-Reminiscing-

[Corothius Encinosa]

It was a few hours after noon. The point during the day when the sun had already well sweltered the air with it's heat if there were not enough clouds in the sky to keep things below shaded and cool from the torrents of descending heat. The heat though, was a welcome to the natives who lived in it, knew it, and exhalted the sun itself for the strength and heat that it ensued into their flesh and mentalities. It was if stayed in long enough, like a drug. It though, was just a scientifical equation to the results of heat exhaustion.
There was a port on the southern end of the Jaded island that overlooked the Jade bay. A bay that was distant from most of the neighboring islands and only near to perhaps two or three other villages. It was thus perhaps the throbbing city in the bay. And one which was now held within the grasp of the Spaniard protectors. There was even now, as Corothius looked out over the distant sealine. Two ships in the distance he did not have to squint to know of their alliance and servitude. They were not armadas or such huge ships which housed those hundreds of men to man such a behemothel structure of floating brilliance. They though, were just as likely able to take up names as traders or fishers, and there was even the cargo within it's holds which could be used to disguise themselves as such if the larger ships came about to spy on the port.
Corothius' attention was moreso upon the dockside. Where a much older man resided upon a handful of crates. A cane pole buried into one of the grooves of the boards whilst he idled his attentions upon the passing succession of easing waves beneath the dock where the waters were yet to become murky with refuse and grease as would be found in the more larger cities that were most commonly used. There was not even a ship docked that day, they for the better part adrift taking care of their wares and daily chores. There though, was one small rowing boat that remained afloat, and at times sought to drift with the waves elsewhere, though it's restraining rope kept it secured and begging for departure.
Also on the dock was the drifting of smoke from the old man's pipe. Those who walked by the dock would many a times catch a drifting scent of it's aroma that was enfused from the leaves of the nearby woodlands. There was though, noone else on the docks right now. The beach was of a whiter sand than would be found on most beaches. Whereas on other beaches near to the warfare of the ships, where their bodies would be flamed and turned into ashes, the dirt would become darker, if not grey in it's hue from so much ash washing ashore..perhaps even sprinklings of gold where it had melted and diffused into numerous particles. Here though, the sand was a bleached white from the sun. And extended well into the small port village. The port not even large enough to secure an Armada, though there was an intention to lengthen it when the time would come to begin docking such manifestations of humanity to the village. Perhaps when it was necessary to begin receiving shipments of cargo and surplus for the fort that was beginning in it's construction further inland.
The fort itself resided further inland, upon the rise of a steepening hill. Only it's base was currently in construction. The foundation the most important part as to the measurements of where it would be lain and to what extents. Including the foundation itselfs' contents and the secureness of the earth beneath it which was found to be of stone that was perhaps some rippled effect that extended from the mountain range that was viewable in the northwest. It would be some time before it would be fininshed. Perhaps a few years. It though, would at first be surrounded by a construction of wooden logs to shield it in. It was still the beginning though, and even the trees were currently being chosen for such use, as well as the land where the trees would be taken from. 100 feet surrounding the fort would need to be cleared for defensive purposes for example.
Corothius though, shifted his attentions back into the deeper thoughts on hand. Such as women. There was that one beauty whom he had encountered of the headhunting tribe. She was found to be of some bloodline that was related to the warrior leading the tribe. Whether she was his sister or the like he could not translate so intricately. But there was a definate bond between her and the leading warrior who had taken the place of the fallen ones. The tribe still resided where they had been encountered. There were times, perhaps two or three times a week when they would meet up for varying purposes. Some of these purposes it seemed was for the most part to allow the beauty to merely have a reason to see him again, and express her emotions with that most gleeing of smiles that was not presentable to all. It was of course, within his thoughts to do something about that relation. He though, was a solitudial sort. The soveriegn since his days of youth. It was just as well that it was difficult to find a companion to accompany him and deal with the extents of hazards that arose due to such a life. Here though, was a sanctioning place of paradise, and promising companionships. One that left the arousal wry curl upon his lips, and tanning flesh that the sun was allowed to bliss with it's heavance of energy moreso now than he did while onboard their ship. Perhaps due to the abundance of water that was able to be consumed.
