Hades's Revenge (13 page)

He approached the bar discarding his helmet
and demanded a pint of mead. The bar maid quickly handed him an ale
and when he took a long draw on it his mustache was covered in
foam.

He wiped his whiskery lip on his sleeve,
slammed the tankard on the bar and belted out, “This isn’t
mead.”

The barmaid looked scared to death as she
claimed, “We don’t have any mead, only ale.”

The furrowed-brow, angry man stared at her
for a second and said, “I like it! Another wench,” he said smiling
and looking around at the patrons. None of the men caught his gaze
intentionally but William who couldn’t seem to get over the size of
the man and the sword on his back.

“You, lad, care to join me?” he asked,
raising two fingers in the air to indicate to the barmaid to make
that two ales.

“I…I….”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said plopping
down on the bench across from William and Jessop. He made the table
look minuscule and toy-like. “How about you?” he said directing his
question to Jessop.

“Yes. Thank you,” Jessop answered the happy
fellow as the barmaid set two tankards down.

“Thank you, darling,” he said slapping down
a gold coin on the table in front of her and giving her a slap on
the butt. “Make that one more from my friend here.”

She nodded looking a little red in the face
at the strength of his sign of affection.

“My name’s Olaf. Who might you be?”

“I’m Jesse and this is William.”

“Jesse,” he nodded, “William,” then nodded
again. “Good to meet you both.”

William said, “That’s quite a sword you’ve
got on your back. I didn’t know anyone still used them.”

“Ja. It’s been in my family for
generations,” he said as he pulled it from its scabbard and set it
on the table. It reached full length of the table and when it hit
the surface, it felt as though it weighed a great deal.

William was awestruck by its massiveness as
was Jessop. It was well maintained but some of the nicks and
scrapes were deep—a sign of use in many great battles. What Jessop
noted was how easily Olaf handled the sword. William attempted to
pick it up and quickly realized he needed to stand to engage his
back and thigh muscles to help in doing so.

“My, but it’s heavy.”

“Ja, for little skinny arms like yours. You
carry it around for a week and you’ll be turning the heads of that
barmaid you’ve been eyeing.”

William blushed and quickly put the sword
down.

Jessop asked, “You’re Norwegian, I’m
guessing from your accent.”

“Ja. From the north—Tromso.”

“What brought you here to the Caribbean?”
Jessop asked.

“Besides the weather?” he said jovially.
“It’s been my boyhood dream to join the ranks of pirates. Thought
this would be a good place to wait for a passing pirate ship and
offer my service.”

William and Jessop looked at one another in
surprise. “Why do you want to be a pirate?”

“I’m a Viking,” he said hitting his chest
with his fist. “That’s what vikings did. It’s what my ancestors
were—it’s what I’d like to be. My parent are both gone and my
siblings have all moved to Greenland and Iceland. There’s nothing
for me at home anymore. I packed my few belongings and made my way
here.”

“How long have you been here waiting?”
William asked.

“
Forrige manede
, I mean a month or
more. I sometime say things in Norwegian before the English comes
to me.”

“Your English is exceptional,” Jessop
complimented.

“Thank you! What’s your business on St.
Croix?”

Jessop and William looked at one another and
chuckled a bit while Olaf took this moment to put his sword away.
“Well, we are pirates and happen to be here on leave.”

Olaf’s face went stone cold. “I don’t like
liars. I’ve been forthright with you, I expect the same
courtesies.”

“We are pirates. We arrived on the
Hades’s Revenge
just this week while our quartermaster
procures a supply of rum.”

“You don’t look much like pirates,” Olaf
retorted.

“For that matter, neither do you,” William
boasted.

“You don’t speak like pirates,” Olaf said
doubtfully.

“We could throw a few ‘argh’s’ at you with
an ‘avast ye, matey’ if you like,” Jessop offered in his best
imitation of Bloody Harry Cash.

“And how did you two become pirates,” Olaf
asked still not convinced.

