Welcome

[Garrick Barnsley]

Date: 6th of August 1719
Place: Tortuga, Basse Terre

It was a clear night over the Caribbean. The stars shone brightly and there sitting on his usual spot on a convenient root of a lone tree was the Grey Traveler. Aside from the star and the moon light only a gentle orange light brightened his face due to the pipe he was smoking. Quietly he was mumbling a few things to himself in between taking another drag off the pipe and then giving a few coughs in response. But he enjoyed the pipe weed too much to give it up. Besides, he had done it all his life so why stop just because of a little bit of a cough?

From his little spot by the tree he could see where most of the smugglers and pirates would moor their ships, but tonight there were no ships there. The view of the sea was unobstructed and as Garrick blew out a ring of smoke he mumbled: “Curious” however he knew that wasn’t odd for ships to come and go, however it almost seemed like an ill omen of what was to come if the French and British Navy would succeed in their task. One day Tortuga might end up empty because no ship would dare sail there. Garrick sat a while in silence while the rest of his thoughts remained inside his head. He had heard the most disturbing rumor on his last visit to Port-de-Paix and unfortunately enough voiced had confirmed it to be true. The Caribbean Siren had been sunk and the crew had vanished or scattered. This was ill news and Garrick knew many in Tortuga with friends or family on that ship.

He hadn’t noticed that someone was approaching in the otherwise empty night, the last close footsteps were concealed by a cough that made him put down his pipe for a moment and take a sip of water from his flask. However once he had himself back under control he leaned back against the tree and put the pipe back in his mouth. “Hmm… Most curious” He repeated as his gaze once more found the quiet ocean and he thought of the fate that might have met those brave sailors of the Siren.

[Maribel Vargas]

Maribel was hurrying home, after having concluded a successful business, meant to result in a supply of 300 bottles of fine French brandy. She prided herself that the “Elixir d’Armagnac” had always the best drinks on any customer’s taste, be he from a French-speaking, English-speaking or Spanish-speaking area. The Dutch pirates and smugglers were less picky, they would drink French brandy or English gin or whiskey, according to each personal preference.

The road was lighted enough by a more than half moon. She was familiar with her surroundings and she wasn’t frightened to walk unaccompanied during night time, especially that the distance was short and she had the little carriage – not the one who had brought a groom to Cayona two weeks ago, but her usual business one.

As she was headed towards her place, she saw an old man smoking his pipe. The white hair and beard were shining in the moonlight, and the cough was… well, distinctive enough for one of her special customers. All these details couldn;t make for anyone else than the Grey Traveller...

”Good evening!” she said, a bit louder. ”If you were heading to Elixir d’Armagnac, I am giving you a ride!”

[Garrick Barnsley]

Completely consumed by his own thoughts, Garrick didn’t notice the sound of a carriage that approached and not even when it stopped did he move to look at it. However once a familiar voice bid him a good evening, Garrick turned his head and looked at the young woman sitting on the wagon. “Hmm?” He said before he took the pipe out of his mouth. “I take it you have no faith in the strength of my legs?” He asked in a serious tone while looking at the girl for a moment. But then he couldn’t hold back a deep and heartwarming laughter. “Maribel Vargas” He said as he finally managed to stop laughing. “I see no better travel companion for my final destination of this day”

With slow moves he managed to get his old bones back up from the root he was sitting on and then he took his walking stick and strode over towards Maribel and her carriage. He gave the content a brief glance before he took a seat next to Belle. Once again he gazed out over the mooring area where no ships were seen. “Difficult times are ahead of those brave sailors” He said quietly and then spent a few moments lighting his pipe again. “I fear this sight might soon be very common in Tortuga, should the British and the French tighten their noose even further” He placed his pipe in his mouth and blew out a few clouds of smoke before turning to Maribel again. He gave her a smile and then changed the topic completely. “How have you been?” He asked in a friendly voice and once again gave the bottles in the back a glance. “Still managing the tavern on your own, I see”

[Maribel Vargas]

Maribel smiled at the old man’s comment.

