1. Captain Raider and the Curse of the Amarites

SinTara

Meggie was making her way back, when she realized that she didn't have enough in her food stores to feed everyone. Collecting on of the big leaves from a nearby tree, she quickly fashioned a makeshift basket using a thin vine to hold it together.

Finding an almond tree, she began to pick almonds, the went on to gather some mangoes and other island fruit. She stopped as she heard someone coming.

Thinking it was one of the sailors from the beach, she quietly moved to a nearby bush, crouching down behind it. All she would see from her postion was booted feet as they came closer. She waited, looking up to the man's chest and not further, her nerves already strung so tight that she didn't think, just acted.

Not making a sound, she leapt, tackling the man to the ground, staddling his chest, her knife to his throat. "I told you to stay put and keep quiet, man with the long, yellow hair," she whispered to him, when she realized it was the man with the long yellow hair. She leans over, her face in his face. "Why do you not do as you are told. This is my island. MINE! You are the threat here."

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Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

**Lac'Nal**

Raider brought his leg and hooked it around the young woman's shoulders flipping her backwards, and lept to his feet. "Ye be a fiesty wench, that I be givin ye." he said as he drew his broadsword and placed the tip just under her chin. "True it be that ye may lay claim ta this speck of sand and rock. But I be Captain here now, and ye be doin as ye ar told. Or do ye want I be tossin ye across me knew and paddelin' yur stern?"

SinTara

Meggie snarled up at him, showing straight, white teeth, all but snapping at him. She pushed her throat into the point of his blade, causing it to nick her slim neck. "I have been here for ten years, NOT YOU! You will do as I say. I know this island, NOT YOU! You are not captain here, I AM!" She glares up at him, her light green eyes spitting fire, but there was fear behind that fury, and yet she wouldn't back down.

She quickly hooked her foot around his ankle, pulling foward, laughing as he landed on his backside. She was on him in seconds, her blade back in her hand and it was at his throat. "I washed up here when I was 15 and I survived here waiting for someone to come. I stopped waiting after 3 years. Now YOU show up and think to take it from me. NO! This is my home and you will do as I say!"

After ten years of being alone on the island, Meggie was pretty much completely wild. Beautiful, but wild, her light green eyes flashing fire at him. "I know what to eat, where not to step, where fresh water is, not you! I made a home here waiting for someone to come. You will not take it from me! Neither will the sailors on the beach. So, do you yield?"

_________________
Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

**Lac'Nal**

Raider raides his hand calmly and with one finger pushed the blade from his throat. "All ye say may be true me little sea nymph. I have no desire ta take this speck of sand from ye..."
Raider quickly brought his hand to her mouth and shoved her on her back, laying his mouth close to her ear and whispered ..... "Hold yur tounge lest ye wish ta be a plaything for the likes of a lonely sailor. Thar be one not more than a marlin spike frum yur head." Raider and Meggie lie there as the sailor passed but a boot length from them.

After the sailor had passed, Raider motioned for Meggie to follow him as he crawled away towards the cave.

SinTara

Meggie stiffened as Raider lay over her, her eyes wide with feelings she'd never felt before. She looks up to where he's mentioned, where a sailor is walking by, then looks back at his face, studying it. He was nice to look upon, she noticed and reached up to touch his hair, which was long, like hers and soft as she lightly ran her fingers down a strand, her curiosity getting the better of her.

He'd mentioned something about a plaything. She didn't want to play, she wanted.......she no longer knew what she wanted. Having people around, even for this short time, has caused her to remember her father and others.

She lays still, waiting for Raider to remove his hand, and if he doesn't soon, she's going to bite him.

