Chapter Text
Stede is melting in the confines of the unfamiliar bar in the Republic of Pirates, trapped between the heat, the sounds, and the weight of the conversation. Physically, he’s next to Ed, which is a small comfort. Someone he doesn’t know called Anne Bonny is sitting on the stool at his other side, and they seem alright.
Stede has varyingly bad feelings about everyone else in the room. There’s Spanish Jackie, for whom he has lingering fear. There’s a load of faces he doesn’t recognize and he has no name to attach to them. Those faces blend together, just like the words they speak, into a cacophony of uncomfortable newness.
Then there’s Hornigold. Ed hasn’t said much about him, but Stede recognizes the tension in Ed’s laugh when he calls Hornigold a dick. Hornigold, in the flesh, has a grating voice and a flash in his eyes that makes Stede squirm. Ed’s holding a tension in his shoulders that Stede would wager is Hornigold’s fault, too.
“Bellamy took the Act of Grace,” the dick himself says, leaning forward to sip his grog.
“Shit.” Bonny mutters. The faceless pirates quiet a bit, which Stede can’t help but be grateful for despite the context.
“Hundredth one in the past three months,” Hornigold continues. “Hundred and second, really,” he says, staring daggers at Ed.
“Why do we let this traitor amongst us?” someone Stede thinks is named Vane says. “He could still be working for the British, all we know.”
“We’re not,” Ed says. “Never really were.” He challenges Vane to argue with a glare.
“I just think we should exercise caution around someone who signed himself away so easily, and betrayed the British immediately,” Vane says.
“You’re not wrong. Betraying the crown is bold. A boldness that could get us all killed and the Republic of Pirates returned to British control,” Hornigold says. “You’re not the loyal kid I knew, Blackbeard.”
“Yeah, well. Time happens. I’m glad not to be loyal to you, anymore, Hornigold. The British really want me dead, so I’m not about to help them fuck you all over, even if some of you deserve it,” Ed sneers across the table at Hornigold as he speaks.
“If I may,” Stede starts, deciding to weigh in on the conversation which has been dancing around his existence. “I got Blackbeard to sign the Act of Grace. It’s nothing to do with his loyalty to piracy, and everything to do with his dedication to keep his word. Signing the Act was his favor for saving his life, because him signing the Act was the only way to save mine. And now we’ve escaped and have more reason than anyone to avoid the British, hmm?”
“This imbecile saved your life?” Hornigold scoffs.
“Yes.” Ed says at the same time as Stede says “I was at the right place at the right time, really. Blackbeard repays his debts.”
Hornigold and Vane don’t look happy, but certainly less accusatory. Hoping he helped the situation, Stede resigns himself to silence and being ignored once more. Talking took enough work and his tolerance for this meeting is wearing thin. Now that conversation has moved on from suspecting Ed, Stede’s focus wanes and the sea of noise from the dozens of pirates overwhelms him once more.
Minutes pass, and Stede barely listens to the recount of names who’ve signed the Act.
He tries to shake the grinding sensation from his brain and just focus, this meeting is important, afterall. His feet won’t stay still. They insist on bouncing and making his inability to deal with the noise and the new faces clear to everyone else in the room, his weaknesses laid bare to the fifty most ruthless pirates in the West Indies. On top of all that, Hornigold and Vane were suspecting Ed, turning everyone against Ed, because of him signing the Act of Grace. For Stede. Despite the months that have passed, their escapes, and their forgiveness of each other since signing the Act and going to the Academy, Ed protecting Stede is still putting him in more danger. Stede wonders if he’ll ever be able to stop putting Ed in more danger.
His spiraling thoughts are interrupted by Spanish Jackie, speaking from the corner of the room far to Stede’s left.
“Right, well, I may not be a pirate but I still have a dog in this fight. So if any of you bring the British round to my place, expect a lot more than your nose in a jar.”
Everyone squirms a little. The most fearsome pirates are no match for Jackie.
“Noted,” Ed says, standing up with his hands pressed to the table. “This has been lovely, let’s not sell each other out to the British and all. Hopefully I’ll see you fuckers in hell, but the Republic of Pirates will do. I told the crew I’d be back early to decide when to set sail, so I’m off. Bonnet, you wanted my advice on your rigging. It’s now or never.”
Stede nods and stands up to follow Ed, expecting his made up excuse for them to leave together.
“Edward, we’re having a meeting here. You don’t get to leave early for your beauty sleep,” Hornigold growls.
“Yes, well, I thought I summed up the meeting fairly well. Don’t talk to the fucking British, Benjamin.”
Hornigold's eyes flash at Ed’s use of his first name. He and Vane glance at each other quickly, which Stede is glad he didn’t miss, even if it only adds to his discomfort around the men.
“This doesn’t exactly look good for you, ditching us. Who’s to say you won’t ditch us when the British try to take Nassau?” Vane threatens.
“Get fucked, Vane.” Ed strolls confidently to the door and Stede follows.
“You have nothing to say for yourself?” Hornigold prompts Ed.
