You all have to bow down to Luckie. She tempted me (with prodding from my own mind, and you'll see why) to post today as a Happy Columbus Day present. So Happy Columbus Day! You are presented (with the rather ironic title for this day) with...
Left Behind
The new ship, which Kat decided to rename the
Lightning Mercenary, was too large for the four of them to navigate by themselves. For the first time, Kat found herself actively looking for a crew. The ragtag group of pirates hit the taverns, looking for anyone willing to join. It wasn’t difficult to sweeten some of them up with a drink or two, but then Kat would come in asking how they felt serving under a woman, and they’d quickly down their rum and get out. Some, however, stayed, interested in the proposition. These were the ones that Kat would tell about her revenge against Jolly Roger. They returned with stories of their own, how Padres was overrun with the things, of friends and family they had lost to the despot, and how they would be glad to rid the Caribbean of him. It took a few days, but they got a crew of about fifteen people, not including the original four.
It was with a heavy heart that Kat decided it was time to get rid of her beloved
Cutthroat Wolf. She went to Balthasar Bollard, intent on giving it to him to sell. When she introduced him to her beloved light sloop, he looked it over for a moment, and then proclaimed he’d take it off her hands for 500 gold. Kat argued with him for a long time about the price, telling him that this ship was worth much more than that, but he wouldn’t be swayed, telling her that it was in terrible condition and wasn’t worth more than that. Finally, she adhered to his price, going over her ship one more time to reminisce, before stepping off of it.
The day that they were set to leave, Kat, Lawrence, and Solomon were wandering through the town, enjoying the feel of land before setting out again. They chatted easily, taking the time to relax as they had not been able to do so in a long time. Their alert was on low. That was their mistake.
Red uniforms burst out from behind walls and inside buildings. The small group was shocked and drew their swords. It didn’t seem like it would do any good though. They were surrounded and backed up against a tree.
Bayonets pointed at them from every direction. One man stepped forward. “Kat Crestshot, Lawrence Mcrage, and Solomon Sharkfury, you are under arrest by order of the Royal Navy for acts of piracy against the crown. You are to come with us.”
“A noose doesn’t exactly sound inviting, sorry,” Kat said bitingly. “Can we reschedule?” The soldiers around them merely glared.
Solomon shifted closer to her. “Thank you for saving me Kat.” He grinned. “I have to look out for myself though.” He leaped and swung at one of the soldiers. Kat felt an odd sense of déjà vu, but couldn’t identify why. Solomon jumped into the tree behind him, ran across a branch, and flew over the heads of the Navy. “Farewell, Kat and Lawrence! I think I’d best be going now!” he cried backwards. Most of the Navy group began chasing after him, and Kat and Lawrence watched in shock as he ran off.
Only three of the soldiers remained. Lawrence brought Kat out of her astonishment by attacking one of the remaining men. Kat followed and slashed the other’s chest. Both ran their swords through the final man that tried to rush them.
They stared at the bodies surrounding them. “I think it’s time to go,” Lawrence said. They took off towards the
Lightning Mercenary.
“Wait!” Kat said, stopping suddenly and grabbing Lawrence’s arm. He skidded to a halt next to her. “What about Solomon?”
“He left, Kat! Of his own will! We need to get out of here!” Lawrence said desperately.
“We can’t just leave him, Lawrence!” she protested.
He gripped her shoulders. “It’s in the Code as well, Kat. He who falls behind, stays behind.
You told me that. We have no choice!” Lawrence began towards the ship again, and Kat reluctantly followed.
“Get ready to go!” Kat ordered as her boots touched the deck of the ship. Her crew looked at her in confusion.
“You heard the woman!” Lawrence yelled. “Get going!” The crew quickly began getting ready to set sail. Kat was doing a head count quickly, and only came up with fifteen, not including herself and Lawrence.
She frowned. “Where is Figgins?” she bellowed. A few men glanced at her nervously and shrugged. One man, though – Tim, that was his name – came up to her.
“’e said ‘e ‘ad some business to take care of. Tol' me tha’ if ‘e wasn’t back by the time we set off, ‘e wouldn’t be comin’” Tim said, then continued back to work.
Kat and Lawrence glanced at each other, both coming to the same realization. Her face hardened and she began barking orders to everyone.
After they had gotten out to sea, Kat ordered Tim to take the wheel and she stormed into her cabin. Lawrence noticed her leaving and followed her. She tried to slam the door behind her, but he stopped it with a steady hand.
Kat began pacing wildly, completely ignoring Lawrence. The hair tie eternally entangled in her brown locks was gone as she ran her hand through her hair. She was grumbling to herself angrily. Lawrence caught something about “-bloody git-” and “-should’ve known-”. He was about to approach when Kat took a bottle of rum and chucked it at the wall. Her breath was heavy as she stared at the new dark spot on the wall.
Lawrence stepped forward slowly. “Kat?” he asked softly.
The young woman did not turn. “It’s my fault,” she murmured. “For all we know, Solomon is either captured or dead right now, and it’s my fault.” She turned and began furiously pacing again.
Lawrence crept closer. “Kat, it’s not-”
“Don’t you even say it isn’t my fault, Lawrence Mcrage!” Kat yelled, poking a finger into his chest. She turned away from him as she continued her rant. “I thought Figgins would be perfectly fine to have aboard.
I’m the one who brought him on! Sure, another lost soul! And then, when my crewmate, when my
friend, had a dozen navy soldiers chasing after him, I just ran off in the other direction. Pirate or not, it was
wrong! How can this not be my fault? I was just so stupid and-”
She didn’t get to continue because Lawrence grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her to him, and kissed her soundly.
I warned Luckie you all would either love me or hate me after this chapter...
Thank you so much to KeeperoftheCode for letting me use Solomon Sharkfury. It was truly painful for me to write him out, but it had to be done. I love his character and the way he has turned out. I'm sorry mate. Rum's on me.
Well mates... I await the cries. In fact, I'm insanely excited to see the response to this chapter. Until then mates...Thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot