" They obstructed the harbor." " I know." " Two ships they sunk." " I know, I..." " Then why didn't you warn us?" " I did warn you!" "We don't have sufficient numbers to move on Nassau, but if we could increase those numbers..." " Increase them how?" " The Underhill plantation." "Captured nine more just east of the fence line." "I want the trial started as soon as possible." "What did he do?" "Set a course for Nassau to send a message when we return." "When I informed Sarah of my intent to formally end our marriage, her family persuaded my old creditors to accelerate my timetables for repayment." "I would default." "Three men know the resting place of the chest, and one woman." "He told it to me before we left home." "There will be no pirate king here." "Of that much I am certain." "Long John Silver." "Welcome home." "What is this?" "I said, what's going on here?" "What do you want from me?" "Blacksmith pays for these." "Jeweler pays for these." "The law pays for you." "500 pieces for Long John Silver." "I'm sorry, I think you're mistaken." "I'm not..." "I seen you." "Huh?" "Before." "Before you was Long." "Now... they say you're supposed to be a pirate king." "A strongman." "That true?" "Hmm." "That's what I thought." "More lies." "So, you returned." "You're angry." "Ah." "And you just killed one of the governor's men." "Now write that." "I killed who?" "Killed him." "What?" "500 pieces they pay before you did it." "I think more after." "Fuck you." "Write." "I am told it will begin soon." "The executions of the men captured on the beach yesterday." "It's for the best to have it done." "It could have been you." "I gave you... both of you, a place to stand here." "I gave you a life, and you repaid me by conspiring with my enemies." "Ma'am, I don't know what you think you heard, but..." "Quiet." "I know you were responsible for Captain Rackham's escape." "I know you solicited her to aid you in the effort." "I know you relayed information to the pirate resistance throughout the purges here." "I have been monitoring all of it since it began." "Monitoring?" "You intercepted his message." "The warning that was to alert Captain Flint of the governor's obstructing the harbor." "Why aren't we out there?" "Why didn't you report us to Captain Berringer?" "Let fall!" "The continued pirate threat makes Captain Berringer a necessary, if temporary, evil." "But I do not care for the idea of having him trampling through my affairs, encouraged by one scandal to search for more, which is why I secured an agreement from the governor that my informants would be held immune from any prosecution" "for their prior associations with the pirates." "This will all pass soon enough... if we let it." "My grandfather was a pirate of another sort." "When he was a young man, he swindled a ship, hired it to privateers, and earned a share of their spoils for his trouble." "But he had an ambition for something far greater than plunder, a desire to build something more permanent." "So, plunder purchased more ships." "Ships generated more profits, profits became wealth, which became influence, which became power." "By the time I was born, my grandfather was one of the wealthiest men in the New World." "If I go to him, if I plead our case and gain his support, that might be all we need, all Nassau needs, to emerge from this intact." "He could pay my debts?" "Several times over, yes." "He could send us ships?" "And guns?" "And mercenaries?" "Yes." "But?" "My father was ill-favored by his family, and that was before he made their name synonymous with piracy in the West Indies." "And all I've done since is make their name synonymous with scandal in London." "It is far from a foregone conclusion that they'll be inclined to offer me their help." "But, given our state of affairs, it seems more than worth a try." "And unlike in the past..." "I now have something to offer them that may make the ask more attractive." "What's that?" "You." "They can purchase ships and influence and power, but they cannot purchase what they ultimately want." "And that is for the family to be known within London society for something more than being a backwater merchant clan." "Calling you a part of it certainly wouldn't hurt matters." "What is it?" "Steady, now." "She drifted into the harbor a little while ago." "A message from Teach upon his return." "There he intends to sit." "Denying passage in or out of the bay." "If we cede to his demand, he will leave." "What demand is that?" "That we surrender to him the woman he holds responsible for the murder of Charles Vane." "He also holds 61 more of my men prisoner aboard his ship." "If we refuse, he promises they will meet the same fate as these men." "He won't turn her over." "Not for 60 men." "Not for 600 men." "No." "I don't expect