Ed turns back to face the crowd of pirates, a hand on the doorframe of the bar.
“Nah. You’ve already heard it,” Ed says, and then addresses Stede. “Come on, Bonnet. We’ve got business to attend to.”
Stede follows Ed out the door. The Nassau breeze hits him and it's cool, certainly colder than the room full of pirates, and lacks the smells of sweat, smoke, and fear. Ed keeps walking in front of Stede for many more paces, glancing back at the bar door several times, until he stops and leans against the wall of an old building, just out of sight of the bar.
When Stede reaches Ed, he says “Well that was–”
“Before we unpack any of that, which believe me I know we need to, we need to address two things,” Ed interrupts him.
“Okay. They are?”
“I’m going to need your help walking back to the ship.”
“Oh. Your knee? Wait, is this because you don’t have your brace? I should have reminded you that Fang had it to replace a hinge, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, damn thing’s acting up. Not just because I don’t have the brace, some days are just bad,” he says, gaze turned downward. “S’not your responsibility to remind me. I left it on purpose,” Ed finishes.
“Why on Earth would you do that?”
“Hornigold. He never let me get one made when I sailed with him, said it made me look weak. I didn’t want him to have yet another thing to undermine me with.”
“Oh, Ed.” Stede says. “How do you want to do this, use me as a crutch?” Stede moves to stand at Ed’s left, preparing to take his arm over his shoulders.
“We need to address the other thing first,” Ed says before moving to put his arm around Stede.
“And that is?”
“Are you okay? You seemed really nervous in there. It’s why I decided to leave, you were so twitchy.”
Stede is caught off guard. Even though he felt like everyone could see just how much being in the bar was getting to him, he didn’t expect Ed to make his decisions based on it.
“You shouldn’t have done that, now Vane and Hornigold have even more reason to think you’re a traitor. I’m fine, just the atmosphere in there was a bit much. Being in the fresh air and the quiet is much better.”
“Fuck those guys. What else could we have said to deny it? The argument was made,” Ed says.
Stede nods, looking at his shoes, and knows that Ed is right. He leans his head against the stone wall of the nameless building and lets out a long breath.
“No really, are you okay?” Ed follows up, evidently noticing Stede is still stressed.
“I will be. It’s the loud, warm, smelliness of it all, gets to me sometimes. Doesn’t help that everyone behaved like I wasn’t really there either. And plus there’s– something I don’t want to talk about right now,” Stede says, with his eyes scrunched shut, holding back tears.
“I know the feeling. When all the sounds and smells and textures get on top of you and it makes your brain fall apart a little. Happens to me, too.”
Stede opens his eyes and looks over at Ed. He supposes he shouldn’t be surprised Ed feels this way sometimes, too. Hell, looking back he should have noticed. But being different was hammered into him from childhood, so he didn’t expect Ed, who seems to be his opposite in many ways, to have this problem, too.
“Why is the world so loud. And why can’t I handle the world,” Stede says, letting himself feel the aftereffects of overstimulation and the frustration at it. He cries more freely now, quiet tears spilling down his cheeks.
“The world’s a bitch, and not everyone can handle her. I wouldn’t be able to handle her without the brace, or without doing what we just did and getting out of a loud room. We’ve just gotta help ourselves and each other through it.”
Stede nods, and Ed holds one of his cheeks lightly, wiping a tear with his thumb.
“Hey, we’re out of there now. You’ll be okay.”
Stede smiles at him.
“We do need to move since I don’t know when the meeting is ending and I’d rather not run into Hornigold again, I don’t have any more pretending my knee’s okay in me. And we do need to talk about what happened in there later. What it means for us and our crew. And the other things bothering you. But we don’t have to right now, right now we can focus on just walking and breathing, you and me?”
“That sounds lovely. Thank you, darling.” Stede shifts his face, still in Ed’s hand, to kiss the bottom of his palm.
“Anytime. Let’s go.”
Ed moves his hand from Stede’s face in order to put his arm around Stede’s shoulders. He peels himself off the stone wall.
Stede steps forward with Ed’s bad leg and starts their three legged journey.
Ed and Stede find a rhythm to walking after a while. Stede steps with his right foot while Ed steps with his left, and barely lets it touch the ground. Stede holds him upright as Edward steps forward with his good leg, then Stede takes the final step until the cycle repeats.
The repetition is good for Stede, along with the quiet, cool night, and Ed’s arm around his neck and his arm around Ed’s waist. He has something to focus on, and it’s a gorgeous night, and the contact with Ed is grounding. Though he’d much rather be in bed after the night he’s had, Stede’s brain is clearing ever so slowly.
In addition to being a bit on edge from the sensory experience of the night, he does know conversations will need to be had. About what the ever-growing number of pirates signing the Act of Grace means for them. And about how much it still hurts to think signing the Act for Stede put Edward in danger.
In the three months since Stede and the crew’s return to the Revenge, there have been many apologies, so they’re in a better place now. Stede has apologized to Ed, many times in many ways. It took him a while to accept, and Stede thinks back on his first month aboard the Revenge again with a grimace. He spent several nights in the makeshift brig, bleeding slightly and waiting until Ed would see him again.
