Page 35 of A Pirate's Pleasure
“He helped my mother when she was sick,” another pirate chimed in. “He didn’t have to do that. Told me not to tell anyone, that he didn’t want people thinking they could get special treatment. Which I didn’t… tell anyone, that is. Not until now, anyway. I’m telling you now.”
“He’s a fair captain,” someone else said. “Never has no one whipped.”
“A good man,” someone else said.
“I crewed on the Crooked Star. Life was much tougher on there. Best day of my life when Captain Chase took me on here.”
A few other pirates chipped in with their stories and I let them. It served my purpose to have them remember how lucky they were, and how much the man some of them had been willing to leave to his fate had done for them. A few didn’t have stories they were prepared to share, but nodded along with the rest. Newton, Garrick, and the rest of their cronies, though, remained stone-faced throughout.
“So… we hatch a plan,” I said. “We figure out where he’s been taken and we get him back.”
“Nothing to do with you,” Garrick reiterated.
Ire built in my chest and I tamped it down. Losing my temper wouldn’t help the situation. I thought fast, various scenarios running through my head at rapid speed as I searched for an angle. “Whatever the decision, we all agree that as quartermaster, Whitby has become the captain of The Navarino, right?”
Newton’s brow furrowed in a way that said he wanted to argue with what I’d said just because I’d been the one to say it, but that he couldn’t work out how to do that when I was agreeing with the opposing side. Finally, he nodded.
I turned to Whitby, the man having remained mostly silent throughout my speech. “Are you happy to take on the role of captain?” I held my breath while he contemplated his answer. A lot hinged on this. He wouldn’t be the first quartermaster reluctant to take the step up when required. There was a big difference between being quartermaster and captain.
“I am,” he said.
I inclined my head in acknowledgment of his agreement. “Then, thank you for having me on The Navarino, Captain Brent. I appreciate the hospitality.” I wouldn’t go as far as calling it his ship. I couldn’t do that to Zephyr, not even in his absence.
I turned back to the men. “Do you agree that as captain of this ship, the final decision as to what The Navarino does next is his, and his, alone?”
A chorus of nods. Even Garrick and Newton nodded.
“So… Captain,” I said, gambling everything on the type of man I’d judged Whitby to be in the space of an extremely short acquaintance. “What’s it to be? Do we shrug our shoulders and leave Zephyr to his fate, or do we do everything in our power to get him back?”
Whitby tugged at his beard, the enormity of the decision seeming to weigh on him with the realization of how differently it landed now that he was captain.
“The problem is,” he said slowly, “that any journey to search for Zephyr is likely to be a long one, which brings us back to the problem of supplies. Yes, we took on some today, but our intention was for it to be a temporary measure until we reach Dimhallow. The likelihood is we’re going to be sailing in the opposite direction. I suppose we could return to Glimmerfield.”
“How long would that take?”
“A couple of days,” Whitby said.
I pulled a face. “We can’t afford to waste time like that.”
“More likely, you don’t want the authorities to be there waiting for you,” said a voice I didn’t recognize, which meant it wasn’t Garrick or Newton for a change.
I turned to find it was one of their cronies, the pirate sporting an impressive facial tattoo of a mermaid on his right cheek. “If it would get Zephyr back, I’d give myself up to the authorities today.” I meant it as well. “I had front row seats today to exactly how deluded and unpredictable the harpy can be. Every day that we dally is a day longer that Zephyr needs to survive.”
“The captain will be alright. He has magic,” the pirate with the gold ring through his nose stated. “He’ll probably escape on his own. Fucker will probably find us before we find him.”
“Lucretius knows he has magic,” I said. “I expect he’ll have a plan to keep him in check. Besides, his magic had little effect on the harpy. Lightning bolts barely slowed him down, and even Zeph dropping part of the cliff on his head didn’t stop him.”
“So… assuming we find him,” said a pirate who’d remained silent up to now. “How are we supposed to beat him if the captain couldn’t?”
“By sheer force of numbers,” I said. I waved a hand around the sea of faces. “Look how many of you there are. And you’re all lean, mean fighting machines. Think one harpy can beat all of you?”
The looks of smug self-satisfaction I received in return for the compliment said I’d won that argument, so I turned my attention back to Whitby. “Is there any alternative to docking at Glimmerfield?”
“Sure,” Whitby said, his slow smile warning me in advance that I wouldn’t like what he had to say. “We sack any ship we pass for plunder, and we take theirs. How do you like that suggestion, Lord Cooper?”
I didn’t like it one little bit. Only a few hours had passed since I’d raised objections to being involved in any sort of piracy. But this wasn’t about me. It was about Zephyr. I had to swallow down any personal feelings I might have about it. “Then we’ll do that,” I said.
A cheer went up among the pirates, their countenance immediately brightening at the thought of treasure. I could have sworn I heard the familiar chuckle of Boden and Stafford in the background.