Nassau, 1718
"What… what have you done now, Kenway?" Benjamin Hornigold asked before cursing under his breath as he stepped up the steps to the unkempt tavern made lively with the sounds of moaning men clutching their sore sides as they writhed on the ground, doing his best to avoid the shattered glass of broken rum bottles. In spite of his efforts, he stepped direct center into one Redcoat's pile of puke. Like a vein had burst on his neck, Hornigold twitched before letting loose an untampered monsoon of curses from the heart. "Oh, for God's sake, you pissant sheep-fucker! You can't just assault the King's men carefree like this, not when the full force of the bloody navy is looming on the horizon!"
Sitting at the bar, Edward Kenway only smirked as the red-haired barmaid named Anne refilled his glass, amused by Benjamin Hornigold's irate antics as he started to stomp into the face of an unconscious redcoat until it was literally a red stain with mixed bits of white and pink on the wood.
"This oul prat is actually a friend of yer's, Kenway?" Anne asked as she set aside the bottle. A wounded redcoat, one of his eyes gouged out, weakly crawled over to them. Edward frowned and he reached for the bottle. "No offense, but 'e's got somethin' up his arse."
"Mummy… please… I want me mumm" The redcoat moaned through a mouth of broken teeth right before Edward smashed the bottle down on him, splitting his head to the bone.
"I know. But still watchin' 'ol Benjamin's a real laugh riot, innit?" Edward chuckled as he tossed the bottle over his shoulder, knocking out another redcoat who was creeping up on them. "King's men or not, they should've known better then to step up right in me face and bark insults about my Jackdaw. Just 'cos they arrived on a Man of War doesn't mean their ship's bigger than mine! Bloody overcompensation is what they're preaching! Hmm, I think Rackham's finally coming to…"
"I… I was so good… me, beat down the whole lot of 'em sods…" Rackham moaned as he rubbed the purple bump on his head. Right as the barfight started, Jack Rackham had thrown a punch at one of the redcoats who was less than a millimeter away from him, only to miss and hit himself, knocking himself out instantly and breaking all the bones in his right hand. "The King will remember…" Rackham muttered as he staggered uncontrollably, tripping over everything. "…this day as the day he almost caught Captain Calico Jack Rackhaaaaaaaaaaargh!" He tripped over the railing and as he landed, there was the sound of a cat yowling in angered pain, followed by the sound of claws entering flesh and summarily the symphony concluded with Rackham's screaming.
Joined by Charles Vane, Edward and Anne looked over the railing at the thrashing Rackham as he tried to pull the cat off of him while Benjamin Hornigold continued to rant in the background about seeing why Thatch decided to call the whole damn thing quits. All of them did their best to hold in the building laughter in their bodies.
"The only captain you'll ever be, you little half-wit, is captain of your own delusions!" Vane cackled as the barman tossed Edward a bottle. With his hidden blade, he uncorked it, and dumped the rum all over the bloodied and crying Rackham as the shrieking cat fled at the very instant of dampening fur.
"Care fer another drink, Captain Kenway? You are a fascinating man..." Anne asked as she leaned against the wood railing.
"Ah, I'd love to, but I'm afraid I must be getting back to my ship now. The hunt for my fortune continues." Edward said as he handed her a few gold coins and walked down the steps with Charles Vane. Behind them, Benjamin Hornigold's voice cracked and he keeled forward, choking desperately for air as he vomited over the edge onto Rackham.
"What a loudmouthed pillock." Charles Vane said dismissively as he looked back. "Doin' nothin' but moanin' every chance he gets 'bout how our little republic experiment went to hell. What the fuck did the uptight shit expect from us? At least we ain't the ones mutterin' in our sleep about joinin' the crosses, whatever those are. Did he decide to go find God or some shite?"
"The bigger you dream, the harder you fall." Edward mused with a passing glimmer of sympathy as Benjamin Hornigold shook his fist at them while screaming the word bastards over and over in the distance. "What 'ave you got planned, Charles?"