Ed apologized to the crew as many times as Stede apologized to him. There were varying levels of acceptance– Black Pete still eyes him angrily, but Jim, Frenchie, and Lucius were warming up to him before Stede even got there. Stede doesn’t have all the details, which he supposes is intentional on Ed’s part, but there was a second mutiny against Izzy Hands not long after Ed and Izzy marooned the crew. The mutiny was against Ed, too, technically, though he’d not been sober enough at the time to register what was happening or join in Izzy’s theft of a dingy. Lucius had held Jim back from stabbing him, he’d been shoved in the brig, and after several days he began to come back to himself. Without the influence of alcohol or Izzy Hands, Ed had realized that Lucius was alive, been incredibly relieved, and eventually had a conversation with the three of them that granted him freedom from the brig under a watchful eye, the details of which Stede doesn’t know. He doesn’t think he’ll ever fully understand how Lucius, Jim, and Frenchie started to forgive Ed, and he doesn’t think he needs to. The marooned crew remains more wary of him, but Stede keeps telling Ed that, if Frenchie, Jim, and Lucius are anything to go by, they just need more time. Afterally, those three have had an extra two months to see that Ed won’t return to the Kraken.
The reconciliation doesn’t feel complete. Maybe it never will, and Stede will be insisting to Ed that he wants him, accepts him, and will never regret choosing him, until the day he dies. And Ed will be insisting to Stede that he could never ruin him, that he really saved him, and will never regret choosing him, until the day he dies. Stede’s okay with that. He’ll gladly reassure Ed endlessly. Tonight, Stede thinks, is just going to be a tiny slice of their eternal reminders of love.
Stede refocuses on the walk. It feels like it’s been half an hour of their complicated stepping forward routine. Stede recognizes the buildings around them from the journey toward the bar, and places them near the end of that journey.
The ship is far to the East of downtown Nassau, which is inconvenient now, but made sense initially. They want to keep up the facade of being captains of two separate ships in front of all the other pirates, and they can’t have them seeing Ed get off a ship not flying Blackbeard’s flag. Hence, the ship is anchored far away. It was an hour for Ed and Stede to walk to the meeting, when Ed’s knee was doing much better. It will be a long night. But Stede has repetition, contact with Ed, and the ability to watch the stars to tide him over.
They continue their three legged dance through the downtown Nassau streets until the buildings are spaced further apart, with more trees and sky between the low stone structures. Stede is encouraged by the clear progress. He thinks it's been an hour or so of walking.
“Stede?” Ed whispers.
“Yes, love?”
“I need a break.”
“Oh! Of course. Shall we sit against this tree?” Stede gestures to a tree to their left, several feet off the main road they’ve been traveling on.
“Yeah. Looks lovely.”
They make their way to the tree and separate when Ed can grip its trunk. Ed starts to lower himself with his good leg, sliding down the trunk and holding his bad leg out straight in front of him. His descent speeds up as he nears the ground and he winces when he reaches it.
Stede sits down next to him, leaning against a different face of the tree.
“Are you okay?” Stede asks, turning his head to look at Ed.
“Just, you know, ‘good leg' is relative.”
“Ah,” Stede says. “If your right leg is bothering you too we can figure out another walking arrangement. I think I could carry you, granted my bones aren’t what they used to be, but if it would make things easier I could do it.”
“Nah, it’s okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” They’re quiet for a moment. “My bones have been telling me I’m an old man for as long as I can remember. Never thought the rest of me would get to age.”
Stede turns and sits away from the tree so he can face Ed. He reaches toward Ed with his right hand and mouths “can I?” soundlessly.
Ed nods, short and sharp, slamming his head into the tree trunk and squeezing his eyes shut. Stede takes Ed’s hand, placing his hand on top and curling his fingertips under Ed’s palm. Stede wishes he could be like his hand and stand between Ed and the world.
Stede squeezes.
“I’ll be happy to watch the rest of you catch up to your bones, Ed. Anything I can do to help you right now or in the future I’ll do,” Stede says.
“Thanks, love. I’ll tell you if I really can’t take walking. And I sure as hell will need your help getting up,” Edward says, opening his eyes to look at Stede.
“Naturally.”
“You doing better now?” Ed asks, eyes filling with concern.
“Much. The quiet night with a simple task has done me well,” Stede says, smiling at Ed.
“Good. Good, good, good.” Ed’s eyes shift down and he moves his hand, not away from Stede’s but so that his fingers can dance around Stede’s, holding hands in motion.
“Wanna talk about the meeting?” Ed asks, still looking at their unraveling and re-intertwining hands instead of Stede’s eyes.
“Yes. I suppose we need to,” Stede says. “I’m feeling much better, and while I’d rather not think about the bar or Hornigold or the Act of Grace ever again, now’s as good a time as any. Better to unpack the meeting before we need to report back to the crew.”
“Yes, they’ll need a rundown.”
