Sons of the Tide (mlm)

Chapter 1: The Desert Isle's Prisoner

Joseph Jones

Joseph squinted into his spyglass, observing the desert island as it grew closer and closer to his ship. His first mate, ever the sly woman, got one of the Red Wave's crew drunker than drunk on one of her little trips to the pirates cove and managed to get some interesting information on something of value to the captain of the Red Wave. Poor bastard was found dead the next morning in his bed, murdered in his drunken, naked sleep. Word around the tavern was he'd been seen with a ginger-headed woman leading him up the stairs towards the rooms on the second floor and he never came down. He'd had it coming, being part of the Red Wave's crew. Cecelia hated them as much as her captain.

Captain Hawke was the first and only name on Joseph's list of enemies, and if he could get his hands on whatever he'd hidden on that island... let's just say it would be well worth his while.

Cecelia stepped to his side and looked past the side of their ship, the Tide's Voyage. "We're approaching the shallows, captain."

"Drop the anchor." He lowered his spyglass and used his palms to collapse it so he could tuck it into the pocket of his coat. "We'll row up to shore and find whatever is on that island."

She nodded and turned, shouting a list of orders at the crew. Joseph kept his eyes on the island, now we'll within view of the ship. There were no trees, just an island of sand and a rock formation in the middle. The rocks had a gap in the middle, like the entrance to a cave. Whatever Hawke was keeping there, it would be in that cave.

He didn't see any other ships, not even rowboats on the shore. Hawke and his crew left their possession unguarded. He probably figured no one would dare steal from him, which was true for anyone but Joseph and his crew. They all despised him and had enough hatred to quell their fear. Besides, the island was remote and not on many maps due to its barren and inhabitable terrain. No one was looking for it.

When they reached the shore, Joseph and Cecelia left two of their men in the row boat with their guns and tracked to the rock formation. It was hot, and the humidity only made it worse. Cecelia ditched her coat on the Tide, so she only wore a unbuttoned loose white shirt with a tie at her waist and a black male-shift cover for her breasts. Joseph, on the other hand, kept his heavy waist coat and hat. He was boiling.

When they finally made it to the center of the island, the rowboat was but a speck  in the distance and Cecelia was grumbling about the heat. She preferred the cooler weather of the oceans surface, much like he did.

He kept his hand on the gun at his waist as they entered the cave and followed the narrow paths until they found a single opening in the center. The sun shone down from a break in the rocks above them, illuminating the single object on the island.

It was a man, with olive skin and brown hair tied up on the back of his head. His hands and feet were bound in chains which suspended him upward from an iron bar across the opening of the cave. He looked up as they entered, his eyes dark and lips cracked. "Who the hell are you?"

Joseph stopped a few feet from him, wary of going closer. "I could ask you the same."

Cecelia ignored the man and looked at him. "This is what Hawke is hiding in the middle of the ocean?"

The man didn't move a muscle, probably because he was too weak. He had a festering wound on his cheek and dried blood peaking out of the loose fabric draping over his shoulders and arms. Joseph narrowed his eyes at him. "Whoever he is, he's important to Hawke. We're taking him."