Betrayal at Sea

Low tide. The sunset shimmered off the water spreading orange rays off green waves with harrowing effect captivating Meryn as he slowly rowed.

“Splint helping your arm none?” Drudger asked rowing the oar parallel, Meryn cleaning beads of sweat running to his mouth in the crease of a scar across his cheekbone.

“Just a cut, I thought, but Farley said it was souring or the like.” Meryn turned his eyes back from the horizon.

“Festered,” Meryn recalled. It was Drudger now turning his eyes to the horizon flexing a bound hand upon the oar handle. Meryn had taken a blade across his upper arm and it was Drudger who grabbed the thin blade in his hand on the follow through and stabbed the attacker through the neck with a dirk.

“Low tide looks about done, best hurry the rowin’. I’d not have this opportune squandered.” Captain Megen’s back was turned to the three of his crew in the skiff but Meryn felt his smile in the words. Without pause, the pair took to oar rowing again in tandem.

“Seatown Doras nay far from ‘ere we could drop Olston off and end there for some carousin’?” Drudger smiled revealing few brown teeth.

“I was not drunk, Captain. I swear my shares for a year!” Olston blurted out from the aft. “Sick maybe. Fightin’ took place I could not hear a peep as if a siren sang me lullabies in my dreams. I could not wake even if I were drownin’.”

“I’ve had enough of Doras to last me a lifetime, Mr. Root.” Megen shouted from the bow ignoring the pleas from the aft. “Row faster or there mightn’t be any ground left for him to stand on at all.” Megen faced the trio tucking a silver amulet beneath his collar. A gold coin pinned to his chest, one piece of few their rarity equaling prestige. The man wide and short, wore his hair matted about his ears dying it in a process the product of which a deep red. In his ears and nose he wore rings of gold. His eyes were lined in black. A curving sword slung to his left, a twisting dagger his right, both hilts miniature statues of grasping tentacles. Megen was not a man from The Westfold but it was where he made his name. “Mr. Olston -- achieved, respected. Our articles perhaps are harsher than most but, as Captain, I interpret them in a way most lenient. Dire situations such as this cause great fear but among the crew, if any were to see another ship, I would place my shares on yourself. You can swim, is this correct?”

Achieved and respected were not untrue. Olston steadied his hands looking towards Meryn then Drudger before finally upon Megen answering, “I can.”

Megen smiled looking Olston in the eyes. “Good. I am sure you will need to.”

Meryn caught a shimmer of sunset bounce off one of Megen’s red teeth. Once he overheard a rigger by the name of Chickenwing say Megen’s teeth was red because a special powder he puts in his wine to conjure fare winds but Meryn never believed this tale.

“Tonight you will shall be made king, Olston.” Drudger prodded hacking out a guffaw.

“King of the Island!” Megen hailed hoisting a wooden goblet. Drudger and Meryn slowed their rowing as their captain took to his feet. “I call a toast! To Olston, second mate to the finest ship in The Fold and now King! Well-deserved if you ask me and all in nine years was it?”

“Aye captain, nine years since’n I signed the articles for the Red Sun. Best day o’ me life it was.”

Megen was always quick to grin. “It was all of our best days I am sure. To Olston, ex-crewmate of the Red Sun and now made king of his very own island. King of the Island!” Megen drained what was left in his goblet.

“Here, here!” Drudger called raising a skin of wine to his lips. “King o’ the Island!” He swigged long and hard to near wincing.

Meryn tossed Olston a skin of wine. “King of the Island,” Meryn cried as Olston shook the skin of wine all the way to his lips. He mouthed the words to himself before taking as long a draft from the skin as possible coughing as he came for air.

“Now that’s a good man,” Megen said. “You signed the articles. You know the penalty. ‘Tis something to say about the honor of a man who takes what he deserves. Head high and proud. Not a soul can say the crew of the Red Sun are cowards or live long enough to say it twice.”

