[Crestshot]

*Peeks in slowly* Ha, Ahoy mates! I'm aware that this chapter is a little... well, okay, we'll just go with late and cut off little from the title, but what can I say? I'm easily distracted. It's here though, and we'll hopefully have one this Friday as well! So, without further ado...

Sweetheart



The call came from the crow’s nest in the early morning. It was one of those times that Kat was actually on deck. She pulled out her telescope and searched the direction of the call. Black and white sails met her eye. She lowered it and turned to Lawrence standing at her side. “Shall we engage?” she asked her first mate.

Lawrence looked straight ahead. The argument about the scroll the night before still hung between them. “It’s your choice, Captain,” he said coldly, emphasizing her title.

She wanted to speak with him now – yell at him, really – but that black and white was taunting her. Now was not the moment to recede from her apparent Captain’s strength and give into emotion.

“Mark course to intercept!” Kat ordered. She closed the telescope with a snap. “Raise British flag! Let’s see how close we can get without raising too much suspicion. Make sure those cannons are readied!” She shouted her orders left and right. The crew scattered as they tried to follow them as quickly as possible. Lawrence went below decks without a word, making Kat sigh internally at his stubbornness.

Within the next half hour, the Mercenary had lined up with the galleon. Kat was manning the wheel and led her frigate carefully to their target, bringing the broadsides even with it. When she felt they were at the best position, she let the fury fly.

“Broadside Port!” she screamed, and she heard the order echo until the cannons exploded from below. The cannonballs screamed towards the galleon, speeding through the hull. Despite the strength of a galleon’s hull, with a ship right next to it, it stood no chance. Through the holes, the crew saw men running around in panic. Man on the top deck aimed chainshots at the sails, forcing the EITC to slow. One lucky shot even caught the main mast, and it fell across the desk.

The galleon would not be going down without a fight, however. Its own broadsides fired at the Mercenary, penetrating the lower deck. Kat heard the shattering of her hull as the blasts rocked the ship. Her teeth clenched in frustration at the sounds, and she called the order to send another round of broadsides. “Fire when ready!” she yelled. Her cannonballs were sure on the planks of the EITC, causing damage that made her grin.

Kat belted the order to pull back the sails and to prepare for boarding. Men got out their hooks and ropes as Kat brought the ship around on their remaining momentum, and they were soon launched. Kat checked that her sword was safe by her side before launching herself over to the EITC Galleon.

At her move, the rest of the crew swung over to the ship, and the battle begun. Kat drew her black handled blade with a grin that dared the men to approach her. One black uniformed thug swung at her head, but she ducked and struck his leg. A small chuckle escaped her throat with the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She saw her crew dancing in circles lightheartedly around their foes, messing with them a little. It was rather enjoyable to watch the black and white run around confusedly with her men taunting them. Where there had only moments ago been worry, now there was fun. These were the moments she lived for.

But a flash of red suddenly appeared on the deck, and not the rather burnt color of Lawrence’s hair. This was bright and shiny, with white trim. This was the uniform of a Navy officer.

Kat wondered somewhere in the back of her head why the Crown would be involved on an EITC ship, but she didn’t acknowledge the thought too deeply. Instead, she dodged and weaved through the many men towards that unique form. She wanted to be the one to take this one.

Curiosity did kill the Kat.

She was raising her blade to strike the man in the back, when someone yelled at him in warning, and he spun around. His blade met with incredible ferocity over their heads as her eyes absorbed the other’s face; the sharp, pointed features that led to a wide chin and a small, tight lipped mouth; the light brown hair swept back in the sea breeze; the large nose with the smattering of goatee just framing his mouth beneath it; and finally those dark, almost black eyes that made her feel as if she was staring straight into the coldest, most calloused abyss that ever existed. She knew this man.

“Katherine?” he spoke in a low, rumbling timbre. Kat tore her sword away from his and backed up a few steps. He didn’t follow, nor did she want him to, but just stared at her in confusion.

“Gregory,” she breathed. Her face was white, as if the sea foam itself had replaced her blood. The sword she had taken from Jenkins dangled lifelessly at her side. She was trapped in a state of shock.

