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smackenzie"I do not know if 'fun' is the word I would use, but it will at the very least be interesting. Thank you again, and be safe."
"Always." Bernade tipped her hat and climbed over the gunwale and down the rope ladder to the rowboat. And Maggie resumed her post as captain and directed Adriata to find them open water and a good breeze.
Two weeks later the Black Lightning sailed around the island where the proposed navy council would take place. There was no law or order here, and the only reason Maggie docked her ship at Port Doras rather than this place was because Port Doras had a better harbor. But here she could meet with her pirate captains and formally form her navy and make her plans to spread word and instill terror and, finally, to go to the aid of the king-in-exile and push the Usurper off the throne and into exile.
She told her crew that they could disembark if they wished, but she did not plan to be here for very many days, so they should be prepared to sail at any time. Doren commented that she had never known any group of pirates to take long to make a decision - the men who rose to captaincies were generally a fast-thinking bunch - and she expected Maggie would conclude her business and the Black Lightning would set sail within a few days.
"We will see," was all Maggie said, for she had been a captain in the Royal Navy before she was a pirate, and she knew that sometimes it did take a week to plan a navy's next move, for the simple reason that every officer involved had his own needs and his own agenda and his own politics, and no one wished to bring up the rear. And pirates were like anyone - they wanted the most they could get for their efforts, and they would scheme and plot for as long as it took to get it.
She picked a small group to go with her - Abna, Doren, Adriata, Yora, several of her crew - and argued with the priest when he announced he would go as well.
"You are not a fighter," she said, "nor are you frightening. You have no specialized knowledge I can use in council, and I will not be giving the floor over to you so you can speak on my behalf. You are pretty, and so might catch someone's eye and perhaps sway him more my way if he is recalcitrant, but you are not a useful addition to my party."
He looked disappointed and a bit offended, but she would not change her mind.
"Perhaps Ellim will look after you, if you are afraid of being off the ship on your own. You may stay on board if you wish. Do not argue with me, priest, and do not worry. It will all come out all right. I know it will. Remember how well you understand pirates, and trust me."
And with those words she took her small entourage and walked off the ship.
But she soon discovered that it was too early to start gathering her council, for the simple reason that not all her captains had arrived. She was told that Herran the Stork and his ship the St Rhadagant were but two days away if the weather held, and there had been a shakeup on the Shield of Glory and the captain with whom Maggie had made her deal had been unseated and subsequently killed in a duel as he tried to win the ship back. She had made no deal with the new captain, a man named Cayle, who had no wish to join her navy. She went to see him anyway.
There was no official law and order on the island, but pirates had a code of their own, and she was not worried about being molested or otherwise attacked as she and her small complement of pirates made their way through the streets to the tavern where this Captain Cayle was holding forth in a private room. She did not entirely convince him to join her, but she at least managed to intrigue him enough to attend the meeting of her future council.
And so four days later, they gathered - Maggie and all her pirate captains - in the great hall of a house that she had appropriated for that very purpose. There was a commotion as everyone found a seat, jockeying for position around the huge table, and Maggie let them all talk and argue and theorize while she counted heads and recited her planned speech to herself. And then when she tried to get their attention and failed, she stood on her seat and fired her pistol at the ceiling, and that got everyone's attention.
"You know who I am," she started without preamble, "and you know what I have done. My ship was boarded by the pirates of the black ship Aconite and yet we pushed them back. I was twice wounded by a poisoned blade and yet I stand before you fully healed. Prisons cannot hold me. Even death cannot keep me. You who would not let a woman step one foot on your ships for fear of attracting bad luck, you should know that my crew is entirely women, and that we sail under lucky stars.
"The fact that you are here tells me that you are interested in hearing what I have to say. And what I have to say is this: Together we will lay waste to entire cities, and those we cannot take we will blockade. We will harry navies, go up against ships of the line, and sink them all. You will bloody your swords and empty your pistols. I will bring you gold and power and the gratitude of a king, and if you so desire, you may retire wealthy men.
