by R. J. Blain
I pointed to the reef. “We’re going here.”
“But there’s nothing there.”
Shaking my head, I tapped the part of the chart where the gap in the reef would allow the Wanderer to slip through without her hull being torn apart by the rocks and corals lurking beneath the waves. “There’s a group of islands here. Hundreds of years ago, it was used as a pirate isle, a launching point for crews hunting the seas of South Africa and India. They would take supplies that kept well and store them on the island, replenishing their stock without having to return to the major ports.”
“Pirates?” Abrahan gaped at me. “You’re interested in hokey pirate nonsense?”
If seeing was believing, I’d be giving Abrahan plenty of reasons to change his tune. In the 1690s, his words likely would have resonated with the more skeptical, but no one then had reason to doubt the existence of pirates. We had made our presence known in every port around the world, and fear of our prowess and ruthlessness kept people wary of new ships in the harbor.
Wise pirates nurtured relationships with those on shore in favored ports, a tactic Captain Louisa favored, as had I.
“Benny is a collector, an enthusiast, and a bit obsessed with the Golden Age of Piracy. He made a bargain with me for the necklace he hired you to retrieve. I owned a cutlass, a pocket watch, and a flintlock pistol from that era, and I suspected he wanted them. My home was robbed and destroyed in the process, and they took my valuables, including those three pieces. Benny’s girlfriend had them in her possession, and they didn’t see fit to give them back to me. Ultimately, I involved my insurance company, and the items were recovered, although I doubt I’ll get them back, as I’ve conveniently been removed from the equation.”
I would miss those pieces, but perhaps I’d be able to recover them down the road. It would be a long time down the road.
When I was honest with myself, letting go of those damned items would, perhaps, allow me to let it all go.
“Why is he after you so much?”
“He’s chasing history, and I had something he wanted. Rather like a pirate, really. I can respect that.”
“You can? Are you loco?”
I laughed and shook my head, sliding my finger across the map to the Calico’s final resting place. “No, I just know things he doesn’t. He’s after a shipwreck, and I know where she’s at. I also know what he’s after, and since I’m rather like a pirate myself, I’m going to enjoy taunting him with what he can’t have.”
“I’m very confused.”
Unless I started at the very beginning, he’d never understand. I put the sea charts away and gestured for him to join me on deck. “Did Benny tell you anything about the necklace?”
“Only that you had it and he wanted it, and he’d give us each a thousand American dollars if we retrieved it without messing you up too much when we took it.”
“Understand this is just my perspective on it. I’m sure Benny has his reasons. I probably won’t like them, but that’s not his problem. That’s mine.” I took a few minutes to check the Wanderer’s engine and make sure it wouldn’t get in the way of me properly sailing the ship. When I finished my preparations, I checked the wind, got my bearings with my compass, and went to work preparing the rigging and unfurling the sails.
Abrahan followed my every move, watching me with wide eyes. “You really know how to sail this thing? Benny said you were a poser playing a pirate.”
I threw my head back and laughed. It took me several minutes to recover enough to focus on the tasks at hand. While I worked, I nodded in the direction of the boom. “If that hits you, you’re going to regret it, so stay out of its way.”
“Got it.”
“Tell me, kid. You superstitious?”
“You mean like don’t walk under ladders or break mirrors type superstitious?”
“That among others.”
“A little, I guess.”
“This story starts in the 1680s when a pair of pirate queens joined forces and had a pair of ships built, the Terrier and the Calico. These two queens ganged together, hunting the seas until the late 1690s.” I considered what Benny had told me, and I decided to continue the story the way I had lived it versus the romantic tragedy he seemed to believe was the truth. “One betrayed the other, and as a result, the Calico and her crew were lost. Later, the Terrier likewise sank without a trace of her crew. Benny recovered the Terrier and her treasures. The necklace was on board the Terrier. The three items I possessed belonged to the Calico's first mate, gifted to her by the Terrier’s captain.”
Comprehension lit Abrahan’s eyes. “He wanted them because of their history!”
“A missing piece of his puzzle.”
“Who was the first mate of the Calico?”
“Catalina de la Corona.”
“But that’s your name.”
I smiled. “So it is.”
“Does he know that you have her name? Wait. Her. I thought pirates hated women on their ships.”
“They did.”
“So this first mate was one of your ancestors or something? That’s why you had her stuff? But I thought you said the ship sank, her crew killed. How do you have her things?”
In my long life, I had never considered telling anyone the truth of my existence, but I considered the young man I’d kidnapped and, with an offer of five thousand dollars, had made part of my crew, although he didn’t know what he had signed on for when he’d accepted my deal. “That’s a tale for another day. For now, that’s all you need to know. I have what he wants. Tell me, Abrahan. How much would it cost me to buy your loyalty?”
I’d asked that question of Ricardo, too. He’d laughed at me, and on the next breath, he’d promised I’d never have to buy his loyalty because I’d gotten something better.
It had taken his death to truly understand what he’d meant.
