Chapter Ten: Compass

Crystal

I don’t know why he said it was big, and I answered like that. It was true, I didn’t like playing with small things, but Max’s laugh made me self-conscious.

Did I say something wrong?

A bad feeling filled my heart once again, without much thought, I moved closer to Captain Bayou, as we entered the bar. My eyes scanned the place which was filled with many drunken men, and young women flirting with them. I gulped. The whole place smelled awful as well.

This is sad. I thought, rubbing my hands together.

“Keep going, don’t look at them,” Max whispered into my ear, leaning down to reach me. I nodded at him.

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea,” he whispered to Captain Bayou who just ignored him.

We stopped in front of the stairs when a woman with long dark hair, a long red flat dress, and heavy makeup came up to me. I lowered my hat to cover my face.

“He’llo there, want some company?” she asked me. My face flared up.

No, I’m not a male. I thought, but Captain Bayou stepped in and grasped her hand. I tilted my hat to see the woman blush, hard.

“Not now, sweetheart. We came to look for a man, his name is Jones.” The woman’s brown eyes narrowed at the mention of Jones. She pointed upstairs.

“He’s busy at the moment.” her voice shook a little, as I took notice of how much cleavage she was showing. I frowned, feeling uncomfortable.

I am not sure why am I just playing along. I should be asking for help, but something about this island seems wrong.

“I see, it doesn’t matter. Thank you, my lady. Here, use this for wasting your time.”

I watched as Max walked around and placed a small brown bag in her hand. The woman’s eyes widened, and she shook the bag to hear it clink.

“Is pure gold, I can assure you that,” Max told her. She nodded her head and left, but her face was filled with shock. Without a second thought, we went up the stairs. Once we began climbing them, I started to hear loud voices, more like moaning and grunting. I stopped in my tracks and covered my ears.

I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want to hear that. It felt unnatural. It should have been something private, not this.

Captain Bayou took notice. He lowered himself to my level and tilted my hat up.

“Look at me,” he said. I shook my head at him.

“No. This is embarrassing.” I told him. Captain Bayou frowned at me and lifted his gaze to Max.

“Find Jones. I’ll stay with her.” Max nodded at him before going on his way.

Suddenly I felt two big hands over my own. I gasped out, looking up at him. He was looking somewhere else. My heart started to beat strong, as his warm hands felt big and somehow protective.

Why is he doing this? After a minute a loud explosion echoed hard, causing everyone to jump and shout... He let go of me and turned around.

“Oi, you son of a bitch!” I heard foul language. I moved behind Captain Bayou and then my eyes grew wide when I saw Max flying across the floor.

“Damn it.” Captain Bayou hissed, turning to give me his sword.

“I hope your mouth isn’t the only thing that can back you up.” He suddenly took out his pistol from his leather jacket.

“He was prepared!” Max grunted in pain, as I watched him get up, holding his chest. Blood came out of his mouth. I watched in horror as some woman came out, half naked, holding a blanket to cover as much as possible and some men as well. I shook my head.

“That sly bastard.” Captain Bayou rushed forward, stopping when a large, and I mean large, man appeared in front of him. His hair was long and curled his eyes were dark, and he had an ugly curl up mustache. His chest was very hairy.

“Here I thought I finally got you.” He laughed hard, his laughter reminded me of a pig snorting.

“The only time I get to die, is when God decides it’s time. Now let’s be civilized pirates, and tell me, where the hell is that island.” Captain Bayou’s voice changed, it wasn’t’ dark or soft, but serious. It made me shiver.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Lately, my memory has been lacking. I forgot.” He shrugged at us. Captain Bayou suddenly burst out laughing, as he pointed his pistol straight at the fat old pig.

“What a coincidence, my memories have been lacking as well,”

Then without a warning, he shot him straight on his shoulder. Captain Jones winced out in pain, then waved his hand.

“Get that bastard!” He ordered. A bunch of pirates surrounded us out of nowhere.

“Where did they come from?” I questioned, looking around.

“A girl? You brought a girl?” My eyes widened after I heard Jones asking the question. I covered my mouth.

Darn it.

Captain Bayou stepped by my side and grasped my shoulders, holding me close to him.

“She’s not a girl, but a witch,” he said a little proudly.

Why does he keep calling me a witch? Makes no sense at all.

I didn’t know how to feel about that. Looking up, Captain Bayou pushed me down, narrowly missing a sword that had been swung directed at us.

“Witch, a girl, I don’t care. Take her and kill him,” Jones ordered, then everything changed. I moved rapidly, grasping Captain Bayou’s sword.

What my brother taught me. God, please let it work. I prayed, swinging my body and blocking a sword that was pointed straight at Captain Bayou.