he will." "Nor do we have the stores to maintain this blockade for long." "So we need to move quickly." "You'll gather your men." "You will stand ready to depart upon nightfall." "And whilst the enemy remains focused on us, you will make your landing to the west and move undetected into town." "You will find Eleanor Guthrie and you will bring her out of Nassau, back here." "There ain't no good way in from the west." "I agree." "Perhaps an approach from the lagoon." "Do it." "We depart for the Underhill plantation on the hour, arrive just before dark, approach from the east, eliminate the overseers, secure the main house, and in so doing establish a camp capable of Billy's plan." "Your plan." "You will be leading our forces." "Does that not make it your plan, too?" "What choice do I have?" "I must say, it, uh, caught me by surprise, your assertion that Mr. Silver had revealed the whereabouts of the buried cache." " Assertion?" " Maybe he told you." "Felt close enough to you to share it, or maybe... you saw an opportunity to counter my leverage with Billy." "And all it took was a lie that's terribly inconvenient to disprove." "And what choice did I have?" "The moment we arrived, it was instantly clear to me... he is the one keeping this place together." "His men look up to him, rely on him, trust him." "Many of your men even trust him, as well." "He is going to be relevant to what happens next here." "That much is painfully obvious." "And your first instinct is to dismiss him." "Had I not stepped in, who knows how destructive that could have become for everyone?" "Can't sit still and let him hold us hostage." "Can't fight him directly or we risk losing what few soldiers we have left." "And even if I could slip a ship past him to seek aid from your family in the colonies, you'd have to be on that ship." "And you'd never get that far before he caught you." "I won't risk that." "All right." "Here's what we're gonna do." "I board the sloop..." " No." " ... and I run." "You just said it's too far to outrun him." "To Philadelphia it's too far, but I can make safe harbor somewhere nearer." "Outrun for a day, pull him away from here, then seek shelter in a friendly port strong enough to prevent his entry." "Meanwhile... the door will be open for you to reach your grandfather and gain his aid." "Why you?" "Why not have someone else lead him away?" "Because he won't leave that position to chase someone else." "He'd chase you, and I believe, given the opportunity, he might chase me for a chance at ending this regime once and for all." "From where I stand, it's the only way out of this." "Insurrection against the lawfully appointed governor, high seas piracy, treason." "Does the accused have any words to say in his own defense?" "Fuck... you." " Oh, get him." " This is injustice!" "Fuck you!" "Fuck you!" "Gentlemen, that's enough!" "Get out there." "Go on." "Bring in the next man!" "It's been like that all day." "We've condemned a dozen men since morning." "And between them," "I've yet to see an ounce of remorse." "Savages to the bitter end." "When you condemn a dozen men in as many hours, perhaps remorse is a bit much to ask." "You object to these trials." "I do not object to trials," "I do not object to hangings." "What I do object to, however, is spectacle, certain to increase defiance and anger rather than sooth it." "We should be moving past this, not wallowing in it." "That's a very noble perspective." "And I might share it were it not for the soldier of mine found with his throat slit this morning... with a note attached... threatening that any further hanging of pirates would be met with more reprisals." "A note attributed... to Long John Silver." "I believe our current war is far from over." "I believe there are yet still radicals amongst us eager to do us harm in the name of their pirate king." "And I believe there is more you could be doing to aid us in ferreting out those radicals." "If you choose to." "I am very sorry for the loss of your man, and I will be vigilant, as I always am, about any information that might allow us to make Nassau safe." "But promises were made by the governor to me, by me to my informants." "And if oaths are no longer kept here, if boundaries are no longer respected here, then there is no civilization left here to defend, and I do not know what we are fighting for." "In a matter of hours, the governor and his wife will set sail from here aboard separate vessels to seek aid in our efforts." "He to Port Royal, she to Philadelphia." "I alone am to be left in charge of Nassau's security." "And I gave our lord governor my solemn oath that I would see it protected... against any and all enemies." "I look forward very much to be working with you to that end." "Philadelphia?" "What is in Philadelphia