The Knight's Cross

Part I

                The high seas.

                Miles and miles of endless water, holding the potential for riches, fame, freedom, and glory. Men would captain ships of loyal crewmen, leaving their homes in search of something better. Some would leave intending to return, but many left never intending to come back. The seas were always calling, beckoning, and whispering the promises that could steal the hearts of men faster than the most beautiful women.

                Not every sailor to answer the sea’s call were honorable men, and as with every society, the seas soon became known for their legendary criminals. These men, these pirates, all had their own motives, but they all were kings of their own countries, and their countries were their ships. They fought the Royal Navy, they fought each other, they took what they pleased and felt no regret for it. Many pirates were once soldiers for the Royal Navy, but their hatred and displeasure for their former employers only encouraged their rebellion.

                There were a few pirates that remained honorable men, but these were peculiarly rare, and often hid their moral standards behind masks of anger and cunning, for to pirates, morals were weakness. The closest to a ‘good man’ that one could find among pirates would be a man who still respects the lives of others and does not see them as property, a man who would assist and protect the innocent, and a man who still held to some sense of honor. It was the men without these traits that were the most dangerous.

                Andrew Knight knew he was gambling with the devil. The man that sat at the table across from him in the dark, tavern room was not the kind of man that any soul in their right mind would dare to stand against. But Andrew Knight was not a man in his right mind, or at least, he hadn’t been when he first gambled against Jonathan ‘Black Jack’ Haley.

                He had been drunk, and against all better judgment, had agreed to join a game of liar’s dice that Haley was involved in. He knew as well as any that this pirate was not called “Black Jack” for no good reason. Haley was infamous for the way he played cards…most notably because he never lost. Everyone suspected he somehow cheated, though there weren’t many that ever dared to voice their accusation. Those that did tended not to live very long after.

                Even in his drunken state, Andrew had known to avoid Haley and his infamous games, but his pride, as it so often did, had gotten the better of him. He joined in on the game, confident that he would not lose.

                But he did lose.

                He lost far more than he intended, and now he was trying to win it back. This time he was sober, and this time it was more than his pride that fueled him. It was not simply beating Black Jack Haley that he had his sights set on. His eyes were only on the item that they were playing for – a spyglass. It was old, tarnished, and certainly not a spyglass of expensive make, but its value was much greater than it appeared. And Andrew was willing to risk almost anything to get it back.

                Black Jack knew. He just knew how desperate Andrew was, and it amused him to no end. The game they were playing was Liar’s Dice – a game of deception and guessing. It was popular among crewmen, and while certainly not Black Jack’s…favorite, was none the less entertaining. Currently, he was waiting, watching as Andrew calculated what bet he should make while he scratched the dirt out from under his fingernails with the end of a knife.

                “Those dice haven’t changed, Drew,” he taunted, his low voice like the sound of granite stones grinding together as he spoke. “It can’t be this hard to make a choice.”