Love's Betrayal
There was once a girl who was born to wear a tiara of jewels.
She was loved by her family.
She was raised as a slave.
She was fated to die by love's betrayal.
And no one knew her name.
It was the law of the sea, and every Captain knew it...
When a pirate vessel raised the plague flag, its prey had a choice.
To surrender would mean the loss of all goods and gold, logs and maps, and possibly the ship itself, but the crew would be spared.
To fight, they may escape, aye, but failure would mean the death of all on board.
So when the fat little galleon chose to run, the crew of the Rancid Raven was surprised.
/curious
And as they gained, they watched their prey throw everything overboard for speed.
And when they fired their warning shot, the galleon turned and offered a broadside.
There was little else for the pirates but to sharpen their blades and prepare to board.
/bored
The galleon crew fought bravely, but the pirates swept through them like wolves through cattle.
/moo
The crew of the Rancid Raven was all the more surprised to find little of value on board.
/confused
Linens, grain, furniture of questionable quality...
Trinkets and baubles...
Nothing worth dying for.
/curious
Sassy Jack was an old hand at the pirate life though he held a position as lowly powder monkey.
As he searched the passenger cabins for some overlooked bauble, he heard a small noise.
/search
In the corner, beneath the body of a servant girl, he found an infant.
The wet nurse's last act had been to protect this child, and old Sassy Jack was strangely touched by that.
In the child's cradle, he found a parchment.
The quality paper, flowing script, and golden seal marked it of something of importance.
He knew perhaps his Captain or First Officer could cipher the meaning of the document, but he chose instead to leave it, lest he be forced to share.
The entire crew had sacrificed themselves to protect this fragile treasure, and he decided not to let that act be in vain.
So he tore away the golden seal, as its color pleased him, and hiding the child in his jacket, he returned to his ship.
From there, the Rancid Raven returned to Tortuga.
And Sassy Jack retired to his hovel within the storeroom behind the King's Arm tavern, a place of such low character that even Captain Jack Sparrow refuses to patronize it.
Sassy Jack hid the baby there amongst the empty kegs of ale and rum.
Carefully removing the gold seal from the parchment, he warmed it with a candle flame and attached it to a wooden disk, making from it a crude locket.
/coin
This, he hung around the baby girl's neck, his first and perhaps only selfless gift...
Sassy Jack and the crew of the Rancid Raven leave this story now.
/goodbye
Pirates say it is better to be lucky than smart. Unfortunately, the Captain and crew of the Rancid Raven were neither, and they were soon captured by the Royal Navy.
Sassy Jack and his crew were hung as pirates.
/shrug
Some days after the Rancid Raven's final departure, bartender Johnny McVane heard a faint cry coming from his storage room.
And there he found the baby girl, weak and exhausted and hungry.
He had no use for a child, but seeing no other reasonable option, he choose to keep her, and left her in the care of his serving girls and musicians.
In time, the girl became something of the bar's mascot, cleaning, serving drinks, and running errands for Mr. McVane.
/drink
In return, he allowed her to live in his storeroom, amongst his empty barrels, and having nothing else to call her, the people of Tortuga called her Dregs for the company that she kept.
Thirteen years passed quickly, and Dregs grew tall and slender, with dark hair and dark skin and deep Mediterranean eyes.
Mych Swain taught her music, and her voice grew lovely, and many pirates were known to weep at her sad ballads.
/sigh
/dance
And she learned to dance to such jaunty music, that the whole tavern would rise up to join her.
And she grew clever, and many pirates were known to laugh at her tricks and rage at her simple scams.
/coin
But alas, she was lonely, and she was a slave.
/sad
For Johnny McVane did not pay her with anything but scraps of food and thread bare clothing, and without the shine of gold, no pirate would take her off the island.
/sigh
Count Jackin Montmorency was a cad.
A boy born to English privilege, he squandered his family's money on cards and drink and ladies.
He lost his title to scandal and his estate to gambling.
Across all of Europe, Netherlands, and Prussia, his name was ruined.
But he had the gift of the golden tongue, and he was able to bargain his way into a minor EITC position in the New World.
He boarded his ship just ahead of a riot of creditors, cheated business partners, and jealous husbands and set sail for Tortuga.
There he was placed in the EITC offices of the Thieves' Den.