“Do you think our argument that you aren’t a double agent was believed? I sort of just made up the stuff about you signing the Act as a favor for your life on the spot, I hope it was a believable enough lie,” Stede says.
“I think it was perfect. As good a defense as we could have come up with. Can’t exactly just say ‘we don’t work for the British’ and have that lot believe us,” Edward says. “The best lies are close to the truth, afterall.”
Stede scoffs. “You didn’t sign the Act as a favor. I didn’t save your life, not back then.”
“True, it was because I wanted to. You did save me. Not in the traditional way, but that was the best part about it. People like Calico Jack saved my life by making sure I survived, you reminded me that I wanted to live.”
Stede is struck into silence. He saved Ed? What on Earth did he do to not only deserve Ed, but save him?
“Never feel guilty that I signed the Act, Stede. You did the opposite of ruin me,” Ed continues.
Stede opens his mouth slightly but only air comes out. Ed removes his hand from Stede’s to pull him closer, arranging Stede so he’s leaning against his chest, head just below Ed’s chin.
“That’s part of what was bothering you, yes? The Act of Grace talk?”
Stede nods, carefully as to not knock Ed in the chin with his head.
Ed kisses the top of Stede’s head, muttering “I love you.”
Stede allows himself to be held and says it back, welcoming the moments of silence that follow.
“What do we tell the crew?” Stede finally says. “All the pirates and Spanish Jackie are nervous, clearly. Jumping for someone to blame that so many people are giving up piracy. Vane and Hornigold want that person to be you. Am I missing anything? I had trouble paying attention at some points.”
“Nah, that’s pretty much it. It really didn’t have to be such a long meeting,” Ed says.
“What do Vane and Hornigold have against you? They kept making creepy eye contact with each other.”
“They’re pissed I have the reputation I do, despite leaving Hornigold's ship. Despite all my weaknesses,” Ed says.
“Ah.”
“I’m ready to go, if you are. It’s getting late, based on the stars, and we did tell the crew it’d be an early night to set sail early in the morning,” Ed says.
“You’ll have to teach me that star timepiece trick of yours. Yes, I’m ready. Let me get up first.”
“S’not hard, just gotta look for the Big Dipper, the North Star, and do a tiny bit of math, depending on the time of year,” Ed says as Stede gets to his feet and stands facing Ed and the tree.
“Give me your hands, darling,” Stede says, holding his out for Ed. Ed grabs them and rises from the ground with the help of his “good” leg, the tree, and Stede.
“Same thing as last time, using me as a crutch?” Stede asks.
“Yep. For now.” Ed and Stede return to their positions, interlinked.
“I bet we’re halfway,” Stede says.
“Why the fuck does the ship have to be across the whole island,” Ed says, and before Stede can respond he continues “I know why, I just feel like complaining.”
“That’s fair enough,” Stede says.
“Should’ve brought the brace in a bag or something. Or had Buttons pick us up at the harbor, since we left early anyway,” Ed says.
“We can plan for it next time,” Stede says.
“Yeah, that’d be good.”
They fall into silence again. It’s been a long night, and Stede is so ready to lie in bed in the captains’ quarters. He can’t imagine how tired Ed is. The road is lit by the moon, but it’s far from full, and as they get further from town there are more and more rocks and roots on the path for Stede to steer them around. The sounds of people in the buildings are disappearing, and it’s been a while since they’ve spotted another traveler.
“Do you want to sing shanties to pass the time, Ed? There’s no one around,” Stede says after many more minutes, three quarters of the way from the bar to the ship, by his estimation.
“Maybe one. Yeah, it’d be nice to focus on something other than just walking,” Ed says.
“Oh, good. I love your voice.”
Ed starts to sing something that Stede just barely recognizes, probably from Ed singing it on the ship at some point. Perhaps one of the songs Ed sang with Frenchie’s lute as accompaniment when they took it upon themselves to wander the ship at the end of a long day, antagonizing Roach by narrating his cooking process with song.
The tune is soft on Ed’s tongue. His song is about a lady’s love affair with the sea. While Stede is blown away by Ed’s voice and the song is gorgeous, he can’t help but smirk when he thinks about the similarities between the lady and Buttons.
As the song ends, Stede sees two figures turn from a side path onto their road, not too far in front of them.
“Are they coming toward us on purpose, or just passing in the opposite direction, you think?” Stede asks.
“Not sure,” Ed says quietly, eyes trained on the two mystery individuals.
“For the love of fuck, be quieter,” one of them says, and after a few more steps Stede can recognize her as Spanish Jackie. With her is Anne Bonny, the pirate Stede was next to at the meeting.
“Jackie,” Ed nods at her, separating from Stede to stand on his own. “Is the meeting over? Did we miss anything? What are you two doing on this side of town?”
“Oh, you missed a lot. The meeting’s definitely over. But we can’t stop to talk, so give up pretending you can walk on your own,” Jackie says, and she and Anne Bonny turn around to walk toward the beach where the Revenge is anchored.
Stede returns to holding Ed and walking.
“That’s slow, we need to figure something else out,” Jackie says.
