Another risk of being a pirate

Maria Hallett was dressed in some of her finest and cleanest clothes and was strolling casually through Port Manomet apparently without a care in the world. She looked merely like another resident of the town, with a regal bearing that suggested she may even be part of the lower aristocracy. In truth, as she walked casually and purposefully toward the docks where a small boat would be waiting to take her back to the Whydah which was anchored North outside the bay, she was listening hard for any sort of disturbance behind her. She'd earlier slipped into the governor's office and helped herself to a ledger that listed all of the merchant vessels that were scheduled to be arriving in the next couple months. These were the kind of missions that out of her crew, she was best suited for, because no one suspected a woman of piracy. Pulling this off in a port city like Manomet was a bit more difficult because of the large number of Royal Navy guards, but when she made it back to the Whydah, this ledger would help her Captain Bellamy pick out the choicest targets for the next two months.

The stealing of the ledger had been easy enough - she'd slipped in and out almost unnoticed and written off as a guest of the governor's. It was the walking away that was the difficult part. Maria hated the fact that she could not carry her cutlass as it wouldn't match the disguise at all, and she had a pistol concealed in her dress but her lack of aiming abilities made it less than a great comfort to her. She also had a couple explosives but hoped that she wouldn't have to use those. A hope that would apparently be in vain.

Behind her she heard a brief scuffling commotion and then shouts of "Stop that woman! Stop her! She has stolen from the governor!" And that is my exit cue, Maria thought to herself. She turned around a corner calmly so as to not incriminate herself by running in the sight of the guards, but once she was out of their view, she hiked up her skirts and ran down an alley, taking a sideways route to the docks and hoping to lose the guards. She turned another corner and was met with an obstacle - she ran right into someone and stumbled back slightly, looking up to see who it was...

Oh! I'm sorry! How clumsy of me!" Calypso said as she gently grabbed hold of the other woman, helping to steady her. Looking at the woman's frantic face she looked behind her and saw the guards running after her. Oh dear, Caly thought to herself This won't do at all... Drawing her fighting knives, she stepped in front of the other lady and whispered to her, "Run for your life, dear lady, I will hold off these laddybucks for ye." Twirling her knives in her hands she smiled somewhat cruelly, her violet eyes sparkling mischieviously, "Hello lads," she said, "We seem to keep running into each other now, don't we?"

As a woman, Maria had the tendency to not want to leave anyone behind and to not want anyone to sacrifice themselves for her. "No," she shouted, lobbing one of her explosives over the woman's shoulder - it was a small bomb, more of a smoke bomb than anything. It would not do much damage to the street, nor the men, but it would have them too teary eyed to pursue for a while. Without thinking she grabbed the woman's arm and tugged her along behind as she ran, ducking around corners until they were tucked into an outdoor storage space. Maria held her hand over the other woman's mouth until she was sure the woman wouldn't shriek or speak too loudly and then stared through a small crack between two crates. Sure enough, a flock of red coats ran by shouting. When they were out of ear shot, Maria looked at the other woman and said, "They should be gone but we should wait here a bit just to be sure."

Calypso looked at the other woman with respect and nodded. About to say something, she was cut short when a small black ball of fur came hurtling into the alcove and onto Caly's shoulder. "Faithful! Why you ungrateful ball of fleas. However did you find me?" The ball of fluff uncurled itself enough to look up at its master. It was a small, black kitten. It began to purr and it nuzzled Caly's shoulder. Caly sighed and ran her fingers through her pet's fur. "Well however you did find me, I can't say that I'm all that upset about it."

Foot steps were heard from a small distance away behind the two women. As Maria kept her eyes between the space of the crates, Calypso wanted to look behind her but was too focused on the cat. The clicks from the heel of a boot were heard approaching. Maria being completely oblivious to the approaching gentlemen. Samuel walked steadily and surely that the two were up to something no good. He had pulled into harbor in hunt for Maria. His rapier suddenly was heard being pulled. Though Samuels'
eyes caught a glimpse of Maria.

