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The HMS Intrepid was the most beautiful ship Flynn had ever seen. Her lines were long and graceful, her sails soft and billowy, and his hands itched to run along the exposed wood of her hull, but he couldn't. His hands were cuffed behind his back and near thirty guards wrapped around him on all sides, but even without touch he felt his body warm at the idea of commanding such a vessel. His blood surged. He felt he could overcome any adversity just for the promise of a sea breeze in his face and adventure cutting his path.
Well, almost any adversity.
Captain Herrmann, his royal babysitter, gave him a few doubts. Flynn had been in his company for less than a day, and already was a master at drowning out the sound of Captain Herrmann's endless drone. It seemed like he had something to say about everything and it was all Flynn could do not to yell at him to shut up.
"... and those are the qualifications you must consider upon selecting a crew."
Flynn faced Captain Herrmann as he finished and was glad he hadn't heard the rest of that speech. He was also glad that his hands weren't free because just half a sentence made him want to choke the man to death and, given his present company, that was a bad idea. It was better to beat him to a pulp using his tongue instead.
Flynn came out swinging, "Have you ever been on the open ocean when a storm blows up?"
Captain Herrmann's moustache twitched in irritation. Questions were not part of his order giving routine. "No – I haven't."
"It happens faster than you can imagine." Flynn didn't give the captain a chance to recover and stepped toe to toe with him. "So fast you can't think. Wind and water are the same thing. You can't see. You can't breathe, but you keep working. You do something useful or you get out of the way so you don't kill your entire ship. Can you do that?"
There was a beat. Then two. Flynn could feel his breath hitting the other man's cheek and bouncing back onto his face. He could see the vein in the captain's forehead twitching.
Then: "I don't see how that holds any bearing on -"
"Can any of your men do that?" Flynn cuts him off, keeping his proximity, staring the captain straight in his eye.
"Listen here, Rider -!"
"No. You listen here –" Flynn spoke over him.
"Selection of this crew is crucial to the –" Captain Herrmann kept talking.
So did Flynn: "No landlubbing lackey of the king is going to tell me –"
"– ongoing prosperity of Corona and if you think for one second –"
"- what men I can or can't take with me or-"
"- I am going to let you compromise the future of our nation, you are incorrect!"
"- how to run a ship when you can't tell a stern from a bow!"
Both stood ramrod straight, nose to nose, foreheads almost touching. The guards fidgeted around them. No one quite knew what to do.
Flynn gave Captain Herrmann credit for standing his ground, but not much.
Captain Herrmann didn't have the power here, and he knew it.
If any of the guards had brains they knew it too. The King may have put Captain Herrmann "in charge" of him, but he had no leverage. He and his men couldn't sail a boat but Flynn, and the men he knew, could. The king didn't need Captain Herrmann. He needed Captain Flynn Rider.
"There was a bargain struck and it won't suit you well to change it." Flynn kept his voice low and level. "Leave picking the crew up to me. Loyalty to the crown doesn't mean much when the waves are against you."
"There are men in Corona who are both loyal and able. That is who we need. Not more rabble like you." Captain Herrmann wore a snarl on his mouth, clinging desperately to any semblance of authority. If it wasn't so annoying, it might have been cute.
"Those men are already in Corona's Navy which, if I remember correctly, is strictly off limits. We're taking men I know can sail, sail right, and not get your dear king in trouble with the powers that be. Their colors may be closer to mine than yours, but they will get the job done."
Flynn waited for further disagreement, but it didn't come. The captain's gaze didn't waver and the clench of his jaw tightened, but he was silent. With the captain's silence ringing like a victory bell, Flynn's face slipped into an easy smirk.
Flynn stepped back and laughed before anything else could be said and then:
"Now that we understand each other, why don't you be a friendly sort and un-cuff me? My men are this way and it won't do to have them see me in chains. First impressions are everything, you know."
The Snuggly Duckling was anything but what the name implied. It housed every low life wharf rat young, old, or otherwise. The seats of this port's pub were ones Flynn frequented when he slipped into Corona between voyages or when he needed to settle a score. It was a dingy dump where blending in was rarely an issue since everyone there was wanted on at least one count of something and no one wanted to draw attention.
