Love it! :D

Aye pretty good mate!

Wow that was awesome! I can't wait for the next chapter.

I've read the whole story from about twelve o'clock today(yes,i read fast)and one word describes it .
EPIC

Before you read this, I made a little edit to the fourth to last paragraph of my last chapter to include a little detail. After you read that, go ahead and read this next one. I hope you enjoy it. Its an interesting one.


Pitch blackness was not enough to describe the darkness around him. It was so dark, that it seemed that Davy could not even see the blackness. The tunnel he had escaped into from El Patron’s crumbling tomb was different than any other. It didn’t feel like a mining tunnel like the mine that he and his crew had come through. This one was more seemed more roughly dug out, as if it were not part of the actual mine. Davy couldn’t examine the area around him, but he was able to get a feel for his surroundings by feeling the ground and walls around him. It didn’t give him much, but he was able to deduce those descriptions

After getting sealed into this tunnel, Davy’s legs gave out from underneath him, sending him falling to the floor. He crawled until he felt a wall, and sat upright, his back against one of these walls. He was breathing heavily and his clothes were drenched in sweat and blood. He noticed that the object that had embedded itself in his leg was a piece of metal, likely a sword fragment. He had countless other cuts and scratches from objects that had hit him during the battle, and most of the scabs that he had gained from previous fights had opened back up from heat and strain during the battle.

The pain was beginning to hit him now. He gritted his teeth, trying not to cry out in agony from his wounds, afraid that he would wake some sleeping beast in these dark tunnels. His leg throbbed with massive waves of pain from the shrapnel that had embedded itself there. His whole body stung from burns and cuts. He could do nothing but force himself to bear with it. Davy sat in that one spot for what felt like hours, bearing with this pain until he finally fell asleep.


Davy was unsure how long he had slept, but he woke up feeling somewhat re-energized. He still felt weak, but he had the energy to weakly get up, leaning against the wall for support. He groaned with pain as his leg screamed in agony. Davy weakly felt around his left thigh for the piece of metal. Once his fingers brushed against it, he gently grabbed hold of it so in a way so that he wouldn’t get cut too badly for what he was going to do next. He took a deep breath and bit his lip, and then pulled. He screamed in agony as the metal cut through his muscle and tissue, no longer caring if he was heard. He could feel blood pouring from the wound, dribbling down his leg. Davy let go and breathed heavily, grunting from the injury.

Deciding to end his suffering, he grabbed the metal, and yanked it out the rest of the way. He let out a pained howl as the horrible burning spread through his body. He shut his eyes tightly and bit his lip until it bled, fighting the agony. After a few minutes, the agony dimmed down to a painful throb, and Davy commenced to bandage himself. He tore off a portion of his damaged shirt and tenderly wrapped it around the wound. Once he was done, he tightened it, tensing up from the pain.

Davy sat back down, taking deep breaths. He wasn’t one that was normally scared, but he was now. He was alone in complete darkness, where some unknown assailant could sneak up on him. He was injured and could barely walk, let alone fight. Not to mention that he was without his sword. All that he had left was his dagger, but that wouldn’t be much help should he run into a crowd of ghosts.

After resting once again for a few minutes, he struggled to his feet once again. Davy looked around him instinctively, but saw nothing. No light came from anywhere in the tunnel. He sighed and started limping forward.

If this tunnel doesn’t take me somewhere… Davy thought to himself. Well, best not go there.

For a while, the tunnel just continued straight ahead without any changes. As he walked, Davy felt the walls of the tunnel and was able to verify that it was a roughly excavated passage, without any wooden supports like there were in the mine. There was absolutely nothing but stone in this space. No burnt out torches, no sarcophagi, not even any skeletons as far as he could tell.

Slowly, the path started to slope upwards and Davy had to slow his pace due to his injury. He carefully made his way up the tunnel, but quickly tripped and fell to the ground. He cursed and thought for a moment about how to go uphill with his bad leg. He had no walking stick, or anything to put his weight on for that matter.