“We were abducted initially from a pub in
our home town with a dozen other souls to serve in the royal navy.
Pirates over took the ship killing everyone, but the two of us. The
captain saw us fighting, felt were we worth keeping alive IF we
agreed to become pirates on his ship. That was what, maybe six
months ago?” Jessop looked at William for verification on the
facts.

“You two must be pretty good in combat,
though I’d never have guessed skinny arms here would be much of a
fighter.”

Jessop laughed and shoved William in the
shoulder. William was not pleased by the comment. “He may not be a
great swordsman, but he can wield an axe and throw knives like no
one’s business,” Jessop commented.

“Hmm,” Olaf murmured as if he might to see a
sample of that action.

“If you two truly are pirates, then might
you be willing to get me an introduction with the captain or his
first mate?” he said smiling again.

This time William looked to Jessop for a
meeting of the eyes. “We can, though, I don’t know how much
influence we have,” Jessop said.

William added, “The quartermaster doesn’t
really like us much, but Jesse here, is on the captain’s good
side.”

“You are too after making the peg leg for
Salty.”

William didn’t totally agree but he nodded
confirming the statement could be true.

“I’d be greatly obliged.”

“We can certainly try. It’d be better if we
could see the captain, but Fin keeps us at a wide berth around the
captain,” Jessop said.

“He like to be in control of what the
captain does and doesn’t know,” William finished.

“A foot in the door is all I need. I’ll take
it from there,” Olaf said confidently.

“Then your timing couldn’t be much better if
you planned it. We’ll be heading to the ship in the morning with
the rest of the crew.”

“Perfect,” Olaf said. He raised his tankard
in the air and bellowed, “Skoll!”

William and Jessop followed Olaf’s lead and
answered his cheer with one of their own, “Skoll.”

“Barmaid, another round for me and my
brothers here.”

She nodded an acknowledgment of the order
and when she came to the table with the drinks she kept an arm’s
length distance from Olaf and his wondering hands. Olaf added, “Oh,
and, miss, the scrawny one here, he’s got eyes for you,” with a
wink.

Jessop laughed as William’s eyes met her
smiling face and he went beet red and looked as if he would be much
more comfortable under the table then sitting at it.

* * *

The rest of the day and night was spent
getting to know Olaf and the great stories he had of his ancestors.
Jessop and William couldn’t keep up with Olaf’s consumption of ale,
but that didn’t mean they didn’t try.

When the singing began, Olaf joined right in
and surprisingly to everyone in the room, despite how inebriated
they were, Olaf had the voice of an angel. He offered up to them a
folk song in Norwegian that had the room as quiet and still as a
church and poor Stubby in tears. When he was done all applauded him
and he reciprocated the flattery by buying them all a round of ale.
He was a likeable bloke and made friends as easily as
breathing.

The morning came too soon for Jessop and
William as they tore themselves out of bed and lumbered down the
stairs to the main room of the inn. There was Olaf shoveling in a
plate full of eggs and potatoes washing it down with more ale.

Jessop’s head pounded and throbbed and he
could see that William was in no better shape. They both sat at the
table where Olaf quickly had the barmaid slipping plates of
steaming food in front of them. It was the last thing Jessop wanted
and he thought he saw William gag when he caught a whiff of the
meal.

“Have a little ale, it will help with your
headache,” Olaf offered as the barmaid brought them drink. William
and Jessop doubted such a thing would help.

“Trust me,” Olaf implored.

Jessop and William clinked their tankards
quietly together and whispered, “Skoll,” taking a long draw on the
beer. A few minutes later, they did start to feel a little better
and were even able to eat a bit of their meals.

Feeling better by the minute they stood and
started to head for the door when the barmaid hurried over and
kissed William on the cheek looking altogether coy about it.
William blushed and asked Jessop if something had happened between
the two of them the night before, but Jessop couldn’t remember much
after the dancing on tables around midnight.

Everyone who passed Olaf gave him a pat on
the back like old friends might. The crowd of them moseyed along
the sandy path to the docks where the
Revenge
stood waiting
for its crew.

