DREAMS OF GOLD AND PEARLS

Noon arrived and with it came many things, including the news of someone being hanged. A stranger. A pirate. Someone who could be just as innocent of the crime as he was guilty of it.

A memory of Hywel mentioning it just the night before came, but I had other things on my mind. Hangings were brutal and there was nothing I could do about them. Nothing anyone could do.

It was expected out here, so far from the capitol.

When living on nothing but water, there were things one needed to be prepared for. Storms. Sea Monsters. Sickness.

However, there were some things that one could never be ready for. Even living in a city protected by a large wall, it wouldn't protect someone against the worst things out there: Hatred. Fear. Death.

Sometimes one becomes lost in what was right and wrong. One's fear could be another's happiness. One's hatred could be another's pride.

"Hang him!"

"Filthy pirate!"

A storm was brewing and it was easy to see from where I stood among the crowd as they shouted for the hanging. This storm wasn't going to come from the weather or from the sea, but from us. We would be the storm that destroyed each other. Those that survived would be haunted by a past that could have been stopped.

I turned and pushed my way through the crowd who continued to cheer. The so-called pirate looked to be barely older than me as he stood on the platform, taking the insults thrown at him. He didn't look like the pirates I've seen. Far from it.

Golden hair that curled and fell just above his blue eyes that shone, not with shame, but what appeared to be pride. A single scar crossed his cheek, new and still pink from healing. His clothes were made of fine material and looked new, besides the slight grime that came from him being placed in the prison.

Whatever crime he had committed was about to take him from this world, away from the hateful words. They wouldn't be acting like this if he wasn't about to be hanged.

Most would be cowering back, hiding. It didn't matter who it was, if they were thought to be a criminal. To them, criminals were vicious people who stole their sons and daughters at night.

And most of the time, to the people, the saylors were the real heroes. Until one was charged with a crime.

"Any last words?" The question came from one of the women standing next to him, who had already read him a rite of passage to the afterlife.

Breaking free of the crowd, I turned for the fastest way that would help me leave. I didn't need to see another hanging. There was only so much death I could deal with within this city. Still, I knew I would hear his words if he had any to speak.

I wasn't out of the clear yet.

"I had a dream that gave me silver instead of gold and I found it." His words grabbed me as they moved with ease through the air. "The sea, a deadly glamourous beast, with waves of elegant silver. It tastes just as bad as it looks but boiled right, the water looks almost as clear as the blue sky!"

I turned and stepped towards the gallows. Even from the back of the crowd, I could see a smile grow on his face. There was something about him, something about his words that drew me back.

"Where did you come from!" The words were out before I could stop them.

Why did I ask that? Why did I call out?

I didn't need to bring more eyes onto me. I knew I still had to worry about Medusa, even if I haven't caught her trying to catch me in the act of committing a crime that day.

"A place filled with gold." It felt like my world stopped as it seemed he looked right at me. "A place filled with gold." His answer wrapped around me, like a fresh breath of air.

A hand wrapped around my arm, pulling me back as I went to go forward again. "Look away." George's voice was low, just a whisper in the wind but also demanding as it came from behind me.

I couldn't do as George instructed. I couldn't look away as the pirates body fell without a hood being placed over his head. The smile never left his face, even as death wrapped its cold hand around him.

George pulled me away from the hanging. The image burned into my mind like a brand placed on a sea horse. Even as the nearest building blocked my view, I couldn't look forward right away.

All I saw was his limbs twitching, as his neck broke without killing him right away. Even from the back of the crowd, it was easy to tell that this hanging had gone wrong. He would have a long and painful death.

So how could he continue to smile? Was he not suffering?

"You shouldn't have gone." George's words grounded me back to our reality, where hangings were possible and this pirate, no this man, was dead.

My chest felt like a weight had been placed onto it. I didn't know why I had gone to watch, when I knew there wouldn't be a point. A part of me wondered if it was one of the pirates I knew, another hoped it was someone else.

Someone who I hadn't thought a long time about.

"You did," I whispered.

"Because I knew you would be there." His arm wrapped around my back to pull me with him. "This is what happens when laws are broken."

"It's brutal."

"I know."

Silence fell between us as we came to the end of the path. There before us were three boats, one which I easily recognized, though I never thought it would float in water. It had always been pushed off to the side in the kitchen of the Going Sally.

Stepping into the two-passenger boat, I felt as it rocked slightly from my weight. Being careful, I lowered myself into the seat, watching as George followed once he untied the rope. He grabbed the single paddle, moving it so it went over my head before he pushed us away from the pathway and towards the middle of the waterway.

Water splashed against the old boat. The noise being the only thing to fill the empty silence. My thoughts were on the pirate and his words of gold and silver.

Finally, I spoke unable to bear the quietness. "Did you hear him?" I looked down at my calloused hands, turning the palms down. "He came from a place of gold."

George didn't say anything, even as minutes passed and we moved slowly away from the center of the city. What words could he say that would make me feel better? That a place filled with gold, waters that were rich and as bright as the sun in the sky, existed?

