A... warm welcome

It was not quite what I'd expected, my return. I suppose the year of bravado I'd lived gave me higher expectations than what actually played out. I've been rather amused by some of the reactions, particularly from my closer acquaintances but all in all its merely been back to business. Though, I must say, there have been some interesting developments.

An old... friend, has risen to a station well above his calling and to a power that is well beyond his ability to control. I'll venture to guess that it will become quite interesting, particularly considering his... methods. Ah well, what happens, happens and if I keep up the pattern that my love has set for our business, things will develop that should be quite interesting.

Ah, above all, I got my hands on some fantastic fabric and was able to work it for my own profit. Gods it was fantastic, and I must say that what was produced was better than when I left, a fact that amazes me still. The work though is soothing as it always has been for me and to be able to create once more for my own business and my own gain... indescribable.

Home...

Nearly two weeks had passed as I crept about in secret, seeking out the old haunts, searching for my love. I found a few things that I didn't expect, saw things I'd hoped not to see and heard rumors I couldn't... yet could entirely believe. It was nearly two weeks of sneaking about before I finally found her. She had been caring incredibly for my business apparently, but I frankly didn't care. I simply wanted to see her, to look into those dark eyes once more, to hear that alluring voice... to watch the sway of her hips as they sang to me as the sirens had so often on the seas.

And now with her in my arms I could only think of how much I'd missed her and how awkward it was to simply hold her once more. I had been with others while I was gone, the dangers of having women in the crew, but I had only one love... only one whom I wanted to be with once more. It crossed my mind, and I fought it quite bravely, to ask about my son. Fortunately, she distracted me with promises of privacy and we swept off to a spot where we honored love itself once before.

Our discussion was filled with remorse, love and pain. We had both changed so much in our time apart. I was willing to understand that she had moved on, but never will I accept it. I will fight for her and now I have the benefit of life as a pirate under my belt. There's a particular tenacity that some develop, particularly when one has goals in life... and I have mine, oh yes, I have mine.

Siren Call

Siren's Call

Storm clouds gathered in the sky of my life as things that I thought so stable began to fall apart around me. A friend, more than a friend, had become something that I could not even imagine, had gone to a place I could not follow. My closest friend and lover, began to push us all away and I... I retreated to the one place I knew was solid... coin.

It was a dark night when I stepped foot on the gangplank of the ship I will never forget. The captain and three very large crewmen were there to greet me, armed, which I thought odd at the time but shuffled it away into the depths of my mind. I would come to regret ignoring that. We shoved off from the docks almost immediately, and the captain showed me to my quarters. It was private, and quaint but not nearly fit for nobility. In my haughtiness, I thought I deserved better and though I was warned once more through a catch in my heart, I requested in a tone less than polite a different and much finer room.

A night passed, then another, and soon I realized that we had not left port still. In my naivety I thought that perhaps they knew a storm was coming and it was not until I attempted to leave my room on the third night that I began to sense something very wrong. Stepping from my room a man was there, armed again, and as I passed he began to follow me. Up on decks, I confronted the captain...

He was standing at midships helping up a pair of lads dressed in finery and carrying a pair of scrolls. As I approached, the older man, dressed more the pirate than the merchant, read the parchment twice turning more and more red as he perused the letter. With an angry shout that stopped all his crew at once, he tore the parchment into pieces throwing them over board in an angry tirade of obscenities.

With a cocky smirk on my face, I nearly got a few words in when the captain swept by me shouting orders to get the ship ready to sail. I followed him, waiting for an opportune time to interject. When it finally came, an angry and almost sadistic gleam was in his eyes as he looked me over.

"Captain, when can we expect to get to my silk?" My stance, as always was casual and that cocky smirk had taken over my face.

"Your silk hmm? You want silk?" And by this time we had reached the break-walls where the ship's flag was raised.

"Well, yes captain, that ~is~ why I came..."

General chuckling broke out around me which drew my attention to the rather rough looking crewmen now gathered round us. A large hand, attached to a quite large skrell looking creature, settled upon my shoulder as the captain spoke. "Well, you see I ~was~ going to take you to some silk but I thought to m'self... self? Why don't ye jus' ransom the dumb sucker and get three times what ye'd get from the scoundrel?"

It took me a long moment to realize that I was now in trouble, more than I'd been in in a very, very long time. The captain continued, "So we had ourselfs a vote an' we decided that we ought to go for the larger amount of coin. Those two boys you saw climbing up ship and handin' over dose parchments were the envoys. Apparently, a petty little baron such as y'self isn't worth all that much to the crown."

Around me grumbling began to sound and the crowd seemed to close in on me. Panic began rising up and I begged and pleaded in my mind for help but it was no use. Those that could have heard me were well out of earshot as now the port was quite small on the horizon. "So Captain, what will you do with me now?" I said with as much bravado as I could muster.

"Well, first I'll be takin' ye clothes... mayhaps some sucker will buy them off me hands. Then we'll be puttin' ye ta werk on the decks, doin' somethin' I bet ye ain' never done afore... scrubbin'." He burst into laughter as did almost all of the crew around us. Roughly I was hauled below, stripped, put into rags and chains and moved up on deck to begin scrubbing.

I won't bore you with the few details that stuck out in my mind of that time. We went from island to island, seeking new ventures. The Captaincy changed hands twice during the time I scrubbed and only in the period of two or three months. One was a death, a rather suspicious one, the other was a mutiny which eventually lead to quite a few deaths. I survived little few; beatings, torture and demon attacks with only one thought keeping me from breaking... that of the woman I loved and the boy that was prophesied to be growing in her, who was my son.