"Maria!" He called.

At first, Maria thought the approaching footsteps were that of a soldier, so she hid further back in the shadows, clasping her hand over Calypso's mouth again. But when she heard her dear Samuel's voice she lit up. "Samuel!" she called, coming out from behind the crates. She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I thought you were going to wait on the ship? Are the men still waiting in the harbor to pick me up?" She was just glad to see him there. "I got the ledger, but obviously I was followed..." she said, nodding to her hiding place. "But someone helped me, and I need to repay her before we go." Maria turned to where Calypso still hid. "Excuse me, miss. You can come out. How can I repay you for helping me? I must be on my way soon, as my Captain and I are fairly wanted by the Royal Navy Guard."

"Maria," Samuel spoke strongly, "the ledger is not as important as your life my dear. As long as you are safe that is what matters. Have you lost the ledger in the process of running?" Samuel put his rapier up. Keeping an eye on this strange woman who seemingly helped his Maria.

Calypso grinned and shook her head before saying, "No payment is needed, lady. Faithful and I rather enjoy giving the Guard a hard time, don't we, Faithful." The little black kitten mewed and licked Caly's ear, keeping an eye on the newly arrived man. Caly chuckled and whispered to her pet, "It's rude to stare, flea bag." The cat yowled mockingly before Caly said to the man, "Forgive Faithful, but he has never been friendly toward other men. Back when I was part of a crew, he was a bit of a bother because I was the only woman on board amongst all the men." She nodded at the man and smiled at Maria, bowing her head. "Thank you for making the day all the more interesting," she said as she made to take her leave.

Samuel attempted to get Maria's attention as her intent was clear, she wanted to give thanks to this stranger.

"Maria, we must leave. It won't take the guards much longer to find us." He stated firmly.

Samuel awaited Maria's reply though, he paced about keeping his eye out for the guards. Walking about, he heard foot steps. Again trying to obtain Maria's attention.

Maria put her hand on Samuel's forearm, looking from him and back to the woman. "I know Samuel, but she did help me - and we can't just leave her here. The guards saw her with me, they're sure to be after her as well. Maybe she can sail with us for a while?" She looked up into Samuel's eyes. He was very particular about who he let on his ship, she knew, but he had a kind heart, for he was the Prince of Pirates. "I know it's a stretch, darling, but if she's caught and hanged it will be on my head. She can sail with us maybe until our first raid from the charter? Then we can drop her off at some port, somewhere they won't be looking for her." She turned her eyes to Calypso again. "That is, of course, if she's interested."

"My sweet dear Maria, we don't have time. We must get back to the ship." Samuel pleaded with his love Maria. Though he saw in her eyes she was adamant about this decision and didn't want to disappoint Maria.

"Maria, we don't even know this woman. For all we know she could be two faced." Samuel stated. Looking around the corners of each building making sure no guard was approaching.

"We must flee immediately if we are to make it back to the ship before sundown and before the guards spot us. You know they'd spot us from a great distance." Samuel argued.

Caly watched this exchange with a small smile playing across her lips. "Don't worry about repaying me, Lady Maria, was it? As I mentioned earlier, Faithful and I enjoy making trouble for the Guard." Two faced, my left eye Caly thought to herself and mentally shook her head. "Go," she continued, "Your man obviously doesn't want to risk your life. And he's right, for all any of you know, I may be two faced." Caly turned on her heel and left the hidden alcove, not caring if the Guard found her. Faithful wound himself around her neck purring, keeping a sharp eye out for the guard and also on the two people still in the alcove.

Samuel's eyes flared open outraged.Samuel placed his right hand on his hilt, calling out to Calypso,

"Are you mocking me woman?"

