It's been quite a while, hasn't it mates? But I happen to still be alive and... well, we'll just say I'm alive, haha. Somehow, along the course of the past two months, I was able to get a chapter all written and such. Incredible, huh? I'm wishing none of you gave up hope on me. As it is, perhaps you should go back and re-read the last chapter... just as a refresher, ha. But, without further ado (other than my rambling of course) I give you...
Captain
The days after that saw Kat locked in her cabin even more than before. This time, however, there were no furious screams at crew members to avoid it, or really any words at all. When Lawrence went up to see her, expecting another fight over leadership, he merely walked in to see her sitting in a chair, hunched over and staring at the wall. She didn’t even acknowledge his entrance, even after a quiet, worried murmuring of her name. He slowly backed out of the room and shut the door with a quiet click, feeling as if he was intruding on some private train of thought.
The crew questioned him on her behaviors again, curious as to where their yelling, yet jovial captain had disappeared to this time. Lawrence held no answers other than to try and send Sarah, then Charles, then Luckie up to her, but all came back with the same response.
“It’s like she’s not there.”
After three days of becoming exasperated with worry, Lawrence decided to try again, not caring what tactics he had to use to get her out of this state. He marched up there with purpose and flung the door open, hoping to grab some of her attention.
Well, she had changed chairs, at least. Though he wasn’t overly fond of the rum bottle in her hand.
“Kat?” he asked quietly. He crept over to her and gently shook her shoulder. “Kaaat,” he said, drawing out the name annoyingly. Her only response was to move the rum bottle to her lips for another sip of rum.
He grunted in frustration and moved to kneel in front of her chair. “Will you bloody see me!” he demanded, gripping her arms tightly. He finally felt as if she was coming back when she flinched in pain.
“Get off,” she croaked, her voice cracking from obvious lack of use. He immediately let go of her arms and stared at her for a moment. There was hope, expectancy of something else from her in his eyes, but she gave him nothing, instead turning back to stare at the wall.
He sighed. “What’s wrong with you this time?” he asked, a hint of exhaustion in his voice. It felt as if this happened many times before, and the game was getting old.
Kat took another sip of the rum before letting her voice vibrate again. “It was smoke,” she said cryptically.
Lawrence’s brow furrowed. “Smoke?” he asked, wondering if she had finally lost it. “When was there smoke?”
“Smoke, Lawrence, grenades,” Kat told him, pushing the words forward as if he were an idiot. “It wasn’t an explosive, it was just…smoke.” She sighed. “And it was stupid.”
Lawrence thought a moment, then his eyes widened in realization. “The EITC ship.”
Kat tilted her bottle towards him in acknowledgement. “Now you get it.” She muttered lower, as if to herself, “Stupid idea, is what it was.”
Lawrence was unsure of the importance of this. “Why didn’t you just leave a normal one then?” he asked in confusion.
Kat’s gaze turned back to the faraway stare at the wall. “Because I wanted him to get away,” she whispered. “I couldn’t…” She swallowed. “I couldn’t kill him right then, but god, do I regret that decision.”
Lawrence was silent as he absorbed what she was telling him. Knowing Kat, he knew that he had to sway her from thinking about anything other than her crew. “What ever happened to leaving it behind you?” he asked, anger beginning to invade his voice, but he didn’t wait for an answer. “You have a crew out there waiting on orders from their captain, and I shouldn’t have to remind you that’s
you. Get out of your slump, and get out there and give them a mission!”
“A mission,” Kat murmured. She was thinking actively now. “A mission!” She snapped her fingers and launched out of her chair, the bottle of rum tumbling carelessly to the ground. Lawrence moved to pick it up off the carpet while Kat sped to the door. She flung it open with vigor and called up into the rigging.
“Goldeagle! Get down here!”
A brown head peeked over the side of the crow’s nest. “Aye, Captain!” a woman’s voice yelled back, with just the slightest tremble as if fearing she had done something wrong. She swung her legs out of the basked and scrambled down faster than any other crew member could, meeting Kat at her doorway in seconds. “Something the matter, ma’m?”
“Not at all, Emily,” Kat said. She ignored Lawrence’s skeptical snort in the background. “Come in for a moment.”
Kat had found Emily Goldeagle on her first trip to Padres del Fuego, just after she had gotten the
Mercenary. She was part of the original crew, and had been a loyal rigger since the very beginning. That, however, wasn’t the only thing the woman was good at.
