Pirate Princess (33 page)

We changed clothes and strolled through the town which was becoming boisterous and lively as more pirates came to eat, drink, and be merry. Most of the pirates said hello to Finn and almost everyone was in a pleasant mood. I supposed it made sense that being in a place where they could truly relax would make them happy. In other ports they might drink and be merry, but they were also on edge and had to worry about attacks or military coming after them.

The Dusty Shovel turned out to be the largest tavern I had seen in my life. There were so many people that we had to shout at each other just to be heard once we were inside. Finn held my hand in his as we walked through the crowded tavern and made room for me at the bar so we could order our drinks. I leaned my elbows on the bar top and Finn stood behind me, an arm wrapped around my stomach as he held his body against mine. He kissed my ear and neck and I turned around and kissed him deeply once before grabbing our drinks.

I turned around and a voice boomed, “What are the odds that we would find Captain Finn and Jax here?”

The room grew eerily silent as everyone prepared for a fight and because the speaker had been the King of Pirates, they didn’t dare talk over him. I finally found him sitting at a table with Sedgwick. I walked towards them, tugging on Finn’s hand when he wouldn’t move at first and set my drink on their table. “What are you two grumpy, old badgers doing here?”

“I think we should be asking you that question,” Sedgwick said.

“We’re exploring this island and enjoying ourselves,” I told them. “This isn’t one of your normal stops, is it?”

Dad smiled. “On occasion we make it around here, but not too often.” He stood up, towering over me and hugged me tightly. “You look good and happy.” The patrons in the room started talking again now that they saw nothing interesting or bad was about to happen.

“I am,” I said honestly.

“You taking good care of her?” he asked Finn.

“Doing my best, sir,” he said with a nervous smile.

“Sit with us,” Sedgwick said, grabbed two chairs out from under a couple pirates at a table beside them and brought them over to their. He scooted a chair over for Finn to sit in and then held my chair and pushed it in for me as I sat down.

“So, what adventures have you been on?” Dad asked.

Finn and I looked at each other in a silent communication of worry. How much should I tell my father? “Well we visited the Fire Ring where we saw a giant crab and squid fighting. We also visited Carlos the Crusher who attempted to hurt me despite giving us guest’s rights.”

“He did what?” my father asked angrily.

“Finn dealt with him and he is no longer captain,” I said.

“I would have liked to make it a longer process, but Jax’s safety was my top concern.  It seems he did not like being second best to you,” Finn told him.

“You’re withholding something from me,” my dad said as he stared at me. “What is it?”

I didn’t want to tell him. He would be furious and I was worried he might try to take it out on Finn since Carlos was already dead. If I didn’t tell him, Finn might and then Dad would be mad at me. Dad continued to stare at me, waiting impatiently for me to elaborate. It was probably best that he heard it from me despite my desires to keep it a secret. “Carlos told me that he wanted to kidnap me and make me his wife so he could show you our child and when I stabbed him in the leg to emphasize my position of not wanting that to happen he threatened to send pieces of me to you,” I said with a sigh, “I didn’t want to tell you because it would just make you mad and it doesn’t matter because Finn killed him.”

“You’re right, you should have made his punishment last longer,” Dad growled.

“Where are you sailing to?” I asked him to change the subject.

“We haven’t quite decided yet,” Dad said, “We might be staying here for a bit.”

I loved my father and I wanted to spend time with him and yet I did not want to have him here while I was with Finn. I knew he would get angry when he saw us together and I was already dreading him finding out where I was staying.

“Why don’t you go talk with your crew?” Dad suggested, “I’d like to talk to Finn.”

“Be nice,” I warned him, “I’m part of his crew now and I will not tolerate anyone threatening my captain, not even the King of Pirates.”

Dad smiled at me and Sedgwick coughed to cover up his laugh. “I am nothing if not polite,” Dad said.

I laughed and walked to our crew who were well into their bottles of booze. “Jax!” they screamed in welcome.

