Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Of Courtesans and Corsairs ❯ Chapter 3

Pirate Prince Duo sat outside the cabin of his ailing father, the Pirate King Dekim, arms folded over his sun-tanned chest and the salty sea breeze teasing his chestnut mane to and fro. They had only gone back to sea because the sentimental old fart refused medical treatment when they'd docked at the Sanq port! He'd been ailing for years now, and personally, Duo was glad to be rid of him.

Dekim was nothing more than a shallow, worthless, smelly old man with a feigned title as `Sultan of the Seas'. The man had two sons, but acted as though Duo was his one and only. Yes he'd loved Duo's mother passionately, and grieved when she perished in the Great Plague, but that didn't excuse his sleeping around with a fine filly of a Spaniard woman before Duo's birth.

The woman's name was Contessa Catarina de Bartolona, but those closest to her called her Contessa Barton for short. She had met Dekim when she was a young girl of sixteen, fleeing from an arranged marriage to her wicked stepfather and seeking bigger and better things. Dekim swept her up onto his ship, the Ave Maria, which was an odd name for a ship. They sailed for years to Greece, to Rome, and even to the Far East until Contessa Catarina became homesick and sought her Spanish soil.

Dekim returned with her and bedded her every night, until the day she was found to be with child. Dekim gloated in triumph each day, and brought expensive, lavish gifts to Catarina whenever he could. Sadly, Contessa fell out of favor with Dekim when she pleaded him to stay inland and quit his days of piracy to raise their child. The Pirate King swiftly left, and was informed of his healthy infant son three days after impregnating the wench Helen.

Duo could not remember his mother at all, but could imagine how anguished she must have been to have her young son wrenched from her arms, doomed with the knowledge that he would grow to be a corsair like his father. Duo couldn't help but think she must have killed herself by contracting the plague on purpose. Hell, he would have done the same if he'd been given the option! He loathed being treated as Dekim's favorite boy, and would have gladly given anything to have his older brother (who he'd met in secret many times before) recognized by Dekim.

A young cabin boy of no more than seven or eight years came out from the sick bay, nursing a bleeding nose and trying not to cry. "Cap'd deeds you, Sah," he mumbled out around the obvious pain he was in.

With a gentle, good-natured grin, Duo tore a strip of fabric from his tunic and bundled it into a lump so he could ease it under the boy's bleeding nostril and help him to keep from making a mess of himself. "Report to the galley and wash up. Have Cooky see to your nose. He'll recognize your snot rag and know you speak truth if he doubts you." The boy hurried to obey, and Duo took a deep breath before entering the captain's quarters. "Father?"

"Damn it boy!" Dekim growled around a horrendous gurgling cough that tore his frail body apart. Blood and saliva foamed at the corners of his wrinkled gash of a mouth, and his moustache bounced and caught bits of food as he vomited into a slop bucket one of his loyal crewmen held. "You know damn well m'time has come."

"Can you hurry it up a little? I kinda want to get this piece of shit moving." Duo smirked spitefully at his enraged sire, and nimbly dodged the apple core aimed at his face. "Come off it. I'm more than ready to ship you off to the next world. Save your heroic prattle about your regrets and your wishes. Tell them to Mama if you find her."

Dekim's cold eyes nearly bugged out from his head. "How dare you disrespect me?! And on my deathbed! Get me…get…" Dekim's order was drowned under grunts of effort and pain, but Duo understood well enough. While his old man seized his chest just above his heart, Duo reached into a cabinet and grabbed a strip of leather roughly half an inch thick and nearly a foot long.

He stared at it scornfully and then dangled it before Dekim's bony fingers with a wicked gleam in his eyes. "You want this, old man? Gonna whip some more sense into me before you go? Well guess what; it didn't work then, and it sure as shit won't work now. I'm not afraid of you." To further drive his message home, Duo leaned forward and pressed his lips to Dekim's forehead, cinching his victory against his tyrannical father. "May flights of demons wing you to your rest[1]."

The shock was too great a burden for Dekim to take. He arched his back in agony and went into a short, fatal fit, then lay still as his cold black heart beat no longer.

The crewmen looked anxious at the death of their captain, and looked to Duo for guidance. "Sir? What do we do with him now?"

Duo pushed aside his bittersweet satisfaction and winked roguishly. "Well, we could make stew of him." The crew gave a great shout of triumph and chanted Duo's name, each one of them grateful for the end of Dekim's regime. With little to no ceremony of any sort, the old man's body was cast to the sea, but only after it was stripped of its jewels and fineries. Duo cast the leather strap into the sea and shoved a ruby-encrusted scimitar into his belt before addressing his crew. "Avast, me hearties! We have a mission to complete! To LaGrange!"

Not a word of disagreement was heard. "TO LAGRANGE! AYE AYE, CAP'N!"

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{[1]- Interview with the Vampire (the movie). That's probably one of the best lines in it!}