Lions of the Sea

20

Sunrise found the Sovereign floating alone in the solitude of the sea, still moored where it'd fought its last battle. Before boarding the Lion, Wan Claup had ordered to drop two small anchors, so his ship would keep the Spanish warrior, tied to the Sovereign, from turning away and heading to Cayona.

Now it bobbed gently on the calm waters, her silhouette cut in black against the blinding brilliance of the sun coming out of the sea.

The pirate fleet found it like that. At first light, a dozen ships of different draft left Cayona and sailed around the island to meet the Sovereign. They made a circle with her in the center, their bowsprits pointing to her.

Then the Sovereign's shallop left the Royal Eagle and rowed to the deserted ship. Onboard, along with the oarsmen, Marina, Morris, Maxó and De Neill, Laventry and Harry carried Wan Claup's body. Cecilia had washed her brother and dressed him up in his best garments for his final journey. Now she stood at the Royal Eagle's bow, watching her daughter and friends take her brother away forever. By her side stood Tortuga's governor in respectful silence.

When they reached the Sovereign, they hoisted the body onboard and took it to the cabin. They lay Wan Claup down on the table, on a black cloth Cecilia had given them, and Marina set his blades and pistols by his side. Laventry grabbed the sword in its sheath and gave it back to her.

"Keep it, pearl," he said. "Wan Claup's blade never hurt anyone unfairly. And you won't, either."

The girl accepted it and lowered her head, keeping the sword to her chest. The others gave her a moment to deal with her emotions. A cool breeze blew in through the open windows behind her, swirling around them. The five men shivered and traded a look. Their eyes didn't move down to Wan Claup's pale, serene face, but to Marina.

She was completely still, head low, both hands to her chest, holding the sword by its hilt, the blade pointing down, like a statue to a fallen warrior. That morning she was clad in black as a sign of her mourning. Like her father used to do. When she finally looked up at them, they all saw her father's bright coal-black eyes on her beautiful face. And the expression hardening her face, robbing her from the last trace of her childhood, had also been her father's distinctive feature.

Marina said nothing. She looked them in the eye, one by one, kissed Wan Claup's forehead for the last time and walked out.

Before leaving the Sovereign, Morris ran the black flag of the Brethren of the Coast on top of the mainmast, and De Neill unfurled the big French blue flag with three golden fleur-de-lys at the stern staff. Then they all boarded the shallop and rowed back to the Royal Eagle.

Marina was first to step on the deck. Wan Claup's sword hung from her belt and her eyes were dry. The pirates made way for her, a superstitious respect reflecting on their faces before the figure clad in black walking forward alone, toward the chaser gun aiming low.

Cecilia watched her daughter while Morris and Laventry came to flank her. Marina nodded, unsheathing the sword. She raised it over her head, for the men on the other ships to see it, and held it there while Morris lit the cannon fuss.

She breathed deep to shout on top of her lungs, "Long live Wan Claup! Long live the Brethren of the Coast!"

She released the cannon cock. The shot hit the Sovereign's waterline. The roar mixed with the loud voices repeating her words onboard the Royal Eagle first, to spread to the other pirate ships, which also shot their cannons against the Sovereign's hull.

When it began to sink, the fleet turned to sail back to Cayona. Only the Royal Eagle remained there, everybody's eyes set on that superb vessel, surrendering to the Caribbean Sea only to take her captain to his eternal rest.