Captain's Will

12. Bread Crumbs

The Executioners reached the nearby town Wooyoung had mentioned the day after gathering up Jongho. With time to spare, they dropped all inhibitions to celebrate their reunion together at an inn. Since their future journey would involve a treasure search and a ruthless battle, they wanted to use the little time left to enjoy their companionship. The stakes were high for all of them. Some might never return, so it was time to let loose and forget.

Enough pirates milled the docks that the crew had no run-ins with the navy as they picked a tavern called 'The Educated Goat.' They squeezed together around the table in the corner and ordered masses of drinks and alcohol, spending all the funds they had scraped together on board.

Hongjoong - heated and merry by the atmosphere before he drank even a sip of ale - lifted his mug to their midst.

"To a new adventure!"

The others fell in, cheering as their cups clicked together. Cold and burning in his throat, Hongjoong gulped down the disgusting brew. It spread warmth through his veins and joy in his mind as he disregarded his inhibitions to spend a good time with his crew. The drunker he got, the brighter the colours of the room shone and the funnier Wooyoung's cackling laughter sounded in his ears.

The crew did their best not to worry about the future. They laughed only about the most amusing stories and no melancholy was allowed during their merrymaking. Yunho, the parrot, sat by the table and got fed bread crumbs, but nobody treated him as a replacement for their Yunho. He was a mate who was there with him at the same time, so he got the same appreciation.

The tension between Hongjoong and Mingi had resolved. Their shared night and Hongjoong's proof that he could gather the crew and lead them had assured the vice-captain of his authenticity. No more violent stares challenged Hongjoong's credibility and Mingi stuck to him to intimidate anyone who second-guessed Hongjoong because of his height and tried to run a rig on them.

It was peaceful enough that Hongjoong almost oversaw the glimpses his crew members sent each other. Yeosang and San looked at each other most often, their gazes a little too sober, a little too urgent. Hongjoong ignored it the first few times, thinking they had to do with Wooyoung and with San yearning to be with each other again.

When the two didn't stop many jugs later, however, Hongjoong's alert towards it saved him from his own squiffy stupor. Their subtle glances persisted, and they never slipped. Not when Mingi suggested Wooyoung and San got another round of drinks together, not when Wooyoung threw an arm around San's shoulders to giggle into his neck about a joke Jongho told, and not when Wooyoung swayed their interlocked hands to the merry beat of the bard's lute in the middle of the tavern.

They were hiding something and Hongjoong was dying to know whether their secrecy concerned the group as one or if it spoke of problems.

Subtly, the captain glanced over his shoulder. One desk over sat another group of pirates. The captain had a scar that split his face diagonally, and he met Hongjoong's inquisitive gaze with a warning sneer. Before his hand could come up to reach for the knife hidden beyond his curly black beard, Hongjoong glanced away.

That was not it.

As far as he could tell, no bounty hunters had snuck among the tavern goers. Almost all of them were pirates, with the few mingling fishermen unimpressed by the criminals. The tavern maidens served everyone, and nothing was off about their expressions.

Perhaps Yeosang and San waited to drop bad news on them now that they were complete?

Too caught up in his paranoia to enjoy the ruckus of the others, Hongjoong fed Yunho pieces of bread. The parrot ate out of his fingers without complaint. He garnered a couple of greedy looks from other pirates in the room, but Hongjoong's ringed fingers always hovered nearby, making sure no one stole the precious bird.