To say he was more of a success with the local tavern girls than with his new EITC masters would be an understatement, and his vices failed to impress his new master, Claude D'Arcis.
It was while he was drinking away his next week's pay in the King's Arm that he saw the skinny girl serving drinks and the flash of gold hanging around her neck.
"Come to me, my beauty," he beckoned, and offered Dregs his empty mug.
"Such a pretty thing you are," he said, and when she blushed, he took her medallion and examined it closely.
Oh, indeed, he recognized it for what it was.
"Such a beautiful girl you are," he said with a grin, "Far too pretty to waste away in a place like this..."
He was a charming one, that Jackin Montmorency, and he cast a spell of sweet words and promises with his tongue.
Soon, Dregs' heart was his, and all she could do was dream of her life with him, beyond this horrible place.
She did not see his greedy eyes. She did not see his flirting with the other girls. She did not hear what promises he offered them.
"But for us to live, my love, it is not enough that we merely be together... You must live in comfort, without want or fear forever. I would have it no other way.
"I have a plan that will solve all our troubles, but for it to succeed, I need your help."
"Anything!" Dregs cried and held him close.
"You are loved by the pirates of this place, while they trust me not at all for they know me to be EITC. I need you to call upon your friends, use your charms, and find for me a pirate crew.
"I know of a secret EITC shipment of gold. It shall be lightly protected. A sturdy crew of pirates, no more than three or four perhaps, can capture that ship.
"And our share of the treasure will guarantee our future! We shall travel to Spain and live out our lives in comfort and wealth!"
/yes
And Dregs did as he asked. It was simple thing for her to do, for many pirates were fond of her, and the promise of easy gold was irresistible.
And soon after, she found herself on the Tortuga dock, waving to Jackin Montmorency as he sailed away with his pirate crew.
/goodbye
It was late in the night when she awoke to a pounding on the door to her hovel. Outside was Jackin, bloody and burnt, leading a wheelbarrow loaded heavy with a royal chest.
"Did you get the treasure?" she asked, "Where are the others?"
With a grim look, he pushed the wheelbarrow inside and closed the door. "They are dead, my love, offered down to Davey Jones."
/gasp
"While they were aboard ship, dealing with my EITC brethren, I took the chest and set the charge and stole the sloop. Friend and foe alike went up with the explosion, and now we two alone bear witness."
/cower
"Oh, how could you do that to my friends?" she cried!
"All the more treasure for us, precious Dregs, and fewer the tongues to wag. Do not pirates always say, Dead men tell no tales?"
She cried and she raged, but in the end, her heart was his, and so she forgave. For what other choice did she have?
"We shall be happy then?" she asked, "Together?"
With a smile that would melt glaciers, he gave her a nod and opened the chest and reached in his hand...
Gold!
Gold, gold, GOLD!
/celebrate
Gold...
/confused
Gold... doubloons?
/gasp
One by one, he let them fall from his hand. It was a detail he had missed in the EITC report.
/sad
"Oh, my sweet Dregs," he moaned, "I have killed us!"
/cry
Her joy turned to fear and confusion. "What do you mean?"
/confused
"These are coins of the Spanish realm! Pieces of eight!
/no
"We cannot go to Spain with stolen Spanish gold! It would mean my slow death... We cannot go back to England, for the EITC would love to welcome me likewise...
"We cannot go to Prussia or the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe for fear of my creditors... And we cannot stay here, for I have betrayed my entire pirate crew!"
/cry
"But France!" she said with a cry, "We can go to France!"
/yes
He approached her and gently withdrew her charm from her bodice. And he showed her the gold seal. He knew what it meant, and so he told her.
"We cannot go to France, my love, for you are born of Spanish royalty. And Spain and France are at war.
"What once would have promised an easy life in Spain, offers only a quick execution for us both...
/sad
"Unless..."
/wink
"Unless?" she asked, her hope returning.
"Unless there was a way to travel to France safely, gold in hand..."
"There is?"
He approached her with a smile, and slipped a narrow dagger from his sleeve.
And he held her face and gave her a kiss.
And she gasped.
/sad
There was once a girl who was born to wear a tiara of jewels.
She was loved by her family.
She was raised as a slave.
She was fated to die by love's betrayal.
And no one knew her name.
/bow