A passing breeze awoke and blithered beneath his breath with the cadense of fruits that were lingering in the trees. Their sweetness drifting where it might be dripping from cracked partitions that one of the numerous flying creatures had mounted and taken of it's contents. Here on the port, there were no taverns or brothels for the harlots. Nor were his men in dire need of such. They were not the cutthroats that were known to habitate the normal port cities. They though, were well relishing the population of the port village who's occupants were made of an abundance of docile headhunters, or perhaps a tribe of such who had at some earlier time been tamed or led into alliance with those who spoke english. It was as well, that his men were only a few dozen in number, added onto with the other ships which were at sea. Some of which had wives who were in the village. Abiding in the number of huts and cabins which were already well built beneath the shading of trees and palms. the village was widely spread. There was no fear of attack from the headhunter tribes as they themselves were of the same. And had an alliance with the tribe that held dominance over the southern most region. Corothius' men though, were added to the guards on the perimeter. They preferring the land moreso than the seas. And were most eager to turn their attentions to such positions high within the trees to look down onto all or any who might pass by below.
There was as well a squad that was sent to scout further inland. They would be gone for a few weeks that he allowed them to have to traverse the woods and map it's inner contents for their own use and purposes. There was to be means to reach the northern road. His mind though, was not on that either, women it seemed, were constantly on his mind. If not one particular feminine beauty, then it would be another. It was a vestige of his life. They were so abundant, and with such abundance was the allowance for those who were not so beautiful. The same was given onto the opposing gender. There though, was no need to go into the full scientific explanations of such. There though, was only his mentality, debating and countering his falls and the emotions that could be released and triggered into use for the savorous fill of one's mentality with such sharings that were allowable to the coupling of a man and a woman. It was as well, that those who knew him well, would be able to speak of something that he had been up to for many years in his life. And perhaps, if they knew him so well, would be able to surmise that his heart was already well broken, if not torn into numerous fractions from such an enormous number of relations with women. They were, by now, well known. His heart, as well, was well chiseled with it's defenses and walls. His mentalitiy, well pending into the depths of it's inner secretions where few could break in, and then perhaps only when he would allow it for purposes of humoring or whimsical debates who's results were already known well beforehand.
There though, was this factor of age. There was as well, the requirement of his responsibilities here, now. There though, was that ever lurking emotion of sadness within the beguiling prestige of strength, and accomodating pains. His self-confidence was becoming known to the villagers who questioned him, and his prescense amongst them with his men, those who followed him. He knew the truths about himself. He knew as well how to defeat the numerous trials that would be opposed by the enemy. It was perhaps a reason why he still remained alive. There was perhaps still a memorandum from his youth that remained existant in his mind, within his morals that existed and could not be found in a rarity of hundreds.
Settle for less, you'll miss out on the best.

[Corothius Encinosa]

It was well into the night when Corothius would be casting his eye upon a path that led from the Jade Bay Ports to the For that was still in constructoin further inland. The King of Spain had endowed him with a deed to claim a military hold upon the bay, and some hired men to patrol the bay itself. Those men belonged to Corothius. The money they were paid allowed them to obtain a few more of their boats. Suited for speed and the purpose of ramming other ships. Such allowed them to either take out those who were not welcome at the Port, as well as to continue in their most discreet piracy of the seas beyond it.
It was thus, with the aid of his homeland, that A few engineers and contractors were thus sent to aid them in the construction of the fort. It's first stages would liably be entirely of wood. The same wood brought from the very trees that were felled upon the land it was being created. Plans though were being made to extract stones from the mountains in the north. Prisoners, taken from the northern road itself put to work as they were taken. There was a continual flow of miners upon the northern road that led to the mountains, and to the eastern port upon Jade Island. It was with consideration, which caravans to strike, and which loners were easy prey to abduct. Some though, were left alone. Those who were known from passing lips and whispered tales that were listened to by those lurking in the shadows provided by the canopy of trees that hung over the roads in the majority of it's extending.
