1670, Caribbean Sea. She's the daughter of a legendary pirate. He's a Spanish captain. Their countries are at war. Their fathers killed each other. And they were destined to follow on their steps.
But sometimes destiny isn't written in stone: it's w...
Marina and Laventry met early in the morning at the docks. It was plain to see the corsair had spent the night at one of the nearby brothels, and he came still trying to put some order to his clothes.
"So you'll be at the Gulf?" he asked, smoothing his trousers out.
Marina held back her laughter and stepped closer, to button his shirt correctly. "Yes."
"Don't even think about running off after some merchantman."
"No, Laventry, I'll wait for you right there."
The corsair studied her for a moment, like sensing something was off, but he didn't know what, so he nodded. "Good, good. Then off I go. See you in two days"
"You should trim that wild mane, Laventry, you look like a sea urchin. You should ask Mother. Look!" She turned a little, pointing at the short braid falling below her shoulders. "She cut it for me."
She thought Laventry had blushed slightly, but surely it was only the golden sunrise glow filling the bay.
"I have a barber," the corsair grunted, taking offense.
"Then you should pay him a visit," Marina replied.
She was about to kiss his raspy cheek, but the corsair's look stopped her. His crew was coming and going down the dock. She chuckled and pushed him softly toward the boat waiting to take him to the Royal Eagle.
"Two days!" Laventry shouted. "South in the Guanaba Gulf!"
"Aye, sir!" Marina replied, waving her hand at him.
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The Phantom sailed around Cape Saint Nicholas at midnight and went on a few miles into the Guanaba Gulf before mooring to spend the night. Morris was pleased with the new recruits, and Marina couldn't wait to see how good they were.
At her request, De Neill had put up a list with the rigging maneuvers needed for what she wanted to try, and had given each two short words. The first one to identify the mast, the second one for the sail. He and the other two pilots helped Briand pick the men who would work on the rigging and put them to memorize the list.
After Marina ignored him the whole day, Maxó had gone from offended to supplicant. And to gain her smile back, he displayed his wits by improvising a simple little song to help the men remember the words from the list and their meaning.
Marina sent everybody to sleep as soon as they had their rum, because she wanted them up at dawn. They had only two days and she planned to make the best of them.
The next morning, Briand had them go over the list with Maxó's song while they cleaned the ship. Then Marina inaugurated the training sessions. On the weather deck, the chosen men climbed up the shrouds to their posts or grabbed their assigned lines. And below deck, Jean gathered his gunners old and new. Marina had brought an extra amount of powder and ammunition for them to train too, intending to shorten the time to reload and also to shoot from both sides.
