"Dobbs assaulted him, and he believes him responsible for choosing the men to be interrogated by them." "But it's been sorted." "I had three men hold him down while Dooley and Wayne administered a beating." "The governor in Nassau hanged a pirate in the square." "The pirate was Charles Vane." "What do you want to do about it?" "He knew it was the only way to start it." "Start what?" "The resistance in Nassau is now under way." "How long before their force arrives?" "A week." "Then we have much preparation to do and little time to do it." "Captain Hornigold will be sailing in consort with you." "I know this enemy." "He took that cache with the express purpose of compelling us to commit your force to a battlefield of his choosing." "If you allow him to dictate the terms of battle, you court a disastrous outcome." "You sure this is wise?" "At the end of the day, secrets among friends are the source of all good things gone wrong." "Is that what we are now?" "Friends?" "He wasn't talking about you." "He's talking about our hostess, the queen." "That said, you're wrong." "He's right." "The safest place for this isn't behind walls or guarded with guns." "The safest place lives outside the realm of anyone's awareness." "If the English can't find it, they can't take it." "I told them we were taking it, just not where." "She agreed it was best for all for its whereabouts to remain unknown, provided that you were among the circle that knew of it." "You they trust above any of us not to betray for money." "The irony wasn't lost on either of us." "Well, now that you've been fetched, much to do." "A war to plan for." "I've heard you use that word a thousand times." "A war against England, now a war to reclaim Nassau." "But hearing him use it just now, so near the actual arrival of it, it sounds different." "It feels different." "Not far from here, the fortifications are already built from which in a few days' time you'll look out and stare down King George's navy." "Are you having second thoughts?" "Aren't you?" "All of the blood that's about to be spilt, all the things about to be lost... aren't you?" "Well, I wish it wasn't necessary, if that's what you're asking." "When we were becalmed," "I told Billy I believed your darkest thoughts somehow had the ability to manifest themselves upon our reality." "That your anger over the murder of Mrs. Barlow became the storm into which we all battled." "That your despair over her death became the doldrums into which we all sank." "In my defense, I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a while." "But the truth of it," "I'm not sure it was that far off." "Your demons are a part of our reality." "Such is the nature of the influence you wield." "Some of those demands I've come to know... but the one in whose name this war is to be fought... it is still a stranger to me." "Before this war actually begins," "I'm asking where it actually began." "Will you tell me?" "Oh, Jesus." "They are not fucking around, are they?" "We're supposed to sail into that?" "One ship against their entire fleet?" "A favorable wind." "We'll be upon them quickly." "We'll take fire, obviously." "If we can just get our vanguard aboard one of their ships, we could disrupt their entire line." "Do not look at me like that." "This is the plan." "Harass their line." "We create uncertainty in the minds of their soldiers on the ground and undermine their confidence in their command." "Yeah, and I know how they'll feel." "Sails!" "East-southeast!" "East?" "Six ships." "British colors." "Who the fuck is that?" "Reinforcements, likely." "It seems Governor Rogers was able to enlist the aid of one of his colleagues." "I'll put a launch in the water now." "What for?" "To inform Captain Flint so he can make his retreat." "There could be hundreds of soldiers aboard those ships." "The captain's battle plan does not take into account a force that large." "Captain Flint's battle plan does not take into account his retreat." "There is nowhere to retreat to." "And given how much we have sacrificed to earn this battle, how can we do anything other than see it through?" "My friend may have given his life to earn this battle." "I understand the obligation you are feeling to succeed, but there comes a certain point where one must accept what is painfully obvious." " How many ships?" " What?" "The second fleet..." "How many ships?" "Six sets of sails!" "Describe them, please." "What difference does it make?" "Shut up." "The flotilla..." "Describe them." "Three tall ships!" "Two sloop!" " One man of war." " And one man of war." "Make a course for that second flotilla, please." "You're going to attack them?" "Time is short, please." "Get us under way." "Get us under