The Cursed Fleet: A Sea of Thieves Story

Chapter 3: The Wicked Revenge

       "What?" he asked

       Les escaped his grasp, and took a deep breath, "I said, now is the time that you explain the dress" and laughed. Chris looked down and sure enough, he was wearing a blue and white dress, and for the life of him couldn't remember when he put it on. He laughed along with Les and replied,

       "Well, you all didn't return, and I guess, one grog led to another, and at some point I ended up in a dress." The two of them had a laugh as they walked down the docks.

       "Why don't you get changed, and meet me on that small spit of land, at the other side of the broken bridge, I have someone for you to meet." Said Les.

       The two of them parted for a moment, so Christopher could change. Once he was changed, he ran to the tavern, and grabbed three tankards worth of grog, to which Terry asked "Why don't ye take a whole damn keg?!" and he seriously considered it for a moment, but decided against it, tipped her, and ran to the beach. He arrived to see Les and a shady looking stranger unloading supplies from a rowboat.

       "Ah, he's here!" exclaimed Les. The stranger, with a maroon coat, and eyepatch looked up at Chris. "Christopher, this is John Loobe, he's uhm... he's a business partner. He helped me get here after I washed up on Smuggler's Bay."

       John held out his hand, with a skeptical look in his eye, "Ahoy mate, to whom do I owe the pleasure?"

       Les interjected, "This is Christopher Smith, I've known him almost 10 years now. This is the gunner I told you about". John looked Chris up and down, and held his gaze on the three tankards of grog in his hand, and raised an eyebrow.

       "Oh! These aren't all mine, I brought one for everybody!" he said, frantically handing out the tankards. They sat on the beach and took a swig of grog. "So, you two are... business partners?" Chris asked. Les and John glanced at eachother, and then glanced back to Chris.

       "Well" started Les, "We're putting together a crew" Chris sat up, excited at the thought of sailing the seas, but then he heard his friend continue, "It's a pirate crew. I'm the captain, John here would be the powder monkey, and you would be my first mate, should you choose to accept it." Chris was baffled. Piracy? Was he mad?

       "Pirates? Why would you want to be pirates?" he asked.

       "Freedom." Responded John. "It's about the freedom. Not taking orders, not losing a cut of your profits to the merchant alliance, and sailing the seas a free man."

       "But the merchants make fair coin, and a decent amount too. They take care of their crews!" Chris said. "Sherry told me they sent lookout sloops to find your ship Les. What other organization does that?" he asked. Les looked confused.

       "They never sent anyone to look for us. Not once." Said Les, angrily. "As a matter of fact, when I arrived this morning, and told them what had happened, the first words to spew from their mouth was 'did you manage to get away with any of the explosive barrels?'" Les' fists were clenched, and his face was turning red with rage. Chris looked at John, who was shaking his head in disappointment.

       "They don't care about their crews mate. They care about their coin." John said, "No sane trader, would send one of their finest captains, on a suicide mission, to one of the most dangerous forts on the Sea of Thieves."

       "So... They abandoned you? They didn't ask where your father was?" Chris asked.

       Les shook his head, "All they wanted, were those damned powder kegs." The beach got quiet, as the three of them mulled over the information. Les still seething with anger stared off into the horizon, and John stood up and turned towards the shops.