"Some of my men have reported some British boys makin' camp by the swamp. Washin' their dirty laundry in the murky-waters, the pompous fools. Want to come with me to see who gets snapped up by a crocodile first?"
"Some other time, mate." Edward said as he and Charles Vane parted ways. Edward reached the beach, and stepped into a rowboat, pushing it out to sea. Trying not to think about Benjamin Hornigold's warnings or the news of a King's pardon. Was it better to live in a dream of one's own making or face the harshness of reality? All Edward knew at the moment was that there had been plenty of merry times with his fellow pirates, but there'd also been the sicknesses and the growing divisions between them. Even the rum wasn't tasting the same anymore.
Tulum
"I trust the voyage was not too rough, Edward?" Mary Read, sitting on a log on the shore, asked. Throughout the beach, Assassins were dragging dead men in uniforms through the sand.
"What happened here?" Edward asked, ignoring the venomous glares of all the Assassins as they became aware of his presence.
"Same old, same old. Only this time the Templars thought they could accomplish differently by sending some Frenchmen. It went horribly… for them." Mary nonchalantly said as she wiped blood from the tip of a sword. "I wouldn't venture further if I were you, Edward. Your name's still good as mud 'round here. Someone who lost a friend to your mischief is just itchin' to have an 'accident' during target practice."
"I suppose all the contracts I've been answering in your shit-lined pigeon coops haven't been enough to sway Ah Tabai's mind? Pity... I thought you people would be grateful if I assassinated all those meddlesome Templars."
"Aye, the help is appreciated, don't get me wrong. But any fool can kill a man, Edward. What makes the difference between the Assassin and the hired mercenary are the motives behind the killing, and if we hadn't the foresight to attach all those reales to those contracts…" Mary shrugged. "Who knows, good sir?"
"Why'd you send a letter to me in Nassau requesting my presence here, then?" Edward asked, suspicious. "I know that none of you Assassins are keen on just having a talk with me."
"Ah Tabai was reluctant to enlist you in this mission, but I put in my word for you. We need a captain of your experience." Mary answered as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a sack before tossing it to Edward. The contents rustled and jingled as it landed into his outstretched palms. "That's just the preliminary payment."
"Just preliminary, you say?" Edward's eyes twinkled and his heart skipped a beat as he made a quick estimate of the money inside. It was more money than the price of a man's life. "I'd been intending to catch up on a few Observatory leads, but I suppose I can make a few allotments in my schedule, yes."
Mary rolled her eyes while Edward was still rifling through the coins. Ah Tabai was right, he still had a long way to go, she thought. But sometimes it seemed like she was the only one who still trusted that Edward could turn around and start running in the right direction. She stood up and handed him some papers. He stole a glance at her, winced at her expression of disdain regarding his greed, and then looked through the papers. A drawing of a Man O' War and a fleet bearing a flag of a skeleton with an… "interesting" protrusion in its lower extremities entering a prisoner's eye socket, a sketch of an ornate box, and a map with coordinates.
"Another Templar needing to be taken out of the picture?" Edward asked as he took a step towards Mary. Before Mary could answer, another voice did.
"Not quite." Edward turned his head to see Ah Tabai emerging from the jungles with a contingent of Assassin guards. "Keep your hands away from her, Edward Kenway. Who knows where they've been, you rogue? And listen closely."
"Relax, mate. I'm still a married man. In my heart, that is." Edward said. "And please tell your friends to stop pointing those blowpipes at me."
"No." Ah Tabai's face was stone as he said that.
"Ah, fine then. Now tell me what the hell you want me to do, before I tire of your conspiracies and head off to Havana to get smashed." Edward said as he pocked the papers and crossed his arms.
"The Man O' War is named the Geoduck. It belongs to an enigmatic fellow called Richard Finn. But like your old friend Thatch, they call him by another name in hushed whispers… Spotted Dick." Mary explained to Edward.