Faithful hissed at the man's tone but Caly silenced him with a gentle tug to his tail. Caly didn't turn around but called over her shoulder, "I meant not to mock nor to offend, Samuel, was it? I merely wanted to point out that your... Comment could have very well been true. You don't know me. Why would I help your Maria? Out of the goodness of my heart, perhaps?" and continued on her way as she said to Faithful, "Really flea bag, you need to be careful with who you insult," and laughed when her kitten mewed and gently bit her ear.

"Forgive me, but is it not the way of the wicked to win over the hurt of the good only to betray them? For all I know you could be a spy." Samuel stated strongly, "If anything, how would I know your intent was true?"

(heart, not hurt my mistake)

Maria took Samuel's forearm again, seeing that this was going nowhere, and they could be under fire by the Royal Navy any second. "Samuel, you're right," she said, not wanting to exacerbate the situation and hoping he'd just let it go, knowing he probably wouldn't. "We don't have much time, you're right, we need to get back to the Whydah and set sail before they can figure out that I'm part of the Whydah's crew. If they know my affiliations, they will change every ship voyage in that ledger and we'll have nothing to steal. We should go, now," she said, edging in the direction of the docks.

Caly and Faithful watched Maria and Samuel edge toward the docks and smiled, beginning a silent trek after the two of them. This should be interesting... she thought to herself as Faithful leapt off her shoulder and ran after Maria, mewing.

Samuel wiped out his rapier, and skidded himself to a stop immediately stabbing the space between the cobble stones in front of the cat, stopping the cat as suddenly as the tip of the sword punctured the ground. Samuel eyed Calypso.

"What, do you think you are doing."

Samuel retrieved his rapier from the ground and put it away. Maria tried to get Samuel's attention, Samuel ignoring his beloved continued to question Calypso.

"What, cannot you not hear? What are you doing?" Maria again tried to get Samuel's attention. He noticed the tugging at his sleeve finally, only to turn around and notice several guards coming around the corner of a two houses down. They had not noticed Samuel, Maria, or Calypso yet. Samuel turned to Maria and said, "Hide behind the crates, they will spot me and I will deal with them."

"Blast," Maria said quietly to herself, ignoring the girl following them and the cat, thinking solely about getting out of harbor on the Whydah and not being seen. "Samuel, you know that's not how I work - either we both run together or I'm fighting with you." Her words weren't back by much as she didn't have her rapier, only a few small explosives and a knife, but she'd never run from a fight that Samuel was in, especially if he was outnumbered like he was about to be. "If we run now, we might be able to make it back, the men are still waiting in the harbor. We have to get to the ship and make for open water."

Faithful hissed again and ran back over to Caly, twining around her ankles. Caly sighed and held out her hands, which were empty. "No, I am not deaf. Actually I think I hear better then both of combined," she sneered, quickly losing her temper. "What's the matter? Don't like having someone trailing you?" She glanced behind her and smiled. "Well look at this. We seem to have some guests again. My my, you two do seem to attract a lot of attention. I suppose I can hold them off for a while. Go on! Off with you!" Caly said, but before that she knelt down and drew a long dagger from her boot and handed it to Maria. Laying it on the ground beside the other woman, she drew her fighting knives and smiled, excited at the prospect of a brawl.

Samuel laughed hardily at Calypso. "Woman, please." Samuel again turned to Maria, "My dear, please hide. We cannot risk you being caught with me. You and this, Calypso woman hide behind the crates."

Samuel plucked his rapier once again. "No you listen to me, I offer you security if you won't be foolish to think you can handle these guards. I urge you to hide or be warned, you will face dire consequences. Now please, there isn't much time before we are all caught."

Maria bit her lip. She hated the idea of leaving Samuel to fight alone, but their lives were not the only ones at risk. She glanced at Calypso. Maria knew Samuel was right.... they'd recognize him but they hadn't yet recognized her and it would be better for the future if the guard didn't know that the two were affiliated in any way. "Blast it, Samuel," she said in a whisper, "I'll hide but the second I think you're out numbered, I'm helping." She kissed his cheek and with that she grabbed Calypso's arm whether the other woman liked it or not and dragged her behind the crates.

