Chapter 10 #2
“They’ll signal when they’re ready.” Alister slapped him on the back before gripping his shoulder. “I want crew in the crow’s nest watching the shore until that happens. I give them three days before they come to their senses.”
“I’ll let the men know what to expect.”
“Good. Now, have you eaten?”
“Aye.” Pierre gave him a satisfied grin while patting his stomach. “Glen gave us our meals while you were busy.”
“Did you leave any food for anyone else?” Alister laughed at the grumpy face he received. “You’re a pig, lad. Have some decorum.”
They turned away from the railing, and Pierre followed as Alister walked up the stairs to the helm.
He didn’t need to be here with the ship stationary, but he couldn’t stop from placing his hands on the wheel.
Gently, he turned it from side to side, relieved to feel the polished timber under his calloused palms.
It was the only thing he truly cared to maintain.
I missed you, old boy. He leaned between the handles, unwilling to depart yet from his favourite part of his much-loved warship.
“So, lads!” Alister yelled, catching the attention of most above deck. “Who wants to drink and play dice?”
What else were they going to do for the next few days other than laze around and get up to drunken foolery?
Before long, crates were brought up for men to play on, either crouching around them or sitting on the deck.
Some found their musical instruments and started playing while they sang sea shanties.
With a bottle of rum in his hand and a cigar between his teeth, Alister watched his men. The sun wasn’t far from turning into a sunset and he was rather pleased with the shouts, yells, laughter, and the occasional punches from his crew.
They were a violent bunch, but they rarely held grudges.
“Come here, pretty boy.” One of his men patted his thigh while whistling at Kent.
Kent, with bright-red lipstick, proceeded to punch the crewmember who’d whistled at him so hard, the man was knocked to the ground, unconscious, in one go.
“How’s that for pretty?” He spat on the ground near his feet. “Dickhead.”
“Kent!” Alister shouted, walking to a barrel and patting the top. He placed his elbow on it and wiggled his fingers. “I’ll make you a bet. If you beat me, I’ll wear the lass’ lipstick, and if I win, you have to wear her dress.”
The man pointed his finger at him. “Ye can’t stab me with nothin’.”
“Nay, lad. I can beat you with nothing but my arm.” He wiggled his fingers in a taunt once more.
“Then I’ll take that bet!”
On the odd occasion, Kent had beaten Alister in an arm wrestle, mainly when he’d drunk too much or manned the helm after a difficult storm.
He was feeling rather confident he’d win today, though.
“I think the lads would like to see you in a dress.”
With a growl, Kent slammed his elbow on the wooden surface and grasped his hand. Crewmen surrounded them, excitement filling the air at watching their captain participate in their revelry.
Cigar still in his mouth, Alister placed the bottle of rum down to grab his good luck charm. Before any fight, any takeover – anything that required a gamble – Alister would grab the locket around his neck to kiss it.
It was a ritual of his, and one he never missed doing.
He’d carried it with him since he’d been a young boy and considered it a good luck charm. It was his most precious keepsake.
Yet, when he felt around his neck and sternum... there was nothing. He turned his head down, expecting to find it, and couldn’t.
The cigar fell carelessly from his mouth. He released Kent’s mighty fist to search inside his tunic, patting his body.
It’s gone!
How the hell had he lost it? He knew he’d been wearing it last night when he’d kissed it before crawling over the side of the hull.
He’d been wearing it for seventeen years! Not once had the chain broken, not once had he needed to repair it, not once, even when polishing it, had he ever taken it off!
“Yer too scared now, Captain?” Kent gave a laugh, waving his hand towards the crew to get them to laugh as well.
Alister leaned across the barrel, grabbed the man by the cuff of his collar, and pulled him in. Kent put his hands up in surrender, no doubt unsure of him with the way his face was screwed up into angry lines of seething rage.
His eyes widened. The lass... The last time he remembered wearing the locket was when she’d touched it to look at it.
He released Kent and stood to look over at the shore.
“Get me a boat!” Alister roared. He started pushing confused and startled men out of the way. “Get me on that island. Now!”
He should have known she was up to no good. She tricked me! Again! She’d stolen his most priceless possession straight from around his damn neck. He shouldn’t be surprised, but could his bruised ego take much more of her trickery?
“Alister, what’s wrong?” Derek asked, rushing to his side while Alister was helping his men hoist a rowboat down the side of the hull.
