Ok ok, before you read this chapter I have an important announcement:
Since I probably won't be updating very frequently, I've decided to end this story ASAP. Of course, there are still some loose ends to tie up and a climax to... exist, so I'm sure you'll all be waiting to see the true ending in another say... 6 chapters? Ok enough of my psa's, enjoy!
Chapter 18: No Way
Stealthy backed away from Ivan as if he were carrying a highly contagious disease. “You mean…” He stared at the shipment orders of a high profile journal. The orders went further into description by detailing the account that Ivan’s father held so closely. The description was shocking to say the least; Ivan had wondered if his father had been involved with illegal activity for some time, and he even remembered Howard saying something about it, but of course, he didn’t believe it until now.
The room fell into a quiet state amidst the predetermined aftermath of an unwanted discovery. The last thing Ivan wanted was to think about it any longer; just the thought of what his father did sent a shock through him every time it came to mind.
“I guess so…” Ivan commented, looking back at the paper. Immediately, Ivan threw the paper to the ground and proceeded to stomp on it with great force. With every intense pounding, the paper broke and shriveled up as if he were trying to throw away old memories. He sat down and put his head between his knees. He wanted to just pretend as if this entire week had never happened.
Stealthy took a quick glance at the crumpled up piece of paper, and sat down next to Ivan. “You know… this may actually be a good thing…” He said, trying to somehow comfort his new partner.
In a fit of impulsive fury, Ivan lifted himself back to his feet. “Good thing? How can this be a good thing!?! Everything I’ve ever thought about my father was- is completely destroyed! How could he! How could he carry through like that? I still can’t believe that my father was actively engaging in…” He lowered his head as he neared one of the few windows in the house. “piracy…”
Stealthy moved closer to Ivan, patting his back with one hand and holding a half-empty rum bottle in the other. “Have you ever considered that being a pirate might not be so bad after all?”
Ivan stared blankly back at the stealthy pirate.
“I think this not only brings up some interesting questions, but it also raises some intriguing possibilities.”
“And what do you mean by that?” Ivan asked.
Stealthy turned around and headed towards a silent and confused Mikhail who was observing from the corner of the room. Stealthy motioned for Mikhail to leave the two’s presence. “Trust me, you have no idea what’s going on.” He said, looking up towards the ceiling. “Why don’t you go down to the basement and bring us a few… presents.” He said with a foreboding smile. Mikhail dutifully exited the room and disappeared under a large trap door.
“You may be confused on what his motives are, but I’ve known them ever since I started working for him. Reynard’s only in it for power and control; however, with you taking a similar job to your father’s, he’s afraid you may be the greatest hindrance to his efforts.” He said, handing an empty rum bottle to the strange, dark haired man. “He’s right though, you did manage to pose a serious threat to his efforts. And that’s why he thought of the best way to fix his dilemma, and that was by getting you to join him.”
“So this was all a convoluted plan to make me work for him?”
“Precisely, and once we… he had you in his hand, he’d be pretty busy making his enemies er… disappear.”
Ivan put his right hand on his forehead. The stress of knowing his father held a secret life as a pirate sent chills down his spine every time it crossed the pathways of his mind.
“I’m sure Reynard’s been studying your father’s journal; he probably wants to know how his opposition works. And if I’m correct, I bet you’d be pretty interested in finding that journal yourself.” Stealthy remarked, raising an eyebrow as well as an eager smile.
“And you know all this because?”
“Intuition, I can see it in your eyes. Reynard wants it because he’ll know everything about people like you, and you want it because… because you want to follow in your father’s footsteps.”
“If my father was truly a pirate…” Ivan fought himself to continue. “I don’t know what to think of him anymore.”
Stealthy rolled his eyes. “You’re really clueless aren’t you?” He said, grabbing Ivan’s attention. “Being a pirate isn’t all about killing and pillaging and creating chaos, that’s the ideals that Reynard held forth. No, being a pirate is something much greater than that; it’s the freedom from tyranny, the will to act in accordance of you and your fellow shipmates. Being a pirate is still much more than that. The only way to describe it is to be one yourself.”
Ivan kept the same emotionless look on his face as he pondered the statement Stealthy had just made. Being a pirate? Ivan had never even imagined such a thing. Well maybe a few times, but that was different, that was when he was a child, pretending to be a warlord who just made off with a hefty sum of loot. But in all reality, Ivan would always sweep away any such nonsense, but after hearing about his father, it shed a different light on the subject.
Could Ivan really be a pirate? Would his father ever object to it if he were still alive? Ever since childhood, Ivan’s sporadic desire to join the navy was strategically suppressed at every turn. Ivan knew his father never liked the navy very much, but he never fully knew why. The excuse was that the navy had a certain disliking towards pirate hunters; however, the exact opposite turned out to be true.
