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Chapter 8: A Family Reunion
Davy opened his eyes. He was in the Tortuga swamp, just where he wanted to be. He checked to make sure that he had all of his belongings. Staff was still on his back, knife in his belt, and the Sword of Darkness on his belt. He figured that he might get some strange attention on the island if he was walking around with a staff and a strange looking sword. He ventured a little farther into the swamps, and found an area of tall grass. He placed his belongings there, with the exception of his knife, just in case he got into a bit of trouble. Then he laid a spell on his items to make them invisible.
Davy left his belongings, and headed into the town. As soon as he entered the first street (if they dare be called streets) he saw what would have scared people like his parents half to death: there were pirates running around trying to kill each other with rum bottles, drunken pirates off to the sides snoring or acting like loons, women gossiping with each other or slapping men, and of course, some pigs running around. Davy couldn’t help but smile. He was home, with his own kind. He had nothing to worry about here, except pick-pockets. All of the sudden he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around only to see a woman with curly brown hair looking at him with interest. She was clearly drunk, and looked like she was in a flirtatious mood.
“Well, well, well… what have we here?” she said, slurring her words. “A boy as handsome as you shouldn’t be roamin’ Tortuga alone… you could get hurt by some of them nasty ladies. How about you come to my place, and we can have some fun, savvy?”
Davy couldn’t think of a quick response, but all that came out was, “Uhh…”
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” she said.
“Laura! What are you doing?! Let the boy be!” a voice cried out.
Laura winked at Davy, then walked off. A man came up to Davy, and said, “Sorry mate, that’s just my sister. She gets that way when she drinks too much. Don’t mind her, or any of her friends. They are all the same… say, I haven’t seen you around here before, have I?
“Erm… no, probably not.” Davy stuttered. “I err, traveled on a ship called the Black Swan for a while. She was sunk by an EITC ship, and I was able to escape on a dingy. There are probably a few others from her crew around here too. Anyway, I would have crewed up with some other ship, but I need to make a crew myself, and get a good ship, for secretive reasons. However, please don’t make a big fuss of me being here, need to try to stay invisible, savvy?”
The man blinked. “Erm, alright then. If you are looking for a crew, I would try the King’s Arm tavern. Its down the road, impossible to miss. Unless your completely deaf. Lots of ruckus goes on in there, but it’s a good place to do some recruitin’. Good luck mate, your going to need it…”
Davy thanked him, then began walking to the Kings Arm. He passed more drunkards, and narrowly avoided a fight with a big drunk man. He watched as pirates fired guns at each other from balconies, and pigs running around tackling people. Ah Tortuga. What would we pirates be without ye? Davy thought.
After about ten minutes, Davy reached the Kings Arm tavern. From outside, he could hear yelling and breaking bottles. Davy grinned, then stepped inside.
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The noise was the first thing Davy noticed. It was deafening, worse than the sounds of any sea battles Davy had ever been in. He heard pirates roaring, yelling, laughing, and of course bottles of rum being thrown across the room. He walked down a flight of stairs, into the chaos. He figured that he should get permission from the bartender if he was going to recruit in his tavern.
Davy approached the bartender and said, “Ahoy there, I be needin’ to do some recruiting for my crew. Do you mind if I set up a little station here with a sign up sheet?”
The bartender looked at him with monotonous eyes. “Knock yer self out,” he mumbled.
Davy thanked him, and then began walking across the tavern over to a table. He had no idea how to do this. What was he supposed to do? Ask random people if they wanted to join his crew? Most people wouldn’t want to join a total stranger’s crew, and he didn’t even have a ship yet!
As Davy was walking, he noticed a large crowd of people around a small table. Davy went over to investigate. He had to thread through a load of pirates who were cheering, and seemed to be betting some gold. Finally, he got a view of what was going on in the center. Sitting at the table, were two people. The first one was wearing a hunting vest, which was stained with some sort of alcoholic drink, and torn from what looked like a few fights. He was wearing torn, brown pants. They went down to right below his knees before being torn. He had dark red hair, almost brown, hazel eyes, and a large nose. The face would probably be handsome, except that his eyes were reddened from lack of sleep, and from being twisted in a strange grin from drinking too much. Beside him lay a dog. The dog had blond, curly hair, and looked a lot like one of the jail dogs that the navy kept.
The other person was wearing an open vest, exposing his chest, which had some battle scars. He had long brown hair, and seemed even more drunk than the first man. He was a classic, drunken pirate in a tavern.
The two men appeared to be having a drinking contest, and there were people betting on it. The crowd around them silenced as the second man reached for a cup of the drink, which appeared to be brandy. With shaking hands, he raised it to his mouth, and let it trickle into his mouth. He reached forward with the cup to lay it back down, but collapsed onto the table.
The crowd roared, and exchanged more bets. The first man stood up raising his arms, with a twisted grin on his face. He was clearly more drunk than anyone Davy had every seen. The man, spotting some rum in a person’s hands, grabbed it and started drinking it down. He threw the rum bottle on the ground in front of him, before falling backwards, unconscious. The crowd laughed, and then walked away. Davy ran over to him. There was something about this pirate…
Davy examined his face more closely. He had normal sized lips, and a double goatee, and a normal looking moustache. His eyes were hazel, like he saw originally, and his hair had a bit of a wave to it, curving towards the back of his head. And there was a scar under his eye… just like what his brother William had when he cut his eye from the kitchen knife.
Davy gasped in shock at the drunken man that lay before him. This insane, drunken man was really his quiet, timid brother William. The brother that he had lost over ten years ago.
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Davy kept staring at the man that was his brother. Timid little William… becoming a pirate. It seemed impossible, but then again, it had happened to Davy too.
I can’t just leave him here! I have to get him out of here, and talk to him. He has to remember me… he has to… Davy thought desperately. Davy tried to lift William, but he had gained weight. I suppose that comes with drinking for a living…
Davy noticed two shadows appear from behind him. He looked up and saw two pirates standing behind him, watching him cautiously. One of them was wearing a long black coat, and a brown vest underneath it, with another brown shirt under that. He had skinny, black pants on, and black boots. On his head, he wore a feathered hat. He had black hair, and blue eyes. He had a beard, and a moustache as well.
The second man was clean shaven on his face, with a small ponytail, similar to Davy’s. He had black hair as well, and dark eyes. He was wearing a short blue coat, and a blue vest underneath it. He had a pair of white pants on, and black boots.
“Now what do you think yer doin’ with our friend mate? Get away from him before I need to shoot ye with my pistol!” the second man said. “We have been looking all day for him, and we ain’t letting some stranger take him away! Off with ye!”
“Calm down Matt! Let me handle this!” the first man said, the one with the long black coat. “Listen here mate, ye had better get out of here or I’m going to take my cutlass and stab ye where it hurts most!”
“Please, you don’t understand! This man, he is my brother, William!” Davy stuttered.
The two men were silent. The looked at Davy, then William, as if trying to find a resemblance. Then the second one, Matt, spoke. “Come with us.”
The two men helped Davy lift up William, and dragged him out of the tavern, into the night.
There is chapter 8. Just a little poll for those of you that know my brother. (Slouyx and Chimera, pretty sure you guys know him) How accurately did I describe him?
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