Romantic Girls Tell Many Tales

"She is the Captain."

"No, the Captain is the guy you knocked out and then threw onto the dock."

"Apparently Esmerelda drummed up support for a mutiny and they installed her as Captain," Vail explained as Eliza rested her head on the desk.

"So, she was going to sink us?"

"Yes, because we're apparently holding you hostage."

"We need to cancel shore leave immediately. If we don't, she may try and sink us again."

"No need, Captain," chuckled Vail. "You see, we went through the rough water and Davey Jones called to you. Even the mermaid can't avoid the waves forever."

"What a shame," laughed Eliza. "I hope you treat your new position of authority with respect."

"I'm sure I will, Captain," replied Vail. "Want anything from the shore? I'm going to dock us."

"Mutton, if you can get any."

"Aye Captain," replied Vail.

Eliza started to swig from a bottle as she looked over the maps, doing her best to make use of her captivity. She wasn't a fan of being locked in a ship, but she didn't want to risk having every woman in the city chasing after her.

The days seemed to drag in the cabin. Vail's visits were the only thing that kept Eliza sane. That, and the copious amounts of alcohol she was drinking to stave off the boredom.

One evening, just as the sun was going down, Eliza heard movement outside her door. At first, she thought nothing of it, presuming it to be Vail or another crew member.

After a few minutes, the sound of weeping trickled under the door. "You were the most beautiful, and wonderful," sobbed a familiar voice.

"Oh no," muttered Eliza as she quickly ducked under the table and held her breath. Esmerelda had obviously snuck aboard and was now mourning Eliza mere feet from where she was hiding.

Eliza tried to stay as silent as possible, keen to hear what the girl was doing. However, she suddenly stopped speaking mid-way through a half-remembered prayer.

"What do you want?" asked Esmerelda.

"I'm here to take my ship," replied Anna's voice firmly.

"Your ship?"

"As her wife, I'm entitled to her estate. This ship is mine!"

"You are not her wife! You never knew her!"

"I knew her more than you!" shouted Anna. "I chased her through the rough waters that killed her while you did nothing but sit at port!"

"I didn't know!" screamed the other woman.

"Because you are not her wife!" replied Anna. Eliza heard the sound of a sword being removed from a sheath. She felt her stomach drop, she couldn't let these two girls murder each other due to the curse.

She ran out from under the table and swung the cabin door open. The door knocked Esmerelda to the floor as Anna's eyes went wide with confusion.

"My love?" she mumbled as her sword clattered to the floor.

"Not your love!" Eliza shouted as she dived off the edge of the boat and onto the dock.

"Come back! Come back!" called Anna as she started to give chase. Lucikly for Eliza, she was able to remember enough of Claw Bay to be able to find an alleyway that would let her put distance between herself and Anna.

After a few minutes of running, Eliza clambered up onto a balcony and ducked down, hoping to buy herself some time to get her breath back. If she knew she was going to be involved in a foot chase, she wouldn't have drunk so much.

However, it was too late for that as she was now tipsy and on the run. She knew she had to find Vail, but she wasn't sure how she could go to a bar without getting mugged by every woman present.

Suddenly a voice came from just behind Eliza. "But I want to see the world!" came a woman's voice as she put her head out of a window.

"Well, the world will wait! A woman has responsibilities," shouted a male voice from inside the house.

"Marriage is more than a responsibility! It is a curse!" sighed the girl. "Have you met him? He is a dullard! An utter dullard. His parents are wealthy, and that is how he fills the hole where a personality should go."

"But he can afford to keep you."

"I don't need keeping! I could jump out of this window right now and I would be," started the woman as she turned her head and made eye contact with Eliza.

Instantly the smoke started to twist and spiral around her head before diving into her ears. Her pupils morphed into bright red hearts as a deep crimson blush appeared on her cheeks.

"And could be what?" asked the voice from inside the building.

"I'm going to get married!" Shouted the woman.

"I'm glad you could see sense," replied the other voice. "He is a good man, you'll learn to love him."

"Him?" blinked the girl as the hearts faded. "Her, I want to marry her!" she said as she started to crawl out of the window.

Eliza knew she had to move quickly. She dived off the balcony and quickly started to run again.

