The Queen eyed the steer before her wearily, tracing a soft palm around the leather that encased it. Fit for a queen, she supposed with an internal shrug that was nill towards satisfactory. It was expected that King George's men would strike when the sun began to set and, already at noonday, she was yet at a lost for how to proceed. Dark Knights hung in her shadow, knowing little of what went through the realms of her mind as she mapped out her actions. They eyed her every move, the tip of her finger against the hide of her steer, the pad of her boot against the stained wood that was her deck. The entire vessel railed with an onyx hue that she had chosen herself, believing that it would aide in nightly battles. But of course, that was the extent of what she had come up with as of yet.

And her window of time was nearing it's close.

Glancing down at the matte that stagnated her fingers, she flitted a hand and hummed in approval when a purple mist enveloped her appendages to reveal a shiny ink, purposely the opposite of what she had come to the shore with. For her, a change of attitude induced a change of appearance.

"Aesthetics have always been imperative when prepping for battle, aye?" Her body barely inclined to acknowledge the voice that filtered behind her, knowing that, as their duty, those subservient to her would handle him first.

Clipped under a thick forearm, the pirate struggled to swallow the lump that passed his throat as he croaked beneath the man's direst. "Your majesty, if you please," he met the metal mask of his aggressor, "...beckon your hounds."

"Claude, Rivers," She gripped the wheel at four and eight, attempting to get a feel for the charge of a ship beneath her, the weight, the dexterity. "Leave us..." Without having to turn her back, she could feel the protest mounting in her right hand guard, "see to it that the beaches on the west are checked for any drifting armada," and silenced him before he could speak.

The gruff pirate scowled weakly as the knight heeded his orders, boots creaking against the deck as they made their exit. She heard him clear his throat from behind her and let the wind speak for her, listening to the whistle as it passed and whipped at her high ponytail and the leather train that trailed behind her.

"I've come to take you up on your offer." Uneven footsteps sounded behind her and she turned, feeling as though the control had been leveled in his favor.

With a smirk and keen flip of her cloak, she eyed the bushy browed pirate and questioned daringly, "Is that so?"

He shrugged, a hand stuck in the hip of his pants. "Well it's obvious that the assistance of someone is needed and you're too feared to solicit assistance from anyone else successfully." It was a fleeting reminder that the people did indeed fear her and rather than have a reputation to show, she already had one that proceeded her without even a year on the throne.

Nearing the King's demise, she was known as an ice queen, reluctant to smile and reticent to happiness. She often retreated to her chambers in a deafening silence that no one cared to question, for she was not of importance; perhaps no one even noticed. The Ice Queen, incapable of feeling and incomparable to the Queen that had graced the throne before her.

A sentiment she was often reminded of.

"You have been on an island for centuries..." she sneered, eyes flickering from his mud shod boots to his open neck shirt, "you know nothing of my reign."

He took a step closer, cut by her sharp tongue; however, the wound wasn't deep enough to blind him from seeing where she faltered, where he had hit a nerve. "Have I upset you?" He lifted a brow and watched as she straightened her back, lifting her chin by a fraction as she assimilated the frame that she needed to be who she was molded to be.

But by his guess, not who she truly was.

"You've done nothing but waste my time. I'd appreciate if you'd leave my vessel and go back to your ship or your tavern or wherever you wish," she waved her hand, deeming his dwellings to be below her, "just be gone from my presence." She turned her back to him and walked to her steer, leaving him with the wondering question of why she was yet to use magic. She spared no expense beforehand but seemed to be hesitant, resorting to a battle of words rather than might

Her palms tightened around the circular hide and she waited to hear the creaking of wood, and she did, but it heightened towards her rather than away. "You grip your helm as though you're reigning in a horse." She scoffed at his comparison, wishing to turn around but was stopped when a callous palm fell atop her hand.

She stiffened at his touch, daring not to look down as his other hand did the same thing. She opened her mouth to scold him but felt that her words had run from her, leaving her dry of throat with a stammering demand of, "I'd advise you to-"

"Perhaps if you loosed your hold," it was a demand that he ignored, instead prying her shined fingers from the steer with less effort than he expected. "It's not a beast in need of control in fact, it can be quite similar to the relationship you can hold with a loyal steed. Not a beast but a guide, something to be equal to."