way!" "Right flank, kneel!" "Fire!" "Reload!" "Bring the mortars forward!" " Mortars." " Mortars!" "Concentrate on the mortars!" "Reload!" "Three paces forward!" "Present!" "Fire!" "Company, form into two ranks!" "Now!" "Second cannons!" "Take cover!" "Fire!" "Mortars in position!" "Fire!" "Fire!" "Captain, it's time!" " Not yet." " Fire!" "Two inches!" "Two inches!" "Fire!" "Captain, we need to fall back." "Fire!" "Smoke!" " Smoke!" " Smoke!" "Form into two ranks!" "Formation forward!" " Fall back!" " Fall back!" " Retreat!" " Fall back!" "Hold your fire!" " Hold your fire!" " First company, prepare to move out!" "I wouldn't do that." "Beg your pardon?" "Stand easy!" "He asked for this fight, Major." "He didn't do so without a plan." "And I promise you, bumbling into a hasty retreat wasn't a part of it." "Bumbling?" "They were overwhelmed by a superior force." "He wants us to pursue him." "He wants you to pursue him." "A tactical withdrawal to guide us into an ambush." "Am I to believe he sacrificed over 50 of his men, led them into a massacre deliberately, just to entice us to chase him?" "You don't know that man, Major, but I do." "He's quite capable of what you suggest and more." "Reflected there." "Is everything all right?" "Show her what you showed to me." ""To the first to betray," "I offer the first chance to repent." "Remove the captain." "You have until nightfall."" "Where did you get this?" "It was sitting at the foot of my bed when I woke this morning." "Someone left it while I slept." "The message, it would seem, is clear." "There is a voice out there yet to identify itself that wants to see Captain Vane's remains removed from the gibbet in the square." "Why does it look like this?" "An old wives' tale." "Pirate lore." "Avery's maiden crew was said to deliver the black spot as a warning to wayward crew members." "Ignored on pain of death." "I knew men when I was young who sailed with Avery." "It was a bullshit story then, and it's no less a bullshit story now." "Ma'am, cowards send notes." "The form of the threat may not rightly be the issue." "We are aware there is dissent on the street." "Perhaps removing the gibbet would go a long way towards settling whatever unrest may be brewing." "You're suggesting that the governor comply with an anonymous threat?" "I am suggesting the gibbet could be seen by some to be inflammatory." "The point has been made." "The law has been satisfied." "It is a well-settled statement of resolve to maintain the display." "If it is removed in the light of this threat, in the light of Captain Flint's standing ultimatum against the use of it, would it not worry you that it might appear weak?" "It certainly worries me to make self-defeating mistakes out of fear of appearing weak." "No, he's right." "He's right." "It gives me no pleasure having it there, no matter what the street may say." "But to remove it in this moment threatens to undermine confidence in the governor's leadership." "That said, at the end of three days' time," "I want it down and gone, not a minute longer." "If you would like me to form a small detail to offer you protection in the meantime..." "If anyone has a problem with my allegiance to the Crown, my men and I are happy to address it with them." "Ma'am?" "Excuse me." "You should be in bed." "I've spent enough time in bed." "I did what I did." "I know how it seems, to the street, to you, but please understand..." "It seems... as though a very difficult thing was done." "It seems as though I am fortunate you had the courage to do it." "You have enemies here." "Then let them be my enemies as well." "Any and all of them." "And let them come." "As you were." "Six ships..." "Two sloops, man of war..." "It's a familiar combination." "I once had a fleet of that makeup." "Get her cleaned up, boy!" "I came looking for Flint, not you." "Where is he?" "He's currently being pummeled by half the British navy just beyond the horizon." "The navy?" "The war to reclaim Nassau began here about an hour ago." "The entirety of the British fleet under the command of Governor Rogers is in play." "I'd like to think that you're here to join our effort, but I fear the reason for your arrival is something other than that." "Charles is dead." "The governor in Nassau hung him in the square." "On the island I helped build, he thought he could do that and face no consequences." "He failed to account for me." "British law sentenced him, but I think you and I both know who it was that fashioned that noose, and it was no "he."" "I look forward to seeing Miss Guthrie again and settling Charles' account with her." "But there is no victory over her without a victory here today." "That much is clear." "Will you help us find