“Who’re you?” Henrik demanded, pointing his curved longsword at the man in front of him. The male straightened himself to his full height, looking down on the pirates surrounding him.

“I am Prince Charming. Here to save Cinderella. Nothing will stand in the way of getting the maiden.” He let the words sink into the pirates before unsheathing his expensive sword and jumping down from the side of the wooden ship.

The prince fought well, but the pirates outnumbered him greatly. Soon, he had lost his sword and had another poised at his throat, courtesy of Henrik. The prince didn’t move, too afraid of having his head sliced clean off his body. Or worse. Thrown to the sharks. That one seemed particularly cruel, though not unreasonable for pirates to consider.

“Some prince,” the pirates jeered, mocking the defenseless prince. Henrik increased his pressure on the blade, drawing a trickle of blood from the royal’s neck. It dropped to the floor with a soft plunk.

“Alright, you had your fun. Let him go,” a voice spoke, silencing the whole crew, but no one moved or even breathed, for that matter. “Henrik, lower your sword.” He sneered at the prince before following orders. “Get back to your duties.”

“Yes Captain,” the crew chorused. They all went off, leaving the prince to wonder about the woman they had answered to. He didn’t have to wait long until the woman entered his vision. She wore standard pirate clothing with a sword sheathed at her side. The woman had gorgeous green eyes and long brown hair pulled up at the base of her head. She wore the captain’s hat, signaling her rank on the ship.

“What’s a prince doing on my ship?” she asked. Said prince snapped out of his stupor to answer the question, pulling himself back up to full height, which, in turn, caused the woman to roll her eyes.

“I’m in search of a young maiden. She goes by the name of Cinderella.” The captain studied him for a moment.

“She doesn’t go by that name anymore. She prefers Ella. Now, we should take care of the wounds you received from my crew before they get infected. They don’t clean their weapons often.” She turned and started off to her cabin. The prince followed hastily after her.

They stepped into the cabin and the prince couldn’t help, but marvel at it. There were tons of maps and furniture. It was everything the prince used to dream about when he played with his brothers, though their parents never approved of it. A prince was supposed to attend to his duties, not play pirate.

The woman sat the prince down and started to treat a few of the gashes he had gotten from various swords. She soon finished and wrapped them in bandages. The prince watched her carefully as she worked. He had come to the conclusion that the captain was Cinderella or, as she liked to be called, Ella. The maiden he was here for sat in front of him, not scared and defenseless, but kind of scary, in the prince’s opinion.

“I assume my stepmother sent you, Henry,” Ella finally spoke up. “And only so she can get the riches when we marry.” The prince was shocked, to say the least. Ella rolled her eyes at his reaction. “Why do you think I left? I don’t want her to be able to use me or you just for money. It was better when I was gone.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Over the next few days, the prince and former princess discussed many things that had happened in the time that Ella was gone. Henry had become King and had started leading his people, though he felt his father was a much better ruler than he could ever be.

When Henry had been on the ship for a fortnight, in the middle of the night, another ship attacked. They were silent when they snuck onto Ella’s ship. They had heard news that the king was aboard the ship and they knew they could get a good ransom for the missing king.  

The captain snuck into the king’s private quarters and over to his sleeping form. He stepped on a board and it creaked. The King sat straight up, alert, but the pirate was already out of sight. As the King stood up, the pirate crept behind him and hit him hard in the back of the head with his sword. Henry fell like a rag doll to the floor, unconscious.

The pirate dragged him onto the other ship and threw him in the brig. Then, they attacked Ella’s ship, trying to destroy it.

Ella awoke to the sounds of yelling and cannons. She jumped out of bed and ran out to the deck where she saw the mess laid out in front of her. Running to the helm, she grabbed ahold of the steering wheel and steered the ship away from the other pirates as her crew fired cannons at the other ship. Soon, they were far from the other ship and in safe waters. Ella finally allowed herself to take a breath, but when she looked around, she realized something. She hadn’t seen Henry. He would’ve woken up, so something must’ve been wrong.

As the crew mended the ships broken boards and holes to their waterborne vessel, Ella left to go find the king. She found his room empty and she also found traces of someone else being in the room, quickly coming to the conclusion that the other pirates had kidnapped the king. And she had to do something.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After endless days of searching for the pirate ship, Ella finally found it. At dusk, she attacked.

Ella’s crew entered the ship and fought the pirates as Ella went to the brig where she found the king. The captain stood waiting for her in front of the cell in the brig. Ella’s hand drifted to the hilt of her sword when she saw the captain. He already had his sword out and, when he lunged for her, she drew her sword, blocking an attack from him.

The fighting drew on for a while. The two captain’s struck and blocked countless times. The king watched from his cell the whole time, silently rooting for his princess to win. And then, suddenly, it seemed to end. The pirate pulled his knife out of Ella’s side, pushing her away from him. She stumbled back, but quickly regained her balance. As the pirate watched her in amusement, she struck again, falling the opposing captain.

Ella sheathed her sword and, keeping one hand pressed against her wound, unlocked the cell with the other. Henry hurried out of the cell and caught Ella as she stumbled again. He led her out of the brig and up to the deck where her crew had claimed victory. When they saw their captain, however, their glad cheers turned silent.

Henry moved fast back to their ship and took Ella to her room. The only doctor of Ella’s crew came into the room, shooing Henry out. Then, the doctor got to work while everyone else waited. And waited. And waited. Until finally, Ella was awake.

The doctor, Benjamin, helped Ella out onto the deck where her crew was waiting to see if she was actually okay. And she was.

Later that night, Ella found Henry in the crow’s nest. It was just barely big enough for the two of them when Ella stood beside him. They were quiet for a while, looking at the stars and constellations.

“The past few weeks have been crazy,” Ella finally spoke. Henry hummed in agreement, nodding his head as he kept his eyes plastered to the sea. Ella followed his gaze, but could only see the endless dark waters, though she didn’t mind looking at them either.

“Do you ever regret leaving?” Henry asked, looking up to meet Ella’s eyes. She was silent for a moment, then shook her head.

“I sometimes miss the city and the animals near my house, but I don’t regret leaving my stepmother or stepsisters. They hated me and didn’t want anything to do with me. I’m glad I left. And why do you ask?” He smiled slightly.

“Well, I was thinking about life on the water. Would you let me join your crew, Captain Ella?” He fake bowed as best he could in that tight place. Ella couldn’t stop the smile forming on her face.

“Of course, Henry. But are you sure there’s place in this ship for two royals?” she joked, causing his smile to grow bigger.

“As long as you stay on your half of the ship.” She rolled her eyes.

“Just kiss me already.” And, so he did. And everyone lived happily ever after.

The End