Sea Change

Sea Change Chapter Ten

Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Ha! Didn’t forget
this one! Readers/Reviewers: Sorry for
the delay… On with the show, lol!

Anna Maria
did not join in the raucous revelry building to a fever pitch around her on the
deck. The men were loud, some singing,
some just shouting, as they neared Port Royal.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The familiar tiny islands in the bay were just
off port, so close she could make out the details on the lumps of sand where
they sank the gallows, the warning to pirates who would come into these
waters. The sudden silence that crashed
over the ship almost made her smile. The men had noticed the pile of bones
under the gallows and the desiccated corpses and skeletons dotting the
sandbars, hanging from rotting ropes. _At
least there’s some measure of respect left in them.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> _ She never thought
there would come a time when she would be sick of her own men but she thought
that if they did not make port soon, she would start throwing them overboard in
inverse rank order.

class=GramE>“Cap’n, ma’am?”

She closed
her eyes for a moment, then turned towards the
voice. “Yes,
boatswain?” Anna Maria swept an
appraising gaze over the man: short, but not diminutive, grimy but not filthy,
a pirate but not a disgrace. “What do
you need?”

“The men
and I was wonderin’, Ma’am…”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He licked his dry lips and glanced over his
shoulder at a small cadre of deckhands, all trying to look as if they were not
paying attention to the goings on. “We class=GramE>was wonderin’… what’s gonna happen
‘bout that murd’ress we was harborin’
in our bosoms?”

He looked
so earnest that Anna Maria made a conscious effort not to snarl.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “All will be taken care of in time,
boatswain.” She nodded curtly,
dismissing him to his duties and turning her back on him, her hands going back
to the wheel. She knew he did not move because she could hear his breath
hissing through his broken teeth. The
deck was still silent, the veritable pirate graveyard they were passing through
casting a pall of solemnity over the previously boisterous men.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Boatswain, why are you still standing there?”
the captain asked quietly. “Do your
duties or you’re shipbound during this port call.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

“class=SpellE>Beggin’ your pardon Cap’n,” he
said slowly, his voice shaking a bit, “Some of the men heard tell that gel you
had ‘board were a witch an’ that she calls Port Royal
home… Not all us seadogs are much taken with the
notion that we’re comin’ to her home, Ma’am.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

He tipped his chin defiantly as
Anna Maria turned to face him again, this time her eyes narrowed and posture
brooking no insubordination. “Return to
your duties or be shipbound,” she repeated in a low
tone. Raising her voice to be heard over
the slapping waves and distant rumble of life on the shores of Port
Royal, she added, “Anyone who questions my ability to be captain
of this ship will join the boatswain.
Myrtle is no witch. She cannot
turn you into toads, she cannot kill you with a look… she’s a sad, fat little
girl who’s clinging to the legend of Captain Jack Sparrow like a drowning man
to a rope. Now,” she paused, letting the
silence draw out to the point of discomfort, the men before her shifting and
fidgeting. “GET TO WORK!”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She snapped her fingers, stalking away from
the wheel as her first mate sprang forward.
He had his eye on being a captain one day and was eager to prove he
could handle a ship on his own with no direction from her or anyone.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> _Let him have it, _ she thought
bitterly. _I can’t stand to look at
them. _style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She retreated to the sparsely
furnished room that served as her private quarters and sank down into the
hammock strung between supporting posts. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She knew, in her heart of hearts, that Myrtle
could not have murdered the man but… She
closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in consternation.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “There’s no other way,” she breathed into the
otherwise empty room. Scaring the girl
had not forced a confession, trying to scare the men had no forced *them* to
confess… She would never admit it aloud
but she was at a loss.

“Cap’n!”

“What?” she snapped, not rising
from the hammock.
“What do you want, Jameson?”

The slight young man, scrawny
beyond what could possibly be healthy and oddly pale despite being in the sun
all day, every day, opened the cabin door enough to stick his head in.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “We got prol’ems, class=SpellE>Cap’n!”

“Yes, I know,” she ground out,
pushing her hat back so he could see her eyes.
“One of them being men who won’t make ready to dock!”

“Noclass=GramE>..it’s bad’er ‘en that, class=SpellE>Cap’n!” He bounced
nervously on his toes, swallowing so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed
comically. “They look like they got
canons!” A roaring sound followed by a
loud splash punctuated his words. “See?”

Anna Maria was on her feet and
through the door before Jameson could skitter out of the way.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> The men were already moving into attack
positions, manning the guns and forming the lines.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Stand down!” she barked, gaining the
wheelhouse.

“It’s the Navy, Ma’am!” one of the
men called. “They’re firin’ on us!”

Anna Maria peered through her
spyglass, watching the blue and white clad men scurry on the deck of a
black-hulled ship, coming around the outcropped rock bounding Port class=SpellE>Royal’s main entry.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “Fire back,” she said tersely.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> When nothing happened immediately, she
snapped the spyglass closed and turned to face the deck at large. “FIRE BACK!”

A/N Smut next chapter!