At the top of the gang plank stood a
perpetually grumpy Fin. With a notebook in hand checking off who
was back onboard, he frowned even more when he saw the smiling face
of the giant Olaf. Olaf had at least three inches on Fin
horizontally and vertically. Jessop could see in his gestures that
Fin liked being the biggest one on board and this larger creature
did not sit well with him.

“What’s this?” Fin demanded.

Jessop offered, “This is Olaf.”

Olaf stood smiling from ear to ear down at
Fin. His helmet was slightly crooked on his head making him look
like a colossal child ready for a costume party. Olaf offered his
hand to shake showing the tribal tattoos beneath his sleeves.

Jessop continued, “Olaf would like to join
the crew.”

At hearing this, many of the men passing by
added their approval with a, “Skoll, Olaf.”

This did not please Fin in the
slightest.

“We’re not taking recruits at this time,”
Fin said waving away Olaf’s hand.

“But, sir,” William said, “We lost Skipper
and Roman when we took the
Merriweather
. Surely we can use
another man to take their place.”

Fin didn’t like being challenged and
certainly not by the likes of William or Jessop.

“What might he be knowing about seamanship?”
Fin scoffed.

“A lot,” Jessop offered. “His family has
been seafarers for generations and he and his brothers make boats
for a living.”

Jessop could see this outburst had Fin
steaming under the collar. He wondered if anyone else had offered
up Olaf to Fin if he’d have reacted the same. Most likely not and
this infuriated Jessop. Olaf deserved a chance and he wasn’t
getting a fair run at it because of him and William.

“Look, Fin. I know you have your issues with
me—and William because of his association with me, but Olaf is a
decent man whose life-long dream is to sail under a jolly roger.
Can’t you look past your hatred and see the asset of enlisting such
a man?” Jessop said loudly and angrily.

Fin was about to lay him out on the deck for
his subordination, but it was the captain who answered Jessop’s
question.

“I can,” said the captain, just feet away
from the two men who locked in a hateful stare. “He looks to be a
right fit specimen an’ I’d be honored to have such a loyal and
behemoth man sailing under me command.” The captain offered his
hand in a shake.

“It’d be a privilege, Captain, sir,” Olaf
said practically shaking the captain’s arm off. The captain eyed
Fin and said in a murmur, “A word, Fin?” Fin nodded and followed
the captain to a more private area to speak.

Olaf was thrilled and if he didn’t look like
a little kid earlier, then he certainly did now. Jessop and William
showed him the way to the barracks below and helped him get
settled. They introduced him around to the officers and masters he
had not met the night before at the inn.

It was Bloody Harry Cash who took a great
liking to him and put him to work instantly on weighing the
anchor.

The next few weeks the
Revenge
headed
northwest towards the colonial coastline, but as luck would have
it, two storms back to back kept them captive as they waited in a
sheltered bay on the northwest side of Bermuda.

There had been plenty of food and rum aboard
but despite the torrents of rain, water had been lacking. Jessop
took this downtime to rummage around and come up with something to
fix the problem.

Collecting rain water worked, but it too
never seemed to be enough and certainly not sufficient to bathe the
men. Of course they could douse a smelly pirate in the sea trading
one stench for another and they certainly did so on occasion, but
wouldn’t it be nice to have enough water to shower on a regular
basis?

Jessop found a dusty old still and wondered
if he could use the same theory to rid sea water of its salt making
it drinkable. The theory came to him as he watched the condensation
on the inside of a large wine bottle as the sun heated it in a
brisk break in the clouds. The condensation from the evaporated
water would be drinkable as the salt would be too heavy to
vaporize.

He went straight to work tinkering in the
bowels of the ship, coming up once in a while to the kitchen and
stealing an item or two from Beans. Though Beans muttered
obscenities under his breath when he couldn’t find a tool he
needed, he forgave Jessop when he revealed to him that he had as
much water as he wanted for cooking and cleaning the mess hall.

The next step was saving the water in extra
barrels and making a shower stall on deck with a barrel above to
serve the shower.

William was the first victim of the newly
installed washing receptacle.