They traveled the waters for hours--the captain nearly nodding off at the helm, while Alice sat at the edge of the ship, lost in her thoughts. She soon fell into a slumber herself, only waking up when she was violently shook.

“Time to go,” the captain ordered. Alice yawned and opened her eyes, getting up from the box she had been leaning against.

They were by a shoreline. The engine was still running, and the captain was all but lifting her up at this point. He gestured to their right, towards a small plume of smoke that rose past the shore, going deep into a line of trees in the distance. It drifted lazily in the afternoon air, blowing away from the two. “Make your way to that smoke trail. That’s where the town is. Don’t go anywhere else on the island. Straight there, you hear?”

“Gotcha,” Alice replied, slinging her bag on her back. She prepared to disembark, one leg hanging over the side of the ship. “Thanks, captain.” She gave him a small smile and a short wave before hopping off the edge of the ship and landing with a splash onto the shoreline below. He watched her take a few steps onto the sandy beaches, then was off, tearing like a bat out of hell.

Alice looked over her shoulder, watching him go for just a moment. In another scenario, she could have been with him and a couple other kids, hunting for ‘treasure’. The way the world worked sure was funny sometimes.

The path ahead went in between jungle trees and plants, and only a few wooden planks were laid out on the ground. The rest was sand and dirt. Alice assumed it led to town. It was better than carving her way through a mass of foliage anyway.

The sun was still high in the sky but was beginning to make its descent. Not that it mattered anyway; the jungle canopy blotted out most traces of sunlight. Parrots and even a monkey or two could be heard, making their cries all around Alice without being seen. Unknowingly to herself, Alice’s pace sped up just a little.

Eventually, she came to a clearing. Ahead, there were several ramshackle guard towers made out of the local flora that appeared to be unoccupied. Running from tower to tower was a fence, with several large holes punched into it. The path she was on lead to an opened gate, where three smaller buildings stood, lined with graffiti and trash. From the largest one on the right, she could hear music playing. The one in the center had a sign just above its doors in a language Alice couldn’t read--Kvaat, she thought? It had a block style and weird backwards lettering in it. She was pretty sure that’s what Kvaat’s wrote like. Lastly, the building to the left seemed to be apartments. Probably for the workers that had to fuel boats here.

Alice slipped through the gate. She wrinkled her nose; the port stunk of oil smoke and fish. A haze of smog even hung in the air, making everything look dark and cloudy. She kept close to the side of the largest building, listening in. There was definitely a rowdy rabble inside. Pirates...?

Whether they were or not, she’d need their help. Taking a few deep breaths, She closed her eyes and summoned all the courage she could before stepping out from the corner. The front of the building had a sign that said, ‘The Diamond Tiara’. An oddly named place for pirates to be. It reminded her of one of the children at school.

Hope this place doesn’t share her personality, she thought. What a total bitc--

The door suddenly swung open, a slim man flying through the opening. Alice quickly darted back around the corner, but kept an eye on the ongoing action. The man on the ground was clearly drunk, stumbling as he attempted to stand on two feet. From within, the roar of shouts could be heard, directed at the intoxicated pirate. Once he managed to get up, he flipped the bird at the others inside and received an empty bottle to the head for his efforts, which smashed and sent pieces of glass everywhere. Alice backed further away, behind the corner. A meaty thump told her all she needed to know: the poor sap had been knocked out cold. A chorus of laughter erupted from within, and the door slammed shut.

These were pirates alright.

Running a hand through her hair, Alice stepped back out into the open. She peered at the unconscious man, blood dripping from his head. A big part of her wanted to help him, but she knew that’d only attract attention. Plus, the guy was probably used to the rough life anyway. She gingerly walked around him and placed a trembling hand on the door knob.

“Three...two....one...go!” she whispered to herself, opening the door just enough to slip in quietly upon the final word.

