Sorry for the wait, I promise the next chapter won't take so long and I am extremely excited for whats to come.
Please let me know what your thoughts are, please?
Listen to The Wreckage by Alex G. for this chapter.
-g.
Edward couldn't feel his feet or his legs even as they moved, leaving him with no true reasoning as to how he continued to walk forward as his vision blurred with unshed tears.
The far off alarm bells sent pain and panic through him, a shot to his heart with each ring that nearly sent him to his knees once more. But he couldn't. He couldn't fail, not this time…
The commotion just off to his left and behind brought all attention there like moths to a flame, leaving his path clear even in the morning dark breaking now with streaks of red as if the very universe was angry with the nights outcome.
All breath was ripped from his lungs, leaving him gasping mindlessly drowning from the lack of air, just holding onto some small wisp of breath that eeked through. How could he breathe?
How do you breathe when you've lost everything and everyone?
The shoreline came into view empty and bare except for Ah Tabai who stood vigilant beside a small rowboat that held an ashen and panting Anne Bonny. A new pain shot through him to join the others already hacking at his heart, a silent wail rattling within his throat as he left bloody footprints behind him. His arms shook with effort, and as he locked eyes with the assassin he nearly faltered then.
He did not want to be Edward Kenway right then more than ever.
But he had to be.
As he came within earshot of the pair, Ah Tabai's eyes widened just slightly as they too began to swim. Anne on the other hand held a hand against her stomach trying to control the painful contractions that were racking her body brought on by the panic and movement but ever with the attention of a hawk Anne gasped. As Ah Tabai placed a hand to her shoulder in hopes of providing a moment of comfort in the coming storm, her words were shaky.
"What's happened to Mary? What's wrong?"
Kenway, single minded, lumbered to the boat and slowly, carefully, lowered Mary into the front. As her weight left his arms, Kenway felt his throat fully constrict and his face tightened as he fought off the mental break that threatened him.
He couldn't answer the woman if his life depended on it.
"Is she gone?"
Nor answer him. All Edward could do was look up with glittering eyes to his elder, but the man had known. He didn't need an answer.
Edward did. He wanted someone, anyone, to tell him why she had to die like this? Alone, in a dirty cell, septic from a birth and a babe they'd taken from her. How had their quest for freedom brought them to such ruin? She'd been the best of those following their heart, and she'd been reduced to little better than filth. All of them, the best of humanity, killed off to fit the intrigues of some far off cult needing control.
"Oh no… Gods." Anne gave off a deep guttural cry as another contraction hit her, and it was this cry that forced Edward to turn away and stumble away from the boat.
Life was struggling to come into the world, even as one left it, and Edward could not comprehend that just yet. What he did know, was he could not go with Ah Tabai and Anne now. He couldn't stomach the damned assassins who's creed Mary had held so dear, and he couldn't find it in himself to inflict himself on Anne.
He brought death wherever he went and to whomever he was near.
"What will you do now?"
Ah Tabai, ever a mystic with his ability to just know. Edward looked out across the Port Royal skyline as the red faded into the breaking dawn hues of orange and yellow.
"Nothing sensible."
As his feet continued to bleed against the sand, and his hands burned and ached, Kenway wished more than anything he could go back. Go back to the night where Thatch, Mary, Ade… and Liete sat all together hatching plans and drinking into the night with the taste of adventure and friendship on their lips.
It had been so simple then.
Everyone was gone…
"You haven't earned this.. but they suit you." Kenway turned to find Ah Tabai holding out a folded set of assassin's robes to him, a soft forgiving lilt to his mouth. It was as if to say that although they may not be friends, they were shared in their grief of the moment.
"Good fortune to you Captain Kenway." With no other words to share between them, and with the soft whimpers of Anne, Ah Tabai pushed the boat into the water jumping in quietly and quickly leaving Kenway ashore.
Edward watched as the rowboat slowly made its way further into the harbor where a brig laid in wait.
Turning away from the scene, Edward held the robes with a tight grip as finally the tears came.
They were all gone.
Edward raised his hands to push his palms against his eyes, almost welcoming the burn that came from the salt water as he tried to pull himself back together and forget.
But he couldn't…. not without drink. Drink would take this away.
Ade and The Jackdaw stayed behind in Kingston under his assurance of return, but as he had explained to Ah Tabai, this was something he needed to do. It was closure for the choice he made that still haunted him.
In Tulum, gathering Michael and fitting him against her back once more in his sling, further up so her son could look over her shoulder as she continued to work in the medical tent, she took a deep breath in an attempt to control her aching heart.
Every day since Ade & Ah Tabai had left Liete had wandered to a small cliff on the edge of the village that overlooked not only the village but the shoreline the assassins used as their makeshift port.
With a tall Royal Poinciana to offer shade, Liete made it a habit with Gerald now returned to her side to spend nearly from dusk till dawn beneath its beautiful orange red blossoms, waiting. She'd not found any interest in village life, at least for the first weeks or so. She'd watched them all carefully when she didn't have an eye to the shore.
