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“GOOD MORNING, MY BROTHER!” shouted Captain Willis Sturgeon, a gray-eyed stoutly devil from aboard the Annabelle. “Have you seen the sky behind you? We’ve been given a good omen.”
I turned around to see a rainbow spreading high into the heavens and the moment I paused to look up, a seagull shit on my shoulder. “What the fuck?” I snapped.
A line of seamen, waiting to be inspected in hopes of becoming a part of Annabelle’s crew, wailed with laughter.
“That’s two good omens in a row,” cried the Captain, slapping his thigh. “Perhaps, we should set sail today instead of waiting on orders. With this much luck, we might find the Fountain of Youth.”
“We have orders,” I shouted back as I made my way up the plank and onto the deck.
Captain Willis lifted his two-horned hat to scratch his head. “How’s that?”
I marched straight to Willis, my Captain, to give him the papers I lobbied for just moments ago. “We are to accompany Captain Porterman to see our majesty’s treasure and ammunition safely to the Americas. They depart this afternoon.”
“What the hell did you do?” Willis asked unrolling the papers. “We don’t even have a full crew.”
I said nothing as Willis read the handwritten cursive until he rolled the papers back up and smacked me on the forehead with them.
I stuck out my chest and lifted my chin. “I’m ready to depart and escorting this ship will be a fine journey.”
“Journey? Who the hell are you and where is my friend that has become like a brother? What’s on this ship that you want so bad, Orphelius?”
“Gold and ammunition and a reason to go to the Americas. You’ve always wanted to go the new coast. You speak of it incessantly.”
“Not with slaves! Have you seen the shorthanded list on this manifest? There are slaves—expensive ones. Women in chains. We don’t do slaves, or did you forget? Take these orders back and tell them I do not consent and any confusion in the matter is your doing and if you should be punished for it, I will give you the lashings myself.”
“Captain,” I said firmly. Both of my hands had unconsciously gripped my sword and Willis had caught sight of my grip at the hilt. “We must accompany this ship.”
The wrinkle between Willis’s brows furrowed deep. He looked about the ship, as did I; several seamen were watching. “Orphelius, you look like you’re about to start a mutiny and you hardly even have a crew to do it. If you are desperate to go to America, we will. But not among slaves or in the company of slaves and certainly not today.”
I gritted my teeth. “What is your problem with slave women? You fuck whores all the time.”
“Rarely do I fuck whores,” he replied, still looking about to check who was listening in and he lowered his voice. “Women throw themselves upon me as they do you. But in the rare case I find myself attracted to a woman who is a whore, I pay her well and I do not force her to do anything she does not want to do. But that is not the issue here, is it? Why are you so ready to depart and why, of all the ships, do you want to accompany this ship? It is not like you to seem interested in the details of where’er we are destined. You normally leave that to me...unless?” Captain Will reached under the folds of his jacket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me with a gesture to wipe the bird feces from my shoulder. “There are rumors of a master swordsman who came to the aid of a whore last night. This master swordsman wouldn’t happen to be my Master at Arms, would he?”
I didn’t look at Willis. Instead, I wiped the bird shit. Willis and I, we were—are— more than friends; we are more like brothers, but he was still my superior and I didn’t know how he was going to feel about what I’d done for the sake of a strumpet.
“I see,” he groaned with suspicion. “I have to say, I’m quite disappointed in you, Orphelius.”
I huffed, finally looking at him. “I only killed two men after they had already murdered one man. I could not wait to consult with you for an order or—”
“I’m not talking about that. I trust you to take justice into your own hands. I’m just surprised to see you could fall in love so quickly. And with a used wench, no less?”
“She’s hardly used. Known only to one other man, a man who abuses her.”
Captain Willis walked away to lean over the edge of the ship and cast his eyes on the men lined up below along the pier. “We will take the first twenty men,” he shouted.
The first twenty men cheered as they raced up the plank while the other men cursed and slouched to walk away, except for one man who yelled with a fury from the back of the line.
“No, wait!” the man cried, racing up the plank with a stomping and leaping over whatever stood in his way to come straight to Willis and myself. It was obvious he was a seaman, but he had never been on a navy vessel—no discipline. “Please, I’d like to join this crew,” he begged.
“We only need twenty,” announced Willis, turning his back to the man to walk away.
The man pleaded. “But, I’m a fine navigator.”
Willis paused, holding up his compass made of gold—the one gift he kept from his father, whom I believe he hated. “I’m the navigator. That’s what being the Captain means and I’m confident I’m a much finer navigator than you.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why I’d like to join your crew. It’s my understanding that no finer adventure awaits than the one navigated by Captain Willis Sturgeon in the company of his friend, Master Orphelius Mayhem.”
I chuckled when Willis turned back to face the lad. I could sense the compliment would earn the seaman a spot on our ship.
“Adventure?” Willis roared with a smile also examining the seaman. “If adventure is what you seek, then why were you at the end of the line?”
“I’m sorry,” he replied, “I was—”
“Seaman,” interjected Willis with a most serious face, his chin up and brow raised. “When I call for help, you are to be at the front of the line. You will be the first to step up, the first to volunteer, and the first always at my side. Is that clear?”
He nodded. “Yes, Captain.”
“Give me your name.”
“My name is Henry,” he replied, straightening his spine.
“Henry,” smiled Captain Willis. “You speak heartily and your legs seem to carry you well. We need strong legs and men with backbone who are not afraid to speak up. Welcome aboard.”