"Wait! Come back! Come back!" screamed the woman after Eliza as she tried to climb down from the balcony.

Eliza panted as she ran, feet pounding against the cobbles of the street. She realized she didn't have a choice, she needed to get to Vail and hiding wasn't going to make her life any easier.

As she ran, Eliza looked around wildly doing her best to find something to cover her face with. This curse seemed to work via eye contact, so a head covering would at least make it easier to avoid people catching her eye by accident.

Eliza spotted a group of sailors drunkenly stumbling into the alleyway. One of the men had a bandanna around their head and Eliza decided it would be the best way to cover up at least part of her face until she could find a hood.

She ran forward and grabbed the sailor by the shoulder before yanking the fabric off their head.

"Hey what are you?" shouted the sailor as blond hair cascaded down their neck. The smoke formed and dived into the sailor's ears as Eliza realized that she had accosted a woman.

"Oh no!" Shouted Eliza as she quickly wrapped the bandanna around her head, watching as the sailor's eyes transformed into red hearts.

"Keep it, you can have all my clothes!" shouted the woman as she started to pant and squirm on the spot.

"Don't want them!" gasped Eliza as she started to run again, the love-stricken woman quickly starting to chase after her. Eliza couldn't believe this was happening. She had never imagined that she would spend a day being chased through the streets by four crazed women, but here she was.

She dived through alleyways and over walls, doing her best to put as much distance between herself and the mob as possible. The new girl and Esmerelda were here biggest worries, both were sailors and likely very fit. Anna's pampered background would likely mean she would tire quickly and without an army of guards, she would be on the backfoot.

As she came out onto the main street, Eliza's heart dropped. People lined the street, going into and stumbling out of the various taverns and gambling dens that filled the city.

Eliza ducked down and started to push through the crowd, keen to try and find a place that would suit Vail. It didn't take long for her to find a place that seemed to his tastes. An old and dingy wooden tavern that had obviously started life as someone's house.

She ducked down and ran through the door, hoping that she would be able to quickly spot Vail and drag him outside. However, to her dismay, the place was packed full of people. Every open space had someone drinking or gambling and Vail was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, a man by the bar raised a pistol. "We don't take trouble makers here," he said firmly as several people close to the bar turned to face Eliza.

"Oh right, the bandanna," she mumbled, trying to think of a good excuse. The bartender nodded and lowered the pistol as Eliza adjusted the bandanna so it looked more normal and less like she was about to try and rob the bar.

However, as she did, someone shouted from the far end of the room. "My captain wants a word with you!"

Eliza reflexively looked up and glared at the man, only to accidentally make eye-contact with half of the room. Instantly smoke started to dance around several heads before diving into their ears.

All of the women stiffened as their eyes slowly changed into bright red hearts. Eliza sighed and started to shout. "Vail! Vail! Get out here, now!" she screamed as every girl in the room started to moan.

"I love you," screamed several voices, only to be echoed by another load of voices requesting sexual favors from Eliza.

It was like a cascade of lust. The shouting caused more people to turn and look at Eliza, only to quickly fall under the curse's sway. These people only made the chorus of voices louder, attracting even more attention which caused more people to fall to the curse.

A crowd of women rushed towards Eliza, quickly surrounding her. She looked around furiously, trying to work out how to escape. Hands grabbed and pawed at her, rubbing every inch of her body. Every time she was able to push one person away, another two took their place.

"Get off!" Eliza shouted as she continued to wildly swing her arms. However, the hands slowly found their way to her most sensitive areas. Despite her fear and anger, her body reacted with mindless joy. Despite the fact these women were cursed, it felt good to be touched.

"Please," gasped Eliza as the touches grew more intense. Her knees started to tremble as the fight slowly drained out of her. She couldn't think of a way out of this.

Suddenly, several of the girls were thrown aside, their nails digging into Eliza's flesh as they tried and failed to hold on. "Out of the way! Hands off the captain!" Echoed Vail's strong and comforting voice.

"Vail!" gasped Eliza, doing her best to make her way towards him, pulling herself from the sea of grabbing hands.

"Come on!" shouted Vail as she swatted away several women. He reached out and grabbed Eliza by the wrist and yanked her out of the throng before dragging her out into the street.

