Jack finished and at last decided to ask his slave what her name really was. She replied with a long gaggle of mostly Spanish sounding names but he was sure he caught a hint of something Greek in there too. Well hard to be sure about that, young Jack had spent more time looking out of the window at milkmaids’ bottoms than at his books no matter how often his tutor flogged him.
“Well I think I heard Hortensia in there somewhere so I shall call you Flower,” He smiled softly as he pulled his clothes back together, “Now Flower stick on that shirt in the corner, good, now follow close behind me, I really do not trust these rogues even if they have plenty of bitches of their own.”
As Jack made his way on deck he found a few more fellows had woken up, those without immediate duties were lounging in the sun or playing dice for handfuls of coin, money was always easy come, easy go in the pirate’s life.
“I hear tell the Captain is building a monster with those Spanish and Irish shipwrights we stole out of Havana,” One of the loungers was saying.
“Yes, two hundred guns and she as big as the leviathan out of the good book,” Agreed another.
Jack had to smile. That wily old Redbeard conjured his rumours well. Before long any merchant men that saw the Bleeding Skull flag that was his emblem would haul down its colours and surrender without a shot being fired. Better the chance to work your way up from slave to pirate seaman than go down to Davy Jones after suffering the torture and degradations that Redbeard reserved for those who attempted to defy him.
Still the Black Shark would be a fine ship, two decks of artillery and with luck she could stand against a true battleship. Manning her would be the devil’s own bitch but then Red Beard could always supplement her crew with slaves, after all a ship that size still only needed the same number of actual sailors the rest were just for hauling of the ropes that worked gun and sheet and spar.
It made Jack wonder what would happen to the Queen now? Well maybe he would get command? He hoped so but he did not know for sure, Redbeard always kept his counsel close and Jack on his toes. He would tell Jack what Savage needed to know when he needed to know and not a minute before.
Jack stopped and Flower accidentally bumped into him before flinching back as if expecting to be struck. Not so hot for the whip now as she was earlier he suspected, an interesting if confusing wench. “Don’t worry so my pretty, I am thinking food, let me go kick Cookie till he rustles us up some grub,” Jack smiled, nothing like eating not unbearable food with a hot woman next to you, the sun overhead, the sea fine running and the very world feeling as if it were in your grasp.