The inside of the building was even more smoke-filled than the rest. Alice coughed, keeping to the walls for now, simply staring at the scene before her. At the back of the room was a bar, a gruff looking barman with a scruffy beard standing behind it, peering carefully at his patrons as he wiped at a milky glass. Hanging over the bar was an old box TV, showcasing a football match. Behind the barman was a catalogue of different drinks, all alcoholic. Some men stared longingly at the drinks, leaning against the bar table. Some were resting their heads on it, asleep in a drunken stupor.

One corner of the room was definitely designated for games. A dart board hung on the wall, two burly men competing against each other--though with knives, rather than the forgotten darts in the board. Nearby was a scroungy pool table, two other dirty looking men looking over, fat cigars in their mouths and cues in their hands. On the opposite corner was a door, possibly leading to the restrooms. Alice didn’t even want to imagine what those would be like.

Scattered across the room were several round, wooden tables. Most showed damage of some sort, showing rough finishes, hastily patched up legs, and graffiti galore. Pirates crowded around them, drinking from mugs and occasionally bursting into fits of laughter and shouts. Many would spill their drink to no notice or spit thickly at the ground. She noticed it was covered in sawdust, but was so dirty and sticky as to rival the worst movie theatre she’d ever been in. Alice didn’t want to approach anyone, she didn’t even want to move from where she stood.

Too bad that they did instead.

“Oi. What’s a lil’ girl like you doin’ in a place like this, eh?”

Alice gasped, looking to her right to see two muscular men standing side by side. They were grinning maliciously, their dirty teeth on full display.

“Y’know,” the one with a red bandana said, nudging the other’s shoulder, “she’d probably be worth a pretty penny in some places.”

The other man laughed, folding his arms. He had messy black hair that went down to his shoulders and was very greasy. In fact, all of him was. “Yeah. Doubt she’d last long, though. Everyone ‘ere would be too rough for her.”

The bandana pirate forcefully grabbed Alice’s arm, pulling her closer to himself. Alice struggled against him, but it was futile. She was pretty sure his iron grip was cutting off the blood supply to her hand. “Hah! Look at her! Arms like breadsticks!”

“Lemme feel.” The greasy one then grabbed Alice’s other arm, and the girl struggled even more. “So ‘ey are! I could break her arm right now, just by clenching me fist.”

“Let go of me!” Alice protested, trying her hardest not to scream and cause a commotion.

The bandana pirate looked at his mate, a twisted smile on his face. “‘Ey. Whaddya say we go take her to the alleyway and--”

His cheek was punctured by a dart. It sunk in, piercing his tongue. He turned to face his attacker, only to get another dart into his chin. He began to wail in agony and frustration, letting go of the girl to reach up and pull out the darts impaling his face, only for another to land into his hand.

“OK. That just keeps getting funnier,” a low woman’s voice said from near the dartboard. She gave one of the burly men playing a pat on his shoulder and stepped forward, towards the greasy pirate and his groaning friend. She was an odd sort for a place like this. For starters, she had the smug, aggressive posture of a leader. Her shoulders were thrown back, bare and muscular and primed for action, like a snake coiled to strike. Her toned chest puffed out in defiance of the two men she had set her hawk-eyes on. Clicking with a cold, calculating grace, her worn and muddy combat boots made their way across the floor. When she came within five feet of the men, she smugly stared up at them and briefly ran a finger under the neckline of her sleeveless shirt. “Odd choice for a plaything.” She sneered, her eyes still dangerous and wild. “I pegged you boys as the kind to suck each other off.”

The greasy man let go of Alice, who stumbled onto the floor. He turned to the newcomer, snarling. “Just who the fuck do you think you are?” He pointed at a door behind the bar table. “Kitchen’s that way, bitch.”

“You’re right,” she said, oozing fake cheer. “Be a dear--go in there and get me a beer. Tell them it’s for Gilda Almadia. They’ll put it on my tab.” She glanced around the bar. “Considering that they’re housing about a quarter of my men in here, after all.”

The man looked around, scoffing. “Bullshit.” He then clenched his fists and raised them, ready for a brawl. “Anyway, if a bitch talks smack, she’s gonna get a big ass whack.”

Surprisingly, she threw her head back and laughed hard at his statement; her grey hair shook as her shoulders bounced up and down at the motion.