worth leaving things here in this state?" "My grandfather spent his winters there negotiating with his suppliers for the spring." "I'll find him there and secure his assistance." "I must strongly advise against it, against you and the governor being gone in this moment." "We are so very close to winning this war and finally bringing Nassau out of the dark." "But I fear we cannot complete the victory on our own." "We're going to need help, and this is the only way I know how to get it." "You and I both know that there are men on both sides of this war whose identities are so enmeshed in this conflict that they are more afraid of ending it than they are of losing it." "And I believe you are about to elevate one of those men into a position of significant power." "That may very well be, but Captain Berringer is loyal." "Captain Berringer is strong." "And at this moment, Captain Berringer is a man before whom Nassau lives in terror." "Right now, that might be what she needs." "The governor will return soon and I soon thereafter." "We just need things to hold until then." "And this seems like our best chance at it." ""More lies."" "Who else's lies am I to be held responsible for?" "I heard a story once... told to me by Captain Flint, who knows Nassau's history as well as any other." "A story about a man consigned to the wrecks." "A man who was quite specifically disfigured." "A man who sailed with Edward Teach in his early days." "One of his most trusted men... and one of the deadliest men that Nassau ever knew." "I heard that on the day Governor Thompson fled, it was actually this man who wielded the knife that killed his wife and son." "So, all Teach and Jennings and the giants were hailed as the fathers of the pirate republic." "It was actually another who cut the cord." "I heard his name was..." "Israel Hands." "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." "Though, given the rest of the story, it is of some curiosity to me that you're still here." "See, I heard that when Captain Teach began to see Charles Vane as his heir apparent," "Israel Hands became jealous of Teach's affection and that it led to a falling out with the captain that was most humiliating." "A degrading beating before all the crews on the beach." "A pistol shot just missing his eye, rendering him a misshapen wretch." "You talk too much." "So, you can understand my confusion, given that Nassau's first king embarrassed you so thoroughly and so publicly, forbade any other crew from having you." "Why on earth would you have stayed?" "I sincerely hope it isn't because you're still holding out for some sort of apology from Teach." "Fuck Teach." "Yeah, fuck Teach." "Huh?" "We are brothers that sail beneath the black." "How can a man like that be the best of us?" "Well, they followed Teach, and where did it lead?" "An English governor raising his flag over Nassau." "Fuck Teach." "He was almost the end of us." "But now I'm here... and things are about to begin again." "You?" "Who are you that I ought to pay you any mind?" "I'm no one." "From nowhere." "Belonging to nothing." "I'm a wretch like you." "And yet... mountains of gold have changed hands because I chose it." "Thousands of men in Nassau are living in fear of my return because I decreed it." "Hundreds of dead redcoats in a forest not far from here, because I made it so." "I'm the reason grown men lie awake at night." "I am a new beginning for Nassau." "And you'd trade all of that for what?" "500 pieces?" "You think you're worth more?" "To the right people." "Who?" "Who would pay so much for you?" "Enough." "Is she asleep yet?" "Audrey?" "Are you asleep yet?" "Yes." "Your daughter." "Ruth, fix some more hot water, would you?" "Ruth?" "What is it?" "We're under attack!" "Move!" "Move!" "The main slave quarters." "Take as many extra weapons as you can." "Let's get them armed." "It's only a matter of time before militia arrive from other estates that heard the alarm." "Wait!" "If you shoot," "I'll have to do the same." "Hello, Ruth." "You knew my father." "I had heard that you might be coming to set us free." "Yes." "I'm glad that you came." "And now..." "I need you to go." "They say your ship is ready to depart." "The launch awaits you at the jetty." "I should be going." "How long do you think to Port Royal?" "I'll make it." "I promise you I will make it." "Don't you dare let him catch you, don't you dare." "I won't." "You wait until morning to depart." "I don't want him lurking in the dark out there awaiting another departure." "I know." "I hear Philadelphia is lovely." "Try not to dawdle there." "I will see you back here again." "Soon." "Soon." "He wants to know when you're leaving." "You have no intention of leaving, do you?" "What exactly do you suggest I tell him?" "Whatever the