Appeasing the Heathen Gods
Dec. 20th, 2003 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivienFor the Pirates Drabble Challenge:
Ocean Born Mary is an old story told about a child born during a pirate waylaying of a ship off the coast of the Carolinas. The pirate captain takes pity on the woman in childbirth and offers to spare the ship on the condition that the woman name the child Mary after his mother. She does so and he spares the ship. Barbossa was not the captain.
Not Ocean Born Mary
Kathleen Pennington limply sagged against the sweat soaked pillows of her bed. She had dimly been aware of cannon fire and muffled shouts coming from above her, but she couldn't find energy to care, even though her maidservant cringed in the corner with every sharp noise. Kathleen had been in hard labor for three days, and she knew from the red taint sickly spreading forth over the bed linens with every birth pain that she was dying far from the coast of Jamaica and her husband.
The door of her small cabin, afforded to her by the wealth and standing of her merchant husband, crashed open. A tall, grizzled pirate strode in the room, his yellowed eyes surveying the scene before him. Kathleen could vaguely make out the shadowy figures of others behind him. She should have been horrified by this breach of her modesty, but she could only summon the strength to close her eyes. She remembered a story she'd heard of a mother found in childbirth in a waylaid ship off the coast of the Carolinas. The pirate had taken pity on the babe and spared the ship. Perhaps this man would as well.
"Mistress, you have something of ours," the pirate said with a cruel smile. "Give it to us, and we'll leave you in peace."
"Of course," breathed Kathleen weakly. "Name it."
"Tis a trinket, a gold coin with a heathen image."
Kathleen pointed towards the chest in the corner. "There," she whispered, "In a velvet pouch."
The pirate gestured sharply towards the chest, and a scraggly younger man strode into the room. Kathleen watched him rifle through the chest till he found the coin, which her husband had sent her as a curiosity of their new home.
"Please spare me," she whispered, "Take pity, good sir."
As the younger man slouched from the room, prize in hand, Barbossa snarled to one of the others, "Set fire to the powder magazine. We're done here." With that he turned and quit Kathleen's deathbed.
Her maidservant, still cringing in the corner, screamed and fled. Kathleen weakly began crying for her unborn child, but she couldn't help but feel a blessed relief that the pain would soon be over.
Ocean Born Mary is an old story told about a child born during a pirate waylaying of a ship off the coast of the Carolinas. The pirate captain takes pity on the woman in childbirth and offers to spare the ship on the condition that the woman name the child Mary after his mother. She does so and he spares the ship. Barbossa was not the captain.
Not Ocean Born Mary
Kathleen Pennington limply sagged against the sweat soaked pillows of her bed. She had dimly been aware of cannon fire and muffled shouts coming from above her, but she couldn't find energy to care, even though her maidservant cringed in the corner with every sharp noise. Kathleen had been in hard labor for three days, and she knew from the red taint sickly spreading forth over the bed linens with every birth pain that she was dying far from the coast of Jamaica and her husband.
The door of her small cabin, afforded to her by the wealth and standing of her merchant husband, crashed open. A tall, grizzled pirate strode in the room, his yellowed eyes surveying the scene before him. Kathleen could vaguely make out the shadowy figures of others behind him. She should have been horrified by this breach of her modesty, but she could only summon the strength to close her eyes. She remembered a story she'd heard of a mother found in childbirth in a waylaid ship off the coast of the Carolinas. The pirate had taken pity on the babe and spared the ship. Perhaps this man would as well.
"Mistress, you have something of ours," the pirate said with a cruel smile. "Give it to us, and we'll leave you in peace."
"Of course," breathed Kathleen weakly. "Name it."
"Tis a trinket, a gold coin with a heathen image."
Kathleen pointed towards the chest in the corner. "There," she whispered, "In a velvet pouch."
The pirate gestured sharply towards the chest, and a scraggly younger man strode into the room. Kathleen watched him rifle through the chest till he found the coin, which her husband had sent her as a curiosity of their new home.
"Please spare me," she whispered, "Take pity, good sir."
As the younger man slouched from the room, prize in hand, Barbossa snarled to one of the others, "Set fire to the powder magazine. We're done here." With that he turned and quit Kathleen's deathbed.
Her maidservant, still cringing in the corner, screamed and fled. Kathleen weakly began crying for her unborn child, but she couldn't help but feel a blessed relief that the pain would soon be over.
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Date: 2003-12-21 07:09 am (UTC)LOVE IT :)