Chapter 20
Declan
I stood at the head of the ship, land peeking far ahead. Fortunato popped up next to me, eyeing me suspiciously. A grunt left my lips, "What do you want?"
"I come to check on my silver," Fortunato said, eyeing the bag that was secured around my waste.
My eyes rolled slightly as I turned so the silver bag was out of his sight, bringing his eyes to me. Although my eyes were still ahead, I could catch every move this Captain made. "You'll get to count your silver when the job's done."
"I cannot let you leave the ship without giving me my pay."
A small smile crossed my face as I scuffed slightly, finally turning to see him. "Oh, believe me, brother, I'm not leaving this ship without you." My feet turned and carried me to the other end of the ship, Fortunato hot on my tale.
"No! I never leave the ship!" He yelled, only to stop me when he crashed his body in front of mine and sat his hands up. "Why are we here? Why do we come here?" He asked, gesturing out to the sea, but his words meant land.
"It's for a women," I said softer, surprising Fortunato.
His eyes grew wide and his voice softened, "You have a Madelena? What is her name?"
"Anna," I said. Her names slipping off my lips again made my mind flood with memories of her once again. Most good, while others were the last moments I saw her before she was taken from me once again.
Softly, Fortunato breathed out, "Anna. Beautiful name. Tell me Mr. Harp. Anna, who is she to you?"
I eye the man for a minute, trying to figure out his play. When he doesn't look like he could use her against me, a sigh leaves me and I turn away to look at the floor of the ship. "She's my wife. My life. My breath. The mother of my unborn child. Everything I am, everything I do, is because and for her."
Fortunato smiled, seeming to hear the words his ears have been craving for. His hand brought itself up, squeezing my shoulder slightly. "Well then, we best not let her wait any longer."
To say I was grateful would be an understatement, but I wasn't one to burst into tears and thank someone. At least not sober anyways.
When we approached land, everyone started to get to work tying up the ship and locking everything down. McTaggart followed me off the ship, stopping next to me as I finished tying the rope I had carried off.
"McTaggart, I need your help. Men and weapons," I order, standing up and fixing my jacket that laid around my body.
Raising an eyebrow and giving me one of his questionable gazes, the crazy man asked, "Why you asking me? I told you I didn't want to come back here. I can't help ya."
A sigh left my lips and I turned to completely face him, using his real name to get my point across. "Magnus, you know where I am." It was true, he knew where my head was and he knew what my fists would get me into if I started to poke around. But even then he seemed skeptical.
"Declan, I'm serious, the men I know here told me if I ever returned, they'd break my back, stuff me in a sack, drop me to the bottom of the loch."
I took a small step towards her, speaking softly but my stance showed how determined I was. "I need to get to her, I need to get to him. You never told me what happened to you here, but right now, I need you to help me." McTaggart didn't look like he was caving in with my words, seeming to hear them before. So I tried a different angle, "Help my child then."
Sighing, McTaggart kicked the ground under him, "Ah, I've always had a softy for the ye little ones."
Patting his shoulder, that was how I thanked him.
Fortunato popped up behind us once again, a small groan leaving my lips before he started to talk. "Uh, forgive me for overhearing every word of this, but in my experience which is very much going home is never as bad as one think. I am sure we can talk to your friends and bring out from them the help we need. After all, we are doing this for the love of a woman." He smiled as he looked at me.
McTaggart pointed ahead, "We're gonna have to go north. And this is going to end badly."
"Just get me there," I ordered, trying to keep my cool. Every wasted minute was another minute that my wife and unborn child were in Benton's hands.
Chaulk quickly climbed off the ship, her voice filled with fear, "Well, hang on! Shouldn't we make sure that Benton is even here first?"
Her high pitch voice made me copy her in an irritated action before speaking with venom. "Shut up. Just stay on the ship." I turned to the bald man, "Te Rangi, see if you can find someone to mend those sails right here, quick." When my attention turned back to McTaggart I gestured for him to speak, "Tell 'em where we're going."
With that said, I started to walk ahead, hoping to get a few ideas of where I stood in this place and what all was here. Gratefully, the streets weren't crowded with soldiers, instead people just walked by, barley giving my presence a second glance.
McTaggart and Fortunato found me, leading the way to a bar more inside the town. As we approached the door, McTaggart stopped and turned to look at us. "Hold on, hold on. Just wait a minute. If they're actually in here, your best chance would be to shoot the fat ginger one in the puss, that'll slow him down at least."
I could see the look in his eyes that he was nervous. Before walking in, he sucked in a breath, grasping as much confidence as possible before we walked in. Instantly, after the door closed behind us, McTaggart was punched harshly in the face by a red head, knocking him to the ground.
"Welcome home, Maggie," The red head smirked.
Fortunato leaned over towards me, still watching McTaggart on the ground. "Well, at least we know we have come to the right place, huh?"
Te Rangi walks in behind us, making me wonder where Chaulk had scurried off too. But she was the last thing on my mind right now, my focused on the red head that stood before us, glaring harshly.
"Who the fuck are you lot, and what are you doing in my establishment with this wee rodent-balled shite bag?" He gestured towards McTaggart who was picking himself up off the floor.
Fortunato took a few steps forward, speaking with a smile as he stretched his arms out to the side. "It's very interesting for you to have asked, Mister?"
"His name is Barclay. And I'm Angus," A man sitting at the bar said before standing up.
Well, at least we have names now.
Fortunato continued, gesturing towards McTaggart and I. "These men killed the Redcoats, then press us into service in the name of the King. So you see, uh, they are no friends to the Crown. Seems that none of us are."