Davy realized he had to just continue stumbling along, and that was what he did. He weakly got up and kept at his path, falling over every once in a while. He kept at his painful pace for a good half hour before he heard movement. It wasn’t hard to hear in the silence of the passage, so Davy picked it up almost immediately. He looked around him, but he couldn’t see anything.

I suppose that’s also something that aids me, Davy thought to himself. If it’s some sort of assailant, they shouldn’t be able to notice me.

Davy stopped moving, not making a sound. He held his breath, and carefully looked down. He noticed the brown stone beneath him, with several small pebbles scattered around it.

Wait a moment, Davy thought frantically. Then he felt the dust trickle down from above him. Davy gulped, and slowly looked up to see the source of light. Ghosts had found him. Glowing with their dim orange light, it was just enough light for Davy to be able to see just a bit of his surroundings. He hadn’t noticed the change in lighting because it had been so gradual. The ghosts, who had been clinging to the stalactites above, dropped down around Davy. They cackled and slowly drew their wicked blades, surrounding Davy.

Terrified, Davy drew his dagger. He knew that this was going to be the end. Darkness wasn’t a problem now; the ghosts produced plenty of light. But he was beyond weak, was surrounded by a good six or so ghosts, with only a dagger for a weapon. The odds were not on his side at all, so Davy did the obvious move.

“Bring on ye dogs!” he bellowed fiercely, swinging his dagger. The first ghost threw a knife at him, but Davy ducked and it flew right above his head. Another ghost with a sword charged him. Even with his bad leg, Davy was able to block his first sword strike and sidestep the next one. He cried out in pain as his leg burned with agony. Davy delivered a gouge with his dagger straight to the ghost’s collar. The ghost shrieked in pain, but returned the gouge with a slash that missed Davy’s face by a hair.

Davy knew that the ghosts were toying with him. He was able to dodge their blows simply by shifting a little bit. He couldn’t help but feel humiliated that he would die this way, being amusement for the dead. Finally the ghosts, as if from some external order, became much more hostile and their attacks were actually ones that could kill. Davy couldn’t dodge these as easily. Finally, one of the ghosts cleaved down at him. Davy had no choice but to leap to the side to avoid it. Unfortunately, it was his left side he had to jump to, and upon landing, he was forced to put all of his weight onto his injured leg.

Davy screamed as his leg exploded in agony. He fell to his knees, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a ghost smash the flat of their blade against his head. He crumpled weakly to the floor, dazed with a trickle of blood oozing from the new cut on his head. Davy weakly reached for his dagger, which had fallen in front of him, but a ghost snatched it away before he could reach it. Trying to blink away the stars in his eyes, Davy attempted to get to his knees, but a ghost gave him a powerful kick in the ribs and he fell back down, groaning from the pain. The ghost gave one more kick before stepping back. Half conscious, Davy waited for the end, but instead of a sword going through his back, he heard swords sheathing.

What are they waiting for? Davy thought to himself. Then he felt icy cold hands wrap around him, and soon he was hoisted onto the back of one of the ghosts. Even though when he was this close to the ghosts, their glow was actually quite bright, it provided no heat. If anything, it froze the air around them, chilling Davy and making him feel weaker than before.

Davy tried to stay conscious, but he was too beaten up to keep focus. He could feel that they were heading uphill, along the path that Davy had been traveling to start with, but nothing more. Struggling was futile in his state, so he could do nothing but listen to the sound of his captors’ footsteps until he drifted off into an exhaustion-induced sleep.

-------------------------------------

Trapped in a dark tunnel, being dragged along by ghosts... what is going to happen next? Stay tuned, and please give comments!

Epicness. Pure epicness. 'nuff said.

It wasn't your best chapter, but I'll always follow this story. :)

All the action was used up in the last few chapters. I know, its not the best chapter, especially because there wasn't much dialogue used in this one. But transition chapters have to be added here and there.