“Captain, I was’n drunk I swear it. From the one god to the four and to the Great One of the Sea, I swear it.”

But you were not there. Meryn thought. When I called all hands you were not there. Grappled the sloop, acquired its hold yet you were still were not there. When my arm got slashed it was Drudger who cut the man through not you. What happened, Olston? Meryn could not name a single ship that did not have a severe penalty for drunkenness when all hands were called.

Megen stepped his boots between Meryn and Drudger at the oars and stood over the second mate. “We all know The Articles of the Red Sun, Olston,” said Megen pointing a crooked finger. “Recite the words!”

“The tide is rising. Maybe we should row back. Crew might want to set sails before night falls and we're forced to lose speed.” Meryn’s attempt to diffuse his Captain’s fury fell on deaf ears.

“The words,” Megen snapped.

“The a-articles o’ the Red Sun st-state.” Olston swallowed quickly shifting his gaze from Megen to Drudger who barely made any motion in the lot of it. “One, The captain is to have two f-full shares--”

“Skip to nine for me, Mr. Olston.”

“N-n-n-nine.” Megen walked carefully back to his perch at the bow of the rowboat not caring to watch his ex-second mate stammer through the words. “Any c-c-crewman found guilty of being drunk during engagement shall suffer what penalties the captain sees fit. Should a-any crewman be a-a-absent during an en-en-en-engagement he is to be left on the m-most nearby strip of land and l-left to fa-fa-fate.”

“What about number three? Three is a sneaky one. The wording is all besmirched on the parchment” said Drudger picking up the pace of his oars; Meryn followed suit. Drudger kept talking as they rowed. “Three states that any crewman found guilty of cowardice during times of engagements--”

“Shall suffer what punishment the captain sees fit.” Meryn finished and continued. “Two. Loss of limb during employment shall see compensation. Four--”

Drudger cut Meryn off before he could recite more. “I hate to see you go, Olston, but the articles is the articles. You weren’t there when I ran the man through who cut Meryn here; I didn’t see you anyway.”

“I-I was there,” but his stutter was enough for Megen to smell blood and the Captain laughed.

“Now he tells lies tryin’ to save his hide. Worry not, Mr. Olston. No word of your cowardice in the face of death will slip from my lips to the crew. Tonight they will be regaled with your exploits. Is there a particular one you would have me tell?”

“I-I-I dunno, C-captain.” He stammered.

“Olston,” now Meryn could not spare his thoughts, “you were not there. This is my call on the matter and not a single man can truthfully vouch your attendance. Even Fairaday sprung a grapple. More were injured than just I and you should have been among the men risking their lives.” Over his shoulder Meryn spied a strip of island loosing sand to the sea with each moment passed. “There is no other way. There are worse ways to die than marooning.”

Drudger laughed. “Could be tied and dragged behind the ship until you were dead. I’ve heard of men living after sentenced to a marooning. Redjon used to tell a story of a man he crewed with who lived through two. What was it Redjon said? That he only seemed mostly insane and that every so often he could be goaded into doing arithmetic. It could be worse!”

“Land,” Megen said. The rowboat rammed itself into the sandbar which was much smaller than when they had seen it from the deck.

“It’s the rules, Olston.” Meryn set down his oar. “There is no turning your back on the Articles. It’s as much the Red Sun as the deck or the mast. They are what separate pirates from thieves.”

“Let’s get this over with. I would rather fancy the fresh mug of rum I have waitin'.” Drudger leapt to shore after the captain.

Meryn pulled his cutlass from his hip as he stood. “It’s better if you come easy.” Never trust a pirate. He reached out a hand to pull the second mate up from his position at the aft. Olston grabbed Meryn’s hand and stood. He spit into the sea before fumbling unsteadily onto the sands. Meryn kept his cutlass lowered yet with as firm of a grip as his arm would allow.

