Bad Blood
1758: New York
Two years have passed since Salty has began his new journey. The summer months were coming as the air was getting hotter and humid. Seasons of change was ever constant and Salty wondered if the land mother changed more than that of the sea. It was then that something else was changing. His need to find peace was there guiding him through the roughest of waters. Salty has always been stubborn man trying to listen to what he is being told, but he needs to listen to his mind and his heart if he wanted the peace he needed.
Adolfa.
When the night reveals the stars in the sky, he longs for its navigation. Since men sailed the seas for the first time they were lost until he decided to look to the skies once more. It was there that the heavens spoke to them again and off the sailors went. Salty has always been guided by stars and the constellations since he first sailed. No matter whether one was a merchant, sailor, or pirate, they used the same system of the stars. The heavens is where men look to for answers, they wanted understanding. Salty wanted to understand where it was that he stood.
Even with the change of identity, the Templar's were still about watching his every move. They were cautious of their own actions and one slip of the foot all will crumble. Salty has been grateful for the distance and the peace that was given to him. He only wondered for how long it will be until they decide to come after him again- if- they still wanted him. It might not be Lee or Haytham that was going to be after him this time. After many years, time has changed. He might still be out there looking. He waits in the shadows somewhere in a Boston tavern waiting for his chance to join in on the Templar's once more. Slowly, he was hidden away deep inside far from coming up from the dark crevasses of the shadows.
He could hear the sounds of the waves as it crashed in the harbor. For the first time he felt that loneliness. It was a gruesome feeling because in reality nobody wants to be alone. You could be the hardiest of men hiding away your emotions yet, you do not want that lonesome feeling to bear. Dark eyes kept their stare on the stars with the wind blowing against him. Salty kept hidden within the shadows for no one was allowed to be at the docks unless they were sailors or the red coats who lazily complained about the lack of sleep. These men were not soldiers in his eyes. Even if he were not from the same shores as these men Salty could not help but feel pity.
Orphans ran about teasing the red coats, stealing their pouches of money or whatever hung loosely on their belt loop. It seemed no matter how far one may walk there were always a starving child running in the streets or a dog looking for scraps in a town under British control. Taxes were becoming higher each year and Salty was beginning to feel the strain of little money. Temptation of stealing once again was making his fingers twitched even at the thought.
"The seas are never rested just like your mind."
She came up from behind him, covered in a sash on her shoulders. He looked to her only seeing her silhouette and the aspects of color as she sat beside him staring at the harbor before them. The smell of the sea air was fresh for both of them. In the distance sounds of music from the tavern played joyfully. All of his worries seemed to have vanished within that instant. The temptation of twitching fingers stopped.
"This is where you come to think or be reminded of your days at sail." Adolfa was amused when she saw his lips smile. "I will never understand your love for the sea. I am sure not many women would understand what it is about it that draws the men."
"The seas never rest. She moves to the beating of her own drum, never to the drum of man. I watch her trying to hear the sound of the beat." He spoke looking back to the harbor. "She is wild; untamed. It is because of the danger is what draws men."
"Women who have been tamed by men are no longer in value?" Adolfa raised a teasing brow.
Salty smirked but changed the subject at hand. "Surely you do not follow me to hear of my old musings of what was and what will never be. I no longer sail the wild seas. I will leave it to men who have nothing of value."
Salty was a gentle man talking of the weather, laughing at small talk, enjoying life as a normal man, but when one spoke of the sea he becomes hidden. He is reminded of his past life as a pirate. Talking in riddles as if the sea were truly alive but could not speak for the sea only has the crashing of the waves and the screech of the sea birds for a voice. It is a voice which men cannot understand. Salty has denied each time that he no longer wants to sail the oceans but how could one not want to?
She pulls him, calling to him, speaking to him saying 'do not trend on these rough waters. They do not need to know who you once were. Come home dear Salty, come home to the seas that only love you.' Her words were so daunting that Salty stayed away from the harbor most nights. Each time he missed going home.
'Home? This is my new home.'
"You always speak in riddles of the sea. Is it true from what they say about sailors? Do men like you truly value the sea than land women?" Her voice has become low with sadness.
She knew at one point in time, Salty was in his words a sailor. Sailing the seas with spices for trade, defending what was for pay but never truly told her of what he did in his past or who he really was. Afraid was he that if she found out, Adolfa would run or worse go after the bounty on his head. It made him wonder for curiosity was in her nature. She would find a way of knowing and she was not one to cower. Adolfa has not asked him once if he still had any living relatives. It has been many years and not a day goes by that he still wonders about it himself. Maybe one day he would sail the seas once more only for his family in Spain.
His heart was warm at the thought but Salty did not want to risk a chance of going back to his old ways. Never has a woman-not a whore- seemed so attached. It was not a foreign feeling and Salty knew what it was: attraction if not more. If he had no living relatives to go home to Spain too, maybe, just maybe Adolfa will be the only family that he needs. It was the matter of her wanting to be for she (Adolfa) had no husband.
"Do you come to listen to my old fishing tales?" There was humor in his voice.