Bernard handed me a bottle and I took a long drink, which earned cheers and applause from the crew. The men were holding several conversations around the tables we occupied, but I could hardly pay attention to any of them because I kept turning to look at the table I had left. Finn looked calm and interested as he talked with my dad and Sedgwick and dad looked as pleasant as they could. What would they be discussing that I could not be present to hear? Dad had already threatened Finn more than once about hurting me so it couldn’t be that again. Or maybe it could. I was his only child and a daughter, which made men more protective. If only I had super hearing or a spell to listen in on them!

“Jax, what do you think of your travels so far?” Paul asked, his cheeks red from the liquor already.

“Aside from my near death experiences it has been wonderful,” I said honestly, “You are the best crew and it’s going to make it even more difficult to leave when we make it back to my Kingdom.”

“We’ve got plenty of time left,” Bernard said with a wide smile, “So put that thought out of your head until we get to the festival. Now, let’s drink and teach you a few drinking games.”

“Drinking games?” I asked, “Are you all trying to get me drunk?”

“Of course!” several of them yelled at the same time.

“First we’ll play bounce with you,” Bernard said.

The men cleared the drinks off the table I was standing in front of and put one small glass in the center of the table. Bernard took out a coin and explained, “The point of the game is to make the coin bounce on the table and then into the glass. For every bounce you miss you take a drink and for every coin you make we take a drink. You get four tries and then the next person goes. Understand?”

What I didn’t tell them was that I was well aware of the drinking games pirates played and how to play them. I had in fact played them several times on dad’s ship and just did not drink the alcohol. The crew allowed it since the reason they were drinking was to drink and get drunk anyways so a few extra drinks were nothing to them.

I took the coin from Bernard and faced the table. “Alright, I’ll give it a shot,” I said stone faced. I held the coin in my hand out in front of me lining up the shot and flicked the coin out of my hand. It bounced halfway to the glass and then landed right in the center of the coin with a clink. “Woo!” I said, raising my hands into the air. “That wasn’t so hard.”

“Beginner’s luck,” Paul said after taking a drink. “I bet you can’t do that again.”

“Alright, I bet you two drinks I can do it again. So, if I get it you take two drinks and if I don’t I take two drinks. Deal?” I said, holding my hand out to shake his hand.

He smiled smugly and shook. “Deal.”

I smirked at him, flicked the coin without looking at the table and smiled wide when I heard the clink of the coin falling into the glass. “There’s no way you can do that again,” Paul said, took two drinks and put his mug down. “Double or nothing.”

I nodded my head, turned my back to the table and tossed the coin over my shoulder. Clink.

“Woo!” several of the men yelled in appreciation.

“Seems you’ve got a few tricks up yer sleeve,” Paul muttered.

“How would you like me to try the last shot?” I asked Paul, flipping the coin up in the air and catching it again without looking at him.

“Double bounce,” he said, “Over the shoulder.”

“No one has ever been able to pull off that shot,” Bernard said.

“She asked me to choose and that is my choice. If she is too scared she can just take her drinks now,” he said smugly.

“I’m not scared. In fact, I feel sorry for you and how drunk you’re going to be tonight. I bet you won’t even remember it tomorrow.”

“Make the shot, Jax,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest.

I turned around and found Sedgwick watching me while Finn and dad continued to talk. I smiled at him and he headed over to us. “You tricking these men into playing drinking games with you?” he asked and leaned back against the table in front of me.

“I did not trick them. They offered to teach me to play and now I’m winning,” I said.

“Make the shot,” Paul said.

I tossed the coin over my shoulder and the crew went silent as they watched the coin. Tap. Tap. Clink.

The crew erupted into shocked cheers and disbelief.

“Why don’t you show them your trademark move?” Sedgwick suggested.

“She has a trademark move?” Bernard asked. “You mean you’ve played this before?”

“She’s played every drinking game in existence more times than most crew members,” Sedgwick told them.

“Sedgwick! You just ruined a night of mischievous fun for me,” I told him with a sigh.

“I feel it is my duty to let them know what they are getting into,” he said, “You’ve tricked enough men with your innocent girl act that your crew needs to be spared.”

“Captain Rocco let her drink as a child?” Paul asked.

