smackenzie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smackenzie) wrote2013-11-04 08:44 am
smackenzie) wrote2013-11-04 08:44 am
Entry tags:
in which there is no wind
Two weeks later, Maggie woke one morning to discover the sky covered with gray clouds and the Black Lightning bobbing gently in a flat, becalmed sea. There was a glare on the water, despite the fact that she could not see the sun, and the air was already almost oppressively warm. She swore as she pulled on a shirt and breeches and went out to find Severein to ask him where they were, and Bernade to ask her what they were going to do about it.
Severein was asleep in a corner of the deck, and Bernade was belowdecks settling a dispute between two pirates. Since he was closer to hand and she did not want to interrupt Bernade in the dispensation of justice, Maggie kicked Severein awake.
“Where are we?” she demanded, as he sat up and squinted at her. He pushed straggly nearly-white hair out of his eyes, yawned, stretched, and shrugged.
“About where we were at midnight, is my guess,” he said. “We do not seem to be moving, and I cannot believe we have moved much in the last several hours.” He got to his feet. “You wish to know which way we should go.” It was not a question.
“I do indeed wish to know that. Point us in a productive direction.” And with that she walked away to find Bernade and breakfast.
The Black Lightning had actually acquired a cook in Port Doras, a girl named Ellim with stick-straight blonde hair awkwardly chopped off just below her ears. She had been on ships – pirate and not – since she was eleven, but most importantly she knew how to feed a crowd with the provisions on hand. Doren had filled the hold with dried beef and hard biscuits, the same kinds of things the Royal Navy fed its sailors, but also beer and rum (both of which had been fortified with lemon or lime juice to help prevent scurvy) and coffee and dried fish and chicken coops and goats. She had even acquired a couple of barrels of honey. The crew did not get eggs or fresh milk very often, but they did get them, and it was Ellim's job to make the best of what they had.
She was set up on the quarterdeck, smack in the middle of the ship, boiling coffee in a giant pot. (When she had finished administering punishments – if necessary – to the two pirates who had disrupted her sleep, Bernade would make sure everyone had something to eat.) There was not much activity on the ship yet – Maggie looked up to see a few girls crawling among the rigging high overhead, inspecting it and the sails to report back to Doren so Doren could report back to Maggie – but it did not look as if the day would require much necessary work, aside from the daily routine of making sure the ship was still in good condition. And since they had done nothing and seen nothing (and had certainly hit nothing) since yesterday, it was likely to be a very slow day.
Ellim dipped a cup into her giant pot and handed it to Maggie, who swallowed a grateful mouthful before remembering that she should let it cool. She nearly spit it back into the cup to avoid burning her tongue and the roof of her mouth. Ellim said nothing. Maggie walked across the deck to where Doren was watching the riggers.
“All good, Captain,” Doren said. “The sails are still in fine condition.”
“Good. Let them all out in case there is a breeze.”
It didn't look breezy, but it never hurt to be prepared.
Bernade came up from mediating the dispute, dragging two boys behind her. (There were few men on the Black Lighting, but Maggie would take them if they wished to sail with her, and occasionally they did. A boy could put up with a ship full of women who might cut his ear off in his sleep, just for a chance to sail under Red Maggie's flag.) Maggie waved her over to ask about the dead calm and find out what the disagreement had been over.
“This one” - Bernade jerked the arm of the curly-haired blond boy, who yelped - “decided that he no longer wanted to fuck this one” - now she jerked the arm of the other boy, who had dark hair pulled back in a short and untidy ponytail - “and this one” - another jerk on the dark-haired boy's arm - “decided that he was not going to stand for it. It was nothing more than a lovers' spat. So three lashes each for fighting a fellow pirate.”
