Horni
- Ahem*
As you may have guessed, Horni wasn't born under that name. Quite to the contrary actually. She was born Theia Moonshadow to her loving parents Ameil and Frans Moonshadow, who were archaeologists. The small family had traveled all over the world for as long as Theia could remember, but when she turned 20 she decided that she was tired of traveling and would move to England and settle down as a librarian. She bid her mother and father farewell from their current expedition in Cape Town, South Africa and packed up as many books and Archaeological finds that she could carry in two trunks. Her father gave her two flintlock pistols for her voyage, wishing her a safe trip and made her promise to come visit sometime. And thus she began her long voyage north, up the coast of Africa bound for Morocco, Portugal and finally England.
About a week into the voyage the ship was boarded by pirates and plundered. Theia made sure they would not take her so easily. She injured as many as she could before they were finally able to clamp her in irons and take her aboard their ship. The pirates didn't leave many to live on the ship once they had plundered it; after it was empty of anything useful they simply set it on fire and let it burn away into the ocean.
The pirates left Theia below deck in irons for the next few days feeding her and the few others below deck crusts of dry bread and small bowls of water. Finally, they brought her, and the others that they had captured, above deck to stretch their legs, leaving their wrists and ankles chained. The wind was blowing a stiff gale, keeping the sails taught. She couldn't tell where they were headed, nor had she been able to figure out why they had picked her and the few others that they took aboard. She didn't talk to the others much, only asking simple questions when given the chance and giving simple answers when spoken to.
It remained a peaceful voyage for the remainder of the trip. Theia wandered the ship, watching the crew work; a few even put her to work, explaining how thinks worked and showing her what to do. A few days out from where the ship was to be embarking, the ships crew took a final inventory of what and who was taken aboard. All of the captives were lined up for inspection and taken into account. "Does she have a name?" Asked one of the men, when they finally got to Theia, who appeared to be in charge "Nar, not that she be sayin'." replied a nearby deckhand. He paused thoughtfully for a moment, "I's thinkin' we call her Mad Charity Flint", said her captor. "'Mad Charity Flint'?" said the other man, sounding a slight bit surprised. "Aye sir. She be the best lookin' o' the spoils we'd takin. And ye' should' a' seen th' way she handled th' flints, sir. It was madness I tell 'ye. She'd be a fyne addition t' th' crew." he said with a hint of awe in his expression. handing the other man the flintlocks that had been taken from her during the raid.
"Very nice, "He commented, examining the pistols for a moment, then continuing, "Yes yes, I heard stories about the raid, but why Charity?"
"Heh heh heh, I 'remember 'm churchin', boson." Chortled the man, "'And the greatest 'o these be Charity'"
When her ship finally reached the harbour of the Isle they were embarking upon, the Harbourmaster began inspecting the cargo and the spoils of the ships recent plunder. The short fat man with his scruffy beard and beady black eyes looked the poor girl over a few times after she came off the ship, inspecting her posture and figure; she whimpered in protest as the man grabbed her arms and spun her around. He chuckled heartily at her obvious distaste for this treatment.
"You'll make a fine addition here, dearie. Where'd you come from?" "From the east." She murmured "Ah. A long way from home, aren't ya'?" She nodded and said nothing.
After another moment he seemed content with the inspection and said, "I think you'll be a good addition to the fleet. But first, ya'll have 'ta work fer me 'n my crew for a spot. Gotta make sure you're cut out for the pirate’s life." The Harbormaster motioned to two men unloading crates of supplies and loot from a ship. One had the same build of the Harbormaster and was wearing giant goggles on his eyes, the other was short with fiery red hair and reminded Theia of the tales of Leprechauns that she had heard.
"That's Spook," he said motioning to the one with the goggles, "and Irish" to the one with red hair, "They're my crew and now you are too." With that, the Harbormaster opened her cuffs and threw them to the side.
Theia looked at the cuffs as they clanked on the planks; she rubbed her wrists, her arms felt so much lighter now. She looked around at the island, 'I wonder if I'll ever get out of this place...' she thought, 'it is beautiful though.' The island was unlike anything she had ever seen before. White sand beaches, tall palm trees, lush green rain forest and a few well constructed buildings in a clearing just off the beach. She blinked and looked again to make sure she'd seen properly, 'is that a church??' Her thoughts were interrupted by the Harbormaster handing her two familiar heavy objects she recognized as her flintlocks. She gasped in surprise as he fingered them lovingly.
"Almost everyone's armed, figure you might as well be too. Oh, 'n as for your name.... hm, lesee... we'll call you..." he pulled out a pipe and some tobacco as he thought. "M... my name is Th..." Theia began He quickly hushed her and lit the pipe and stared into the embers as he thought. He chuckled to himself thoughtfully as he said, "Horny. That's what it'll be. Horny." "H...horny?" she said surprised, "But that's not..." "That's what you'll answer to and that's what you'll call yourself." Gently explained the man, "no one on this island or in this fleet goes by their christened name."
She folded her hands in front of herself and took a seat on a crate next to him, "And what do you answer to and call yourself?" she gently chided A chuckle rumbled in his chest as he puffed on his pipe, "Harbormaster." he leaned in with a sparkle in his eye and whispered, "they also call me 'Caution'" "Caution?" she repeated, a bit confused He furrowed his brow, "That's right!" he said leaning back, "K-a-u-s-h-u....." he looked up as if to think for a moment, "double N." he finished and puffed his chest proudly. "But that's not..." she was interrupted by Spook, who hollered at the Harbormaster for some help. Kaushunn looked at her for a moment before finally bellowing, "Well, whad arya waitin fer?!" Horny let out a small "Eeep!" as she scurried off to help the crew with the crates.
One year later, Theia or 'Rogue Horni' (as she came to drop the y and add an i instead) had proven herself as a worthy addition to the Rogues fleet and was inducted into Madam Crickets house on the Island called 'Eilean er Coayl Grayse' as the House Virgin (as she's never been had by a Pirate before). She also found herself a place in the Church of the Dirty Virgin and Our Lady of Perpetual Crisis hospice.
She doesn't know if she'll ever return to find her parents, at present she's enjoying just being a pirate.
