Author's Note:Yeah! Chapter 2, dearies! :D I got 3 reviews for the first chapter, so that's a good start, I guess! Anyways, enjoy! Oh, and thanks to Oceangoddess for Chris, David and Matt's names!
Madagascar,
18th July, 1704
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Chapter II
Sweet Freedom
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For Teague, the next day took its time to come around; he hadn't spoken a word to his siblings about his granted freedom, but it had seemed they had sensed something was going on. Particularly Chris, the fifth child of the family; he hadn't hesitated on questioning his big brother about his queer behaviour…
Of course, there was really no point due to the fact he only got lies as responses.
But as soon as morning broke, Teague crammed his belongings into a satchel, grabbed onto his elderly guitar and rushed to the old docks, flinging his possessions in their father's ship – well, more an oversized fishing boat than actual ship – and began to pace the deck, rewinding his mind back to all the nautical information his mother had taught him as a little boy.
"Yo-ho, haul together, hoist the colours high," he recalled her singing, though he had to wrack his brains to evoke the meaning of it.
With a shrug, he grabbed a nearby rope and tugged it with no confidence whatsoever it would do something. A small smirk found his lips, however, when a little sail was pulled higher toward the new morning sky.
"We're never gonna set sail if ya carry on at that pace, mate."
The sudden voice from behind him caused Teague to leap almost a whole foot into the air. His heart pounded ridiculously hard against his chest whilst he turned to abruptly come to face with his elder brother.
"Brannigan?" he half-demanded, half-squeaked.
Brannigan smirked, his arms folded conceitedly across his chest. "You think I'd really let me little brother run away just like that?" He snapped his fingers together to emphasise his point.
"Um…" Teague began, "Everybody else is."
The eldest of the children just shrugged, plonking himself down on a nearby barrel. "Nah, I don't think anyone else knows you've gone. Pretty good escape plan you had, Teaguey…" He paused, taking a huge bite out of a rotting apple, causing Teague to cringe slightly.
"Too bad we share a room and you talk in yer sleep, ain't it?" Brannigan finished with a somewhat delinquent seeming smile.
Teague twitched his top lip up whilst searching his brain for a comeback. However his brother yet again beat him to the glory.
"Oh, just wait 'til I tell Mum about this…"
Ah, now this was a question he could respond to. And not only respond… this was something he could throw back in his brother's smug face and take a moment to snigger himself.
"Good luck with that, mate. Mum already knows I'm gone," he shot back, a playful glint glistening in his eyes.
Brannigan cocked an eyebrow, his self-satisfied expression falling into a confused glance. "Come again?" he inquired. "Ye're not saying she… let ya go your own way? Already?"
Teague nodded, complacently.
"You have to be jokin'!"
"When does the great Captain Edward Teague joke?" he jeered, sardonically. "Nope, mate, this is serious. I'm free to go. And seeing as you still have to have Mummy's permission to leave the house, I suggest you go running back to her right now, savvy?"
Brannigan scowled, hurling his putrid apple into the rippling ocean below. "I thought… well, why can't I go yet? I'm older than you and a better pickpocket…"
His little brother scoffed, disapprovingly. "Says he who got robbed by his younger sister!" he smirked, dauntingly.
"Alright, take back the pickpocket thing, but I'm still older!" complained he, hammering his foot down to the deck and pouting like that of a five year old child.
Teague grinned, "And you wonder why your freedom isn't yet granted?" he muttered, picking off his sibling's childish tantrum. At times it felt to him like he was dealing with a two year old toddler instead of a young man of seventeen.
"It's not fair!" Brannigan snarled. "Right, that's it. I'm coming with ya!"
Unexpectedly, it was Teague's turn to widen his chocolate eyes. "You what?" he gaped in astonishment.
"I'm comin'!" repeated Brannigan, with a short-lived shrug. "Come on, Teague, you couldn't sail a ship if yer life depended on it! And Da' taught me everything he knew back in the day…"
"Only because you're his favourite," Teague grumbled. He had to admit, with Brannigan sharing their father's name; the eldest Teague had a great advantage of being favoured… and therefore being told all the secrets which could make a grand pirate captain indeed. If the fact he wasn't an adolescent oaf didn't apply.
"Besides, Mum wouldn't be happy," he continued.
Brannigan shrugged. "When is she ever happy?"
"Good point."
Immediately, Brannigan's eyes began to sparkle. "So I'm comin'?" he alleged, quickly with a triumphant beam.