“So?” Stealthy looked eagerly towards his newfound partner with his arms spread out.
Ivan took a deep breath before turning to face The Stealth. “There’s only one way I can see this ending.” He said, speaking in an almost empty tone. “we need to find that journal.”
“Ah, that’s the spirit… but how are we going to find Reynard if he’s already left?”
Mikhail decided it was best to put himself into the conversation at that moment. “I think you of all people should know where he’s headed.”
“True, although I believe only him and his top navigators know where he’s headed next. But from what I can tell, he’s trying to get away.”
“But away to where?” Ivan asked.”
“Where no one else would expect him to be.” Mikhail commented. “Away from the Caribbean.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Well Peter, I must say I never expected you to be such a successful doctor.” Howard said, noticing the fine handiwork the man conducted on his arm. “Now that it’s all bandaged up, you think maybe I can head outside and see the clouds?”
Peter Yohansen laughed at the injured yet able man. “few people see death firsthand, and even fewer are able to… cope with it to the point where they forget about it entirely.”
“Goodness no! I think of it all the time! I can’t get it out of my mind. The truth is that I’m able to handle such things… I’ve seen them many times before, and while they still haunt me, I no longer fear it.”
“I see… Well it doesn’t matter, you won’t be able to see any clouds today, It’s all… foggy and you can’t see ten feet in front of you. Del Fuego is especially harsh during fog too, it may be difficult to… breathe due to all the…”
Howard got up from the operating table. “I wasn’t going to go see the clouds Pete; that was just a cleverly placed cover-up. I was really intending to see how my friend Jack is doing.” He said, swinging his good arm joyfully with a fake smile plastered onto his face.
“Ah… very well, I’ll be in here… mixing the pot- I mean medicines.” Peter said, smiling back at his acquaintance.
Howard left the room with surprising ease. He’d met Peter back at Port Royal; there he was tending to a high profile figure at the time, even though his residence was stationed at Del Fuego. Howard neared the door to the other medical room, and slowly creaked it open.
Inside was a shirtless Jack sitting down on one of the wooden chairs. His chest was riddled with burns he attained from the explosion, and on his face he had a nasty scar where he was cut with a flying piece of wood.
“Hi…”
“Hi.”
“So what do we do now?” Jack asked, still not looking anywhere higher than the floor.
“Well,” Howard grabbed his chin. “We still haven’t caught Reynard yet. Perhaps we could still catch him?”
“Heh, maybe we could tried chasing him down.”
“He’s probably far from the island by now.”
“So you’re saying we should get a chase boat?”
“In this weather? You must be joking.”
Howard took a seat next to Jack. “We may still have time… if we make haste.”
Jack grit his teeth. “If only we could figure out where he’s going… then maybe we could meet him there.”
“Where could he go though? Tortuga’s the only place other than Del Fuego where he-”
The door to the medical room flung open, Peter Yohansen stood behind with a strange look on his face. “I’m sorry to interrupt but…” He looked over his shoulder and back towards the entryway door opposite to the room. “I believe there are some people who say they’ve come to visit. For what purpose I don’t know.”
Jack and Howard exchanged unsure glances riddled with unaware confusion. Why would somebody want them? How would they even know where they were for that matter?
Peter awkwardly left as the two stayed still. “I don’t like it…” Jack said, struggling to get up again.
“I don’t either… what do you think?”
“I… don’t… like it.”
“Oh yes…”
Howard got up from his chair as well and headed for the door. Jack looked pretty beat up; walking for him was a difficult task, but with Peter’s remedies, it nulled the pain to the point where it was no longer existent. Jack grabbed a shirt and followed onwards toward the door.
As they neared closer, there was a strange sense that both of them felt. They’d each felt it before, but they couldn’t describe it; they felt like they were walking through a pattern being replayed, or a dance they’d memorized the steps to.
They moved into the area of the house where they could both stand side to side and they didn’t have to squeeze together just to fit. They moved closer and closer to the door until finally, Howard’s hand met with the deadwood slab Peter called an entryway.
The two both took a deep breath, as Howard swung the door in his direction.
Outside, they saw two men standing side by side, their arms folded and their faces stone still. They wore dark EITC uniforms, and stood with a proud posture. They both looked at Howard and Jack as if they’d just discovered a new ice cream flavor.
“Where did you get those burns?” One of them asked.
“And why would you want to know?” Jack asked the suspicious duo.
One of the men moved closer to Jack. “The East India Trading Company is not interested in answering questions with questions. Half of the Caribbean is now under full watch. Any ship going in or out is required a full escort, and the man you were so keen on finding has now disappeared from existence, as we now have no records whatsoever of him. The entire Caribbean is under lockdown, and it’s all because the efforts to apprehend Marcus Reynard have evidentially failed, and all persons involved are hereby discharged with their respective missions.”
