Pirates Return IC

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The Red Hand bit down on his own lips as Alexa continued her torture. Through a bloodied mouth, the Red Hand screamed, "All I know is we're employed by someone outside the Red Hand." Alexa eased off her torturing for him to speak. "A lot of gold's been flowing around the ship's - and the captain's aren't usually generous enough to just hand out coin." Three Swords leaned back to think that over. Someone else was employing the Red Hands? Then who?

"But why the whole ship - why not just me?" Abbot asked.

"Because that's what the bounty was for - I don't know why, they just tell us what to do and we does it." Three Swords sighed. He believed it, but who would put a bounty on an entire ship and it's crew - and who could afford the Red Hand to do it? He needed more answers but he'd get little out of this one.

"Very well," Three Swords said, yanking one of his swords from the Red Hand's shoulder. The Hander barely had time to scream before Abbot rammed the cutlass deep into his chest. He let out a deep breath as he stood "Well done, Alexa." Alexa nodded to him, "Somebody go tell Meatloaf to rustle up some food for the men. Most haven't eaten since the battle." He turned to walk down the steps "And then we'll bury our dead." he said as he walked away.

 

"I'll do it!" Daniel blurted out, happy for any chance to get out of that room. He ran down to the galley, into a mess of men hanging around.

"Meatloaf, Captain says to get some food up."

He took a large drink of water to get the vomit taste out of his mouth, then he took an apple and started eating hungrily. Anything to get his mind off of what he'd just witnessed.

Seeing Matty's bloody shirt back, he went over to him and whispered. "Matty, your back still hasn't been looked to. If you don't clean it well, and it's hard to clean your own back, it's lible to get the gangrene, and you can't get your back amputated. Come on, nobody's in the surgery now, or if they are they're passed out, I can clean it for you and know one will know. You've got to get it cleaned."

 

Daniel was right, and Matty knew it. Maybe he could manage to... oh well, it had to be beter than sitting here being stared at by the Frog and the bounty hunter. He nodded briefly and followed Daniel to the surgery.

It was as vacant as the other boy had promised. Even so, Matty dawdled at undoing the buttons until Daniel's back was turned as he gathered fresh water and some other supplies, then he whipped the shirt over his head, gathered the stained cloth to his chest, and quickly lay face down on the bunk.

" 'ere now, tha' stuff stinks. It ain't gonna feel as bad as it smells, is it?"

 

Alexa knelt down again, collecting the various daggers and knives she had used, and put them into her satchel. Slinging it over her shoulder, she considered the bottle of rum that Ricardo had brought. With a small smile, she picked that up and made her way back to the surgery, ignoring the looks some of the crew were shooting at her.

As she approached the surgery, she paused, fighting the memories that were threatening to overwhelm her.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door of the surgery. Daniel was there, making preparations to look after Matty's back.

"Lad, it will hurt briefly, but it does help the healing." She strode forward, recomposing herself. "Daniel, thank you, but I can manage this without help. I'd rather you not be around right now. We shall talk later." Alexa sighed softly. "I can't handle thinking about it."

Shaking off the dark thoughts, she approached the bunk, and perched on the side, examining Matty's back. "Now, lad. Do you remember how this happened?"

 

"Nae, Mum, not fer sure anyways. I think it was when I were runnin' across th' deck t' th' Cap'n. Stuff were blowin' up an' breakin' all aroun' me, and I never knew what I were runnin' through."

 

Alexa nodded, and gently started to wash the injury, murmuring soothing noises as she felt Matty tense beneath her touch.

"Lad, this will probably hurt. There is a lot of fragments of wood and the like here that I need to remove before this can be bound up. I can give you some rum to help dull the pain, but it is your choice."

At Matty's nod, she went to get the bottle she had brought back from the bridge. When Alexa turned back, he had managed to get himself upright, clutching a shirt to his chest. Eyes kind, she helped Matty take a swig of rum.

Taking the bottle back, she put it on the floor, and gestured for Matty to lie back down again. The shirt slipped slightly as Matty lay down, and Alexa's eyes widened in surprise.