So when they were one block from the seedy establishment with almost thirty Coronal officers, in full arms and dress, Flynn knew something had to give. He walked in the center of a formidable sea of red and gold, hands still bound because the captain was a sore loser, and something about this picture had to change before they got any closer or all hell would break loose.
Flynn stopped walking. The guards didn't.
The men behind him bumped into his back, but Flynn dug in his heels and kept from stumbling onto his face. The clatter of armor and frenzied feet against the earth alerted the soldiers in front of Flynn to the impromptu halt and they whirled with hands on their hilts, ready to fight. Captain Herrmann burst through from the front with a huff.
"What is the meaning of this? Don't even think of trying something funny, Rider, or else I will redefine your meaning of the word 'pain'." Captain Herrmann pounded over to Flynn, getting in his space, mimicking Flynn's approach from earlier.
Flynn yawned.
"I'm shaking." Flynn said and the speed at which the captain's face turned red couldn't be healthy. "Look boys, no one in there is going to be happy to see you, but you're probably used to that." He didn't even try to not be patronizing. "My pitch is going to be a hard enough sell as it is without all of your crowding me so it is best that you stay out of sight while I get my crew assembled."
"Not so fast, Rider." Captain Herrmann said. "You think I'm just going to let you go in there unaccompanied - you've got the wrong idea."
"Look - surround the place, guard the doors and windows, get up by the chimney, do whatever you want outside the place just, for your own damn sake, don't come inside."
"This isn't my first time dealing with criminals like you. You must think I am some special sort of idiot if you think I am just going to let you walk in there by yourself."
Flynn bit his tongue and noticed just how close the keys to his shackles were to him right then.
"Every single one of the guys in there have something against Corona and for most of them their idea of a good time is slamming skulls together." Flynn shifted in towards the captain again until his fingers brushed the keys hanging at the captain's waist. "I think they would all find great joy in breaking open your heads to see if you actually have brains."
The captain eyed him. His thin moustache doubled the firm line of his mouth.
"If you try to run, I swear every guard in this country will be after you." The captain said and Flynn didn't doubt it, but he wasn't going anywhere. He had a much better plan.
"Me? Run? And miss out on a few months on a boat with you and your smiling face? Never." Flynn winked just for good measure as he turned the proper key in one of his manacles, laughing to cover the click of metal releasing.
"You have five minutes to do your talking. If you're not out before then we will just have to see how your men stand up to efficient training of Corona's best."
Flynn rolled his eyes. Corona's best just let him unlock his handcuffs right in front of them.
"I'm trying to drag up the best talent on the seas to save the lovely queen, and you are going to limit my time?" Flynn clicked his tongue. "Shame on you, sir. Shame on you."
"Well if you're as good as you say you are, you shouldn't need more time than that." The captain sneered.
"Oh. I am good, but this is a delicate process. So here is how it is going to work. You all follow behind me a bit, let me get inside, then man your posts and wait as long as it takes for me to get some of the best sailors known to earth to sign on to this wild goose chase."
"My men and I don't take orders from pirates."
"And I don't take orders from men wearing shiny hats." Flynn said. "Look – I'm not going to run. I don't have anywhere to go. You kind of cut my options to zero when you burned my ship and killed my entire crew. My best option is to follow through with my agreement."
Flynn put on his best sincere expression but even his sincerity was impudent. Captain Herrmann weighed his words, and he was right to. Flynn hadn't made a reputation for being honest.
"Ten minutes, Rider, that's all you get." The captain said this like it was some great favor. "Then I don't care what you say – if you aren't back out here after that I'll drag you out of there myself and cut down any man that gets in my way. Do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear." Flynn said before raising his hand to dangle his manacles in front of Captain Herrmann's face. "Would you mind holding this for me till I get back?"
Captain Herrmann snatched the offending metal out of Flynn's grasp. It looked like it took every fiber of his control not to explode. Flynn had never seen a more wonderful sight.