No, I knew he wouldn't say that. Just like George knew I didn't need to hear that a place of gold wasn't real and that it was just an old tale that came from crazy old men.

"Do you think..." I trailed off, unsure of how to ask the question without getting told it was a stupid idea.

George cleared his throat. "You used to dream of liquid gold and white pearls, Rachel. Gold that looked like the silver sea that surrounds us. White pearls that are said to be found at the bottom of rivers. Gold rivers and not silver."

A scoff escaped me but I was glad that he was the one that said that. "It's stupid, isn't it?"

"No."

I looked away from my scarred hands to meet his eyes. I never noticed how green they looked before. Like gems that shone under the bright sun, waiting to be found.

"Do you think he came from such a place?" My words sounded too hopeful.

I knew it was stupid to dream of gold rivers and white pearls. To think that it was possible for such a place to exist outside of tales. Only a fool would think such a thing could be true when they were no longer a child.

"It's possible," George said a faint and forced smile appearing. "The world is big and full of many wonders that we haven't even begun to see."

I shook my head, my eyes going to the silver water and away from the smile that didn't reach his eyes. What wonders did this world still have that we haven't seen?

Knowing if we remained on the topic would lead us into a dangerous territory, I took our focus to something else. "Where are you rowing us?"

While George had never been against my dream, a part of me was sure he thought the same as everyone else. That it was foolish and that I needed to get over it, especially with me being in my twenties. But at that moment, instead of saying what anyone else did, it seemed he was going to continue to be kind and cheer me up.

I should expect that from him. George usually had my back, even when his thoughts were different on something.

"To the Going Sally." We rounded a corner, barely missing another boat heading in the direction we were coming from. "Sorry!" George shouted after them.

"If you were sorry, why are you grinning?" I asked, spotting the real smile that lit up his face before I turned to watch the other boat.

"Maybe I'm not really sorry then," he answered.

I shook my head at him as I turned back around. "How can you even see where you're going with your back in that direction?"

"Magic."

"Ha, ha, ha. Funny."

His smile grew to reveal his teeth. "I am, thank you."

"You're full of yourself."

"Am I?"

"Yes. You're also about to run into another boat."

This got him to look over his shoulder. I laughed at his antics. It was his fault for trying to row us backward. I didn't know how he didn't have another near miss.

"It's barely past noon and you're already lying to me." He adjusted himself so that he was turned slightly. "Better?"

I watched for a second, seeing that he was having trouble getting the paddle to the right side to keep us moving straight.

"As long as we don't sink, yes," I answered.

It was his turn to shake his head at me. Moving to the side slightly, I let the tip of my fingers trail in the water. It was slightly warm from the bright sun that day, different from the atmosphere at the hanging.

If the day grew warmer it would be the perfect time to go swimming. The waves were calm enough that it would be a relaxing swim without a worry of getting swept away. The nice weather told me that we were all clear of any storms coming.

"Cook was staring at you during the hanging." This drew my attention away from the silver water and to him. "James Cook." I blanked on the name. "Lieutenant on the Terminus."

Another second passed before it clicked who he was talking about.

"Oh, you mean Greedy James!" I frowned as I thought if I saw him there. "I didn't see him."

Greedy James could barely be counted as a Lieutenant, though he could get his job down when he wanted to. It was odd to hear someone, let alone that be George, refer to him with his last name. I didn't go out of my way to avoid him, but things could get worse if Greedy James and Medusa worked together.

He would do anything to rise in power, including catching me in an act. No doubt, he would take great pleasure in it.

Could it be him who sent Medusa my way?

"He was standing at the bottom of the stairs with Post Captain Kyd," George said as we left through the city walls through a gate. "Which from that blank look, you have no idea who that is."

His words had me feeling like I should. Could it have been this Post-Captain that had ordered the hanging? I was sure I had all the gossip there was for someone his rank and above.

"Never heard of him."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," George mumbled. "At least it was only Cook staring at you and that Kyd didn't seem to care about his other impudent glare."

The Going Sally came into view. The sun setting on the old wood like a ray of hope. One could easily mistake the bar as a ship that could sail.

"Are you sure Greedy James was looking at me?" I asked, watching as the water didn't reach the wooden dock as it had days before. "I talked to Charlotte earlier but it's not something she would have told him about."

Well, she would if she wanted his advice but Charlotte was the captain of her ship. It wasn't like she needed to answer to someone who was ranked lower than her.

"Well, it was either you or the waterway behind you. My guess is you." As we reached the bridge George lowered the paddle back into the boat. "Any reason he would stare at you?"

"Clearly, he was staring at my amazing green hair."

"You don't have green hair."

I flashed him a wide grin. "That being beside the point, he's most likely trying to cook something up. I don't call him Greedy James for no reason."

Reaching out, I grabbed the edge of the bridge, feeling as the boat rocked as I kept it from going under it.

"Just be careful."

He sounded slightly worried, but there was nothing to fear. Greedy James hadn't been able to get me before and he wouldn't now.