Everything done so simple, and with purpose. The beauty of this way of life was calming in its own way. It gave her moments to heal, as she enjoyed her son as he grew day by day. The scars of the past years threatened to rip open even as she fell into a rhythm here among the natives, but she couldn't let her guard down, not completely. She did not know her purpose here, or her purpose for life now that she'd been free'd..
Her movements were not done so alone, as Ah Tabai had kindly given her a guard before he'd left in the form of Honey Tongue or Cadmael she'd come to know. Although he had elected himself to take on the mission of saving Mary from Port Royal, Ah Tabai had insisted that a smaller group would be less likely to be seen, and as Mary was his responsibility, it was he who would herald this mission.
Drew on the other hand seemed to take to the island life like it had been his second nature. After their first week there he spent his time watching the women with fascination as they wove delicate tapestries from wool they'd plucked themselves, and joined the assassins in their daily exercises. He would take the afternoon to sit with her, holding and cooing to Michael as if he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen no matter how many days before he'd coddled the boy. He'd even been given his own separate small hut next to her once he'd spoken more in depth with Ah Tabai's woman who moved like a mother to all those around her.
He spoke to her of Jane, and the months he'd spent in her arms. How she had the sweetest dimples that had made his toes curl each time he saw it. She'd asked him then, why he remained now that she'd been released from her captivity.
He'd grinned that toothy, silly grin, as if she was telling some joke and shrugged his shoulders.
"Miss Liete, I gotta watch over ya and the little 'un for now. Faith is watchin' over her for me, 'nd I gotta do it for our Cap'n while he's lost"
Liete had felt the tears rise within her throat then as it constricted. She had no idea what she had done to warrant such a sentiment, she had ever been on the offensive when dealing with others and yet Drew took it all in stride.
He was the best of them all, loving purely and with no thought of tit for tat.
Even with that thought, Drew had been protective over her with Cadmael at first, until he saw something in the man that made him calm against the quiet Caribbean back drop.
It had been in the first week of their arrival and Liete who in her constant state of suspicion had forgone true sleep for nearly all off it, finally dozed off underneath the tree she'd sat vigilant at. Drew had been sat off further back as he whittled a small length of wood to look like the dolphins that had followed their ship on the treck here.
From his view point he could see the back of Liete, Michael in her lap, and Cadmael who always stood to her right just behind watching quietly but he could not see that she'd fallen asleep although the clever little baby within her arms had.
The baby rolled out of his mothers arms and to the dirt between her legs, giggling as he went, crawling towards where just beyond the cliff the ocean shone brightly through the trees.
Michael had only made it a little less than two body lengths before Cadmael caught the child, lifting him carefully with his hands wrapped around the baby's stomach. The child gave off a small gurgle of dismay, and Drew had been on his feet in a flash.
Cadmael simply lifted the baby, tucking him into his arms as he quietly bounced Michael within them drawing close to Liete. Lowering himself to the ground in a cross legged stance before Drew could even so much as take a step, the tall native man simply laid Michael out on his fore arm, belly down with the child's head cradled in the palm of his hand allowing the babe to still look out to the sea beyond.
And there the man sat, quietly rocking Michael back and forth, lulling the adventurous child to sleep all the while watching Liete sleep peacefully looking for any hint of her waking up to place him back in her arms as to keep away any panic it might cause her upon waking to find Michael not there.
It gave Drew the thought then that although he felt that his girl needed him to watch over her at all time, that she belonged with the one man who'd actually given her freedom, that in the end she may need more than just the two of them to be truly be happy.
The thought was advanced for even him, and so he'd sat once more, whittling away, and the days to follow found him leaving her side throughout the day, leaving her to the watchful eye of Cadmael.
Once Drew had slowly integrated himself into the daily life of the Assassins, ever slowly, Liete began to veer from her usual path to her watch point, and wander through the village.
The people still watched her with a coolness to their bearing, they'd not forgot the fierce torrential anger that she'd unleashed on their leader, but none were unkind as she watched them prepare meals, mend, build & train.
As a month turned into two, every so often small attacks came to the Assassin's shores. Only then did her shadow Cadmael leave her to defend the village from Templar attacks that seemed to try and probe their defenses rather than truly over run them.
Every time, they'd succeeded in running the intruders off, but some casualties came & injuries were frequent enough that the medicine woman's home was outfitted with a large swath of cloth and wooden stakes to provide cover for those in need of care.
This was where Liete was drawn to.
It had never occurred to her that in all this time, the fear and pain she inflicted, that she'd find peace in the healing.
With Michael strapped to her back, as he cooed and gurgled, shed watched from afar for a few days before the medicine woman had finally gestured to her, forcing a handful of clean rags into her hands gesturing towards a few men needing their bandages taken and wounds cleaned.
And so, over the course of each morning, Liete slowly learned how to care for the wounded, ushered off by Cadmael after a few hours.
With his honeyed words, he'd ignored her sharp looks and simply smiled at Tana the medicine woman, playfully ushering his charge off assuring that the young mother needed a break from all the carnage.