_________________
Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

**Lac'Nal**

Raider slipped his hand from her mouth, picked up his sword and began to crawl towards the cave. After they had crawled an shot distance and he was sure that the sailors and officer were not near he stood up, and offered his hand to Meggie, to help her up. "I think it be wise ta return ta yur cave now." he said

SinTara

Meggie stared at the hand he offered to her for a second before accepting it, her hand dwarfed by his larger one. She stared at her hand in his, wondering about the size difference. Her father's hands were bigger than hers, but she couldn't remember what he looked like.

As they were making their way back to her cave, she began to speak, her nervousness and confusion over the way he was making her feel, giving her the means to tell him how she wound up there.

"My name is Meaghan, Meggie, MacKellar. Ten years ago, my father was taking me on a journey for my 15th birthday, but he wouldn't tell me where we were going, just that it was a surprise. After a few days at sea, there was a storm, a bad storm and it battered the ship. Father was trying to get me to the lifeboat, but a wave came and then I was in the water." She was beginning to remember the more she talked. " The next thing I knew, I was waking up here, on the beach.

My father was a survivalist and I was able to survive here although I made many mistakes. I waited and waited for someone to come, but noone came. I used what washed up on shore if I could." She stopped, looking up at Raider, "After 4 years, the first boat came, and I thought I was rescued, but it was not to be. They were men, but not like you. They had 2 women with them, captives, they called them. I still hear their screams at night when I lay down to sleep. I couldn't help them, but after that, I stayed away from any boat that came and would hide. I buried the women's broken bodies on the other side of the island." She didn't talk about what she'd seen the men do to the women, but Raider knew. She'd seen rape, first hand, even though she didn't know it was called rape.

Then, in her innocence, she looked up at him again before they began to move again. "Why would that sailor want me as a plaything? I am not a toy."

_________________
Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

**RPMistress**

Bryn lost consciousness and from that point on she faded in and out of reality. Each time her green eyes fluttered open she would see faces swimming before her. One time it would be Atien. The next time it would be Erwin. Another time it was Evangeline Dowd. Roubins and Cooky’s face appeared to her and on occasion Mr. O’Hara’s would as well. Each time she would attempt to say something only to have the unrelenting pain in her foot and now her head rob her of all else. In all of her life she couldn’t remember anything quite so painful and each time she would beg to be released from it.

On several occasions she saw other faces swimming before her as well. Thor. Helga. Even Odin she saw a couple of times and each time she saw them it was with a look of great concern. Thor’s was the one she saw the most though. The golden haired God of Thunder wasn’t carrying his famous hammer with him any time she saw him and when he would speak to her it was with a voice that was soft and comforting. So unlike the God she thought it was rather strange.

“You have to come back, Brynhylde. It won’t be the same without you if you don’t come back. Your sisters won’t be able to bring you back if you should pass through. You weren’t in battle and therefore they are prohibited from coming for you.”

Other time he wasn’t so compassionate.

“Fight damn you woman! Fight! Don’t be weak and let this small thing take you away from us!”

And then there were times he seemed to be almost pleading with another.

“She would if she could. But she was doing it for YOU. You can’t take her away from us. NO! It’s not fair!”

As she mind took her to other places, the reality of the situation was grim. Fever raged within her body. Her foot swelled terribly and grew a very angry red color. Atien told Radier on several occasions he was certain her foot would have to come off but Raider would shake his head and adamantly say “NO”.

Erwin fretted over her prone form a great deal, offering her a touch of cool water to her parched lips when he watched over her. Each time she seemed to seek more but he was unable to offer her anything else for fear of giving too much. How ironic, the gemologist thought, too much of a good thing could kill the woman who had pledged herself to protecting him.

Evangeline Dowd watched the red haired woman suffer with a mix of compassion and apathy both. When it was her turn to the sick woman she would tend to Bryn like a nurse would a sick patient but when she wasn’t tending to Bryn she looked at the woman with an emotionless expression.

Roubins would look in on Bryn occasionally but he would quickly leave. That is until Evangeline was preoccupied with something else. Then he would sit for hours and just watch her. Once he leaned down and whispered something into her ear and let his fingers graze hers and it did seem to have a calming affect on her, but nothing more. And he would make sure I was always after the sun went down so Evangeline couldn’t see him that well.

