Sea Of Treason, Pirate's Bluff #1

The Price Of Piracy

**** hahaha I wasn't expecting to end this chapter quite like this. Guess I'm winging it a little bit now. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!? ***

Bluff

The knot in my stomach is growing larger and larger as the horizon begins to lighten. I only wish I were as good at controlling these types of knots as I am the rope type. I'm good knots on a ship. But unraveling the anxiety building in my bones is impossible.

Of all the things you could call me, a carefree pirate, I am not.

In fact I'm probably the worst kind of pirate there is: the kind who hates actual piracy.

And that's one of the–many—reasons I feel awful at the moment. I step onto the little boat, keep my chin up as the children row out towards the harbor, towards a ship we'll commandeer (a polite term for steal. Rip away from someone else) all the while refusing to look back at Whitley shrinking into the distance. At least she didn't insist on coming out with us. That would have been a disaster—for many reasons, including that she's reason #2 for the knot. I still don't know what to make of her. I know what I want to think, what I want to feel. But I could not stand the sadness in her eyes when she pulled out that ring. When she told me—us—about her father attempting to force her to marry some cruel man.

Maybe what I thought was giving her the freedom she wanted, by bringing her back to New York, was actually just buckling the lock on her prison cell.

Maybe she's as stuck as I am.

"There!" a young boy calls, pointing out towards the silhouette of a ship in the distance. "I bet that's that Tabaco ship we keep eying up!" His Irish accent is actually a bit endearing, if you ignore the words he's actually saying.

"And we keep passing over," Knick begins slowly, "because we don't have the man power..."

"But what if we do now!" A darker skinned boy hollers, eyes turning to me. "We have a real pirate this time. I bet he could help us."

I open my mouth. I probably could help them take a high value ship, but not because of my skill as a pirate, because of my ability to turn into anyone I want. But I don't plan on exposing that skill to this lot, if I can help it.

A larger ship also means higher levels of violence. More lives at risk. Which is exactly what I'd like to avoid.

I don't want to have to slit anyone's throat, or watch one of these youngsters do it.

They've probably done worse. They're doing whatever they must in order to survive. The worse your situation, the worse you'll be willing to do. And their situation, is pretty ugly. I look down at the lookout boy's bare feet, covered in black slime. I don't even want to know what that slime consists of.

Those sewers are note exactly filled with clean water.

"No." Knick says after a moment of silence. "That's not what we're here for. They need a ship, any ship, to take them out to sea. We don't need to pick the most protected ship out here in order to do it."

"I know we don't haaave to," the boy whines. "But we could. We have to take a ship, why not make it one that's most profitable to us?"

Knick clenches his jaw. "Because I want this done as quickly as possible. I'm not playing games today, Tim. Now no more arguing. Look for a smaller ship, with sails already set to fly. That's it."

My eyes narrows as I study Knick. It does make sense for them to choose a ship they can gain from, even if not a ship as big as a Tobacco freighter. Why does he want this done with so quickly? Is it out of concern for Whitley, a girl he hasn't seen in years? Is it out of guilt for helping her leave Jebb?-- also a friend he hasn't seen in years and likely never will again. Both options seem unlikely.