Its still awesome. There are very few books that I like, None the less, give me emotion. Your stories are the first to make me exited, thrilled, made me laugh, almost cry, ect.
Idk why you dont type it, print it, and sell copies to friends for some extra ca$h.

Here's chapter 17. Its a long one, so prepare yourself for a long read. There isn't much action until the end, but there are important conversations in it. Enjoy!



Two young men had lost their brothers that day. Both Sharktooth and Billy sobbed as they fled from the collapsing tomb of El Patron. When Sharktooth saw his brother fall in combat, he didn’t know what to think. He had screamed and tried to get to him, but he wasn’t able to do anything about it due to all the ghosts. After Guy had fallen, he didn’t see him again. No chance to embrace him one last time. No chance to say goodbye. He was just gone.

Billy was worse off. He come back from the dead with no memory of his brother. He had been with him for less than a few days without memory of him. Even though they were together, it just wasn’t the same since he couldn’t remember him. He couldn’t remember the time that they were reunited ten years ago. The time they sailed together as not crewmates, but two loving brothers. The time that they fought against The Harkaway and defeated Jolly Roger. When he finally remembered everything they had gone through, Davy was gone.

As soon as Billy stepped back out of the tomb, he made one last look at Davy. He could see stone collapsing around his brother. Davy was losing strength and El Patron was closing on him. He tried to go back to save him, disobeying Davy’s wish for him to leave. Before he was able to reenter the tomb; however, Meg grabbed him from behind, tugging him back.

“No!” Billy had screamed. “Let go of me! Damn it, let go! I have to help Davy! I have to help my brother!”

“You’ll be killed too!” Meg cried. With the help of Dog, Billy was dragged back away from the tomb, cursing and screaming at them. His last vision of Davy was that of a column of flame exploding, before he lost sight of him. Billy wanted to stay behind and sob for his brother, but the tunnel was highly unstable around him. He reluctantly followed his mates back the way they came. As they ran, Billy allowed a few tears to stream down his face. He glanced at Sharktooth who was doing the same. Too much was lost this day. He then looked at Smelly, his dog who he now remembered. Smelly, as he ran, looked at his master with a sad expression. Billy thought that he even saw a tear run down the dog’s eye, but he knew that dogs couldn’t cry.

Everyone continued to run for about a half hour, until Dan finally collapsed. He fell to the stone floor, breathing heavily in massive gasps. Everyone else took this opportunity to rest up, catch their breath, and drink something that they had in their packs. Now that they realized it, they had had no food for an extremely long time. The last time they ate was a few hours before they entered El Patron’s tomb.

Zolina pulled out two bottles of rum and four canteens of water. Once the drinks were passed around to moisten their lips, a bit of dried meat was passed around for a bit of nourishment. Nothing was said during the small meal. Everyone was too exhausted to say anything. Finally, after the meal, Sharktooth spoke.

“I can’t believe that Guy is… gone…”

“Davy too,” Billy choked. “Too many lives were lost today.”

“Billy…” Kate said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Why?!” Billy shouted into the still air of the cave. “Why is it that we are always separated!? Whenever it is that we finally are able to find each other, we are torn apart! WHY?!”

Billy was standing up not, tears streaming down his face.

“Billy…” Kate said again. “Everything’ll be all right.”

“No,” Billy said softly. “It won’t be all right, don’t you see!? My brother who I had lost. My brother… my brother that I had never said goodbye to before I died aboard The Harkaway… I never got to say ‘I love you’ to him.”

“’tis a cruel world Billy,” Dan said. For a moment, people looked at him wondering if he was being sarcastic, but his expression showed that he meant it. “But just because one person is gone, doesn’t mean that you are too.”

“Davy once said that family is not just blood,” Sam said. “But those that you care about, and those that care about you. Davy was just as much my brother as yours. I served with him for something like ten years. His loss is affecting us all. But we’re here for you. Don’t consider yourself alone.”

Billy looked at Sam. Between them passed a deep look of understanding that only brothers could share.

