Emerald Seas II

Chapter 11

The rumbling sound of the clouds clashing together was something that covered the town in the early hours of the morning. A light rainfall made the streets muddy as two black boots marched down the alleys at a rapid pace. The light of the morning was nowhere to be seen yet, a dark fog was hiding the trash covered streets of Tortuga, every now and then a clucking chicken made Cutler's heartbeat quicken, which made him more on edge and watchful of any danger.

'Goodmornin' a slightly enthusiastic but more sarcastic voice surprised him passing one of the corners of the alleys. Cutler had a hard time not shouting out after the scare but it turned into more of a growl once he stood face to face with Jack, his hair still unbrushed, like he hadn't bothered to look into a mirror before going out on the street this morning.

'For heaven's sake Jack, do you mind so early?' Cutler moved down his black hat to stop the slight raindrops from moving down his cheek, onto the stubbly skin of his chin.

'And please remove this smug of your face. We both know the position you're in and I already noticed the joy you have found in for once feeling more supreme than me' Cutler mumbled as Jack joined his marching down the alleys and he shrugged his shoulders.

'Oh yes I do enjoy this. Almost just as much as the taste of rum in the early morning' Jack lifting a bottle to his face whispered annoyingly which made Cutler roll his eyes. Probably one of the many eye rolls this journey will make him do.

'So if I heard correctly from your person of contact last night, you have found a crew to set up this journey?' Cutler tried to remove the annoyance from his tone and set his voice back to the cold business-like tone again, as always. Jack seemed to have been rewarded with quite the generous donation's from his pirate friends after 'winning the battle against the Company and winning the war', but Cutler was sure Jack probably had gambled already half of it away, or simply spilling all the coins on rum. But it seemed Jack had still enough to employ them a crew that was willing to sail them to an unknown destination. It was of course all still a secret, so a crew that would only look at their pay, and not the safety of their journey or the destination was needed, and with the Company still suspecting their Director being death, this crew of simple men just holding out their hands for a few coins was the only option.

Cutler soon regretted his decision when he came face to face with a variety of men, which Cutler would have described as close to death, more than to being alife.

'You promised they wouldn't be pirates' Cutler whispered, surprising himself he did as he was never afraid to speak up his mind in the presence of other people.

'These men aren't pirates. But perfectly accepted, well-behaving men that take pride in being an addition to our society!' Jack couldn't have spoken with more sarcasm to his voice. Cutler felt his eyes lifting to the sky again but they soon dropped to the floor as one of the crewmen standing before him spat down onto the wooden floors of the dock, right beside his left booth.

'I ain't sailing with one of these high up our asses Lordships that thinks he's better than all of us' one of the pirates, looking down at Cutler's wig and well-dressed attire, spoke up with a voice that could make one tremble by simply hearing it. Cutler tried to raise his chest, almost instinctively, as he was about to tell this rat how things worked in the world, but Jack tried to make him take a step back and Cutler felt the breath of anger stuck in his lungs release.

'He's no noblemen no more! Didn't you see the downfall the Endeavour had? This man here was one of the Lieutenants that failed to do his job of firing back. And now he's a nobody like all fo us' Jack couldn't have spoken with more smug to his voice and the look on his face was like that of a kid in a candy store. Cutler had to swallow as for a moment he thought Jack was revealing who he truly was, but his concern was soon replaced by annoyance again as Cutler couldn't figure out what he thought was worse, Jack saying he was just a Lieutenant, or that he 'failed' to do his job.