He was trying to pick up their drunken and sluggish pace.
“She stole my locket!”
Derek winced. He knew how much that necklace meant to Alister. He said nothing, for there was nothing he could say.
“Oh, aye! She’s going to get it when I get my hands on her.”
His ship he could replace, his crew, his loot, but his necklace?
He couldn’t get another without telling the person who gave it to him in the first place, and he wouldn’t have the precious memories it came with.
He’d rather not see the disappointment on their face when he told them that he’d lost it.
A few moments later, Alister was crouched down at the head of the small boat, holding on to the bow so he didn’t fall out. Watching the shore come closer as men rowed behind him, he clenched his hand into a tight fist.
They only just hit the sandbank when he jumped out and started running for land. Water sloshed around his knees as his men followed behind him.
He was glad he’d noticed before the sun had gone down; otherwise, he’d have to look for her in the dark. Alister headed for the trees, knowing they were most likely taking shelter within them. He came over the rise of a small hill and that’s when he saw them clustered together.
He heard a shout in the distance, and they turned their heads to him and his men following behind. Rosetta sat up against the trunk of a coconut tree.
“You owe me a silver, Naeem!” she yelled as she rushed to her feet.
Alister grabbed his pistol from its holster. She let out an ear-piercing, squealing noise while ducking as he shot at her. The bullet hit right behind her, the bark of a tree flinging off in a mini explosion.
He’d wasted his single bullet and wouldn’t waste time reloading his gun, as she was already making a run for it. He was too busy chasing after her anyway.
None of her men followed, not when they were trying to get in the way of his own men. He managed to duck past them before they could stop him.
He had a feeling they let him.
“Get back here, lass!” The yell he gave was laced with fury, guttural and dangerous.
Sand shot from behind their feet as he gained on her.
“I have a name, you know!”
“You won’t need it when you’re dead.”
She took them to the shore; however, it wasn’t sand under their feet, but a cliff of rocks. Waves crashed against them, spraying foam around as the ocean pushed and pulled.
He took out his cutlass when she turned to him, but he halted when she held her hand out to the side of her body. He could see the locket dangling from her fist precariously over the rocky edge. If she dropped it, it’d be lost to the sea forever.
“Stay where you are, or I’ll toss it.” Her eyes narrowed on him, squinting with determination. Looking at her face, he knew without a doubt that she’d do it.
“Give it here.” He put his cutlass away and held his hand out. “I’ll forgive you if you give it back.”
He was unsure if those words were a lie or not.
She punched her hand to the side and the locket swung. “No.”
“If you drop it, Rosetta, you’ll regret it.”
She gave him a cruel smile. “Ah, so you do know my name.”
“Aye, I know your name.” He waved his fingers, silently telling her to toss it to him. “Now, give me the locket.”
Slowly, she brought it away from where he’d permanently lose it and started to inspect it. Although she wasn’t looking at him, he didn’t dare move.
“Alister.” She said his name while she read the front of it, then turned it. “Mum.” His lips thinned in agitation as she used her thumb nails to pry open the locket. “Always be safe.”
“I know what it says!” He took a stomping step forward and her head shot up.
“Well, Captain Alister Paine, it seems I have something to offer that you dearly want.”
She closed the locket with one hand, holding it in a fist as the rest of the chain dangled. She played with the length of it, her cruel pout and squinted eyes trained on him.
“My own necklace doesn’t count.”
“Sure it does.” She extended her hand sideways once more to hang his precious keepsake over the water. “You can hurt me however you like, but you’ll never get it back once it’s gone.”
He let a glare fill his features.
“I don’t trust you,” he freely admitted. “You want a ship, but I won’t wait that long to have it back.” He didn’t trust she wouldn’t lose it in the time it took for her to achieve her goal.
“That’s not the price for it.”
It’s not? “Then what in the seven seas do you want?”
“For you to actually listen to my offer. That’s the price for your locket.”
His brows crinkled together, then he rubbed his hand down his face in agitation. He guessed he’d never actually listened to what she had been trying to say back in his cabin. He folded his arms across his chest, but assumed a stance that would have told her he was defensive.
“Fine, speak it.”
“I want a ship, a particular one. I want you, your boat, and your men to help me get it.”
He quirked a brow. “What would I get in return?”
“Maps. Uncharted maps you don’t have, maps to not only the Raider’s treasure, but many others too.”