To Yonder

Costume Party
“No-one thinks what I’m doing is the right way forward
You’ll see it’s not just a dream now”
- Two Door Cinema Club

Alessia followed the toothless man making sure to keep at least a few feet’s worth of distance in between them. She wasn’t quite sure if she could trust him yet – she had never met a pirate nor had she ever met a man who was missing all of his teeth. Nelly trailed behind both of them reluctantly while also lacking the enthusiasm her counterpart exemplified just from being off of a lavish royal ship and onto a mere pirate’s. When was the royal fleet going to come and rescue them?

They rounded the deck in a single file line and the burly man suddenly came to a halt, “Well ‘ere we are boys. Lemme go ‘n talk to the brute. After that yer all on ye own.”

Alessia watched as he made his way through a solid, mahogany door and wondered about the man who was contained inside. A series of thoughts passed through her mind. She imagined everything from a mangled and mutilated man to a young boy leading a pack of pirates. She laughed internally and then looked out into the horizon. It had been a long time since she had been outside of the castle walls. It had been a long time since she had tasted freedom.

The sun was out and shining brilliantly. A cool sea breeze seemed to dance across the ocean waves. For a moment there was nothing but peace.

Alessia began to take in her surroundings. Men were scattered throughout the deck doing a multitude of laborious and menial tasks. It was like a well-oiled machine and Alessia was definitely impressed – her thoughts drifted to the platoon of fresh military recruits she had seen training before departure. Nelly on the other hand began to grow paler with each second that passed after the toothless man had left. She felt absolutely sick to her stomach.

Something about him unnerved Nelly. Perhaps it was his grin. It reminded her of a clown or a court jester, one with a never wavering smile that seemed to mask evil lying just behind it – Alessia of course had just decided she rather liked the toothless man.

Moments later, the toothless man was back and grinning his signature grin, “Alrighty boys, he’s waitin’ right in ‘ere fer yas. Just a warning, he ain’t in no good mood today. Maybe I’ll be seeing ye later. If ye get outta there okay be sure to look for me. They call me Toothy round‘ere.”

Alessia nodded her thanks and gave the man one last smile that mirrored his own before leading the way for Nelly. Just as she began to think about the absurdity of Toothy’s name, Alessia’s mind was taken by other thoughts. As she entered the room a figure on the far end came into focus. She gasped.

Even with his back turned to her she could tell exactly who it was. She drank in every detail of his perfectly defined profile as he stared out the window completely inattentive to the two foreign bodies that had just invaded his private room. She held her breath in awe. What kind of awe? She wasn’t really sure.

Her father had often talked badly about the man who graced her with his presence. He was often described as barbaric within in the kingdom and deemed a man with no real virtues or morals. She had heard stories of what the man was willing to do in order to get what he wanted… especially with woman. Dignity was not in his set of vocabulary, but pride most certainly was.

Alessia studied his profile and became entranced by his beauty. She slowly absorbed every inch of him and concluded that his looks far surpassed any picture she had ever seen of him. The bounty pictures must have purposely downplayed his divine looks to cut back on innocents being bewitched by his beauty. Alessia couldn’t think of a single woman back in the kingdom that wouldn’t melt into a mess of a puddle at his feet the instant they saw him.

“Yes?” He broke the silence.

Alessia went weak at the knees. His voice was a warm, deep baritone that reminded her of velvet. It was also slightly accented – close to her own yet sounding so foreign and mysterious all at the same time. Her eyes snapped up to his head where she saw the more of his face – he had turned his head slightly toward them over his shoulder. His hair was a lovely dark color and stubble lightly lined the contours of his face. She watched as his eyes wandered elsewhere seeming to acknowledge everything and anything but her.

“You best not be wasting my time.”

She wasn’t sure what she had originally expected to be behind that large wooden door, but this wasn’t it. A man so beautiful yet tucked away from the world and stowed secretly on a pirate ship. Who would have thought that this was the man shunned for his unspeakable crimes? He was much younger then she imagined, yet he probably held a few more years of wisdom than her own twenty.

Alessia could not find a single thought in her head except for the incoherent ones that got stuck as the beginning of mangled words forming in her throat. She didn’t have time to compose herself before he turned around to face them with a piercing stare. His eyes were a brilliant shade of icy blue, clearer than any ocean or sea. He was more glorious than before. Alessia silently gulped and prayed for strength. Never had she been met with such beauty and power staring her straight in the face.

“I would expect that you know who I am and should therefore know what I could potentially chose to do to you given you keep wasting my very precious time,” his expression was unwavering and didn’t show an ounce of compassion, “You are truly testing my patience right now.”

“We are requesting to join your crew,” Nelly found her voice while Alessia continued to gasp for air like a fish out of water. Nelly, unlike the Princess, maintained her composure and remained untouched by his trance. As soon as she had recognized the famous pirate her sense of pride and nationalism had kicked in. Nobody would come in between her duty to her country and the royal family.

