Somehow, the vessel from Sularia that the crew of the Misery’s End had planned on plundering had learned of their impending attack, sailing armed with an unexpected crew of mercenaries. While the Misery’s End crew was well versed in plundering and raiding, it was generally rather well thought out and orchestrated. The mercenaries threw a wrench into the works, which resulted in things not going according to plan. Several of the crew ended up being captured by the mercenaries hired by the vessel, Raleigh included in those numbers.

Fear had stricken her almost immediately - and fear was not an emotion felt often by the quartermaster. Here she was, roles flipped from where they normally were, and being carted off to a prison where she would be locked up with the men she held rank over - men who were not generally happy about the fact that a woman held a higher rank than they. This worried her more than the general fact of being captured.

Raines, her captain, was not among the number that had been captured when they were tossed into a few cells. This meant one of two things - either her captain had been slain during the battle, which was a thought that upset Raleigh a rather large amount; or, Raines had managed to escape without being taken. A large amount of the crew was absent from the prison, for whom Raleigh surmised the same as her captain - though the thought of many of the crewmembers dying was not nearly as upsetting to her as the thought of her captain.

-

Three weeks had gone by, three weeks of pure torture for the quartermaster. Most of the other crewmembers were fairing quite well - dirty and ragged, of course, but hanging in there. Two had perished - one of starvation, one during a fight that had erupted during one of the sparse mealtimes they had received. Raleigh Redhall, however, was not fairing nearly as well as the rest of the crew. She sat in a corner of the cell, knees drawn to her chest. Her clothing was torn in multiple places, cuts and wounds covering the exposed skin. A layer of dirt covered most of her skin as well, and her blonde hair was ratted with dirt. One eye was blackened, and it was clear that many of the men had taken out their frustrations on her.

Though her body was broken, so to speak, her spirit was not. Cattingham, one of her fellow crewmen, stood over her, sneering down at her. ”Been thinkin’, might be time fer us to ‘ave a bit o’ fun with ye soon,” he hissed, to which Raleigh replied by connecting her bare foot with the space between his leg. Cattingham let out a bellow, falling to his knees. The others, who seemed to have been watching him as if to decide whether or not this endeavor was something worth perusing, turned away, going back to pretending the wretched girl was not there.

Raleigh, never having been one to give up, resigned to leaning back against the stone wall of the cell, closing her eyes - praying for either death to come swiftly so she could be rid of her wretched crewmates - or perhaps for the remaining men of their crew - even Raines, their captain - to find them and spring them free from the confines of the jail.

A mistake. Mistakes were one thing that Raines did not appreciate. The call for a retreat was not something else the Captain liked to do. But these were the things that happened three weeks ago during what seemed like a simple restocking raid. Instead of restocking though, they had lost far more. Crew members were killed and the rest were taken prisoner by the Arri ship. The scout that Raines had sent had been found out and the ship was waiting for them with mercenaries onboard.

Amongst those that were taken were a few of his key crew members and with them his quartermaster. He was not pleased and as soon as he reboarded his ship those weeks prior he drove his ax into the skull of the scout who caused this mishap. Mistakes like these were not allowed on his vessel at all.

The remaining crew members all thought that it was over, and they would just find other members elsewhere. Raines was not having it though, the members that were captured knew too much of his vessel and he couldn’t have anyone spill their mouths while they were captive. So he ordered for them all to go and rescue those that were caught. Preparations had to be made of course, because even Raines knew that the Rosenites that inhabited Sularia were not to be underestimated. So they made their way to Laeto first before docking in Sularia.

Raines himself went out for the rescue, in order to not only get his people but to recruit others in the dungeons as well. He was sure they would rather serve on his ship than rot away in those cells or even die to The Casimir. They docked acting like simple merchants as they traveled through the streets. Of course, onlookers were amazing at his ship, which he cared not if they gawked but he ordered his remaining crew to kill any who tried to board it.

