Pirates and Assassins

[ROUX]

Lucas ignored her cursing, stepping aboard the massive pirate ship and scanning the deck. His crew was waiting for his orders, as they were suppose to, but the ship felt empty without his first mate. Without Halt. But then, that was why he was doing this wasn't he?


His eyes hardened, and he scowled at the majority of them.


"This girl...she's to be kept in the brig. Any of you lot puts his filthy hands on her, and you'll find yerself at the bottom o' Davy Jone's Locker, ya hear?" He said, and they nodded.


Luke stepped down, eyeing them all. "What're you waiting for? Set sail for Spain!"

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena bit her lip in annoyance. She hadn't been to Spain since she was sent to kill an ambassador there, but that was besides the point. She was aboard a ship that was sailing away from her place of business. Maybe there was a chance for her to get off before they sailed too far away from shore. She felt the cold, small knife in her boot press against her skin, and knew that she needed to get her hands on that blade.


"Mind getting your dense men to release me now? I'm on a ship full of armed pirates, after all," Celaena persisted, attempting to shrug the men's hands off her arms but to no avail. She glared at Lucas, making it seem like she just wanted her own personal space.

 

[ROUX]

"Ha. A ship full of armed pirates that just happen to be occupied setting sail," he said, shaking his head. Like wouldn't be fooled so easily.


"Take her down below, then search her...but be careful. She's a fighter," he added, turning his back on them and walking across the deck. He had to plan this carefully. Very carefully. And he couldn't worry about imprisoned assassins of he wanted to pull off a successful rescue mission.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena scowled as she was taken down below deck and searched. They were thorough, and Celaena kicked one of them in the jaw for being a little too thorough. The two pirates ended up stripping her of every weapon she had hidden in her layers of clothing. They even had the brains to check her boots. Celaena had hoped for them to leave her hands unbound, for she was skilled at hand to hand combat even though weapons were still more useful, but they tightened a rope around her wrists.

 

[ROUX]

Luke sauntered down the damp steps to the brig, carrying a makeshift torch as he walked through the dimly lit halls. It'd been hours since they'd set sail, and he figured he'd check on the prisoner before heading off to sleep.


He snorted at the array of weapons that his men had taken off of her, and looked through the bars at the girl. "Comfortable enough for ya?" He asked sarcastically.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena had been leaning up against the wall for the past few hours, occupying herself first with trying to loosen the ropes, then resulted to tapping her foot against the bars. Her cloak had been taken from her, so she was left with her standard boots, and her slim, black trousers and shirt. The cut that Lucas had given her along her collarbone had long since stopped bleeding and had dried up shortly after her arrival.


At the sight of Lucas, Celaena frowned and continued tapping her boot against the bar. "Oh yeah, this is exactly where I wanted to be tonight, in the dank cell of a ship sailing to Spain," she scoffed.

 

[ROUX]

"What's wrong with Spain? I hear they have excellent cuisine...provided you can handle the spices." He smirked at her and leaned on he bars near her. He looked her up and down shamelessly, locking his lips before speaking again.


"Is there any way I can get you to reveal your name? Or are you sticking with the 'rough and tumble warrior princess' routine..."

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena froze. Telling him her full name was something risky. If he had heard it, he would know that dozens of cities had warrants out for her arrest and execution, and would make no hesitation to ship her off to the highest bidder. But then again, maybe he hadn't heard the name. Either way, the only thing Celaena had to lose was her life, and she planned on keeping that for a while.


She glanced at Lucas, then resumed her tapping. "Celaena," she said curtly, waiting for Lucas's reaction.

 

[ROUX]

"Mmm. Interesting..." He mused, trying to recall where he had heard the familiar sounding name before, but was unable to retrieve it from his memory.


"Well, Celaena, how do ya like my ship?" He asked, fully expecting an annoyed reply from the woman, glancing at her tapping foot, then back at her face. The sound echoed in the hall, the only sound down there apart from their breathing.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena released a dry laugh. "It's hard to make that judgement call when you've spent most of your visit below deck in a cell," she stated blandly, glancing up at him. His features were hard to make out even with the torchlight, but she blamed her hazy vision on the blow Lucas gave to her. She rubbed her temple gingerly, knowing that a bruise will form there soon enough.

