She sat perched on the edge of the old wooden pier watching the ship's crew pace up and down the creaky wooden plank but, Grace helped them load the last of their unsold trade. Most of their trade was in large burlap sacks with the name of its contents printed on the front in black ink; curtsy of the fishermen's wives back home. Grace stood with one black leather boot on the base of the plank as she handed burlap sacks to the next person.
Grace had chosen to stay and live in Port Royal, Fort Charles on her own free will; she chose to stay to oversee the trade that came from her home in Ireland. Where she would be glad to trade the miserable weather for the warm rays of sun, and the cool gentle breeze that rolled over daily.
While serving as a Captain for one of the trading ships, Grace also had become well versed in the ways of law and stood as her crew's lawyer if they were to run into trouble or unsavory characters. To ensure that none of the crew found guilty or prosecuted, Grace made sure she had at least a bit of incriminating evidence on almost every court judge working in Port Royal and under the Crown.
Hearing the click of a heeled shoe, Grace assumed it was a navy officer come to arrest one of the sailor or Captains on the dock. Seeing that she had already paid the fee to tie up the ship; Grace thought nothing of the intruder. "Bloody arses," One of he crew muttered in his thick accent that followed the incessant insults thrown towards the intruder. Grace smirked knowing how impatient some people can be as the impatient man waited on the dock as if he was overseeing the crew himself.
"Where's your Captain?" A British accent called out to the crew, causing them all the stop moving to trade and glance towards Grace. Grace acknowledged the man with a polite nod of her head as she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Ah, Madam its a shilling to tie up your boat here," He continued looking down at his book not even glancing at Grace. The page he was looking at had been half filled already Grace had no doubt that he had gone around getting the other Captain's to pay again. Greedy little man. The dock-master looked down, and then back at Grace with a snobbish sparkle in his eye, and his nose pointed towards the sky in the same manner. Grace snorted watching the display boosting herself onto her tiptoes to take a quick glance down the names on he page, quick to find the alias she'd adopted while living in Port Royal. Georgia O'Brien seems like she'd work.
"We already paid. Names O'Brien, Georgia O'Brien." Grace stated in a polite manner but with some force; as much as she loved to get people to question themselves, she didn't have time to be playing around becasue anyone could catch on to her or the crew. On the dock, Grace stood close to the dock-master so that she could stop him in the need arose. From standing so close to him she could see everything else like the layer of sheer white lead paint on his face that didn't do anything to cover the redness peaking through the cracking, caked wrinkles of his forehead and smile lines. The Londoners always did confuse her physically, mentally and grammatically. "If that's all, we have to get this loaded before the end of the day," She explained tipping her wide-brimmed hat in the direction of the crew which indicated that they should continue on, and ignore anything else that were to happen between their Captain and the dock-master. The English man walked off in a huff becoming vexed by the fact that he wasn't able to get extra money from Grace. She held the plank steady with her foot as the crew climbed it to get ready to set sail back home without Grace. It's for the best. They need you here not there. Grace smiled as she untied the ropes holding the ship to port.
Noticing a floating bucket in the water, one of the crew leaned over the railing and grabbed it, confused by its sudden appearance. "What in the world?" He muttered causing most of his companions, and Captain to shrug and continue to pull the ropes back on board. Turning on her heels Grace met the sight of a small sailing boat making its way to port, but it seemed to be sinking as it did. Seeing its Captain standing in the crows nest with grace allowing the boat to run its course, even then Grace knew that there wasn't anyone that could pull that off, and be sober. "Sparrow," A crew member muttered with the bucket in hand knowing that both him and Grace knew each other.
Grace nodded watching the boat, the last time she had heard about about the infamous sparrow it had been that he had gotten himself marooned on an island before his crew took off with his ship and went after Isla De Muerta. Seeing the slight wind blew the tails of his bandanna behind him and caused his long coat to flap in the wind. "There's not a chance in hell that he's sober is there?" She asked no one in particular.
"Not a chance," He answered as he quietly laughed trying not to draw attention to himself. He climbed back on board as the crew set sail leaving Grace standing on the pier watching the scene play out. Eventually, the boat hit the sandy bottom of the bay leaving the crows nest sticking idly out of the water allowing its Captain to step simply and seamlessly onto the doc with practiced movements. Grace watched the Captain ignore the looks that most of the other sailors were giving him as he sauntered down the pier towards the town.
Grace let out a small laugh as she slipped her pistol back into its place in the back of he soft dark leather corset that sat on comfortable on her middle. Knowing how dangerous they can be, she opted for the looser less deadly version that allows her to hid things in places that no one else would think to check. Grace hurried to walk inland avoiding the dock-master as he yelled at the pirate for tying up his boat, while Grace shrugged on her long coat and glanced at most of the surrounding navy officers. "Welcome to Port Royal, Mr smith," The dock-master said happily, scooping the coins out of the book.
