Pirate's Life For Me....

A Storm On The Horizon

    "Go on." Vane growled after throwing the rum bottle at the messenger. We had spotted a Spanish Man-of-War in the harbor this morning, and as we were hearing now, Captain Flint and his crew were manning it.

  "'If you fail to meet these demands, if you remain when the deadline arrives, I will respond swiftly and definitively.'" The man said quickly while watching Vane with wide eyes. Eleanor was even present since she had come to the fort with her concerns about the ship, and Vane's lieutenant was leaning his hand on the fireplace. "'And as I currently sit fully outside your means of retaliation, this response with continue unabated until you, your men, and that structure are rendered fully incapacitated. Until dawn, Captain James Flint.'" The messenger then held out the letter with what he had said written on it.

  The captain was quiet, and the man in the doorway was clearly nervous as he slowly let his hand fall to his side.

  "Get him out of here. Put him behind a door somewhere. I want him whole when he delivers my answer." Vane said to the man in the hall that drug the messenger off. "Make ready the guns in the northwest. Move everything we have to the southwest bastion."

  "He's telling the truth." The lieutenant spoke up. "The southwest bastion is too weak to support any batteries at all." Vane went to look out the window as the man continued. "We have no guns that can reach his position. Somehow Flint knew exactly where to sit to take advantage." And he looked at Eleanor.

  "Then find out how close I can get. Now." The lieutenant then left before Vane glanced at the blonde woman before looking back out the window. "Tell me right now you had nothing to do with this."

  "Charles, look at me."

  "Tell me this isn't part of your plan to push me into the sea." He ignored her, and she stepped towards him, only stopping when I shot her a warning glare.

  "Look at me." She demanded, and Vane reluctantly did so. "I had no idea this was coming. I had no idea that Flint would be so fucking reckless as to threaten the fort itself. I had no idea Hornigold would be so fucking petty as to divulge secrets about its weaknesses, risk its destruction for his own personal gain."

  "I told you what I would do if challenged like this." Vane snarled as he walked away from the window.

  "I know."

  "I may not be able to hit his ship, but I can hit the rest of them. I can turn that whole goddamn bay into a graveyard." The captain pointed.

  "But you won't."

  "You doubt me?"

  "No....I have faith in your ability to formulate a plan more effective than this." Eleanor replied.

~

  "Hold there." Vane's lieutenant called out as Eleanor was leaving. I was escorting her out while the captain was back with the messenger, and I looked at the balding man.

  "The fuck are you doing?" I asked.

  "The situation is as we feared. That warship is fully outside our field of fire. And given our severe disadvantage, might she provide us valuable leverage?" He gestured with his head to the blonde woman. "Make sure Flint knows the moment he fires those guns, her body gets dumped over the wall." I then glanced at the woman, and she didn't look pleased.

  "Your reply to Flint will be significantly more effective if it comes from me personally." The blonde said.

  "You might want to keep quiet now, miss." The lieutenant spoke over her, and I clenched my jaw as I turned back to the man.