The aftermath of the raid was heady mix of party and market, with the crew comparing their finds on the other ship and swapping for the bets loot. Harriet was given first choice for her part in saving h Captain, and she bashfully chose a sapphire necklace. She looked at herself in the water butt, putter her head to one side then the other, watching the sunlight catch on the stone. The cook grabber her around the waist and spun around the deck shouting some sea shanty at the top of his lungs. An empty barrel of rum rolled around he deck, much like the people who had emptied it. When the cook finally put her down Harriet saw Julian sitting at a distance from the others, looking out to sea. She walked to him, not totally feigning interest in his opinion of her new jewellery.

‘Very precious,’ he said, absentmindedly. ‘Like you used to be.’

Harriet looked at him, suddenly all the reverie gone from the surroundings.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You were never innocent, much to my regret, but you have become less than that. You have more than the normal tarnish on your soul.’

She looked defiant.

‘What do you mean? I’ve done nothing I was not made to do by you men. Oh,’ she corrected, seeing him take the comment to heart, ‘not you, of course. But the rest of men, I mean.’

‘I know it was they and us that made you what you were, but you made you what you are now. You’ve done something more terrible than you should ever have done, and I think that if I had never let you stay you would still be that person.’

‘What are you talking about? I’ve done nothing wrong.’ He looked up at her to see any defiance, and hint that she did not believe what she was saying. There was none, and he shivered because of it.

‘You’ve killed a man. You’ve sinned the worst, and you should never have had to.’

Harriet looked a little confused.

‘What’s so different about me? Everyone on this ship has killed people, I saw them. Why do you care that I did it as well?’

‘Because you are better than this sea scum, that’s why. At least, you had the chance to be. Now, I’m not so sure.’

‘I’m still me. I don’t feel any different, really I don’t. It was a simple choice, either I pulled the trigger or the Captain would die and we’d have no one to steer us to the treasure.’

Julian looked long into the sea.

‘Was it worth the treasure? Is a bit of gold worth taking a life for? I have no choice any more, debased as I am, I say yes it is. It’s what I’ve been doing for ever.’

‘Gold is worth many things to men, I have seen. My stepfather thought some gold was worth me, my mind and my body. You think gold is worth killing for. I think gold is the means to decide what gold is worth.’

‘And that’s why you’re coming? To get the gold to be free?’

Harriet swept an arm out over the sea.

‘I’m coming because I have no choice. Freedom? I don’t think so.’

The two stood in silence as the men drank and sang long into the night. The light from the scuttled ship lit their passage on to the horizon.