Dawn broke through the porthole in my cabin. I could feel the slow, steady rocking of the ship just like the past two days. We were bound for Monserrat, the last leg of our long voyage from England. I or should I say we, since my companion Felicity was with me. We’re going to live with my father. He was the garrison commander of the island and had sent for me after my mother’s passing.We’d encountered a squall three days prior; it sheared one of the masts in half, killing two unfortunate deckhands in the process. The crew had been working on repairing the mast when the wind died, leaving us at the mercy of King Neptune’s whims and his ocean’s currents.I could tell the crew was anxious. I’d asked Felicity what they might be frightened of since she had befriended one of the younger crew members. She told me they were scared of pirates, especially the one named Captain Kelly. Not knowing a thing about pirates, I enquired what so special about him.Her eyes got big as she explained, he wasn’t a he. He was a she, and she was vicious, murderous, and incredibly evil. We were in her waters, and they wanted to get out and to a safe harbor as soon as possible.I scoffed at her words. How dare she attack a ship of his majesty King Charles II. It’s all rumor and speculation, I told her.I left my bed, if you want to call such a thing a bed and dressed. I looked out of the tiny opening to see the flat ocean before me. Barely a ripple across the dark blue depths.Felicity was waiting outside my door, the look in her eyes frantic. She was scared, blubbering away, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said something I didn’t understand. I grabbed her shoulders and told her to be still and tell me what was going on.She took a deep breath, steadied herself then told me a ship had been sighted earlier this morning on the horizon. The entire crew thought it was the pirate coming to kill us all and take our vessel and booty.I laughed, trying to calm the poor girl. They wouldn’t dare, I told her as I brushed past her to climb up on deck to see for myself.When I reached the top of the stairs, the sun shone brightly in my eyes and I had to cover them with my hand. As they slowly adjusted, I could see the crew of the ship running amok. The captain was shouting orders while pointing in various directions. I made my way up to where he was standing, poor Felicity in tow.I stood there waiting for him to acknowledge my presence for quite some time. I’m not used to being invisible, so I coughed a few times to get his attention. When that failed, I politely asked what the fuss was all about. He looked at me like I’d lost my mind, then told me the scourge of the west indies was bearing down on us. I should hide and hope they don’t sink us straight away.I told him I’d do nothing of the sort. He huffed and muttered something about a female dog, which I didn’t understand. I looked past him to see a ship approaching with the rising sun directly behind it. Its sails were full and taut. The sun backlit them, causing me to shield my eyes as the waves encircling us raised and lowered us as we sat idle.Felicity clutched my arm, begging me to do what the captain suggested. I turned to her and told her that I would do no such thing. Those pirates had no idea who my father was. They should be offering aid instead of instilling fear.That’s when Felicity began to cry. She kept repeating, “We’re all going to die; we’re all going to die.”I turned and slapped her face. Not hard, just enough for her to come to her senses. Her refrain ceased as she fell to her knees, sobbing.The alleged pirate ship kept coming. Our ship had nothing to protect it from such marauders if they were pirates. I doubted it because I could see a French flag flying atop the mainmast. I kept telling everyone, but nobody would listen.Around mid-morning, the ‘French’ ship was close enough to us to see men on the deck and in the rigging. I quit pointing out that it was French and was astounded when the ship’s flag lowered and another raised in its place.The wind buffeted it, but I could see what was on it. Its background was black and on it was a flower. I thought I’d seen drawings like it back in England. It was red, which sharply contrasted the black. I kept trying to remember the flower’s name when one of the crew yelled, “It’s the Crimson Orchid! We’re all going to die!”That’s when I got scared. Until that moment, I thought this was all much ado about nothing. The crew was shaking in their boots as the ship fired a shot, narrowly missing us. Our captain ordered a white flag be raised, he was giving up.The religious sailors sank to their knees, praying to whatever god sailors believe in. Some cried like babies; Felicity was still sobbing at my feet, pleading with me to hide. I’d have no part in that cowardly response.I watched as the ship came alongside. Men in the rigging swung over, others on the deck jumped or climbed to board us. They scurried around like ants herding the crew into a group then holding them, pistols, and swords at the ready. A couple of toothless barbarians ushered poor Felicity and me being the only females on board, to an area separate from the crew.We watched as a lone figure, a woman, walked from the pirate ship to ours via a large plank lowered into place by her crew. She stood taller than many of the men she passed as she walked the deck to survey her captives. She wore knee-high leather boots, her breeches a dark violet, her blouse of white looked as if