Abrahan. frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“Your service. Your sworn oath to serve no other, to sail these waters with me should I decide the land bores me. That might happen often. I will pay you, I will pay you well, and I will be responsible for your education, your livelihood, your well-being, and everything you need, until the day you tell me you can no longer serve and wish to be released from your oath. If it is for weeks, so be it. If it’s every day for the rest of your life, so be it.”
“I hope you’re aware that sounds absolutely loco.”
“You seem smart enough to me.” I meant it, too. He observed, he noticed the little details, and he had the courage to ask good questions. “I value that. Your English is good, which tells me you’ve had some education.”
“My mother’s American. She came to Brazil for my father.”
Something in his tone warned me her choice hadn’t worked out very well for her—or for him. “And are you American, too?”
Abrahan reached into his pocket and pulled out a US passport. “She returned to the United States to have me, stayed long enough to get my American birth certificate, then brought me to Brazil. Against my father’s wishes, she didn’t get me Brazilian citizenship. When she died, he tossed me out, because his son wasn’t Brazilian enough for him, but he loved my mother enough not to shame her while she still lived.”
“What a ray of sunshine. So your mother taught you English?”
“Right.”
“And your father shoved Portuguese so far down your throat you’d do just about anything to forget it?”
“Close enough.”
“I can work with that. I won’t promise you a traditional schooling, not yet at least, but as long as you’re on my ship, you’re going to learn a lot. You’ll learn how to sail. You’ll learn how to fight with that knife of yours. You’ll learn how to handle a gun, from a flintlock to something with a bit more punch. You’ll learn how to read maps without the help of a phone. I’ll teach you everything I know about banking. I’ll make sure you’ll be able to take placement tests as though you’re homeschooled, and I’ll get you
set up to be good enough for any college smart enough to accept you. You won’t be applying for student loans, as I’ll pay for your education.”
“So you’re paying for my board, my schooling. What else?”
“A stipend, because every man needs a reason to work, something he can claim as his, that he built with his own hands.” I finished unfurling the sails and setting the rigging, perching on the captain’s chair with a hand on the wheel. I’d hold my course until nightfall, see where the winds took me, and decide where to go from there. “We’ll negotiate each voyage. This one will earn you five thousand while you test the waters with me. If you don’t like it, no harm, no foul, and I’ll release you from your oath with no questions asked, plus I’ll take you to any port you want in the world. What you do from there will be your problem.”
“What if I said I wanted to go to China?”
I chuckled. “Then I would take you to China.”
“Antarctica?”
“I would question your sanity for wanting to go, but I would take you there.”
“You’d really sail anywhere? Why? What’s in it for you?”
“I keep my word. That’s what’s in it for me. If you keep your word to me, I will keep my word to you.”
“This Benny broke his word to you, didn’t he?”
“His specific word? No. But he broke faith with me and betrayed me all the same. For me, there’s little difference.”
“All right. I have nothing to lose.”
So few did when they signed on to join a pirate, but given time, I’d make certain he had everything to lose and gain by sticking with me. That was how Captain Louisa had built her crew, and it would be how I built mine, one worn and ragged landlubber at a time. I pulled one of my trophy knives out of my boot, flipped it open, and tapped a finger to the tip of the blade, not hard enough to slice through my skin—yet. “A blood oath, then, kid.”
“You know you mean it when you bleed for it.” He took out his knife. “How do we do this?”
I regarded my left hand with narrowed eyes. I held the blade’s grip steady and curled my fingers around the weapon’s back, pressing the edge into my palm deep enough to part the skin, waiting for a few drops of blood to well up. “Like that, carefully. You want a few drops, not to bleed yourself out on my nice clean deck.”
Abrahan followed my lead, and I appreciated his caution, ending up with two blood drops on his bronzed skin. We shook, and I held his hand in a firm grip. “You have my sworn word and oath to provide for your care, pay you as promised, and safeguard you for as long as you’re part of my crew, for as long as you choose to sail with me.”
The words weren’t the same as I’d sworn hundreds of years ago; mine were kinder, and I thought Captain Louisa wouldn’t have approved of my gentle hand. Then again, maybe she would have.
She’d taken me in, after all, although she had sworn to kill me if I ever betrayed her.
Abrahan swallowed before replying, “You have my sworn word and oath to serve you loyally, until the day you release me from my service.”
Releasing my grip on his hand, I got up, leaned forward, and clapped his shoulder. “Welcome aboard, kid.”
All I could do was pray to the uncaring gods we wouldn’t regret our decision.
Twenty
Do you know how to fish, kid?
If I stuck to sails only, it would take a month to reach the cluster of islands. With the Wanderer’s engine and a stop in the Cape of Good Hope to refill the ship’s gas tanks, I’d be able to make the journey within fourteen days, especially if I taught the kid how to handle the ship and navigate.