The guards followed behind Flynn several paces as he walked the last block to the Snuggly Duckling. When he reached the door, he paused. Captain Herrmann barked orders at his men, a good twenty feet behind him, to create a barricade around perimeter. They were about as inconspicuous as a peacock in full spread, but he'd have to take it. With a deep breath and prayer to a god he didn't believe in, Flynn pushed his way into the bar.
It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the murky light inside. Salt from sea and sweat filled the air along with the smell of ale and piss. He scanned the place. There were more than enough men here to make a good crew. That was if he could convince them to board a royal ship with royal guardsmen and go on a crazy expedition where if the minute chance of it being more than a fable came true it may get them all killed. And he only had ten minutes to do it. Yeah, this was no problem.
He went to the bar and ordered a drink. He pushed the few coins he stole on the way over to the barkeep just as a hulking brute approached him. The man was bald with a spindly moustache and a glinting metal hook where his left hand should have been. He stepped up to Flynn with a suspicious look in his eye.
"Rider." The word bit with deep gravel. "Word is your ship's burned and all your crew's dead. Seems like if that were true – you should be dead, too."
So people did know about True North. Fantastic. As if his job wasn't difficult enough already, now he was the captain who didn't go down with his crew and ship, but he could use this. He could make this work. He had to.
"I got plucked out of the ocean by the Royal Navy. Seems a man of my reputation is too much of a treasure to be lost to old Davey Jones." Flynn used the accusation as a segue. "Now I am all set up with a bright and shiny future s'long as I do the king a little favor." Flynn drank a sip of his stein and, yep, piss. It tasted like piss. Good to know some things never changed.
"That favor better not be a raid, cause I saw who you came with. I swear if you came to help the crown smoke us out I will gut you myself." He slammed his hook into the scared wood of the bar for emphasis.
All eyes were on them now. Hookhand had gotten their attention, and Flynn felt his insides tighten. He had to work, and fast.
"The king granted me a ship, forgiveness, and freedom as long as my first voyage is to pick up a little something for him. There are more clean slates floating around for anyone who joins my crew. Thought I might see if any of the men here would be interested in helping hoist the sails for absolution."
He kept it easy, nonchalant, and dismissed Hookhand's concern like his military escort was just another day in the fantastical existence of Flynn Rider, but in reality he was sweating bullets. Silence hung like a pall in the air. He drank again. If he was going to die today, he may as well finish his ale.
"Where are you sailing?" The question came from Vlad, the helmsman who was twice the size of a normal man with arms the circumference of Flynn's head.
"Not quite sure. It is some mystery island His Majesty's Navy was too daft to find. Those boys are all tactical maneuvers and no ability. You get them off book and they are worthless." A grumble of agreement ran through the crowd at the mutual hatred of the crown. "Where ever it is – the king's men couldn't find it so I thought I'd give a crack at it."
"What's on the mystery island that's got the king slumming it with you, Rider?" It is an unfortunate looking man at the end of the bar. His large nose was his namesake.
"Yeah. Must be a doozy if he has to trust the likes of you." Echoed an ironclad man Flynn knew as Attila.
"Look, guys, the king wasn't big on specifics on this one and I was a little tied up during out discussion – if you know what I mean. You all know as much as I do."
Hookhand looked down his nose at him, his eyebrows furrowed in doubt. His expression spoke for the entire crowd in the room.
Then a voice rang out from the back of the bar. "Sounds cockeyed to me. This is all some sort of set up, isn't it? We sign on with you and then sail right to the noose and you get off free for turning us in, is that it?."
It was a fair speculation from the darkest corner of the room. Flynn he couldn't make out who asked it.
"I've got near three dozen of the king's best babysitting me right now. If they were interested in lynching any of you – you think they would have sent me in here to warn you about them first?" Flynn said.
"Some of us have sailed with you before, Rider. We know just the color of man you are."
It was the same shadowed voice as before, low, grumbling, and familiar. Flynn knew that voice, but he didn't want to believe his ears. Abandoning his spot at the bar, Flynn stepped towards it.
