Finn's Treasure

Esmee

A tear trickles down my cheek as I’m manhandled towards the mainmast of the Sir Ocelot.

I haven’t seen daylight for the last three days and I’ve had no food either. If the situation were different, I would admire the beauty of the azure blue ocean, the cloudless sky, and the smell of the clean air. I would revel in the warm sunshine on my skin, but I don’t, because all I can think of is the horrendous fate that awaits me.

I want to fight this, but I know there’s no point. They are so much stronger than me and my status gives me no rights at all. If I fight, the punishment will be worse, although this time I don’t see how anything can be worse than this.

This is so unfair. I’ve done nothing wrong.

My father’s voice echoes in my mind. The last words he spoke to me before they bundled me into a carriage and locked the doors.

“Life isn’t fair. Get used to it!”

That was five years ago. I was barely thirteen years old. My father, the man who was supposed to love me and look after me, sold me to the Duke of Chichester to pay for his drinking and gambling debts. They don’t call it slavery, it’s too distasteful. Instead, they call it an indentured servant, but it’s the same thing. My fate; is to work for my master or mistress until the debt is cleared, but they don’t tell you how much it is, so how will you ever know?

Working for the duke wasn’t that bad. Three meals a day and a roof over my head.

I had to work hard, but as my mother had said, six months before she died.

“Hard work won’t kill you.”

Maybe she lied because it didn’t do her any favours. Me neither, because my father only started drinking heavily after my mother died.

This, though, is wrong.

My new mistress, the duke’s daughter, Lady Evana, has accused me of theft. Just two days later, I accidentally walked in on her and Captain Corrigan. I apologised and quickly excused myself. I wouldn’t have told anyone. I know better than that, but neither she nor Captain Corrigan thought I could be trusted with their little secret. So they had to get rid of me.

Lady Evana made a big thing about her necklace going missing. Demanded that everyone be searched. The Captain was only too happy to oblige, and when he searched my cabin, he found the necklace there.

I pleaded my innocence, but of course, no one believed me. Why would they? I’m nothing more than a slave, given to Lady Evana as a wedding gift from her father.

She is on her way to join her husband, the new governor of Nassau. I doubt that he would be too pleased to learn of her dalliance with the Captain which is why I find myself in this current situation.

The soldiers secure my arms above my head, tying my wrists to a metal ring on the mast. My toes barely touch the ground.

The ropes cut into my wrist and blood trickles down my arms. I know what’s about to happen and this won’t be the first of my blood that’s spilled today.

“Please... I didn’t do it…” I beg.

Not that anyone will believe me and any pleas I make fall on deaf ears. There’s a loud drum roll, followed by one of the Captain’s men reading out the charges.

“The prisoner is charged with theft of a diamond necklace from Lady Evana, Duchess of Chichester and wife of Governor Weldon Montague. The sentence is twenty lashes,” he hesitates and I hear the Captain clear his throat.

The man continues reading.

“Then she will be hung by the neck until she is dead. Let this be a warning to any who would steal from the duchess. May god have mercy on her soul.”

I screw my eyes closed in a vain attempt to stop my tears from falling. They’re going to kill me, so why do they have to torture me first? Isn’t my death enough?

My heart is thundering so loudly in my chest that I barely hear the Captain when he speaks to my mistress, but his words sicken me to my stomach, as do hers.

“Shame, really, she’s a pretty little thing.”

“Not to worry,” Lady Evana responds, coldly.

“I’ll get Daddy to send me another.”

The Captain hums in agreement. Am I really that worthless that I can be thrown away like trash? I guess I must be. It would have been better for me if I had died of the fever along with my mother.

“Let the sentence be carried out,” The Captain commands.

I hear heavy booted footsteps walking towards me. When they come to a stop, a rough hand grabs my hair and pulls my head back.

It feels like a thousand needles are being jabbed into my skull. A small whimper escapes my lip and the man laughs. His stubbled jaw scrapes across my cheek and I can smell his fetid breath.

“Normally the prisoner gives me some coin to go easy on ’em, but guess you’re out of luck on that front as you’re penniless. You can’t even offer me a fuck, cos you’ll be dead after.”

He shoves my head forward, and my forehead makes contact with the mast.

He laughs again. Perhaps if he had shoved it a bit harder, it would have knocked me out. At least then I wouldn’t feel what’s about to happen.

I let out a shriek as he rips my dress in two, leaving my back bare for everyone to see.

His footsteps retreat, but only for a couple of paces.

I can’t help but flinch as he cracks the whip above his head. I barely have time to breathe before a scream escapes my lips.

The pain that goes through my back is unimaginable. It feels like fire has engulfed my whole body. I barely register his voice counting one before I feel the second strike.

My body stiffens, and my back arches in a futile attempt to get away from the lash. Any thought of staying on my feet is lost as my legs turn to jelly. I feel fluid trickling down my back. The smell of copper permeates the air, and I know that it's my blood that is causing the smell. If this is what it’s like after two strikes, I doubt I’ll survive twenty. I try to brace myself as much as I can for the third strike, but it doesn’t come. Instead, a loud explosion assaults my ears, making them ring. The whole deck seems to vibrate as I hear more explosions around me.

I hear a scream that isn’t my own. It comes from Lady Evana. Then a lot of shouting, mostly from Captain Corrigan.

“Man your stations, and get her ladyship off the deck.”

I silently prayed for death after the first stroke of the whip. Perhaps my prayers have been answered. Perhaps the ship will sink while I’m still secured to the mast.

Right now, all I can hear is the clash of steel and the smell of cordite as muskets are fired. Captain Corrigan’s soldiers are cursing as pirates board the ship. I think death would be preferable to being taken by pirates.

Before being shipped out here with Lady Evana, I heard tall stories about pirates. How they attack ships and ports with nothing on their mind except rape and pillage. Then once they’ve had their fill, they leave decimation in their wake. I’d thought they were just stories told to children to make them behave, but now I’m beginning to believe them to be true.

I can’t help but feel sorry for Lady Evana, even after everything she has done to me. I doubt she was expecting to be attacked by pirates. Me, it doesn’t matter, because I’m sentenced to death, anyway.