“Not your luck today buddy.” I pushed him away and started sword fighting him. I moved back when he swung at me, I blocked him off and kept fighting him. All I could hear was the clink of sword against sword.

“I need to borrow this,” I heard Captain Bayou say before I heard metal against metal. Everyone around us started to attack. I felt sweat already rolling down my forehead.

This is too much. I have never fought with so many at once. I could feel my body already starting to tire out.

“Crystal!” I heard my name being screamed, I turned, only to have Max grab my arm and spin me around, saving me from being stabbed. That one could have very well ended my life.

“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly. I looked up at him and nodded.

“Thank you, and yes, and you?” I was breathing hard.

“I’ll live. We need to leave now.” I nodded once again, and turned to see Captain Bayou knocking someone in the face. My eyes widened to see his sword slicing clean through the pirate’s stomach. My own stomach dropped at the sight.

He killed him?

“Captain Bayou it’s time to leave now!” Max yelled. Captain Bayou turned and ran toward us.

“You killed someone!” My eyes were big.

“Really? We are fighting, We’ll talk about that later.” Captain Bayou grabbed my arm, and we started to run away, trying hard to avoid most of the attacks.

“You can run Capt. You can never hide. Your head cost a lot these days. The king is looking for you, and if that witch is the princess, oh what a hell of fun, it will be to chase you even more. Go after them.” I heard Jones spout nonsense.

“Why did we even come, if you knew it would be like this? Especially alone,” I asked, as we went inside one of the rooms, which was small. It had one bed and a window. Captain Bayou and I pressed our bodies against the door barricading it for the moment.

Max moved forward, looking for something in his pockets, as Captain Bayou glanced at him.

“For fun, what else? Did you manage to get it Max?” he suddenly asked. Max turned to face him, and a broad smile spread across his lips. He produced a small round object from inside his pocket.

“You hit him on the right mark. The stupid bastard is too caught up in his own good to realize his compass is gone.”

I blinked, surprised at Max’s words.

“We risked our lives for a compass? What is going on?” I asked. Then I felt the door push against us, causing me to tumble forward, but Captain Bayou grasped my arm and pulled me back.

“In order to give you your freedom, I need that compass is all you need to know. Let’s go.”

He pulled me as we started heading for the window, and he opened it.

“Max, you know the plan if we split up,” he said to Max.

Max nodded, and he went to the window to step outside. Captain Bayou did the same and then peeked his head inside and stretched out his arm.

“Unless you want to make friends with them, I suggest you come with me.” I stared at his silver eyes. Again that feeling of trust overwhelmed me. I took hold of his hand, and he gently helped me out the window, just in time, the other pirates burst into the room. Then my eyes flew open when Captain Bayou wrapped his arm around my waist and pinned me against him.

“What are you...” but my words were cut off, when a startled scream passed my lips, as we jumped forward, only to land on top of a cart filled with cabbage. I fell on top of him. I groaned in pain and lifted myself up, only to look down at him. He was just staring at me.

“Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded shyly, as my hair covered our faces, I noticed our noses were inches apart. His eyes roamed mine. My cheeks flared up when I noticed that his hands were on my hips, and my legs were between his. He just stared at me, and my heart once again started to race.

“I am... we should go.” I moved away from him, only to have the cart break, scattering us across the ground.

“Eii,” I hissed, Captain Bayou suddenly started to laugh and helped me get up.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as I brushed off some cabbage leaves that were stuck to me. He did the same.

“That was fun.”

“Getting yourself almost killed is fun? I don’t want to know what other ′fun activity’ is enjoyable for you.” I told him. Captain Bayou laughter died and I took notice that a cabbage leaf was still stuck in his hair.

“Bend down,” I told him. He blinked at me.

“Just bend down, you’re too tall for me,” he didn’t say anything but did as I had commanded him, bending down to my level. I moved a little and grasped the cabbage, smiling a little as I brushed it out of his hair.

He seemed to take notice of my smile and kept staring at me, his eyes softened as I moved to show him, but his face changed, as I waved the cabbage leaf in front of him.

“There.” I said, and threw it away. He got dangerously close to me, wrapping his hand around my waist and drawing me closer to him. I looked up surprised.

“I can think of other enjoyable actives when my life isn’t on the line, the ones that include a warm woman’s naked body under mine,” he suddenly said. His eyes turned dark, and he kept staring at me.

My eyes widened, and my cheek flared up.

“Is that all you think of while our lives are on the line? You pervert.” I moved away.

“Is my dream to feel that,” he mumbled, but I didn’t quite catch it when I heard someone shout over his words.

“THERE THEY ARE, CATCH THEM!”

Then we started to run once again.