7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Dominick

“ Y ou only got him first ‘cause I let you,” Sands said, standing beside me as I smirked. I kept the pirate who I’d pulled away from the rest of the crew pinned to the ground with my foot on his chest, and my sword at his throat.

“Ah, you let me, did you? You being slow to pin down a young pirate is not because you are letting me pin this one first. It’s because you couldn’t help yourself to the first mate’s golden watch,” I grunted as the pirate I’d restrained, reached for his boot. I kicked at his foot and reached down to remove the knife I was sure he had hidden there. Not very original.

“I need a watch,” Sands said.

“You have over a dozen.”

“Can’t a pirate be punctual?” Sands grunted; then in a huff, he turned to me. “I’ll get the next one, first.” Sands smiled at me as he, finally, pinned down the boy. “Also, not my fault that this one doesn’t have any sense of self-preservation.”

“Self what? Ye be tryna’ kill us!” the pirate shouted.

Sands smiled again. “If I wanted to kill you, this isn't the way I’d go about it. I believe a death should be memorable. This would be a bad end for you, so you're welcome,” Sands said with a nod.

I chuckled.

Sands reached down to check for a knife on the young pirate's person. “How many of you landlubbers are there on the ship?” Sands asked.

“It be a full crew. I ain’t no landlubber,” the young man said. I hated that he was so young. It was clear that he was inexperienced, just as was the boy I had pinned to the ground. He looked to be around the same age that my brother would be. I hated how weak my heart was, so that it made me think about Peter, the brother I had barely known. I hoped his life was better than mine.

A full crew meant more than twenty. Veeto would kill them all, even the young pirates. He didn’t like loose ends, and a dead pirate doesn’t share his secrets.

“Can you dogs swim?” Sands asked with a smirk, his black hair, not fitting in his almost nonexistent ponytail, shifting in the wind to cover his brown eyes. Sands and I, along with a few other pirates, always invaded the ships that Veeto wanted to capture, first. We rounded and then tied the crew up, preparing them to be sent to the Crimson Blade and Veeto’s wrath. But, whenever we captured young pirates, we tried to save them. Sands’ face was playful, but fierce, as sweat dripped from his cheek. There was a time when I did it all by myself. And back then, I was rarely able to save anyone.

Sands had joined the crew only five years earlier. He had been captured as he was robbing Veeto at the Sorran port. It was one of those rare situations when Veeto decided that instead of killing him, he would take him in and make him a part of our crew. Sands was an incredible ally, but I wished he could have had a different life than the one we lived. He deserved something better, even though I enjoyed our friendship. He was the only person on board the Crimson Blade that had an ounce of any morals.

“Aye, we can swim! Please, don’ be sendin’ us to the locker!” Locker meant the depths of the sea.

“You swim, you will live. Also, I suggest you grab hold of something and hang on. If you're strong enough, you'll survive. But if you are taken aboard the Crimson Blade?” I said with a humorless chuckle and a glare.

“Aye, you’ll never survive,” Sands finished. “Aye, your survival be up to ye , now,”

“That was impressive, you sounded just like a pirate,” I whispered to him.

“Aye, that is because I be one!” he said with a glare at the boy he held. He was really embracing his role that time around. Every once in a while, I spoke a few words like a pirate would, but I never tried to change my speech much. I depended on being a royal far too often to lean into the habit.

“But Captain Veeto of the Crimson Blade ain’t never leave no survivors,” the boy beneath my boot said.

“ Aye , so you better not open that mouth of yours–or we’ll regret this and track you down and send you to the locker, rather painfully,” I snapped at him.

“We be silent,” the second lad, who Sands held down, quickly returned.

I looked at Sands who nodded with a smile. We moved the men quickly to the side rail of their sinking ship.

“You are men overboard–survived a shipwreck, and never came into contact with Captain Veeto and his crew. I would advise another profession, maybe on a navy vessel, or as honest fishermen. It is not too late for the two of you,” I said gruffly, shoving the lads back. One looked down at my gloved hand, then back up at me, his eyes round with disbelief.

“Ye be The Cruel Hand?” he gasped.

I led him to the edge of the ship with a broad, evil smile. I watched as his eyes went from shock to horror.

“Aye, that I am. Fare thee well,” I said, and in unison, Sands and I shoved the boys overboard. We watched until their heads popped up and their arms frantically moved, and they swam away. We could only give them a few minutes to swim far enough away so that they had a real chance at some kind of survival.

“Let’s go. Cap will be here soon,” Sands said after a few minutes.

I nodded. We would bring the rest of the crew aboard our ship, and all those survivors would have a worse end than they would have had floating the seas or even simply drowning. Because before their death, they would meet me. And my hands were cruel.

“Nick, we cannot kill them,” The Grimm said, standing beside me as the captain lined up all twelve pirates who had survived the plundering of their ship. As a pirate, you always run the risk of being robbed by your own kind. It was how things worked. You never left another pirate ship and crew alone. You fought them to the death.

“I do as the captain asks. Do shut it,” I said, clenching and unclenching my fists. I knew what was going to happen next. It happened every single time. Like usual, Sands went down under into the ship. He did not like seeing the next part. Neither did I, but I didn’t have the luxury of ever going unseen. I waited for Veeto to give his speech about how he was their new captain and a fearsome pirate on the seas. Then he turned to me.

“Meet a member of my crew,” he said, raising his sword in my direction. That was my cue. I walked up to the men who survived the initial attack. They were all filthy pirates, clothing badly weathered, just as was their wrinkled skin and yellowed teeth. I moved slowly closer to them, pretending to adjust my gloves.

