The Adventures of Lady Shaw and the Seven Seas Book 1: The Search for Maybeard

By Susan M. Haldane

“Raise the sails! Man your stations! Get us moving, you scurvy dogs. I want us out of port by morning!”

Being the Captain of a ship that sent civilians into hiding by there mention of its name was a difficult job; especially since Captain Shaw was a woman. Female pirates weren't unheard of, there had even been female Captain's before, but Lady Shaw's name was like a branding iron in the thoughts of every port master and sailor around the world.The fact that she was daughter of the most feared pirate in all of history raised the expectations of fellow pirates on every body of water from the Isle of Rodaire to the edge of the world.

Lady Shaw is an adventurer. She loved the feel of the wind and spray of the water on her cheeks; loved the sight of an incoming storm and enjoyed every moment of a canon fight. To her piracy wasn't an act, it was a lifestyle.

Sailing was her life and there was nothing that would keep her from that open ocean. Not even a few detours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan M. Haldane
• Release date: Dec 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301780037

Susan M. Haldane

I've always enjoyed books. They're like a window into another reality that I can't wait to dive into. During my Freshman year in high school, I decided I wanted to create my own world. And while that one is still a work in progress four years later, I'm dipping an ink covered quill into all kinds of other worlds.

Book preview

For my dear friend, Brenna; the other quirky one who enjoys pirates just as much as I do.

The Adventures

Of

Lady Shaw

And the

Seven Seas

Book 1: The Search for Maybeard

The Adventures of Lady Shaw and the Seven Seas Book 1: The Search for Maybeard

By Susan M. Haldane

Copyright 2012 Susan M. Haldane

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Prologue

Wide open sea. Waves glistening like the purest sapphire under the pale moonbeams. The creak of the wooden ship on top of the water, the masts and rigging moving from side to side as it sways... Nothing more could appeal to a pirate. The way the ocean called to a scurvy bilge rat was more important than anything in the world. More important than family; more important than food; more important than ru- scratch that. Nothing is more important than rum. The sound of feet slapping on the decks and raised voices saying Aye aye Cap’n! to every order. Even the sounds of scrabbling rats in the cargo hold late at night made a pirate feel at home.

But the one thing that drew a pirate in most, the one thing that put a smile on a pirate’s face more so than any brand of rum ever could…is treasure. Piles of gold lying about you like mountains, rolling rivers of it, statues the size of the wigged man’s justice building… Jeweled crowns datin’ back to the earliest of eras. Some plunders so old, they were bound in curses tighter than a woman’s corset. But curses didn’t matter on this ship. No, not at all. What mattered here wasn’t the thing that came of the adventure, though that was a sure plus. What mattered was the adventure itself.

You see, me hearties, you’ve not heard a pirate’s tale until you’ve heard of Lady Shaw and the Seven Seas

Chapter 1

Raise the sails! Man your stations! Get us moving, you scurvy dogs. I want us out of port by morning!

Lady Shaw stood atop the poop deck and ordered about her unseemly crew of lazy buzzards. Most of the time, they sat about and picked at their toes for entertainment. She scrunched her nose in distaste at the thought. She may very well be a pirate, but at least she was lady enough to know how to bathe. Lady Shaw squared back her shoulders and addressed her quartermaster and first mate.

Have we the map, Diller?

We have Captain. He replied with a bass voice.

Diller was a tall fellow with short black hair that curled in writhing masses atop his sun scorched hide. His face was drawn into a permanent scowl and barely knew what it was to smile or laugh. He’d been part of the crew for years, plunderin’ and savin’ the Captain as often as the sky was blue. That just goes to say that Diller, quiet man that he was, was sharper than that of a blacksmith’s blade.

And a course? She looked at him through crystal blue eyes; eyes that were very near the color of the ocean they sailed on.

Aye, Cap’n. We have a course. A small quirk lifted the corner of his lip.

You’re not plannin’ sumthin’ are you?

Plannin’ sumthin’, Cap’n? Me? He turned to her with deep brown eyes. Never.

Keep us on course, Diller. You know where to find me should anything go wrong. Which had better not happen.

Aye aye, Cap’n!

She nodded her approval and started on her way to her quarters. Her thigh high black boots thumped on the wooden planks that made up her ship as she traversed stairs and passed through a hallway or two. Her legs were clad in tight black pants, so that she might move about quicker and simply because she preferred it that way. Her shirt, the same a man would wear, and a vest of a brilliant red with golden loops for the buttons. Her waist was adorned with a belt that not only held her cutlass, but her dagger and her pistol as well. These things were all customary for a pirate such as herself, the Captain, to wear. The hat, just like everything else, was nothing more to her than an accessory. Though, it did give her comfort to know that it kept the sun out of her eyes. But she did hate how the giant thing was always getting in her way. And the enormous feather that was attached to it always seemed to find its way either into her mouth or her eye.

As soon as she entered her quarters, she threw the hat off to the side and laid all of her weapons down on the mahogany desk that sat right in front of the windows. She stood in front of the wall of glass and looked out at the water slipping by underneath them and the town that was sprawled behind them. It was a wonderful sight to see the land slip away into nothingness. If it weren’t for the need to get food, drinkable water, and things for the crew to entertain themselves with, Lady Shaw would never set foot on land ever again. No matter the cost. If only…

Sighing deeply, she went back to her desk and opened a brown book bound in