"Let him fight them," she whispered. "If anything goes wrong we can help, but this is the better way."

Caly didn't protest but Faithful did. He leapt into the crowd after Samuel and yowled challengingly. "Blast it all! Faithful get your furry behind back here!" Caly exclaimed. The kitten ignored her, walking over to the guards and causing them to trip over their own feet. Swearing colorfully, Calypso lunged after the kitten before he was made into mincemeat.

The guards seemed to have ignored who the lady was that grabbed the cat from in front of the guards. Samuel looked on, trying not to laugh at the cat and Calypso's antics. One of the guards immediately spotted Samuel as Calypso went back into around the corner nonchalantly to hide with Maria.

Samuel spoke as if he were not intimidated, "Well, hello there."

The guards all looked at Samuel as he just stood there alone in the ally way. One of the guards gestured to the others to stay back. "Samuel," He spoke, "do you not remember me?"

Samuel kept a close but unnoticed eye over his shoulder around the corner making sure the women are out of sight. "Aye, that I do. I remember you very well Benjamin. You've attempted to arrest me several times and yet, you always seem to come up short."

The guards took to the insult like school children. Benjamin stood his ground, however, by replying, "Ah yes, well at least my profession, you could say is respectable. We have honor, where you are scum, you have no real place to live, you hardly obtain food, I bet the dames don't even look at your disgusting demeanor."

That statement had angered Samuel, but not enough to fight...yet. The guard walked towards Samuel, "You're nothing. A nothing, a nobody. Just some loser who steals." The guard was in the face of Samuel, he walked confidently around him, "Samuel, just give yourself up. You couldn't possibly escape this time. You're out numbered."

Samuel grinned and teased Benjamin, "I see you can't handle little old me by yourself. Shows how much of a man you are."

Swiftly, the guard pummeled Samuel in the back knocking him down then kicking him in the abdomen. "More of a man than you'll ever be!" The guard spat at Samuel. Samuel looked up, "No honor." Samuel rolled away, quickly rising to his feet and fiercely pulling out his rapier, the guard without hesitation withdrew his. The two men stood in fighting position.

Samuel parried the cut to his left shoulder, as the guard made a quick cut. The two men exchanged cuts like rapid fire,

Samuel cut to left shoulder of Benjamin, Benjamin parried and retaliated with a cat to the right shoulder of Samuel. Samuel parried however it was a false cut to the right shoulder, Benjamin swiftly moved the rapier over his head to strike the left shoulder of Samuel, Samuel quickly caught the change of attacking, parrying the strike to the left shoulder and coming down with a head cut. The guard grabbed the arm of Samuel and drew closer to him.

The two were locked in a struggle, Samuel slight twisted the torso of Benjamin and kneed him hard in the abdomen knocking him on his behind. Another guard charged at Samuel, quickly leaped, performing a spinning back kick and catching the guard on the chin with the sole of the boot knocking him down. A second guard attempted to stab Samuel, Samuel caught the arm of the guard stabbing him between the 2nd and 3rd rib puncturing the kidney killing the man immediately. Benjamin arose and tried to attack Samuel from behind, quickly Samuel performed a reverse parry, turning around kicking him in the chest followed by a passado stabbing Benjamin in the upper left section of the chest.

Two more guards attempted to attack, one lead the attack, a slash towards the right side of Samuel's body, he evaded the slash and used the pommel of the rapier to hit the guard in the back sending him to stumbling into the wall. The guard following attacked the left arm, Samuel parried sliding the blades down and elbowing the guard in the face knocking him back as the guard who had stummbled attempted to face Samuel yet only to meet his death. a clockwise slash from Samuels current postion met the chest of the guard who was just elbowed. All the guards had fallen to Samuel. Except for one. The one guard had a pistol shooting Samuel in the left thigh.