 

[ROUX]

He shrugged, noticing her rubbing her head, seeing the bump that threatened to form. Sighing, he turned from her and began to head back out, leaving her in darkness.


He passed a crew member, and stopped the man.


"Tim would you...would you grab some ice, and maybe a cloth, then take it down to the girl below deck?" He asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.


"Why-"


"I don't know why, just do it!" He snapped, stalking off toward his own chambers, feeling stressed. Luke entered his room, shutting the heavy door behind him, and grabbed a bottle of rum to drown himself in.

 

[lenalove21]

Once Lucas had left her alone in the darkness, Celaena stopped tapping her boot against the bar. She groaned inwardly, cursing herself for getting into this mess. If she had just let him have the rum at the bar and walked away, none of this would be happening right now. Her pride got the better of her, and now she was sitting in the dark in the middle of the ocean with nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs. Celaena was never good at sitting still.


Just as she began dozing off, Celaena was jostled awake by the crackling thud of a bag landing at her feet. She glared at the pirate who had disturbed her, but waited until he left to see what he had tossed in her cell. Ice? Celaena held it in her hands in bewilderment, but took the cloth that the pirate had thrown in with it and pressed them to her head. The ice brought relief to the bruise, and Celaena sat there icing it until her arm drooped and she fell asleep. 
{we can time skip to the next morning here in you want}

 

[ROUX]

Luke yawned widely as the bright sunlight breached his eyes, and he rubbed them to try and get them adjusted. He rolled out of the mess of blankets that was his bed, and threw on the nearest items of clothing he could find - a brown leather jerkin over a long sleeved tunic, paired with his boots and breeches from the day before. The flask he'd been enjoying from the night before lay empty and strewn across the room on the floor, and his head ached from the drinking, but he ignored it. He didn't expect the day to be too eventful, probably just filled with menial sailing duties for most of his men, and if they were lucky, a little raid if another ship passed by.


Bored, and waiting for the cook to call breakfast, he wandered around below deck, not needing extra lighting this time thanks to the daylight. He walked down the steps quietly, checking if Celaena was still asleep or not - or if she'd fallen asleep at all. Nights below a ship of this size were never pleasant, and had driven numerous people to seasickness and vertigo.


"Rise and shine warrior princess," he called out.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena was already awake. She had gotten maybe a few hours of restless sleep, the rocking of the ship as it sailed waking her up from time to time. But it was the sunlight seeping down from above deck that caused the assassin to stir. She was never a late sleeper. Her job normally required her to be an early riser, so waking up as the sun rose was simply a habit to her now.


She was in a sitting position by the time Lucas arrived at her cell. She had her feet out in front of her as she leaned back against the wall. Her wrists were irritated and red from the constant rubbing they received courtesy of her bonds. Celaena figured she looked like a mangled mess. Her hair was probably in a horrific state, and her clothes were dirty. She felt so out of her element, being the captive rather than the captor.


"Been there done that," Celaena said in reply, a little louder than she expected to be.

 

[ROUX]

He studied her for a second, before unlocking the cell, and stepping inside. Luke watched her as he walked up to her, raising a hand to her face - then lowering it to drape over her hands.


"Before I untie you. Just be warned, that you're on a ship, leagues away from any land, and as you pointed out earlier, surrounded by armed pirates. My armed pirates," he added, before beginning to remove the ropes from her wrists.


"Don't try anything girlie...wouldn't want you to have to scrub your own blood of of me ship," he said, standing back and holding the ropes at his side, while keeping a hand on his sword and blocking the doorway.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena was genuinely surprised when Lucas entered the cell and cut the ropes from her wrist. She rubbed her tender wrists, rolling away the tension from the bonds that held them. When he had explained the threats against her on this ship, Celaena did realize that escaping was impossible. The only way she could potentially bring herself freedom was if she managed to take over the ship, and that wasn't likely either.