it?" "Madness is such a hard thing to define, which makes it such an easy label to affix to one's enemies." "Once it had been applied to Thomas, once our relationship had been exposed, defiled, scandalized... everything ended." "There were times that I was persuaded to sue for peace since then, but that was the day that on some level I knew... that England was broken... and that sooner or later a good man must resist it." "I don't know what to say." "You don't need to say anything." "You asked me where I began, and I felt that you were entitled to an answer..." "To the truth." "I appreciate that." "And I am genuinely sorry." "But you can see how this might be of particular and immediate concern for me." "I can?" "Well, before today I knew of two people who managed to truly know you," "to gain your trust, to be your partner, and they both ended up dead while playing the role." " Now, wait a minute..." " Now you're telling me there's a third member of this class, making it even less credible to characterize Mr. Gates' and Mrs. Barlow's deaths as bad luck." "It would seem that those closest to you meet their end not just during their relationship," "but because of it." "And as I sit here, I'm acutely aware there may be no one closer to you in the world right now than I." "What exactly are you saying?" "That I've somehow sought out my own tragedies?" "Did you not tell me that our darkest motives will conceal themselves from us?" "Cloak themselves in whatever they must in order to move us to action?" "And even if that's not true, a pattern is a pattern, and only a fool ignores one because he does not care for the implications." "So you see yourself as a potential fourth member of this class, concerned that your association with me will lead to your end." "My association with you began out of necessity, but I've come to find a great deal of respect for you." "Perhaps even friendship." "Hmm." "Which is why I find myself unnerved by the thought that when this pattern applies itself to you and I... that I will be the end of you." "Is that so?" "Well, the three who preceded me all had one thing in common." "They were vulnerable to you." "Had more to lose than you, less means with which to protect themselves than you." "Until recently, I thought that was me as well, but now..." "I don't know that it is anymore." "It is natural for men new to power to assume that it has no limits." "Trust me." "It does." "We agreed that I would select a man to be responsible for making a direct move against Captain Hornigold once the battle begins." "I chose Mr. Dobbs." "You chose Dobbs?" "Why the fuck would you do that?" "It's a dangerous errand..." "It's more than dangerous." "The entirety of our plan rests on its success." "Why would you assign it to a man harboring who knows what sort of resentment against you?" "Because it isn't resentment." "If you had disciplined him, he would resent you for it, but towards me..." "I don't believe he feels resentment." "I believe he feels shame for having disappointed me and a great need to redeem himself in my eyes." "Send someone else." "It's done." "He knows." "Were I to replace him now, it might provoke the response you wish to avoid." "If you're wrong, if Mr. Dobbs takes this opportunity to betray you... to betray us... this battle will be over before it ever begins." "Flint sent you to kill me, yet instead, you surrendered." "Why?" "I sailed with that crew for months." "Then they take the side of those fucking savages over a man who was supposed to have been their brother." "Truth is, they didn't give a shit about me except that I did their bidding, so now I'm ready to see it end, and I can help you end it." "Says he knows where the slave camp is located." "Says the cache with the gems is hidden nearby." "Mr. Carter, please bring me that man there." "Unfortunately, I've known too many men from Nassau in my life, and it's so very hard to know which can be taken at their word." "Show me that you truly intend to leave Captain Flint and your life with him behind you." "Oh, that man will meet the same end whether you shoot him or some other man hangs him," "but I'd like to be quite certain your intentions are true." "Major, prepare your men." "Sir." "Lieutenant, prepare the men." "Make sure they have plenty of supplies, water, and ammunition." "We're heading into the forest." "He was hiding by the water." "Otherwise, everyone is accounted for and where they belong." "All but you." "You do not feel you are where you belong." "The men above would fight to protect us." "I should be among them." "If we are to lead them into this war, we ought to show that we are willing to lead them through it." "You have protected me for so very long." "It is time