And so a trip that was supposed to take but a few weeks, according to the now dead captain, had turned into much longer as I was kept as slave on this ship. It was, of all things, pirates that saved me from a short lifetime of slavery. Night had come, and a ship had been slowly approaching but something in the brew that night had kept everyone of the crew asleep but I and the newest captain. This one was actually rather fair and I received fewer whippings under his authority than the other two, though he was not what I would consider merciful by any means.

I was standing at the bow, still working well after nightfall when I spotted something in the distance as a quick flash of some lantern far away. Peering into the night I looked back to see the captain had now fallen asleep at the navigator's post. With a slight smirk, I leaned against the rails, watching as a shadow against the night crept closer. The moon, in it's blood red hue, was suddenly revealed and I could now see the glint of steel from the newcomer's weapons.

Quite politely I waved as they approached, the slight clink of my chains startling a man nearby. As I glanced over, he saw the pirates as they approached and I could only react. Quickly, my chains were around his neck, choking the life from him before he could warn the crew. The first to swing over ran a sword through the struggling form which went suddenly still. With a wink, the feminine form of the pirate moved past me to run through a few more men as they slept.

Looking over the ship I simply leaned on the rail, watching the quiet slaughter. A few of the men had roused by now and were groping, drunkenly for weapons. It was far too late for them though as they were now out numbered at least four to one. Soon only the captain was left alive, having been captured and tied to the mast itself. The young pirate that had helped me finish off my prey gathered me to the mast as a small meeting of sorts occurred between the captains.

"Greetings and salutations Gerard, it is Gerard isn't it?" A young voice sounded in the light of a few swinging lanterns though the source was hidden in the shadow of a tricorne hat. "I've been looking for you. It seems you stole a small trinket that my lover fancies and I'm here to take it back... more for honor than anything, you understand."

"Then why the hell did you kill m' crew?!" The old captain, still tied to the mast, spit at the pirate. "Feckin bastards! May the sea swa-" A gurgling sound was all that he could manage and only when he went limp did I realize that a blade had been drawn across his throat before he could finish the curse.

"Can't be getting cursed before we even have what we came for now can we?" A rather kindly face was revealed in the lantern light as he looked over at me. "Now, what are we to do with you? No room for a slave aboard my ship but I can't just kill you in good conscious, you did save us the trouble of a bloody fight." I smiled, genuinely and for the first time in ages at this.

"Captain," it was such a relief to even speak as it had been beaten out of me to do so in public. "I simply wish to go home. I've the coin there to pay you back in full for any expenses I incur..." I paused at an upheld hand from the captain.

"Every slave I've ever met has coin at home. What makes you any different?" He chuckled softly as did a few of the others around us. For a moment I was at a lost and grasping for straws in my own mind.

"Whether you believe it or not, I am a Noble of Seahaven, a Baron to be exact. I have enough coin in my account back home to buy you a new ship and I would give it simply to be back home to my lover and unborn son." Of course I looked nothing like the noble that I am, with scars from many, many whippings covering my back and dressed as I was in naught but rags. "I was taken for ransom but being nothing more than a petty noble the crown would not-"

"Enough, enough. Saving a life on my ship gives you the right to life, saving a few and us the trouble of a fair fight earns you a spot aboard our ship. Any objections?" Around us, no objections came and the keys for my chains were found and for the first time in quite a long time, I was free. A single tear was all I could spare at the freedom I now felt, completely unlooked for.

"So Baron," A young woman, of which made up nearly a third of the crew to my surprise, inquired of me as we searched for my things in the holds of the newly pirated ship. "What did you do back in Seahaven."

"I'm a tailor of some skill my dear," I was feeling rather melancholy at the time so my tones were quite uncharacteristically cheerful. "And a rather successful businessman, which I assume is why- ah! I found it... and everything is intact! They must have forgotten about it all." You can imagine the surprise on the woman's face as I dressed in the finery of a true noble once more, fitting into my clothing perfectly. "What do you think my dear? Dashing yes?"

"Unbelievable..." She and a few of the other crewmen stood rather shocked as reality washed over them. "You really are a noble?" A crowd had gathered by now, bringing more light on the issue.

"I am... or I was. And depending on the woman I left at home, I may or may not still be a Baron when I return." With a light shrug I leaned against a crate nearly pulling off a relaxed demeanor though on the inside I was very nearly bursting with excitement. "It's been a long time, too long in fact since I walked the streets of my home and I fear I shall be forgotten before I do get there."

"Alright, alright, you can wear your fancy clothes and quite well I should add, but what we have here in this private little hold is crates full of quite fine cloth including silks... put your coin where your mouth is and make yourself useful hmm? If you're such a fine tailor, outfit us with some of this starting with a fine silk dress for my lady here. Sheer if you can manage it." He winked playfully at his lover and the pirates around, whom I would grow to adore, grinned widely at the prospect of wearing finery and I joined in with them.

Here the story actually takes quite a good turn for me. It didn't take long for them to realize that I had not lied to them about my abilities and they presumed that since I was as skilled as it seemed that I may be every bit the Baron that I claimed. Soon they came to call me Baron, which I didn't argue with whatsoever. And with time I became a part of the crew, being punished as the rest when I failed and rewarded when I went beyond the call. I've never been treated so well as by them and during this time I regained many of the strengths and abilities I'd lost so quickly in slavery.

In time, we found our way to Seahaven and under the cover of darkness I was boated to shore with a few coins in my pouch and a new found love for the sea and my new people...