Silas handed a large pouch of coins to the harbormaster and heading back onto the deck of the ship. Alonzo emerged from below decks. “So? How’d it go?”
“They’re gonna bring in a few more cannons and strengthen up the hull a little bit.”
Alonzo nodded. “Good, that’s gonna come in handy.”
“Aye, now let’s go, Parker said he had a proposition for us.”
The two men stepped into the tavern, but as they headed to where everyone normally sat, there were two large men in brown privateer’s robes. Parker was leaning against one of the wooden beams coming down from the ceiling. “Who are they?”
Parker shrugged. “No idea. They were there when I got here, I don’t really care that much.”
“Well, I do,” Silas said as he walked up to the two men. He tapped one of them on the shoulder and he swung around. “Excuse me, I think you’re in our spot.”
The man scoffed. “What are you gonna do about it boy?”
“You really should watch what you say to me, I’m not exactly one to be trifled with.”
The man rolled his eyes before turning around and resuming his conversation with the other man.
“Don’t ignore me!” Silas grabbed him by the collar and spun him around again, but only to get punched in the face and sent across the tavern. The musicians stopped playing as the two men stood up and started walking over to Silas. Alonzo came up behind one of them and smashed a bottle over his head, sending his body crumbling to the floor like a sack of bricks. The other man swung around trying to hit Alonzo with all of his weight, but he rolled out of the way. By now, everyone in the tavern had gathered around the fight, all of them were cheering for one side or another. Silas ran up to him, drilling his fist in his shoulder blade. He backed up, shaking his fist furiously, he had a lot stronger shoulders than he expected. He swatted Alonzo away from behind him before moving back to Silas, crouched down next to him, only to get kicked in the head by Parker and knocked unconscious before he even had a chance to react.
Before long, everything had returned to its usual mood, the musicians started playing music again and everyone resumed their conversations. Silas, Alonzo, and Parker all sat down at the bar. Silas looked at Parker with a smug grin on his face, only for it be quickly wiped away by a stern scowl from Parker. “You’ve got a lot to learn boy.” Silas tossed a few coins onto the counter and the bartender slid a bottle of rum over to him.
“We’re pirates Parker, we do what we want, and if I want to start a fight in a bar, then that’s what I’ll do. Now about this proposition, you have for us.” He slammed the bottle down on the counter after taking a big swig.
Parker sighed. “One of my contacts tipped me off about a royal convoy on the way back to London, carrying a significant amount of coin.”
Silas’s interest was peaked. “How much gold are we talking about here?”
“I’d say at least 10,000 pounds.”
“What’s the catch?” Silas raised a brow.
“The problem is that the convoy is well guarded. The coin itself is on a frigate, and that frigate is guarded by two brigs and a schooner.”
“So you want me as extra muscle is what you’re saying?” Silas grinned.
“Muscle isn’t the word I’d use, not by a long shot. Are you in or not?”
Silas and Alonzo looked at each other before nodding. “We’re in, when are we leaving?”
“Now, we’re going here to wait for it so we can attack the convoy.” Parker pulled out his map and pointed at a spot.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”
Silas pulled the Morning Star up alongside Parker’s ship, the Silent Vesper. “You ready for this Silas?” He asked.
Before he could reply, Silas was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing from the crow’s nest. “Convoy on the horizon sir!” Their spotter, Dalton, called down.
“That’s our cue, let’s get moving.” Parker grabbed the wheel of his ship. “Let the mains free!” He bellowed. The main sails on his ship dropped down and he started slowly gliding across the water, Silas followed behind him. They appeared from behind a small island, coming at the convoy from behind. As they inched closer and closer to the frigate, the schooner escorting the convoy was quickly torn to splinters by their broadside cannons. Silas crashed into the frigate with his ram before pulling away before they could shoot at them. Silas spun around to face one of the other brigs, which was approaching them fast. He veered the ship to the right, only barely scraping past the ship, and unloading a barrage of broadside shots as they passed. Parker was unloading a wall of chain shots into the frigate’s sails, leaving them dead in the water.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“The frigate’s incapacitated!” Silas shouted. “Let’s take care of these two so we can board them.” The four ships weaved around each other, like an intricate dance, firing off volleys of cannon fire at every available opportunity. Finally, both ships started descending to the bottom of the ocean.
