Trembling Waters [closed for BRIGHTWELL]

[TheNiteSiren]

All she could hear were the waves hitting against the side of the boat that she was on. She was in a dark cabin aboard large vessel, bound and gagged by some brute that took her as she was exiting the small pub where she made her living. Her name was considered the local joke there because her father had been a sailor before he died. He named his only daughter Marina Bay. After his death when she was 12 years old from a fever, Marina and her mother went to stay with family, hoping they wouldn’t mind aiding them in finding a home of their own. Instead of helping, they turned her mother over to the debtors and she was taken somewhere to work off the debt owed but Marina never saw her again after that.

Shortly after her mother was taken away, her aunt and uncle had her sent to an orphanage for the nuns to raise. Her time there hadn’t always been pleasant but it was peaceful. The nuns were kind to her and Marina did her best to reward their kindness with simple obedience but it was hard to do when your heart was as wild as the sea. When Sister Agnus had come looking for her as a child, she would find her near the cliff that faced the water. The way the waves crashed against the rock brought her closer to the father that she lost. In many ways, she felt incomplete with her parents by her side. Her father had always taught her that family will always be there for you in heart and spirit.

Eventually she found herself working in a local pub to pay for her room and board. Marina was also receiving training to become a school teacher, something respectable. She also loved children a great deal and knew even at the young age of 18 that she wanted to be a mother one day. The pub was alright but the security there was hardly top notch and the girls who worked there took a chance when they walked home every night. It was how that brute was able to take her so easily. Not ten yards from the pub and a small rag was held over her nose and mouth. She fought as best she could, even remembering a few moves taught to her by her father but it was no use. She had fainted dead away in the man’s arms and was carried away to this place, where she had just come to.

Marina’s bright green eyes were alive with a fury that would burn the man that dared to treat her in such a way. She may be just a bar maid but she was a good woman and a Christian. She looked about the room, looking for anything that might be of use if she could only get these ropes off of her wrist. For some odd reason, there a sword mounted on the wall not too far from where she lay. Pounding on the wall could bring people into the room to stop her attempt at an escape. The small mop in the corner was perfect to aid her in her task. Rolling she grabbed hold of the mop with her fingers and knocked the sword down from the wall.

Once the ropes were untied, Marina tried inching the door but it cam bursting open and she was quickly backed into a corner by a man that reminded her of the tales some of the sailors had told when coming through the pub at night but she couldn’t be sure that this was the man they spoke of. He examined her closely and she did the same of him. This was no idiot. The man was perceptive and trying to uncover what he could from the way she held herself. Marina pulled a stray blonde hair away from her face. “Are you going to stare at me all night or are you going to tell me what this is about?”

 

[BRIGHTWELL]

The Eye of the Hopi

Six years earlier.

Colonel Henry Lawrence Kinney of the Kinney's Trading Post sits in his counting house eyeing the man who had brought in the guns for the rebels. He is tall with jet black hair that is partly covered by the seamans cap. His clear peircing blue eyes are ever alert for danger. He walks in with purpose and looks straight at the Colonel.

"Do you have it?" The tall man askes.
The Colonel is a smart man and knows when he has a good deal. "Yes Captain I do." He says flatly.
"The guns are in my boats just off the beach in the inlet." THe Captain is a wise man too. Knowing these kinds of deals can go south quickly If one was not carefull.
"I can have my men go down to the beach and meet your boats." the Colonel suggests offhandedly.
The Captain smiles. " Your men can meet my boats at the waters edge only after I have the Eye, Colonel."
The Colonel shakes his head. "No Captain when I have the guns I will give you the Eye."

The Captain breaks eye contact with the Colonel. He turns and looks around the room. "I think it is a testament to the fact that neither of us trusts the other." The Captain turns and looks back at the Colonel. Then he smiles."Tell you what. I'll send one of my three boats to the beach. You pick the boat. Your men check the crates. When you are satisfied that the gun are what you want. You hand over the eye. I will signal the other two boats to come in. Your men unload the guns I and my boats will leave the way we came. You get your guns I get The Eye of the Hopi!"