A feminine shriek was heard as Samuel dropped on his good leg the guard marched towards the area he had heard the sound. Samuel called out, "no!" Quickly grabbing his rapier and lunged stabbing the guard from in between the shoulder blades through to the chest. The guard fell deep in front of the two women. Samuel collapsed from the pain and the lose of blood.

Maria had screamed when Samuel had been shot. "NO!" and she bolted out of her hiding place, Samuel felling one more guard in front of her before collapsing. "No, no, Samuel, we have to get you to the ship, to our medic, you're going to be fine," she said, her panic speeding up her speech. She knelt down and wrapped one of his arms across her shoulder and hoisted him up. "My love, you have to walk with me, we'll get to the docks, we'll get back to the ship. You have to walk with me," she said. She was of much smaller stature than he and could barely support his weight but she knew they had to move quickly. More guards would be on them in seconds. She held her Captain tightly. "My Captain, your ship awaits you," she said, hoping to stir in him the sailor that would refuse to die on land as they began the painstaking journey to the docks.

Samuel held himself up on one side with his rapier and on the other side his love Maria.

"When did it become okay to bring a gun to a sword fight?" Samuel said bitterly and groaned in pain. "Er, we must hurry before it gets dark."

As the two began to walk away Caly spoke to her kitten, "Go with them. Make sure they don't run into any more trouble. If the man wants to keep his life, then they cannot afford it. I'll hold up things here."

As Faithful walked after the retreating couple, Caly appeared from her hiding place, armed with her fighting knives. She stepped over the downed guard and smiled at the remaining members. "The man proves a fair point. When did it become the custom to bring a firearm to a sword fight?" Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out her own gun, a pistol, and fired it into the air.

Maria looked back over her shoulder at Calypso who was about to take up the fight with more Royal Navy guards. She turned and headed along with Samuel leaning heavily against her. She couldn't leave Calypso alone, but she would not abandon Samuel either. As soon as she had him to the ship and knew he would be alright, she'd return to find and repay Calypso for her efforts. Maria had been raised in a high-class family and this was the polite thing to do. It was funny what remained with you after years of piracy. "Just a little more, Samuel," she said quietly to him. After what felt like hours, they reached the docks, where a boat was waiting for her and the Captain of the Whydah.

"Captain!" the oarman cried as he saw them drawing closer.

"Hush," Maria hissed. "Help me with him," she said, and the man stood to help her lower Samuel into the boat. Maria crawled in after him, the ledger tucked safely into her skirts. She sat and Samuel lay in the boat, his upper torso reclining against her knees. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "We need to get him to the medic, as soon as possible," she said and the man began to row. "You're going to be fine, Samuel," she whispered to him over and over again as though that could make it true.

"Come on now, laddybucks," Caly said when the couple was out of sight, "What's this? Are you afraid to fight a woman with a gun? What if I told you I was the last remaining survivor of the pirate ship Revenge? What would you do to me then?"

The guards had gasped when they realized just who she was. They had heard of her before, and of her pickpocketing feats throughout the city. She was the best in what she did and she had fun while stealing. "What would we do to you, Calypso?" asked one of the guards, "Why we would do what we do to any other pirate. We'd throw you in jail and hang you without a trial."

Caly's eyes flashed and she yelled, throwing herself into the misdht of the guards, cutting and hacking and parrying. Suddenly a yowl could be heard and Caly saw Faithful launch himself onto one of the guards, clawing his eyes and his face, biting his ear. She smiled slightly as she continued to fight for her life. After a while, the guards who had stayed to fight her were down from many cuts and they weren't going to get up any time soon. Caly stood with Faithful on her shoulder, stroking his soft black fur. "What would I do without you?" she asked her cat as she sat on one of the crates she had been hiding behind a few minutes before.