“You’re alive,” they said unanimously. The fact that they did as much seemed to stun them both back into silence. Kat’s crew and the EITC still waged war on all sides of them, but they were immune.

Finally, Kat seemed to revive her thoughts as memory returned to her. “You left me,” she growled. “You abandoned me! You-”

“Gregory?” Sarah’s cry of surprise drowned out Kat’s next words.

Charles, who had been fighting right next to her, whipped his head around as well. “Gregory Randolph?!” he yelled. At the sight of the man, he began to charge like a bull towards him, and death would have met one of them had Sarah not been there to hold him back.

“What’s going on?” Lawrence, noticing the action, asked above the battle, looking from one family member to another.

Kat shot Gregory a scathing glare. “Everybody back to the ship!” she ordered as loud as she could. A few people glanced at her, and she heard mutters of ‘What?’ beginning.

“Now!” Her projection was so strong that her voice cracked a little as she hit the pitch. Everyone immediately moved to action, grabbing ropes and swinging back to the Mercenary. Kat waited until her entire crew had left before taking the final rope in hand. She glanced back at the Navy Officer still staring at her.

“I’ll be seeing you, sweetheart,” she hissed. Something fell from her hand and rolled into the hold before she dropped off the edge of the galleon.

Her boots landed hard on the deck of her ship. She buckled at the knees, feeling them protest, but she didn’t care. “Get us out of here!” she yelled. “I don’t care which direction, just move!” The crew automatically jumped into action and got the ship moving as fast as possible. Kat looked back to the EITC and saw the smoke from her grenade’s explosion. She nodded coldly in satisfaction.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” Lawrence demanded of her. She just turned away and began walking towards the wheel. Not wanting to be ignored again, he roughly grabbed her arm. “Stop walking away from me!”

“It’s nothing!” she shouted in his face, trying to flee his grasp. He only gripped harder.

“Stop telling me that!” he yelled. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost!”

Kat stopped struggling against him, and her eyes got a distant, fearful look. “I have,” she whispered.

The question was on the tip of Lawrence’s tongue, but Sarah, who had been standing nearby, spoke first. “You said he was dead,” she stated.

“I thought he was!” Kat claimed. She finally pulled her arm from Lawrence, whose grasp had loosened in his confusion. “I just assumed that…” Her voice trailed off as she travelled into a memory.

“Who is he, Kat?” Lawrence asked quietly, feeling his anger fade out of fear for Kat’s state. He waited silently for an answer, but Kat was stoic and not giving it away.

“That was her husband,” Sarah told him, watching her sister’s face closely for a reaction. “Gregory Randolph, Officer of the British Royal Navy.”

Lawrence’s eyes seemed to bug out of his head. “You have a husband?!”

Kat sighed and put a hand to her eyes. “Lawrence, remember that very first day that we met? You kept calling me ‘Mrs.’?” She chuckled without humor. “’I am not a Mrs., Lawrence. I am merely a Miss,’” she quoted from that day three years before. “That was the day I had been betrayed, abandoned by the man I had given my vows to. While I was being given assistance in escaping that grimy little island he had stranded me on, after accusing me of infidelity, I heard cannons shooting off, and I knew that his ship was being attacked. I had assumed he had sunk.” Her gaze returned to the EITC ship they had left behind. “Apparently not.”

They were all silent and contemplative for a moment until Kat seemed to regain control of herself. “No matter now, though. We can’t do anything at the moment. The ship is in too bad of a shape.” Her gaze travelled to the flames on her port side. “Enough of my emotions. We do nothing about Gregory.” ’For now,’ she silently said.



While writing this chapter, I attempted to draw Gregory Randolph so his image would be much clearer in my mind, and so that writing his description would be much easier. I should have that picture up on my profile within the next few days.

Well mates, what do you think? Rather shorter than I had anticipated, I must admit, and honestly, it took me a while to get this chapter exactly how I wanted it. Tell me what you think, aye? Thanks for last week's reviews, and Thanks for Reading!

- Kat Crestshot