//------------------------------//
// 03: The Drunken Sailor 
// Story: Lineage 
// by Gherkin 
//------------------------------//

Arrest? Attempted murder? Oh Rarity, just who have you gotten yourself involved with?

Rarity glanced uneasily between her new companion and the angry, unwavering soldiers that stood before him, ordering him to drop his weapons and surrender. He was not relenting, either. She looked towards him with a pleading look, silently begging him to go along quietly and not make a scene, or worse, a fight. However, he either did not notice her expression or chose to ignore her entirely, glaring furiously at the captain before him, as if daring him to make the first move.

"We will not ask again, rogue!" the captain barked angrily, glaring daggers at both Edward and herself as his soldiers surrounded them even more. "Lay down your weapons and comply!"

Oh, this is not good. Not good at all. She glanced worriedly towards Edward, who was seething with rage and anger. His knuckles had long since turned white as he clenched a sword in each hand, barely keeping himself from thrusting it towards the captain of the guard to slice open his throat, or to simply impale him. Understandably frightened, she reached forward gently and tugged on his sleeve. “Captain Kenway, please... there doesn’t need to be a fight.” 

He cast a glance towards her and, for just a second, his expression on his face softened and the fire in his eyes dimmed somewhat. “And spend the rest of my days rotting in a cell before my eventual fate at the gallows? No, thank you.” He shot a glare towards the Spaniards around them, before looking back at her. “Go, if you want. You’re innocent, you have nothing to do with any of this.” 

“Enough of this!” The captain barked. “Arréstenlos!”

The guards began to encircle them both menacingly, but in an instant Edward had leapt forward, slashing both of his swords across the captain's neck. As the Spaniard fell the flintlock in his hand went off, nearly deafening Rarity as the shot missed the pirate's face by less than an inch and blew open the head of a guard behind him. She let out a gasp of shock as their bodies fell, and the scene around her devolved into a blur of fire, blood and steel; she looked on in horror as he darted from soldier to soldier, running his swords through their gut or firing off a pistol in their face. For a second she didn't even notice one of the guards grab her roughly and put his sword to her throat, until her own panicked cry brought her back to her senses.

"Lay down your weapons, dog!" the guard shouted, pressing the edge of his blade against her. "Or she dies, right here and right now."

Edward's bloodthirsty rampage came to an abrupt halt, with the guard he had been fighting stumbling back, only wounded. He wheeled around to face Rarity's captor, the same fire in his eyes from before on display for all to see. "Let her fucking go, you piece of shit!" The unbridled rage in his voice was apparent. He levelled one of his pistols towards them, squinting as he tried to get a clean shot at the soldier's head as it poked out from behind his hostage. Rarity tried to gasp for air as she felt the blade against her throat press into her tighter.

He cannot be thinking of doing it! That's insane! He'll kill us both! She groaned and rasped. "Edward... don't..." 

The next few seconds seemed to go on for hours and hours, as she stared into Edward's eyes, trying to figure what his next move would be. From what she could see, not even he truly knew, though he did keep subtly adjusting his aim, trying to get a decent shot on the man who still held her firm in his grasp. Please don't do it, don't fire that thing. She squeezed her eyes shut as his finger tightened around the trigger. Oh, Celestia, please save me.

A small cry of terror escaped her lips, but all that echoed from the barrel of a gun was a small, barely audible click. Tentatively, she opened her eyes to see the pirate captain looking down at his pistol in shock and confusion. Whether it was a misfire or if it had simply not been loaded at all, the gun had failed to go off. Before he could come up with a new plan of attack, the soldier that he had merely wounded moments before came up from behind and brutally smacked him across the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. Edward's eyes widened in pain for a few seconds, before losing focus as he tumbled to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Edward!" she cried out, managing to struggle free of the Spanish man's grip and attempt to make her way towards him. Her captor grabbed her hand before she could fully get away, however. He pulled her back towards him and savagely slapped her across the face, sending her spinning before she too collapsed, out cold as well.

"Find some more men to bring these two to the governor," the guard ordered his comrade, who clutched at one of his deeper wounds. "I'm certain that he would like to have a word with them in private."


***


"I think I can quite well imagine how this looks to you."

Rarity looked over across the dark, windowless room towards Edward with a look of scorn as he broke the silence, the shackles around her wrists clanging together as she moved her body towards him. "Oh, you can? Then you must also be able to imagine that the revelation that you are a murderer, thief, and a pirate sours my view of you somewhat."

His expression became somewhat hurt, and he looked away in silence. "Well, yes, I can imagine that it does." Silence came over the room once more, with the only sound being a repeated drop of water in the corner somewhere. After a few minutes of him lamenting himself in silence, and Rarity groaning to herself in pain, he looked towards her once again. "Please, Rarity, believe me when I say that I was nothing but sincere in my desire to help you. I swear it."

