Chapter 03: 1739 - Madagascar
A few days after the memorable first meeting with Captain Brasiliano and an equally memorable dinner at his villa, Jack set out in search of a place where he could ponder his thoughts undisturbed for a while - and he had found himself a sunny rock high above the bay from which he had an excellent view of the entire area.
This unique overlook allowed a wide view of the sea, the bay and the soaring flanks of the mountains surrounding it, and also of the harbour, the bustling settlement, the plantations and the dense jungle that stretched far into the heart of the island and beyond.
Jack understood perfectly well why the pirates had chosen this very place, to create their own little state:
Settlement and bay could easily be defended, even without the elaborate network of cannons created by Caithleen's uncle. The open sea and the fertile land all around ensured the settlement's supply, and clear streams and waterfalls fed by springs in the mountains guaranteed fresh water at all times. Thus supplied and equipped, the pirates of Madagascar would be able to withstand even a prolonged siege, and Jack was convinced that there were also secret paths through the jungle by which Brasiliano and his cronies could escape in a pinch.
With all of this in mind, Jack wondered what the bay and settlement might have looked like in the days of William Kidd and Henry Every, when the "Adventure Galley" and the "Fancy" were still moored down at the pier. He would have particularly wished to get to know Every about whom he had read a lot and whose extraordinary flag he had made his own early on, by simply adding a sparrow.
At the moment only two ships were moored down at the harbour, three, if he counted in his "Pearl", anchored some distance away in the bay. Both ships at the pier belonged to Prudence Stevens: One was her "Neptune's Bride", the second was the "Shark", which got passed to her after her father's death, same as the title as one of the Coast Captains.
Brasiliano's flagship, the "Scorpion", was missing, for he had left not two days after supper on an enterprise about which he had not wasted many words.
Jack didn't trust the man and his intentions, and he was surprised to find that he wasn't the only one with this feeling, for that same evening a messenger had brought him a note from Prudence Stevens, asking him to come and see her at her estate during the approaching new moon night.
He smiled at the prospect of spending an evening with Caith's hot-headed cousin, even though he knew that this could turn out to become some risky business, for one thing did not escape his attention: Roc Brasiliano had his own interests, when it came to beautiful Prudence Stevens.
What wasn't quite as clear to him as Brasiliano's undisguised desire to win Captain Stevens over was, which were his own motivations for getting close to her.
Was he honest with himself, there was no answer!
Did he desire her because she was Prudence Stevens, or did he desire her because she was a Stevens, and because he hoped to find in her arms something of what he had loved so much about Caithleen, and what he at times missed so much that it felt difficult for him to breathe?
Of course he knew that this was an illusion but spending an evening with someone who had known Caith meant a lot to him, and since Prue was not lacking in wit and a sharp mind either, there stood not to be feared that the evening would end in boredom.
Added to this was, that she too seemed to have a good reason why she wanted to see him so badly - all the more as she could be certain that they would not be disturbed since everyone else was at sea, ahead of them all Roc Brasiliano...
And still, whatever the outcome of the evening, Jack looked forward to it with mixed feelings.
He knew Prudence wasn't Caithleen, and nobody had to tell him that both were connected only by name and by the fact that their fathers had been brothers - and if it was true, Jeremy and Jeffrey Stevens had been just as different as were their daughters after them.
Caithleen once had told him some stories about her father and uncle, as far as she had still been able to remember them from childhood days, and it seemed that their differing views on capturing ships, bringing in loot, and selling into slavery survivors of their raids had led first to some heated arguments and later to a final discord.
A discord that had at least saved them from sinking each other one day.
Jeremy had detested slave trade and the random sinking of ships, whereas Jeffrey had believed that it didn't matter how and by what means the hold of his ship filled up. And they had raised their daughters in that same spirit, which at times had led to heated arguments between Caith and Prue as well - with him, Jack, in the middle...
