Leslie felt the wind kiss sensuously on her cheeks, and blew blushes into them. It was a very cold night, but she had no coat on her shivering, petite frame; only ropes tightly wound around her hands and ankles, and the gag between her luscious lips. But she was not alone. In this lovely night of cold, the moon shone brightly over a huge ship with dozens of captives lining up its clean deck.
Her mistress, Miss Prufrock, was very agitated beside her; before, her high hair had looked tight and neat in its bun, but now, it was in a messy array of hair sticking out like a wounded ball of wool. She had a dirty gag between her very thin, very cruel lips, and was fidgeting in anger and incredulity at her imprisoned state.
Like the other prisoners, they were sitting down or squatting or otherwise; and Miss Prufrock in her elaborate, brocade dress of fiery red, looked most out of place here, and in what she considered a very embarrassing unladylike position; the pretty lady of twenty-three years had been tied with a tight rope snaked on her hands and connected to her ankles. And as a lady of high rank in society, she was very indignant over this coarse treatment.
Next to her, Leslie, who, though cold and trembling, sat demurely and quietly in her position; legs folded beneath her, with her wrists tied securely and tightly to her ankles so much that it numbed her. She was forced to arch her back, creating a space of graceful curve behind her. She wore an ugly, plain black dress, the Prufrocks' servant's uniform for the personal maid.
Leslie, nineteen years old, who had worked for the Prufrocks ever since she was seven, worried over her mistress. Though her mistress had been unkind and sadistic to Leslie over the years she had been with the wealthy, noble family, Leslie's compassionate soul did not like to see her mistress suffer through any indecency committed to her, and prayed that her young mistress and all the other prisoners would be able to escape from this unfortunate event safely.
A brawny man with dark chest hair sprouting out of his tight tucked-in shirt appeared with a few number of equally, physically monstrous men. They were pirates; they had attacked the ship Leslie and her mistress had been on, killed the ship's captain and as many of the ship's crew as they could, and captured the people travelling on it, who were mostly young peopleâexcluding a couple of elderly persons.
Now, they were in the mercy of these uncivilized men. There had been rumors about pirates that Leslie had heard before stepping on this cruiseâof how they attacked, killed, raped, and kidnapped people, demanding hefty ransoms for them and selling them into slaveryâthe first she had ever taken since entering the Prufrocks's mansion, but she had never dreamt of ever meeting one.
They went on looking at the prisoners, leering and sneering and spitting and taunting. One kicked a young man, and his fiancĂŠe screamed into her gag. The huge sailor grabbed her, ripped the gag off, and forced a sloppy, brutal kiss upon her. She quieted down and with tears in her eyes, huddled closer to her fiancĂŠe. The sailor laughed cruelly, joined by his cohorts. It stopped abruptly, when their captain appeared. "What d'ya think we should do with them people, Cap'n?" asked one. "Looks good 'nuff to sell, don't they?" said another.
The Captain was a tall, lean, and well-built man, and he had an aloof, cold expression. There was no visible compassion or kindness in his features, but there were ferocity, brutality, and the hints of a cold-blooded nature. He went about inspecting his captured goods, surmising what prices they could bring him if he sold them, should they not be bought back by ransom. Leslie saw him, watched him with fearful eyes as he used his sheathed sword and gloved hand to occasionally prod on his prisoners.
Leslie trembled for her mistress, for she knew her mistress was a very pretty lady, and was well-endowed with womanly features. But when he reached Miss Prufrock, she glared balefully at him, daring him to do something at her defiance. "Hmmph," he said, his unmoved expression showing that he was unimpressed by her show of boldness, or of her often-admired beauty. She was pretty of course; though her hair looked messy, her lips too thin, her nose too small, and her cheeks too shallow, she was still quite pretty. He had seen many girls like her before, on the land and on this ship. She should fetch a reasonable price should he have any need to sell herâbut he doubted that he would need to.