“You’re right,” Billy said. “Thank you. All of you.”

Billy sat back down, looking at the ground. Smelly whimpered and laid his head on Billy’s lap. Billy gently scratched the dog. Zolina cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention.

“Well now that we know our original mission was a failure,” she said. “What are we going to do next?”

“We get the hell out of here, that’s what we do!” Sharktooth said. “This isn’t our battle anymore. It wasn’t our battle to begin with. Let’s not get stuck in something that isn’t our business. I’m sure El Patron is just going to stay in this hole, and even if he escapes I’m sure that he can be taken down by the Royal Navy. After all, he’s just one ship against an entire armada.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Dan snapped. “El Patron is trying to get out of this place, and he’s going to succeed. In fact, I doubt that we have much time before he and his crew can get out of these mines. Days probably. And then what is he going to do when he’s free? I’ll tell you, he has two things. He’s going to want revenge. He told us! He wants to destroy Tiberius’s descendants, meaning that even though Davy is dead, he still is going to go after Billy. He’ll chase us across the globe if it takes that, but he wants any Fireskull dead.

“Not only that, but before he was defeated by Tiberius Fireskull, he had gone on a mad sinking spree where they had sank probably hundreds of ships. When he comes back, him and his crew will probably do the same, or worse. Every ship in the Caribbean will be at risk of attack by his ships! Remember that ghost ship that attacked us on the way in? That’s proof of everything that’s going on!”

“How did I not realize this before?” Zolina gasped. “All those strange happenings, its because El Patron has grown power. He’s got so much power that he is raising other ghosts with him, explaining all the rising dead! That ghost ship that we encountered, it was a regular ship once that was attacked by ghosts that were under the command of El Patron!”

“He’s forming an armada,” Dog said with a combination of awe and fear.

“An armada that will be unchallenged by any other,” Dan continued. “All these ghosts that have been raising, he has control of them. That’s why he was able to raise Billy. He’s forming an army… but why?”

“So that he can get control of the Caribbean?” Sharktooth interjected.

“I doubt that,” Meg stated. “El Patron was never interested in that kind of power before, why would he want it now?”

“He could be forming this armada of the dead for any reason,” Billy said. “What we need to worry about now is how we stop him before he succeeds. If he succeeds, no ship will ever be able to sail our seas again. Not to mention that he’ll be after the Shadow King anyway because of me.”

“Aye, let’s worry about his motives later,” Kate said. “For now, we should sleep. I’ll take first watch.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, laying down. Billy was unsure what to think. Davy was gone, and a foe that was probably more powerful than Jolly Roger would stop at nothing to kill him.


The group woke up early and had a brief breakfast. They quickly got moving again, hopefully towards sunlight. They had been in this mine for days now, and they hadn’t seen sunlight for far too long. Not to mention that they had no idea what was going on onboard the Shadow King.

It was hard to tell if they had been in a certain place. It was as if the mine was messing with their heads, not letting them know if they were heading towards day or heading towards death. They walked for almost the entire day, stopping once for lunch and twice to rest for a few minutes. They encountered no ghosts, much to their surprise.

After many hours of walking, they came to a familiar site. They were in a large circular cavern with a dome-shaped ceiling. In the middle of the cavern was a totem. The burial place of one of El Patron’s enemies.

“Impossible,” Sharktooth said. “It can’t really be this easy! We walked for much longer than that getting down there!”

“El Patron is making it easy for us,” Billy said. “He has so much power, I’m certain that he can control the mine a bit, making it easier for us to get around. He wants us out of the mine as fast as possible so that we are easy targets.”

“Well I certainly want to breathe some fresh air,” Meg muttered. “Come on! We’re not far from the exit!”

The Sorcerors picked up their pace a bit. When they were halfway across the cavern; however, they heard a voice. Smelly started barking viciously, and everyone turned around, expecting the worst. Instead, they were greeted by someone they had met before.