Finally Bryn’s fever broke and she began to rest much more peacefully. Even the swelling in her foot began to recede. Of course none of that would have been possible without such wonderful doctors like Atien and Meggie applying the poultice to her foot and making sure she received the right amount of water each day.

The next thing Bryn was aware of was an aching back, a throbbing head and legs that felt like jelly when she tried to move them. A low fire burned in the center of the cave and as her eyes began to focus, Bryn slowly forced herself to sit up. She felt like crap, most likely smelled like it too, and wondered what all the prone bodies all over the cave floor were all about. Not knowing it was night time, she thought she had perhaps been buried with other corpses. Fear gripped her heart and she was about to cry out when she felt a strong but gentle hand on her shoulder stilling her from moving any more.

Whipping her aching head around so fast it thumped painfully and caused her vision to blur she saw the long, blond haired man beside her. Instantly she thought she had returned to Valhalla and the God was there to tease her yet again. Palming her head in her hands, she gently shook her head. Using her native language, she told the God just how she felt.

“behage Thor…..Jeg er ikke i humør til vitser. Jeg ha ettall avbryter av en hangover.” (Please Thor...I'm not in the mood for jokes...I have one heck of a hangover.)

It wasn’t until she heard the familiar voice speaking softly in seaman’s talk that she realized she wasn’t in Valhalla and it wasn’t Thor she was speaking to.

“I didn't realize you knew Thor so well, Bryn.”

Blinking her eyes several times, she finally cleared her vision and looked at him with a rather confused look on her face.

“Captain Raider?”

Looking around at the others still slumbering, she was even more confused as she looked back to the Captain.

“What….are you doing here?”

Thinking he had been killed in battle and was in Valhalla with her, she got a troubled look on her face that was cross between fear and elation.

“I….don’t remember bringing you here. I didn’t think you’re time had come yet….not for a while, anyway.”

_________________
Eagles may soar in the clouds, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.

**Lac'Nal**

Meggie with a little prodding from Raider made thier way back to the cave, unnoticed by the sailors who had come ashore.

"Ye not be in Davy Jones Locker ar Valhalla yet lass, ye be in the land of the livin'. So ye be puttin' ur mind ta rest. Tis been many a day since ye be raked with the fever. But thanks be ta Atien and Meggie and thier ways with the herbs ya be comin' ta be right as new paint. Now rest ye, much has passed .... a ship has come and a party has made landfall. I know not what ta make of it yet. She be a French rigged ship, but she may be a wolf in sheeps clothing, if ye catch me drift. Mistress Dowd, Erwin nor Mister Roubins have this knowledge as yet. Ye be keepin it ta yurself Bryn, till we be sure if they be friend or foe." Raider then smiled at her "Tis a joy be in me heart that ye be cak amongst us."

SinTara

Meggie pushed her way past Captain Raider, not pleased with the way he handled her nor the way he was trying to take over. Her light green eyes glared at him as she knelt next to Bryn. Feeling her forehead, she then looked at the bottom of her foot, noticing that the swelling was gone and Bryn was going to be fine. "You will live, lady, and I will gather leaves for a tea that will help you regain your strength quickly."

Rising, she grabbed a short spear and her knife and stood in front of the captain. "I must go out and gather what the lady needs in order to regain her strength. If you must, you may accompany me, but, you step where I step, you do what I tell you to do, and you try to keep up." She smiled sweetly at him, then turned and ran silently out of the cave and disappeared into the jungle, not checking to see if he had followed and not waiting to find out.