"I don't know what you're talking about and I'd rather appreciate if you loosed your hold." She mocked him, attempting to gain an upper hand that continued to rise above her. With an exerted strength she pushed back against him, flinging an arm to her side so that his back fell to the post that he had earlier been held up to. "I am no longer in need of your services, nor do I want them. You had your chance and like the fledgling imbecile you seem to be, you wasted your opportunity."

He straightened his spine with grin that cockily tipped off his ego. "Be that if it may but I was merely trying to do you a favor," he leaned into her space, "you'll just end up sitting on your throne like any other crown, awaiting to hear how many deaths your men suffered."

Never good enough, never wise enough, never pretty enough, not fit to follow, not fit to lead; again she was slapped with the inadequacies of her youth and spurring adulthood. She had no experience and might've lacked the magical ability to carry all of her men in battle. She was lacking, patterned by her usual proclivities; and to have it shown to her face in such a callous nature with no regard for her sensitivities was something that she was used to, something she was numbed to.

But nonetheless, something that angered her.

Her hand lifted and squeezed in the air and he clawed at his throat as the breath within him left and her head fell back in a detached stare as breathing became a distant memory. "Well, Captain it seems that we are inept to finding ourselves in this position: you fighting for your life at the mercy of my hand." Her fingers contracted and he gasped, gaining a gust of breath before it was snatched back by another contraction. "Perhaps if you weren't so inclined to step out of your place, I wouldn't constantly have to put you there."

She released him and he dropped to the floor in a violent cough that shook his body as she stood over him. Aware that her actions were rash and perhaps an overreaction, she took the chance to remind him of who she was, since as she put it, he knew nothing of her reign. Stooping to his level in a rare show, she lingered by his ear and whispered what left him breathless once more.

"Perchance I am the beast...but nonetheless, I need no one to reign me in." She stood slowly, with a growing smirk, but her victorious ascension was halted by the bustling noises approaching the shores.

"Your Majesty, your majesty!" A knight scuffled towards the vessel, disarmed of his covering so that she could see his knitted brows as drones of her men followed behind him in a similar fashion.

"What is the meaning of this?" She questioned, scanning the crown for an answer. Why were her men were knee high wet and seemed to have fought a battle before it began?

"Out of the way!" A wider subject came closer to the steps that fashioned beside the ship, bolder than the others that backed away from her presence. He dismounted his headgear and shook his head of any extremities, bowing curtly to the crown before she waved her hand, dismissing him of formalities so that she could be informed about the lurking chaos. "The armada, King George has sent 8 of his vessels and they're nearing the west wing of the Dark Castle. Upon approach, three of our men were flagged by arrows."

He looked away from her and she knew, having to ask the question "how many?"

Pressing the skull of his uniform into his breastplate, he dipped his chin. "2 your majesty, among them being one of your escorts, Berkley."

She nodded, eyes falling to the forest behind them as they looked to her for guidance, for leadership. But she was unprepared, only able to offer than the power within her two hands. Power that she hadn't full capacity to even yield yet.

"What shall we do?" Claude asked humbly, his voice coming as a whisper to keep the others from panicking. From the blank look in her eyes, he knew that she hadn't a clue. "Shall we convene the Elders-"

"No, no we haven't the time..." She rubbed off the idea quickly, needing something concrete to go off of.

"Mount 12 of your ships, 10 men on each." A hoarse voice spoke from behind the Queen, a voice that they all looked to find the source of. "Round the west coast and the east coast. Load the canons gifted by Midas onto two of them and the rest of you will go with arrows." The pirate stood, rubbing at his neck as his shoulder pushed passed the Queens, nearing her men. "You, you, you and you..." He pointed out into the crowd of royal guards. "You're on the Queen's vessel, position the helm, lift the anchor and load the weaponry-The rest of you do the same."

They stood blindly, looking to the Queen for her word, for her approval. They knew not of this man and were not going to cross the crown for the sake of their lives. They needed the nod of the Queen and when she realized that it was what they sought, she found her voice. "Do as he says."

With that, they acted quickly, dispersing on the sands. Claude watched wearily as the pirate leaned next to the Queen's ear, eyes darkening with each word. "Perchance you are the beast and needn't be reigned in but apparently, you do need to be guided."

And with that, she took to the vessel with her charge of men following behind him.