I did the same for you." "Did he get it?" "Your black spot was delivered, yeah." " But?" " I saw him." "He was in the tavern drinking with his men." "They were in high spirits." "And the gibbet remains?" "Yeah." "I think it's going to take more than a note to frighten him." "Of course it is." "It was Mr. Gates who first told me about the spot." "It kept him awake for three nights." "It wasn't the note or the threat." "It was the idea of Avery himself, just the awareness that someone so terrible knew your name." "I have no doubt that Captain Throckmorton is currently unconcerned with our threat." "We have only just begun to tell our story." "We haven't yet introduced the villain." "It's been a few days since I told you of my suspicions about Idelle, her role in the attack on the governor's caravan." "One can only assume she did not act alone, but had partners in this endeavor." "You did not report this news to the governor nor to Miss Guthrie." "Nor did you take any action to discover who the partners might be." "Until I know how this game will unfold," "I choose to allow the players to reveal themselves to me lest I make an enemy out of someone" "I may one day wish to call a friend." "This way." "Is it possible one of the governor's calls for assistance was heard?" "Reinforcements from a sister colony?" "Flint gave you command of his ship." "Yes." "You can count the things that Flint and I agree upon on one hand." "But among them is the sincere confusion as to why Charles invested any time and energy in you." "I suppose Flint's come to see that there might be some capacity in you after all." "And?" "And what?" ""And" as in it sounded as if there was more to that thought." "That you might see yourself agreeing with him again... about my capacity." "There wasn't any more to that thought, was there?" "Signal!" "On the flagship's mainmast!" "They're showing her fleet identification, asking us to verify who we are." "Get my log from below." "You have the proper codes to respond?" "I do." "Don't." "Raise the black instead." "Raise the black?" "He believes we are beneath him, tactically incompetent." "Why give him any reason to doubt it?" "To be underestimated is an incredible gift." "Signal the line." "Divide the gun crews and prepare the larboard batteries." "Sir." "Prepare the larboard batteries!" "Prepare the larboard batteries!" "And did she fight it?" "Your mother." "Did she resist your being here?" "I believe she wanted to." "I believe every part of her being was calling out for it." "Then why didn't she?" "She has spent so many years protecting our people, protecting me." "To put it all in danger now... it is a necessary sacrifice if this war is to be won." "But it violates everything she understands herself to be." "She let me go because she knows that if we survive this battle today, she will likely need to step aside and make room for someone better suited to do what must be done." "It's a hard thing to look your successor in the eye and know that their time is nearing while yours is almost through." "But as far as successors go, your mother could do far worse." "Ma'am!" "Aah!" "They'll fight to the death to defend it." "There's only 100 men, more or less, left behind to guard it." "The rest are women and children." "And the cache?" "It's being guarded there as well?" "It's nearby." "Buried." "But the one of them who knows where to find it is inside that camp, and he cannot run away." "Get a message to the major." "Tell him he can deploy his men to this position." "Let's finish this as quickly as possible." "Do you trust him?" "What's that?" "A few weeks ago, we had a chance to sail with him." "You said you'd always be looking over your shoulder, worried he'd fuck us the first chance he got." "I will say this for him." "In recent weeks, among the disturbing number of people who've tried to kill one or the both of us, he is not among them." "Charles was, in some sense, a son to him, and Charles was, in some sense, a brother to us." "I couldn't tell you what that makes us to him, but something, perhaps." "Gun crews at the ready!" "Gun crews at the ready!" "See you on the other side." "Always." "Does he actually mean to exchange broadsides with us?" "Pass word up the line." "All ships may fire at will." "Yes, sir." "Gun crews, prepare to engage!" "Larboard batteries may fire at will!" "Open the ports!" "Open the ports!" "Company, present!" "Fire!" "Fire!