Eliza started to run as she saw a horde of women pour out of the bar, all of them screaming their love for her. She was in shock and had no idea what to do or how to react. Everything seemed to be getting worse by the second.

Suddenly, Vail dragged Eliza into an ally. She was almost catatonic with confusion, so it took her several moments to realize that Vail was lifting her and putting her into a barrel.

"Can't catch what they can't see Captain," said Vail as the barrel started to shake and rattle as Vail lifted it. Eliza sat in the darkness, getting bounced around with every step.

She tried to think of solutions to this problem, but none came to her. She had an army on her tail and they would stop at nothing to get their hands on her.

As she bounced around in the barrel, she could hear Vail shouting at various sailors. It was obvious he was trying to gather the crew together. Some of them were annoyed at being recalled so suddenly, but Vail's imposing nature made them instantly back down.

After several painful hours bouncing against the wood and iron of the barrel, the lid came off and Eliza could see the night sky once more. "Captain," smiled Vail as he reached into the barrel and helped Eliza out.

She clambered out of the barrel and looked around, quickly realizing she was back aboard her ship. They were pulling out of the dock as the horde of women did their best to keep up the chase. Several of them were in the process of hijacking other ships.

"Move those bones!" screamed Vail. "Unless you want to be the crew that couldn't outrun a load of drunkards!" The crew ran around the deck at a breakneck pace, everyone doing their work more quickly than ever before.

The looks on their faces made it clear that while they might not fully understand what was going on, they were very aware that something was very, very wrong.

As Eliza's boat pulled away several other ships gave chase, each one loaded up with squabbling women. Eliza looked on with horror as she tried to work out what she was going to do.

Once they were a few miles from shore, Eliza spotted another ship on the horizon. "Turn, quickly!" she shouted, as she grabbed the wheel and spun it with all her might.

Several sailors tumbled and hit the deck as the ship violently rocked to the side. Vail looked at Eliza with confusion, only to spot the other ship on the horizon.

"Is that...?" He muttered only for Eliza to cut him off.

"Anna! She is going to cut us off!"

"Come on, lads!" screamed Vail. "Get her around! Prepare the cannons!" he shouted as he ran below deck. Eliza continued to try and turn the ship, doing her best to avoid Anna's ship while lining up her cannons for a clean shot.

Despite her best efforts, Eliza wasn't able to turn the ship fully, meaning that her ship missed Anna's ship by mere inches.

"My love!" screamed Anna as she let go of the wheel and ran towards the edge of the boat. "I will save you!"

"I don't need saving!" shouted Eliza.

"But they have you captive!"

"I'm their captain!" replied Eliza, growing increasing exasperated by her situation.

"I will save you from them!" screamed Anna as she snatched a sword and ran to the mast. She cut through one of the ropes and grabbed onto the end before running towards the edge of her boat and jumping.

However, physics quickly undid her plan. She wasn't more than half a foot off the edge of her boat before she reached the end of the rope and got pulled back. Anna swung helplessly through the air before she smashed into her own ship's mast with a loud crash.

Eliza continued to try and turn her ship, doing her best to get around Anna's. Lucikly for Eliza, it seemed that all of Anna's crew were too scared to try and rouse her and too dumb to operate the ship without guidance, allowing her to put a good amount of distance between her ship and the ship of her crazed lover.

However, despite this small victory, Eliza could see the mass of ships that were on her tail. If these people were even half as dedicated as Anna then they wouldn't give up until they had Eliza.

"Alright, lads," shouted Eliza. "We're heading to New Providence!"

The sailors cheered as they continued to do their jobs. Thankfully, the other ships were not in the best shape and Eliza was able to keep ahead of them with ease.

As the hours rolled on, Eliza moved into the cabin and waved for Vail to follow her.

"Captain," acknowledged Vail as he shut the door behind him.

"New Providence," replied Eliza. "I think I have a plan."

"A plan captain?" Vail smirked.

"We're going to sneak into New Providence and accost that woman without anyone noticing," explained Eliza as she leaned forward. "Listen closely."

As the ship came close to New Providence, Eliza climbed into a rum barrel and took a deep breath. "You know your orders?" Eliza ensured as she glared at one of the sailors.

"Aye Captain! It will be done!" he shouted, obviously intimidated by Eliza's glare.