Demetevler Escort were made from the finest Asian silk. In her hair was a jade ribbon that tied her long flowing fire-red mane back and out of her face. It matched the jade jacket wrapped around her waist.She was wearing a cutlass on her left hip, and a pistol tucked into her waistband. She was a striking figure; her ample breasts seemed as if they were ready to burst forth from her blouse. I noticed many of the men staring at them, and their jaws lowered in disbelief in her beauty. Not that I stare or have any interest in women’s bosoms. However, I did notice a leather necklace dropping between her large round breasts. Whatever was or wasn’t attached to the chain was completely obscured from view.One of her crew, a tall, brutish woman, saluted her, calling her Captain Kelly. The captain inquired as to the whereabouts of our ship’s captain. Bella, I was later to learn the first mates name, laughed as she pointed to the other side of the ship out over the water. There we all noticed was one of the ship’s yawls manned by a single person. Our captain, he was rowing as if his life depended on it, which was pointless. I don’t know where he thought he could row to. Captain Kelly pointed towards the tiny boat as she shouted to one of her crew whose body seemed weaved into the rigging. He called back, “Aye, captain!” then pointed a long musket towards the rowboat. We all waited in silence as our ship rose and fell, the marksman taking careful aim at our fleeing captain.I started to scream. No! When the shot rang out. I watched a cloud of grey/black smoke exit the rifle’s barrel. Then the entire population onboard our captive ship looked out to see our cowardly captain buckle and slump over, obviously dead. I screamed, which made Captain Kelly focus on myself and my companion, who remained at my feet whimpering.She turned to look at the source of the scream. I could hear the heels of her boots hitting the wooden deck with each step she took towards us. My gaze focused on her face; her eyes were glaring into mine. I dropped my gaze, not wanting to look into her eyes. Instead, for some odd reason, I focused on her breasts. As they grew closer, I could see them rising and falling with each breath she took. I could tell they were much larger than mine from what was exposed. They contrasted with the dark shirt she wore, making them stand out more than what I would consider appropriate for a lady. The woman’s pale skin was augmented with a multitude of freckles, some large, some small. My gaze broke when she stood directly in front of me, glaring down. I was at least a foot shorter than her and probably half her weight. I stood my ground despite being so much smaller.Without turning her head, she shouted, “Bella! What do we have in this tiny package?”Bella came running up and quickly explained to her mistress, “Captain, from what I’ve gathered from our captives, this is Camille Edwards, the daughter of Colonel Edwards, the commander of the garrison on Monserrat.”She looked at me as if she was going to have me for supper.It was then I spoke, “Yes, I am the daughter of Colonel Edwards. I demand that you provide my companion and me safe travel to my father. If not, he will surely track you down and throw you in prison.”She looked at her crew, “Well boys and girls, what say ye? Shall we keep the little auburn-haired vixen and incur the wrath of Colonel Edwards? Or take her back to daddy?”Every one of her motley crew began laughing. Even some of the captive crew thought Captain Kelly was funny. Then she took the pistol from her waistband, pointing it between my eyes. She pulled the hammer back as I stared back at her daring her to pull the trigger.”Don’t threaten me, you little tart. Your father is a drunk and a liar. I’m going to hold you until he makes good on his previous promises and adds some interest to what he owes my crew and me. Maybe, then I’ll ship your companion and your pretty little arse back to him. Give my crew or me any trouble, and we’ll feed you to the barracudas.”With that, she lowered the hammer on the gun and began barking orders, “Bella! Load anything of value onto the Orchid. Leave these captain-less scum to fend for themselves. Then bring my little tart and her friend aboard. Put them in the cabin next to mine and make sure you have someone gather everything the ladies brought and bring them aboard. And Bella, if any one of these low lives touches them or their pretty things, they’ll never touch anything again. Understand? We’ll send a message to Colonel Edwards when we make port. Now get to work, ya scum!”Bella saluted her, then turned to her crew, “You shits heard the Captain, get a move on! Dusty, Maddie, Nate, get these two darlings aboard. Maddie to keep your eye on ’em while the other two gather their whatnots.”Three disgusting looking pirates ushered Felicity and me over to the Crimson Orchid. Felicity was so scared she almost fell over while walking across to the other ship. The one called ‘Maddie’ locked us in a small cabin with only one thing you could call a bed hanging between two beams. There was a porthole I could look out over the ocean. All I could see was the flat deep blue ocean, the calm before the storm. However, on the horizon were clouds and darkness similar to the ones that afflicted our imperfect little vessel that got us into this situation in the Otele Gelen Escort first place.I thought about our poor captain. Maybe she’d been merciful, killing him. He surely would have died of starvation