Realizing that she was still sitting on the ground, Celaena stood up slowly and made eye contact with Lucas. A smirk crossed her face at the sight of his hand near his blade. He thought she was going to try something. Once she was in a standing position, Celaena crossed her arms and waited expectantly for Lucas to either move out of the doorway, or lead her out himself. "Well?"

 

[ROUX]

"Come on up then...I figure'd you'd be bored of looking at a shoddy wall for hours on end," he said, turning towards the stairs.


"You may be a prisoner, but extra hands on deck are always welcome," he added, glancing back at her. He had no doubt that she was used to manual labor, she wasn't petite and soft handed like the many other girls on land he'd seen.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena followed Lucas upstairs, familiarizing herself with everything she passed. It had become a habit of hers to be aware of everything around her just in case a potential emergency or escape opportunity arose. She frowned the sound of helping out on the ship, and changed the subject. "Do you keep all of your lady friends locked up in a cell when you invite them aboard? Personally I don't see the charm in that," she said slyly, a smile creeping onto her face. Or why you would want a stubborn girl on your ship at all. Why would he go through the trouble?

 

[ROUX]

"I did offer you my bed, but ya refused...as expected," He mused, stretching as he walked along, and tying his brown hair behind his head. "Besides, I don't need much charm to convince my usual 'lady friends' to come aboard...just the money."


Luke stopped, reaching the side of the ship and leaning his back against the wood, crossing his arms. "So, Celaena, tell me about yerself."

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena reached the rail and looked out at the blue ocean. The winds whipped her hair around, so she tied it back in a braid to keep it out of her eyes. She leaned her elbows on the wood and stole a sideways glance at Lucas before turning her attention back out onto the sea.


"There isn't much to tell, to be quite honest. Just a commoner trying to make a living," she lied with ease. There was partial truth in that statement. There really wasn't much to tell. Her past was dark and painful, and she hadn't trusted someone with the stories of her past in ages.

 

[ROUX]

Luke snorted at the comment. "What sort of commoner wields a sword like that? Or dares to insult a pirate, at the very least..." He noticed her looking but kept his gaze trained in front of him. He could tell she was hiding something big from him, and she piqued his curiosity for some strange reason.


"Come on. It's not like I can really judge ya, I'm a pirate for god's sake," he laughed, tapping his knuckles against the structure behind him.

 

[lenalove21]

"Oh believe me, I'm not worried about you judging me," Celaena said wryly. Even though she knew it was risky, Celaena felt like giving Lucas some sort of explanation. Not of her past, but what she does for a living. There were dozens of assassins scattered throughout the world, she could be just a small local one in his eyes. "Let's just say I kill people for a living," Celaena added.

 

[ROUX]

Lucas thought this over, deciding it made sense, and he didn't press the subject further.


"Couldn't kill me though," he said, winking at her. "What, didn't want to mark up this handsome face?" he added, pushing off from the side of the ship and moving next to her, putting his mouth right next to her ear. "I don't blame you," he whispered into it, staring at her curiously.

 

[lenalove21]

Celaena raised a brow at Lucas, and traced the scratch she had made on his jaw with her finger as she flashed a devil-may-care smile at him. "Last time I checked, I did leave my mark. And as for killing you, well," she paused and took his moment of distraction to slide his sword out his belt and twist away from the railing, the tip of the blade aimed at his neck.


"I still could." Celaena's eyes gleamed, and she smirked as she slammed the sword into the floor of the ship. She hoped this little stunt of hers didn't upset any of the crew members. Though Celaena had just pointed a sword at their captain, she did remove the threat almost as swiftly as it had come.

 

[ROUX]

He laughed, pulling his sword up from the ground, and slid it back into its place. "Careful lass," he said, his eyes amused but accompanied with a dangerous glint. "Wouldn't want to give the crew the wrong impression, now would we?


Speaking of, Dale needs help repairing the mast...not many are nimble enough to climb up there," he said, looking up at the man and back at her pointedly. "Care to take on the ropes?" The words were asked as a question, but he really wasn't giving her much of a choice. Leaving her to it, Luke made his way below deck again, this time to check on supplies.