Page 8 of Escaping Pirates (Legends of Neverland #4)
H ours later, the blazing-hot sun was starting its slow descent through the sky, we were no nearer the shore, and my arms could have been severed from my body and the injury would likely hurt less than the ache from the rigorous scrubbing I was forced to do.
The years of waves crashing over the deck had left a layer of hardened salt plastered to the ship’s deck, and it was only by slaving over each square inch with a stiff-bristled brush that I managed to find the wood beneath.
Everything hurt—my back, arms, and shoulders from scrubbing; my face and hands from being sunburned; and my knees from the prolonged contact with that deck.
Even my eyes ached from having to squint in the sun’s bright glare for so long.
I’d never wanted Sugar and Blossom to call for me so badly.
But when they finally did, I wasn’t able to sit and read to them like I’d hoped.
Instead, they wanted to try out several different hairstyles, so I was forced to keep my arms up, twisting and braiding their hair while I bit my tongue to prevent myself from crying out from the pain of it.
Why weren’t we closer to shore? We should have been there long ago.
Why hadn’t I appreciated our servants more?
Of course, my parents and I had never treated our servants as poorly as I was being treated, and words of thanks would have done nothing to alleviate the agonizing pain that flared from my elbows up to my neck and down my back. A lump swelled in my throat.
“What are you crying about?” Blossom snapped irritably.
“Nothing,” I murmured, blinking back the tears that seemed determined to fall.
“Then stop sniffing,” Sugar told me. “It’s annoying. What were you saying about a fancy boarding school, Blossom?”
“Oh yes! Last I heard, Haven Harbor’s Princess Tess is going to start there soon. I heard people talking—she’s going to be escorted to Berkway within the month. Her older brother, Prince Korth, is bringing her. Can you imagine if we crossed paths? Word is that he’s very handsome.”
“Isn’t he engaged already?”
Blossom stared moodily into the mirror. “Yes. All the handsome men seem to already be taken.”
“Prince Jameson isn’t.”
Blossom ran her thumb along a hairbrush’s bristles. “Crown princes don’t often go out to sea. He stays in Berkway all the time, and you know Daddy prefers Ebora’s port. Where would I meet Jameson?”
“Doesn’t he have a brother?”
Blossom rolled her eyes. “Ernst is about half our age, and he’s off studying somewhere.”
“If you knew where all the scholarly men were, you could go meet someone.” Sugar heaved a sigh and pulled the pin out so her hair that I’d just done came tumbling down to her shoulders again. “I’m bored. Do you think Daddy will take us with him to shore tonight?”
“What do you mean, take you with him ?” I blurted, unable to stop myself from asking. “Aren’t we docking soon?’
Blossom rolled her eyes. “You think we’re stupid enough to bring the ship close to shore with you aboard?” She picked at a spot on her chin. “You’d yell and someone would come running and make accusations. They’re planning to row to shore once it’s dark. You’re not going anywhere.”
It took every ounce of my self-control to not snatch up the scissors on the vanity and shear her bald.
My fingers shook as I knotted Sugar’s hair, barely even noticing what I was doing and so distracted that I almost forgot the pain in my arms as I scrambled to find some hope.
If we were close enough to row to shore, that must mean we were close enough that a very strong swimmer to make it—but I doubted my ability to make the distance, even if I weren’t starving and had well-rested arms.
“Fetch our meal,” Sugar commanded me. “I’m hungry.”
“Of course.” At least I’d be able to sneak food off their tray when I brought it back.
I dragged my feet as slowly as possible, dreaming of different ways I could escape.
Setting fire to the ship would attract other people, but it would threaten my own life as well, and with so many men alert on board, the fire would be extinguished before it could put up a noticeable smoke signal.
I couldn’t think of any way to set one up otherwise, and any other escape plans that I concocted on my way down to the galley became increasingly ridiculous.
The ship’s cook wasn’t a talkative man. When I conveyed Sugar’s request, he merely grunted and set a tray of foods that were much richer than the small portion of hardtack I received each morning.