The path through the city was the easier part, but getting into the Prison would be the harder part as it was guarded by a couple of Rosenite guards. A sharp tsk came out of the captain's mouth, as he was annoyed by all that he had to go through. Yet it was time for him to test what they had acquired from Laeto. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial that had a greyish powder. "Watch and learn boys, this is how you take care of the Rosen…this stuff is rare to come upon, unfortunately.” Raines grinned before tossing the vial around the corner between the two guards.

Immediately the reaction of the poison took effect and the guards dropped their weapons and seemed to choke upon the dust that filled the air. Raines casually walked out around the corner along with his 6 men, the gazes of hatred from the dying guards meet them. ”Corpse Flower.” Was all he said before they collapsed completely dying slowly from the poison of the plant. He searched their body’s for keys but only found one, which was just the key to the entrance. ”Blast it another must ‘ave the cell keys.” Raines muttered before handing the key off for someone else to open the door. He also ordered two others to hide the bodies just in case a patrol spotted them.

They entered and started to walk down the steps that lead underneath the castle. Raines drew his axes and ran them against the wall. The sound echoing down the dimly lit stairs. If the door entered was locked he knew that the guards within would be very few. ”Come on out ye blasted rose.” When they got to the bottom of the stairs, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and in reaction, he ducked as a sword came swinging around. As it struck the walls sparks flew. Raines spun around his attacker and brought his Axe to their neck. ” Now then pretty little thing, before ye decide to move, be ‘ware that mine blades are soaked with Corpse flower poison. Take me to my crew and you live, resist and I will slice that pretty little neck of yours.”

The threat of dying to Corpse flower was more than enough for the guard to show them the way. It did not take them much longer for them to reach the cells that his crew was held at. He looked at them through the bars. “What a sorry lot you all are, open the cell,” He barked to the rosenite and she shakenly inserted the key to unlock the door.

The commotion could be heard from down the passage to the cells, and without knowing what it was, Raleigh allowed herself to feel a slight glimmer of hope. There was a small voice in the back of her mind that told her it couldn’t possibly be Raines and company busting them out, and she had almost let that voice win, drowning the hope that she felt. Suddenly, she heard the familiar tone of her captain’s voice and that hope won over.

She couldn’t suppress the grin that spread over her face as he and a few of the other surviving crewmen came into view. She felt the sting of tears welling in her eyes, but she willed them away as she refused to show weakness in front of Raines if at all possible. Without the aid of her injured leg, she grabbed onto the bars on her other side, and hobbled her way to where the female Rosenite guard was unlocking the cell, using the bars to make her way there. The guard looked rather familiar to her, and she realized the reason for the guard’s familiarity. It was the same guard that had broken her leg not a week before.

The moment the guard finished unlocking the cell, the other crewmen began to make their way out. Raleigh, on the other hand, let go of the bars, putting as much weight as she could handle on her broken leg, the majority of her weight on the other, and she reached both hands out through the openings and grabbed the Rosenite’s face. ”I’m afraid my captain lied to you, though I doubt he would have made that promise to you had he known you were the one who did this to my leg,” she hissed through clenched teeth. Her thumbs found her eyes, and with an emotionless expression on her face, she pressed, the guard screaming in agony. A few moments passed and Raleigh released her, the guard collapsing to the floor in a heap, blood streaming from the messy wounds where her eyes had once been.

Raleigh looked to Raines. ”About time you got here,” she said, trying to sound her usual sarcastic self, though the pain she felt was clear in her voice. With that, she let out a sharp breath and collapsed to the floor, her leg no longer able to bear weight. The other crewmen had shuffled down the passage, and Raleigh could hear the commotion. It seemed as though more guards had come in the interim, and the now escaped crewmen were taking them on. ”Doubt I’m going to be much help,” she said, looking up at Raines with disappointment in her voice - it was clear that she hated feeling helpless.