”I do have faith in the strength of the well trained legs belonging to the Grey Traveler,” she smiled. ”What if I enjoy the company of such a fine gentleman and I want you by my side? Would you reject a lady in these circumstances?” she teased him until he recognized her and he admitted that he liked her company too.

They had befriended each other more than two years ago, when the Grey Traveler had arrived for the first time to her inn, and it got cemented further during the forthcoming visits. If she adopted pirates, street urchins and damsels in distress, she could say about Garrick that he was sort of her grandfather.

”Glad to see you! Tell me, what have you seen or heard interesting in your travels?” she asked, before he got comfortably seated by her side.

His answer surprised her – the lament for the sailors’ fate and the alliance between the two colonial powers.

”I fully agree with you. We had seen what it meant when they captured the two pirate ships in May, then they caught Sol Picador too, and it took a great luck in order to have them escape the noose,” she said, without admitting her involvement.

When he inquired about her well-being, she smiled with bright eyes:

”I am well, thank you. And even more than managing the tavern on my own – there is nobody else to pay a share to, for a while. Goeland had sunk several months ago. The inn is entirely mine now, and the business is going well.” she said.

She wanted to add that she was happily in love too, but this could be kept for later, as she expected from him new teasings.

[Garrick Barnsley]

“Oh no… I could never reject a lady if she desired my company” Garrick said and gave Maribel a wink. “Especially not when she will go to the same place as I” He leaned back and took a deep breath before placing the pipe in his mouth again. He sat for a while in silence after Maribel had inquired to know about his travels. Only the glow in his pipe that flickered brightly orange every time he took a drag off it. As he was about to answer he started coughing and even that took a while before he had managed to catch his breath again. He looked down at his pipe knowing that he would probably have to stop smoking it for the night.

“Yes… There are always interesting things to see and hear when travelling the lands…” He said quietly and then decided to continue smoking. As he blew out a cloud of smoke he looked at it for a moment before turning his head to look at her. “The French and British Colonies are in celebration these days” He said trying to think of a good way to give Maribel the information about the ship that had been the home for so many of her friends.

Garrick had to take another drag of his pipe before he could continue. Luckily though, before he had a chance, Maribel had started to tell him about the escape that Sol had from a French prison. He nodded and smiled. “Yes… I heard about that” He said and added: “And I also heard that it was a group of women who helped him out” He gave Maribel a knowing smile. Because even if he didn’t say anything out loud, and even if he knew nothing for certain, he knew that Maribel would have been a part of it if she could. That was just the type of person she was.

A smile formed on Garrick’s face as Maribel started to tell him how she had been and how the tavern was now her own. It pained him that he held information that would ruin her night and sometimes he felt like a no more than a bringer of ill news. The smile disappeared from his face. He looked at the young girl by his side for a moment and then took a deep breath again. A deep breath of fresh air and not through his pipe. “My dear Belle…” He started. His deep voice sounded heavy. “I fear that I am an ill guest in your inn this night… for I bring with me ill news…”

[Maribel Vargas]

Maribel smiled at the old man’s flirty answer, only to get worried by his cough.

”I don’t like this cough, have you tried plantain tea? Nutshells and onion leaves do good to it too!” she said, then continuing with scolding him: ”You shouldn’t smoke if your lungs don’t like it anymore!”

She sort of liked the smell, and the clouds of smoke which could get any shape they wanted to. Maribel looked at him, paying attention like a good child to the old man’s stories, as she always did. He had a talent in storytelling, and she liked listening to him. The first news, about the colonies in celebration, made her frown in wonder:

”I haven’t heard anything… and what holiday could be in Kingston? In Port de Paix they celebrate Transfiguration today, but as far as I know they don’t keep it as high as in Spain.”

When he said that he knew some women had helped Sol escape, his gaze met hers, and the smile confirmed her that he knew, or at least he suspected she was one of them. Her smile answered him, but after a while he became sober. He was trying to tell her something… Bad news?

Maribel shuddered in anticipation, making a wide sign of the cross, as if it could protect her of what Old Garrick had to say.

”You know you are always welcome at Elixir d’Armagnac! And if you have bad news, I think I am seated well here for now to take them…”

Strangely, but she wasn't thinking for a second at the "Caribbean Siren", that this might be the subject of the news.

[Garrick Barnsley]

Garrick gazed at Maribel for a brief moment as she asked him if he had tried some herbal tea for his cough. “Hmmhr!” Came the deep answer out between his lips that still had to hold onto the pipe in his mouth. “My lungs are as strong as my legs!” He added when the young woman started to scold him to quit the habit. “Besides you wouldn’t deny an old man his little likings, Hmm?” He added before sitting back and looking out at the narrow streets as they moved towards the tavern now formally owned by Belle.

Maribel’s questions about what sorts of holidays were ongoing in the British and French colonies made Garrick wonder even more if he should break the bad news to her. He knew that she saw Sol as a brother and that alone made it hard to tell her that the ship had not only been caught by the navy, but utterly destroyed and only a handful of people might have escaped. Garrick looked at her for a moment and didn’t answer her question about the holidays but instead jumped straight to the news.

“A seated you should be my dear…” He said in a serious tone. “For it seems that once more Sol Picador finds himself at the mercy of the Lord!” Garrick took another wheeze of his pipe and gave a little cough before continuing. “There are celebrations in Kingston and Port-de-Paix these days because in a combined strike, the Allied Navy succeeded in sinking the Caribbean Siren!” Garrick put an arm around Maribel’s shoulder and held her close. He thought for a brief moment for something positive to say. “But Sol is strong and resourceful… I do not think his tale is over yet”

[Maribel Vargas]

Sure, Old Garrick was the same as always, not willing to acknowledge his increasing age… If his lungs were as strong as his legs, she had something on the back of her tongue about it, but she preferred to keep silent. One can’t insult a customer… or somebody closer to her heart than a mere customer, even if he denies aging…

”You have a point with not denying a little pleasure,” she smiled, not expecting the next blow of the bad news.

She was seated by his side, driving the mule, as she had no fancy horse like Taker had bought. When hearing that Sol was in danger, her heart almost stopped, as she was not thinking only about him. Especially that Garrick continued with the news of the “Caribbean Siren” getting sunk, she felt simply lacking air. His comforting arm around her shoulders couldn’t do much. It was as if her mind refused to work anymore too.

She took a deep breath, released it, then she left, with trembling hands, the reins on Garrick’s knees. She couldn’t drive even the calm, rather old, peaceful mule. She didn’t notice the tears falling freely on her cheeks until the sobs suffocated her again. Her mind was screaming: ”No, it is not possible!” but she knew that it was. She had lost Herve in a battle, and if the Navies had such a success, of course they were celebrating it. ”Please, God, don’t take Cass from me! And if I can implore for your mercy as concerns Baptiste and Sol too…”

She heard the old man’s encouragement, and when she found the strength to speak again, she asked him:

”What do you know about the survivors? Or any other details, please! It’s not only Sol…”

She started crying again, not knowing which alternative was worse: Cass dead, may God forbid it, or prisoner under tortures, and following to be sent to the gallows.

[Garrick Barnsley]

While Garrick enjoyed the company of Maribel and enjoyed teasing her in a friendly manner, it was also with the constant knowledge that he also would have to break some bad news to her. Something that he didn’t like to do. Especially not when he knew that Maribel probably had been quite distraught when Sol was captured the last time. Now he brought news that would no doubt hurt and rip up in old feelings. Especially because Maribel had lost people to the sea before and while Garrick knew that Sol was more like a brother to her than anything else. He knew how important he was in her life.