fuck you wanna tell him." "Anne." "At a certain point, there is a good chance he'll just decide to kill you than take your no for an answer." "He can try." ""He can try."" "I'll pass that one along." "I go looking for Eleanor Guthrie, you know I'm gonna find her, too." "Max." "Said if I turned over the cache, you'd be safe." "And it ain't just the lie." "She tried to take you away from me." "When I left that island... all I could think about was having a chance to make her pay... for what she done." "Now that we're here... it would be so easy." "And I don't wanna do it." "Don't wanna live with it after." "The sight of her hurt in that way." "Just don't want it." "That fucking island." "Makes you do shit you don't wanna do." "How is it we haven't figured that out by now?" "What the hell are we doing back here, Jack?" "It's the governor's banner!" "Glass, please." "Quickly." "Well, the good news is..." "Ben's squad just found a storehouse filled to the ceiling of salt pork, corn." "They must have been readying a shipment back into Nassau." "So, between that and the ordinance we just scavenged, we may be better supplied than the British in Nassau at this moment." "That said, the strangest thing just happened out by the slave quarters." "The doors were locked... from the inside." "How did you know that?" "What?" "What did she tell you?" "When I acquired those weapons we used to fight the British, it apparently aroused suspicion amongst the estate owners, concerned that the alliance between your people and mine might prove dangerous to maintaining control over their holdings, so they took precautions... against any move that might incite revolt." "Any man who had a woman, any woman who had a child was separated." "With families distributed amongst the other plantations on the island, if any one community revolted... or by inaction allowed an estate to be toppled, their husbands and wives... and children who are held on the other plantations" "would be punished most severely." "If we complete this conquest, if we force a situation which might see these people's husbands and wives and children brutalized this way, many of them would die by their own hand before they let that happen." "We'll move quickly, take the other plantations as well." "To seven different estates?" "Wait a minute." "We have no choice." "You want to withdraw?" "If we don't, knowing full well the cost, it will be the end of whatever trust exists between us and the slaves on the island, or anywhere, for that matter." "The end of any alliance that might be between us." "How is leaving them here any better?" "The only way to free them safely is if it is all at once." "Simultaneous revolts across the island initiated by one very loud and very clear signal that will be heard by all." " If we take Nassau first..." " Take it first?" "... it would demonstrate to the slave communities the viability of our enterprise." "Show them that beyond revolt lies a safe harbor with allies strong enough to protect them." "It is the only way to ensure that the greatest number of them survive." "I lost six men tonight." "The men I have left know this estate means supplies and full stomachs." "They know they are stronger with it." "And, thus, fewer of them will die in the weeks ahead than would without it." " And you want to walk away." " We didn't come here to take an estate." "We came here to make a statement, not just to expel England, but to defeat them." "And to do it together." "That has always been the goal." "And right now, that requires a painful but necessary tactical retreat." "I'm asking you... please... don't do this." "Militia's approaching." "The neighboring estates must've heard the guns and rallied." "This was never gonna be easy." "It just is what it is." "There's been a change in circumstances." "We need to be gone before that militia arrives." "Gather all the weapons you can." " We're gonna be moving back towards..." " We're not going anywhere." "Henry, Davis, restrain the captain." "What are you doing?" "I'm through following you down a path only you seem able to see." "Towards a victory only you seem able to define." "We will hold our position here until we can find our way into Nassau and free the rest of the men." "And we will do it without you." "Do it." "The rest of you form a firing line to repel that militia." "Are you sure you want to keep following him down that path?" "Stand your men down... and follow me away from here, for any man who offers resistance to that militia will be held responsible for..." "Fire!" "Plantation men!" " It's over now!" " We're under attack!" " Fall back!" "Fall back!" " MAN #3:" "Fall back!" "Fall back to the corn field!" "It's been confirmed." "The governor was spotted boarding the brig." "They're hauling back their