"I led us into that ambush at Devil's Cove," Elara confessed. "I let my greed for Spanish gold override the caution the Code demands. Silas was wrong to strike me, but he was right to question me."
Flint-eyed Captain Elara Vane stood on the quarterdeck of the Sea Witch , a splintered cutlass in her hand. Below, on the blood-stained main deck, her first mate, a hulking man named Silas, knelt in chains.
I. Every sailor has a vote in the disposition of plunder and the election of officers. II. Desertion or concealment of treasure is punishable by death. III. Lights out at eight bells. Gaming and fighting forbidden after. IV. Mutiny earns the maroon. V. The captain shares the same rations, the same danger, and the same fall from grace. pirates law
Silas spat a tooth onto the deck. "You can't hang me, Elara. We're pirates. We ain't bound by no king's law."
"That's where you're wrong, Silas," she said, her voice as cold as the deep ocean. "We are bound by a higher law. The only one that matters out here. The Pirate Code." "I led us into that ambush at Devil's Cove," Elara confessed
Silas’s eyes widened.
Elara ignored him. "Article Seven. The captain's word is final in battle and division of plunder. But for crimes against the crew, the captain does not judge." She looked at the gathered pirates—a motley collection of cutthroats and runaway slaves, gamblers and broken nobles. "The crew judges." Below, on the blood-stained main deck, her first
The crew had gathered in a silent, tense ring. The charge was mutiny.