"That is my offer. Follow me or no, but understand that if you do not sail with me, it will be as if you were sailing against me."
words: 960
total words: 42,115
"Always." Bernade tipped her hat and climbed over the gunwale and down the rope ladder to the rowboat. And Maggie resumed her post as captain and directed Adriata to find them open water and a good breeze.
Two weeks later the Black Lightning sailed around the island where the proposed navy council would take place. There was no law or order here, and the only reason Maggie docked her ship at Port Doras rather than this place was because Port Doras had a better harbor. But here she could meet with her pirate captains and formally form her navy and make her plans to spread word and instill terror and, finally, to go to the aid of the king-in-exile and push the Usurper off the throne and into exile.
She told her crew that they could disembark if they wished, but she did not plan to be here for very many days, so they should be prepared to sail at any time. Doren commented that she had never known any group of pirates to take long to make a decision - the men who rose to captaincies were generally a fast-thinking bunch - and she expected Maggie would conclude her business and the Black Lightning would set sail within a few days.
"We will see," was all Maggie said, for she had been a captain in the Royal Navy before she was a pirate, and she knew that sometimes it did take a week to plan a navy's next move, for the simple reason that every officer involved had his own needs and his own agenda and his own politics, and no one wished to bring up the rear. And pirates were like anyone - they wanted the most they could get for their efforts, and they would scheme and plot for as long as it took to get it.
She picked a small group to go with her - Abna, Doren, Adriata, Yora, several of her crew - and argued with the priest when he announced he would go as well.
"You are not a fighter," she said, "nor are you frightening. You have no specialized knowledge I can use in council, and I will not be giving the floor over to you so you can speak on my behalf. You are pretty, and so might catch someone's eye and perhaps sway him more my way if he is recalcitrant, but you are not a useful addition to my party."
He looked disappointed and a bit offended, but she would not change her mind.
"Perhaps Ellim will look after you, if you are afraid of being off the ship on your own. You may stay on board if you wish. Do not argue with me, priest, and do not worry. It will all come out all right. I know it will. Remember how well you understand pirates, and trust me."
And with those words she took her small entourage and walked off the ship.
But she soon discovered that it was too early to start gathering her council, for the simple reason that not all her captains had arrived. She was told that Herran the Stork and his ship the St Rhadagant were but two days away if the weather held, and there had been a shakeup on the Shield of Glory and the captain with whom Maggie had made her deal had been unseated and subsequently killed in a duel as he tried to win the ship back. She had made no deal with the new captain, a man named Cayle, who had no wish to join her navy. She went to see him anyway.
There was no official law and order on the island, but pirates had a code of their own, and she was not worried about being molested or otherwise attacked as she and her small complement of pirates made their way through the streets to the tavern where this Captain Cayle was holding forth in a private room. She did not entirely convince him to join her, but she at least managed to intrigue him enough to attend the meeting of her future council.
And so four days later, they gathered - Maggie and all her pirate captains - in the great hall of a house that she had appropriated for that very purpose. There was a commotion as everyone found a seat, jockeying for position around the huge table, and Maggie let them all talk and argue and theorize while she counted heads and recited her planned speech to herself. And then when she tried to get their attention and failed, she stood on her seat and fired her pistol at the ceiling, and that got everyone's attention.
"You know who I am," she started without preamble, "and you know what I have done. My ship was boarded by the pirates of the black ship Aconite and yet we pushed them back. I was twice wounded by a poisoned blade and yet I stand before you fully healed. Prisons cannot hold me. Even death cannot keep me. You who would not let a woman step one foot on your ships for fear of attracting bad luck, you should know that my crew is entirely women, and that we sail under lucky stars.
"The fact that you are here tells me that you are interested in hearing what I have to say. And what I have to say is this: Together we will lay waste to entire cities, and those we cannot take we will blockade. We will harry navies, go up against ships of the line, and sink them all. You will bloody your swords and empty your pistols. I will bring you gold and power and the gratitude of a king, and if you so desire, you may retire wealthy men.
"That is my offer. Follow me or no, but understand that if you do not sail with me, it will be as if you were sailing against me."
words: 960
total words: 42,115