"Matty, are you injured at all on your front as well, or is there something else?" She perched again on the edge of the bunk and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

 

Matty wished in vain for another go at that bottle of rum. Things on the Pale Horse had been going so well before that disastrous attack on the Red Hand. It was always going to end at some point, but now everything was in turmoil, and not just from being under a bounty.

Maybe telling someone would help... having someoneto go to when...

But Alexa? There was a vast difference between the kind-faced woman before Matty now and the woman who had been casually taking a living man apart not a quarter of an hour ago. She seemed a decent-enough mother to Daniel, but still... no one should be that good at torture, no one. Unfortunately, there was no one else.

Matty sat up straight and looked Alexa in the eye with no sign of fear. The next words she heard were spoken in a clear voice, devoid of accent and strong despite the flush on the piper's cheeks.

" 'Matty' is short for 'Matilda', Ma'am, and I think the time's about to come when the whole ship finds that out."

 

Alexa met Matty's gaze. "And you are concerned that the men will reject you, or worse, if your secret is revealed?"

She handed the bottle of rum to Matty, eyes twinkling. "I'm sure you've been doing the best you can, keeping the secret from everyone. Don't worry about the men. If you have problems with them, come to me. They don't want to mess with the surgeon, not if they want their injuries patched up."

 

Daniel tip-toed away from the surgery door. A girl?!

What was he supposed to think of that? He thought about it a little while, and decided that it didn't make any difference to him. Jenny from across the street could play kick the bucket just as good as any of the boys, and could fight almost as well. And Matty had helped him get on board the Pale Horse, and was so far his only friend on the ship, girl or not.

Many things that had seemed a bit odd about Matty were suddenly very clear to Daniel. He felt ... a little like how he felt when the quarter master had been talking to his mom before she hit him, but somehow different, it wasn't actually a bad feeling.

He was far enough away from the surgery now that he could stop sneaking. He ran back to the Captain's quarters. Knocking on the door, he heard a gruff, "Come in."

He went in and stood at attention.

"Captain sir, I told Meatloaf to fix up some food, like you ordered sir. About me being a stowaway, I'm sorry about that, but it was the only way I could get on board, being as my mom surely wouldn't have let me sign on. But I'm ready to sign the articles now sir. I'll do anything you want. I can be surgeon's mate, or apprentice carpenter, or cook's helper. I've got experience in all those trades. And Black Toad taught me all the knots, and I know I could learn how to sail."

He stood back at attention. He had purposefully let the blood from the cut on his cheek flow and scab again after he'd cleaned it, and he wore the forming scar like a badge. He saw the captain and the quartermaster gauging him with their eyes, and swallowed once, holding back the fear that they would decide to just kill him, or worse, bring his mom back to torture him for stowing away.

 

"Ready to sign the Articles?" Three Swords said, his eyes playful "What makes you think we want you? The only use I have for you is as a spare anchor." After a moment to let Daniel's fear grow, Three Swords pulled open a drawer and pulled out a sheet of the Articles. "Very well, Daniel. Sign at the bottom."

 

"This wasn't my idea, but when Da got 'recruited' by Captain Longshanks McPhee, he thought I'd be safer if we kept people thinking I was a boy. It was easy at first, but anymore..." Her voice trailed away and now Matty did take another swig of rum as Alexa finished her work. "I can think of better ways to spend my life, but they all begin after I've collected the things Da left for me to find. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to get to all the ports where he scattered them except on a ship, and since I can't pay for passage I have to work my way there. I'd much rather do it as a piper than a doxy."

She looked up with trepidation. "I should tell Captain Abbot, shouldn't I?"

 

"Thank you sir!" Daniel took the quill and signed his name in the neat print his mom had drilled into him. "I'll go help Meatloaf serve up the food, unless you have any other orders for me."

 

Alexa looked down at Matty eyes filled with compassion. "Aye, lass. It would be best if you told him. You've known the Captain longer than I have, but what I have seen of him, he is not one who appreciates things like this hidden from him."

She smiled and took the bottle of rum and took a swig. "If you like, I can come with you."

