Jeff the Accountant Escapes the Wretched Burning Depths of Hades

That Day Is Here

The impromptu meeting began with an uncomfortable silence. "Blackbeard..." Lucius started. Edward put his finger up, shushing the boy. Izzy would be the first to talk. Edward peered at his First Mate. Waiting.

"What do you want me to say, Edward?" Izzy finally spoke. "It looked to me like you were being careless with your word. You now owe Captain Emory Renshaw a favor. So he's probably gonna go around gettin in way over his head, feelin like he can just get word to you and you'll come to his rescue."

"If that's what he does, we'll be there." Blackbeard said. "To assist him." "Once." "One and done, Iz. What's the harm?"

Was Blackbeard being deliberately obtuse? "You've got your own battles, Edward. The English Navy has, I'm sure, redoubled their efforts to find you. And this time there'll be no Act of Grace to invoke if they..." Izzy lowered his head. "If, because of what I set in motion, they capture you" he thought. "You'll hang. If they capture you, you'll hang." He was looking Edward in the eye when he said that. Not out of defiance. Out of accountability.

Blackbeard did not mercifully let go of Izzy's gaze. He saw the pain there. He saw the sorrow. He did not let go. Izzy looked away first.

When he did, Lucius felt compelled to offer something to the exchange. "Izzy..., it seems to me that you haven't accepted that Ed has a right to make his own choices. And it's way past time for you to accept that, don't you think?"

"Now before you say 'Yes, but his choices affect me, too', remember that you signed on for this. Isn't that right? A pirate ship isn't a democracy after all. Even The Gentleman Pirate, God love him, knew that."

"What do you know about being First Mate, boy?" Izzy was angry. "What do you know about any choices a ship's captain has to make?" I am Blackbeard's right hand. His bellwether. His confidante. Listening to me, trusting me, is what kept him safe way before he ever heard of Stede Bonnett or any of the rest of you."

"I'd say you have a pretty high opinion of yourself, there." Lucius chided. "However did Blackbeard manage, before he met you??" The scribe had grown bolder over the months he spent with his shipmates. Izzy was taken aback. He tended to gravitate towards people who spoke the way Lucius had just spoken. The trouble was, he had spoken that way to him.

Izzy drew his sword. He slashed at the boy's chest, grazing his skin. Lucius was stunned into silence. He gaped at Blackbeard. Blackbeard could see that the wound was one of an admonitory nature. It was a warning. And the incident he witnessed? It was between Izzy and Lucius. The boy had to realize that, right?

But it didn't matter. Izzy had no intention of causing the boy any more harm. No desire to force Edward to choose a side.

Looking at Blackbeard, less intently now, he said "Edward, I told you that if the day ever came when I couldn't live up to what I agreed to, my agreement to stop fighting you over Bonnett, that I'd go. Without any trouble. That day is here, Ed."

"I've seen you tie yourself in knots for that man, Ed. You've extended yourself too far. Dabbled in a lifestyle you have no business dabbling in. You brought artists, a married couple, on board a pirate ship. You are not thinking straight. I owe you a lot. But that doesn't include standing by and watching when the inevitable occurs. You'll get caught. Or you'll find him, and he'll put you in harm's way, and you'll go along blindly. I have no intention of being there when that happens."

"I can use some help here." Lucius squeaked.

"It's just a flesh wound, boy. Go. Let Scar get you cleaned up and bandaged."

"Your mind is made up?" Edward asked Izzy.

"It is."

"I won't renege on my promise to get Mary and
Doug safely back to Barbados tomorrow." Blackbeard said.

"I'll get off near Curaçao. We pass close enough that I can take a dinghy to shore. If you'll spare one."

"Choose the best one. Whatever other provisions you need. Any special requests from Scar, I'll see that you have them." "I wish I could say it doesn't have to be like this. But I just don't know if that would be a truthful statement." "I don't want us to end up as enemies. And I'm not sure you can ever really accept me as the man I want to be."

"I don't know, either, Edward."

Izzy wished he'd been stabbed or shot or lashed with a bullwhip. He believed any one of those would've hurt less.