“Excuse me? Where are we going and why do we need to rush?” Stede questions Jackie.
“Ideally, your ship. If you won’t have us, Anne and I will hide in my house on this side of the island for a bit until things are calmer,” Jackie says. “We’re rushing because of the British. They showed up at the meeting not long after you left. It was absolute chaos. Loads of pirates signed the Act on the spot, loads more were killed, more tried to escape and were caught. A few did escape, but I have a feeling that there’s more British in the Harbor.”
“Fuck,” Ed says. “How’d they find the meeting?”
“Vane and Hornigold were helping them round up pirates,” Anne Bonny says. “We think it was a setup.”
“Fucking Benjamin,” Ed says. “He was accusing me to get suspicion off himself.”
“How did you two get out?” Stede asks.
“Easy enough when no one thinks of you as a real pirate,” Bonny says.
“You won’t have the same luck, especially not Blackbeard, so we need to hurry up and get to the ship,” Jackie says.
“Right. Ed, darling, let’s reconsider this arrangement. You can get on my back?” Stede says.
“No. You’re going ahead to tell the crew we’re setting sail tonight and get them ready. You could even run, that way. Jackie, you’re okay helping me get to the ship?” Ed winces after he finishes speaking, apparently realizing what he just asked of who.
“If it gets us off this island faster I’ll do anything.” Jackie responds.
“I don’t love it, but what choice do we have,” Stede says. “I’ll see you soon.”
Anne nods to the group once and takes off. Stede follows, but can still hear Jackie talking to Ed before he gets too far away.
“This is happening as fast as possible and we’re never speaking of it to anyone, ok?”
Stede can barely hear it, but he thinks Ed responds with “Agreed.”
Stede is thoroughly impressed by Anne Bonny’s speed. He’s struggling to keep pace, especially after half carrying Ed across Nassau. Fear keeps him going.
Running, what would have taken Ed and Stede half an hour takes them under ten minutes. Stede and Anne reach the beach with the dingy and immediately drag the boat into the water.
“I’ll row,” Anne says as they step into the boat.
“Thank you,” Stede says, with one foot in the boat and the other out. He pushes off the sand with the foot outside the boat, propelling the boat forward into slightly deeper water and propelling himself all the way into the boat.
“You’re panting that hard after running a handful of kilometers. I’m rowing because I want to escape the British, not for you,” Bonny says. “Captain Bonnet,” they continue, easily giving away their half heartedness at using Stede’s title to soften the insults.
Stede chuckles and leaves Anne to row.
The Revenge is not far out, so they get there quite quickly. Stede climbs up the ship’s ladder and tells Anne, who is still in the boat, to row back to the beach and wait for Ed and Jackie. Anne agrees and is gone before Stede sees any other crew members.
He sees that some of the crew is sleeping on the deck, some getting ready to sleep. Olu and Jim seem to have gone below.
“Buttons! We need to get ready to sail right now. Everyone else, look alive, we’re leaving in twenty minutes. Someone get Jim and Olu,” Stede says.
“What’s going on, Captain?” Lucius asks sleepily.
“British attacked the meeting. We’d already left, but Jackie and Bonny were there. Hornigold and Vane betrayed the pirates, the British are in the harbor and will be looking for Ed. I think– I think the Republic is falling to the British,” Stede says, tripping over his words slightly.
“Fuck me,” Black Pete says.
“How do you know the Republic is falling?” Lucius asks, still waking up.
“Spanish Jackie’s planning to leave with us, and I don’t think she takes leaving the Republic lightly,” Stede replies.
“Fuck, yeah, without Jackie there is no Republic of Pirates, is there?” Frenchie says.
“And without waking up and getting us ready to sail, there might be no us. Buttons, please,” Stede says.
“I’m on it, Cap’n.” Buttons jumps out of his hammock and climbs up the rigging to unfurl the sails, bringing Black Pete along to help him
“Swede, watch from the Crows nest toward the harbor for British ships. Buttons, we’d better head South first, since the harbor’s to the North. The winds are favorable for that, no?”
“You’re right about that, Cap’n. Getting better at reading the sea, you are.”
“Thank you, Mr. Buttons,” Stede says, smiling to himself. The other pirates in the bar can ignore him all they want, his crew can tell he’s a real pirate. “You know what to do, help Buttons with the sails and be ready to pull up the anchor as soon as Ed gets back with the dingy. I’ve got to wake up Jim and Olu, back in a jiff,” Stede continues, heading below deck to his and Ed’s first mates rooms.
Stede knocks and shouts their names repeatedly when he reaches the door. “It’s important! Please hurry,” Stede shouts.
“This had better actually be important, captain,” Oluwande says when he reaches the door.
“It is, so get Jim. We’re setting sail as soon as possible, probably about fifteen minutes is my best guess.”
“You don’t know?” Jim asks from the room.
“There’s a lot of factors. I only just got back, and Edward’s still on his way.” Jim arrives at the doorway and shares a look with Oluwande. “We’re leaving because the meeting was an ambush, the British are in the Harbor, and the Republic of Pirates will probably fall to them tonight.”
