SEAN:
“Gate’s open.”
ELJARA:
“Yes.”
SEAN:
“There’s a boat waiting.”
ELJARA:
“Yes.”
SEAN:
“And in three hours they hang him.”
ELJARA:
“Also yes.”
Sean stares towards the prison.
SEAN:
“Then what in hell is he waiting for?”
ELJARA:
“To find out who leaves that prison.”
SEAN:
“The privateer.”
ELJARA:
“No.”
SEAN:
“Why not?”
ELJARA:
“Because the Crown has finished with the privateer.”
SEAN:
“Then he’s a pirate.”
ELJARA:
“That’s the Crown’s answer.”
Sean looks at her.
SEAN:
“And his?”
ELJARA:
“He hasn’t found it yet.”
The privateer appears beneath the fortress archway.
In his hand is the Letter of Marque.
SEAN:
“Burn it.”
ELJARA:
“Why?”
SEAN:
“Because that’s what chained him to the king.”
ELJARA:
“No.”
SEAN:
“No?”
ELJARA:
“The parchment is only parchment.”
SEAN:
“Then what’s the chain?”
ELJARA:
“What he believes it means.”
The privateer folds the Letter of Marque.
Carefully.
Then puts it back inside his coat.
SEAN:
“He’s taking it with him.”
ELJARA:
“Good.”
SEAN:
“Good?”
ELJARA:
“He doesn’t have to destroy who he was to become someone else.”
The privateer walks through the gate.
SEAN:
“So now he’s a pirate.”
ELJARA:
“Perhaps.”
SEAN:
“God, you’re irritating.”
ELJARA:
“I’ve been told.”
SEAN:
“What makes him one, then?”
ELJARA:
“Not the king.”
“Not the flag.”
“Not even the law.”
SEAN:
“Then what?”
ELJARA:
“The moment he decides what the word means for himself.”
They watch him reach the harbour.
A sailor offers him a hand.
The privateer hesitates.
Then takes it.
The boat pulls away.
SEAN:
“Now he’s free.”
ELJARA:
“No.”
Sean closes his eyes.
SEAN:
“I walked straight into that one.”
ELJARA:
“You did.”
SEAN:
“Then when is he free?”
The boat passes beyond the harbour lights.
ELJARA:
“When he stops asking the king.”
SEAN:
“Tomorrow the Crown will call him a pirate.”
ELJARA:
“Yes.”
SEAN:
“And tonight?”
Eljara watches the boat disappear into the darkness.
ELJARA:
“Tonight…”
“…he is simply a man who chose not to die.”
BLACK FLAGS, DEEP WATERS
A living Pirate Borg campaign where the Crown may give you a name — but you decide what it means.
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