The Admiral

James Morgan

We arrived at the Fleet Headquarters building to find it completely engulfed in an inferno of flames. Arden stops me from getting out of the carriage, and there’s a small explosion somewhere in the rear of the building.

“We can’t stay. This is Wyatt’s handiwork; he must have known I was here,” Arden taps on the roof of the carriage with her newly acquired saber, “Selvin, take us to the inn!”

“Yes ma’am.”

I watch as Arden lifts up the seat in front of us to reveal a hidden compartment filled with clothing. She hands me a different jacket and starts to pull pants on under her dress. I take off the more formal clothing and start changing into a more casual outfit.

Arden shows me the back of her dress and holds up a dagger, “Can you take this off, there are too many buttons.”

I take the knife and start cutting off the tiny buttons along the back of her dress, “Where were you keeping this knife?”

“I’ll show you later, turn around,” I turn around and listen to her struggling to pull her dress off over her head, “Putain d’enfer, dresses are so ridiculously impractical.”

Shortly after getting changed Arden stuffs our dinner outfits into the storage area and the carriage stops.

“We’re here ma’am,” Selvin calls out quietly and climbs down to open the carriage door. I get out first and offer my hand to Arden as she climbs out, but she doesn’t seem to notice it as she straps the saber to her belt.

So many questions rattle one by one through my head as I follow her into the inn. Why would Wyatt want to kill Arden? They were friends at the Academy and now he’s not only a self-proclaimed Pirate King, but destroying Fleet buildings in order to eliminate her?

I watch Arden as she discreetly talks to the innkeeper who hands her a key. As she comes by me, she surprises me by taking my hand and leading me to the back of the building. Arden uses the key to unlock a barred metal gate in the cellar just as the innkeeper comes down with a lit lantern for us. Once Arden locks us on the other side of the gate she hands the innkeeper the key and he hands her the lantern.

“Arden, why does Wyatt want to kill you?” I ask as we make our way through the dark, dank tunnel.

“Wyatt seems to be under the impression that I took something that he was owed. If you ask me, I think he’s taking it all a little too personally.”

“May I ask what it was?”

“I can’t tell you that, yet.”

“Yet?”

“Whether I tell you anything depends entirely on you, in good time.”

“I’ve never did like riddles.”

I look over at Arden whose face is illuminated by the dim lantern, she’s smiling, “Me neither.” It’s then I notice the walls in these tunnels are white and run my fingers across the strange texture as we walk. “It’s coral. This whole island is one giant lump of ever-growing coral.”

We reached the end of the tunnel to reach a ladder, I climbed up first to move the big heavy grate covering the entrance and climb out. When Arden reaches the top of the ladder, I offer my hand and when she takes it, I lifted her right out of there. She might be as light as a feather but hits like a ton of bricks in a fight.

We cover up the hole again, and I see we’re outside some sort of large building, “It’s a rum distillery, it’s one of the ways the Fleet funds itself. Good thing Wyatt doesn’t know about this place or the whole Fleet would dry up and we'd have a mutiny to deal with.”

I follow Arden inside through a large warehouse-like space until she leads up to a small, simple cottage and knocks on the door. A young black girl peeks through the door, when she sees Arden, she nods and opens the door wider. Much to Arden’s amusement I have to duck in to enter the doorway which is quite small.

Once inside the girl leaves without another word and Arden starts to take off her boots, “This is us tonight, make yourself at home,” she leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and seems to slump over in thought. “What a fucking mess. God, I hope no one died.”

I pick up the bottle of rum on the table and read the label before pouring two glasses. Arden quickly drinks hers and holds her empty glass my way for a refill. When she downs that I sit down and watch her as she goes about the cabin looking for something.

Never in a million years could I have imagined that I’d find Arden again, yet here we are, and there she is rummaging through a dresser. A part of me wants to take advantage of the situation, we’re finally alone without a soul nearby, but after the attack on Headquarters with potential loss of life puts a damper on the whole idea of spending a night together.

I sat down on a chair and took off my boots. I’ll drink the rum, I’ll go to sleep, and we’ll see what craziness tomorrow will bring. I lean my head back and stare at the ceiling. To say it’s been an interesting day is an understatement, and as I resign myself to keeping my distance from Arden for proprieties sake, only two glasses of rum later turned out my Arden had her own ideas of what we should do that night.

I hear her moving to stand before me, and when I lift my head to look at her, I notice she’s taken her hair out. The way she’s looking at me is conflicting, almost as if two voices in her head were battling for control. I put down my glass and held out my hand. Her eyes never leave mine as she comes closer and slips her tiny hand into mine. I guided her to come to stand between my open legs, and my hands seemed to move to grip her hips on their own.

I look up at her and wait. For a long moment, her eyes scan mine before she seemingly comes to a decision and her eyes soften, “On the crossing from Barbados to England our passenger ship was set upon by pirates.”