Pirate's Life For Me....

Drunken Stupor

  "Captain Charles Vane." I crouched in front of the man laying on his side in his tent. It stunk from a week's worth of piss, vomit, and booze, and the man that had walked so mightily before was now high off his ass on opium. "A man once feared by many is reduced to this because he lost his crew."

  It had only been a week since Eleanor stripped him of his men and ship, and now he had nothing but his name, eight men, Bonny, his quartermaster, and a cook. He was wasting away, spending what money he had left on rum and drugs. Vane looked up at me, his pupils blown from the opium, and mumbled something incoherently.

  "What?" I furrowed my brows while leaning down.

  "Fuck....you."

  "Mm, yes, a drunken man trying to tell me off. Were you honestly this weak, to begin with? Was your strength nothing but a show held up by your crew?" Popping my knuckles, I glanced around his tent to the other bottles of empty rum. "Honestly, I wouldn't have been dragged into this mess if you hadn't raided the Petrel. I blame you, but seeing you like this....pisses me off."

  Pushing his shoulder back when he tried to roll over, I furrowed my brows.

  "Oi, are you even listenin'? You killed my crew, sunk my ship, and took me away from my fucking galley to work for you, and this is how you act now? Get off your sodding ass and get a boat so I can cook again. You're a bloody pirate captain, fucking act like it." Vane seemed to ignore me as he reached for a bottle of rum and took a drink. "All right, fine." Getting to my feet, I rolled my eyes. "Men. They're such babies." I huffed while walking out of his tent to go find something to eat.

~

  "I can't do it, Jack."

  "Yes, you can. You simply present my crew's haul to Miss Guthrie as if it were your own." Jack replied as he held his hat and was speaking to another man. I leaned on a cart next to Bonny with my arms crossed, and these two were trying everything to find a way back onto the sea. "You get a percentage. Everybody wins."

  "I get caught selling a grain of salt for you, the girl puts my crew on the outs same as you. I just can't risk it. It ain't you she has the problem with, Jack. Why stick with him?" And that seemed to be the end of it with that captain.

  "It's a good question." Bonny stated as we were walking through town.

  "No, it's not." Jack replied.

  "There are other ships."

  "Had a few offers, have you?" The quartermaster asked, and she glanced away. "Makes sense. You'd be an asset to any crew. Now ask how many offers good old Jack has received since our run-in with the lady Guthrie." Without waiting for an answer, he held up his fingers like a zero and blew through it. "My only assets are my wits, and as the man who just lost 5,000 pesos of his ship's own money, they are ill-valued at the moment. Join another crew right now, the only task I will be trusted with is swabbing out the piss buckets. And that, my darling, I feel compelled to state out loud, life is simply too fucking short!" Jack shouted.

  Bonny gave him a look but said nothing as we paused in the street.

  "What, you're angry with me, too?"

  "Hey! Jack Rackham!" We turned to a man walking out of the brothel.

  "Oh, for fuck's sake." The quartermaster sighed.

  "A word."

  "I'm sorry, I'd prefer you made an appointment. Quite a full day ahead." Jack waved his arm.

  "You took one of me best whores for your private use." The man had two others with him as he glared at Jack. "Every day she's not under my roof fucking costs me money."