“You sound like my second in command,” she explained. Before anyone could react to her words, her mood did a complete turn about and she stepped forward, with an intense, dark expression, pushing her face inches from his. “But you wanna fight, you piece of shit?!” she loudly screamed, shoving him hard. “Come on! I’ll break you like a fuckin’ twig! You hear me?! You’re fuckin’ dead!”

“Wanna play rough, eh? Well you’re in luck, ‘cause that’s just my game!” The pirate pulled a switchblade and suddenly lunged at Gilda, shouting like he was screaming a war cry.

It was a tragedy.

Alice didn’t even really know what happened until it was already over. Gilda twisted on the ball of her foot, dodging to the inside of the blow and wrapping her armpit around the man’s elbow. With one quick use of leverage, she heard the satisfying pop of his shoulder dislocating, then she reared back and struck him hard in the mouth. With the grace of a bird, she instantly let go, twisted him around, and kicked his back, stumbling him forward and into a wall lined with beverages. He fell and cracked his face against the bottles, shattering several as he fell to the ground.

The other man had just recovered and sent a sluggish punch aimed right for Gilda’s face. She responded by leaning her head back and dodging the strike. As the man pulled his fist away, she lunged forward, cracking him in the nose with a headbutt. Deciding on overkill, she took another step closer and brought her knee upward, driving it hard into his balls. He let out a groan (a rather high-pitched one at that) and quickly fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

A shout announced that the greasy pirate had come back into play and he wasn’t messing around. He had picked up the remains of the glass bottles from the floor and was resorting to flinging them at the woman, standing back on two feet. Gilda dodged to the side and stepped forward. She ducked under another. Finally she got in range of the man and sprouted a feral grin, slamming her foot into his gut. Before he could recover, she planted her foot back down and yanked hard at the weapon in his hands. With a small twist, she heard a pop at his other shoulder, and welcomed it like an old friend. The man yelled in pain, going down onto his knees. Gilda gave a kiss to her knuckles, then delivered a final haymaker straight into his jawline. He fell to the ground like a stone in a pond. He didn’t get back up. Meanwhile, his friend was whimpering and crawling towards the exit, hands cupped around his once ‘manly’ parts.

The rest of the bar patrons were in an uproar, cheering at Gilda and thumping on the bar tables. Alice stayed on the ground, her heart rate fast and her breaths heavy. The grey-haired woman briefly ignored her, instead moving to the unconscious body of the man. She rooted around in his pockets, discarding some bits and bobs before pulling out a wallet. The lean woman took a courtesy glance inside and smirked.

“Next round’s on me, lads!” she called out, pocketing the man’s supply of bills. She then moved over to Alice and squatted down by her. “You alright, squirt?”

“Y-Yeah...” Alice slowly got up, dusting herself off. She tried to put on her best brave face. “Just a lil’ shaken is all.”

The woman offered a smile and tousled the girl’s hair. “Heh. You got balls, kid.” She moved over to a stool by the bar counter and waited. Soon, a timid looking man wearing a bowler hat peaked out of the kitchen.

“Morgan,” Gilda addressed. He nodded, then started searching through the ruins of his cabinet. He paused.

“T-that was one of the bottles that broke.”

Gilda growled, “Fine. Honey cocktail. Don’t skimp on the booze.”

Alice glanced around. Nobody else seemed to be as friendly as this woman was so she was probably her safest bet right now. She moved to the bar table and stood there awkwardly. Every other stool was taken.

“Curt,” Gilda addressed, staring ahead.

“Hmm?” the man to her side grunted in reply.

“Go play a round of pool.”

“Uh... alright, boss,” he addressed, rubbing at the camouflage bandanna around his forehead. He rose and went off to play a game.

Alice quickly seized the seat for herself. “Er, thanks,” she said, looking at all the bottles of alcohol. Wasn’t there anything nice to drink? She looked to Gilda and hurriedly added, “And thanks for helping me back there.”

She shrugged easily, brushing off the girl. The woman leaned to the side and shouted down to the kitchen. “How’s the cocktail comin’?”

