Bang!

Shane shot up from the bed when she heard a pistol go off down in the tavern. “Shit!” Shane untangled herself from the naked barmaid beside her when she heard the muffled authoritative voice of England’s finest below and the voices of her own men die down.

“Under order of the English Crown, you are all to be hanged for piracy.”

“Wait! Shane!” The Irish girl went to make a grab for Shane and pull her back to the bed but Shane simply tugged her hand away and continued to gather her discarded clothes from the wooden floor. “If you go down there, they’ll put you in shackles too!” The girl cried at Shane and pulled her covers up to hide her naked body. She watched hopelessly as Shane simply continued to get dressed.

“I’ll not leave my men to be hung for being free.” Shane said without even turning to look at the girl as she strapped her leather belt to her waist and made sure her cutlass was attached securely. She quickly threw on her heavy jacket and tied her red sash around her waist, tucking her pistol into the fabric. She quickly tied her black scarf around her head and placed her tricorn hat atop her head before dashing out the door leaving the barmaid behind.

When she reached the ground floor again she quickly surveyed the damage. Most of her men were either past out from their rum or swaggering around like they were still at sea during a rather intense storm. The English seamen had already gone to work arresting the men and applying heavy iron shackles to their wrists.

Shit.

“Ay! It’s the Cap’n!” One of her men yelled out at the site of her as he lay across the floor trying to get himself up. The moment he had gotten to his knees a redcoat had bunted him in the back of the head with his musket causing the drunken pirate to fall back to the ground.

Shane looked up again to see the Admiral looking directly at her and pointing two men in her direction. She shook her head. There were only three possible outcomes. One; she surrenders and is hung at either Port Royal or taken back to England for trial… then hung. Two; she fights here and is gutted. Or Three; She fights here and escapes to pillage the seas again.