“We meet again,” Dr. Bellrog said, grinning. “I’m surprised you made it out of there alive! Kudgel and I were worried about you.”

“Kudgel smash!” Kudgel said, swinging his sword.

“Bellrog, you scum!” Billy accused. “You knew that El Patron lived! You knew we were heading straight into a trap!”

“Well of course I did!” Bellrog said, clasping his hands. “El Patron hired me to lead you all to him. That way he could kill you all in one sitting! Although now that you have escaped, he is furious. I have one last chance to prove myself. SHOW YOURSELVES!”

About a half dozen ghosts of El Patron’s crew materialized around Bellrog and drew their blades. Bellrog cackled and said, “Kill them all, except for the Fireskull. Capture him and let El Patron have him.”

With lightning speed, the ghosts charged at the Sorcerors, who barely had time to draw their swords before they were upon them. Kudgel had joined the fight too. He was a deadly fighter. Not only was he merciless with his heavy blade, but his strength was enough to shatter even one of the best forged swords. Billy approached him with his own broadsword, careful to avoid his blows.

“Hey! Stupid!” Billy taunted. Kudgel turned toward him and roared.

“Kudgel not stupid!” he bellowed.

“Right…” Billy muttered before charging him. Kudgel’s swings were enough to cleave a mast in two, which was why Billy stayed far back. What he did notice, though, was that every time Kudgel swung, the momentum made him lose just a bit of balance. Billy took note of that.

Billy let Kudgel swing a few times, allowing his foe to tire out a bit. Meanwhile, he fought a few other ghosts that were battling him. Finally, he saw his opportunity. Kudgel made a powerful swing that was meant to decapitate Billy. Billy ducked, and as the swing finished, Kudgel lost just a bit of his balance. Within half a second, Billy leaped at his foe, bringing his sword down vertically and running a deep gash down Kudgel’s chest. Kudgel bellowed in pain and stumbled back. Billy took this opportunity to throw a fireball at him, which exploded a few centimeters away from him.

Kudgel flew back, slamming against the wall and crumpling to the floor. The chamber shook, and everyone froze.

“Get to the exit tunnel!” Billy ordered. Nobody waited, because right then, rocks began falling from the ceiling. The impact of Kudgel slamming against the wall had made the room unstable. Even the ghosts looked ready to flee.

“Fools!” Dr. Bellrog bellowed. “Yellow bellied cowards! Destroy them! I will not allow them to esca—”

Billy winced as he saw a rock a bit smaller than his head slam down on Bellrog, who immediately crumpled to the ground. The ghosts hissed, and ran towards the escaping mortals. Kudgel had dizzily gotten up and was dazedly following the ghosts. But before they could continue their advancing, there was the sound of a large crack.

Everyone froze, and slowly looked up. A massive crack was spreading across the ceiling, loosening up a massive chunk of rock.

“Time to go,” Dog whispered. Smelly whimpered and the Sorcerors made their getaway as the massive slab of stone dislodged from the ceiling and crashed down on the crowd of ghosts.

------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this one! Looking at what I have, this story may be a lot longer than Shadows Rising. Hard to say how much longer, but it will definitely be longer. Please post comments!

That was awesome! I'm eager to see what happens with Davy, (I don't think he is dead) and I wonder if Tiberius will be a factor soon.

So Pirate Guy is dead? Or is this a part of the story that will be revealed later on?

Pretty much what i said last time :D

Epic. Great chapter mate!

Not to be the grammar police, but i think you left out a period and a space.

Love the story, just read the whole thing so far plus the first one.

Glad to hear that John! Always happy to hear it when new readers come by.

Sorry I haven't been able to post too much. I've been really busy, but I was able to get another chapter in. Hopefully its alright for all you picky ones. ;)


“What have we here?” a deep, metallic voice rasped. “A mortal has come into my realm? Why have you brought this to me?”

