[[I do not own the music in this chapter. I hope you enjoy and please if you do, vote for this chapter. - L RANDY]]
Goa Jager? Alana read the name engraved on the headstone a few feet away. The pirates circled it, for the first time shunning her from the group. Alana stood partially behind Leopoldo, clasping her hands together in the awkward silence.
It was simple with only a name inscribed, not even dates, but by the look and the wear on the stone, she figured it had been there for a while. There was no sign of flowers ever being laid on it, at least recently, but she did not peg this group as the type to bring flowers anyhow.
"Leven, do you have it?" Kazumi asked not taking his eyes off the mysterious grave.
Alana watched as Leven pulled a flask from his small side pouch and pass it over to Kazumi.
"Your favorite, Captain," Kazumi whispered only loud enough for himself to hear as he poured the liquid over the soil just in front of the headstone.
Next, he took a swig, passed it to Leopoldo who did the same, then to Leven, then finally Ivo.
Alana cocked her head at the action but kept her mouth shut and watched on.
Ivo rustled in his trouser pockets for a second and pulled out a gold coin to toss onto the small puddle as his offering.
Leopoldo and Leven did similarly, but Leopoldo revealed a deck of playing cards, and Leven a small vile of sand.
"It's Bizia sand, he liked Bizia," Leven explained to no one in particular.
They seemed to have a moment of silence for this now passed-on friend as Alana stood awkwardly a few feet away.
She watched their sullen features and noticed how saddened this grave made them. Alana then realized it was the first time they ever looked sad to her. Even Kazumi, the relatively emotionless captain, had the look of pain etched into his handsome features.
I wonder who this Goa Jager is and what he meant to the men. Clearly, a lot, I would have never guessed I would see this look on their faces. Maybe he was a pirate as well? Should I say something?
What seemed like a long time was a few minutes of silence for Goa, the pirates respectfully kept their heads bowed to the stone.
Alana had half the mind to ask who this man was, but before she could Leopoldo suddenly turned to her.
"Come on, dear." Leopoldo cheerily said to Alana, causing her to jolt. "While we are here, I want you to try this local bakery. They have a wonderful strawberry pastry that pairs just delightfully with a white tea."
He placed a hand on her shoulder before physically turning her around to hook his arm with hers and began to lead her out the cemetery.
"Wa-wait," Alana stuttered out trying to keep up with the tall pirate. "We are leaving already?"
She glanced back to the others somewhat surprised to see the others following casually, as if that dejected look had never visited their features.
"Yes, Why? Do you have any business here?" Leopoldo joked coolly.
"N-no, I just—" Alana had no idea what to say, but she did know that she was completely thrown by their behavior.
The sudden mood change gave her whiplash, leaving her wondering how someone could look so unhappy to then suggesting baked goods.
"Just what?" Leven huffed, but his grumpiness was on par as usual.
Alana bit the inside of her cheek debating whether or not it was her place to ask about their deceased friend.
It should not be a problem, right? But maybe they would prefer not to talk about it with someone like me. Possibly, that is why they are brushing it off as if it's nothing, so they will not relive any bad memories. I mean, surely, they would not visit the grave with the deceased's favorite things if they did not care about them.
"You want to know who that was, don't you little dove?" Ivo inquired with a knowing smirk coming to pace himself with Leopoldo and her.
Alana hesitantly nodded still unsure herself.
"Oh, dear." Leopoldo faked a sigh. "I simply cannot have such a conversation on an empty stomach."
"I agree," Kazumi broke in. "This is not a casual stroll chat; Captain Goa deserves more than to be talked of in passing."
Captain?
"Oh, we are actually going to a bakery?" Ivo asked surprised. "Not a filthy tavern with decorative skulls and the stench of blood and sweat soaking into the hardwood? How lovely."
"Fine," Leven grumbled. "I am in the mood for something with caramel."
Alana sat stiffly at a small round table with a pink plaid tablecloth and vase with a white rose bouquet adorning the surface. She, herself, did not feel wildly out of place but the men who crowded the table with her, garnering double-takes from the other patrons were.
The bakery Leopoldo led the group towards was a cutesy establishment vastly different than anywhere Alana had ever been with the group. The paintings on the walls were that of puppies and bunnies, and the mostly pink and lavender color palette made for an interesting contrast with the rough pirates.
She waited patiently for anyone to begin the conversation of Goa Jager, not even bothering to pick at the slice of strawberry cake or sip the white tea.