Megen had walked to the center of the sandbar. The tail his red velvet and leather gambeson he wore flapping wildly. He drew in a deep breath taking in the salt in the air and stretching out his arms before facing back towards Olston who was being held at the arm by Meryn. “I bid you welcome!” Megen said bowing slightly and walking closer with an arm outstretched in welcome.

“Mege-c-captain, pa-pa-please,” Olston spoke fleetingly air passing through each word like a knife through warm butter.

“Drudger,” Megen commanded, “give the king of the island his welcoming gifts.” Now we shall see what respect Olston has earned from the crew, Meryn thought.

Drudger reached his hand into a small satchel he wore over his shoulder and pulled out a small dagger. “One rusty dagger, your grace.” He dropped the dagger in the white sand. “Here’s a waterskin.” Olston grabbed the waterskin and shook it to realize its lack of contents.

Might be enough to last to morning, no more. Let us leave, don’t do anything foolish, Meryn hoped somehow Olston could hear his warning. This was not the first time he had to escort a man to a marooning. Meryn was the fourth mate and the master-at-arms of the Red Sun. The crew expected him to be the first onto the enemy deck cutlass in hand, and Megen expected him to carry out his commands and punishments. Meryn preferred the former.

“And one waterskin,” Megen echoed. “Now--”

“Oh!” Drudger interrupted, his hand still deep in the satchel. “It seems our first mate Credey left you a gift. One gold coin.” Drudger tossed the coin to Megen who caught it, his lips curling crookedly upward. It was a coin from a city along the northernmost coast, diamond shaped and marked with a ship with four sails.

Megen held his arms out wide. “It seems First Mate Credey wants to use his right as First Mate for you.” Megen tossed the diamond shaped coin into the air as he spoke. “A game of chance for his life it will be Mr. Credey, you clever whoreson. Now, Mr. Olston, here is how it will work.” Megen faced the second mate. “If the ship shows, you remain here as king of the island, placing your life into the hand of fate and the gods. But if the ship does not show, you are free to come back with us to the Red Sun all transgressions forgiven. Mr. Credey has a knack for simplicity. There is something to be said for it. We let the gods of the sea decide your fate, the true pirate's way. Our first has given you a generous gift indeed.”

Drudger gave the captain a single har and smiled. “King Olston, the lucky. Has a nice ring to it does it not?” Megen is never out of control of circumstances. When in dire straits he takes the helm, when boarding a particularly armed ship he is first on deck, never does he let things be out of his control. This is Credey’s coin without a doubt.

“T-Toss it and be done with it then.” Olston gathered what composure he had and made his distaste for the first mate clear in but a sentence. Meryn raised his cutlass to Olston’s back and tightened his grip on his arm. If Megen tries to draw this further Olston may try to be a king of blood.

Megen shrugged and tossed the coin high into the air. “Have at it then!” Megen caught the coin in his palm and closed his fist before they could see how it had landed. “Best guesses?” The pirate lord smiled and without needing an answer he opened his fist. The ship with four sails faced up in their captain’s palm clear as day. Olston’s arm flexed and Meryn prodded the ex-second mate in his lower back with his cutlass. “That’s it then. Let no one say otherwise. Without further wasting our time, I, Megen De Pastyri, Captain of the Red Sun and one of the five pirate lords of The Fold hereby sentence you to a good, old-fashioned marooning.”

“You violated the articles anyway. There ain’t no going back that,” Drudger said patting Olston on the shoulder dropped the satchel in the rising ocean water.

“It has been settled then, Olston. By the articles you are not to return with us. Best let us go in peace,” Meryn said.

“Remember Thin Tom,” Drudger said as he leapt into the rowboat. “He was to be marooned for murder but was allowed to return after being dragged behind the ship a while. Things were never the same for Thin Tom and he threw himself overboard anyway. Missed the sea, I reckon. Good mate, too. Never the same after ‘is punishment, always saying that he saw the souls of a million men beneath the sea.”