Liete took notice immediately as Drew left her to Cadmael's care, and the giggles Michael gave as he reached for the Taino man. He held a calm demeanor, tall and solid in his every movement. He didn't try to push her to speak, but he was quiet in his manners. Communicating instead with small gestures, and smiles, careful not to touch her or remain out of her line of sight.
Slowly, cleaning wounds.
The day was no different than the others and as she stood from aside a man whose spear wound was newly bandaged and near healed, Cadmael moved forward and offered his hand to assist her as Gerald gave a large sigh of contempt as he stood from his napping spot.
Liete snorted loudly before taking the offered hand, pulling herself up as her lower back gave a soft twinge of pain. Expected as over four hours had seemed to pass in moments since she began. A moment to long, Liete pulled her hand away turning to make her way towards the cliff for an afternoon set.
It was just as she crested the hill, that the warning bell let out a single chime signaling to the village that an ally had returned.
Looking out to the ocean before them, Liete found only one of the three vessels that had left weeks before.
Her breath instantly caught, involuntarily taking a step back, as Cadmael moved to the right of her his hand returning to catch her own with the softest possible touch. Liete flinched at the touch, but could not tear her eyes away from the brig sliding into the lagoon.
"They'll have a reason, Liete."
Her chest gasped as an anchor sunk into her depths, and she bloody well hoped so.
It remained there as the ship unloaded to reveal Ah Tabai, a wrapped body, and Anne Bonny.
Anne Bonny carrying a bundle.
Liete kept her distance, even as Cadmael left her to join his leader as they moved towards their small burying grounds… all the while followed by Anne.
Two lives for burial.
As the sun lingered just above the horizon many hours later, Liete hesitated as she ascended to the very spot where she had kept vigil these past weeks. She'd softly asked Cadmael to give her this moment alone & Drew to watch over Gerald once more. This moment needed no audience.
Anne now invaded the space her back against a large stone just a foot or so off the crests edge, her feet dangling over as she looked over the small alcove her face turned so it was unreadable by Liete.
She had never hesitated in such a way when dealing with anyone, let alone the woman before her that had been so carefree and ditzy in all of their interactions before.
Yet, the need to soothe the woman before her, that had lost the very thing Liete knew would destroy even her was a burn she could not ignore.
Taking the last few steps, Liete quietly came upon Anne who lifted her head from weak shoulders her eyes glass and worn.
"Liete. Heard you'd run off to bed down with Rogers." The red head's words held no true bite, her voice a little above a whisper.
Anne's body still showed signs of motherhood, her stomach still slightly distended, and breasts swollen. Just these small signs… how could Anne be even alive? Liete could not understand, could not fathom, and the weight of Michael against her back as he slept was the only thing that kept her in the moment rather than falling into the panic of the thought.
"No, just sold back to the slavery of the ton." Liete caught the woman's eyes then as she glanced at her once more, even as they swam with the effort.
Anne quieted once more, as both of them simply watched the other.
Liete's eyes began to slowly swirl, hypnotic, as she slowly pulled the sling that held Michael until the toddler filled her arms and like a soothing hand to a wounded dog held her waking son with no hesitation to the mother before her.
Anne crumbled in a breath, never realizing that she'd even had a baby with her as he'd been quietly resting. Her eyes leaked hot tears as she let out a soft wail.
Never had Liete been so intent on allowing someone to hold her son, and again with no hesitatin she carefully laid Michael against the womans chest.
Anne's arms, after a moments pause as she gasped, wrapped around the toddler as she clutched him to her chest. Resting her face against the wrapped child and fully let herself cry.
Liete watched as the pain and loss, although something she knew would never leave the red head, bgan to be just a little lighter.
Anne rocked back and forth slowly, as her tears lessened to a softer flow, beginning to hum an iris song as Michael's small hands had reached to cling to the woman's jerkin cooing is own excitement as this new sound.
Liete looked then to the village and the coast, a vision she'd looked to every day since she'd been brought here, tired and walled. Finally, after all the past months, years, she let it crumble.
The wreckage slowly sinking into the dark depths within her, Liete crumbled next to Anne as she rested against the soft dirt, her head rested on one of the pirate's thighs.. and sobbed.
She cried for the rape that brought her back to living like she was dead. For the loss of Thatch, one of the only men she would ever truly miss and love in her lifetime. Sobbed for the youth and excitement of the clever Mary, better than all the shite striving to be better than the kings and queen kicking them all about. Sobbed for the babes lost in all this madness, young lives that deserved a better chance. But most of all, Liete wept for the changing tides of her life.
The push and pull of her circumstances, and although she had never taken the course of self pity or even self reflection and simply hardened herself to the circumstances of her time and marched on, Liete wept now.
Now was the time to let that bleed, and as she held fast to the earth, an image of Kenway rose and Liete couldn't find it in her heart to cry for him.
No, her death was on his own path...
No, she bleed all the hate and pain away for herself alone.
As the sun set into the night, the pair of them stayed on the overlook taking what they needed to face the world and brave the coming storms.