And that is how it went. The Colonel got his guns and the Captain got the Eye of the Hopi. Two hours later while the Captain was celibrating quietly in his cabin. Seaman Bay slips in and hits him over the head with the butt of a pistol. Without making a sound or any one noticing he slips over the side of the ship and disappears.

An hour later a storm appears and catches the ship unprepared. Three men are swept over board. And the Eye of the Hopi was missing.
....................................................................................................................
Six years pass.

The Captain never forgot about the Eye of the Hopi. Four men had been lost that night. Three bodies had been found or accounted for. Only Seaman Bay had not been found. Now the Captain wanted answers. He found out that Seaman Bay had had a family. After several years of searching he learned that Bay had a daughter. She worked at a local pub. He had one of his men grab her and bring her to the ship.

Now deep in the hold of his ship he faces her for the first time. She with a short sword in one hand and a brace of rope in the other. She glares at him. "Are you going to stare at me all night or are you going to tell me what this is about?”
The Captain slowly enters the room. "The Eye of the Hopi, I want it back. Your father took it. And I am going to get it from him! You must know here he is!"

 

[TheNiteSiren]

Marina had to beat down the temptation to knock the man over the head and just run. The men behind him would make escape nearly impossible. It would be best to regroup and look for another opportunity when they let their guards down. So this was about her father? “I am sorry to inform you that your only hope at finding your treasure is long dead.” The sword lowered slightly but she never let her guard down. Her father had taught all too well what some men will do to get what they want. She would take a few down before she allowed that.

His look of disbelief wasn’t unexpected. “My father has been dead since I was 12 years old and they stuck the remaining members of my family in a workhouse.” Buried angered filtered through those words. Marina had no love for men like her father. They were so short-sighted on what was really important in life. She had no doubt that her father loved her but his drive to find treasure was more than his need to stay with his baby girl who loved him beyond anything.

Her wild curls had begun to unravel from the neat bun she usually had it pinned up into. There were a few strands in front of those bright green eyes, giving her a slightly wild look. “You WILL let me go.” No one was ever going to keep her against her will ever again. Marina had sworn that to herself once she managed to get out of that workhouse. She wanted to make a life for herself, to have a family of her own, someone to take care of.

A deck hand tried to remove the short sword from her grasp but her foot came up, landing in his jaw. The man backed away holding his jaw in both hands. The look she got was almost comical. “I would also keep your men away from me. That is, if you like them in one piece.” There were a series a grumbles from the men that he had with him. All she could think to herself was, ‘I do believe I just made an impression.’

 

[BRIGHTWELL]

bottle of wine,a glass, and a bucket

The captain watches as Seaman Moxes makes a move to disarm Marina. Only to come away with a sore jaw. He shakes his head at the attempt. Then looks at one of the other crew members that brougt a short sword in to the hold area.

"Collins give me the sword!" he says firmly. The seaman reluctantly surrenders his weapon to the Captain. The captain looks back at Marina. "Chopping them to peices will not be necessary." He turns to the gathering crowd of crew. "Because they are going back to work, right guys?" He askes sternly.

Several of the crew give Marina an angry look and start to move back down the aisle. Th Captain pauses. "Ah Morgan, stay a second, will you." The other crew filter away. "Morgan I have a job for you." He sees a small barrel and sits on it calmly. It is just a few feet from the door.

"Morgan I would like you to go to my cabin and bring me the bottle of wine on my sea deck and a single glass. Then find me a bucket."He swings the short sword and it splits a exrta spar that is stored in the room.
The seaman moves to leave then stops "A bucket Captain?" he askes.

"Yes Morgan on your way back bring me a bucket." The man leaves the room leaving Marina and the Captain alone. He relaxes and returns to look at Marina. "That is the grain room blade. Its rather dull and the handle is loose. We use it to smack the grain sack for bugs and to kill rats."

In a few minutes Seaman Morgan returns. He hands the Captain the bottle and the glass. "Where do you want the bucket, Captain?" He inquires.

"Near the door Morgan. And Morgan secure yourself a pistol from the weapons locker and sit at the top of the stairs and wait.

Seaman Morgan looks at the Captain strangly. "What am I waiting for Captain?"

