouble breathing.
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Belle heard him and went and got some water and came back " Can you sit up?"She asked, but didn't wait for an answer.She sat on the bed and propped him up to be able to lean on her and she held the cup of water.
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Cutler was beyond delirious. As she fed him the water he took two opium pills. "I need to captain my ship, a ship without a captain is unheard of." he said trying to stand up. He wasn't even sure what he was doing. He was such a headstrong person he felt like he just had to keep going on. He was insisting on leading his ship.
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 Tilana Wood · Sun Sep 23, 2007 @ 06:16pm · 2 Comments |
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