“What does that mean? That we… drop it entirely?” Jack wondered.
The second EITC man stepped forward. “Precisely. At the rate this is going, we cannot afford to let any more people die at the hand of an anarchist. The EITC has issued an order declaring that all people involved drop the case entirely. The best method now is to essentially wait it out, and make sure that all of our ships are properly prepared to face Reynard if needed.”
Howard shook his head. “Shouldn’t this be reported to a higher authority? Surely the EITC doesn’t get to pick and choose when they follow British rule.”
“That may be true, but England is too busy to settle petty colony issues. Besides, they even tried fixing the problem themselves, but that has proved itself to be useless.”
“But what about Commodore Bishop?” Jack asked. “He gave me-”
“us…” Howard added.
“gave
us the mission ourselves. Surely he should have a say in thi-”
“Commodore Bishop is no longer relevant.” One of them said, now with a much darker emphasis in his words. “We’ve made sure that everyone who does not co-operate shall be handled accordingly, and we’re not afraid to continue the job with any more naval officers.”
Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d always held the EITC to a certain standard, but after hearing this, he was ready to throw down.
“We suggest that you consider the issue carefully, and that you-” A full sized dagger sped between the two, only to be fully realized once it got stuck on the wall behind them.
The two EITC messengers threw their hands up in frustration. They turned around to face a soft silhouette standing in the thick fog. “&#%@ it Hyde, I didn’t give any signal!” The man that just spoke realized he’d messed up. “Forget it, we’re compromised!” he yelled out loud.
Jack and Howard watched as the EITC men threw their coats off to the side. They each unsheathed a dagger from their coats, and positioned themselves in a fighting stance.
“Great… so not only are you trying to pretend it never happened, but you’re also killing off anyone who doesn’t agree to leave it be?” Howard asked, ready to defend at any sign of a sudden strike.
“Don’t worry, It’s just business.” The man on the left thrust his sharp at Howard, who narrowly evaded it with a quick sidestep. Howard grabbed the man’s arm, and twisted it, causing him to drop the knife.
“Aghh!” The man screamed, forgetting about the pain in his right arm and instead attempting to hit Howard with the other. Although weak, the man’s fist was able to graze the side of Howards face, enough to knock him back a little, providing time for his next move.
When Jack saw all this going on, he turned to the other man, and even though he felt great pain due to his burns, he ripped the dagger out from the wall behind him, and proceeded to duel with the man.
Although he was clearly no master, Jack knew the basics of knife fighting. Each quick strike was met with an equally forceful retaliation, each close block was met with a brisk push, and each curse was met with a low groan. Instead of the graceful act of sword fighting, knife fights were often kept in closer vicinities, with each person trying to out position the other. Instead of the fancy footwork an strict discipline it took to fight with swords, the two battled it out with the quick razor slashing of a close knife fight.
Jack knew the other man was at an advantage, his knife was primarily designed for throwing, meanwhile the other man’s was designed purely for slashing. Jack dodged the periodic leaning swipes the man gave, and retaliated with his own confusing strokes.
He looked back to see Howard and the other man fighting not with knives, but with their hands. By the looks of it, Howard clearly hand the upper hand, due to his greater strength.
Jack felt the man pushing him back with every fleeting swipe, and Howard with every engaging push. They each went to the point where they were nearly back to back, and then, they did something none of them would ever expect them to do.
Their backs touched each other, as they both felt the shared fight they were going through. They immediately switched around, retaining the fight with their individual strengths.
Jack flew towards the unfortunate fist fighter, who had no chance once he saw his very friend’s dagger plunge into his own body.
Howard shuffled back with a forceful strike to the man that held a knife. Without warning, the man found himself completely knocked out by Howard’s precision strike.
The two slowly turned towards each other as they realized they’d committed fighting epicness.
But the fighting was not over. Jack looked back at the silhouette in the distance. He was only a good ten meters away, but the fog made it look like he was much further off. Jack picked up the only clean knife from the man whom Howard had just fought. He brought it up to head level, and prepared to use it if necessary.
However, the dark figure stood still, and for nearly a moment, hunched over. A small sound came from the shadow, as it soon scurried off into a general direction.
Now… all was silent.
Howard turned to face Jack. “What now?”
“Well… if the EITC has decided to pretend as if nothing’s wrong…” He looked back at Howard with a smile. “Then we’ll just have to get Reynard ourselves.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Well isn’t this great? Mysterious pasts, confusing futures, EITC cover-ups; isn’t this what you want in a pirate story? No?
Oh and whatever happened to that tri-barreled pistol Howard had?
Maybe you can wait and see...
Well I hope whoever read this enjoyed… reading it! Please review as I tend to get rabid infections every time I don’t get feedback, so plz give luv!