Annabel Flint's page

“I know what happened between the two of you was hard, Annabel, but you have to understand that it was for the best.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“It’s been months. You’re a pirate. Shouldn’t you be able to drink a few pints, sleep with a few whores, and get over it?”

At first, Annabel sneered at her first mate. After a moment, though, it turned into a slight grin that she made an effort to hide. “And you don’t think I’ve tried that? How did you get into my cabin anyway, could have swore I locked it.”

“You never lock it, Captain. You and I both know that. Look, I don’t want to be in your business, but the men are worried about you.”

“Isabella was the closest thing to romantic love I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah, and she’d kill you if she heard you call her that.” The first mate laughed at his own joke, which helped Annabel cover a small chuckle of her own.

“I’d love to see her try!” The captain turned her chair now to face the first mate as she grabbed her cutlass to wave it in the air for a moment.

“Weren’t you engaged once though?”

“To my brother. Do you think that really counts? I didn’t even like him much as family to begin with.”

“Nobles are weird.”

“Probably a good thing for the lot of you, I wouldn’t be here if they weren’t.”

Memory 2

“This is serious business, Jack.” Captain Flint scoffed turning once more to face the ocean and the numerous ships docking there.

“That’s Quartermaster McAllaster to you, sweetheart.” His voice was as sarcastic as they came, but as serious as it needed to be. Nonetheless, the man couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“You’re my quartermaster, Jack, I can call you ‘High Priestess of Lollipop Land’ if I damn well please.” Her voice was stern, but she raised one side of her lip in amusement at her own words. “A position I gave you because you’re a smart man, Jack. The smartest I’ve met since I left Aerenal. And you’re not even a full blooded elf. Hell, I’d call you a human.” Her words stopped momentarily as she turned back to face the man who was now sporting a rather arrogant grin. She leaned on the balcony rail that they had been looking over. “But I need to make sure that doesn’t go to your head. You haven’t been with us long and I need you to understand why we do this.”

“Money. Why else?”

Captain Flint’s face spat an insult toward Jack as she stopped leaning on the rail, allowing both of her feet to support her weight once again. “The money isn’t it, Jack. I do this for money, sure. I do it for the adventure too. I do it to get away from the slow, bureaucratic, and surprisingly stupid elven society. But do you know what it is I do this for most, Jack? I do it for my crew. I do it in the name of their freedom, their happiness, and in the name of their devotion. If you ever plan to be a captain of any ship, especially a pirate ship, then you must understand that you are not above your crew; you simply lead them and organize them because you are in the best position to do so. You have to have their trust and you have to lead them where they want to be led.”

A moment passed as the Captain’s words sank in. Captain Flint turned once more to face the sea, leaning now with her arms crossed on the railing. The sun was setting over the bay and the crimson above the horizon was just beginning to meet the clouds above the masts of the furthest ships.

“I understand, Captain.” Jack now turned his body toward the same view as the captain, both now leaning on the rail.

“We need to discuss the morale of our crew, Jack. We’ve been having a hard time bringing in hauls since the Letter of Marque expired. I need to make sure they know this haul will be different.”

“They’d have to be stupid to think it isn’t. It’s a galleon and we have its entire docking schedule.”

“Some of them aren’t educated like you and I, Jack. In fact almost all of them aren’t. Several failures is enough to put anyone at doubt. It’ll just be tough. But I’ll slaughter every man on that ship for my crew if I have to.”

“I think I can speak for the men when I say that, if anyone has to be our captain, we’re glad it’s you.”

After a moment longer of watching the sunset, Captain Flint nods her head at Jack and removes the bandana she had been wearing, revealing her long elven ears covered in piercings beneath her nearly black hair as she makes her way into the room in which she had been staying.

Memory 3

Annabel coughed violently for a moment as she finally regained consciousness.
“What happened? Where am I? Where’s Jack? Where’s the cr—”

“Calm down, ma’am. We found you washed up on the shore last night. You were barely breathing.”

“I—The shore? No, it couldn’t be. I only remember the first few seconds. Was anyone else there?” Annabel began panicking, she sat up in the bed that the clerics were keeping her on only to become light headed and led back down to the bed.

“We didn’t see anyone else. We hope that others got to them before we got to you. We think you were attacked by pirates.”

“By… By pirates?”

“Yes, ma’am. Whatever ship you were on was torn apart during the attack.”

“I have to find the others that were on that ship! Now!”

“You should get more rest bef—“ Before the cleric had time to finish her sentence, Annabel had stood up shaken and stumbled out of the door in search of her crew. Checking the building, she could only find her cutlass and a few other tattered belongings that had washed up with her. She grabbed them and whatever money she could and began the search for her crew.

[Calaerel Taenil Galanodel Jhaelian]