Ocean Storm (Queen of Piracy Duology #1)

Chapter 28: How will we survive?

Although I had been sailing for a few days, the events that took place in Port Royal wouldn't leave my mind. I know this sounds weird, but I felt as if my soul had been bruised multiple times. Sometimes I wanted to jump overboard, swim back to Port Royal and punch Sven until he begged me for mercy. Besides, it wasn't easy to tell the entire crew about Sven's betrayal, but at least no one blamed me for it. Everyone was furious about what had happened. Some people even punched my ship's walls after I told them the truth, which annoyed me since Kenneth had just fixed the broken wood. After I revealed what Sven had done, my crew seemed more eager to help me in defeating the British. Even though no one had told me that explicitly, I knew Dirk and I had to find new allies fast. The ideal would be finding a pirate that knew other pirates to form a massive fleet against the Navy. Of course, there was no way to be sure whether a battle would actually happen between buccaneers and British, but one can never be too careful. We would have to face our enemies sooner or later, regardless of how many ships they'd prepared. It was early afternoon and I rubbed my chin while trying to think of a solution.

"I know our new master gunner is great with cannons, but I'll miss Sven," Laurens approached me on the main deck. "I'm sure it wasn't easy to choose another person for the job."

"It really wasn't. Besides, it's so weird to sail without Sven!" I huffed and frowned. "A part of me still can't accept he's a disgusting traitor."

Laurens sighed and nodded, apparently reflecting on the subject. Francis tilted his head to the side as if he was curious to find out what my quartermaster was thinking. I squinted due to the burning sunlight. The terrible words Johannes and Sven had told me wouldn't leave my mind as I stared at the sun.

"I have an idea! There's a Spanish captain that goes to San Francisco de Campeche a lot and knows many other pirates," Laurens smiled while raising his brows. "You and Bosch could try to find him once we dock."

I frowned, wondering who he was talking about. I had indeed heard about Spanish buccaneers, but I didn't know their names and much less how they looked like. Besides, I preferred talking to Dutch ones since I didn't have to speak another language with them.

I cocked my head, "That's a good idea. What's his name?"

"I don't know, but he's known as El Dorado. Some men talked about him in a tavern when we went to Puerto Rico last month," Laurens sighed and gazed upward for a moment. "They said he's twenty-three, wears a lot of gold jewelry and is usually dressed in a dark green coat."

El Dorado? I've never heard of him...

"Maybe El Dorado suffered treason as well. If Sven and Arjen betrayed their captains, others could've done it too..." I took a deep breath as I thought of my next steps. "El Dorado will be more willing to help us if one of his crewmembers betrayed him."

"Let's hope so. There are other captains too, but it'd be great if we found El Dorado and secured an alliance quickly," Laurens raised his brows. "Plus, he's one of the most phenomenal captains ever! I heard that he stole more gold than any other pirate! I really want to meet him."

"That's impressive! Now you've got me intrigued about this guy," I smiled widely. "I'll like this Spanish captain even more if he punches Sven so hard that'll send him to hell."

We laughed loudly. Francis barked as if he agreed. Sometimes it annoyed me the fact my dog couldn't laugh. He would look adorable if he had that skill... Anyway, I'm getting distracted. At that instant, Maartje showed up at the main deck. She wouldn't stop staring at the floor. Her eyes were red, which showed that she had probably been crying. I sighed, feeling sad for her.

"We're almost in San Francisco de Campeche, Captain!" Ashton announced.

"Thank you, Ashton!" I turned to my cousin, feeling guilty for having to interrupt her suffering. "Maartje, prepare us to dock."