The Silver Isles Kingdom

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

After being on the ocean for about two hours, Alexis now had a desire to ask more about the pirates. She didn't get the whole story after all. She only knew that Jacque let them live after he attacked and killed most of them. "So, the pirates live on Hagrath?"

"Yes, Captain Gold Tooth is the Governor there now," Jacque replied, still focused on sailing the boat in the direction they needed to go. He usually looked at her as he spoke but with his new determination he was focused on saving his old friends.

"So they became your friends and you learned how to talk like them?"

"Yes, as silly as it is, though they speak as normally as we do, only trusted friends communicate like that and only so often," Jacque explained, "They'll exaggerate their speech pattern every now and again to confuse people when they don't want them to understand what is being said like if they have some secret they want kept hidden from others."

"What else can you tell me about them?" Alexis asked, still curious about these pirates.

"Nothing pretty I can tell you that," Jacque said uncomfortably, "Just be glad they vowed to never turn to their former ways or end up being... well as they call it, shark food. They apparently still use the term "walk the plank" on those who brake serious laws on the island."

"They make criminals do what now?" Alexis asked surprised.

"Walk the plank. Apparently it's something they did to rule breakers, mutineers, and prisoners they didn't like in general. I guess it works as an effective mind game since the crime rates are low on the island. Basically the pirates force someone to walk a plank of wood into the ocean, having been seafaring men they know when the sharks are the hungriest."

Alexis swallowed, something like this was unheard of. Barbaric and inhuman. Jacque still had more to add and Alexis wasn't sure if she could stomach anymore pirate stories of punishment and governing.

"For most others," Jacque continued, "Gold Tooth and his men give the corporal punishment that he gave to insubordinate sailors. A pirate's punishment if you will. Or sailor's depending on how you look at it."

"What's the pirate's punishment?" this time Alexis was uncomfortable, hoping it wasn't anything gruesome or anything that would make her regret asking the question.

"The pirate's punishment is thirty whip lashings for the worst of crimes. Then the least serious of the crime gets the fewer lashings," Jacque said with a concerned look, "I almost would rather have the criminals locked away, hung, or fed to sharks than see them brutally tortured for their crimes. The whip lashings, if hard enough, can kill a man... an extremely painful way to die if you ask me."

Alexis grimaced at the thought of someone dying from so many whip lashings. She had heard pirates were brutal, but now having this knowledge of the brutality was even worse. Jacque kept his focus on sailing their small boat, it was still a few hours to Hagrath. Alexis continued to admire his new determination, despite the fact that she now despised the pirates even more than she used to. But Jacque didn't seem as worried as she did. He was, after all, their friend after allowing them to live; even after they attacked his home they obviously didn't stand a chance with him constantly watching the horizon. But, she supposed the pirates rarely used those ways of punishment as Jacque did mention that crime rates were low. I guess it really is all mind games, Alexis thought, just the idea of being whipped or fed to sharks would make anyone want to be a law abiding citizen.

It was only an hour when Alexis noticed what seemed to be a ship in the distance. It looked small but she could tell that was only because they were so far away from the ship-like object in the water. Jacque tied down the helm to keep their small boat sailing forward. He jumped to the deck and started looking through the supplies and didn't stop until he had a spy glass in hand. Then he moved to the bow of the boat and raised the spy glass to see what ship he was looking at. "It's Captain Gold Tooth's flagship," he said, "The men of Veshua must have forced him to sail away... or he could be on their side now waiting on any possible attempts to free the island. I hope it's the latter."