Looking around with a very unimpressed gaze Leven finally met eyes with his brother, he broke a corner off his salted caramel bar before plopping it into his mouth.
"How the hell do you know about this place?" Leven narrowed his eyes on Leopoldo.
Leopoldo, smiling and feeling right at home, perked up.
"I merely found it on a stroll when we were visiting once many years ago, it's nice isn't it?"
Leven cringed.
"Yeah, 'stroll' my ass, one of your little girlfriends dragged you here, right?"
Alana looked to Leopoldo who looked to her with worry hoping she would not hear the obvious.
Leopoldo could not deny the accusation as Kazumi cut off the ensuing argument.
"Goa Jager was the former captain of the Scorched Bones." He stated bluntly.
Alana sat up realizing the awaited conversation was finally beginning.
"When I was a young child... I was a slave. I was not always a slave, but after the Taycia expansion twenty years ago, my family was either killed or ran out of the land. My father, who was certainly no match for thirteen Taycia soldiers, died fighting in an effort to hide me. He knew young children would be taken as slaves to noble households."
Kazumi had continued but Alana had trouble focusing after the mention of slavery.
Her heart sank into her stomach like a boulder, her throat felt tight and her eyes stung with the threat of tears spilling over.
That expansion, I learned of it in my studies but completely differently. The tutors taught me it was peaceful relinquishing of power as Taycia adopted the land into their territory... how could I be so naïve as to believe that? How did I never question it? And slaves? In our very own Kingdom?
"The man who bought me at auction was a swordsman, a master at the practice. I never learned his name, but he was... cruel. To my understanding, he purchased me as a replacement for his late son who died of disease, and to keep up the house. When my hands were not bleeding from the training, I was doing every chore imaginable functioning on very few hours of sleep. With every misstep, I was whipped, with every broken dish I was whipped, anything that man could whip me for he would."
Alana could hear the pain hidden under Kazumi's emotionless tone, behind his stoic eyes. Her heart shivered with an ache as she listened to him. She felt the urge to interrupt and tell him he could stop, but she could not find her voice, fearing it would crack if she spoke anyhow.
"I was on the verge of breaking... I became untouchable with a blade, but it was never good enough for master. Some moments felt like I was his son, but I cannot clearly remember. In fact, much of it is a blur at this point, a fog I have navigated my way through. The only memory that truly sticks out was the way his blood felt on my hands."
Oh, gods...
"I tell you all this, not for pity or sympathy, but to emphasize how great Goa truly was, where I was in life when he found me. The very day my master tried to whip me for wasting a pail of water, the same day I cut him down with the butcher knife, was the day Goa found me. On the coast of Taycia, a boy covered in blood and clothes too small for him, a sight that did not make him turn away but towards me. He was the Captain of the Scorched Bones, so I assume it made him want to recruit me. If it were not for him, I probably would have ended up hanging for what I did or dying in the streets."
Alana's heart was pounding with sorrow for Kazumi, so many emotions running through her she could not place them nor summon any comforting words at the moment.
"That was around the time I met Ivo," Kazumi mentioned as an afterthought, peering over to his grinning friend.
"Yes," Ivo cooed. "I was being auctioned as a slave after attempting to poison my former mistress. She was a Countess of Taycia, a vile woman that loved happy, handsome little boys... ones that always smiled." Ivo's grin faltered by a fraction.
"She could not prove she was poisoned, or who did it, and she didn't feel like 'wasting beauty' so she had us all sold off. I guess I should have used a tiny bit more foxglove."
"When I saw Ivo being sold and for whatever reason, I helped him. I had picked the locks of his chains and was bringing him back to Goa before I realized I had laid eyes on him." Kazumi shifted the conversation back to him as he saw Ivo was becoming unsettled.
"Goa was an extraordinary man," Leopoldo admitted. "He was rough and vulgar, definitely not a man that should be around small children, but great nonetheless."
"He helped me tame my demon," Leven added taking a sip of his tea.
"He helped us all tame our demons, in more ways than one. I owe Goa my life." Ivo smiled brightly finishing off his blueberry tart.
"We all do... but because of Taycia, we will never be able to pay him back," Leopoldo muttered.
"What do you mean?" Alana quickly asked with a rip in her voice, holding back tears.
Kazumi looked to her and hesitated, unsure if he wanted to say aloud the fate of Goa Jager.