“Fuck,” Olu says, and Jim swears in Spanish.
“Yes. Fuck. We need to leave as fast as possible, so go up to help get her ready to sail, but first I have to ask. Will it be a problem for Spanish Jackie to be on board? Because, well, we can tell her she can’t come on board and leave Jackie and Anne to the British, it would just be quite the dick move at this point. So I’d rather not. But if I need to, we can not let them up and just sacrifice the dingy, if she’ll want to kill one or both of our first mates.”
“Jackie and I are fine, Captain,” Jim says.
“Oh thank god. I didn’t want to tell her she can’t come.”
“Let go, then,” Olu says, and he and Jim brush past Stede to get to the deck. Stede follows them.
The deck is much the same when Stede gets back, a flurry of motion in the rigging, the main deck, and at the upper decks. While Stede is learning to know the sea, he lets people who have been learning all their lives take control and sits next to Lucius.
“Pretty crazy, huh?” Lucius says, watching Black Pete navigate the rigging with ease.
“It’s been one hell of a night. Quite a story for you to write in the journal, provided we get out of this,” Stede responds.
“The future’s never guaranteed, on this ship,” Lucius says.
“No. Do me a favor, watch the beach and yell when you see the dingy on its way, tell them to get ready to lift the anchor. I’ve got to get something,” Stede says.
“Can do,” Lucius says as Stede runs through the chaos on the deck back to below. Stede reaches his destination, the galley, grabs one of the chairs from the table, and takes it above deck.
He hauls the chair up further to the quarter deck and places it by the wheel. He turns around and looks out over his crew, busy with sailing preparations. Stede pauses and looks out at them, unable to think of anything else he needs to do before Ed gets back.
Stede only has a moment before more chaos erupts.
“I see ships! Unless those are other dark shapes coming from the harbor,” The Swede shouts from the crows nest.
“Fuck, fuck fuck,” Stede says as he runs down the stairs to the main deck. “Lucius, is the dingy in the water?”
“Not yet. Oh! Someone is running down the beach. Wait, two someones?”
“Excellent, that’ll be Ed and Jackie. We need to prepare to lift anchor as soon as they get here. Are the sails ready?”
“Aye, cap’n as soon as you say we’ll stop holding these ropes and she’ll be free,” Buttons says, gesturing to the ropes he and Black Pete are holding around the mainsail and the foresail.
Wee John, Roach, Oluwande, and Ivan rush to the side of the boat with the anchor line, getting organized to pull in the anchor as fast as possible. They displace Lucius from his seat, which he grumbles about, but moves a few feet away.
“The ships are definitely ships! They are getting closer,” The Swede shouts. Muttered swears sweep the deck, and Stede looks at Lucius pointedly.
“They’re in the dingy. Under halfway between the beach and the Revenge, but moving fast,” Lucius responds.
“Jim, be ready to steer until Ed can start,” Stede says. “Is the wind still on our side, Buttons?” Stede asks, looking above him to the rigging.
“Aye, but she’ll be on the side of the British, too. Northwest wind’ll push us both South East, and if they get too close, I won’t like our chances in a chase,” Buttons says. “And from what I can see, they’re well on the way.”
“Can we outmaneuver them?”
“Mayhaps,” Buttons responds. “I hope Captain Teach has an idea of how to do that.”
“Me, too,” Stede says. “I’m sure he will.”
Stede looks out across the water, on the opposite side of the ship from the beach. Athol Island sits low on the horizon, not far from them, with Rose Island behind it. Maybe the Revenge can lose the British by sailing among the islands?
“Can we make course for the west end of that Island, and turn behind it to lose them?”
“We can try, but the side of the Revenge will be open to cannon fire while we’re sailing perpendicular to the British,” Olu says.
“The laddie’s right,” Buttons says.
“Ed will figure it out,” Stede says, his stress building. “Swede, Lucius, give me updates.”
“Five ships, about a kilometer away, coming fast,” Swede shouts.
“Dingy almost here!”
“Which direction are we going, captain?” Jim asks.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck I don’t know. No, I think Northeast to the island. For now. They’re too far to shoot us now. If it’s a mistake Ed will know what to do.”
“Can do,” Jim says. “Be ready with the sails!” they shout at Buttons and Black Pete.
“The dingy is here!” Lucius shouts.
“She’s tied off,” a voice from below the rail of the ship shouts, Anne Bonny.
Everything is happening so quickly. Stede feels he’s made a mistake with the directions, but at this moment he’s focused on finding Ed.
Roach, Wee John, Ivan, and Olu pull the anchor off the bottom, Jackie and Anne come onto the deck, Buttons and Black Pete release the sails, and Jim starts to turn the boat toward the island. Stede rushes to the side of the ship with the ladder.
“I’m here. It’s just taking a while to get up,” Ed says from the ladder.
“Oh thank god. Well, we need you up here,” Stede says. The crew members pulling in the anchor finish with it and lean the anchor against the rail. “Can you help me pull the ladder in?” Stede asks.