out on the ocean alone in that tiny craft. He abandoned his ship in a crisis, how cowardly of him. I thought the captain was supposed to be the last one-off. Captain Kelly did surprise me, protecting us the way she did. All the talk aboard our ship before her attack was that she was a murdering she-devil. She was terse and somewhat rude. She did let the rest of the crew live.I heard our new crew walking on the deck above us. Orders were being barked, and I assumed, carried out. Felicity was slowly returning to herself, worried but not scared to death. I paced back and forth, wondering how and if I could escape. If I did escape, where would I go? I was frustrated, mad, and everything in between.After some time, I heard muffled shouting, a loud thud, and then we seemed to be moving. I looked outside through a tiny porthole to see our previous ship slowly becoming smaller. I sighed, telling Felicity we’d have to keep calm and wait. The captain had promised no harm would come to us.We sat in our room and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, a scruffy looking person opened the door and told me to follow him. I asked why and all he would say was “captain’s orders.”Felicity tried to grab hold of me, but the pirate was too strong, pulling me away from her. I told her I’d be fine and shouldn’t be too long. I could see tears welling in her eyes, the poor girl. She sat back down as we left the room, the door closed, and bolted behind us.The sailor knocked on the captain’s door, and her voice called out, “Enter.’ He opened it for me.”Miss Edwards, ma’am, as per your orders.”She replied, “Thank you, Gunny, that will be all.”He saluted as I stepped into her cabin, then closed the door.She was standing behind a table, charts, and papers spread out over it. A pistol lay to her right, easily within reach. I stood silently watching her as she ignored me, gazing at her charts. I coughed to get her attention.She looked up at me, “Yes, I know you’re there, Miss Edwards. I’m debating where to stop to get word to your father. I also sent a message with the crew that just sailed away. Lord only knows if they’ll ever deliver it.”I sighed, “You mean we could be your prisoners for a very long time?”She looked me up and down, “Yes, pretty one you could be. I’d like to make this as easy as possible for us both. There will be rules for you to follow here, mostly to keep you out of harm’s way. There’s no point in trying to escape. You’d never survive being out on the ocean and I don’t want gunny to shoot you like that coward of a captain. Do I make myself clear?””Yes, captain. I do realize that. We’re at your mercy and hopefully under your protection. I’ve seen your crew, and they are rather barbaric.”She laughed, “What did you expect, silly girl? A ship full of dandies? I’ll pit my crew against any in the Caribbean.””I won’t argue with you, captain. You said there would be rules. What are they, please.”She invited me to sit as we went over her rules. We moved to a pair of chairs near her table. I couldn’t help but glance at her breasts now and then as we talked. I don’t know why I did, and I think she noticed as we spoke. She would allow us free range on the ship’s upper decks as long as a crew member escorted us. She would also assign a couple of them to us for that purpose. It was a matter of safety for her crew. She knew we’d get in their way as they did what sailors do. She added that she didn’t trust some of the newer members quite yet, so for our safety we would never be without an escort.They seemed like reasonable rules for us to follow. Felicity and I would have to endure our misfortune until my father paid the ransom or rescued us. I hoped either would come sooner rather than later.Overall it was a pleasant chat. The captain might be a murderous she-devil but, she seemed to be fairly reasonable. The captain wasn’t as brutish as I first suspected, at least not to me in her quarters. Maybe she had to be to keep her crew in line. We’d adhere to her request as best we could.We supped with the captain and her first mate, Bella. I thought some of the food came from our ship, but I couldn’t be sure. Despite her initial fear of Bella, Felicity was cordial, even laughing at a couple of the bawdy jokes she told. After eating, we said our goodnights and adjorned to our cabin.We only had a single small bed, a hammock which forced us to snuggle. I refused to sleep on the hard floor and I wouldn’t expect Felicity to either. It was quite cramped, unlike our other vessel, which had a real stateroom for me and one for my companion. Felicity and I managed to find comfortable positions laying with each other. She fell asleep before I did. I could feel her soft breathing, my arm wrapped around her petite body. I fell asleep feeling much better after talking and dining with the captain and Bella. Maybe the legend wasn’t quite the entire truth about our pirate.Morning came very early. I heard the ship’s bell clanging as the sun barely lit our room through the tiny porthole. Felicity’s leg was wedged between mine as we lay slowly waking up. When she moved, I felt a rather odd tingling there. It wasn’t all that unpleasant, just different. When she realized where her leg Balgat Escort was, she blushed, and we quickly untangled, both apologizing for being that close.We used the piss pot then dressed. I knocked on our door to see if we had a guard. Indeed we did; Marty, a young man of maybe sixteen, was there to escort us above deck to get some