"Five years ago, we were stopping in Taycia, not to cause trouble, simply to restock the ship." Kazumi began.
"Unbeknownst to any of the crew or Goa himself, there was a Royal Bounty on Goa Jager." Ivo continued for Kazumi.
"Apparently the Taycia Royal Navy found an issue with our fleet in their waters. You see, the Scorched bones had a much larger crew before, four ships in the fleet." Leopoldo explained to the girl.
"The King and Queen signed off on the five-hundred gold piece bounty to kill Goa Jager, hoping then the fleet would fall off and abandon piracy without him. They knew of him, they had to. The loyalty his crew had for him was boundless, legendary even." Leven now spoke.
"He was shot in his back by a royal patrol soldier, at an apple booth," Ivo darkly enlightened.
"I, of course, was able to kill that soldier. It was useless bounty as there was no one to collect on it." Kazumi matter-of-factly nodded once.
"But it was too late for Goa, there was no saving him, even his demon could not attempt to heal the wound. It was a near-instant death." Leopoldo sighed.
"Most of the crew did abandon the Scorched Bones after Goa's death, which is why we sail with a single ship now, clearly. But we are still sailing, with Kazumi as captain." Leven stated.
"That is why I loathe the Taycia Royals, Alana. Can you understand that? Do you understand why they need to die?" Kazumi looked to the horrified girl trying her best to keep her jaw from slacking.
He finally answering her question she asked so long ago the night he kissed her for the first time.
"I- I understand."
Of course, I understand! My parents are not only the reason for their enslavement, but they also ordered their only parental figure to die for something as silly as territorial waters without even a fair trial. How could my mother and father be so evil? So unbothered by cruelty?
I cannot cry this time, I cannot! What is more guilty than crying? I just have to make sure my plan works, then I can begin to make amends on behalf of Taycia.
"We all have been affected by the reach of the royals, but our stories are not alone, thousands of Taycia lesser citizens suffer worse." Leopoldo pushed on.
"I think we all get you're bothered by the idea of this rebellion, it's scary stuff for someone like you." Leven tried to comfort her. "But it needs to happen, they need to pay."
The feeling in Alana's stomach only grew, she became nauseous as the facts settled into her mind. She was blaming herself, her conscience beat it into her frontal lobe that she was responsible for this mess because of her bloodline.
If she was not more sickened by the thought of killing her parents, she was determined. She was angry, angry for the pirates, for her people, for herself. Alana felt the need to strive, and under cover of a faux grin finally felt sure of what needed to be done. For the first time, she felt the weight of her Kingdom's future bearing down on her in a precious bakery of a foreign land. Alana spent countless nights since Bizia wondering if she had it in her to follow through, doubting herself and second-guessing but now... now, she knew.
They need to die.
"Well, what a heavy conversation," Ivo moved the discussion in a cheerier direction. "Aren't you going to eat your cake, little dove? Or would you like me to feed it to you?"
Without missing a beat Alana's cheeks lit up a peachy shade beneath her golden tawny skin, his amorous words distracting her from her thoughts effectively even if only for a short moment.
"What a pervert," Leven scoffed.
[[I am very unsatisfied with this chapter... but instead of stressing myself out over the small things I am hoping that it was readable.
But just to recap: Goa Jager was the captain of the scorched Bones before Kazumi. After finding Kazumi in the street covered in blood after murdering his master, Goa brought him back to the ship and made Kazumi a crew member. Kazumi found Ivo being sold for auction in the town square a few months later and helped him escape without much reasoning behind it. I like to think it was because it was a boy around his age and it resonated with Kazumi so he acted before thinking. We learn in several chapters back that Ivo and Kazumi found the brothers after the two ran from Fubukimouth. So the four of them all grew into men under the guidance of Goa. Goa was then murdered over a bounty put out by the royals due to the navy not approving of them in their waters. This event really set their hatred for Taycia in stone.
We touch on Ivo's backstory in this chapter but it was only a tap, we will fully embrace it soon so don't think 'that's all we get on the psycho Ivo?'
BTW I definitely imagine Captain Jager to be a really fine DILF.
ANYWAY... I will upload more either later tonight (3/17/2021) or tomorrow (3/18/2021). Who knows, maybe in the next thirty minutes, we will see if I fall asleep with my laptop on my stomach.
As always thank you for reading! If you are reading this AN, I LOVE YOU! See you next time on Seasick Love! - L RANDY]]