Keeping her eyes and ears open for the sailors that had invaded her home, she rushed to the other side of the island where the flowers were that she needed for the tea for Bryn. She had to go through the thickest part of the jungle and then climb up one of the large hills to reach the flowers she needed. Finding the beautiful, red and purple flowers, she carefully plucked 3 large blooms and tucked then into the side of the short wrap covering her bottom half. Standing at the top of the hill, a sheer drop underneath her, she looked out at the ship bobbing in the water in the distance. She couldn't help but feel angry at the Captain and his crew as well as these new men who had come. Ten years, she'd been here, waiting to be rescued. She had all but given up hope after she'd seen the sailors from years past bring the two women on shore and kill them. Now, it seemed as if everyone was showing up and she had no idea what to do or how to react. She remembered some things from when she lived with people, but not much. She was pretty much wild and she liked it that way. She didn't like people in her cave, although, Bryn was interesting and the Captain was nice to look upon, even though he thought he could tell her what to do. She made a very unladylike snort at that thought. This was her island and she was Captain here.

She turned, making her way back down the hill reaching the bottom in record time. She then turned, thinking on which way would be quickest to return to the cave. As she turned, she saw 2 of the sailors and quickly crouched down, watching them. She quietly begain to go around the hill, realizing that the way she had come was blocked and she would have to somehow go around the beach without being seen. Mumbling something about 'invading people' she quickly and quietly headed for the beach, staying in the tall grass.

_________________
Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

**RPMistress**

Bryn listened to what Raider told her. She was….alive. By Odin she was alive! That meant she was going to be OK. At least for now. Obviously her time had not come either. Not yet anyway. SHe knew the time would come when she would have to leave this earthly plane and return to Valhalla with one or more of these people accompanying her, but now right now.

Bryn would celebrate her recovery later. Right now she couldn’t get past the French ship news. Or what appeared to be a French ship from what Raider was telling her. Keeping her voice low, she spoke to him quietly.

“Have you been able to get close enough to it or any of the crew to find out if they are indeed French? And the bigger question would be do you think we could over take her?”

When Meggie pushed past Raider and checked on her, Bryn felt the cool touch of her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes for a moment. When the wild woman checked her foot, Bryn held her breath and waited for the pain that was sure to come but when there was very little, Bryn actually blinked and smiled. Looking over at Raider and Meggie she smiled even more.

“Thank you….all of you. I owe you all a great deal.”

“It was noting Miss Bryn. You are a good fighter and have won dis battle. You will live to fight many more.”

Bryn looked over into the smiling face of the large African and smiled back, nodding. When Meggie announced she was going to get the herbs to make the tea Bryn needed and heard the way she spoke to Raider, Bryn raised a brow in curiousness. Seeing the look on Raiders face she knew the man wasn’t all that happy but he would do what he had to do. Before Raider moved to get up Bryn reached out and touched his forearm.

“Watch yourself out there, Raider. A wolf in sheeps clothing is harder to see and twice as deadly.”

_________________
Eagles may soar in the clouds, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.

**Lac'Nal**

"Aye. be keepin' a weather eye I be. Now ya lay right cheer an' store yur strength. Ye not be worrin'. If they be British take em we will. An them that don't join us we'll send ta Davey Jones, by the powers I swears it." Raider then rose to follow Meggie "Damn that wild cat, she be tryin ta a man, that she be." he muttered as he followed Meggie out of the cave.

SinTara

Meggie made it to the beach without being seen, but it had taken her over an hour. Closer to the beach were even more of the sailors and she'd heard them speak of a scantily clad girl they'd seen on the beach days before.

She quietly made it through the tall grass unnoticed, and as she did so, she kept an eye on the men. Something didn't sit right with her, but she didn't know what it was about the men that bothered her. Mentally shrugging her shoulders, she chalked it up to being alone for so long and to what she'd seen years before.