"Were you really sincere, Edward?" she shot back, glaring daggers at him. "Or did you just jump at the chance for an opportunity to agitate and annoy this governor. Torres was his name, right?" Her eyes drifted back to the shackles around her wrists again. "As if attempting to murder the man wasn't enough."

"I have never done such a thing." He insisted. Technically, he was right. "Rob, yes. Intimidate, of course. Even extortion I'm guilty of. But I've never made an attempt on the bastard's life."

Her glare returned. "So, what, am I just to accept that you're some sort of lesser of two evils, is that it?"	

He went to say something but caught himself before the words left his mouth. "That... that isn't what I'm saying, Rarity. But I admit, another go at pissing this Spanish piece of shit off sweetened the deal." He edged towards her, as far as his bindings would allow him. "If you remember, I had already agreed to help you before anybody on the Jackdaw had even made mention of Torres. I swear to you, even if you think me nothing but a drunkard and a brute, I still want to help you to return home." His steely blue eyes gazed into hers, imploring her to forgive him.

She gazed back, and he swore he noticed her eyes soften, even if only slightly. A long sigh escaped her lips as she mulled over his words for the next few moments. Eventually, she gave him a reply. "However pure your intentions may have been before, this fact is that your previous actions have still landed us both into this predicament. So, tell me, how are we going to get out of it?"

He grunted, pulling on his shackles. The loop on the wall through which the chains ran moved, but only very slightly. He gave it another, more forceful tug, but it didn't move any further. He gave an annoyed sigh, and leaned back. "God damn it to hell. Give me a minute, let me think of something." He tried another tug, but only winced in pain slightly as the shackles dug into his wrists. "Ah, fuck off."

"I don't think brute force is going to cut it right now, Edward. The vulgarity of your language isn't doing us any favours, either."	

The two of them were cut off by the sound of a door swinging open somewhere above them both. "Oh, crap," she heard him mutter under his breath. The familiar sounds of heavy footsteps and clattering armour soon reached their ears, and, not too soon after, a door opened on the other side of the room, hitting them with a wave of light that blinded them for a few seconds. Once their vision returned, they saw two figures standing over them. One of them they both assumed to be a captain of the guard, as he was wearing their uniform. The other man, who was dressed in a lavish blue and gold coat, and with a slicked back head of hair that had turned white years ago, Rarity did not recognise, but could hazard a guess as to who he was. The next words that left Edward's mouth confirmed her suspicions.

"Torres, you arse. I'll fucking kill you." The pirate cast an unwavering glare towards the older man.

The guard moved forward menacingly, as if to strike him, but backed off as Torres stopped him with his hand. "Peace, comandante. You need not waste any effort on this wretch." He cast a dismissive glance across the room towards Rarity. "Or his whore, for that matter."

She gasped in shock and disgust. "How dare you! Who do you think you are, going around and saying things like that?"

The captain narrowed his eyes and barked at her. "Silence! You are speaking to the Governor of Cuba; you'd do well to show some respect!"

Her eyes narrowed back in return, her defiant nature not faltering. The guard took this badly, moving forward to strike her as he did to Edward. Thankfully, Torres stopped him once again. The old man grinned, revealing a set of surprisingly immaculate teeth, as he looked down at Edward.

"So, Captain Kenway," he began, bearing a smug smirk across his wrinkled face. "Did you really think you could threaten, blackmail and extort me, then hope to get away with it?"

Edward only grinned cockily back up at him. "Haven't been able to take that fort back from us though, have you?" 

His eyes narrowed, but he did not rise to his taunting. Rather, he cast a glance towards Rarity, observing her for a few seconds, before looking back at the man beneath him. "Why don't we change the subject? Who is your friend, Captain Kenway?"

Edward's eyes darted towards her for a few brief moments, before turning back to him. He kept his mouth closed for a second, and when he opened it, it was obvious that he had chosen his words carefully. "Just that: a friend."

"Oh, is that really so? And how did you two... friends come to meet, hmm?"

Silence fell once again as he carefully chose his response. "I found her as a stowaway below deck, after leaving Kingston," he eventually replied, maintaining eye contact with the older man. "She told me that she had overheard my crew discussing our voyage to Havana. She didn't have enough reales to travel here herself, so she snuck aboard." 

To any reasonable man, it seemed like an honest story. He had told the whole thing with a straight face, and without slipping up on any of his words. Torres, however, knew the pirate better than that. His eyes narrowed as he processed the story, trying to decide whether to believe him or not. In the end, he shrugged. "Hmm, I see. Well, I suppose it does not really matter how or where you two met. You, Edward, will be put to the gallows. As for your friend..." He looked to Rarity, then to the captain of the guard beside him. "Well, I'm sure you'll find some use for her, won't you comandante?"

