A/N: I have a little brother, and he's scared of my Legolas poster! (Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's the biggest poster in my room…)  J

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Chapter Ten

The Bloody Vengeance

~*~

            A few weeks went by that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened. Daniel bothered Serenity as much as he usually did, and despite her sneaky efforts to reveal more about his shady past, she found nothing that she didn't already know: Daniel was a scoundrel, and one of the worst of the lot.

            Port Royale began a slow but steady recovery from the hurricane that had ripped the town's buildings and quite a number of ships into shreds. In her spare time Serenity went down to the town hall to help sew some sails for the ships that had lost their own, but most of the time she was working at the Swann house. Fortunately she only saw Elizabeth once in the weeks after the storm, and they did not have an uncomfortable encounter. Elizabeth seemed not to want to talk to Serenity, and Serenity was grateful that she wouldn't have to make conversation to that rich, aloof girl.

            Will came by the Inn regularly, sometimes having an excuse, and sometimes not. Often he brought the beautiful shell sword that he had been working on to show Serenity his progress, as he knew how she admired his work. Once when he was there in the barn with her, the cow quiet, he was waving it around and the blade accidentally cut clean through one of the beams that supported the loft of the barn. He then hastily said that he would repair it, an offer that Serenity's father did not refuse.

            Therefore, Serenity saw Will on a regular basis, as the cow had to be milked on a regular basis. He could often be found in the barn, the troublesome sword at his side, his shirtsleeves pushed up and his hair pulled back, working on the pole that the blade had severed. However, this display did not bring just misfortune, it displayed the craftsmanship of Will's swords, and the price and demand for his pieces went up admirably.

            One day Serenity stood a few paces behind Will as he drove a nail into the beam. "I cannot believe that you did that," she said, laughing and shaking her head.

            "Will you stop saying that, Serenity?" said Will, smiling and blushing slightly.

            "Oh, you're cheeks are red, how sweet," she teased.

            "I'm so sorry about this," Will said.

            "That must be the twentieth time that you apologized to me this week, not counting all the times that you apologized to my father," said Serenity. "Besides, you're fixing it," she said, gesturing at his work. "We don't hold grudges against men that don't deserve them." Serenity absentmindedly climbed atop one of the bales of hay and laid down upon its surface, leaning her head over the edge of it so that she could watch Will upside-down.

            Will sighed. "I just can't believe I did that," he said, looking sidelong at her as if he knew that he was in for a verbal punishment.

            "Leave it alone, Will, or I'll give you something to apologize for," Serenity threatened. Will looked at her strangely.

            "What does that mean?" he asked, shaking his head.

            Serenity laughed. "I don't know," she said. Will smiled and straightened up from where he had been crouching at sword-level to repair the break he had rendered in the pole. He helped Serenity off the hay bale and then gathered his tools together.

            "How is your work coming?" he asked as he placed all his tools in the saddlebag of his horse.

            "It's coming fine, the girls are sweet, and so are their tutors," she said, wrinkling her nose, "except for their etiquette tutor. She acts like she's laced her corset too tightly."

            Will laughed. "Those contraptions are ridiculous," he agreed. Serenity nodded.

            "I couldn't imagine how someone would consent to wearing one out of their own free will," she said. "They squeeze the life out of you!"

            "Ah," said Will, "But it's in style."

            "I'm going to wait for something slightly more comfortable to come into style," said Serenity, smiling at Will as he swung up onto his horse. "Don't stop coming by now that you're done fixing my barn," she added.

            "I won't," said Will, grinning. "Goodbye, Serenity."

            "Goodbye, Will," she said as he rode down the street towards the blacksmith's workshop.

~*~

            He had to go far and wide to find a decent tavern, but by some grace there was a perfectly seedy one waiting down the road from Port Royale, in a lovely but small smuggling town. He had put on a hat and his customary long-sleeved jacket that he never went anywhere without, in case anyone would recognize him, and entered to find that there was not one person in the bar who was sober enough to recognize him even if they had seen him every day since they became smugglers. Slightly comforted by the level of drunkenness in the tavern, he threw off his hat but did not take off his jacket. He never did.

            A well endowed- in the chest area that is- woman served him an icy beer and promptly planted a seductive kiss on his lips, whispering in his ear to meet her later. He nodded and smiled and then went to join a particularly rowdy group of sailors that were carousing in the corner.

            "I pr'pose a toost," said one, raising his glass and slopping half its contents over the edge in the process. "Tah beer," he said, slapping the mug with his comrades and then pouring the rest into his mouth.

            One of the others eyed the mysterious newcomer. "Aye," he said, "who're you?"

            "I was wondering if any one of you had any information on a ship," said the man.

            "A'course, whadda we look like, landlubbrrrs?" said another. "Watsa name of yur boat?"

            "The Bloody Vengeance," he answered, savoring the name of his ship on his tongue. It fit so perfectly to his present situation.

            "Argh," said one of the drunks, "tha ship raided meh ship off Torrrtooga," said the man, the angry fire in his eyes contradicted by the ridiculous slurring of his words.

            "Tortuga," said the man. "Perfect." If he knew anything about the way his ship operated, they would spend a few days in Tortuga and continue up the islands until they reached Port Royale.

He then left the sailors to enjoy the company at the bar, and then he returned to Port Royale the next morning to find everything just as he had left it.