Page 44 of Blow Me Down
“An instant message, although I suppose the instancy of it could be debated.”
“Ah. Is it? Well, then, ye’d best be answerin‘ it, hadn’t ye? If it’s instant and all.” She heaved herself to her feet, hand on her back as she straightened up.
“I’ll be on me way home. Will we be seein’ ye for dinner, or just supper?”
“Supper only, I think. I’ll have lunch with Bart, or do a bit of inventorying at the fruit stall for a few things.”
She nodded and scurried off before I could say anything else, which was just fine with me. I took a quick look around to make sure no one else was lurking in the wings, then ran my eyes over the letter quickly.
Dear Amy,
It goes without saying that I hope this note finds you hale and hearty, not tomention deliciously pink and nibbleworthy, especially those delectable breasts ofyours, which, I would like to point out with no little complaint, haunted mythoughts all night long. I never should have let you go. Holder lectured me the entireway to Mongoose about the proper way a pirate behaves toward his woman, butdespite me pointing out that you weren’t, as yet, my woman, he didn’t listen to me.
I spent the night dreaming about you. I spent the morning wishing you were here, soI could talk to you. Well, all right, I also spent both the night and the morningfantasizing about what I’d like to do to you at a private little cove I know of, butI’m going to take the high ground here so you don’t think I want you just for thatlush body that haunts my every waking (and sleeping) thought. No, no, I want youfor your mind, too. I like your mind. It’s a nice mind. Full of wit and character andinteresting thoughts I’d like to get to know more.
I don’t suppose you spent the night pining for my strong, manly arms? Sigh. A mancan hope. Speaking of me, would you marry me?
Was that a shriek you just uttered? I suspect it was, because although I don’t knowthat witty, interesting mind of yours really well, I’m pretty sure you‘re even nowsitting and shaking your head, cursing me and all men, etc. Before you get yourpanties in a bunch… wait, I need a moment to savor that visual image… beforeyou come right out and turn me down, thereby breaking my heart and associatedinternal organs, I’d like to mention a couple of things that might make you thinktwice:
1. A marriage in the game is not a legally binding device anywhere in the realworld. It’s actually a mechanism by which we allow two characters to pool resources.
Nothing more. Well, you could make more of it if you wanted, but I’ll leave thattotally up to you. Although I reserve the right to dwell with much fondness onthoughts of a wedding night.
2. Why do you need pooled resources? If you insist on staying on Turtle’s Back,which you give every evidence of doing, you’re going to need both money andsupplies very soon. The island is about to be blockaded, which means no ships willbe allowed in or out of the harbor, and since Bart relies heavily on weekly trips tonearby islands to forage for food and supplies, life is about to become very hard forcitizens there. I can’t stop the blockade, but if you were my wife, even in name only,you would be able to access the supplies on the blockade ships so that you wouldsuffer no undue hardship.
3. Er… I guess there is no real third item other than if you married me, we‘d beable to continue those activities we started on my ship. Yes, we could continue themregardless (and I’d be happy to—just say the word), but Holder is dying to marrysomeone in the game, and if you don’t say yes, I’m afraid I’m going to have to marrya sheep or something just so he’ll stop nagging me. So, I guess pity is the third item.
Save me from a sheep bride!
Please let me know what you think, and what you‘re doing, and how you are, andhow many times you thought about me resuscitating your breast, and whether or notthe other one has forgiven me for not getting around to it. I’ll be waiting as patientlyas I can for your reply.
Regards,
Corbin
Chapter 11
Go, ye heroes, go to glory,
Though you die in combat gory,
Ye shall live in song and story.
—Ibid, Act II
“Ahoy, lass,” Bart said as one of his ruffian pirates opened the door for me to enter the library. Standing around the room were Pangloss and four other men I didn’t recognize, but all of them wore the air of men who spent more time at sea than onshore.
“ ‘Hoy, Bart,” I said politely, giving Pangloss a little wave. “I understand that you wanted to see me?”
“Aye, we’re havin‘ a council of war, and since Pangloss tells me ye be right at home on yer ship, I’ve decided to temporarily overlook the fact that ye haven’t yet fulfilled yer duties to the crew, and include ye in the council of war.”
“War?” I wasn’t about to touch his reference to my supposed assassination of Corbin. Bart could hold his breath until he was blue—it wasn’t going to happen. “What sort of war? The kind with guns and cannons and blood and people dying? That sort of war? Or a virtual pretend war where no one really gets hurt?”
The men all stared at me like I had toadstools sprouting from the top of my head. I sighed and scratched them all off my Potential Paul list. “Right. The bloody kind.”
“All war is bloody, lass,” Pangloss said grimly, and I knew he was thinking about the brother he’d lost in Corbin’s raid on the island. Despite knowing that none of the men who died were real, I was having more and more trouble separating my emotions for the people I met here from the emotions I had for the people I knew in real life. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the survivors and made a mental note to have a talk with Corbin about the hostilities between him and Bart. A game with pirates was one thing, but when they started killing people… well, that was something else entirely.
“Aye, and this one will likely be especially bloody,” Bart agreed. He hurried through introductions of the four officers, all of whom leered at me in the best pirate style before passing around a bottle of rum. I declined the rum, slumping into the chair Bart offered me and watching as he unrolled a map on the surface of a lovely rosewood desk. “ ‘Tis come to me ears that Black Corbin allied his crew with the Jolie Rouge.”
