A/N: Edited version. See my author profile for a link to the full chapter.
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Captain's Logbook,
entry 3
15 March, In Solis 475; 1 o'clock in the
afternoon
On tail of the Skulldog. Skies solid gray, wind
strong and chill. Underway, left port VdZ just before noon; Skulldogs
left a little earlier than expected, but Blackjacks well-prepared:
supplies readied quickly this morning; crew unhappy with the
situation, but man with hook... It's time to end
this.
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"I feel like shit,"
Ace mumured, leaning his head over the side of the ship.
"That's
your own fault," Queen said harshly. She was still irked that
she hadn't been present when Elaine had come through the tavern
with her Dogs in tow. She'd love to have come up with something
witty to spit in that witch's face, although it would have been
hard to sound serious when Ace was crawling on the floor as Joker had
described.
"You'd be hung over, too, if you hadn't run
off to prance around the square like some landlubbing
wench!"
"WHAT?! I didn't want to anchor in the first
place! You're the one was was complaining about how much you
missed land! You practically kissed the dirt!"
"You
can kiss my ass!"
"I'd rather walk the plank!"
"I'd
rather you did!"
The two continued bickering while the
captain kept silent vigil through his spyglass, in no mood to chuckle
over the ongoing squabble.
"Do you think they know we're
following?" Joker asked the captain, also tiring of the endless
insults being hurled between their mates.
"Not yet,"
Geddoe answered, "but I'm sure they'll figure it out soon
enough."
"--and what were you doing that was so damn
important?" Ace wanted to know.
"Gathering
information!" Queen huffed. "We found out what the
celebration was about last night, and we found out that the Skulldogs
were in collaboration with some hook-handed captain. Not to
mention--"
"What?!" Ace suddenly
exploded.
"Captain, you didn't say anything about the
man with the hook..." Joker started.
"You know about
this?!" Queen cried in surprise. "How?"
"Do
you think it's...the same man?" Ace asked the captain with
apparent unease.
Geddoe lowered his spyglass, where he'd
just barely caught sight of their rivals, and turned to his
companions. "Who else?" he sighed. He started for his
cabin, and his three mates parted to create a path without being
asked.
After the captain's door had closed, Queen turned on
her crewmates. "What are you not telling me? What's this all
about?"
"It's none of your business!" Ace
shot back.
"Why are you such a jerk?!"
"Why
are you making me shout?!"
Joker shrugged in
exasperation, leaving the two to argue. He didn't know if Ace would
relent and tell Queen the whole story or not; probably not, because
it really wouldn't make her feel better to know. There were some
things that just shouldn't be brought up, especially when the
memories were as painful as
those.
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The
captain held his cutlass across his outstretched palms, his gaze hard
as he glared at the cold steel. In his mind, he could see it all so
clearly: a high-spirited man with blonde hair and a constant smile.
They'd been together for so long...and then suddenly piracy became
more than just a game for Ged's brother. He became greedy, ruthless;
he'd not just overtake a ship for its loot and leave with unloaded
cannons raised in an empty threat, but spend his time raping while
his mates did the pillaging, then torch the ship when he returned to
his own. Finally Ged had seen enough.
They'd only just
arrived in port and entered the tavern; why did he have to start this
already?
Geddoe loved his little brother, but he'd never been
witness to some of his malevolent acts. Burning ships was one thing
when the crew had already been slaughtered, but this....
The
girl was frightened. She was maybe fourteen. Just a child.
The
other men were afraid of Wyatt, Geddoe knew. It was obvious in their
eyes when he'd commanded that first ship to burn. It was evident each
time he laid eyes on a woman and took her into a berth. His smile had
become cruel and twisted, his eyes hard and lusting. No one dared go
against him. In fact, some of them were beginning to adopt his wicked
ways. Judging from the way no one was cringing or making a move to
stop Wyatt, the current situation was fated to get out of
hand.
Wyatt grabbed the slender girl's arms. A woman behind
the counter, being forced to serve drinks to the pirate crew, started
screaming hysterically. "Elisabeth! Elisabeth! Elisabeth!"
she shrieked over and over. Someone hit her, hard enough to knock her
to her feet, causing her to fall stunned and silent.
