SPLASH! I wake to a bucket of water to the face, a lightning storm headache and a kick to the hips. I try to sit up but my hands are tied behind my back to my feet. After shaking my head and blinking a few times I realize that I am no longer in my room, but rather a larger swaying room at the bottom of what I can only assume is a boat? "GET UP!" I hear a man scream at me. I find early on that hesitation leads to a swift kick in the back and a loud click next to my temple. "I told ye once wench I not be tellin ya' again; get up!" without a seconds hesitation I manage to shoot up and prop myself against the wall. Why am I on a boat? Why am I wearing only a corset and an old fashioned slip? Why are they white? Why do I feel strangely comfortable in the bottom of a boat I've never been in with people I don't know? Most importantly, who the fuck is this guy with a gun to my head?
"Where am I?" a sharp bout of laughter begins to fill the room as I begin to realize I am not only not alone, there are at least a dozen men eagerly staring me up and down. All of them clad in similar rags for clothes, passing around and drinking from a large jug. There is a short particularly vulgar man feeling me up from behind as another man closes in ready to take me from the front.
"Knock it off men." Said the most well groomed of all. "She is to remain uncorrupted til cap' in can figure out what t'do with'er". Captain?! Where the fuck am I? The two men each grab a section of my hair and begin to drag me across the wet floor towards a dark doorway. Stairs, oh god no. They begin to drag me up until a third man with four teeth slides his hand up my leg and wraps one arm around the rope and the other hand has a tight yet rubbing grip on my thigh. I open my mouth to scream as I watch a man dampen a rag with the contents of the jug but before I can, he shoves it in my mouth.
Soon I find myself at the top deck of what appears to be a pirate ship. Now covered in dirt, spit, alcohol, and whatever combination of liquids were on the floor the two men let go of my hair and the groper drops me. "A'vast Lads, what'd I say? E'nry, if ya cant follow orders ye'll be grabbin dat holystone and cleanin th' decks ya und'rstand?"
"Bah"
A strangely sordid version of a familiar voice comes from somewhere but I can't pinpoint it. "Forg'v em miss, ee's not a man of da world like I be." Shaken I nod unsure of what awaits me. Clomp; everyone turns to a door behind me "well? Go on." Clomp. Henry pulls a blade kept in a sheath strapped around his boot waving it in front of me holding it to my throat then all the way down my back and resting on my leg before sliding up and cutting the rope though only relieving my feet. Clomp, clomp I feel a familiar hand wrap around my hair with another hand on my face guiding me to stand. Guiding my face to eye level I open my eyes to see him. He towers over me at least a foot or more, Dark bearded, the cleanest of all the crew and still unkempt, his clothes are tattered rags of what were once beautiful blue threads. Tears well up as he pulls the rum soaked rag out of my mouth.
"It's you!" I'm not sure who he is, but I can sense a feeling of comfort in him that I gravitate towards. I lean my head on his chest. He stands there for a moment, and then shoves me back to the ground holding me there with his boot on my chest.
"But?" He looks at me with such a tenderness and familiarity the tears start to fall.
"Think ya can soften me up can ya? Well ill not be letting ya go."
"What?"
"Yer me ran'som sweet child."
"What did I do?" I manage to squeak out. One minute I'm sitting on the couch watching movies the next thing I know I'm a prisoner on a pirate ship?! "Who are you? How did I get here?"
"I don't know who ya think ye be speakin' to wench but this eers Edward Teach captain of the greatest grandest ship that e're sailed the corsair the Queen Annes Revenge. Watch how you speak to the cap'n."
"That's enough Samuel. Ello miss the names Blackbeard; this heres me ship, and you pretty Antonietta, yer mine."
"Antonietta? Who do you think I am?" who I was starts to disappear.
"The question i should be askin ya is who d'ya think you are?"
"This game isn't funny!" You look confused. "are you serious?" I'm starting to feel unsure, I thought I knew who I was, but my job, my life, my education, it's all slipping. All I am left with is a terrifying fear of Blackbeard's hand, the need to survive and to get home.
"What you boys been givin her? Sweetie ya'r Maria Antonietta, I am Blackbeard, this eer's ma ship and yer mah prisoner." Suddenly its clear, the previous world has gone. I feel an entitled sense of pride. I am the princess of Spain.
"You will regret this."