It was thus, another night for Corothius. Undisturbed by the livelry of the port itself further off in the distance where less than a handful of taverns were in existance. Many of the newer establishments within the port were constructed with the founding of the Spaniards upon the land. Mercantile affairs that doused heavily in the blacker markets that were being fed by his own ships as well as his men who waited most patiently to prey upon those in the north. It would perhaps be a matter of time before someone would begin hunting them down, proclaiming them to be bandits or such similar titles.
Corothius had already lived a life that was well doused in such a low caste of society. Nor was he seeking the King of Spains' favor in rising any higher in it, or anyone elses. The relations he held with the tribal women whom he had rescued months earlier was enough to satiate his lusts. The thrill of his job was enough to satiate his craving of adventure. The purpose that was given to him by the King, more than enough to keep him busy for many approaching years.
Another stroke of a carving blade was thus brought along a shaft of an arrow that he was crafting that night. The thinnest skin of wood being defaced where his many years of practice had judged it necessary to trim it. Even now, whilst he looked upon the crescent of the moon high in the skies above the darkened green canopy that he was now lurking within. The illumination it doused the foundations of the fort within was a sight he did not mind laying his eyes upon. Walls of the perimeter had already been erected. Men were now asleep within it's defenses. Towers erect, high above the walls themselves, only imitations of the trees like the one he now squatted within that would give the fort even more of an advantage as long as he and his men held them within their protective grasp. The men of the tribe he had allied would as well be of definate benefit to keep the fort from being interrupted in its' construction from outside forces. None of which, so far, had presented itself.

[Corothius Encinosa]

The time was well beyond dusk. The frailties of time having succeeded in trapsizing through thoughts and voids of physcological bliss that was used to stem forth ones' life from the absoluteness of boredom and trajections of thoughts and idle memories and jostling of ones favorable thoughts to succeed over the present and residing dilemnas of the week.
Corothius would be a notable shadow high in a risen tower. The structure itself still surrounded by moldings of stones laiden upon stones with the creaming of molding cement splattered and giving that thick joining of cremation in the build of the heightening behemoth that was taller than most of the nearby trees that provided shade that had not been cut down in the construction of the fort. The fort itself was constructed wholeheartedly of wood. The trees that had been felled from this site were put to use in construction for the walls. And now, as they would be taken down in sections, reused for the framework that the engineers and laborers were putting to use to mold together this wall of thicker and stronger stonework. They were for the most part asleep at this time of the night. Waking in the wee hours of the morning when the first light of dawn arose and would provide them enough light to do their duties. Working then till it grew too hot for their already darkened skin to care to remain within. A few hours of rest given, liberty to do as they pleased and take a rather lengthy lunch break during the heat. After several hours of such, they'd return to work, some clean and bearing the scents of their women, others still layered with sweat and the grueling toil of their work that would incrase until the breaking of dusk would swallow up the illumination provided by the sun. And warn them that they would be best to prepare for the end of their work for the day.
The nights thus were used for sleep for most. Though, on particular days, there were festivities about the area by the locals. They whom Corothius and his handful of men had saved from the caverns further northwest in these lands from the other cannabalistic tribes. Tribes that would occasional be caught spying upon their livlihood, be hunted down and at times killed without need for interrogation. This particular night was rather quite. Not amusing in the least as the woman who normally kept his side in recreations and devoteness of their bodies to the inner depths of their beings was elsewhere. Women were alike in some ways, or perhaps, he was with a few different women, they all seeming alike with perhaps the slight changing of appearances and personalities as time would pass. They though, held similar characteristics with one another, the same traits that he sought and had been discovered and adapted to have of their own so they could share of his time and the blessings that arose in their own guise of ways that were craven for.