air. We followed him up the stairway leading to the main deck. We had to shade our eyes from the bright Caribbean sun. The crew was busy cleaning something from the deck, putting ropes and various other things away from the previous day’s encounter.Marty led us to the back of the ship, which we learned was called the ‘stern’, then up to another deck where they steer from, the ‘helm’. He had orders to keep us out of the crew’s way. Marty was pleasant and somewhat cute, and a little shy. Like the rest of the crew, he was filthy. We watched as the work continued around us, taking in the salt air while enjoying the sun.After a bit, Bella joined us. She’d been forward making sure things were properly stowed away. Bella was very funny. She was telling us stories and jokes, much to the delight of Felicity, who hung on her every word. I began to feel like a third wheel, so I left them to talk to Marty. I was curious about how he came to be a pirate at such a young age.At first, he didn’t want to talk about it so I let him be. I moved over to the railing to watch the waves cresting over the grand nothingness that was the Caribbean. It was exactly like our other ship, all alone in the vastness of the sea. I wondered what was below us. Huge monstrous fish? Mermaids? Mermen?As I was pondering, I kept turning to look over at Bella and Felicity. My little companion was blushing and giggling as I’d never seen before. Bella would softly stroke the girl’s face with her finger, making her blush from the neck up. I smiled then went back to my thoughts only to be interrupted by the captain. She greeted me politely as she kept an eye on the crew from the upper deck.Her breasts were on display as usual, which I ignored as best I could. I would have thought she’d hide them better. She was a pirate, so it must be the custom.We talked; briefly, she also noticed how well Bella and Felicity were getting along, commenting that she hadn’t seen Bella this happy in a very long time. I mentioned Felicity seemed to be the same way. I’d been worried about her when we were taken captive.During our talk the captain would excuse herself now and then conferred with Bella, who then would leave, order some sailors to do something, and then return to entertain Felicity. We stayed up there all morning talking and watching the crew go about their business. I found it very interesting; with few exceptions, they all knew what tasks needed to be completed and did them without being told. At times one or two would look at me and grin. I wasn’t not sure if it was a good grin or not.I tried to start a conversation with Marty again. He was beginning to open up. But, each time the captain or Bella showed up, he’d get quiet and move away. I thought they intimidated him. I approached him when they were distracted, asking him what was going on the main deck. That’s when he became animated, pointing out and naming all the things the sailors were working with and why they did it.I thanked him for being so smart and patient with me. He was so cute and smiled with a few missing teeth.Our days turned to weeks, the same routine each day: the same ocean, the same sky. Felicity and I kept waking in each other’s arms. I think she enjoyed it more than I did after the initial shock wore off. She felt protected and safe there. We’d quietly talk, legs entwined some mornings when the ship was rolling, and we’d rub against each other. I hate to admit it, but we both enjoyed a warm feeling between our legs when it happened. Felicity would hold me, asking me not to leave her right away due to her ‘feeling butterflies in her tummy’.Felicity was changing; she’d made a friend in Bella and was always anxious to see her. I was learning much more about our captain. She wasn’t the monster rumor had made her out to be. I found her to be very sensitive and caring; at least that was my perception.Finally, after a month at sea, we spied land. The crew was elated, cleaning themselves up and making the ship presentable more so that it was. I learned it was the home port for the Crimson Orchid. Wives, lovers, and families of the crew lived there.I was glad that we’d finally walk on solid ground. I’d been at sea way too long, the voyage over and now being a prisoner. The little village looked shabby from my perspective. Of course, I was used to living in England. Felicity and I watched as we approached the harbor from the bow. We were out of the way watching as the crew cast lines ashore to tie us firmly to a pier. There was a small crowd waiting for their loved ones to depart and go home with them. I blushed, wondering how many babies would be born about nine months from now.When we’d tied off, Felicity looked at me looking a little embarrassed. I asked what was wrong.With tears forming in her eyes she confessed, “Bella has asked me to move in with her, Miss Camille. I think I’ve fallen in love with her. Please don’t hate me. I don’t understand it myself, and she makes me feel special inside. I feel those little butterflies when she touches me I really can’t explain it. Oh, please don’t say no, I beg you.”I was stunned. Felicity and Bella, lovers? I saw how happy they were together. Lesbians? God forbid! But, I couldn’t refuse her happiness; she’d been through so much on this voyage.I took her hands in mine, looked her in the eyes, “If you’re sure about this, of course, you can. I won’t stand in the way of your happiness, Felicity. When you’ve set up house, would you please invite me over for dinner?”