The two ships pulled up alongside the frigate, throwing grappling hooks against the rails of the ships. The pirates started exchanging gunfire with the British soldiers on board. The soldiers were quickly outnumbered by the pirates, they couldn’t fight an attack on two sides. Slowly but surely the pirates started leaping onto the deck of the frigate, clashing swords with the soldiers. Silas and Parker fought their way onto the upper decks where the captain was barking orders at his crew. Before Parker could react, Silas leaped forward, thrusting his sword toward the captain’s chest, he slid to the left, swinging his sword down toward Silas like an executioner’s ax. He blocked it, but the captain pressed down with all of his strength. Silas drove his knee up right into his stomach, the captain staggered backward gasping for breath. Silas quickly ran his sword right through the captain’s chest, he crumpled to the ground in a limp pile as Silas drew his sword out. As the captain’s body landed on the deck with a thud, the whole ship went silent. The British soldier’s all looked around at each other and one by one slowly start putting their hands up.
Silas sheathed his cutlass in his scabbard. “Alonzo, with me, we’re going to search the hold.” Alonzo nodded. He kicked down the trapdoor leading into the ship and the two men descended into the ship. They looked around as the investigated the hold, it was covered in gold. But as they went lower and lower into the ship, that quickly changed. As they reached the bottom level of the ship, they saw four men chained to the wall. Silas and Alonzo looked at each other. “Well are you just gonna stand there and watch all day are you gonna get us out of here?” One of them said impatiently, he looked young, younger than Silas. He had a very slender figure, his dark brown hair was tied back into a small ponytail, and his blue eyes burned into Silas’s soul with pure disdain. There was something about him that seemed familiar, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Silas and Alonzo unchained them and helped them to their feet. “So what’s your name?” He was mainly interested in the one that had snapped at him.
“Roman Benett, why do you care?”
Silas paced around him in a circle. “And why are you here?”
“What the hell do you think?”
Silas laughed. “I like you, Roman, what do you say about joining the crew of the Morning Star.
Roman raised a brow, his eyes locked intently on Silas. “Who exactly are you?”
Silas did a mock bow. “Captain Silas Caldwell, at your service.”
Roman was quiet for a moment, staring out the small hole in the hull. “Alright, seeing as how I don’t really have much of a choice, why not?”
Silas, Alonzo, and Roman all emerged from the hold of the ship, Parker stood waiting for them. “Well, what’d you find?”
“We found this one, he’s joining my crew. But other than that the gold’s all there,” Silas replied.
Parker nodded. “Alright good, let’s load it up and set sail if we hurry we can make it back to Kingston before dark.”
They loaded most of the gold into Parker’s ship since he had more room in his ship. The two ships slid into the port in Kingston. They strode onto the dock as the sun started dipping behind the horizon. “So how are we splitting the gold?” Silas asked.
“We’re not,” Parker said. “Whatever you have in your ship is what you're keeping.”
“What?! I thought we were splitting it evenly!” Silas said, his brow furrowing.
Parker shrugged. “I never agreed to that. Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean I’m gonna show you any favoritism, Silas.” He turned around and started heading back to the tavern. “Let this be a lesson to you kid, you always negotiate your cut.” He said as he walked away.
Silas let out an exasperated sigh. “Whatever.” He looked over at Roman. “Hey kid, why don’t you come with us.” He rolled his eyes before following them into the town.
“Why are you dragging me along with you anyways?” He asked.
Silas smiled. “Because I like your grit kid, you’ve got potential. You remind me of myself actually.”
Roman scoffed as they entered the tavern. Sam, Miles, and Parker were all sitting at their usual spot, laughing about something.
“So Parker duped you did he?” Sam asked as they joined them.
“I wouldn’t say duped, more like cheated,” Silas replied, shooting a glare at Parker.
“This is business Silas, and here, cheating is the business.”
Miles was focused on Roman. “So who’s this then?” He asked.
“This is Roman Benett, I found him as a prisoner on the ship we took and decided to bring him with as part of my crew,” Silas answered.
“He looks awfully young,” Sam said as he stood up, walking over to Roman. “So how old are you lad?”
Roman backed up a bit. “That’s none of your business, I’m just as good a pirate as all the others,” He said, scowling at Sam.
He leaned in with Silas. “I see why you grabbed him,” He muttered.
“See,” Silas said, smirking. “I make good calls.”
Sam scoffed. “You’ve still got a long way to go before you’re gonna prove anything to me, Silas.”
Silas raised a brow. “Is that a challenge?” He asked.
“If you wanna see it as a challenge then, by all means, go right ahead.”
“Alright then, old man, you’re on,”