Megen still held the coin in his palm the ship face up. “Come now,” he said graciously. “Let no man say Megen De Pastyri is not a merciful captain. I am willing to grant you a second flip. Again shall we?”

Olston’s resentment grew and his tone turned dark. “Nine years I served the Red Sun faithfully under you, Megen. The second longest of any of the crew. I signed the articles nine years ago. Does that mean nothing? When I say I do not know what happened my word should count for enough to at least not make it a death sentence. But here you strand me, King of the Island. To stand here on the sand until The Fold takes me away to The One Who Sleeps Below the Sea. My word should count as more than this.”

“The articles is the articles,” Drudger said again.

“Maybe Olston is right, Megen.” Meryn decided to stand on the second mates behalf, at least a bit. “Nine years of honest work. His word should bear some weight on the decision.”

“No.” The word like a stone seemed to scrape down Megen’s throat. “If every man’s word held more weight than his signature, then the Red Sun would fly the blue flag of Captain Seamus the Fourth. I will drown and let the Great One have his way with me before I let the Articles of the Red Sun go plundered so. The sentence stands and if either of you say another word I will gut you both right here so Olston needn’t die alone.”

“--Captain!? I’ll--” began Olston growing angry but Meryn prodded him hard with the cutlass interrupting him.

“Another flip then, Captain. As you had offered.” Meryn near pleaded.

Megen smiled. “Always the defender. No wonder you make a good master-at-arms, boy. You are, however right though, I am a man of my word and once an offer is made I will not withdraw it. Another flip, Mr. Olston?” After another prodding in his back, Olston nodded with as much defiance as a nod could have.

“Very well then. Another flip just for you. I can be as merciful as Meryn as well.” Megen tossed the coin playfully twice before giving it one good flip with his thumb well into the air. He did not catch it this time but let it land into the wet sand, ship facing up. Barely seeming to notice the coin, Megen called out one last time “King of the Island to forever serve the Great One Who Sleeps! Fate has willed it, Olston.” Megen lightly slapped Olston’s cheek and strode past him to the rowboat. “Serve him well, my king!”

“King Olston!” Drudger said half honoring his destined to die crewmate.

“King Olston,” Meryn echoed placing his own hand upon the dying man’s shoulder. “Best of luck.” Don’t do anything you will regret, pirate. Meryn turned round and followed after Drudger.

“T-t-to the R-R-Red S-Sun!” Olston called out whilst the three left what little remained of the island. “May sh-she sail th-the F-F-F-Fold forev-v-ver!” It was the last thing they heard him say. Honest and true to the end, Meryn thought, fate shamed him in his never hearing the call to arms.

Olston watched Drudger and Meryn row over the high night-waves and into the setting sun while water suckled at his ankles. Looking down he saw flat in the sand the ship with four sails on the coin mocking him. Two chances he had. Two. If it had flipped the other way just one of those two he would be on that rowboat back to the Red Sun all crimes forgiven. Credey had liked him, Sayus Credey and Olston were always on good terms. Second mate and first mate of the Red Sun, the strongest ship in The Fold. He could almost believe it. Olston bent down and picked up the coin wiping it clean from the mud clinging to its cracks and crevices. He studied the ship which had sentenced him to drown and forever serve the Great One Who Sleeps below the Sea. The ship was a carrack just like the Red Sun with four square sails.

Olston placed the coin between his teeth and bit down lightly. Not that he really knew what he was doing but he had seen other men testing their gold out when Sayus Credey handed out the shares to the crew. Olston was not sure if he imagined it giving way just the tiniest of bits so he examined it once more. Sure enough, small teeth marks where he bit. He tossed it into the air himself and it came down ship up. Again it mocks, he thought. He twirled the coin around in his fingers and then he realized just what had happened.

Betrayal.

THE END

Bio: Swargula is an online personality with a story-telling background.

E-mail: Swargula

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