The rule for romance among pirates was on the surface fairly simple – do not do it. Take advantage of the men and women on offer on shore, but do not get intimate with one's crewmates. The reasoning for this had been adopted from the integrated Royal Navy and was likewise fairly simple – captains (and other officers and the rest of the crew) did not want to have to deal with a pregnant sailor on what could be a very long voyage away from home. One of the reasons Maggie tried to fill the Black Lightning with female pirates – and why she had preferred mainly female sailors back in her military days – was that this was less of an issue when there were so few men on board. They could not, as might be supposed, work their way through the crew. The women wouldn't let them.
In the navy, a man and a woman embarking on a clandestine affair would both be put ashore as soon as possible, or turned over to another navy vessel to be conveyed to shore if that was more convenient. On a pirate ship, the offending couple would be tried by a jury of their fellow pirates, and sentenced by majority vote. Generally they were likewise put ashore. There was no privacy on a pirate ship, and everyone knew everyone else's business, and because a man and woman caught having sex tended to lead to mild punishment for everyone, the pirates policed themselves to try and prevent it from happening.
However, in the case of same-sex intimacy, the rules were a bit more relaxed, as no pregnancy could result from two women – or two men - sneaking off to find a private corner of the hold. Maggie understood that they could be at sea for months at a time, and that people had needs, and on a ship where the punishment for cross-sex dalliances was severe, a pirate might turn to one of her own sex for release. Maggie had been with women herself – and everyone knew Bernade's preferences - and while she would not encourage it on her ship, she could not exactly discourage it either. And as long as the two people involved did not cause any disturbances or drama among the rest of the crew, neither she nor Bernade would interfere.
Fighting was another matter. Bernade kept order on the Black Lightning, and fights always rated a punishment. In this case, three lashes.
Maggie finished her coffee, which had cooled enough to drink by now, as Bernade directed each boy to hug the main mast while she gave him three lashes across his back. Afterwards, Ellim (who had some shipboard medical training) bandaged them up and Bernade sent them back to work – in this case, going back belowdecks to assist the master gunner in looking after the cannons and cannonballs and making sure the powder was dry. She warned them to be careful in the heat, because they could not afford a gunpowder explosion.
“Now what do we do about the dead calm?” Maggie asked her, after the boys had limped away.
“Wait,” Bernade suggested. “We cannot row. There are no doubt leaks to prevent and the deck to swab. Cards to play, dice to throw, tall tales to tell. Rigging to maintain. Ropes to untangle. Knots and tackle to check over. Clothes to wash and mend.”
“Are you not impatient for a prize?”
“Of course I am. But what can we do?” It was a rhetorical question. She shrugged theatrically “I must make sure everyone is fed. That is something I can do.” And she headed off to do it.
Maggie took Doren's report on the rigging – all well, no problems, as many sails unfurled as made sense – and then went looking for Severein to see if he had any idea which way they should be pointing. He did not. Maggie resisted the urge to yell at him, and then did it anyway. She thought he might be resisting the urge to yell back, which was as it should be. But none of their argument helped his navigation any.
So the day was spent in basic ship maintenance, basic personal maintenance, gambling, and all the tiny things the pirates did to occupy themselves when there was nothing to do. In this they were no different from their law-abiding military brethren, although they liked to think of themselves as wilder, fiercer, and more interesting. And in most cases they were wilder, fiercer, and more interesting. But sailors on a becalmed ship were just as likely as pirates to entertain themselves with telling stories, mending their clothes, and carving things out of spare bits of wood or bone.
A chicken got out of its coop in the hold, and there was a brief flurry of excitement as several pirates, plus Bernade, were dispatched to catch it. It was scared but it was not smart, and when it failed to stuff itself behind the barrels of biscuits, one of the pirates managed to catch it. For that she recevied an extra ration of rum at dinner. The chicken received nothing except a return to captivity.
The heat and inactivity made the crew tired and crabby, but by some miracle everyone managed to behave just well enough that there were no fights. Even the two boys with the lovers' spat accepted their punishment and did their work for the master gunner without argument.
