Dead-or-Alive

-Chapter 2.3-

-Chapter 2.3 🌊 The Life of a Buccaneer-

Quinton fled the room in search of Matthias. Sybil shut the door after him and faced Thatcher expecting some sort of answer before the men returned. "Tell me what they wanted with my father please. I can't stand this fretting. It is destroying any sanity I still have left."

He picked the compass off the floor and sat on his personal desk, fidgeting with the contraption. "There is no point in hiding your past if what you tell me is true. They still can't know you aren't a boy. It will only add to their fears and make them less inclined to believe and help you. When Quinton and Matthias come back I will explain. This might change whether you stay aboard this ship. Not everyone is eager to face her in battle. For years we thought that ship and everyone on it had passed to be reunited with Aguadon."

Sybil went to fight for answers, but thankfully the pirates had returned so there was no need to. Quinton and Mathias entered the Captain's quarters already wearing grave expressions. Matthias was the first to speak, "You called Cap?"

"Me hearties, by Fuegir I wish I had good news. Alas I have none. Although I will pray tonight and the next night that this news is false, but I have a sinking suspicion it is truer than the moons," Thatcher lamented, bowing his head in despair.

The three pirates exchanged wary glances, Sybil included. The Captain only stared at the splinters on the floor to keep from losing himself to his anger again. "Speak, your silence serves to antagonize us," Quinton pushed.

Straightening himself, his face grew as firm as iron, his eyes as cold as steel. "Right. As I'm sure you all know, every thousand years the sun, moons, and stars align. According to our history this is when the dragons were given life, the birth of Ato. What you may not know," Thatcher glimpsed at Sybil, "is there are legends portraying a treasure, the size alone making the story unbelievable. As the legend goes the dragons stored all their treasure in one location having no use for it. They would go there on that day to sleep atop it rejoicing in its brilliance. No fighting, only a celebration of the world's beauty. Every day, besides that one, the treasure is locked up and cannot be reached by even the mightiest of dragons."

Quinton intervened bored of the story, "Why call us in here to tell us this old legend?"

"I believe it isn't a legend."

"Ha! A rum fool you are. Rowland, did you see the Cap hit his head on a mast in your time with him?" Quinton played.

'Rowland' laughed recalling tackling a certain captain into the sand, but cut himself off when Thatcher sent him a glare. "Mock if you must, but I am not the only one who believes the tale. Or have you two forgotten?" He pointed at Quinton and Matthias.

Matthias, having not spoken thus far, gasped. "You don't mean...?"

Quinton had a similar response. "That can't be possible."

"I do and it is. Rowland, do you want to tell them?" he offered, cautious in case Sybil couldn't fake a man's voice.

"It shouldn't be an issue," Sybil answered gruffly. "Three years ago, a ship docked at Fuegorynth. It had black sails and a flag the miners told me was unforgettable. On it a red skull devouring a blue dragon among other symbols."

"Wait, you didn't see the ship yourself?"

She stared Quinton dead in the eyes. "No, but those miners are the best men I've ever met. They would never lie to me or anyone else for that matter unless lying was the only way. So, have you something to say about their integrity get out with it."

He took a step back and said no more. Sybil thought she saw a trace of respect in his gaze, but probably imagined it. Picking back up where she left off no one interrupted her again.

When she finished Matthias gripped his cutlass for a sense of security. "We can't tell the crew," Quinton finally stated.

"What? We have to, they won't take kindly to being lied to," Matthias argued.

"It isn't lying if we don't say anything."

"It might as well be! If we plan on doing anything about this we will be endangering their lives by keeping quiet!"

"It will be endangering them if we do. The less they know the better."

Thatcher stood up abruptly. "Belay that nonsense! We will not bicker in my quarters. What we decide to do we will decide together, peacefully."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Aye, Cap."

Sybil watched them mull over ideas in their head, but as for her own mind she was lost. "I don't understand. Who took my father?"

Quinton scoffed like she should already know. "Darn landlubber," he mumbled.

Blushing she could hardly disagree. Matthias took pity and explained, "Do you know who the most feared pirates in history are? They ruled the seas at one point in your lifetime."

"Crazy bastards they were," Quinton added, seeming unable to remain silent for more than a couple seconds.

"Aye. Weren't they captained by Red Jack? My mother told me stories about them when I misbehaved as a child," she confessed, knowing Red Jack's prowess well.

"Red Jack started out no different than you and I." She begged to differ bearing in mind one sweeping difference. "He sailed, he looted, and he loved. Loved to kill that is. He earned his name and rank on the same day during the same battle. The current captain at the time, named Marcius, had been tracking a galleon for days. Rumor said it was the largest treasure galleon in years going from Tierranth to Airetas. Marcius's sources told him there would only be two Man-O-Wars protecting the galleon, but there ended up being five.

"During the battle Marcius perished and when that happened only two of the six ships had been sunk. The crew wanted to flee, but Red Jack wouldn't let them. He seized the largest Man-O-War killing everyone on board and destroyed the rest of the ships.

"When all was said and done no one could dispute his right to Captain, although he had only been a mere swabbie. Some even say he killed the quartermaster and boatswain so no one could challenge him."

"Get to the point Matthias," Thatcher interrupted no more patient than Quinton.

With a salty attitude, Mathias jumped straight to the point, "Aboard the treasure galleon was an encrypted map that leads to the dragon's treasure. Only they would not be able to decipher it alone. It would explain why they took your father. Now, the crew only needs to wait for Ato's Dawn and all the money in the world will be theirs. Unfortunately, I don't see how we're going to be able to find your father. Chances are they are already there, waiting."

Sybil's heart plummeted to her feet, but Thatcher was quick to correct Quinton, "Not true. A Man-O-War that was supposed to be long gone won't be easily forgotten. I am surprised we have not heard wind of its existence until now. After the Isle of Dancers, we will sail to Tierranth."

"What is in Tierranth?" Sybil asked, careful not to get her hopes up.

Thatcher grinned, but the other two moaned and groaned. "Why the best navigator and tracker in the five seas."