The Ship and The Sirens

The Man and His Crew

"If God cried, we'd be drinking his tears right now!" Charles was flamboyant as always, over exaggerating his words and actions. However, he was our beloved captain and I'd want it no other way. The bar we are at is a larger one off the coast of a small country. The morale is high, the music plays loud, and the sweet stench of alcohol fills the air. I sip my drink and am surprised, I had grown used to the cheap bread water we usually drink, but tonight is a special occasion. The captain calls the crew in for a toast after our successful treasure hunt.

    "Gather round my family." Charles gives a little hiccup at the end of each sentence, like the lightweight he is. "I'd like to make a toast to us! We showed that king that his riches are better for a living crew than a rotting body!" The bar erupts with laughter from my crew. The hunt we completed was at the tomb of a dead king in a neighboring country. It was fairly easy to slaughter the residents of a small village and dig up his decaying body, we lost no crew members in that pillage. I have to admit I'm a little tipsy as of now, but the rest of my crew is comfortably drunk. I don't know what meat head had the idea, but now we are leaving the bar so that the captain can treat us to women.

    As I walk out, the stagnant air turns to the cool salty breeze I'm used to. I watch my crew stumble around the road as they make their way up the hill to the gentlemen's club, Charles leading the pack offering to pay for everyone. If it weren't for the large bounty we had obtained, I would have stopped them, sex is not worth a pretty penny to me. I turn the other way and walk back to our ship, taking the scenic route by the pier.

    "What kind of man doesn't like a woman?" I hear Charles yelling out to me as they scale the hill.

I chuckle at his statement as if he was questioning my manhood. "The kind that doesn't spend all his riches in one night!" I call back to him as I turn the corner and disappeared from his sight. It's not really that I don't like women, I just don't enjoy them sexually, and that includes men. Human desire has always been odd for me to understand and to this day I still don't know why.

    The salty breeze soothes my skin as I balance along a beam running along the side of the pier. My ship is just up ahead and it has an odd feeling without the crew there to rock the waters in it. I board the boat and enter our locked treasure vault. The key is usually on the captain at all times, but I swiped it at the bar so I could have a look around. I am his first mate after all.

I give a huge grin as the door pops open and I can see all chests filled with jewelry, weapons, and what's that over there? I approach a chest that we took from our last pillage and find a rolled map. I take the map, leave the vault, lock the doors, and enter my quarters. I compare the map to the ones I've collected over time. I recognize some overlap so I draw a new one to include where we were, and now, where we are going. I lived for exploration even if my crew didn't. I modified the map to make it look like it would lead us to treasure, but instead it leads us to an island we have yet to explore. I plant my new map in the treasure room, knowing Charles is going to check it first thing in the morning. As I finished making my little quest, the crew begin to board. I head to my quarters and rest for the next venture.

The morning sun creeps up along the horizon as our energetic captain calls our hungover crew to the main deck. I look to Charles and see he is holding up my treasure map, looks like the early bird gets the worm. I let out a small laugh as the captain starts his speech.

"I know that we just returned from a successful venture, but the sea calls us back to her," he holds up the map and shows it around. "We are taking land we've never set foot on before!" The crew cheered him on as he finished presenting the information. As one of my crewmates looks at the map all the color in his skin leaves and he has trouble speaking.