“Good, g-good!” a nervous voice replied.

“Well, add a grape soda to my order,” the woman said, briefly playing with her eyebrow ring.

“Ya don’t have to do that,” Alice said, leaning against the bar table. Even if they were pirates, they were still people and Alice just felt bad getting so much for free from anyone, without giving anything in return. Still, this was probably the most decent anyone got around here...

“If ya don’t want to,” Alice added, giving Gilda a quick nod.

“I said I was going to,” she tersely replied.

“Got it,” Alice said swiftly. She wasn’t going to argue with any pirates here.

Their drinks came shortly afterwards, Gilda’s in a traditional champagne glass, Alice’s in a large fountain glass. The woman took a sip of her beverage then leaned forward, resting her arm on the bar. Alice began to drink her soda, relishing in the taste and the buzz it gave her, but she always kept an eye on the woman next to her.

Gilda gave an irritated sigh, finally speaking once she nursed half her drink. “Kid. What are you doing here?”

Well, this was it. Alice had already formulated an excuse before heading inside the bar. She just hoped it’d slide. “I...I wanna become a pirate.” She gave Gilda a firm nod.

Gilda returned to her drink, shuffling in her seat. “Fuck off, kid,” she said plainly. “No, you don’t.”

“Yeah, I do,” Alice retorted, attempting to take a hearty swig of her drink just like a pirate would. She nearly choked.

The pirate stayed silent for a long, uncomfortable minute. Without warning, she turned to face the young girl. “Have you ever killed a man?” Gilda asked.

Alice tapped the bar table. “No but...I got balls.” There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. “And I’ve helped put down animals on the farm before!”

Gilda ran a finger along the rim of her glass. She took another drink. “I started when I was about your age. Left my country behind on some shitty freighter. Was a smuggler. Captain liked to transport cocaine, heroin, mostly. Though we had to do some human trafficking when we were completely broke.” She flicked her hard eyes towards Alice again. “Used to have nightmares. Grimy kids my age in cuffs screaming at me to let them go. Still do, sometimes.” She finished off her drink. “I do things a bit differently now, but the point’s the same. There’s no fucking way I’m letting you become a pirate.”

Alice scratched her leg, avoiding Gilda’s gaze. “I got nowhere else to go really...” It left an awful feeling inside, having to lie so much. Jack definitely wouldn’t approve. But the ends justified the means.

“There’s always someplace to go,” Gilda replied, briefly playing with her pierced lip. With a scowl, she reached into her pocket, pulling out the wad of money she had taken. With deft hands, she counted off one hundred dollars and put it on the counter by Alice. “Get back to the mainland, squirt. There’s an orphanage in Camelot ran by a woman named Charlotte. Tell her I sent you. That cash should be enough for a ticket and a few meals.”

Alice frowned, pushing the dollars away. “I don’t wanna go to some orphanage. I wanna be a pirate ‘cause that’s freedom.”

“You’re gonna be a good little girl and go there,” Gilda instructed with a scowl, pushing the money towards Alice.

The girl stared at the money, steeling herself for what she was about to do next. She didn’t want to do it but Gilda left her with no choice. She looked into Gilda’s eyes and defiantly said, “And what if I don’t?”

“You know what? I don’t give a shit. I gave you an out. Up to you if you got the balls to take it.”

Alice turned to her drink, taking another sip. “I guess ya won’t mind if I stick around you then.”

“Kid,” Gilda warned, her voice low and menacing. “I’m not playing here. You’re not coming with, and that’s that.”

“Fine then!” Alice downed the rest of her drink, slamming the glass on the bar table. “I’ll just hang around here!”

The pirate rose with a shake of her head at the girl, tossing a few more bills on the table. “We’ve killed enough time--let’s move, boys!” she called out with a snap of her fingers. “Rim’s calling us!”

Dozens of men rose, polishing off their drinks and belching. They followed Gilda’s example, dropping cash for their drinks and quickly filing out. Soon, only a few scattered men sat in the bar. Alice pretended to stay put until all of Gilda’s crew had left. Once the bar was (relatively) quiet, she slipped off her seat and followed them out the door.