"And what makes him any different from any other enterprising man of fortune?"
"He's a neutral party in this war between us and the Templars. In his eyes, everything is fair game for plunder." Ah Tabai said. "In the time that he's been terrorizing seafarers, he's accumulated a vast fortune. And not all of it is gold."
"Aye. We have cause to believe that Richard Finn has found artifacts pertaining to the same civilization of origin as that of the Observatory."
"Ah, you had my attention. Now you have my interest." Edward grinned. Everyone else frowned.
"It will not be an easy task." Ah Tabai warned. "In addition to his own bodyguards, it seems that our enemies have caught word of Richard Finn's treasure fleet. Both the Templars Woodes Rogers and Laureano Torres have hired men to pursue the fleet and acquire its bounty for the Templars. Independent parties, motivated by their greed, pursue the fleet as well. I should have sent reliable men I know I can trust for a mission of this magnitude, but Mary has persuaded me to set aside ten thousand of our reales to send you instead. Let us down…"
"And you'll do what?" Edward asked mockingly. "Do a wicked hex on me with your Assassin magic?"
"No. But you'll wish we had." Mary winked. Edward sighed and spoke. "Fine. I'll do it. But good men sail under my command. If I lose far too many on this chase you send me… I'll come calling for a few favors of my own. And if that happens, you'll wish they'd be as simple as killing a man, Assassins."
With that, Edward turned and began walking back to the rowboat. Behind him, Mary whispered to Ah Tabai and he nodded. She walked towards Edward, catching up.
"Mind dropping me off at Havana? There are a few acquaintances my hidden blade shall make."
"I suppose it's not too much trouble." Edward nodded as he and Mary got into the rowboat. As he rowed towards the anchored Jackdaw, another conversation was struck up as Mary started to pin her hair back up the way she wore it in her disguise as James Kidd.
"So what sort of favor were you referring to back there, Edward?"
"There's a life I left behind in Bristol. I haven't had much of a chance to… you know. I suppose with all your resources and expertise, checking up on a few things I remember won't be too hard a task for you Assassins."
"Ah, I see. You know, Edward, have you given it any more thought? Our proposal?"
"Join the Assassins? Nay, I say. If I dedicated my entire life to helping your goals, what of my own?"
"It's no wonder why the rest of us loathe you. You wear our best clothes and wield our blades, yet you serve only yourself. "
"You act as if that'll sway my mind. As if I give a damn of what the world regards of me. I have no place in my life for your mysticism, for your secret histories and conspiracies. All I want is the life I dreamed of, a place to sit and drink with all my mates without a single care in the world, a life where I'll never have to watch those I care about starve again."
"And what'll you do once you get that life, Captain Kenway? You ought to slow down, think all of this over…"
"If only I knew how to. I don't know, but I'm sure by then, I'll have figured it out."
"If the noose doesn't decide it for you first."
Mary Read was taking a rest in the Captain's quarters. Edward shut the door behind him, and draped a dusty cloak weathered by the winds and salty waves over his robes as he walked to the wheel.
"Captain at the helm!" Adewale called as Edward wrapped his hands around the spokes. The crew erupted in a cacophonous chorus of cheers. With another order, the crew rushed like ants as they unlashed the sails, and the Jackdaw began to tread through the water like a pod of dolphins.
"Where to, Edward?" Adewale asked as the crew began to chant the lyrics to a shanty. The sun was shining like sparkling diamonds... shining like the fortunes contained within a treasure chest, on the ocean surface. The sight was reassuring to Edward. It would all be worth it, in the end. It had to be.
"Havana first. We'll drop Kidd off there. Then it's time to take care of business." He'd raided plenty of naval convoys, sent many a fearsome ship to the bottom of the ocean, before this day. What could be so hard about doing the same to this Spotted Dick?