"I do not need to hear of your adventures for there is something that you have to know." She sounded distracted. She sounded scared. Salty has never heard her voice grow so distant. Adolfa was a strong woman which attracted him to her. Was she sick? Was she going to go away for a long while? Why was she sounding like this if not too long ago she was teasing and playing with him?
He did not turn away from the harbor when he heard her shuffle about. In the darkness she moved her hands to his grabbing hold firmly. Not knowing what she was doing he turned towards her as she led their hands onto her belly. Eyes grew wide knowing what she wanted to tell him, but it seemed that the words were not forming in her mind. Was she afraid of telling him?
Something such as this startled Salty but there was a part of him that was saying this is the peace that you need. She was pregnant with his child. Growing strong and healthy in her belly with their future uncertain they focused on the present for now.
'I am going to be a father.'
It was strange yet, it fit. He was going to be a father to which sex? In truth, he wanted the child to be a boy. He could pass down his knowledge of the sea and give him all that the first born male had rights too. What he did not want was for his child to end up growing into adult life like him. If only he knew that inside the child was going to be a she.
"…How long?" He finally spoke.
"One month. Eloy, this is your child."
She took her hands off of his but he kept them on her belly. Underneath the fabric she was not yet showing. He knew that as the man and father, he had to provide no matter the struggle. Being taken in by pirates may have changed him as a boy to a man, but with a child maybe this was a blessing- a blessing from the darkness of his mind. This was unexpected but it was also a joy. Adolfa did not know how to react but when she felt pulled into Salty's arms she felt overwhelmed with much pride knowing that this man was someone she wanted to start a family with. All of her fears of rejection and humiliation were no longer in her mind.
"You know I will provide."
"I know Eloy. I was afraid that you will not want me or this child. We are not married…"
"Then we will be married. I want to provide for us. I want to provide for our family."
He kissed her on the side of the head holding her firmly in his arms. The transition of many years at sea to living life on land, finding a woman and getting her pregnant with his seed, Salty was going to nurture his child. His own flesh and blood which was growing inside of her was all that he could ask for. Adolfa relaxed with a smile upon her face. They were going to marry which will be a happy occasion for her family, even though they have met the man before, they were wary of him.
The night and the music from the tavern filled the silence for there was nothing more to say. All thought of a wedding would be on their way. Adolfa was more than just a woman to him. That night he shared his bed with her as he has always done since they began their… relationship? She had shelter when she came into New York. She knew the streets, but it was always Salty that she would go too for the night. His affection for her grew each time they would share his bed. He did not need words to tell her how much he adored her but it was his actions, his deeds, and his child.
Even with change, there was always something that was looming in the darkness. It may not be seen for it is covered and shrouded, soon whatever it was that kept hidden was watching; waiting.
They say that the sea is vast and unexplored. Many who dare venture into it will go one-hundred men strong and come home with only twenty. Those not lucky enough will come home changed. Sea madness is what they called it. It is a sickness where sailors who are lost by a storm, abandoned by their captain when attacked by vagabonds or pirates, begin to see things that should not be there. Most would go mad-some will keep their mentality but only by land. He has seen it before on his sails across the seas. At some point he was one of the sailors but he learned that in order to venture in the open waters one must not succumb to her voice.
Like the sirens of the ancient world, the sea was his calling. She was his sweet angelic voice that was always tempting him. Tempting to lead him to new adventures, to new lands that have been unmolested by men, but all was not what it seemed. Stories will be passed through generations about those before them and their many journeys. What they would not know was about the harsh environment and the madness sailing the sea brings.
They become sick, some men filled with disease that quickly kill or slowly in misery while others starve. Even the toughest of men go to their knees when they know that the fight is over. If one did not know how the seas worked then may God save their souls or let Davy Jones bring them to the bottom of the sea. He awaits souls that succumb to the madness never to let them go. They drown until the water fills their lungs with the salty water and with panic those that are weak die quickly while the strong keep fighting until the bitter end.
All could not compare to what he has seen or what he has done. Peace was never so easy even when he was away from his love. The sea, she still beckons to him. She calls him in the whispers of the wind and each day he walks to the harbor of New York, wondering to himself if he should go to the ocean. Sail her and leave it all behind. The shadows are not so kind to him. When he thinks such thoughts as days go by the image of the woman returns to his mind. He was like the ocean: open with still waters waiting to be explored by a passing ship or stormy with waves crashing against the sands. Even when the sea covers the land, the tide recedes back exposing the land below.
Being out at sea for a certain amount of time, tales of monsters would form. There were many monsters that men have created or imagined. The kraken, sea snake, mermaids… I have heard of such tales by my own father and I asked him, 'Did you ever see them?' He would reply to me, 'I know of a monster.'
It would not be until many years later that this monster my father knows will be revealed. This being reminds me of an entity because spirits of the dead could be dangerous to the living and it is misunderstood. My father will not tell me his name for it has left a bad taste on his tongue but he has told me that I should be weary of a man with a gray dead eye. Why? It only seems that he wants nothing to do with him or fear that whatever it was that has happened in the past would stalk him.
'No matter what you will do, you will always have blood on your hands.'
