“Huh... My head hurts like hell.. Where am I...Who am I... Why is everything dark in here” as I opened my eyes I can see only darkness. My head and entire body hurts, I am exhausted.. I close my eyes again and felt myself loosing consciousness.

“Wake up.. Wake up.. We ain’t got all day” I hear a voice yelling at me. I open my eyes again and a big figure came into my view. Is he a barbarian, I ponder to myself.

“Captain told me to get you, come on.. Hurry up or the captain gonna be mad” The barbarian poked on shoulder with the huge stick he had and turned around to leave.

I quickly stood up despite the pain in my body and followed him. After going on few wooden steps what came to is the vast ocean. We were on board some ship and surrounded by water everywhere. There was nothing else other than water as far as my eyes can see.

I quickly followed the man as view my surroundings. There were 6 people around me who were busy working on one thing or another. Another person was standing or sitting high up in the pole overlooking the horizon. I was led before a man with a long beard who was missing an arm. His eyes looked menacing and scars cover his whole face. He faced me and started speaking.

“Well, looks like you had a nice sleep. Who are you and where are you from?” he asked me.

I looked at him confused and said “I don’t know, I don’t remember anything. Who am I and why am I here?”

“Hum.. Looks like the sea knocked you for good. We found you in the ocean and lifted you on deck. I though you are some nobility and I would get some stash, guess Its loss for me. There is no place for freeloaders on Radius, you have two choice become a slave or become seafood” said the captain without any sympathy.

I started at him for a few moments. I don’t know if I can stay in a place which smells this bad, not to mention all these rough looking men. I considered the option of jumping into the sea and wait for some other ship to pass by, but quickly dispelled the thought as I don’t know if I am capable of swimming.

Suddenly the captain kicked me in the stomach and smirked at me “The only one who can think and make a choice on Radius is me, others simply follow my command. Remember that and you can prolong your worthless life. Frank, give him the washcloth and bucket. He can start cleaning the deck and doors”

I winced in pain as I grabbed my stomach. The barbarian whose name seems to be frank grabbed my shoulders and let me back into the room I initially was in. I was given a dirty bucked and a dirty cloth and was told to start cleaning the deck. If the captain is pleased with my work I will be allowed to eat otherwise I won’t get any food.

Frank was leaving after giving me directions and I spat on the floor in disgust. No way am I going become slave of some dirty men. I again considered jumping into the ocean but having nowhere else to go, I started thinking and made up my mind to make a plan to get my revenge as well as find a way for a safe escape. From what I have seen I came to the conclusion that this is a pirate ship and all people on board are pirates and the captain is the boss of them. Every pirate is big and muscular so I cannot escape using force. I have to carefully plan my escape. I took the cloth and bucked and went upstairs to work.

---Captain’s POV---

Yesterday was a terrible storm with raging thunder and lightning. I have been on Radius all my life yet I have never seen a storm as fearsome before. We thought for sure that Radius would sink and we would all perish, yet the mighty Radius withstood the storm and we all survived. We have to raid some merchant ship soon for materials to repair Radius or else it would not sail for long. As the storm passed the sky cleared and we were all happy and relieved.

One of my men who are on the lookout gives us a signal that there is something out there. Thinking that it is a shark I grabbed my hook and ordered my men to prepare the net. As the thing got closer, it seems to be a corpse of a young man. We took the corpse on board to search for any valuables. Imagine the surprise we got when the man was alive, he was breathing and seems to be unconscious. I ordered my men to search his cloths, which looked a little bit expensive and there was nothing in it. Not a single thing. Maybe all his belongings sank in the ocean. Still It didn’t make any sense that he survived the storm.

“Captain, He’s got nothing. Should we toss him back in the ocean?” asked fatty who searched him.

I looked at his face which was handsome and well defined and said “Are you a fool, He looks handsome and is wearing expensive cloths. He must belong to some noble family. Lock him up in the spare room, we might get a good ransom for him” I said and walked away.

The next day frank brought him over to me. The first time I looked at him I get a sudden feeling of dread and an urge to run away from him as far as possible, but I swallowed my urge and dismissed it as a sign of fatigue. Maybe I am little bit tired after continuous raiding and plundering. I asked him about his identity and he said that he didn’t know who he is and where he is from. I don’t know whether he is telling is truth, but I will find out sooner or later. If he is a noble then someone is bound to come looking for him. If no one comes looking for him, then I can sell him in slave market, judging by his looks I’ll be able to sell him to some rich old hag or some perverted noble for quite a sum. For now I assigned him some measly work which none of my crew want to do.

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I have got a new job, hurray for me. I try to set up a daily hour for writing. Hopefully I will able to develop my story as I have planned and once again if you find any errors, please let me know. I will correct them and try to make my story much better and enjoyable to read.