Free Web NovelChapter 19: So You’re That Calloway
Hornigold set his cup down with care. The motion carried the same warning as a drawn breath before bad news.
He spoke sternly, "Losing two sloops in one run is the kind of news that travels faster than the ship that brought it. Doesn’t matter that the frigate’s at the bottom of the sea now. Folks remember what went wrong before they remember what went right."
James considered to argue back, but there wasn’t much point. Hornigold wasn’t wrong, and both of them knew it.
Hornigold continued, "You’ll find captains slower to throw their hulls in beside yours for a while yet. Men will risk a deal. They’ll risk a fight. What they don’t like risking is following a man death seems to know by name."
He let that hang between them.
"You were already short on reasons for men to sign aboard. You’ve just handed them another not to."
That hardly needed explaining. Men liked coin. They liked the possibility of staying alive long enough to spend it, too.
James took the news in stride.
Or at least performed a passable imitation of a man doing so.
Around them, the tavern carried on as normal, unaware of the reckoning taking place at their table.
Then the familiar display appeared in front of him. Smaller than before, but carrying the same unwelcome message.
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Statistically, something should have improved by now. This is becoming interesting.
James studied it for a moment.
He suspected there were gravestones with more enthusiastic endorsements.
He snorted.
Hornigold raised an eyebrow.
"Something funny?"
"Nothin’ worth repeatin’."
James waved a hand through the air only he could see. That voice seemed determined to get him into trouble today.
"So. What happens now?"
Hornigold didn’t answer at once. He turned his cup once against the tabletop.
James knew better than to fill the silence.
"Jennings has been telling anyone who’ll listen that I’ve gone soft."
That wasn’t idle conversation.
Hornigold sounded more annoyed than angry. "That Nassau’s got a merchant wearing a pirate’s coat. Some men are starting to wonder if it’s time somebody else ran things here."
James had spent enough years around officers and captains to recognize a test when he heard one. Folks often voiced complaints less to discuss the complaint itself and more to see how listeners reacted.
"Jennings can whine to the fish for all the good it’ll do him."
He kept his tone easy. Better to avoid the trap entirely.
"Ye’ve got my word, for whatever that’s worth these days."
He meant very little of it and it cost nothing to say the words. Jennings wasn’t entirely wrong, and James intended to keep any deeper thoughts to himself. That seemed far wiser.
Hornigold stared at him for seconds. The look made it clear he believed none of what he’d just heard.
After a moment, he let it pass.
"Good man."
The silence afterward stretched a touch too long.
"Don’t make me regret saying that."
James tucked the remark away for consideration, but Hornigold moved on before he could decide whether it had been praise or warning.
"There’s a captain under my wing with more ambition than ship."
Hornigold seemed content to let the description stand on its own.
He continued, "He’s found himself a hunt worth a crew’s attention and nowhere near enough hands or guns to see it through."
James followed the logic immediately. A captain short on manpower. A hunt worth pursuing.
Hornigold wouldn’t be bringing it up otherwise.
"And you want me to help him with both."
"I want you to convince him he wants your help."
Hornigold’s mouth twitched, stopping just short of a smile.
"Given where your name sits in this town today, that’s no small errand."
James weighed the offer.
His reputation had fallen. His choices had narrowed.
If he wanted to rebuild either, he needed opportunities.
The risks were obvious, but so were the alternatives.
"Aye, why not. I’ll go charm a man who doesn’t yet know better than to trust me."
"Very well, then."
Hornigold rose without hurry and adjusted his coat with a gentle tug.
"Bravery’s never been his problem. Knowing when to stop has."
Then he headed for the stairs without another word. He didn’t look back.
He’d already said everything necessary.
James watched him go.
By the time Hornigold disappeared downstairs, he was already wondering what kind of captain would need such a partnership.
He found himself listening for approaching footsteps before he consciously decided to.
The man who climbed the stairs entered as though the room belonged to him and everyone in it had simply been borrowing it.
A weathered coat hung open across his shoulders. Salt and sun had done their work on it years ago. The owner seemed no more inclined to replace it than he was to apologize for anything else.
His beard was dark and unruly, thick enough to hide half a grin and leave a man wondering about the other half.
Dark eyes swept across the upper floor.
The sort of glance that measured a person’s worth.
There was nothing restrained about him.
Some men moved through the world carefully. This one looked as though he’d spent years kicking doors open and had yet to discover a reason to stop.
Ambition practically leaked out of the bastard.
If somebody handed him a rowboat, he’d probably start planning how to steal a fleet.
James found himself watching the man longer than he intended.
The reaction annoyed him almost immediately. Nassau was full of ambitious captains. Half the men he’d met seemed convinced fortune had been created specifically for their benefit. There was nothing especially unusual about another one climbing a tavern staircase.
Yet something continued to pull at his memory.
James tried to dismiss the thought and failed.
Hornigold’s protégé.
A captain with more ambition than resources. A man already developing a reputation despite commanding little more than a sloop.
The beard.
The age.
James studied the captain again. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
The suspicion arrived slowly enough that he almost missed it. The growing possibility that he already knew how this man’s story ended.
The thought lingered as the captain’s gaze moved across the room and finally settled on him.
A moment later, the man started in his direction.
He crossed the room and dropped into the seat opposite him as though the invitation had simply been delayed.
"So."
A wild grin tugged at one corner of his mouth.
"You’re that Calloway."
