Muddied Waters - Coda

Chapter 9 - A Test of Character

Bernal Cardoso's war galleon, the Hercules, was an impressively large ship with two gun decks housing thirty-two large cannons on each broadside. The bow held four chase cannons and four mortars while the stern housed another two. Twelve swivels used for boarding dotted the top deck. While smaller than the three-decked Portuguese man'o'wars, it had plenty of firepower to take down any pirate ship, which were commonly just repurposed merchant sloops and schooners. Lightweight and potent, the Hercules seemed the perfect vessel for chasing down bandits and either beating them into submission or making sure they met their bloody end on the seabed. But what made this formidable galleon truly stand out was the solid gold and gem-encrusted cross bolted to the mainmast. Half the size of a full grown man and multiple times as heavy, the cross was nevertheless firmly adhered to the ship at such a height that made it impossible to steal without proper equipment. To loosen it by hand would mean the giant bauble falling through the top deck and, even then, four men wouldn't be enough to lift it from the ship in one piece. Teague considered all possibilities and decided early on that there was effectively no way this unreasonably heavy piece of treasure was ever leaving that mast. A decade earlier he may have found a way to filch it, but age and alcoholism had taken their toll and if he were perfectly honest with himself, Teague had no inkling of how and where he'd barter its impressive value. He figured the smart compromise might be to pry out a few diamond, musgravite, or alexandrite stones, making sure not to take so much that anyone would immediately notice their absence. Those gems would be easy to hide away. He certainly would have left the giant fire opal alone. Addled as he was, Teague was more discerning than to think he could get away with stealing the centerpiece of the centerpiece.

The hot Caribbean sun beat down upon the top deck of the Hercules mercilessly despite the brisk winds, rays bouncing off the cross and the empty egg-shaped cutout in its center. Tied shirtless and face-first against the mast underneath it stood Benjamin, weeping uncontrollably with Quintana behind him holding the fire opal. Men crowded around the quartermaster as he turned and held the precious fist-sized gemstone in the air. He looked to Cardoso, standing imperious and isolated atop the quarter deck. The captain's cool gaze was unwavering. He nodded slightly and Quintana handed the opal to Teague. The ex-pirate stared through the translucence to the reds and oranges, frozen in a swirl like giant clouds during a fantastic sunset. He fell into its beauty for what seemed like minutes but when he handed it to the man next to him found that either he had briefly lost touch with his sense of time or the sailor was very patient. One by one, the opal changed hands until it was in Cardoso's grasp. The eccentric captain dropped it into a leather pouch without so much as a glance. Nodding again to Quintana, he retired into his cabin. When Teague looked back at the quartermaster, he was brandishing a cat o' nine tails. He whipped the air above Benjamin's back, testing his tool of torture and punishment, the crack prompting a cry from the sailor as if he'd been hit. The group of onlookers thinned somewhat as those who couldn't stomach what was to come retired below decks. Teague remained, unable to leave his own role in this regrettable affair half-finished.

* * * * *

After weighing anchor at Puerto Bello, the crew had tirelessly sailed the Hercules north by northeast, making haste to a destination of which neither Teague nor any of the new additions from Panama had any inkling. Quintana resided in the captain's quarters as often as he was minding the ship, and as for Cardoso, he barely ever left the cabin. Something seemed deeply amiss with the commander as the few times he did venture out it was with an expression of pained frustration. Top gossip among the crew was that the man was suffering from migraines caused by some unknown ailment. Teague had also noticed the captain seemed to have ever-present tremors stemming from his shoulders to his hands and that he often had a difficult time with his grip. He never addressed the sailors directly, only through Quintana. Teague had yet to witness it but one man who was of the original Cartagena group described instances of random flare ups with the quartermaster over trivial problems that led to sounds of violent passions and things breaking when the two were alone in their quarters. Quintana always emerged from those incidents looking angry and exhausted himself, but the general consensus was that the quartermaster was a fair and honorable manager. He certainly seemed to hold a level of patience and calm that were at odds with Cardoso's demeanor. Teague shuddered to think of how much worse conditions aboard the galleon could get without the level-headed Quintana acting as a buffer to their captain's perplexing disposition. For a short while, Teague was content to ignore his morbid curiosity of the secretive captain and his classified errand, thinking that all would be illuminated when it needed to be. But as the days dragged on, the general mood around the Hercules began to get restless with men voicing concerns of where they were headed and when they'd be arriving. Teague himself was becoming increasingly in need of a stiff drink or two. Benjamin only made things worse by latching onto him, scheming and buzzing incessantly in his ear about the golden cross.