Normally the pirate would have been annoyed with one of the crewmates killing someone he said he would allow living, as people needed to be alive for their exploits to be spread, for the fear to set into people. This time he would make an exception, as he watched his quartermaster leap onto the guard and gouge out their eyes to death. It would have been quicker for the guard to have succumbed to the effects of the corpse flower that coated his axes than this. ”You best be glad that I came to free yer sorry ass, to get caught was foolish. Yet it also provides an opportunity to replenish the ranks.”

He could also hear the sounds of fighting above them, as his idiotic crew couldn’t have left without causing a scene. He walked past Raleigh, running his axes along the bars of the other cells. clunk, clunk, clunk the sounds rang out, waking prisoners from their sleep, and catching the attention of those that ignore the commotion. ”I come with an offer, I’ll free your sorry asses from these cells. In return, you will be under my command and serve on my ship. Trust me when I say this offer is far more pleasing than what the Rosen will do to you all. So if you can either stay or make way for the docks through the commotion, the choice is yours.”

One by one, Raines opened up the cell doors. Slicing through the old shackles that bound some prisoners. And almost all made their way out, knowing how true Raines words were about the punishment that the Rose family dealt out. Those who stayed were either too weak or had already lost their sanity through years of isolation or torture. It was a success though, for they had more bodies to get The Misery’s End out to the water and to stay that way. ”But now, what am I going to do about you?”

He knelt in front of Raleigh. ”Look at the sorry state you are in, allowing your leg to break like that. What happened to that fight in ye? Well, unfortunately, I can’t allow you to stay here either,” He put up a finger to his lips telling her to shut it, before she could speak anymore. ”See, these folk don’t like when their kin is murdered. You know too much of where we port and the secrets of my ship. So looks like I'll have to carry your sorry ass out, and there will be no talking back, ye hear?”

He wrapped her arms around his neck and wrapped his hands under her knees, to get her on his back to get them both out of this damned cell. ”Don’t think I won’t drop you to fight any guards off, cause I will in a heartbeat.” He spoke and started to follow the rest out of the cells as fast as he could with his wounded quartermaster. The amount of shit he would have to hear from her after she healed was not something that he was going to look forward to. He knew how much of a prideful ass she was, and this would be a low blow to that pride.

Raleigh disdainfully hung her head in shame as Raines shamed her on being caught during the raid. He wasn’t wrong – she was better than that, she was usually the one taking captives rather than the one being taken captive. ”Aye,” she said quietly, agreeing with him and feeling the disappointment with herself as well. Everything that had happened to her in there, she should have been able to stop, but she hadn’t been, and for that she felt she was a failure.

She watched her captain closely as he rallied the other prisoners, offering them the chance to escape with them in exchange for their servitude on his crew. She was not surprised that any who were able jumped at the chance to leave, some waiting for release from their shackles, others already on their way out. From what she had seen while she had been locked up, some of them would make wonderful crewmen – others, that was to be determined.

Once that was done, and Raines had knelt down beside her, she locked eyes with her captain. She had just parted her lips to speak when he held up a finger to his own in a motion to hush her, to which she obliged. She may have been obstinate and rather free-willed, but she always obeyed her captain when it mattered. ”Guards,” she responded, when he questioned what had happened – though she knew it had been more of a rhetorical question than anything. ”Doesn’t matter how good you are when ten armed guards are bearing down on you,” she said, though her explanation was a bit of a lie – the real truth would be revealed to Raines in time.

She nodded in response to his warning that she may be dropped if necessary. Her arms snaked around the captain’s neck as he scooped her up, removing some of the burden of her weight, as small an amount as it was, from him as he hurried her out of the cell and down the hall. Her cheeks were blood red beneath the layer of dirt – in part from the embarrassment that she felt at having to be carried out of the cell rather than being able to walk; but another part of was embarrassed that she was pressed so closely to her captain – in all the time she had been on his crew, she had never been as close to him as she was now, and something about it, even in current circumstances, made her feel as though she did something wrong – perhaps due to the state her hygiene was in, but mostly because of the proximity in general. She was sure that Raines would never let her live this down!

Raines carried her down the hall, and she silently hoped that they did not meet any more guards on their way out – though, that would remain to be seen…