Without any hesitation the old man took the reins when Maribel dropped them and guided the cart along toward the cozy little inn where Maribel would probably need a lot more than just rest now. He was looking at her and could see her mind working to think of everything and she did nothing to hold back her tears. While still handling the reins with one hand he put his pipe away and looked down at Maribel as she asked about the survivors. He took both hands back on the reins and thought for a moment. “The sinking of the Caribbean Siren brings with it a lot of questions… And I do not have all the answers, Maribel” He said and took a deep breath. “Sailors brag about having killed and captured the entire crew but the stories vary as to how many there were onboard the pirate ship… And sailors ashore exaggerate to impress the girls in the taverns… You know this… I do know this though… Sol was not captured! The French would not risk having him escape from their grasp a second time so he either escaped or died a death worthy of a Captain!” Yes he was blunt but he had never been known as a man who concealed anything. But when he heard Maribel mention others he misunderstood her. Where she was thinking about Cass, he thought she just tried to say that she also felt bad for the rest of the crew whom she no doubt knew as well for visiting her inn. “Yes many lives certainly have been lost that shouldn’t and some seems to have been spared who should have perished long ago… But that is for God to decide” Garrick said and thought of the things he had heard of Red Ben and the course of action that he had taken to no doubt start this avalanche of events.

[Maribel Vargas]

If Garrick wasn’t swift enough to take the reins and drive them to the inn, Maribel probably wouldn’t have been able to do it. She was still crying, unable to stop, while he confessed that he had not all the answers about the sinking of the pirate ship. She knew well how the sailors bragged to impress the tavern maids; she had heard plenty of tall stories, taller than the ships the sailors belonged to, with a yarn spun as long as to build a bridge over the Atlantic – especially if the said sailors were a little tipsy too. She had rolled her eyes hearing about brave pirates having dueled with five men at once, about coffers of gold earned and lost… Nothing was new to her, except the question, in this present case, “What if there was the slightest shade of truth? And which was it?”

She smiled when hearing that Sol was not captured. Yes, it was possible to have been dead in battle – and it was possible for Cass and any others too. But at the same time, they might have escaped... Not all sailors could swim, but she knew that Cass, Sol and Baptiste could. So maybe they were alive, somewhere.... When more at peace and able to focus, tomorrow or the day after, she would spread the cards to see if they were alive... Too bad that it could mean prison too, this she couldn't know for sure...

”I guess we’ll have to wait for the trial in order to learn the names of the prisoners, is it so? They are announced only with the sentence, as far as I remember,” she asked, helpless, thinking that the waiting would kill her before learning if Cass …or who exactly was among them.

Garrick was blunt and she usually appreciated it. Maribel wasn’t too much for sugarcoating things anyway.

”Yes, it is only up to God to decide,” she repeated his comforting words, thinking that she could do something before getting herself crazy with questions.

Tomorrow morning she will go to church. She will pray to all saints… and maybe she’ll find mercy for the troubled souls of those she was caring for.

”I am grateful to you that you came, Garrick, and that I have learnt it from you and not from a stranger who would have delivered the news in an even worse way,” she said honestly. ”You are right, God might help the ones I love.”

Until arriving to the inn, there was time to wipe out her tears with the corner of the shawl, take a deep breath and think how to tell the others that they would have to pray too. She knew at least two who would.

[Garrick Barnsley]

It wasn’t something that Garrick enjoyed to bring these ill news to a woman he saw more like a granddaughter than anything else. Especially not because Garrick as well knew Sol and had found him a good guy. He had even at first like any other assumed that he and Maribel had been lovers. But when told otherwise he had of course believed them. “Sol has many spies in Kingston and some in Port-de-Paix” he said quietly. “I am certain that they know more than me… But you know that news don’t travel quickly across the sea.”