Reaching the jungle once more, she straightened, moving silently in the direction of her cave when she saw Raider. Snarling, she shimmied up a tree, moving through the branches, staying above him. Looking around, making sure there were none of the other sailors around, she dropped down in front of him, landing silently in a crouch before him. She handed him the 3 flowers, "Take these back to the cave, fill the small pan with water from the hanging bladder and set it on the fire til it bubbles. Put one flower in the water and take it off of the fire and cover it, so that it can steep for an hour. Have the lady drink it and do it again tonight and again in the morning." Her look dared him to defy her.

"I am going to another cave on the other side of the island until you all leave. The lady will be fine and I will keep an eye these other men, but you have invaded my home and now my cave. Have it, I have found another."

She didn't know if this was the wisest of choices, but she had a sneaky suspition that Raider, Bryn, and Atien would make her leave with them. She may have the mentality of a young girl, but she was smart enough to know that she would never be able to return to society now. The other side of the island was more dangerous, the jungle thicker, the animlas more aggressive, but she'd gladly take it compared to her confusion in being around Raider and his people. She just truly didn't know how to handle any of this, she'd been alone for so long and she didn't like the fact that she was realizing just how much she'd missed being around people, hearing their voices. But, she knew that it was no longer for her. She'd been on her island for too long, so she thought.

As she turned to walk away from him, she made sure there was no one in close proximaty and turned on Raider, fury making her green eyes bright, although she had enough wits about her to keep her voice in a low yet fury filled whisper. "Why now?! Why did all of you have to come now?! Why not years ago?! Ten years I have waited! TEN!! No one but bad bad men show up in all that time! Then you and your crew come! I have been alone for ten years!!" Meggie's eyes shine brightly with unshed tears, yet she refuses to let them fall. "I made this my home! Then you and those other men come and invade it!! Why not years ago?! Why now?!" She turns, running away from him, heading for her cave to collect what she needs for living on the other side of the island.

_________________
Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

SinTara

Meggie returns to her cave, still holding back the tears, but her eyes are bright. "Captain Raider is coming with the flowers you need to make the tea.", she says to Bryn as she collects a change of clothing, if that's what you can call the strips of animal skins she wears, and a water bladder. She left the two largest ones hanging on the cave wall. "There are baskets of nuts and fruits back in the back where it is coolest and both bladders are full of water. There are spears placed throughout the front part of the cave for protection and over there," she points over to the left side of the cave, "is a small pile of spears, should you need them. You will be safe here as long as you stay quiet," she gave the other lady and the man with her a stern look, "but I am going to a different cave on the other side of the island."

She turns to Atien and tells him the directions for making the tea and when to give it to Bryn. "She will be perfectly fine by tomorrow, but the tea will be very bitter."

Turning, she heads back to the front of the cave, glaring at the captain as she tries to get past him.

_________________
Judge not nor fear that or those which you do not understand, for it or they may be someone or something that will aid you in the trials of your life.

**Lac'Nal**

Raider stood blocking Meggies way out of the cave, he looked sternly, his eyes as cold as icebergs, at her and said.
"Now ye listen ta me well ye young hell cat, we came to this rock only ta resupply me ship. Me ship that be stolen by the thieving Brits, those men out thar, they be at sea a long time with not but another sailor and a shark ta be clamping thar eyes on. If ye not be keepin a weather eye out, thay be havin' thar way with ye an passin ye around like a bottle a rum. Then when they be done with ye it be Davey Jones fur ye if ye be lucky. Now tis my thinkin' ye be better off berthin here with tha likes of us, than with the likes of them. But ye do what ye will, bein as stubborn as a lubbers mule ya be. ..... I not be stayin in this 'ole in the ground like some hermit crab in his shell. I be out tryin' ta figure if they be friend or foe. If foe they be then I be doin' them limey bastards in and takin that thar ship. Then me an me mates be leavin' this island for we have buisness else where ta finish. If ye wish ta stay on this rock till the second coming, I don't give a damn. If ye wish ta leave this rock with yur virtue and life then ye kin sighn articles and join up with us. That be the way of it." Raider then turned and walked out.