(The next day it was reported to Bernade, who reported it to Maggie, that they returned to each other and enjoyed a very quiet and very quick fuck bent over a cannon at the end of the row, late that night after most of the pirates had gone to sleep and the only people awake were the night watch.)
words: 1781
total words: 5463
Severein was asleep in a corner of the deck, and Bernade was belowdecks settling a dispute between two pirates. Since he was closer to hand and she did not want to interrupt Bernade in the dispensation of justice, Maggie kicked Severein awake.
“Where are we?” she demanded, as he sat up and squinted at her. He pushed straggly nearly-white hair out of his eyes, yawned, stretched, and shrugged.
“About where we were at midnight, is my guess,” he said. “We do not seem to be moving, and I cannot believe we have moved much in the last several hours.” He got to his feet. “You wish to know which way we should go.” It was not a question.
“I do indeed wish to know that. Point us in a productive direction.” And with that she walked away to find Bernade and breakfast.
The Black Lightning had actually acquired a cook in Port Doras, a girl named Ellim with stick-straight blonde hair awkwardly chopped off just below her ears. She had been on ships – pirate and not – since she was eleven, but most importantly she knew how to feed a crowd with the provisions on hand. Doren had filled the hold with dried beef and hard biscuits, the same kinds of things the Royal Navy fed its sailors, but also beer and rum (both of which had been fortified with lemon or lime juice to help prevent scurvy) and coffee and dried fish and chicken coops and goats. She had even acquired a couple of barrels of honey. The crew did not get eggs or fresh milk very often, but they did get them, and it was Ellim's job to make the best of what they had.
She was set up on the quarterdeck, smack in the middle of the ship, boiling coffee in a giant pot. (When she had finished administering punishments – if necessary – to the two pirates who had disrupted her sleep, Bernade would make sure everyone had something to eat.) There was not much activity on the ship yet – Maggie looked up to see a few girls crawling among the rigging high overhead, inspecting it and the sails to report back to Doren so Doren could report back to Maggie – but it did not look as if the day would require much necessary work, aside from the daily routine of making sure the ship was still in good condition. And since they had done nothing and seen nothing (and had certainly hit nothing) since yesterday, it was likely to be a very slow day.
Ellim dipped a cup into her giant pot and handed it to Maggie, who swallowed a grateful mouthful before remembering that she should let it cool. She nearly spit it back into the cup to avoid burning her tongue and the roof of her mouth. Ellim said nothing. Maggie walked across the deck to where Doren was watching the riggers.
“All good, Captain,” Doren said. “The sails are still in fine condition.”
“Good. Let them all out in case there is a breeze.”
It didn't look breezy, but it never hurt to be prepared.
Bernade came up from mediating the dispute, dragging two boys behind her. (There were few men on the Black Lighting, but Maggie would take them if they wished to sail with her, and occasionally they did. A boy could put up with a ship full of women who might cut his ear off in his sleep, just for a chance to sail under Red Maggie's flag.) Maggie waved her over to ask about the dead calm and find out what the disagreement had been over.
“This one” - Bernade jerked the arm of the curly-haired blond boy, who yelped - “decided that he no longer wanted to fuck this one” - now she jerked the arm of the other boy, who had dark hair pulled back in a short and untidy ponytail - “and this one” - another jerk on the dark-haired boy's arm - “decided that he was not going to stand for it. It was nothing more than a lovers' spat. So three lashes each for fighting a fellow pirate.”
The rule for romance among pirates was on the surface fairly simple – do not do it. Take advantage of the men and women on offer on shore, but do not get intimate with one's crewmates. The reasoning for this had been adopted from the integrated Royal Navy and was likewise fairly simple – captains (and other officers and the rest of the crew) did not want to have to deal with a pregnant sailor on what could be a very long voyage away from home. One of the reasons Maggie tried to fill the Black Lightning with female pirates – and why she had preferred mainly female sailors back in her military days – was that this was less of an issue when there were so few men on board. They could not, as might be supposed, work their way through the crew. The women wouldn't let them.