My arms trembled as I carried the loaded tray up the stairs and back to the sisters’ quarters.
Along the way, pirates watched through narrowed eyes.
There were no hidden alcoves where I could pause to sneak a few bites, and it seemed that Harsh had told them about his plan to keep food away from me; I wasn’t able to get so much as a nibble.
Sugar and Blossom dug into their meal, smacking their lips and sighing contentedly as I silently swept up their fallen crumbs.
I piled their empty dishes into my arms once they were finished and plodded across the deck to return them to the kitchens, but a sail’s distant fluttering caught my eye and I froze.
There was another ship, and it was flying Haven Harbor’s flag. It was still far enough away that I wouldn’t be able to call to them, but I might, might , be able to make the swim before the ships got further apart.
Without hesitation, I ran and leapt overboard, the dishes splashing into the water with me or else crashing to the deck as I jumped. The cold plunge was a shock to my system, but it wasn’t frigid. I could survive a cold swim. I wouldn’t survive much longer aboard that ship.
I burst to the surface, swimming frantically toward the other ship as shouts came from behind me.
I’d never swum so quickly in my entire life.
Each stroke felt like pulling on a lifeline.
I was going to escape. I would be free. Those were the only thoughts in my head as I swam after the ship, shouting when I could to try and get them to notice me.
It could be one of Father’s other ships, or even a ship from the king’s own navy. It was a ship that could take me home.
A shadow fell over me, and the Kraken’s Revenge came bearing down on me, closing the distance with depressing speed .
“Help!” I shouted at the retreating Haven Harbor vessel. Had they even noticed my desperate bid for freedom?
A net splashed down over me, descending like the iron bars of captivity as my last chance for liberty faded from view.
No matter how I fought to throw the net off, it proved impossible, and I found myself hauled up like any common fish and dumped onto the deck amid the crew, all laughing fit to burst.
“I told you she’d be excellent entertainment,” Blossom told Sugar, a smug, self-satisfied smile plastered across her face.
“That was good,” Sugar agreed. “I liked the part where her legs stuck through the netting.”
Humiliation and despair fought for dominance as I wished I could simply disappear and cease to exist. The fish-smelling net was yanked off me and Captain Harsh hauled me to my feet, fist gripped around my upper arm like a vice.
“You really don’t learn, do you?” Harsh hissed, his voice dangerously low. “There is no rescue for you. There will never be an escape. You can accept that or not, but it won’t change the outcome. You’re here to stay, and this time, I’ll make sure you don’t forget your place.”
“Want me to handle it?” The quartermaster cracked his whip threateningly, and I gave an involuntary shudder as the bloodthirsty pirates growled their eager anticipation.
Harsh cast a critical eye over me. I was already soaked, sore, and exhausted. What more could they take from me? What would a few lashes be in comparison to the misery my life had become?
A cruel leer lit up his face. “No, I have a much better idea. One that will make her much more grateful for what she has.”
Harsh’s punishment, at first, seemed manageable.
He simply locked me in my cell with my arms suspended over my head by a rough rope threaded through the iron bars on the low ceiling.
As time passed, however, the gravity of the punishment set in.
If I relaxed my muscles to let my arms hang by the ropes, the rough twine cut viciously into my wrists until the skin broke and blood trickled down to my shoulders.
When I kept my arms forced up, with my hands gripping the rope to loosen the tension on my wrists, my hands bore the brunt of the scratching so my palms began to bleed as well.
No matter what I did, the blood drained from my arms so that I lost all feeling. Sleep was impossible, and the only entertainment I had was kicking at the rats that skittered into my cell, but without anything to eat or drink, I lost even that motivation.
I never, never wanted to endure this punishment ever again. Harsh was right. I became increasingly wistful, longing for the days of my captivity when I was permitted to sit, stand, and lie down in my cell as I saw fit. They had broken me, both body and spirit.