Or perhaps..it was all a large illusion, and none of it really mattered if it was real or not. The earnings of his title in the lands of Spain were not thought upon, his estate and those who worked upon it barely thought upon at all as the time now passed before him. The silent earthly quietness that waited in the depths the nearby shadows far far below upon the earthen ground. Waiting to seep from the darkness and whisper of their secrets that were seen and of their knowledge, even at the greater distances that would take man much time to cross and span upon the back of a steed or ship. Even now, he felt these shadows creeping about the rise of carved stone that jutted up from the circling structure of the tower. Within the center of this tower was smaller, thinner tower, only high enough to allow the concealment of a few men for weather purposes. Within it the descending accomplishment of a ladder that was heavily constructed to bear even armor laiden soldiers in a dozen in number who would pass through the inner stairwell that the tower concealed below him. The tower he stood upon was rather wide in diameter. Wide enough that one would have to walk a handful of steps to get from one side to the other, needless to say also having to step around the structure within its' center. A hand, pullings of flesh, somewhat rough yet still slick with the solidity of well-used flesh that had been hardened against breaking, heat, and even the pericing of smaller blade tips and such nuisances. Such a hand came down upon the top of one stone. The bulk of it larger than his torso, a slit down the center of it that was formed by the joining of two smaller portions to form it. The hand itself then sent to smooth slowly upon the chill solid surface. There were roughened extollings along it where chisels had merely been put to use to scrape away excess portions upon it to create the structure that it was intended for. Any real, true carvings and finery of work would have to wait till another time. If it was even in existance at a later time, decades perhaps he thought upon now. To carve more precise, artistical visages onto the stoneworkings by artful hands.
There would be plenty of money for such. Even now, a handful of his favored men were far inland within the north of the island. Where a known and most public road had worn a path from a nearby port that was across a meager barren of the sea that was no doubt in length of sight to another port that harboured upon the nearby island to that of Jade. It was this port, unweathered by the openness of the sea, and the fear of wearying storms that a road had been constructed from its' safety to the mountains on the otherside of the tropical abode of naturalness. Once a week he would be able to take note of a growth of wealth accumulating upon his own ship that was, even now, docked in the harbour within sight of where he stood, and leant upon the stonery before him. A dimmed lantern rocking from side to side slowly as the tide was low this night, and the waves were calm as they pushed beneath the heavysettness of the boat. A slight gleam of steel reflecting the illumination provided by the fullness of the moon high above, where a child straddled the back of a dragon who's head was down in submission and servitude to its' rider.
The quietness was listened to, savored as their were rare disturbances this high from the ground. High enough that it could be used for a lighttower if need be, though there was no such equipment to make it officially for such a purpose. A cumulation of logs on the roof of the structure thereon could easily enough provide such a purpose if it came to be necessary.
There though, were other things on his mind. Women, old friends, enemies that were continuously hampering his ability to succeed with promisings of stabbing him in the back the next chance he would let the ill-minded nuisance of freed-slaves taken from distant lands and seeking to wreak revenge upon the blood of they who transported their kin in these same days. Such enemies were accumulating, and most annoying as they kept him, and his men from taking the easy path of hardened warriors to reach their victorious earnings. They were easily defeatable, killable on the other hand..was yet to be determined. For some reason, their mindsets were causing the illness of his mind to continue to be reminded that their flesh was the same color of that which was excreted from the filthier parts of his livlihood.
Nonetheless, his mind would be led back towards women, eyes dimming with the age of knowledge and perhaps too much experience...There were still things to be done before he'd be able to settle down. Like many of his men, and the tribesmen who kept them company upon this island, he knew they to be the prime source of sought after company, and even now, let a loosening curl rise to his lips as he savored memory of their sweetness, and the thousands of excitements that were able to be awakened with even just one of his lovers.