“You just might know these waters better than I do, Ms. Goldeagle. I’ve never really roamed the Hinterseas; never had the opportunity.” She led Emily across the room to her maps. “These are likely far from accurate as well. I bought them off an old, shady dealer. So tell me, Ms. Goldeagle… where would the closest Navy friendly port be?”
Emily walked closer to the wall that mapped out a good portion of the Caribbean. She narrowed into the Hinterseas, bringing her fingers up to gently stroke the paper. “Here,” she said, her hand settling just east of a wild island and north of Padres. “The Navy has a fort here, one most of the Caribbean hasn’t caught onto yet.”
“How do you know?” Kat asked.
Emily turned to her with a grin. “When you live on Padres for a while, it’s not difficult to notice the sheer amount of supplies they pull from there. Not to mention a group of us went out and followed one of the ships. We were curious as to what was going on, naturally.” She sighed. “The place is huge. Truly a feat, and an expensive one, by the Royal Navy. It’s a small island with huge towers, higher than twice the height of the
Mercenary’s masts. Definitely intimidating. My group and I practically fled at the sight.” She looked up at her captain suspiciously. “Ma’m, you aren’t thinking…”
“Thank you, Ms. Goldeagle, that will be all,” Kat quietly interrupted.
Worry crossed Emily’s face. “Captain, I must insist-”
“I said that will be all,” Kat said, placing a firm hand on Emily’s shoulder and directing her towards the door. “To your duties.” Emily looked displeased, but followed her orders obediently.
When the door closed with a click, it seemed to echo, but she knew better. Kat reached into her pocket for the source of the sound. Her fingers came in contact with a cool metal, and the chittering stopped the moment they wrapped around the object. Out of her pocket came the compass that would not point North, but to what she most desired. After months of spinning aimlessly, round and round, the arrow finally stood steady. And slowly, Kat felt a grin spread on her face, and the glint returned to her eye.
“We have a new heading.”
“You
can’t be serious,” Lawrence scoffed. His arms were crossed and he was staring at her disapprovingly.
“What?” she asked innocently. Lawrence tapped his foot in impatience.
“Kingshead,” he said. “The mythical bastion of the Hinterseas that you plan on going after.”
“Think about it Lawrence,” Kat said, walking to him. “Think about what we can get if we defeat Kingshead. Not just the riches that are no doubt held there, but think about being known! The crew of the
Lightning Mercenary will go down in Pirate Lore!”
“But that’s not what you’re looking for,” he said, pushing past the gibberish she was throwing at him. “You are going to risk the lives of your crew for a revenge that is better left behind. That is not your responsibility as Captain!”
“My responsibility as Captain is to lead my crew!” she pushed back. “I decide what adventures we undertake, and I weigh the risks that go with them!”
“Well you’re not weighing them very well, are you?” he asked without the opportunity for answer. “You’re not thinking with your head. You’re not even thinking with your heart!” He got very close, so that they were toe to toe and growled at her. “You are thinking with that red hot rage in your soul. That is not what you should be using when you make decisions using your power!”
“I don’t care Lawrence!” she burst out to him. “This is important! I have to get rid of this... this blemish on my past! Wouldn’t you do the same if you ever met the man that betrayed you on that merchant ship?”
This comment made Lawrence pause. The fire of fight faded ever so slightly from his green orbs. He took a step back from her, suddenly aware of how close they had gotten to each other during their argument. With a sigh, he wearily rubbed his eyes. “You won’t give up on this, will you?”
“You know I won’t.”
“Aye…” There was silence for a moment as Lawrence thought, and Kat waited for his response. She already knew what it would be.
“Fine. I may as well back you up on this,” he told her. He began walking to her door to join the crew again. “But you’re the one that has to tell your sister about this insanity.” He opened the door and made his way into the Caribbean sun. Kat eagerly followed.
“Mates! We have our heading!”
Good enough for you mates? Perhaps a little too short after I've been keeping you in suspense for 2 months, but I promise, I do have a chapter half written after this one, and my school year is almost up, so.... Free Crest pretty soon.
Thank you to Emily Goldeagle for letting me steal her.
So, for those of you still lurking around this dusty old story, Comments? Concerns? Reasons to yell at me for being gone so long? I'm here. Haha, Thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot