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Today was the day. Gaelug sat on the floor staring up at the door, the setting sun painting the room in a faint orange through the single, small window. It was a small dingy room; a small table, couple of chairs, couple of cupboards and a bed, big enough for two. This was where she lived.
Gaelug sat staring at the door. The handle started to turn, her eyes lit up and the door began to open. A huge orcish man stood on the other side, bending over to fit through the door.
“Daddy!” Gaelug shrieked, rushing to wrap herself around his leg, barely able to reach up to his thigh.
Her father was Bardok, a truly great pirate, covered in scars but, remarkably, still completely in tact. No peg leg, eyepatch or hook hand in sight. He chuckled, bending over to pick her up and smiling as she hugged his neck and nuzzling herself into him. “You’ve gotten strong Bright Eyes! Careful or you’ll strangle the life out of me.” He walked into their room, setting himself, his bag and her down at the table. “Has Darla been taking good care of you?” Young Gaelug nodded. “Have you been a good girl?”
With excitement Gaelug hopped off her chair and ran over to a corner, lifting a floorboard and rummaged around under the floor until she pulled something out. She walked over to her dad, hiding it behind her back but unable to contain a massive grin on her face.
“What have you got there?” He asked, leaning down close to his daughter.
She bobbed on her feet a bit before shoving something in his face. “I found it down in the market.” Revealing a small pouch of purple velvet, she undid the strings and the tint of gold glittered within.
“You little thief!” Bardok gasped. “That’s my girl.” Whisking her into another hug and planting her on his lap. He spilled the coins on the table, eagerly counting them. “I think with this, we could get ourselves a real treat for dinner. Almost makes me feel bad about what I got for you.”
Gaelug’s eyes lit up. “What did you get daddy?” She knew, of course, her dad always got her the same gifts whenever he came back. But it was what she loved so he got them every time. He reached into his bag with Gaelug bouncing excitedly in his lap as he pulled out a book. It had a fine red cover, slightly worn but you could still see the picture on the front of a pirate facing off against some many-legged beast of the sea. “What’s this one about?”
Bardok smiled as she ran her hands over the book. “This is the tale of the first great pirate lord, Maria Gardoza. The woman who slew the Kraken and united pirates of old to build Greymouth.” Gaelug’s mouth was agape with anticipation. “But I think a better tale, is how I got a hold of this book. Why don’t I tell you over some food?”
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They rented a room above the Kraken’s Fifth Leg, a small tavern, one amongst many similarly named taverns across all of Greymouth. The owner, Darla, gave them a reasonable price and looked after Gaelug while her father was away. They sat at a table as Darla brought them over a couple bowls of fine stew, she was a hardy human woman always carrying a scowl, but this didn’t deter Gaelug. “Darla, Darla! Look at the book Daddy got me!” She said holding it up proudly.
Darla looked down at Gaelug as she placed the bowls in front of them. “You spoil the girl, Bardok.” He grinned, but there was no jest in her voice.
“I trust she hasn’t been much trouble, Darla?” He said, brushing passed her remark.
“No more than you. She keeps out of my hair well enough. But a couple of lads came looking for her the other day, I shooed them off, but she should learn to pick her marks more wisely.” She said pointedly, glaring at Gaelug who was pretending to look innocent.
Bardok took out a couple coins, placing them into her palm. “Thanks Darla.” He said with full sincerity. She nodded and walked off as he turned back to his daughter, putting on his fun fatherly façade again. “So, here we were.” He began, Gaelug immediately giving him her full attention. “We knew the storm was coming, seen it over the waters as we spotted this human navy ship.” Gaelug stuck out her tongue. “They were merchants judging by the flag, simple, easy, profitable. Thought it would be an easy take.
“Now, they spotted us sure as we spotted them and began to turn to sail away, but our ship was bigger and faster so we caught up to them well enough. BANG! Went our cannons. BANG BANG BANG! Wood flying off their ship as they slowed down, taking on water. Make sure to eat your food.” Bardok stopped to say. Gaelug nodded, stuffing her face while he continued. “Anyway, we came up alongside their ship leaping onto the deck, they weren’t many so we took them down real quick, but not before one of them navy blokes got a slash at my arm.”
Bardok lifted up his sleeve and sure enough there was freshly stitched wound, just above his elbow.
“Does it hurt?” Gaelug asked.
“Not really.” He lied, wincing a bit as she poked at it. “But when we took down the crew, we went into the captain’s room. Somehow he wasn’t in there, but he did have a big old bookshelf filled with books of all kinds.”
“That’s where you found Maria’s book?” Gaelug said, interrupting.
“Don’t rush a story, Gaelug. But that is where the book was, though I didn’t take it yet. Instead, we had to find where the captain was, so we went down below deck and sure enough found him hiding away in a corner, but he wasn’t alone. He’d pulled out dozens of barrels, holding a torch above them I recognised the smell of gunpowder. He swore at us as he dropped the torch, the whole ship going up in flame like FWOOSH." He gestured emphatically like an explosion with his hands. "Everyone ran, trying to get out, but I wasn’t going to leave empty handed, so I ran back upstairs into his office, immediately spotting that very book you’ve got there. I was just able to pick it up and stuff it in my shirt before the whole ship blew, launching me out the window and into the sea.” Gaelug gasped, stew dripping out of her mouth, down her chin. Bardok picked up a cloth and wiped at her face. “Don’t worry I’m fine, hurt a bit but I got back to our ship and most importantly, I got that book for you.”
Gaelug got out of her seat and went round the table to give her dad a big hug. “Thank you, daddy. It was a good story.”
“Anything for you, Bright Eyes.”
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Gaelug had drifted off to sleep in their bed, halfway through Maria’s book, but was woken early the next morning by the door creaking. “Daddy?” She said rubbing the sleep from her eyes and seeing him halfway out the door.
“Morning, Bright Eyes. You sleep a bit more, I’ve got to go back to the ship for now, but I’ll be back this evening, Ok?” Gaelug looked disappointed, but she understood. He was busy and important and had things he needed to do. “You just stay here today.”
“Ok daddy.” She said. But what he didn’t know was she was crossing her fingers under the covers. Today was a day for Gaelug, she’d planned this for a long time.
Once he was out the door, Gaelug threw on some clothes and rushed out the door. She was fast enough to catch him talking with Darla downstairs. They seemed to be having an argument over something, but that wasn’t uncommon. So Gaelug paid it no mind. Waiting for her father to leave and following him out the door into the streets of Greymouth.
Well, if they could be called streets that is. Greymouth was the de facto pirate capital of the world, it was a ramshackle series of buildings built out of old ships and hundreds of years of driftwood grafted between two gigantic sea stacks. It got the name because the jagged rocks at the entrance look like teeth. It was held together by barely more than rope, grit, spit and sheer pirate willpower. Bridges swung between the two sides while makeshift houses, taverns and shops reached all the way to the top.
At the top is of course where only the pirate lords lived, Gaelug and Bardok lived somewhere near the bottom. The winding paths and passages of Greymouth were a maze to anyone who had not lived there their entire life, as Gaelug had. So, she followed her father through busy streets, from one side to the other and down to the docks.
Ships galore clogged the waters below as Gaelug sat on a perch above it all, keeping her eyes on her father as he made his way through the crowds at the docks. While the rest of Greymouth was busy, this was a cut above. The sheer number of pirates and ships here was primarily the reason no navy ever hoped to come here. Many tried to send spies, but none ever lasted long and would more than likely find themselves suspended from the bridges of greymouth, throats slit with ‘Navy Dog’ signs strapped to them as a warning to any others.
After watching and following her father, Gaelug finally saw him climb onto a ship. It wasn’t the largest by far, but it also wasn’t the smallest. A reasonably sized vessel to say the least. Carefully she hopped down from building to building, landing on the docks below, walking closer she got a better look at the ship. She stared up at it, admiring the woodwork. It had no figurehead to stand out though. If Gaelug was in charge, she’d have the finest figurehead you could get. But after gawping for long enough, she eyed up the gangplank, at the top were a couple of brawny looking pirates, she’d never be able to sneak by them. But luckily there were ropes hanging down the side of the ship. So, after making sure the coast was clear she leapt over the open water to catch the hanging rigging.
Gaelug pulled herself up the rope slowly but surely, pulling herself up to peer onto the deck of the ship. She looked around the deck as pirates gathered, looking for her father. She spotted him off to one side talking with some drow in a fancy hat, then the drow handed him a mop and with a salute he started washing the deck? Gaelug couldn’t believe her eyes, this was beneath him. Without a second thought she leapt onto the deck, hearing surprised yelps from the crew, but she ignored them as she rushed over to Bardok. “What are you doing?” She demanded.
Surprised he looked down at Gaelug, a couple of other pirates tried to grab her but her father stopped them. “Whoa there, that’s my daughter. Gaelug, what are you doing here?” He leaned the mop against the railing.
“I asked first! What are you doing?” She asked again, staunchly.
Most pirates wandered off, but a couple stayed around to watch what was going on. “I’m working, I told you you’re not supposed to come down here.” He wasn’t angry, just surprised.
“But... but you’re swabbing...” She said, pointing at the mop. A few pirates laughed.
“Well... yeah?” Was all her father managed to say, before she took off, running across the deck, down the gangplank and all the way home without stopping.
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It was evening when Bardok got back, just as he’d promised. Gaelug wasn’t in their room, but he found her sure enough sitting on the roof of the tavern, legs dangling over the edge. She heard him climb out onto the roof but didn’t look at him. He sat down next to her. “What’s up, Bright Eyes? Sorry I couldn’t come back earlier, still needed to work, you see.”
“You lied to me.” She muttered.
He looked shocked. “What, when?”
Bardok tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. “All those stories, everything you said to me...”
“Hey. I’ve never lied to you, Bright Eyes. I may have pumped up the stories a bit, but I swear to you they were all true, why would you think they weren’t?” If Gaelug were to look at him, she’d see how hurt he looked.
“I thought you were a captain.” She said, causing her father to laugh and her to look at him, confused and unamused.
“Sorry, Gaelug.” His laughter stopped when he saw she clearly didn’t find it as funny as he did. “I don’t think I ever said I was a captain.” Gaelug scanned her memory, but truth be told, she couldn’t remember him saying it either.
“I thought you were like Maria Garzody...” She’d always pictured her father as this amazing pirate, like in the stories he read to her, she felt like her whole world vision was broken.
“Maria Gardoza.” He smiled, wrapping an arm over his daughter. She allowed it. “You know, Maria wasn’t alone. She had a crew behind her, working the ship, keeping it going. No one can do everything on their own. Not everyone is so important they get a story written about them, or songs sung about them. Most folks just get on by, no shame in that.”
Gaelug leaned against her father, thinking deep about what he said. He squeezed her gently as it grew darker, one by one the lights of Greymouth lit up around them as the last of golden evening sun disappeared from between the sea stacks. “I’m going to.” She said with conviction. “I’m going to have stories and songs and my own ship with a fancy figurehead and... and I’m gonna live at the top of the stacks and everyone’s going to know me!”
“Oh yeah?” Bardok grinned from ear to ear.
“Yeah! You’ll see. I’m gonna be the greatest pirate there ever was!” She said standing up and raising her fists and voice to the sky. “You don’t think I can?!”
Her father shook his head where she couldn’t see. “I bet you will, Bright Eyes, I’ve no doubt about it.”
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Gaelug stirred in her sleep. There was no light in her cabin, save for the last remnants of a dying candle. She felt movement next to her and turned to see Alina’s face looking at her in the gloom.
“You were dreaming.” Alina simply said. “You kept muttering Daddy. I assume it wasn’t about me?”
Gaelug laughed softly. “Not this time.” She said, leaning over to share a kiss with her lover before rolling back to stare wistfully at the ceiling. “Just remembering the last time I saw my father.”
“What happened to him?” Alina asked, still a bit groggy.
“Dunno. One day, he just never came back.” She said with a tinge of sadness.
Alina scoffed. “Pssh, Fathers.” She said with disdain. “I’d give you mine if I could, though he’s no less a bastard.
“Mine wasn’t really.” She said. “He didn’t leave; his whole ship went missing.”
“Oh.” Alina silently chastised herself. “Sorry.”
Gaelug reached over and pulled Alina close holding her lover’s hand in hers. “It’s alright, I was young and such is the pirate’s life. He’d always bring me a story book back after every voyage and read them to me. He loved doing the voices.”
Alina smiled as did Gaelug while drawing soft circles atop the pirate’s chest. “That’s sweet, I would’ve liked to have met him.”
Gaelug raised an eyebrow. “You’d have had to have him arrested.”
“Yes, but I’m sure it would’ve been fun.”