Since he himself also deeply despised everything having to do with slave trade and slavery, Jack wasn't quite sure what to think about the pirates of Madagascar.
On the one hand, they had built in this well-protected bay, what they called a republic, on the other hand, a good part of their wealth was based on what their slaves earned on the plantations belonging to their estates, and what they got for those poor souls they sold in the island's slave market - mainly survivors of the ships they sank, but not always.
However, mostly it was women who were sold on the market, and those who did not have the dubious luck of being bought by any of the captains or sailors, ended up in one of the brothels or on one of the countless plantations.
And still, there was also quite a bit, Jack liked about the way the pirates of the island lived.
They were independent of traders and trading companies, and they were able to produce or procure whatever their community needed to survive. One of the main reasons for the hustle and bustle, which reigned from sunrise to sunset in the streets and in the markets of the settlement, nestled against the shore and the hilly landscape at the back of the bay.
Besides the more or less inevitable taverns and brothels, there were various workshops where craftsmen of all trades provided goods of all kinds, and there was almost nothing that wasn't available at the markets. And everywhere between the workshops and marketplaces, stood the mansions of the coast captains and those who had made money elsewhere - a sight that partially reminded Jack of Port Royal.
Another peculiarity, which he had only seen here with the pirates of Madagascar, so far, was that everything that happened got carried out in public. This applied to sharing the booty after a successful raid as well as to suing for one's rights if one felt cheated or elsewise disadvantaged.
Judiciary was also done publicly according to the rules of the Brotherhood, and everyone had the right to have anyone else questioned by the Council if there was a plausible reason to do so. The penalties imposed by the Council then varied, as did the offences to be negotiated.
Those who were lucky could either buy their way out or ended up with a handful of lashes.
Those who were unlucky risked losing a hand, an eye or their tongue - and in the worst case, their life.
Whoever molested a woman would have his throat cut, who murdered ended up on the gallows, and whoever thought he could spy on the island ended up at the tide stakes - the pirate laws of Madagascar were strict, even more than on Tortuga or even Shipwreck Island.
While he was lost in thought, the sun had also moved on, and Jack turned his eyes back to the bay and the steeps.
The flanks of the surrounding mountains were densely overgrown, and he wondered how Jeffrey Stevens had managed to set up his clever defence system so high above the bay.
Jack was sure there must be at least a cart track, hidden behind trees and bushes, by which the guns had been transported - and sure enough, on closer inspection of the slopes, he noticed that there were narrow paths everywhere that seemed to get lost in the undergrowth. And as this was the case on both sides of the bay, he would have sworn an oath that it was possible to use those paths to get to the positions behind which the mysterious cannons were hidden.
No doubt: Whoever wanted to spy within this bay had to be either all cold-blooded, foolhardy, or downright crazy - and suicidal at that!
Therefore, Jack hoped that there would be another, less suicidal way for him to learn a bit more about the whole complex and about the man who had planned all this. He was sure Prudence would be willing to tell him what he wanted to know, moreover, since he was able to give her information about the plans of the English, who would surely not give up their attempts to smoke out the notorious pirate nest of Madagascar.
Certainly it was true, Prue, Caith and he had not always been in agreement but he would do anything to save the spirited redhead from a similar fate, as Caith had to suffer it, for one thing he knew with certainty: Should Beckett ever find out that there was a connection between him, Caithleen and Prudence, her life would be worth less than nothing.
So it was up to him to make the best of that evening he would spend with her even if he couldn't suppress the feeling that Brasiliano had only left the bay to set a trap for him and Prue.
Why else would a man as suspicious and as jealous as Roc Brasiliano lose sight of his legendary cannons and the woman he lusted after madly at just that very moment in which the man appeared in his hiding place, of which he was convinced above all others that he was able to solve the mystery of those legendary cannons and to seduce the very woman he himself lusted after madly...?
Jack grinned at that thought: He would do his best not to disappoint Brasiliano...