Neither one of us would be navigating the old way, but it didn’t matter much to me. I needed to reach the House Lost at Sea and learn its secrets, raid my stash for enough wealth for two lifetimes, and make a plan. Abrahan’s ruse would buy me the ability to appear anywhere, feigning amnesia. A knife, some pain, and a week spent healing, and I’d have scars matching gunshot wounds, supporting the kid’s story of how I’d met my supposed demise. As long as I kept him playing along with my scheme, I could show up anywhere in the world.
Or, with a good enough act and no identification, I could become a brand new person, resetting the clock on my age, giving me time before I’d need to disappear again to hide the fact I didn’t age.
I almost wanted to show up where Benny and Bensen could find me to learn what they’d do.
It took four days for Abrahan to find his sea legs and adjust to the constant roll of the ship on the waves. I caught him staring at the fishing rods, and after checking our location on the sea charts and verifying it with the GPS system, I furled the sails, lashed them down, and decided to teach the kid the glories of life at sea.
“Do you know how to fish, kid?”
“No.”
“Then it’s time for you to learn. We’ve come far enough for the moment.” In reality, the Wanderer’s engine worked better than I had hoped, and when I opened her throttle, she plowed through the waves and proved eager to speed her way across the Atlantic towards the Indian Ocean. “We have a live well on board, so we can keep fish for a while before having to eat them. It’s always good to have extra provisions.”
“Live well?”
I hopped off my seat and headed for the empty well. It wouldn’t take me long to get it running, and I’d be able to flush it with ocean water to keep the fish alive and healthy until we were ready to eat them. “I’ll fill this with water. We’ll keep the smaller fish in here. If we luck out and get a tuna, we’ll have plenty for cold storage and leftover to chum the water. Of course, we might end up with sharks, but that’s the way of it.”
Within twenty minutes, the kid was perched on a chair with a fishing rod, trolling the seas for dinner while I pointed the ship towards the House Lost at Sea.
He lost the first tuna, but after an hour long battle, whimpers, and a great deal of panic on his part, he landed the second, the ship rocking side to side as the two to three hundred pound fish struggled to free itself from the kid’s hook.
“What the hell is this thing?” he wailed, clutching the heavy rod, his entire body straining to keep from losing his catch.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his struggles. Taking pity on the kid, I lashed the rod into its holder. If the tuna wanted to take the rod, it’d have to take the entire ship with it. “You’re all right, kid. You’ve done a fine job. That’s a young bluefin tuna.”
“That’s a young one?”
“They get twice that size fully grown, maybe bigger. I need to get a hook to get it on the deck. Once it’s out of the water, I want you to go into the cabin until I’ve killed it, all right? No need to get yourself hurt getting hit by a fish like this.” I eyed the mast, my gaze locking on one of the pulleys. With a little work, I’d be able to rig it for cleaning the fish for cold storage. “I’ll have you get the freezer and fridge ready. Go check the stores for packaging. We’ll need the brown paper rolls. You can also sharpen the knives once it’s on deck. All right?”
“How do I bring it in?”
“Just hold it, and don’t let it get away, kid. I’ll be back with a hook and rope in a minute.”
It didn’t take long for me to hunt down the foot long, barbed hook and rope thick enough to keep the tuna from staging an escape. It took me several tries to hook the kid’s tuna securely enough for my liking.
I wrapped the line around my wrist and took hold of his rod with the other. “All right, kid. You get in the cabin and stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come out.”
For a long moment, he stared at me with wide eyes before he gulped and scrambled off deck. I waited until I heard the cabin door slam shut before I turned my attention to the tuna. “Here, fishy, fishy, fishy.”
It took me five minutes to wrestle it onto the deck and give it a humane death. At least I wouldn’t have to explain to the kid the source of my strength this time. I rigged the pulley, hung the fish, and took care of the grisly work so he woul
dn’t have to be exposed to one of the more brutal elements of life at sea quite yet.
With malicious glee, I made him swab the decks and earn every cent of his pay while introducing him to the misery of serving as a cabin boy on a pirate ship.
It took eight days for us to reach the Cape of Good Hope, and I picked a port so small everyone would remember the Wanderer and the kid who sailed her alone. I gave him enough cash to fill the ship’s tank, a shopping list capable of feeding us for an extra two weeks, and set him loose.
“How much cash are you packing, Corona?” he muttered, flipping through the twenties I’d thrust into his hand.
“Enough until I hit a stash. I’ll have you broker a few deals for us when necessary.”
Abrahan nodded and took care of bringing the ship alongside the pier. I held my breath right up until the Wanderer gently bumped to a halt. He tossed down lines to the men waiting below. He pulled out his passport, bribed them with a twenty each, and to my amusement, recruited them to do half of his work. With his three minions in tow, it took him an hour to get the gas and the majority of the items on my list.
Staggering into the cabin, he slapped my list on the table in front of me. “We’ll have to go to another port if we want the rest.”
I picked up the list and checked over the items he had circled. He had made substitutions for several things, most of which I liked. I had no idea what I’d do with the amount of potatoes he’d purchased, but I’d figure something out. “This’ll do. We’ll have to have a talk about the evils of potatoes, however.”