Edward Teach Died on a Beach (OFMD)

Chapter 9

"Oh, fuck!"

Oluwande couldn't reply. The words had died in his throat. Jim stood just in front of him, leaning against the railing of the quarterdeck.

"What the fuck?" Jim snapped.

It looked like a different place entirely. The lush trees had been burned away, leaving only stake-like trunks that hadn't burned. Jim was suddenly sprinting down the stairs. Oluwande followed them quickly. Jim leapt over the railing and landed in the dinghy below.

"Put down the anchor," Oluwande shouted as he climbed down the ladder to the dinghy.

He landed in it just as Jim was rowing it away. To their surprise, Stede was right behind them. He'd been rather quiet again, but the sight of St. Augustine in ashes had woken him up a little.

He was hoping that they'd make it to shore and find that a bolt of lightning had struck a tree and burned the forest. He was hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. The thought of proving what it wasn't was enough to spur him onto the dinghy behind Jim.

They rowed quickly to the shore. As soon as the dinghy scraped the bottom of the sand below, Jim leapt out. Oluwande got out and began to pull it further, surprised when Stede helped.

Jim ran up the beach and into the forest, kicking up clouds of ash. As Oluwande followed Jim up the hill, Stede slowly looked around. With a frown, he began to walk up the hill. He looked around.

He could barely recognize it. Still, though, he noticed that the path ahead was familiar. It was the one they'd walked together with Lucius. He and Ed had gone treasure hunting. Stede gently put a hand against his leg. He could feel half of the petrified orange in his pocket.

"Oh, Ed. What did you do?" Stede breathed to himself.

When he reached the top of the hill, he saw the church that Jim had been raised in. The door was wide open. Stede passed by the doorway, not daring to glance inside. He almost didn't want to know if Jim's Nana was still there. He didn't think he could take it if she wasn't.

Stede walked past the brick building and stopped slowly when he saw what was ahead. The orange tree, Jim's orange tree, was no more. It was only a burned twig. Stede almost fell to his knees, but he saw something on the ground in front of him.

An orange was stuck to the ground by a dagger that had been jammed through it. Stede frowned deeply, hesitantly picking up the dagger. He pulled the orange off of it and inspected the object.

Jimenez.

It was Jim's dagger. Stede turned around, an odd feeling of numbness in his chest. He returned to the church and stood outside like a sinner. He stood with the dagger in his hand for a while.

Jim burst from the door. For a second, they looked around for something to go after. Their eyes locked onto Stede.

"He's going to pay for this," Jim snapped venomously.

Oluwande was right behind them. He looked at Stede with a frown. Stede hesitantly held up the hand that held the dagger. Jim seemed to slow. They narrowed their eyes, slowly taking the dagger from Stede.

"Izzy took it," Jim said quietly. "Why isn't it burned?"

Stede's heart knew the answer.

"They came back after they burned it all down just to leave the knife," Oluwande said quietly.

Stede felt a wave of relief when he saw Nana pop her head out of the doorway. She stared at Stede for a while and then looked to Jim.

"Let's go," Jim said.

Oluwande glanced around. "Back to the ship?"

"We're going to find Blackbeard. We're going to kill Blackbeard," Jim hissed.

Stede felt his heart sink. He felt sick. He wanted to throw up. Oluwande stood for a moment as Jim stomped away. Jim stopped, turning to them.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Jim shouted.

Oluwande and Stede quickly followed them back to the boat. By the time they'd reached the shore, Jim was already pushing the dinghy into the water. Stede paused for a moment on the beach. Oluwande glanced back at him and then grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to the water.

Oluwande practically had to pull Stede into the dinghy. Stede sat there silently, his face pale. As Jim rowed wildly back to the ship, Stede leaned over and threw up into the water. Oluwande frowned at him.

As soon as they'd reached the boat, Jim climbed up. Oluwande tied the boat off and then grabbed Stede by the shoulder, almost having to drag him up the ladder.

The first thing Jim did on deck was shout.

"Everybody listen up!" Jim bellowed. "We're going to find the Revenge and I am going to get my revenge."

Oluwande frowned, glancing around at the other crew members. He glanced over at Stede, who was leaning over the railing of the boat.

"I am going to kill Edward Teach. I am going to kill Izzy Hands, because... arguably he's probably even more to blame than Blackbeard. You are all going to help me. We know our ship, right? We know the Revenge?" Jim continued.

The crew began to raise the anchor.

"We will board their ship. Does anyone have any ideas on how that would work? We're probably going to be outnumbered," Jim said.

"And they're bloodthirsty bastards," Frenchie said. "Izzy found them."

"Yes," Jim said. "If I had to guess, I'd say that Fang and Ivan will be easy to flip. They let us go."

"We can't fight Blackbeard like this!" Buttons shouted. "We'll be caught with our pants down!"

Black Pete sat quietly on the stairs to the upper part of the deck. Stede turned to look at him guiltily. And then his eyes widened. Black Pete was slowly stroking the white powdered wig he'd brought onto the island for the talent show.

Stede pointed at him suddenly. "What if we did a fuckery?"

Jim's dark, angry eyes focused on him. "Pardon?"

Stede quickly went over to Pete and took the wig from him. He pointed at it. "We're on a navy ship, remember?" Stede said.

"Yeah," Frenchie replied.

Stede gave the wig back to Black Pete. "What if when they board the ship, we all hide. We'll be able to split them up that way. We'll draw them into different parts of the ship and knock them out."

Jim's eyes widened. "That's a great idea. Shit."

Stede nodded. "And then we can kill Izzy."

Jim paused, tilting their head slightly at Stede. "And Blackbeard."

Stede didn't answer for a moment. "If it comes to it, yes."

"No, not if it comes to it," Jim snapped. "I'll do it no matter what."