Wyatt was
smiling.
"Don't," Geddoe growled from halfway across
the room. His voice was low, but everyone heard it. Several heads
turned, and the crowded room fell hushed. It was the first time
anyone had spoken out against the first mate, and it amazed them all
to see that it was his own brother.
Wyatt laughed, a
high-pitched, boyish laugh.
How did this happen? the
young captain thought, horrified in the change in his brother. Wyatt
was only nineteen, dammit. He was still a child, himself.
The
woman on the floor, presumably the girl's mother, was sobbing quietly
to herself, her face already darkening with a bruise.
And
still no one did anything.
The girl, confused and terrified,
turned her head to the side. Her wide, pleading eyes met Ged's, and
in his mind he could already hear her screams. The girl would die,
but the captain would see her face in his dreams forevermore, haunted
and tormented until he could take no more of the guilt and gave
himself a watery grave...unless he stopped this. Now.
Geddoe
sprang out of his seat and the blade of his drawn sword flashed
threateningly in the firelight.
Wyatt gave him a surprised,
disbelieving look, his handsome eyebrows raised in question. "You
want your turn first, brother?"
"I said,
don't."
The first mate shot Ged a bold,
daring look, then pulled his dagger from its scabbard.
"Don't
do this..." Ace murmured, stepping forward trying to stand
between the two men. One look in the captain's blazing eyes, though,
told him to back the hell away or die. Joker grabbed his shoulder and
drew him back into the cowering throng.
Elisabeth was looking
at Geddoe with such hope that he wouldn't have backed down if he had
to take on the entire crew. He knew he was captain by title only;
Wyatt was the one who gave the orders. But that was about to change,
one way or the other.
The girl gave a yelp and cried out at
last, "Help me, please!"
Wyatt turned and struck her
with a blow that rendered her unconscious. Geddoe started forward,
not to attack his brother but to see to the girl. Wyatt
misinterpreted the sudden movement and took a hasty step forward,
prematurely raising his dagger to slash his brother's face.
God,
it stung!
Ged couldn't see for the blood gushing across
his vision. At first he froze, shocked with disbelief, his ears
ringing. He held a glove to his face for just a moment, but it hurt
too much and he drew it away, horrified by the amount of blood that
he felt covering his features. His head aching suddenly, the room
almost spinning, he looked at his brother with astonishment.
Time
stood still for a moment, and if Geddoe could have held onto any
memory of Wyatt, it would be this one.
For just an instant,
Wyatt had become his old self. He was a child, feeling the brutal
anguish of guilt. He'd hurt his brother, and he was so very, very
sorry. For just one last second in time, they loved each other like
brothers.
But that moment passed as quickly as it had
appeared, and Wyatt readied himself to attack again, the unrelenting
cruel mask taking over his features.
He hates me, Ged
suddenly realized. He didn't know why, but his brother hated
him.
Wyatt slashed out with his dagger, but Geddoe was faster.
He had only partial vision, but there was no one with reflexes to
match his. In one clean sweep, the dagger had fallen to the tavern
floor--Wyatt's hand still attached.
The girl hadn't been the
one screaming that
night.
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Geddoe lowered the
cutlass, raising a hand to his face, covering the eyepatch. He did
that often. He wanted to pretend he was just covering his eye, hiding
it from glaring sunlight. But knowing that when he took his hand away
again he would still be blind on that side. Fifteen years later, and
he wasn't yet used to the disfigurement, in a way. He still wanted
to pretend it had never happened.
With a deep sigh, the
captain dropped his sword, letting it fall with a clatter, and sat
down on his bed. He thought about the way things had turned out.
After seeing the first mate incapacitated, most of the crew had
jumped immediately to the captain's defense. No threat, no harm in
ridding them all of the plague that had been Wyatt.
Did Geddoe
regret that day? He didn't think so. He'd found out who his true
friends were and saved himself the strife of just putting up with his
brother. Ged had loved Wyatt, his only family. But the day Wyatt had
reached for Queen was the day he'd lost his hand.