The Captain smiles and says" To see what happens....of coarse."

 

[TheNiteSiren]

Marina watched him closely, his every move causing her to manipulate her plans. There was no way that this ruffian was going to keep her here. There was some relief when the rest of the men left the room begrudgingly but they did not irk nearly as much as he did. If he had come into the pub she might’ve spared him a glance or two, maybe even a small smile. He was handsome for his sort, even managed to have all of his teeth.

A bucket? What the hell did he want a bucket for? Marina glanced down at the blade quickly to see that he was telling the truth. The blade hadn’t seen a wet stone in a very long time. Her sword arm came down but she never let her guard down. To do that with a man like this, would be very foolish indeed. She could feel the waves rocking the boat, like a mother rocks her child in a cradle. Marina had been on a few ships and sailed like her father did, like he had been born for it.

She pulled up the only other chair, bracing it against the wall and sat down. “You speak as if you knew my father well. You have me at a disadvantage here. I cannot give you what I do not have and unless you know how to raise the dead, then you are out of luck.” Marina crossed her legs nonchalantly. “I work an honest job, do things the right way if I can help it and some thug has taken off the street.” She didn’t know who she was mad at more; her father for getting her into this mess, the captain for arranging it all or at fate for ever letting her think she could lead a calm, peaceful life.

Marina was as stubborn as they came and this man was in for a hell of a night if he thought to keep her. “You know who I am and yet I have yet to make acquaintance. May I have the name of my captor?” Her voice was cocky and just plain irritated which convey the Irish temper she got from her mother. Fidgeting in the chair slight, she could hear the creaking of it as it scraped against the wooden deck of the floor. Her nerves were getting to her a little but she did her best not to let her slip show. This Captain had quite the poker face and she had no idea what his plans for her may be.

“I told you the truth so let me go. My father has been dead for almost 7 years.” Those old memories still haunted her. Listening to him cough up blood while her mother tried her best remedies to help him. They even managed to cough up the money for a doctor but it had been too late. Her mother had made her leave the room the day he died, dragging her out of the room by her arm so that her little girl’s last memories of her father weren’t of his death. No child should see that.

 

[BRIGHTWELL]

Cornelius "Cornie" Bay

“You speak as if you knew my father well. You have me at a disadvantage here. I cannot give you what I do not have and unless you know how to raise the dead, then you are out of luck.”

The Captain smiles as he looks at the deck for a few seconds. Then looks up at Mirina. "Cornelius Bay or as I knew him 'Cornie Bay'. Yeah he sailed with me on two voyages. The first was rather short and the second rather expensive. The last time he took The Eye of the Hopi." The Captain leans back on the barrel till he finds a beam.He rests against the beam looking at Marina. After pausing he continues.

"Cornie, was a trickster, he was a mischievous or roguish type of guy. He was some one you had to keep your eye on all the time."

“You know who I am and yet I have yet to make acquaintance. May I have the name of my captor?”

"Captor? No, I just have some questions to ask. Then you are free to leave. And Morgan, the man that just left, well he will problably miss if he shoots at you. He's not that great of a shot. Though he is very loyal, unlike your theiving father." The Captain then hops off the barrel and bows.

"As for my name I am Captain Charles Hamilton Sutter. Some know me simply as Captain Charlie. Though in the Captains registry I'm C.H. Sutter."

“I told you the truth so let me go. My father has been dead for almost 7 years.”

"Ah, that may be so, but, as I said Cornie was a trickser. He would take thing, but he also had a bad memory. He left clues to his theivery so he could find his ill gotten gains. There is no way he could of sold the 'The Eye of the Hopi' till things calmed down. That would of taken years. Hundrers of treasure hunters have been looking for it. Word would string up here and there. But allas no The Eye of the Hopi."

Captain Charlie settles back on his barrel. "I understand you were just a little girl. If he passed 7 years ago. But still he must of passed some thing on to you. A piece of paper. A trinket. A seabag?"