 

The chef barely looked up from his preaprations as the chinaman walked in. He looked over to see Jacques and some other man Zheng had seen about. His right hand still clutching at the bandage on his left side, he held his hand out in front of Alastair.

"I don't think we've met..."

 

Alistair looked up from his conversation-like thing with Jacques and regarded Zheng up and down for a second before shaking his hand.
"Good day to you," Alistair said. "I am Alistair Morrison, a bounty hunter. I've seen you about the ship. You're quite deadly with that blade of yours, it seems."

 

Zheng smiled,"Not really," he pointed down at the bandage on his left side. "If you had seen the warriors in my country you would think I was less than mediocre. I've known and seen men a hundred times more skilled than me. Men who would blindly run into an army of thousands if they had to. My old master..." his voice changed to a more impassive tone and he changed the topic quickly. "You seem to handle yourself well too." He looked the man up and down before returning the gaze to Alastairs eyes. "Bounty Hunter, eh. You any good at that." A note of humour in his voice.

 

"Thank you, but it's something I should do on my own. As you said, I've known him longer." Her wounds patched, Matty resumed the guise of the boy-pipr and slipped from the surgery. If Alexa hadn't known, she never would have been able to guess Matty's secret.

 

Three Swords walked across the deck, his eyes tracing across each body filled hammock. He glanced at one noting where the needle had been pushed through the inside of the nose to make sure the crewman was dead. He sighed and closed his eyes, remembering the battle that had taken place.

He'd seen his men cut down, remembered their faces but not their names. He forced the memories out - the last thing he needed was nightmares of the dead. He turned away.

"All hands on deck!" He ordered, his voice carrying across the entire ship. He could here his words being echoed by other crewmembers below and within moments crewmen rushed to the main deck, crowding the small space.

By this time, Three Swords had walked to the bridge. "It is time to bury the dead of the Pale Horse." He said, casting his eyes across the survivors. Barely forty of the crew remained. He would need to recruit more at Port Royal.

Three Swords had always been a man of few words and he had always found ot difficult to say the right words to send off a crew member to the depths. "Remember our friends." He said, struggling for something - anything - to come to his mind, "Remember our crewman. For many of you, it is your first voyage with these men, but for me, it has been five long years of hard fighting and hard work." He paused as he thought again. Nothing came to his mind and he closed his eyes and sighed. "Just... remember them. I rpomise though." He said, his voice growing in volume and anger "That I'll hunt down the men responsible for this act and kill them." He delivered the last sentence bluntly and fingered the blade on his belt belt. "Send them to Davy Jones, Master Santiago... and for the rest of us, let us spit death in the eye once more before we move on."

 

As the last off the bodies was engulfed by the waves, Ricardo sighed. It had been an unpleasant duty, but duty nevertheless.

His shoulder had stopped hurting some time ago; or perhaps the pain had spread into him so far that he could no longer tell if his shoulder hurt or not. The makeshift bandage felt wet and cold, sticking heavily to his skin. Numb exhaustion was taking him over, and had doused the fire he’d felt first from the fight and then from watching Alexa’s work.

The memory of her lilting voice when she sang came to him, and he felt the fire slowly rekindling. She was a flame, bright and hot, and he wanted her to burn him… perhaps not as literally as she’d burned the captive, but he could not help but think that any touch of hers would be the sweetest agony…

His eyes shone with dark fire when he entered the infirmary; he saw the redhead sitting on a bunk, looking rather irritated.

“Señora? I hope you are not busy… I was hoping to have a word with you.”

[ August 13, 2005, 01:48: Message edited by: Arabwel ]

 

Alistair had heard the calling of the captain and watched as Meatloaf, Jacques, and Zheng rush upstairs. Smiling wryly, he made his ways to the cabins instead, lay down on his hammock, sighed, and munched on an apple instead of smoking.

It wasn't that he didn't respect the dead. He himself might even possibly be dead if it wasn't for them. It's just that, he reflected, it's just that he doesn't ever want to see another burial of the dead again if he could avoid it.

A gentle plop of a body being tossed overboard came from above. He raised up his hand in a salute.