“Is that so?” He didn’t seem as interested as the question entailed. It was more sarcastic or mocking than anything else, “Why?”

“To see the world,” Alessia managed to spit out a little too quickly while avoiding eye contact with the beast altogether. It wasn’t really a lie… though to her ears it sounded like one. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice.

“That is your reason? And you expect me to say yes?” His low voice came out smooth, “I’m surprised you have managed to make it this far unscathed.”

He walked closer one heart wrenching, deliberately slow and steady step at a time. He stopped right in front of Alessia and Nelly, but his intense gaze seemed to look right through them as if worlds away and focusing on a topic completely different, “Alright… All on one condition.”

“Anything,” the two of them quickly answered simultaneously. Alessia was shocked that it hadn’t taken more groveling – this wasn’t painful at all.

There was a tense moment of silence and the pirate seemed to weigh his options mentally. Alessia took the time to study him once more. Up close she could see all the tiny features of his face. Alessia noticed a tiny scar right above his left eyebrow and started to conjure up stories on how he had received it – anything to keep her mind off of the fact that he was deliciously attractive and probably the source of fireworks erupting all throughout her body.

She thought back on her own life back home. Many suitors had always surrounded her, and it wasn’t uncommon for neighboring kingdoms to send their most eligible bachelors in hopes of one of them catching her eye. Some of those suitors were very wealthy and some of them were just as good looking as he, many of them possessed both qualities. What was it about this dejected man that had Alessia’s stomach in knots?

“We managed to find everything. The gowns, the jewels, even the crown, we managed to find everything except one thing…” He walked up to Alessia menacingly like he was stalking his prey. Suddenly his stare was very intent on her and his voice dropped an octave (as if it were even possible) into a very threatening growl, “Where is she?”

“Danny and I…” Alessia took a long draw of breath giving herself adequate time to fabricate a believable story… she was drawing a complete blank, “He and I were quarreling in one of the cabins. Suddenly we heard the ruckus from the fighting on deck and by the time we noticed enough to stop our own bickering the big guy with no teeth was down there busting down the door and blocking the pathway. It all happened so fast. We have no idea where her royal majesty is.”

“God bless her beautiful soul,” Nelly added quietly as if she couldn’t contain herself. She probably couldn’t, but it made it all more believable nonetheless.

The intense eye contact was broken. The Captain turned around and returned to his perch by the window. Once in position he stayed very still piecing together the information the two had given him and the evidence he had deduced on his own. He looked out the window and noticed the sun beginning to set along the horizon. Such a beautiful day filled with nothing but disappointment. There was always tomorrow.

“Daniel will be on kitchen duty.”

Silence began to settle again. Neither Alessia nor Nelly wanted to breath too loudly in fear of disturbing the blanketing peace that came with a silent moment. Unfortunately, it was accompanied with extremely thick tension.

“You…”

“Alec,” Alessia cursed herself for responding so quickly, “My name is Alec sir.”

“Alec…” He tested the name, “Report to me tomorrow at noon sharp. Do not be late. You have tested my patience today, do not do it again tomorrow or you may find yourself... you be creative.”

Alessia quivered in her spot. She wasn’t sure whether she should be more afraid for Nelly or herself. She hadn’t anticipated the very real idea of being separated. Alessia had just assumed that she had been the one to get Nelly into this situation and would stay at her side no matter what the cost, “Could I—“

“You both are dismissed,” He interjected, “Daniel, the crew gets a little volatile when the food isn’t ready on time. I suggest you hurry to the kitchen in a timely manner.”

A look of pure unhappiness and discontent was evidently plastered onto his godlike face as he continued to look out his window. There was no gaining his attention for he had already begun thinking about the next task at hand.

Nelly was glad to be given an out and took it walking away quickly and silently. She didn’t want to stick around for what he had to say next. Alessia on the other hand stood in place taking in the Captain once more. He spoke softly, yet it sounded loud and echoed amongst the silence, “I suggest you get going before I decide to change my mind about this whole ordeal. I don’t even know why I’ve agreed to be honest.”

“Yes, thank you sir,” Alessia scurried out of the cabin and exhaled loudly when she saw Nelly out on deck. They had reached salvation.

“I see ye two made it out of ‘ere alive. I’m glad, congratulations are in order gents, maybe even a pint!” Toothy seemed to appear out of nowhere and took the both of them by surprise.

“Me too…” Nelly whispered under her breath unsure if anyone could hear her.

“Well it’d be me honor to show ye two lads ‘round the ole’ girl. Right’er long this way…”

Alessia took one last sigh of relief before willing her legs to follow. As the three of them began to walk away she stopped and looked over her shoulder at the heavy, mahogany door they were leaving behind. She thought about the Captain and the events that had just happened once more before shaking them from her mind. She had just survived her first encounter with the infamous pirate captain, Tanek.
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