anchor as we speak." "He'll be gone within the hour, off in search of aid, no doubt, to secure his possession of Nassau, win the war for England." "And with him will depart a number of soldiers, diminishing the number of bodies between us and Eleanor Guthrie." "That many fewer obstacles between us and justice for Charles' murder." "If you still wish Anne to lead the vanguard to do it, tell me now." "I'll have it done." "Would you like to know what I think?" "I think Anne is right." "She said something to me earlier." "She said only a fool would give his life to earn the admiration of a corpse." "I wanted to strangle her." "But part of me could not help but note in that moment she sounded an awful lot like someone else I once knew, someone you and I both once knew who shared..." "Anne's mistrust of sentimentality." "And just after he joined my crew..." "I spent two weeks careening on this shit island with no name." "I knew right away he was different than the others." "He was so like me when I was a younger man." "And that he and I somehow were fated to matter to one another." "I was consumed with the question of whether our similarities would be a blessing or a curse." "So, whilst the others were careening, a number of us were inland by a spring." "The sun climbs up over the top of the trees... in just a way that it shines off the pool... lighting up all around us." "In that moment, a bird lands on the water... massive, snow-white beast, big as a boar." "To this day, I've never seen anything like it." "Between the sun and the size of it, it just felt... meaningful." "The answer to a question I did not yet know how to ask." "I told him... that there were men in the east... who would have seen in that bird the darkest of all omens, bringer of death." "But then, there are other men near Clifton... my... my mother's home... who would've called it a sign of great fortune, an indication from the heavens that someone up there favored our endeavor together." "And I asked him what he thought it meant." ""Dinner."" "I don't know what made me think of that story." "There are moments in the dead of night when I can't sleep, and I wonder if I will ever be able to truly rest again until I know that Eleanor Guthrie has paid for what she took from me." "And then there are other moments when I wonder if it would actually please him to see her dead, to know the scales had been evened." "Or if despite all they had been through, despite the anger and the blood and the betrayal and all he'd done to her and she to him, despite what I or you or what anybody else might think of it," "if wherever he was, he still didn't just a little bit love her." "I wonder if he were here now, watching us battle with the choice to kill her in his name or defeat the governor and perhaps therein win the war we all together started, if he might call us fools." "And then I wonder if maybe we don't have to work that hard to imagine what he'd say." "Maybe we've already heard it, and the only choice is whether we choose to listen." "Cannon fire from the port!" "He's underway, Captain." "Using the fort guns for cover." "Do we pursue?" "Slip the cables." "Set a course to overtake her." "Slip the cable!" "Set course to pursue!" "Ma'am?" "Long John Silver." "So big a name for so small a man." "What is it you have to say to me?" "You owe me." "Certainly your fortune." "Probably your life." "You might wanna consider that and then choose a new tone, especially given that in the very near future your life might end up in my hands yet again." "Is that so?" "Is Teach still free?" "Is Rackham?" "Is Flint?" "This war may feel over, but as long as we're all free, it's far from it." "And if somehow we prevail in Nassau, what happens to former friends who've since aligned themselves so warmly with the governor?" "I've come to offer you a chance to earn back our friendship." "Or, more specifically, to buy it back." "An amount of money that proves your desire to come..." "No." "No?" "I am tired of this." "This thing that perpetuates itself with anger and bluster and blood." "I do not want to be your friend." "What I want is for all of this to end." "For it to end, you must end." "I imagine I have some obligation to surrender you to Captain Berringer, but the spectacle he would make of your trial and execution would only fan the flames of what is burning in Nassau now." "I am tempted to put the sword to you and your man both, and bury this story for good, but what am I... if I spend my days pleading for a return to civility and then do dark things under the cover of night?" "So, you will remain in my custody until I can find a place far from here to deposit you." "You will be gone, but you will live." "And for that, I will consider whatever debts I may owe you to be paid in full."