"I expect it," nodded Eliza as she ducked down into the barrel and pulled the lid into position.

"Alright, lads! Prepare the cannons!" shouted Vail as he lifted the barrel and climbed into the rowboat that hung at the edge of the ship.

Once he was inside, he put the barrel down and drew his sword. "Alright! Fire!" he shouted as she swung his sword and cut through the ropes, sending the boat crashing down into the water.

The ship's cannons fired towards the city, missing the rowboat by mere inches. Instantly, the air filled with shouts and confused screams from both Eliza's ship and the ships following them.

Vail quickly started to row, his muscular arms propelling the small boat along at great speed. He watched as Eliza's ship followed its orders and started to turn parallel to the city.

On the coast, Vail could see people running as city guards quickly dashed to the defense towers that littered the edge of the city. The guards were so concerned with the cannon fire, they didn't notice Vail's little rowboat as he rowed onto the beach and quickly dragged the boat behind some rocks.

Once he was safely hidden, Vail wrapped a bandanna around his head and lifted the barrel. He watched the guards for a few minutes and waited for a moment to make his way into the city.

He didn't need to wait long as a few moments later, Eliza's ship fired another volley of cannon balls causing all of the guards to dash towards the closest guard towers.

The ring of the cannons was soon echoed by the mob of pursuing ships. In the confusion, they had all started to fire on each other. However, their crews' inexperience had led to several ships colliding into each other, slowing the whole mob to a crawl.

Vail started to run through the streets, doing his best to push through the mass of screaming, fleeing people. It took him a while, but he eventually found a tent that perfectly fit the description Eliza had given him.

He threw the curtain open, only to spot a woman sitting behind a table, counting her coins. "I want a word with you!" he growled.

"You want to talk to the spirits, only a coin!" smiled the woman. Suddenly, Eliza kicked the lid of the barrel, sending it flying forwards into the woman's face.

The woman let out a groan as she crumpled to the floor. "I want a word with you!" shouted Eliza as she climbed out of the barrel.

"The cursed pirate," cackled the woman as she held her face. "I see you understand the torture of your curse."

"I do! And if you don't remove it I'm going to raze this whole city!"

"With your crew?" mumbled the woman as she slowly pushed herself up off the floor.

"No! With the small army of women who are currently trying to hunt me down!" shouted Eliza as the sounds of cannon fire echoed through the city streets.

"You will never make me remove the curse," laughed the woman.

"I have a sword that will make you say otherwise," growled Vail as he reached for his blade.

"You fools! You don't know the powers are you are trying to influence!" screamed the woman as she dived forward and grabbed Eliza by the collar. As the woman made eye contact with the pirate, the smoke started to form around her head. "Oh dear," muttered the woman as the smoke pushed into her ears and her eyes changed into pulsing red hearts.

"Get off!" shouted Eliza as she pushed the woman back into her chair.

"Anything for you my love!" squeaked the woman as she hit the chair. "Anything you command!"

"Undo this curse! Undo it now!" Screamed Eliza.

"Of course! Yes! Anything!" nodded the woman as she grabbed the crystal ball and started to rub it. "Look into the ball, look into it!"

Eliza looked at Vail and then nodded towards the woman before looking into the crystal ball. Smoke started to spiral and fill the ball, creating a wonderful and mesmerizing pattern.

She could feel her body sinking into the floor as her mind grew light and foggy. Having Vail present meant that Eliza didn't worry about protecting herself, she just let it happen, silently praying that whatever this was would solve her problem.

"Yes, round, let it take you in my love!" Said the woman softly, "Let it flow into you, let it take you over, let it fill you with the warmth and joys of love..."

Eliza started to sway as her eyes filled with the hazy fog. She couldn't feel her own body, it was like she was floating on air. The woman's voice sounded oddly musical like it was being played by a magnificent orchestra.

She felt amazing, like every fiber of her being was tingling and exploding with joy. The fog was just too beautiful to pull her gaze away from. "Yes, you are cursed to get whatever you want in every port, everything for you my love, every single thing," continued the woman as a trickle of drool ran down Eliza's cheek.

Vail reached down and lifted his pistol as he looked around the tent. They had been here a while now and he was unsure how long he should let this continue before he tried to hurry it along, the guards wouldn't be distracted by their horde of boats forever.