The Betrayal

The daylight is visible again

Dearest Overkill,

I, Minischmee, wish to tell you about who betrayed the Red Beard and its crew and how it came to be. As you know I am a handsome man and a charmer with the ladies (I am certain that’s what pirates do). You also know that I married three times, twice to Dwarves and once to a Gnome. When I was arrested, I gave each of them a bill of divorcement so as to not shame their families but one insisted that she stay. I found out later it was as a penance for her crime against her husband the pirate. My beloved Christine Vega turned me in.

Ours, your clan and mine, is a proud heritage of sea faring families mixed with proud miners. Even our Grandfather Owasso was a seaman and helped turn Sinza into the community that it is today. While he passed the idea of seamanship to my father, your father, his brother, didn’t agree and hoped that you would not follow the family tradition of being a fisherman/seaman. So while I have enjoyed the success of being a third generation seaman you have only a legacy to follow.

Getting back to the betrayal, my precious Christine (you know the Priestess of Isis) betrayed us all over a single gift. Being a jealous wife because she was my third wife, because she had received the smallest lot of all my gifts she vowed to make me pay for what she thought was favoritism. I didn’t mean it to happen as much and I almost wish that the Bizantium broach she received was never hers.

It was a day like any other, it had been snowing for some time and I had been looking for Jason’s treasure and pillaging the natives of Bizantium as usual. I returned to my precious wives with gifts. To the first one I gave a sword with a gold hilt; the second a sack of Old Kingdom gold of random assortment. Mind you it was a small assortment of coins but precious I assure you.

Finally came the gift for my young beloved Christine. My pearl loved riddles and puzzles and I gave her a fish that I had cleverly hidden a broach. She failed to see the clever enigma and threw it at me. The other two looked at me like I had committed a crime (well I had only a few days before but this was not it.) They two left the house leaving me to call after them as they mounted their steeds. I figured that they would blow off steam, so I headed to my fathers place to talk to your aunt, my sweet mother (the one aunt that you said had a sweet a…. yeah.) I was there for an hour when you sister busted in the door looking for me. She called out to me to find a place to hide as Bizantium police were looking for me. My acts of piracy and knowledge of your whereabouts was now going to be in question.

Several hours later I was in chains and on my way to the capital city to probably be tried and convicted and sentenced to Wyst. It was about that time that my wife found the broach. I had spent three days in prison waiting trial when she came to visit me. Half starved, shaved and naked; I stood ashamed of what I looked like and hid in the darkest part of the dungeon.

She called my name. I refused to answer.

She called again. Again I refused to answer.

She then started to sing the old duet that we used to sing. My throat was dry but I finally hummed a few bars before she stopped and pressed her body against the bars.

“Mini, I got your gift” she said softly.

“You figured it out! Good for you! Go away!” I yelled with dry tears. My lip was bleeding because I would not tell them where the ship logs were or where the ship was. It didn’t take them long and they would find it a few hours later. Luck of the gods was with me because the logs turned up missing and so the details of our work were sketchy.

I was hurt; all of the humiliation and torture for a gift. I had lied, cheated and robbed but not to my wives; not to them. On the day of the trial the lords that sponsored my work hired a lawyer. With their help I wrote a bill of divorcement. I had embarrassed the family enough. My mother cried at the trial and my father didn’t show. Christine refused the bill and attended each day of my trial. They of course were short as I was a non-human but finally I was banished to our harsh home of Sinza. For three days I would not see my wife. My life was ruined and the clan was dishonored for my now revealed piracy. I couldn’t even get a fishing job. Christine took me in finally after spending three days in burrows that I had dug with my own fingers like an animal. She didn’t dare speak to me while she drew a bath for me. I knew why she had turned me in but I figured that she would have found the puzzle and would of been glad. It was too late for that.

I finally spoke to her in a soft low tone.

“You betrayed me. You betrayed my love for you.”

I couldn’t be mad any longer.

“Come with me when this is over if you love me. Leave me and tell all in Bizantium if you are just showing pity for my plight.”

She got on her knees and began to put her head in her hands. Through her sobs she told me how she had taken the fish after I was arrested and began to prepare it. The broach was an easy find. When she realized her mistake she attempted to fix it by telling your sister, to tell me to run. She knew that she could not get involved in my escape because the Royal Navy had docked in our little port. It was her efforts that made records disappear and made the Red Beard keep moving from place to place. She even assisted with the escape of some of our cousins and companions. The Malemore family made her an honorary spy for the work that she did to cover their tracks and rewarded her request with a lawyer when she asked for one. Yes, Overkill, she still loved me and did everything to show it. The hardest part was asking for forgiveness.

Minischmee

Posted by Minischmee on the 29th of Grekar, in the 23nd year of King Bafag.

Note- This note arrives by pigeon from Overkill’s parents, delivered to them by the Priestess Christine.

Picture courtesy of Dangerous Artist.

2 Responses to “The Betrayal

  • Interesting tale of betrayal and eventual forgiveness. Nice classic theme.

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