“With Captain on it?” Wee John asks.
“Yes.”
“Sure,” Wee John says, and he’s joined by Ivan. The three of them hoist the ladder until Ed is at the level of the deck, when Stede offers his hand and shoulder to help Ed clear the railing.
“We’re sailing toward Athol Island, hoping to lose them going in between it and Rose Island. Is that a good plan?” Stede asks Ed when he’s standing on the deck.
“Risky, but I like it. Sure as hell better than doing nothing and letting them chase us,” Ed responds.
“You want to steer? I’ll help you get there, you can take over for Jim. I put a chair up there,” Stede says.
“Yes, I’ll steer.”
Stede helps Ed to the quarterdeck, pulls the chair to the wheel, and Ed takes over for Jim, excitedly grabbing the wheel.
“It’s a straight shot for us, but the British will have to make a sharp turn,” Jim says to Ed.
“Once they see what we’re doing, I bet they’ll try to fire on us before we clear Athol,” Ed responds, taking the wheel.
“Yep.”
“Let’s be fast, then. How far are the British?” Ed asks.
“Update, Swede!” Stede shouts.
“Closer, but not close enough to fire!”
“Exactly where we like them,” Ed says.
Jim looks as though they are going to object to that statement, but elect to keep it to themself.
The Revenge cuts through the waves on her way to the island at an impressive speed, her crew bracing themselves for being fired upon by the British, who get closer every second. Because the Revenge is traveling at a ninety degree angle to the British, not directly away from them, the wide side of the ship is facing directly to them. One of the British ships begins to turn directly toward the island when the Revenge has reached its tip.
“Turning starboard!” Ed shouts to the crew, heaving the wheel to the right.
“Why?” Stede asks, not because he doesn’t trust it’s the right choice, but out of genuine curiosity.
“That British ship is getting ready to fire at us, why else would it turn directly into the island? The cannons are on the sides. If we turn, their target is smaller,” Ed responds.
“Oh,” Stede gulps. Jim anxiously shuffles their feet. It seems the whole crew is bracing themselves.
The Revenge turns hard to the right, making the turn faster than the larger British vessel.
Just as Ed predicted, there’s a blast from a cannon and a splash where the Revenge was before she turned. The wave from the splash moves the deck and Stede has slight trouble staying balanced.
“Oh my,” Stede says. The rest of the crew winces collectively. Jim runs down the stairs from the quarterdeck to Olu on the main deck and hugs him. The Swede is hugging his knees and rocking in the crows nest, eyes trained on the British but unhappy about it.
“Turning port!” Ed shouts. Once again, the Revenge creaks into motion and easily takes Ed's course for her. For several moments, the British are completely hidden behind Athol Island. When they reappear, there are only four ships, the one that turned toward the island must have been slowed by that course. The ships turn to follow the Revenge around the island, which has successfully cleared the riskiest part of their plan and is now moving directly away from the British instead of at an angle.
Some of the tension on deck is released. Stede can hear Lucius muttering something to Frenchie instead of silently clutching his notebook as he was moments before. The Swede stands up.
They reach the western tip of Rose Island and Ed makes a sharp turn to hug the coast. The British try to fire again, with another of their ships turning to face the cannons at the Revenge, but the ship is behind the island just in time.
“What do we do now? Keep going along the island, or head out there?” Stede gestures to the channel to their right, with much deeper water and larger waves than the lagoons they have been sailing in.
“Keep going for now, then we’ll see if we can lose ‘em by weaving in and out of this chain of islands when we get to the end of this one,” Ed says.
Ed does just that. With three British ships on their tail and two further back, the Revenge puts more space between it and the British easily by turning around the small, sandy islands. The large navy ships are slower to turn and need to be more careful not to run aground on the sand bars, so Ed’s strategy works wonderfully.
After the last small island, Ed steers them to the lagoon side of the islands, putting the island chain on the port side of the Revenge.
“Ed! We’re going to be trapped in the lagoon!” Stede says, since the island curves around in front of them to create an enclosed bay.
“That’s what they’re supposed to think,” he responds. “Are they following us, Swede?” he shouts.
“Yes!”
“Perfect.”
Several moments pass. Stede has no idea how Ed is planning to get out of the lagoon.
“Turning port! Get the sails to the other side of the ship!” Ed shouts, and executes the maneuver. The sails move rapidly to the other side of the ship with the assistance of Buttons and Black Pete, flattening out and then catching the wind at the new angle and billowing out once again. The Revenge turns far to the left, seeming to head straight for the island, which is much more substantial than the islands they have been sailing around. But then Stede sees a small opening in the island, a channel going through to the other side.
“This is crazy, Ed, you’re sailing into the wind as much as the Revenge can take and the channel is tiny,” Stede says.
“Exactly. The British aren’t known to be crazy.”
“Fair enough,” Stede says, but closes his eyes when they near the channel so as to not see what happens.