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Defenders across the water have been rendered largely ineffective." "With any luck, we'll have a beachhead established in an hour, find Mr. Silver, the fugitive Mr. Rackham, and have the cache in our possession before the sun sets." "Sir." "Come." "I once thought that to lead men in this world, to be liked was just as good as feared, and that may very well be true." "But to be both liked and feared all at once is an entirely different state of being... in which, I believe, at this moment, I exist alone." "The men need to know they're in good favor with me." "They need it, and there is nothing they won't do to make sure they have it." "Mr. Dobbs will do what I ask of him." "Fire!" "Pull everyone back." " Sir?" " Pull them back, now!" "He will lead Captain Hornigold exactly where I ask him to, of this I'm sure." "But from there, it's up to you." "We're being ambushed!" "Company, withdrawal!" "Fire!" "What the hell is he doing?" "Could he mean to board us?" "Order the larboard batteries to concentrate their fire on that ship." "And send word to the Orion to do the same." "Yes, sir." "All crews, larboard batteries, target the lead ship!" "What...?" "Fire!" "MAN:" "Fire!" "Aim ahead a little more!" "Fire!" "Lead him!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Get to the stern chasers!" "Now!" "Fire!" "Sir!" "It's the Orion!" "She's been overrun!" "Get the gun crews to resume firing." "How, sir?" "Sir?" "Shall we prepare to repel boarders?" "Cut our..." "Our anchor cables and signal the line to retreat." "Come on!" "Aah!" "Company, retreat!" "Back!" "Fall back!" "Company, retreat!" "Retreat!" "Tell your governor!" "You tell him I'm coming!" "Let us say there is some merit to your argument." "Let us say that Mr. Dobbs will do as you ask of him." "I would have to admit in that case that the world has shifted beneath our feet in a most startling way." "But in terms of our future and the danger that you believe you may pose to me," "bear this in mind." "I have survived starvation, a tempest, pirate hunters, jealous captains, mutinous crews, angry lords, a queen, a king, and the goddamn British navy." "So to whatever extent you may be concerned that some day we will clash," "worried that though today we be friends, some day you will have no choice but to be my end," "I wouldn't worry too much." "They call him John the Giant." "They say that he's seven foot tall." "They say that he moves better on that leg than most do with the ones that God gave them." "Why would they say that?" "A man walks into a tavern out of the dead of night, threatens the entirety of the island, and then proceeds to remove a man's head with a metal shoe." "I say that's a story that stands a strong chance of seeing itself embellished." "Do we care that it isn't remotely true?" "Doesn't matter what's true." "Not now, at any rate." "We're creating the appearance of a man out of nothing." "The appearance of a man that the resistance against the English feels compelled to rally around." "We'll introduce him." "We'll put flesh on him." "We'll give him a soul." "But if the street wants to invest him with more than we can on our own," "I won't fight them about it." "But hat name isn't doing anything for us." "We'll have to see about that." "For those of you who have not heard, the governor has imposed martial law upon all of Nassau Town in response to the murder of Captain Throckmorton." "He asks that I convey to the rest of his council the contents of the letter left for him today, taking responsibility for Captain Throckmorton's murder." ""I was no one, and then you came, and my island fell, and I became something else."" "Why not Flint?" "Flint?" "You want to put a man forward as the face of our efforts to oust the English from the island, why not use Flint?" "They all know him already." "They all fear him already." "I've lived too long dependent upon Flint to be the one to hold our ranks together." "It's time we finally had an alternative." ""On the night I confiscated the pardon rolls, the night I started becoming," "I made clear my position that there would be two sorts of men on the island going forward..." "Those like Captain Vane, determined to stand by their oath to the very end, and those like Captain Throckmorton, happy to be the first to betray it." "And thus, as always, to traitors..."" "Does he even know?" "Mr. Silver?" "Does he have any idea you're using his name?" "What flows forth from this house, starting tonight, is a new story for Nassau." "I've watched her follow mad men." "I've watched her follow rich men." "I've watched her bow before tyrants." "But now it's time she had a king." "When we're ready, when he's ready, he'll step into the role we've created for him... and lead an impossible army into an unwinnable war... and win it." ""Captain Throckmorton's black spot will not be the last." "Ignore it, and join him." "Heed it, and reclaim your place amongst us." "Until then, I remain..." "Long John Silver.""