Bondage (formerly Escape from the Obstinate Prince)

Ami chilled. Goosebumps spread up her arms. Not because she was cold, but because she could feel the dark. It was not merely a lack of light or heat, it was an evil, lying in wait. The whole ship was smothered with evil.

Ami curled up into a ball and leaned against the side of the hold. Whether she sat with her back on the starboard or port side, she didn’t know. She did know that she felt safer with her back to the wood. Whatever demons lurked about, she would see coming. Or so she told herself.

To fight darkness, you unsheath the light. Light.

“They keep lanterns down here, don’t they?” she stood up, bracing herself. The wind had picked up speed, and she could only guess that a gale was starting to brew. She felt her way back towards the door where Robert left her. Where do they keep these things? she felt on the other side of the door.

A glass window, less than two feet wide and two feet tall, had not been opened for a week. The seafarers hated the hold. They had all felt the evil that wisped all over the place. Only Igor had been convinced to descend into the abyss, and even then, it was only for two minutes and thirty-two seconds.

She unlatched the window and tentatively felt inside. This is the most oddly shaped candle I’ve ever-

“Ahhhhh!” Ami shrieked and pulled her hand back. The thing hit the floorboards with a thud.

Dear God please don’t let it be alive, Ami squeezed her eyes shut and put her hand back into the blackness. Well, everything was already black.

This time she felt a round solid thing, cool to touch, and the slightest bit sticky. She pulled it out and used her other hand to pull out the matches.

“Where is the lantern?” she muttered to herself. She set the candle back inside and struck the match against the cold steel of the lantern.

Flames on top of the short wooden stick and Ami blinked several times before her eyes adjusted.

The flame licked the candle’s wick and she set it back inside the lantern, making sure to snuff out the match completely.

Shadows froliced along the walls of the hold. Ami wasn’t sure if she was more scared of the swaying shadows or the petrifying darkness.

She looked down at her feet. She screamed again and backed up against the wall.

A snake, about a foot long, was content to lie, doing nothing.

It didn’t move and was suspiciously dead looking.

The poor snake’s life had been short lived. It was born, only a week before on an island with lush greenery and bright sunlight. Then the storm hit. Gray, gray, gray. Nothing but gray for hours and hours. The snake started to get quite chilly and a soaked to the skin.

Not far from where the snake nested, two men in grubby clothes, huddled next to a fire. One was a large man with a round stomach and arm stained with black art, the other was just as tall as the large man, but not nearly so pudgy.

The snake decided that the larger man would provide more warmth than the lean one, so he slithered through the blades of grass (he blended in quite well with the muddy green) and up into the older man’s coat. The snake was, of course, much smaller at the time, only measuring five inches and half an inch in long.

The man took no notice of the little snake that took refuge in his garments, and it continued to be that way until a few days (or hours, the snake had no way of telling them apart) later.

The man trudged up onto the ship and down into the galley, the snake, upon sniffing the large variety of exotic foods, remembered that he had scarcely eaten anything for most of his life, and decided to slither out from the fat man’s coat and onto a barrel of bumpy, round, orange things that smelled sweet. Which meant they had to taste sweet as well.

Sticky, delicious juice sprayed about as the snake sank his fangs into it. And so the snake was contended to snack on whatever delicacies he found among the barrels.

That was, until the cook screamed upon seeing the bloated creature(he had acquire quite the belly after four days of just eating),

The scream was an annoying noise, to be sure, but that was not what concerned the snake — it was the sharp bristles of a gathered hay hit the snake’s skin which were concerning. Or rather, it hurt like nothing he had felt before in his lifetime. So he did what any sensible snake would do. He slithered right out of the barrel of fruit, onto the floor, and down a flight of steps. Which, unfortunately, was a very bad move and led to the snake’s demise.

Down the flight of steps, it slithered. It slithered all the way to the bottom of the steps, and through the opened door.

All of this was done, unbeknownst to Igor, who was inside the hold, storing a barrel of rum for the upcoming trip.

The snake saw the lit candle in its cubby hole. It emitted a warm glow. He wriggled up the scratchy wood nested near to the warm light. Sleep claimed him.

Until the door banged shut and the snake found himself in utter darkness, with a hint of smoke drifting around him.

He was stuck. The glass door was closed. The candle’s heat was gone. There was no food whatsoever.

And thus ended the life of the snake.

Ami scooted back, far away from the lifeless snake. If only the nightmares would stop.

But they didn’t. It only proceeded to get worse.

A loud boom shook the Valerie.

Ami held on tight to the wooden planks she sat on. She closed her eyes tightly, wishing the ship would stop rocking. She felt more sick every second.

Jack, however, was feeling dandy, aside from the stifling constriction in his chest. Breathing was not a problem. He wasn’t sure what it was from, but he had a feeling it came from the rejection he received from Ami earlier that morning.

He was not used to being so utterly rejected and told no. In fact the only person who ever bothered to tell him no was his father. (And occasionally his mother whenever he would ask, “Can’t I just keep practicing my sword fighting instead of sitting through a boring meeting?”)

Jack’s pout turned into a frown. He was sitting in the brig which he shared with nothing but a bucket and a window with rusting bars.

Bam.