In the navy, a man and a woman embarking on a clandestine affair would both be put ashore as soon as possible, or turned over to another navy vessel to be conveyed to shore if that was more convenient. On a pirate ship, the offending couple would be tried by a jury of their fellow pirates, and sentenced by majority vote. Generally they were likewise put ashore. There was no privacy on a pirate ship, and everyone knew everyone else's business, and because a man and woman caught having sex tended to lead to mild punishment for everyone, the pirates policed themselves to try and prevent it from happening.
However, in the case of same-sex intimacy, the rules were a bit more relaxed, as no pregnancy could result from two women – or two men - sneaking off to find a private corner of the hold. Maggie understood that they could be at sea for months at a time, and that people had needs, and on a ship where the punishment for cross-sex dalliances was severe, a pirate might turn to one of her own sex for release. Maggie had been with women herself – and everyone knew Bernade's preferences - and while she would not encourage it on her ship, she could not exactly discourage it either. And as long as the two people involved did not cause any disturbances or drama among the rest of the crew, neither she nor Bernade would interfere.
Fighting was another matter. Bernade kept order on the Black Lightning, and fights always rated a punishment. In this case, three lashes.
Maggie finished her coffee, which had cooled enough to drink by now, as Bernade directed each boy to hug the main mast while she gave him three lashes across his back. Afterwards, Ellim (who had some shipboard medical training) bandaged them up and Bernade sent them back to work – in this case, going back belowdecks to assist the master gunner in looking after the cannons and cannonballs and making sure the powder was dry. She warned them to be careful in the heat, because they could not afford a gunpowder explosion.
“Now what do we do about the dead calm?” Maggie asked her, after the boys had limped away.
“Wait,” Bernade suggested. “We cannot row. There are no doubt leaks to prevent and the deck to swab. Cards to play, dice to throw, tall tales to tell. Rigging to maintain. Ropes to untangle. Knots and tackle to check over. Clothes to wash and mend.”
“Are you not impatient for a prize?”
“Of course I am. But what can we do?” It was a rhetorical question. She shrugged theatrically “I must make sure everyone is fed. That is something I can do.” And she headed off to do it.
Maggie took Doren's report on the rigging – all well, no problems, as many sails unfurled as made sense – and then went looking for Severein to see if he had any idea which way they should be pointing. He did not. Maggie resisted the urge to yell at him, and then did it anyway. She thought he might be resisting the urge to yell back, which was as it should be. But none of their argument helped his navigation any.
So the day was spent in basic ship maintenance, basic personal maintenance, gambling, and all the tiny things the pirates did to occupy themselves when there was nothing to do. In this they were no different from their law-abiding military brethren, although they liked to think of themselves as wilder, fiercer, and more interesting. And in most cases they were wilder, fiercer, and more interesting. But sailors on a becalmed ship were just as likely as pirates to entertain themselves with telling stories, mending their clothes, and carving things out of spare bits of wood or bone.
A chicken got out of its coop in the hold, and there was a brief flurry of excitement as several pirates, plus Bernade, were dispatched to catch it. It was scared but it was not smart, and when it failed to stuff itself behind the barrels of biscuits, one of the pirates managed to catch it. For that she recevied an extra ration of rum at dinner. The chicken received nothing except a return to captivity.
The heat and inactivity made the crew tired and crabby, but by some miracle everyone managed to behave just well enough that there were no fights. Even the two boys with the lovers' spat accepted their punishment and did their work for the master gunner without argument.
(The next day it was reported to Bernade, who reported it to Maggie, that they returned to each other and enjoyed a very quiet and very quick fuck bent over a cannon at the end of the row, late that night after most of the pirates had gone to sleep and the only people awake were the night watch.)
words: 1781
total words: 5463