"Fuck off. Or you could stay. See what we do to cowards," Barclay said with a smirk as he looked around the bar. Anyone that was just passing through or wasn't part of Barclay's group quickly stood up, rushing to go and leave the bar partly empty.
Barclay walked over to me, eyeing me as he matched my height. "What would make a man do something so reckless, as to follow this wee prick into the one place on Earth where he is least welcome?" he gestured to McTaggart.
Unlike Fortunato, this man couldn't be trusted with my wife's name. Instead, I simple stood taller and said, "I need your help."
"Why the fuck should I help you?"
"Hope," Te Rangi said, grabbing the room's attention. He began to slowly pass, looking around the room as he spoke. "Before it forsakes you for good. Look at this place. A sad little sarcophagus for desperate shrinking cowards."
Barclay took a step forward, warning the bald man, "Oh, you should stop."
His words continued. "Oppression from others is what we all have in common. Is it not better to fight for your homes, your land, your self-respect, mana, that was stolen from you? Will the red blanket keep you warm when you are thrown out into the cold as food for their dogs? Or you can join us. Help us. Help this man raise his hand against those who have taken what is not theirs to take."
Moving to look at me, Barclay rose an eyebrow, seeming to soften his expression slightly. "What was taken from you?" He asked, seeming to take in Te Rangi's words.
"My son. Now my wife and unborn child are held captive," I said, speaking from the heart. Speaking truth.
Barclay nodded, "Looks like we've all lost something." He turned, walking over to one of the tables as he talked, "I think drinking's the best way to find out, what a man is really all about."
"What does that mean exactly?" I asked, shaking my head.
McTaggart spoke up, answering my question, "He likes to drink. He likes to find new friends to drink with. Just mind your head."
"There's just one rule!" He grabs a cup of alcohol, downing it before slamming it against the table and smirking, "Keep up."
I wasn't going to waste my time playing games. But, when Anna's face flashed through my mind in fear and Benton's smirking one joined her, I started to rethink my words. My feet carried me in front of him, my hand gripping the other full cup. In seconds, I had the cup back on the table, only this time it was empty.
A smile played on my own lips, my words coming out almost happily. "You're dead."
Drinks after drinks joined the table, starting off full to the rim before shrinking to just drops at the bottom. The place was full of Barclay's friends rooting us both on and then cheering when we finished another.
The room was spinning slightly, making my feet stumble as I sat the empty cup on the table. Barclay motioned for me to continue, my hand balling into a fist before it slammed against Barclay's face.
This was the game. Drink, throw a punch, and don't pass out or throw up. I was winning, or I thought I was winning. But when Barclay downed his drink and threw his punch at me, I knew it was over. My last drinks had spurred onto the ground, causing the room to cheer out at my failure.
Barclay's words came out steady, like his last few drinks hadn't done anything to him. "Don't worry about it. I've never seen anyone, other than myself, drink anywhere near as much as you did."
I shook my body slightly, hoping to shake myself back into reality. I can't just walk away, not without these guys help. "I was just warmin' up. Let's do it real for this time. Come on."
"Nah, it's done. I'll help you get your lassie," Barclay threw his hand at me.
My eyes went wide at his words, almost filling up with tears, "You will? But I lost." I could hear the sound of my voice, it's deep determination now gone and only filled with a little child's shocked voice.
"Everyone loses, big man. But if you're willing to go that hard we'll help," Barclay nodded towards the empty glasses. His men around him nodded in agreement, everyone seeming to have the same thought.
I tried to smile, but I wasn't sure if I was or not. "Thanks, Barman."
McTaggart made his way over to me, putting my arm over his shoulder before helping me stumble out of the bar. Te Tangi was right behind, as was Fortunato. It took McTaggart and I longer to get to Chaulk, but when we did, we were hearing the main course of it.
"I was here in the marketplace earlier, and I overheard this housekeeper buying some stuff for a castle just outside the village. Now, she was bragging about some Lord who'd been away for a long time, and he'd just come home. So, I come in closer and I overheard that this Lord she was going on about, is Benton," Chaulk says. Some of her word get jumbled together in my ears, but my brain singles them out.
"What did this lady look like?" Te Rangi asked?
"Well, she, she was about my height, I dunno really. She was wearing a hat. Anyway, you left me alone for so long, I nicked some food." She pulls out a loft of bread with a convincing smile.
At the sight of the loft, my word comes out loud and obnoxious, "Food!"
"What? What's happened to you?" Chaulk asks worriedly and beyond confused.
Leaning against the post next to me, my eyes not focusing on Chaulk, I said, "I punched a big fat ginger pig in the face. Then, I puked. But I won," I said with a victory smile.
McTaggart continued to try and keep me up, nodding in agreement. "Aye, he sort of won. Meaning we have help. But he's a fucking mess, as you can see."
"No, come on, we got to find Diana, I mean Anna. Come on, let's go," I said, pushing away from McTaggart and trying to stand on my own two feet.
Fortunato stepped in front of me, his words coming out in a jumble. Even with my brain understanding most of it, I still didn't want to hear it. "I think that an even better idea would be to do it in the morning. This can help to drop our chance of bringing people who hear a big, drunk man, and come to kill us."
My feet start to stumble away slowly, my words echoing in my ears as I directed towards the group and myself. "Nope. Nope. Let's go. Come on, Chief. I don't understand what he said, let's leave. I don't understand Portuguese. Come on!"
With that said, I can hear everyone follow behind me. My brain is still on cloud nine, but even then, Anna is a clear picture.
Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great one and hope everyone got a little drunk like Declan did ;)
Please vote and comment what you think of the book! Just a few more chapters till the end! Enjoy!