A Pirate's Tale [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9 - "It seems trouble follows you around."

Stars were stitched into the velvet sky as the trio approached the port. The reflection of the overhead tapestry rippled in the water beneath them. Life burst out of windows and open doorways around them, telling the night to take its darkness somewhere else.

The boat bumped against the dock and Isla paid the man before disembarking. The harbor was subdued, sailors taking the cover of the night to do all they couldn't in the daylight. Lines of ships bobbed with the motion of the sea. When Isla showed no sign of heading to the ship, Hawk and Orin waited, Hawk's gaze tinged with caution. Opening her coat, she pulled out Lord Kesler's payment and handed it to Hawk.

"Secure this in my quarters," she said.

Hawk accepted the heavy pouch.

"Where will you be going?" he asked, his tone distinctively parental.

"I need a drink," she said, shrugging off her coat and handing it to Hawk as well. "Spread the word to the men, we will ride with the tide. I will be back by then."

Before Hawk could voice his opinion on Isla heading out into a city where they had just relieved a nobleman of his money, she left the pair. The further she got from the docks, the easier it was to forget the unwanted burden that was always hanging about her. Alone she could believe that her father was alive and back in charge of his ship. That one day she would have her own crew made of up of men that had grown loyal to her because she earned it, not because of her father's name. Not because they had watched her grow up.

Light jumped out of buildings along with peels of laughter and rowdy voices. Around her the world gave no thought to the darkness, time held no weight for them. They grasped their lives in their hands and were damned if they would let anyone or anything dictate them. It was the sound of people knowing that they were truly alive. It was a sound that intoxicated all who listened.

Proof of this lay below Isla as she crossed a narrow bridge, moving deeper inland. In a boat a well-dressed man stood at its center, arms spread out wide as he sang to an audience seated around him. The way he swayed said he hadn't waited for the night to fall before losing himself in a bottle. With the encouraging laughter of his companions, he continued his off-key ballad.

The man's drunken song floated off as Isla was swallowed up by an alley. The buildings around her all had the same look, but she didn't fear losing herself in the winding avenues for it was a memory that directed her feet. Her destination reached her before she reached it. The sound of music guiding her. Across a courtyard, with a fountain at its center, was a tavern three stories high. From the inside the smell of ale, good times and memories spilled out.

When Isla entered she was enveloped in the warmth of the place. Along the backside of the room was a long, gleaming mahogany bar. Opposite it was a raised circular stage. Above the main area where two sets of balconies, given the patrons overhead views of the night's entertainers. Almost every table was packed with customers, the range of wealth noticeable in the cut of their clothes or the ornamentation around their necks.

As Isla snagged a seat at the bar and ordered a glass of ale, a boy who barely looked older than sixteen stepped onto the stage. The crowd gave a loud cheer. From his appearance, Isla guessed the boy was traveling through, for his skin was paler than most and his hair was flaming red like he had been made from a candle flame. From his reception on stage, it was the place he was able to shine.

Settled on a stool, the boy lifted a lute from a battered case and tightened an unruly peg. When he strummed once, the tavern fell into a reverent hush. It was a silence Isla had not believed possible moments before. The boy smiled at his captive audience, green eyes flashing with a devilish glint. He began to sing. The warm timbre of voice and the lute overlapped, tangled and spun together like two lovers fitting to each other. He sang a song of love found and lost. It was a song that was so familiar it twisted Isla's gut.