“He was found injured in the secret tunnel, my lord,” another voice hissed. “He’s powerful, able to get all the way to El Patron’s tomb. No mortal has accomplished that. He may be of some use… He was armed only with these.” Davy heard the sound of his dagger clattering to the floor next to him.

There was a pause before the first speaker responded, “Keep him here. I will question him myself. Leave me with him.”

Davy felt himself roughly thrown onto the ground. His head bumped the ground and a little cut opened, oozing warm blood. He was only half conscious, but he became a bit more aware of his surroundings when he noticed light. He was too weak to open his eyes much, but he weakly took note of some of the noises. Now, his eyes fluttered open, and after blinking out the stars, he was able to make out his surroundings.

He was in a sizable cavern, lit by several torches around the perimeter. To his side, he saw a wooden platform about two and a half meters high, although Davy couldn’t tell exactly. A small staircase led to it. Scattered throughout the cavern were mining tools of different sizes and purposes, ranging from pickaxes and shovels to what looked like explosives. Davy couldn’t see his captor, who stood a meter or so in front of him. Davy was too weak to sit up to look at him.

“What are you…?” the voice asked curiously. There was no sound of threat in the voice, as dark as it sounded. “How can a mere mortal find his way into this place?”

Davy groaned and shifted a bit, trying to get up. Davy felt the figure shift and grab his shoulder. He was lifted up and was now able to look his captor in the eyes.

Little to Davy’s surprise, the captor was indeed a ghost. Strangely, he had the white glow, similar to El Patron. He had glowing red eyes, with a tall hat in the shape of an arc—a chapeau, was it called? He had a sleeveless tank with a vest over it, showing off his ghostly muscles. He wore a pair of buttoned breeches with a pair of black boots as well. In his belt were two large, double-edged battle knives and quite a few smaller throwing knives. The two red orbs in his head looked back at Davy, but without hostility. Curiosity, was it? Or was he analyzing him, seeing what use Davy could be of for him?

“What is your name, amigo?” the ghost said. The metallic voice was powerful, and Davy noticed a tinge of authority. Even though his captor’s intent was not to do him any harm just yet, he was not to be disobeyed.

Davy thought for a moment about what to do. He did not know who this person could be, and whether he meant him harm or not. Did he serve El Patron? Davy couldn’t tell, but he knew that in his weakened state, he couldn’t afford to not say anything. And he could see in this man’s eyes that he would see through a lie.

“Davy Fireskull,” Davy reluctantly said.

For a moment, he saw his captor’s face change, but before Davy could process it, he regained his former expression and spoke.

“Davy Fireskull?” the ghost said, raising an eyebrow. “That name… how did you get here? No, why are you here?”

Boldly, Davy didn’t answer his question, but posed his own, “Who are you? Where am I?”

The man before him looked a bit shocked, but replied nonetheless. “You’ve got a lot of courage, mortal. The only reason I am so forgiving is because… never mind. I have gone by many names, but the name I have gone by for the last two centuries or so is Foulberto Smasho.”

Davy couldn’t resist but interrupt. “Foulberto Smasho? One of El Patron’s—”

“Yes, yes, I was in that scum’s crew once,” Foulberto said. Then, a bit more quietly. “Never again will I sail with that bloody backstabber.”

Davy was curious now. He was certain that Foulberto was his own little faction now, but he wanted the full story.

“What happened?” Davy asked. “I know that there was a bit of a civil war between the crew, with half of them backing you and the other half backing El Patron. You were defeated and your four lieutenants were executed before your eyes… but we never learned what happened to you.”

Smasho grunted, “That figures. El Patron wanted me out of the story. He wanted me forgotten. Only a few minutes after he executed my lieutenants, I managed to escape from El Patron and his men. A few of my followers, the ones that weren’t killed, escaped with me into a side cavern. Furious, El Patron sealed the entrance… and cursed it so that we would be trapped here as long as he would be trapped in there. Me and my followers, the ones that brought you here (Forgive their brutality, they did not know whether you were friend or foe.), have been trapped here since. This cave has become known as The Cave of Lost Souls to us. We are just a few trapped souls, lost from the rest of civilization. I want nothing more than to ring the neck of that swine El Patron.”

