Jacques sat back, crossing his arms. He motioned for Levin to lean in so he would hear well. “Alright, lad. Ye wanna know ‘bout the fall o’the good Cap’n? Fine by me.” He raised two fingers at the waitress who happened to be walking by, and she hustled away after nodding at him. “T’was a hellish morn, that. We were anchored on the inner side of Okracle Island and short of hands in every way imaginable. First mate and a crew of four and twenty were ashore in Capri, so there was only ‘round twenty of us on-board when the attack began. We ne’er saw it comin’ ‘til it was too late. We spotted a barque at daybreak and opened fire as soon as it got in range, but the bastards escaped back to their sloops. Cap’n Reach cut anchor and we set sail. The sloops are closin’ in, and the Cap’n takes us toward a narrow channel t’attempt to gain an advantage.” He paused, accepting the whiskey from the waitress with a nod. He tossed it back, slamming it down on the table with a grin. “Ahh, that’s the good stuff. Now, where was I? Oh, aye. The ‘advantage’. Didn’t quite work as well as ol’ The Red Dawn planned, since we ran aground a sand bar. Still managed t’turn our guns on the Navy and did quite a number on ‘em.” He threw his head back in laughter; Levin watched him in awe, hanging on Jacques’ every word. “We completely disabled one o’ ‘em, took out most o’ the crew on the other. T’was a beaut, that.”
Levin breathed for what felt like the first time in a few minutes. “So… it wasn’t a total massacre like most of the history books say?”
Jacques shook his head. “’Course not, lad! This be The Red Dawn ye’re talkin’ ‘bout. Now, y’see, once we got ‘er movin’ again, t’was only one sloop remainin’. We’d gotten ‘er pretty good, so Cap’n had us prepare to board ‘er. Deck was empty as we boarded with hooks and grenades ready. O’course, we were led by The Red Dawn himself, and the man was as wild as I’d ever seen ‘im. They pulled the tarp o’er our heads though, as the navy’s crew burst from the hold and swept o’er us like a tidal wave. The Red Dawn kept us together and we fought ‘em all tooth n’ nail, takin’ as many with us as we could ‘til we were all either dead or captured. Those that died that day, died proud as pirates! T’would’ve been a lot better for me to die. A pirate’s only as good as ‘is Cap’n, and my Cap’n was murdered by dogs that day. Galahan took ‘is head and hung it from ‘is bowspirt as a trophy. Then the bastards tossed his body into Davy Jones’ Locker.” Levin looked a bit paler than usual. Jacques laughed. “S’matter lad? Never saw a beheadin’ before?”
Levin frowned, looking out into the crowd of drunken patrons sullenly. “Where I come from, our people go back to the ground when they perish. There are no trophies to be had.”
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