Month: April 2026

Chapter 10 Bronze Silver and Gold075

Previous – Book1 Page75 – Next

trimmed with yellow material that seems to contain flecks of real gold!

Captain BlackCloud steps forward a few paces.

A wiry little man, he stands barely taller than 1 metre 60. He’s accompanied by his fat, ill tempered, ugly first mate, BlackDog. Much taller, and with a bulk about three times the size of the captain.

As BlackDog lumbers forward to stand alongside BlackCloud, MickeyWarr can see that the big man’s weight is affecting his walk. It’s not slow by any means, but it’s not regular either, his right leg seems to be laboured with an exaggerated movement of the hip.

The third officer is quietly standing behind them.

An assortment of other people have assembled on the ship’s deck, and are looking down at the twenty or so sad, pathetic figures lined up on the quayside. MickeyWarr looks at the three officers more closely. The big one could almost be wearing a black cat on his face! His full beard masks much of his face, but a brief, sinister smile reveals a momentary view of his teeth. Just enough to spot that they are blackened after years of neglect.

That’s a distinct contrast to the little fellow. He sports a wispy moustache in the style of a French musketeer, but otherwise he’s clean shaven. His skin is noticeably paler than the others. Clearly this is a man who does not spend all of his time out in the sun.

Even though BlackCloud is the pirate captain he has a natural, calm smile, giving the impression that his nature is not entirely sinister. The smile reveals a brief look at his white teeth, which appear perfect when compared to everybody around him.

“Bronze! Silver! And gold!” bellows BlackDog “that’s what we want! None of that healthy rabbit food we got last time! I’ve had enough lettuce thank you very much!”

The last successful raid hauled in a shipment of various salad stuff, alongside some more welcome things like wine and grapes. Conwy has more of that than they can use, and Amlwch

Previous – Book1 Page75 – Next

Chapter 10 Bronze Silver and Gold074

Previous – Book1 Page74 – Next

Cargos of wool and sheepskin regularly move from Conwy to Douglas, and high quality rum and Manx tea travels in the opposite direction. Occasionally the ships carry gold going north, and zinc or lead or silver on the return trip.

The pirates don’t know what they’ll get until they see the freighters. They might not get anything, but they know that the ships which sit lower in the water are the ones carrying the heavy metals. Even if the cargo is simply sheepskins or rum it’s all valuable and tradeable on the black market.

Given the volume of traffic along the Meirionydd coast the pirates have plenty of opportunities and they know they’ll be lucky sometimes, and seize particularly valuable cargos. Newly minted Sovereigns are the biggest prize. But it’s risky, because the Meirionydd coast is patrolled by the Byddin and their allies, the Garrison, the Sidooryn and the Láigen.

There’s an exchange system in place where personnel from one territory work with another. A detachment of Garrison marines might serve on a Láigen ship for a while. The native services normally use their own languages, although English is common to all of them.

That really helps when there’s a Sidooryn detachment on a Byddin ship for example. Rather than using Manx or Welsh it’s more practical for them all to use English. Which is lucky for the native English speakers who generally struggle with other languages!

On the quayside in Boot, TallyBen has lined up a motley crew of old hands and the involuntary new recruits. Berthed next to them is a dirty, old ship with three masts. The gang plank has been lowered to the quayside, and six people descend. They’re walking with a purposeful stride which conveys the message “we’re in charge here”.

Pausing in the mid distance, they survey the shoddily dressed rabble of misfits. Then come a little closer.

MickeyWarr has already noticed that three of them are carrying swords, and the other three aren’t. That probably means three senior officers, and their juniors. One officer is especially short and has a particularly pompous tricorn hat,

Previous – Book1 Page74 – Next