Knowing he would get himself into more trouble, Grace snatched the coin purse from the dock-masters desk and gripped the staggering pirate by the arm. "Come along. Best get you out of this state," Grace lied smoothly nodding thankfully towards the dock-master who smiled in return. "Take it," Grace whispered slipping the bag of coins into his hand. "Don't go spending it all. Yeah,"
Watching Grace skeptically he pocketed the coins nodding with thanks towards the red-headed woman. Once the two were out of sight of anyone hat could be suspicious of either of them, Grace turned to stop dead in front of the drunken pirate captain. "Good to see you living," She smiled slightly last time she'd seen it it was before he set out to find Isla De Muerta, and found out that he might not come back. "Where's the pearl?" Grace asked seriously as her expression dropped when she didn't see the ship on the horizon. Truth be-told that Grace loved that ship almost as much Jack did, it was one of the few legitimate pirate ships Grace had been on and she'd fallen in love with her.
Jack gladly returned the smile, the girl deserved it. They hadn't seen each other for a long time but it was enough to gain a mutual friendship between the two. "Gone, luv," he slurred the well-known fact that made it all the more real. The face wiped the happy smile from Graces face; she knew how much that ship meant to him and how likely it was that it hadn't sunk otherwise Jack wouldn't have been standing in front of her. "First, and only time I'll watch that man sail away with my ship," Jack muttered as he walked around Grace who was aware of the balance issues he had that made it seem like he was drink all the time when he was actually stone cold sober.
Grace ran a list of possible ways that it could all go wrong or end badly and threw each one of them to the wind. She followed behind him watching the rest of the dock skeptically. "Fancy help to get her back?" She asked noticing the rapidly decreasing number of navy officers on the dock.
"What's in it for you?" He asked weary of her sudden interest in wanting to help him out and get his ship back. Grace glared at him crossing her arms over her chest as if the question was an insult.
"You know I love a good adventure," Grace reasoned with the would-be pirate Captain. "Mr Smith, are you willing to allow me?" She continued using the name the dock-master gave him. Seeing something flicker in his eyes and the smirk forming on his lips, Grace knew she'd started something she was always prepared to finish.
"Do you have the courage of fortitude to follow orders, and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" He asked quizzically clearly testing Grace knowing she would stay true becasue that was who she was and that made her a valuable friend.
The question caused a smirk to sit on Graces lips knowing full well she would. "You've been sitting on that one for quite a while haven't you," Grace laughed as jack shrugged nodding. "Ships that way," Grace pointed towards one of the navy ships docked that were clearly off limits to civilians. Watching him swagger off down the dock towards the navy ship marked the interceptor in gold yellow lettering. Made for speed, something they'd want and was very much needed. The dauntless was the power in the waters as most navy officers would say without a doubt but most knew better. Speed is what we'll need if we were to try and catch the pearl.
The distant sound of gunfire caught Grace's attention, looking towards Fort Charles; she knew there was some kind of ceremony going on and almost everyone that had the 'important' title tacked onto their name was up there. She'd heard rumor that someone was getting a promotion and she also knew that he'd be far too busy twirling his blade around to notice the looks of discomfort on the women's face. Grace had been watching the docks for weeks so she knew when there were officers on the dock and who they were, but she never made an attempt to take one of the ships and go because she'd rather no get caught and get an appointment with the gallows.
"This dock is off limits to civilians," a voice pushed the thoughts aside as she noticed that the would-be Captain wasn't in front of her and had taken off to a lower section of the dock. Where two naval sailors who looked as if they'd just shuffled themselves into place to look like they weren't slacking off.
Grace sighed muttering about how he was going to get them both either caught or killed; quickly running down the ramp leading to the lower deck, she saw both Mullroy and Murtogg. Now Mullroy and Murtogg were nice enough but they were so unsure of themselves without orders. They couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know. If I see one, I shall inform you immediately," Jack tried walking around the two but they quickly shifted to black his path again while Grace stayed put to observe the situation. She noticed Jack's eyes narrowing at the two as he thought of a way to distract them, Grace always held her breath when the cogs of insanity started turning in Jacks mind.
"Apparently, there's some high-tone and fancy to-do at the fort, eh. How is it that to upstanding gentlemen such as yourselves did not merit an invitation?" Grace took the comment as a distraction for her to try and find a way to sneak onto the ship or to at least get close enough to make a run for it. But there wasn't a way that she could see unless she wanted to take a run and jump from the dock above them and hope and pay she hits wood rather than shallow water.
"Someone had to make sure that this dock stays off limits to civilians," Grace moved around the support post so that the two naval sailors could see her. The two of the seemed surprised to see her as she had told them that she wouldn't be back on solid land for quite a long time but the two of them had drank far too much that night so she doubted that they even remembered what the three of them were talking about.
"And clearly they're doing a very good job," Grace smiled at both men as she casually joined the conversation. "Can't spear the best men for some to-do?"
"Thank you, miss," Mullroy smiled as if it was the first time he'd hear someone ever say that about him in his life. Mustn't get much recognition for the good they do.
"It's a fine goal, to be sure, but it seems to be that..." Jack walked closer to point at the ship anchored farther away from the port. Grace stifled a giggle as the two naval sailors moved with Jack trying to block his path Grace moved around them so she was closer to the ship itself without them noticing. "A ship like that makes this one here look a bit superfluous," their gaze landed on the ship he was pointing to. The HMS Dauntless.
Author Note:
I'm horrible at Grammar so if there are any spelling mistakes and / Or Grammar mistakes let me know and I'll fix it or Ignore them whichever you want. Thank you in advance for actually clicking this story although It may be shit.
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