 

[TheNiteSiren]

That smile was seeded with bitterness, an emotion she understood more than most people. Marina had lost everyone she ever loved. Life hadn’t been very kind to her but still she survived. “Mischievous, roguish….sounds like my father.” Her mother had told her enough times the story of how her father had charmed his way into her life. When he wanted something, her father never let anything or anyone get in his way.

She snorted at him. “If you had questions, all that was needed was a simple asking of it. You decided to take a different route, kidnapping me as I walked home and scaring me near out of my skin and yet you speak of my father like HE is the scoundrel. Ever hear the saying ‘birds of a feather’?” Those green eyes flashed with barely suppressed anger. “If my father did take your precious Eye of Hopi, it was for a reason. He never did anything without some kind of purpose to it.”

His theatrics were doing nothing to make her feel any better. Something did click for her. One of the few things her mother had left her had been her father’s old journal but she had never even looked at the old thing. It was still in her home. “There was a journal that he left my mother but it’s not on me. It was the only thing my mother had of his. When we were kicked out of our home, we could take what we could carry.”

There was one other possibility as well. Marina fingered the gold locket that she always wore. It had belonged to her mother. She had instructed her to only open it if she was in dire circumstances. This qualified in her opinion and she didn’t want any part of this expedition. Marina was dead set on earning her education so she could teach and be a respectable member of society. Unclasping the small trinket from around her neck, she pulled back as she thought the captain might jump for the thing.

“There is also this. It was my mother’s.” Unlatching the locket, Marina opened it to find a piece of cloth parchment. She unfolded it, to find a series of riddles on the page. Riddles had been a hobby of her father’s. As a child he would tell them to her habitually, training her in some weird way. She had even stumped him a few times. Her mother had said that his gift for cleverness had been passed on to her for sure. She handed the page to the captain. “This must be what you’re looking for. I want no further part of this. Just let me go and neither one of us has to see the other again.

 

[BRIGHTWELL]

Eye of the Hopi

“If you had questions, all that was needed was a simple asking of it. You decided to take a different route, kidnapping me as I walked home and scaring me near out of my skin and yet you speak of my father like HE is the scoundrel. Ever hear the saying ‘birds of a feather’?”

Captain Charlie hops off the barrel with the wine bottle in one hand and the glass in the other and takes a few steps toward Marina."One does not speak of three million American dollars treasure in a bar room or street corner."

Captain Charlie bobs his head. " Yes, it could of been done differently, maybe even better. We are not Boston lawyers hanging out in a court room. We are men of the sea, a roughness is part of our lives. That is how we live, that is how we survive." He starts to pace around the room. Then suddenly stops and looks back at Marina.

"I'll bet you have no Idea what the Eye even is, or, why it is so important." he looks back at her excitedly.

“There was a journal that he left my mother but it’s not on me. It was the only thing my mother had of his. When we were kicked out of our home, we could take what we could carry."

Captain Charlie was not sure he was breathing or if his heart had stopped working. "A journal?" was all he could muster. Not trusting himself. He looks at the wine bottle and pours himself a glass and throws it it down. Then Marina surpises him again.

“There is also this. It was my mother’s" She opens a locket and hands him a piece of cloth. “This must be what you’re looking for. I want no further part of this. Just let me go and neither one of us has to see the other again. "

Captain Charlie open mouthed walks as if in a trace over to Marina and looks at the piece of cloth. He looks at it, then Marina. "This is the cotton side piece of the Eye! This is part of the EYE!. You had a clue to three million dollars around your neck!? In plain sight....all this time?" Captain Charlie looks at the cotton cutting. "The cotton was very valueable to the Hopi. For it grew so very far away. To you and me its no big thing." He stops and looks at Marina.

"Let me tell you a bit of a story, thirty years ago there was a great chief of the Pueblo Indians. His name was Dances with Snakes the Hopi are a sub-tribe of the Pueblo. Known for their rugs. The men were the weavers. But in this case this rug was ment to be hung on the great Chief's pueblos. His house if you will. That made it a tapestry. Then when he died it was to be his burial shroud. " Captain Charlie gets very excited as he continues the story.

"The "Eye" was to give the cheif the vision to see in the after life. But it was stolen by the Spanish then later by Mexican bandits. They needed guns. So I traded guns....for the Eye."