The owner of that voice should be in Glimdon, or Perstine – at least two kingdoms away from Corona but still never far enough away for Flynn's taste. The last time they were on a ship together, they were the only ones to make it off alive. In the same turn they were the only ones who knew the secret of how they managed that magnificent feat. But they couldn't be here, not in Corona, not now. That wasn't part of their deal.
"Stabbington." Rider said before he made it back far enough to see them. "What are you doing in my port?"
Flynn squared his shoulders as the darkness shifted, shadows coming solid, and moved into the light. The red headed brothers looked much the same as they did the last time Flynn saw them years ago, but thicker, harder, older. Time and the winds had been cruel to them.
"Heard you'd been locked up and headed for the gallows. Figured we'd come by and see about staking our own claim before some other bilge rat tried." Stabbington smoothed his thick sideburns as he spoke.
Rider swallowed.
He didn't like the gleam in Patch Stabbington's one good eye as his brother spoke.
"Looks like you're out of luck, boys. Hate to disappoint, but it doesn't seem like this territory is going to open to the likes of you anytime soon."
"On the contrary, looks like we got here just in time for a much more interesting deal." The brothers exchanged a chilling look before Chops spoke again. "A couple free passes would make life a little easier."
Their intention made Flynn's stomach tie knots.
The last men he wanted aboard his ship were the Stabbington brothers.
"I'm not looking for first mates." His words are meant to, and he saw they did.
"You going to make us your cabin boys, Rider?" Disrespect dripped from each syllable.
"That may be the first good idea you've had."
"Seems like I remember another time you thought I had a pretty good idea." The glint in Chop's eyes shared a secret but Flynn knew he wouldn't dare. He couldn't. Stabbington had just as much riding on that secret as he did.
He also knew that now was not the time for a grudge match. He had a crew to assemble and all eyes were on him. Flynn set his jaw.
He opened out to the crowded bar, his side to the brothers, and felt his tongue stick in his mouth. He'd made speeches before, but this felt different. Probably because he knew it just might not work, and that wasn't a feeling he was used to, but he had to try.
"This is, at best, an unconventional arrangement. I know that. I wish I could answer all of your questions, but I can't. The risk is high, sure, but so is the reward. I could have gone and selected men that Corona thought were good enough for this mission, but what does the king know about the sea? I am here because I know you men are the finest sailors a port can offer." Flynn turned his head to the bothers at his side. "Each man will pull their own weight. This is no pleasure cruise." He looked back out at the crowd, but not before he caught three eyes worth of daggers. "I'm looking for a full crew. Payment is forgiveness for all and any grievance Corona has against you. You also get to make those navy bastards look like the idiots they are when we do what they couldn't."
The room is a canvas of blank expressions.
His heart sank. Not one to let on that his confidence was shaken, Flynn strode to the bar where his abandoned drink sat and drained the tankard. It didn't taste any better this time around, but it was the only thing he could think to do to keep from begging. He slammed the mug onto the bar and looked out at the room once more. They all still watched him. Flynn swallowed.
"The ship is the HMS Intrepid. She's in the royal ship yards. We sail at dawn." He gave one last sweep of the room. "I'll see you there."
He went to leave, feet feeling like bricks, and he caught a glance of the Stabbingtons. They'd moved up from their dark recess in the corner, thick arms crossed over broad chests, and the darkness in their expression made his stomach turn. Surviving Captain Herrmann's endless prattle was no longer his greatest concern.
He was out of The Snuggly Duckling less than two steps before handcuffs were clamped back on his wrists, this time behind his back. They'd become such a common accessory of his, he didn't bother to quip at their futility. He had too many other things on his mind.
"Do we have a crew?" Captain Herrmann walked behind Flynn now, personally seeing that his handcuffs stayed in place, as The Snuggly Duckling was lost to the twists and turns of the allies by the docks.
"That was never a question." Flynn smirked. Even if the captain couldn't see it, it made him feel better.
"For your sake, I hope you're right."
And for the first time in history, Flynn Rider couldn't agree with the captain more.
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