I was known across all the seas, amongst all pirates. I was known for the pain I could inflict.

“Have ye heard of The Cruel Hand?” Veeto asked.

I watched as all twelve of the pirates stiffened, and their eyes grew wide.

“Aye! Ye have heard of him. Well, he has a gift for each of ye.”

I walked until I stood a foot away from the line of pirates and carefully took off my gloves. That was, perhaps, the thing I hated the most about being a pirate on the Crimson Blade. No–it was the main reason I hated Veeto. After my gloves were off, I looked at the men, then on their knees before me with their hands and ankles tied. I stretched out my hands, wiggling my fingers, showing them the very impressive black veins inking my skin, the sign of pain.

“Have you known pain before?” I asked, like my uncle had taught me. I plastered a pleased smile on my face. They were all silent, of course. A few of our crew members were watching and laughing, while others cheered for me to “give it to them.” I acted sober while doing it. No one ever seemed to think anything of that, which was good. “Well, you have never known the pain you are about to feel. Enjoy it, for this pain is a gift, a gift from the Ancients.” A curse, really, but I said what my uncle wished me to say. After a few years of refusal, I’d learned a few things about ensuring my own survival, and my survival required that I go along with what Veeto wanted, until I could figure out how to make it on my own.

One day, I will. I reminded myself. One day, I will never have to do this again.

I walked to the first man, pulled all the pain from my veins; there was plenty to pull from. I could sense his own pain when I touched him. His pain mixed with all the pain still residing in my veins from the others I had tortured as well as those from whom I had taken pain away. It only ever took a few seconds before the pirates, one by one, just from my touch would begin to scream in pure agony. I’d learned not to flinch.

I would never forget their screams. Their screams along with their pains, haunted me daily and occupied my dreams at night.

I counted each and every single man I touched without my gloves. I was up to five hundred and forty-three then. Men all screamed in the same way; they started with a low growl, and then they lost all their manly pride and ended up screaming like young children. It was the worst of sounds, piercing not only my ears, but also my veins, marking my skin with more inky blackness with every man I caused to feel pain. Once they reached that point of the uncontrollable, vile screaming, I let go; then I touched them one last time. I did do what Veeto asked of me, but I also did as I desired. And with that second touch, even though it was only for a few seconds, I took away all the pain I had just inflicted upon them and placed it back onto myself. They were still broken at that point. Even with me taking away the pain at the end, their bodies always remained collapsed and their breathing heavy. Doing that, like always, brought the pain back onto me tenfold, but I was used to it. I was strong enough not to whimper like a child. I moved to each of them, one by one, torturing them till they screamed, then taking away their pain. I stepped back from the last man with a forced smile masking the excruciating pain pulsing inside of me. Unlike what Veeto assumed, this smile was not because I was pleased by my torturing, but for defying my uncle, and for being, yet again, strong enough to handle the pain. My pain was a level nine after such a show, so much pain.

“One last gift,” Veeto cheered, the rest of the crew shouting in appreciation. I walked back slowly toward my cabin. I needed to lay down as the pain coursed through me. I walked past The Grimm, and all I could see were his wide eyes, full of horror. I tried not to think about anything as I pulled my gloves back on. I stopped, waiting.

“Briney deep for ye all!” Veeto called out. I knew without looking that the crew were pulling the injured men up from the ground and dragging them to the side of the ship. There was begging and yelling. Always the same with pirates, and always the same with Veeto. He never let anyone live when he captured them on the seas.

“I know you say you are a pirate, but you are also a prince. How can you let this happen?” The Grimm asked, coming up beside me.

I did not turn to him. Pain still coursed through me, and I could not control myself fully yet. He grabbed my arm, and I pulled out my sword, placing it at his neck, panting into his face with a fiery glare. His eyes glared right back at me. I was always enraged after using my curse. I could not endure his irritating words. He did not understand the position I was in. He did not know what I had endured, nor the life I had been forced to live. I never had a prince’s pampered life, or that of a renowned knight, whatever easy life he had, where he was friends with a prince.

“Dead men tell no tales,” I growled.

“But the Ancients, Nick, They will not take kindly to this.”

“They are pirates, the lowest humans on Terra. Ancients care not for their lives.”

“Every life is precious.”

“Even one who has killed, plundered, and lied?” I spat back.

“Yes–Everyone deserves a second chance.”

I chuckled at his sentiment, but there was no humor in it.

I was surprised by that comment–it shook me a bit. I lowered my sword, and placed it back in its sheath. Then I pulled out my bottle and took a swig, making a show of wiping my mouth on my sleeve while looking at The Grimm.

“You do not agree with the captain. That is why you drink so much; you hate it here, too,” he accused.

“His ship, his rules,” I said. “You may not be a prisoner on this ship, but some of us are.”

“You don’t have to do his bidding. You can leave.”

As if it were so easy to leave Veeto’s crew.

“You know nothing, Grimm. Do not forget the code you swore to.” I walked away from him, giving him a parting shove for good measure. I slammed my cabin door behind me as I entered. Then I sank onto my small bed, burying my face in my gloved hands, letting the pain have its way with me so it would fade faster.

I listened to the men I’d tortured as they were tossed overboard. With one splash after another, their screams ended and so did their lives.

“Set sail!” Veeto called, and the crew cheered. I felt another spasm of pain burst through me, and I clenched my teeth and fists.

You are so weak, my uncle’s voice echoed in my mind.

No. I am not. I can endure this. I have before, and I will again , I thought as the pain reached its peak at a level ten, unbearable. I bit my cheek, letting my body twitch.

I can endure this. I am strong enough.

I am strong.