Stage Fright

Rosamund woke up with his hands tied behind his back, and his mouth gagged with a rag, as the two pirates rowed a small boat through the bay. His futile attempts to loosen up the rope earned him a kick in the shoulder, so he stopped trying and stayed still until their destination.
The rowboat approached a ship almost as large as Adanita's, that was anchored in the middle of the bay. The pair that kidnapped him picked him up and climbed. They threw him on board like a sack of potatoes. The landing was painful, and a few other pirates let out a laugh as he was getting on his knees.
"Sir, we got 'im," one of his kidnappers shouted.
"What? Already?" A lean young woman with long straight hair placed her hand on the quarterdeck rail, looking down at him. The woman was wearing a fine albeit worn embroidered vest, while the rest of her clothes seemed to be more common. A fallen noble, no doubt. "Capt'n's busy at this time. Toss him below deck till she calls for him."

Hah. If he was right, this was the First Mate aboard this ship. These people dared to kidnap him and then go on about their day. He would be actually offended were his situation not as precarious. The man and the woman that kidnapped him from the city dragged him below deck and stuffed him into a small room, locking the door behind them.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.

Broom closet, of course. Properly claustrophobic and filthy. Finally without supervision, he tried to undo the knots one more time. As if he could - pirates or not, these people were proper sailors. The only thing he managed to do was injure himself on the ropes. He sat on the floor.

What an embarrassment.

No, wait. Now was not the time for his ego. He had to figure out what to do, how to get out of here. What had even happened?

Those two came up to him from behind and told him to keep quiet and follow them on a walk. The woman had pressed a flintlock on his back while hiding it from the crowd. Yelling for help or attempting to either fight them or flee was not an option, and he wasn't so haughty to think he could take on two people in a fight with his one weapon being a single-bullet flintlock. They knocked him out at one empty dock away from the city center, and he woke up presumably a few minutes later, tied up on their boat.

But he had a shadow, did he not? That one girl was following him around all day today. Was she not with Ekliptik? Why didn't she warn them? Or, perhaps she did, and the help was on its way right now... or, more likely, the pirates dealt with her before the news could reach the spymaster. These were ruthless people, after all. Just because Adanita was playing nice with him, it didn't mean these people wouldn't do whatever they deemed necessary. Or, whatever they wanted.

And whose ship was this, anyway? And why did they kidnap him? What in the world did they want with him? What if they sail out before help arrives? What if they throw him into the- no, don't even go down there. He pulled his knees up to his shoulders, trying to stop quivering. It wasn't even cold here, in this stuffy tiny room where they stored cloths and brushes for cleaning the deck. If he starts crying, he certainly won't accomplish much, will he?

If they wanted to kill him, he reasoned, they could have done that as soon as he reached the ship. Tossing him into the sea to drown would have simply been unnecessarily cruel.


I know this cruelty well.


He felt as if his mind was peeling away from his body. The tiny room was growing more and more distorted and frightening in his panicked mind. He was running in circles as his heart was beating in his ears. The gag was making it difficult to breathe, and another fear reared its ugly head. What if he chokes to death in a tiny room? What a bloody brilliant way to go out. His shallow breathing was speeding up as he was desperately trying to regain his senses. The heavy thoughts he was drowning in seemed to only be reaching deeper and deeper, and he felt as if he couldn't breathe.



What if Adanita is behind this?

Instantly, he snapped back. Really, he thought, fighting against his own mind. Adanita? Adanita Vervain, the Pirate Queen? Stealthily kidnapping him in her own city? The woman who was such a stickler for the rules she had set, that she would give him a gun as soon as he mumbled 'parlay' in his sleep? That Adanita?

Don't make me laugh, you idiot.

Keeping calm and breathing in and out. In. Hold. And out. Adanita Vervain was a crime lord in her own right, certainly. But not like this. She wouldn't. Some things you just know for a fact.

And this ship was not sailing out, he continued, slowly regaining control over his body. His trembling ceased as his heart rate finally came below two hundred per minute. If a ship is sailing out, there would be sounds. Commotion on board, unless these pirates were ninjas to boot. Sounds of the anchor being raised, even if they were. Perhaps they even would have sailed out, but the tides were too low at this time - considering how it seemed that noblewoman didn't expect him this soon. And regarding that child - she was a spy for Ekliptik personally. They probably knew how to protect their own. The girl would certainly have been told to run away, which was doing wonders for calming him down even further, but it certainly lowered his odds of getting rescued. If the girl didn't know where he went, how will Adanita find him?

If... she is looking for him...

No, no no. No. Of course she is. They were now allies in all but name. If he was in her place, he'd not leave a stone unturned until she was found.

She will come. All he needed to do was stall for time once whoever the Captain that kidnapped him decided to meet him.

He merely had to keep his wits about until then. He took a deep, calm breath, leaning his head on the wooden wall and relaxing his muscles.

What a headache.

Well, now that he was thinking clearly. Who would be the Captain that welcomes him? Jason Lotus, perhaps? Highly likely, but he was sure his plan made him multiple enemies among other pirates. However, her man already attacked him, way back at the first meeting. Would that make her more likely to strike again, or would she be keeping her head down? It was entirely possible that there was another snake in the grass around here. Or a sea snake- no. He liked his metaphors. There was no need to ruin them on his own when there was no Adanita to do it for him.

If some pirate heard him laughing to himself, they'd surely think he's mad, right? Serves them right. Seriously, how long did they even plan to keep him in this architectural accident of a room? It occurred to him that their reasoning was the same as his when he had those idiotic Captains serving Vice Admiral Khamil arrested. Let them cook in their own lies, he thought. They will be easier to crack once he arrives - not that either he or Nivelir were inhumane enough to throw them tied up into a claustrophobic room, ripe for a panic attack. In either case these pirates were right, it would have worked if they had picked him up some ten or fifteen minutes ago. However long has passed before this newfound inner peace washed away the fear of death.

Adanita was coming.

How unlike him to place such a frightening amount of faith into a single person. A woman that killed him once before, no less. But when you're right, you're right, and he had to keep believing in this, lest he goes mad again. This time, beyond the point of no return.


By the time another pirate came and dragged him out on the deck, he was back to his old self. Standing straight with no fear to spare for these people.

Whoever he was about to face would receive nothing less than Lord Governor in the flesh.