Teague sighed, glumly. "So much for sweet freedom," he thought with a brief roll of his dark eyes.
"It doesn't really matter what I say, does it?"
"Nah," Brannigan replied with an ostentatious smile.
Teague suppressed a grin of his own, turning away from his big brother in an attempt to hide it. As annoying as Brannigan was, he would definitely lighten up the journey ahead. Besides, he wouldn't stick around forever; nothing would satisfy him long enough to stay around for more than a month or so.
"But I'm the captain," he announced, quickly. He waved his arms at Brannigan whilst stepping up to the helm. "You can just make this thing… move… until you teach me how to do it, that is."
"Aye, aye, sir," his brother replied with a flamboyant bow.
A genuine smile intersected Teague's lips. Sir… yes, he liked that very much… Now all there was to do was find that loyal and devoted crew… and he could be sir and captain for as long as his heart desired… Or at least he hoped, that is…
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"'Ey! 'Ey! You're doing it wrong!"
Matthew Teague, the youngest of the children in the household dug his long nails into his elder brother's hand causing David to howl obnoxiously at the seven year old boy. Carelessly, he plummeted his fist against Matt's shoulder with a hard glare.
"David! Don't hit yer brother!" their mother scolded, taking her seat at the table where the two boys were scribbling routes across an ancient map, a steaming mug of God knows what clasped in her hands.
"'E hurt me first!" David argued.
"Oh… well 'it him harder then!" Marie grumbled, pressing her tight lips to the rim of her mug. Matt began to yelp in distress as his brother clenched an unyielding fist in a menacing manner, a smug grin twisting across his lips.
"Mum!"
Matt opened his eyes once he felt the presence of David slump backwards; everyone's eyes were fixated on Evelyn and Chris in the doorway between rooms.
"What do ye want?" their mother inquired, rising slowly from her seat, uninterestedly.
"Teague's gone!" panted Chris, quickly.
"And Brannigan!" Evelyn put in.
Immediately Marie's brown eyes widened, alarmingly. "B-Brannigan?" she stammered, her anxious quote combined with a small snarl.
"Aye," Evelyn nodded. "And Teague."
"Brannigan? Oh, that bloody idiot." With a slight shudder shooting through her veins, their mother began to pace the length of the kitchen, chewing apprehensively on her chipped nails.
"Aye and Teague…"
"I don't care about Teague!" Evelyn was abruptly cut off by Marie's distressed hiss at her. "He can 'fend for 'imself. Brannigan on the other hand…"
"Relax, Mum," Charlie suddenly pushed into the conversation, peering over Evelyn's head into the crowded kitchen. "From the looks o' things, Brannigan's gone with Teague…"
"'Ow do you know?" snapped their mother, angrily. "Bloody idiot's gonna get caught… blab to the Navy he will… oh, Brannigan, you stupid lad!"
Evelyn's upper lip twitched. "Leave 'im alone, Mum!" she defended. "We've obviously done somethin' to upset him; Teague would be the only one he'd turn to… don't ye understand? They're together and protect one another, they will!"
"Well I ain't taken that chance!" Marie growled, flinging her cloak over her shoulder and flicking back her aging hair with a wrinkle of her withering nose. She headed straight for the door, her eyes dark with annoyance.
"Mum, where you goin'?" Chris called after her, he, David and Evelyn rushing a step forward, arranging themselves hurriedly around the disshaped circular table.
"Findin' Mac!" she snarled back, trudging her first steps out into the nipping breeze. "I'm tellin' 'im to send yer father after the lads! I ain't taking a chance with Brannigan out there, believe you me!"
It was more the wind which highlighted their mother's leave by slamming shut the dilapidated door behind her. The siblings shared a silent glance, each of them appearing as they had the ability to read one another's mind. However none of them had an idea what their siblings were thinking; yet, it took no special capability for any of them to foresee what awaited their elder brothers…
"If Da' gets his hands on Teague," Charlie breathed, "He's a dead man…"
Evelyn nodded with an accompanying gulp. "Lads, I think it's time we took this into our own hands…"
Author's Note: I'm now looking for more recruits of Teague's crew! I have: Teague (obviously!), Brannigan, Jason and Beth (from Beyond the Horizon) but more are needed! And I don't really want any girls… I don't really get why; it just feels like Beth should be the only one…
Call me weird if ye must! Lol! Anyways, see ya in chapter 3!