A dirty grin spread across the man's features. "Sí. I think the men will love her."

She looked over at Edward with a horrified and pleading look on her face. Her grimaced as he looked back, before glaring at Torres as he started to leave. "Keep an eye on them for now. I'll send some more men to help move him to a proper cell." With that, he walked up the stairs and pulled the door shut behind him. The guard lit a torch sconce on the wall and leaned against it, looking dismissively towards the both of them.

Damn it to hell. We need to get out of this shithole, right now. Edward thought for a second, trying to come up with a solution to their problem. His mind settled on an idea, though it wasn't particularly smart. Bugger it, let's give it a shot. Putting on a facade of false, cocky bravado, he looked up at the guard across from him. "Hey, you big, ugly Spanish twat." He leaned forward and craned his head backwards and to the side. "I've got an itch that needs scratching, right here." He gestured to his back. "Lend me a hand, would you?"

The guard glared at him and strode forward, then punched him roughly across the face. "Shut your mouth, dog."

He noticed Rarity recoil with shock out of the corner of his eye, but nonetheless continued to smirk. "No, mate. Not on me face; my back." He motioned towards his back again. The guard grit his teeth and threw another punch, however this time Edward was ready. He raised his hands as far as the shackles and chains would allow to block the swing. The guard, taken aback by the move, could do nothing as he wrapped the chains around his wrists and pulled him onto the floor face first. Grunting, Edward managed to wrap the chains around his neck, and began to pull them backwards, choking the life out of him.

His friend gasped at the display going on, but he ignored her, instead pulling the chain back quickly and suddenly. There was a loud, sickening crack as the guard's neck broke, and he stopped struggling instantly. Panting from the effort, he managed to grab the keys to their shackles off of the guard's corpse, and quickly unlocked his.

"Oh, dear Celestia," Rarity murmured to herself as he stood up and made her way over to her. "That was brutal, Edward."

"Aye, but I doubt we could have escaped if I hadn't done so." He knelt down and shoved the key into the lock on her shackles, smiling slightly as they clicked and came loose. "Come on, we need to get out of here. We need to get back to the Jackdaw, and to Adéwalé."

She looked up at him as she rubbed her wrists. "What about looking for something that can help us?"

"If we bump into something on the way, then fine. Right now, it's much too dangerous." He went to lead the way upstairs, but paused. "Wait, do you hear that?"

As she strained her ears, she thought she could make out the faint, but rapidly approaching sound of shouting. Was it some sort of attack?

"Someone else is here."


***


Havana truly was a beautiful city. From the deck of the Jackdaw, Adéwalé allowed himself to smile slightly at the sight. The usually dark, brooding giant of a man now found himself at peace, if only for a moment, sitting back and doing nothing besides listening to the soft sounds of the ocean on one side, and the lively, exotic city on the other. While a life of piracy on the high seas was certainly exciting, it definitely helped to stop and catch a breath every once in a while. Perhaps even to reflect on his actions. He often found himself wondering whether he could find a better calling than riches and treasure, but knew not where to find it.

His peace, however, was soon interrupted. A young member of the ship's crew, a brash man who looked no older than twenty, came dashing down the pier and onto the ship itself, calling the quartermaster's name. "Adéwalé! Adéwalé, sir!"

Adé opened his eyes and looked down at him, leaning forward. "What is it?"

"It's Captain Kenway, sir. He's been captured in the city," he informed him. "There was a trap laid out for him in the tavern. I think they've taken him and his new lass up to the governor's mansion!"

At this news the quartermaster sat up properly. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Aye, sir."

He grit his teeth and sighed. While Edward Kenway was a selfish man, often only interested in his own goals, it was likely that he would have been returned to a life of slavery had it not been for their chance meeting in the Spanish Treasure Fleet. Here, on the Jackdaw, he had finally found a place that he could feel accepted, and at ease in. That was enough for him to call Edward a friend, and enough for him to aid him in a time of need. Looking down at the man before him, Adéwalé stood up.

"Go back into the city and round up any men that you can find," he ordered, before turning his attention to the men on the deck of the ship. "Ready up and grab some weapons! The captain's in trouble!"

Some men readily jumped at the call to aid their captain, while others seemed indifferent, no doubt believing that one of them should take up the role of captain instead. The unwavering glare from their quartermaster was more than enough to spur them into action
action, however. The man beside him cleared his throat. "What should I tell the men in the city, sir?"

He looked down at him. "That we are to assault Governor Torres' mansion."