By now, it was going into early evening and the sky was painted with a beautiful orange. A cool wind blew through the town, picking up cans and paper like tumbleweeds. Gilda and her motley crew headed outside of the fenced-in buildings then traveled northwest, going around the fence and heading down a thin, dirty trail that the jungle seemed to swallow whole. The group walked along the loose dirt path as it sloped downward, leading to a fairly hidden fueling station. Dozens of boats lined the edge of the water, with one in particular being almost half the size of a cruise ship, seeming to be more of a galleon than an actual modern boat.

The ship was worn and had obvious years under its belt. Its sides were decorated with Kvaat writing in bold, white lettering. At the front was a figurehead of a griffon--it’s wings spread as if in flight and its claws holding a stack of arrows. Alice couldn’t help but be entranced the moment she saw it. She could admire it later though--soon she’d actually be on deck!

She walked a short distance behind the crew, their chatting and shouting making it easy to be quiet. As they neared the ship, the girl took cover behind a box and waited for them to get aboard.

The group split up, several called out to the large, imposing boat waiting on the waterside, while others seemed to be saying a few more goodbyes to people working on the docks. Gilda simply stood where she was, looking with anticipation at the water and seeming to thumb something in the pocket of her camouflage cargo pants. Alice kept her eyes on her. She didn’t want to move until the woman was on board.

With an intense scowl, Gilda made her way towards the boat, just as a walkway came down from its side and landed on the concrete dock’s edge. Gradually the rest of the crew followed her and made their way onto the ship. Just as the last crew member got onboard, Alice sprinted to the walkway and speedily made her way across. Thankfully, the crew was busy prepping for the ship’s departure--it gave her enough time to make a mad dash to the shutter leading below deck. She flipped it open and quickly ran down a small stairway and through the open room she found herself in, hiding behind a collection of large, dusty barrels in the corner of the room.

The ship took off moments later and her journey was underway. Alice watched from her hiding place as pirates went about their business, loading supplies into the large storage room. Several went back and forth through a door alarmingly close to Alice. From inside, she could hear the clattering of pots and pans being knocked into, along with the more familiar sound of a whisk running through liquid. Several minutes later, after the crew had settled down on loading their supplies, Alice heard the sound of something opening, then a familiar woman’s voice calling down from the shutter leading up away from the ship’s innards.

“All hands up top!” Gilda ordered. “We’re discussing the plan of attack.”

Alice kept silent, listening in as best she could. With luck, they’d be heading exactly where she intended to go.

The girl heard the kitchen door open, then the sound of two people slowly walking in sync. “Man, do you really think we’ll get those sons-of-bitches this time?” a man’s voice asked, deep and rumbling.

“I dunno,” another voice answered. “I mean, we stumbled on them by luck at first. Now that we know where they’re holed up? Ain’t gonna be no contest, even if they have the locals on their side.”

The first man snorted. “Yeah. I’m sure we need to be worried by some grass-skirt wearing spear chuckers.”

The other laughed. “I dunno. I hear their leader’s a pretty scary woman, for a spear chucker.”

“I’ve yet to meet anyone scarier than a bullet,” he replied. The two came into view; Alice held her breath and made herself as small as possible.

They didn’t even notice her. They just kept walking. One seemed to be a man of average stature, he briefly whistled a little off-key tune under his breath and looked over a pistol. The other was a giant, even to Alice’s eyes. The man had to be at least seven feet, if not more. His ebony skin was scarred with dozens of bullet wounds and his powerful body showcased a life of hard work and healthy living. He gave a good-natured slap to the other man’s back. “Come on, pal, let’s get up top before Gilda starts squawking.”

“Yeah, ok, Will.”

Alice watched them until they left their sight, then reclined against the barrels. She bit her lip, thinking over what had just been said. She wanted no part in any fighting but maybe, just maybe, ‘those sons-of-bitches’ included Princess Luna. Whatever the case, the only thing she could do was hide and wait.