The sea vessel shuddered at the impact and swayed from side to side.

Jack’s frown was replaced by a look of surprise. He hadn’t expected that.

Jack hurried to his feet and pressed his face against the bars, not minding that he was touching rust and grime that had built up over the years. He looked behind the Valerie.

He could see the wake of another ship, and when the ship came into view (for the Valerie was turning in hopes of outmanoeuvring the Kral’s ship) it was huge in comparison to the small vessel Jack had the misfortune of riding on, but it was not a man-of-war either.

“I don’t suppose they’ve come to rescue us,” he muttered.

Two more booms caused the Valerie to sway.

“She’s been hit!”

Jack assumed it was the Valerie that shot the previous cannon shots.

A frightening crash sounded as if it scored a hit below the brig.

The hold.

“Ami!” Jack shook the crusty bars. She was going to drown if the water leaked through. He would not have it. Not even if she hated him.

The funny feeling in his chest came back. She didn’t really hate him, did she? Was he that disgusting? Maybe it was his character that she found disgusting.

He hit the bars with his fist. “She will love me!”

His voice was lost among the many shouts above deck, but it was not lost on the girl down in the hold.

Ami could hear his shout. The only noise came from the trickle of water that spewed from a small crescent hole in the top of the hold. She had no time to appreciate Jack’s proclamation of love for her when she was stuck in the hold with an inconsistent stream of water pouring in.

What to do? she covered her face with her hands.

Frantic shouts echoed down into the hold, along with scrambling footsteps and jingling of keys.

“Hurry up, ya landlubber!”

Ami backed up even more.

The door swung open and in rushed the ship’s carpenter. Robert stood outside the doorway, metal keys in his hand.

The carpenter started patching the hole.

Robert motioned for her to follow him and glanced nervously at the carpenter. “This way, scum.”

Ami frowned. What was he doing? She got up and followed Robert out the door. He dragged by the arm, up the steps, two by two.

“Where are you taking me?” Ami stumbled over the hem of her dress, falling smack dab on the hardwood.

“Sorry.” Robert yanked her back up to her feet. “We need to hurry.”

“Why?” Ami held up her skirt. “What is going on?”

“As soon as we get on deck, I need you to act like I’m holding you against your will, and you need to jump off the ship, then swim to the nearby sea stacks and island.”

“You want me to do what?” she stopped in her tracks. “I can’t-”

“Ami, the ship that is tailing us is one of Svenlands. If they find the two missing Royals on our ship, Lars is ruined. We’re all ruined. He might kill you and Jack just so he isn’t caught.”

Ami’s mind whirled. Kill her? Kill Jack? Just to avoid being caught with the Prince and Princess? “You’ll save Jack, won’t you?”

Robert glanced at her. “No guarantees. My life is in danger as it is, but I will try. But what you need to concern yourself with is jumping overboard and swimming to the sea stacks.”

I can’t swim. I can’t swim. I can’t swim.

Robert gave her no more time to worry and fret. “This way, scallywag!”

Ami frowned. They reached the top of the stairs. She jolted to her senses and into action. “Let go of me!” She yanked her arm out of his grasp and ran for the rail — the only thing standing between herself and the sea waves that spread to make room for the Valerie. Thankfully the Valerie wasn’t a tall ship and she wouldn’t die from the pressure of falling into the water.

She turned around. Lars, who stood at the ship wheel, widened his eyes. He looked horrified. “Grab her!”

Several passing sailors saw her at the rail, but they were all too slow. She had already stepped over the railing and sent herself cascading down towards the ocean until — splash.

Hold your breath. Don’t breathe in. Do not breathe in. Ami was no longer concerned if a cannon shot her and blew her to pieces. She only thought about holding her breath, just like Jack told her. Ami’s lungs started to burn. She was never good at holding her breath. She pushed against the water, trying to propel herself up to the surface. Air. I need air desperately.

Ami’s head bobbed above the surface and she gasped for air.

The Valerie billowed past her and the Svenlandian ship trailed close behind.

Push the water away, keep breathing. Use your arms and legs to push yourself forward. Ami saw the sea stacks and small uninhabited island. The island wasn’t terribly far away, but if the tide had been lower, the two ships would have run aground.

I can do this!

She reminded herself of Jack’s coaching and had no time to doubt her ability. The Svenlandian ship would crush her if she didn’t hurry out of its way.

Bam.

Another cannon ball whizzed towards the Valerie.

Keep swimming. She pushed the water away from herself. Stroke after stroke. Kick after kick. Breath after breath.

The stack stood at least twenty feet tall, the base fanned out to measure at least ten feet one way and five feet the other.

Ami heaved herself onto the rocky surface of the stack, yanking her soggy dress out of the water. She fell on her back, resting on the pokey and gritty rock. “I’m alive.”

Ami sat up and grinned at the passing ships. “I’m free!” She let out a squeal for good measure. “But what am I to do now?”

She looked around. The island was at least a couple hundred of feet away. Could she swim that far without drowning? What was she to do when she got to the stacks? She didn’t have a messenger bird to contact anyone with. She had no food or water to survive. Robert have given her no further instructions. He had simply told her to swim to the stacks or island. The island was out of the question. “What’s worse? Living in murky shadows or dying with freedom?”