© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
Dunstana, Kat, Amara, Lena, and Amara have found themselves in need of help. Specifically, help in n tracking down the lost treasure of the famous Pelayan pirate Maximino Felipe Espino, a reputed map to which Lena stole from a gang of pirates back in Porthaven, and which she intends to give as a birthday to her father, himself yet another famous pirate by the name of Captain Goblinbeard — although Captain Goblinbeard is indeed Goblin, he does not, in fact, even have a beard.
“Gingham Gregory” Rackman-Kowalski came not so much highly recommended by his cousin Plaid Jack, as shrugged at…
Unfortunately, he has proven the only pirate willing and able to sail the five young ladies to the place indicated on the old map.
“Mr. Rackman,” Lena asks. “Are we getting close to the island?”
“It’s Rackman-Kowalski,” the pirate corrects.
“Mr. Rackman-Kowalski,” Lena says.
“It’s Captain,” Gingham Gregory replies.
“Captain Rackman,” Lena begins, promptly being cut off.
“Actually,” he says, “It’s Commodore.”
“Wait,” Lena notes. “You just said Captain.”
The pirate shrugs. “Commodore sounds better,” he muses. “Plus, it’s a higher rank.”
“So, hey, whatever your name is,” Lena asks. “Are we getting close to the island?”
“Sure, sure,” Gingham Gregory says. “A nice, easy cruise to the island. Nice, sheltered bay to make anchor, sandy beach, white sand. Quick trip across the island. We follow the map, we find the treasure. In and out in an afternoon. Yes, sir. Easy-peasy.”
“What aren’t you telling us?” Kat asks, narrowing her eyes at the pirate — and not just because his garish outfit is making her eyes water.
“Madam, you wound me,” the pirate says, “besmirching my honour and good name in such a wise, suggesting that I’d ever intend to steal the treasure for myself, maroon you and your friends on the island, and scarper off. Why, my cousin Plaid Jack surely must have told you of my legendary trustworthiness and integrity.”
Kat is not reassured by this.
“Mors Dira. You ever been?” Gingham Gregory continues. “Lovely this time of year. No hungry monsters, certainly no horrible little bird-lizard things, no raving pirates who’ve been marooned there for years. Nary a smoking volcano or vast expanse of jaggedy rocks. Why, it’s practically a vacation.”
He’s lying. Kat just knows. There’s something awful waiting for them on the island. And that name probably means something like ‘Seven Thousand Torments’ or ‘The Island That Eats Your Face’.
Amara frowns. “That name means Dreadful Death in Elven!”
“Called it,” Kat says to herself.
“Like I said,” Gingham Gregory says, “easy-peasy.”
“I’m quite sure I don’t believe you,” Amara notes.
“Hey,” Gingham Gregory asks, flashing his golden tooth. “Would I lie to you?”
Dunstana nods wordlessly.
“Yes,” says Kat.
“Yes,” says Lena.
“As a matter of fact,” Amara says. “You’ve lied to us rather frequently and unabashedly already.” She smiles icily and concludes with a pointed “Mr. Rackman.”
“It’s Admiral, actually,” he replies. “‘Admiral Gingham Gregory Rackman-Kowalski.’ Oh, I like the sound of that. I can get me some of those little shoulder thingies.”
Lena throws up her hands in exasperation .“You just said to call you Commodore! You’re still lying to us!”
“Guilty as charged. But what can I say? I’m the ambitious sort,” Gingham Gregory says. “And let me ask you this, would I lie to you going forward?”
Dunstana nods wordlessly.
“Yes,” says Kat.
“Yes,” says Lena.
“Katherine,” Amara declares, hefting her parasol. “I’m going to hit him with my parasol. That ought to set him straight.”
“Let it go, Amara,” Kat says. “Or at least wait until we’re back at port. He’s a jerk, but for right now, he’s our jerk.”
The full list of my October 2021 Realmgard Short Scenes is here.
The master list of all my Short Scenes is here.
If you’ve enjoyed my content, please consider supporting me through Ko-fi or Patreon, or through Paypal by scanning the QR code below:
Follow Realmgard and other publications of Emona Literary Services™ below:
Subscribe to the Emona Literary Services™ Substack newsletter here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author prohibits the use of content published on this website for the purposes of training Artificial Intelligence technologies, including but not limited to Large Language Models, without express written permission.
All stories published on this website are works of fiction. Characters are products of the author’s imagination and do not represent any individual, living or dead.
The realmgard.com Privacy Policy can be viewed here.
Realmgard is published by Emona Literary ServicesTM