Garrick sat quietly for a while thereafter thinking about his own part in all this. And finally when Maribel thanked him for being the one to tell her about the fate of the Siren, he decided what he had to do. He offered her a kind smile and carefully stroked her hair. “You are welcome, my dear” He said and pondered for a brief moment. “You have many good barmaids… Let them handle the inn tonight so you can get some rest… You will need it!” He said and nodded. “I will not remain her long though. I will be on the first boat heading off the island… There are many questions that needs answering and I can rest on a ship between my travels… But I will come back as soon as I can… with better news than now or hopefully just answers to clarify it all”

[Maribel Vargas]

Garrick was trying his best to encourage her, not knowing her thought flow which had left Sol long time ago, worrying about Cass the most. Yes, it was true. The pirate spies – Cathy, Anne and the others – would know more. If certain pirates succeeded to survive without getting prisoners, these were the ones to help them first of all, in order to arrange with the smugglers (or with the fishermen, for Port de Paix) a passage to Tortuga…

”Yes, Garrick, you are right. I have to be strong and wait to see who returns and what prisoners are mentioned… It’s not only the Caribbean Siren’s captain I am worried about, my heart is given to the master gunner,” she confessed with a blush, expecting to get teased – if not for any other reason, because she fell for another man into her late husband’s trade.

It was not fair to lose Cass now too… But wait a moment, who said he was lost at sea? There was still a hope, for each of them… Nobody was dead until announced so; and even when announced, without proof, there still remained a faint hope…

Garrick’s comforting touch was exactly what she needed… and the advice was not bad at all either.

”I can retire earlier tonight, and I would do it, but at the same time I would be eternally damned if I don’t offer you proper hospitality, Garrick! I am sure Cathy has some roast chicken, paella, if you like some soup too…” she smiled weakly at him. ”And be sure we’ll meet again tomorrow morning, before you leave, to have a cup of spiced coffee together – you know it’s only at Elixir d’Armagnac you find it with this flavour!”

Of course they’ll meet – could she sleep enough after such news? True, she would have preferred to take a free evening in totally different conditions… but he was right. She shouldn’t show her sorrow now. Maybe tomorrow she would find a way to tell the others too…

[Garrick Barnsley]

Garrick looked up at Maribel’s heartbroken confession. She had given her heart to another man. The master gunner no less. While Garrick didn’t know the man personally he was sure he had at least seen him once or twice. However Garrick would have preferred to hear of Maribel’s new love under better circumstances and the fact that she now had even more to grieve and worry about troubled Garrick. For while he knew Sol and his character, He had no real recollection of the master gunner. Still he gazed down at Maribel without a word and merely comforted her with his hand softly brushing over her hair.

As Maribel started to argue that he couldn’t yet leave he cut her off quickly. “I will enjoy your tavern’s hospitality soon enough Belle!” he said in a strict but still kind tone. “But I can not linger when time is the only thing we do not have… There are too many questions and so few answers… I must leave” He paused for a moment and looked up at the stars. He remembered Maribel’s gypsy skills and her card reading and when he looked back at her he offered her a smile. “Yes… Tonight you must rest… Do not look for answers in your cards, Maribel… For your feelings are unsettled and you may misinterpret what they tell you… Instead go to sleep knowing that our Lord is kind… and more importantly… Fair... Trust him, Maribel”

[Maribel Vargas]

Maribel felt alleviated that no teasing came from him this time, only a comforting caress on her hair. She read in his gaze all the compassion and understanding he could give. A promise to come again soon? This was nice.

”Then, what remains to me than bidding you good bye, wishing you the best and hoping to see you soon again, with better news?” she sighed.

Probably he feared that she wouldn’t be able to keep her composure in the given situation, and that she would ask him many questions he couldn’t answer. She didn’t intend to; however, how could a man know this?

She smiled when he continued with his advice:

”You are right, Garrick. I am fully aware of this and I won’t. I intend only to pray tonight. I trust in God, and He will give me all the answers I need.”

Of course – tomorrow morning she’ll go to church… maybe she would find there a bit of comfort and the needed hope.

”And, please, come back to me! You need to be properly fed and spoiled from time to time, and even the well known traveler might need a few days of rest,” the innkeeper tried to persuade him.

– THE END –