Sedgwick laughed. “Of course not. We let her play the games without making her drink. There wasn’t much to keep a child entertained and it didn’t feel right to leave her out when she was on the ship with us.”

“Jax, show us what he told us about,” Bernard said.

I grabbed the coin from the glass and walked around to check the distance between the table and the wall. “Stay out of this area,” I told the men. I walked back around to the other side of the table, but three steps back, almost touching Sedgwick. “Sedgwick if you’ll assist?” I asked him. He put his hands over my eyes and I exhaled the breath I had just taken, flicked the coin from my hand harder than any of my previous shots and Sedgwick removed his hands so I could watch. The coin bounced on the table just on the other side of the glass, bounced off the wall, hit a wooden beam above the table and dropped into the glass.

Silence over the entire tavern, including the table where Finn and dad were sitting.

“Everyone else see what I just saw?” Paul asked quietly.

“She would have made us drink ourselves into a stupor if he hadn’t warned us,” Bernard said. “That kind of skill is unheard of.”

“You should see her play bottoms up,” Sedgwick said, “although we had her use water, I have no doubt she’d be just as good with some mead.”

“Alright you’re too sober,” Bernard said, “We need to remedy this now.”

Paul went to the tavern owner’s top where he had his booze varieties behind him and then came back with a tray of small shots of liquor. “It is time to kick it up and get her at least closer to our level since we can’t beat her in games to force her to drink.”

He passed out the small glasses and we touched them together with loud clinks before swallowing it in one quick drink. It burned as it slid down my throat and into my stomach. I desperately wanted to cough, but I refused to in front of the men. Paul passed out another and then another and by the fourth I could feel the tension had left my body.

Finn came over and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Hello handsome. What did my dad want to talk with you about?”

“Nothing important,” he said and smirked at me. “Are you drunk?”

“Finally,” Paul muttered, “She damn near put us under the table with her bounce skills.”

“I saw your last two shots. Quite impressive,” Finn said.

“Alright Captain, now you’re too sober,” Bernard said, “That is completely unacceptable.”

“Well hand me a drink and stop yammering!” Finn ordered.

The night started to pass in a blur as we drank and I watched them play games. Finn seemed happy, but I could see the tension in his body despite the smile on his face. Sedgwick kissed my cheek and then walked towards the exit where my father stood. He waved to me and I waved back. I would have to visit him in a couple of days and spends some time with him.

I drank more and then when I reached for another Finn took it out of my reach. “No more for you, Jax. You seem to be at your limit,” he said.

I put my hands on my hips and asked, “Who said you were in charge of me?”

“We did when we made him captain and you joined,” Bernard said and then the crew erupted into laughter.

They tried to teach me a couple songs, but I couldn’t remember them or keep up so I just listened to them and leaned against Finn who kept one arm firmly wrapped around my waist. I wandered away from Finn to the second table more of our crew members were sitting at and sat down. Someone handed me a drink and we smacked the mugs together and drank. I talked with them, but couldn’t remember what about when Finn took my hand and helped me stand up. “Time to go,” he whispered into my ear.

“But I’m having fun,” I complained.

“There will be plenty of more times like this in the coming month. Tonight I think it is best if we leave early and let the men enjoy themselves without us.” He led me out of the tavern and I realized that it was very difficult to walk straight. He looped an arm around my waist and put my arm around his shoulders.

“What are you upset about?” I asked him as he helped me walk back to his house.

“What makes you think I’m upset?” he asked, glancing at me sideways.

“You’ve been tense all night ever since you talked with my dad. Did he say something to upset you? Was he mean? I’ll go have a word with him right now,” I said angrily and started to turn around.

Finn kept me going towards his house and said, “Your father was not rude to me or mean.”

“Did I upset you?” I asked him softly. I was drunk, but I hadn’t acted out of line or flirted or done anything I could think of to make him mad. Maybe I had said something?

He laughed. “No.”

“Are you going to make me keep asking you fifty thousand questions or are you going to tell me what is wrong?” I asked with a grunt. “You men are so secretive it drives us women mad. That is why women are crazy. If you men would talk to us more we wouldn’t be so irrational.”