Stede hears the water rushing, the crew shouting in panic, and Ed tapping his fingers on the wheel. He doesn’t hear wood crunching on rocks. He screws up his face, scrunching his nose and eyes, expecting the ship to grind to a halt at any moment. He waits for what feels like several minutes. A few times, there’s a collective reaction from the crew to something happening with the ship, but Stede still won’t look.
Finally, Ed and the crew cheer, so Stede opens his eyes to see that they’re back on the ocean side of the islands. Stede joins in their cheers.
“Turning starboard!” Ed shouts.
They maneuver around several more islands, waiting with bated breath to see if their escape was successful. After far too long for Stede’s comfort, The Swede reports that the British were unable to make it through the channel, so they have extra time. Eventually, there are several islands blocking them from the view of the British, and they’re heading due East to hide in the distance and darkness.
“Can you come take over, Jim,” Stede says loudly. They nod and walk back up the steps to the wheel. “No protesting, Ed, you just saved us from the British after an incredibly long night. I’m making you get in bed.”
“Fine.”
Stede helps Ed up from his seat at the wheel, and they return to the familiar position of Ed using Stede as a crutch. They reach the level of the main deck after several minutes of struggling with the stairs, Ed nods to the crew on the deck, and they walk below the quarterdeck and to the captains’ quarters.
Upon reaching the bed by the windows, Stede sits at the edge of it with Ed for a few moments. Stede turns his whole body to face Ed, sitting with one leg folded on the bed.
“I’m going back up to talk about where we’re sailing tonight, but I’ll be back soon, okay? Are you feeling okay?” Stede says.
“It hurts, if that’s what you’re asking. Otherwise, good,” Ed says. “Thank you,” he continues, then takes Stede’s hand and squeezes it.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Stede says, smiling at Ed.
Ed leans forward and briefly rests his forehead on Stede’s shoulder, then sits up and nods.
“See you soon.”
Stede goes upstairs to the quarterdeck where Jim is steering. Olu, Buttons, and Jackie have gathered around them.
When he reaches the group, he asks “What are you thinking for a route tonight?”
“Away from the English, innit?” Buttons says.
“Right, I mean more specifically. Perhaps keep going East and then bear South? Or we could turn to the Northwest and head to Florida,” Stede suggests.
“Northwest’s no good, sailing into the wind will mean we need to zig zag and it’ll take twice as long. Southeast it is,” Oluwande says.
“Right, of course,” Stede responds, kicking himself for not even being able to remember about wind directions.
“East and then south works for me,” Jim remarks.
“Aye.”
They look to Jackie, not wanting to leave her out of the decisions, even though no one is quite sure how to deal with her being on the ship.
“Fuck if I care, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about with the wind and the sails. Now the Republic has fallen to the British, every place might as well be the same,” she says.
“Right, that’s– okay,” Olu stammers.
“Putting a pin in that, we can talk it through as a crew tomorrow, I trust you’ve determined who’s steering and who’s watching for the British tonight?” Stede addresses Jim, Oluwande, and Buttons.
“Yep, Buttons is taking over for Jim and I’m taking over for the Swede, and Black Pete and Frenchie have the early morning steering and watching shifts,” Oluwande relays.
“Right then, I’m off to bed. We have much to discuss in the morning.” Stede says, and goes back down the stairs to the main deck. Finally, finally, he is going to get to sleep and be alone in the room with Ed.
Stede gets to the captains’ quarters and changes into a nightgown before heading to the bed by the window.
“You awake?” he whispers to Ed, who is a lump in the blankets of the window bed.
“Mmmhm, barely.” Ed opens the blankets for Stede to climb in. Stede crawls in next to Ed and lays down. Being horizontal and having the opportunity to rest feels so amazing he nearly cries. It was a long night before running from the British. Hell, it was a long night before helping Ed walk back from the meeting. After spending the day sailing, he walked several miles to an unfamiliar bar with dozens of people, got sensory overload, half carried Ed for several miles, ran and rowed as fast as he could, prepared the ship to sail, and watched Ed out-maneuver the British Navy. Stede is exhausted to his bones and can only imagine how much more tired Ed must be.
Ed rolls onto his side, facing away from Stede toward the windows. He reaches backward and pulls Stede closer. Stede happily envelopes him, taking in the stillness and the warmth of being in bed with Ed. Stede listens to Ed’s breaths until he begins to drift away.
Before he can, Ed shifts abruptly.
“You okay?”
“Damned leg, you should go to sleep,” Ed responds.
“Hmm. Would a pillow help? You can use the one I’m sleeping on,” Stede says.
“Worth a try.”
Ed turns to arrange his bad leg on top and places the pillow between his knees. Consequently, he’s facing Stede instead of the windows.
“Can we share?” Stede asks Ed. Ed doesn’t respond verbally, but shifts the pillow forward so that half of it is available to Stede. When Stede places his head on the edge of the pillow, Ed tugs lightly on the collar of his nightshirt so Stede will come closer. Stede obliges, quickly kisses Ed on the bridge of his nose, and closes his eyes once again.
Stede finally falls asleep with his forehead pressed to Ed’s, their slowing breaths almost in time with each other, wondering what the next day will bring.