“Wait a moment,” Davy said. “You’re not one of El Patron’s followers?”

“Well what the Hell do you think?” Foulberto bellowed. “He tortured me, executed my men, and trapped me in this bloody Hell hole! I despise that dog! Now, explain yourself before I take my rage out on you.”

Davy reluctantly told Foulberto about who he was, where he was from, and why he was here. He didn’t have much of a choice. Saying no would mean that he may get to see how well Foulberto could wield his daggers. Foulberto was a good listener. Him and Davy sat down on the stone floor, and Foulberto made no interruptions. He occasionally would raise an eyebrow or nod, but he seemed to understand everything. Finally, Davy finished and was silent.

“Well then Fireskull,” Foulberto said. “If El Patron truly has gained enough power to escape his imprisonment, then that means that my crew and I should be able to escape as well… Fireskull, I’ll cut you a little deal. You’re strong. I can tell that. Alone, I don’t think that we’re going to be able to defeat El Patron, but together! Together we will crush him and send his bloody soul to the deepest pit of Hell! In return for helping me bring him down, I’ll not leave you in this cave to rot, savvy?”

Davy thought for a moment. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice. Smasho could easily leave him here and Davy didn’t have a chance. He had no food, water, or rum and no weapons, other than his dagger, which wouldn’t be much use if he were stuck in a cave. On the other hand, if he went with Smasho, there was no guarantee that he would actually spare him at the end, or if he was simply toying with him. He was, after all, a former member of El Patron’s crew.

“How can I trust you?” Davy inquired. “How do I know that you’ll really do what you say you’re going to do?”

“You don’t!” Smasho said. “But what choice do you have? Take a chance at death by coming with us, or actually die staying?”

Davy considered this, and nodded. “What’s the plan then?”

“I’m glad you warmed up to me,” Smasho said. “Now, you look horrible, amigo. Go get some rest. Clean out your wound. We’ve a few stashes of mortal food that you can nibble on, and there’s a barrel or two of water. Not the nicest tasting, but its water nonetheless.

Davy nodded and slowly got to his feet, picking up his dagger too. Smasho beckoned in the direction of a small side cave and Davy slowly made his way inside. It was dimly lit by torches, but there wasn’t much to see. There was, as Foulberto said, a few barrels of water with a dusty drinking glass on the top. Beside it were a few crates of what looked like some dried meats. Davy opened the top of the barrel and greedily drank the dusty and warm water as if it were rum aged ten years, then moved on to opening the crates of food. He ate as much of the stale meat as he could, until he couldn’t eat anymore.

After stifling a large belch, he glanced around the room again and saw a pile of sacks, probably containing flour or some other grain. Davy made his way to the sacks and immediately flopped down on them and went to sleep.


Once he was sure that Davy was asleep, Foulberto called in his first mate. He walked into another separate side cave, across the main cavern from Davy’s. In life, he was a slender man, and retained that same form as a ghost. He wore tight breeches with tall boots that were issued to high ranking conquistadors. He had a yellow and red striped shirt with a closed, black vest of silk over it. Atop his head was a bronze helmet. Strapped to his side was a straight sword of Spanish make with a ruby in its hilt. His features were sharp, giving him the look of a person who was both witty and powerful. His waxed moustache and short goatee made him look like some sort of assassin, although stealth missions were not his specialty.

“You called for me, Captain?” Francisco Black said, saluting Foulberto in respect.

“Indeed I did Mr. Black,” Foulberto said, pacing his room. “It’s about the mortal that found his way here.”

“Davy Fireskull, yes,” Mr. Black said, stroking his goatee. “What about him?”

“I’m not sure what to make of him yet,” Foulberto said. “One thing’s for sure though, and that is that he is indeed the descendent of Tiberius Fireskull… the dog that locked us up in these caves. That worries me a bit, but we need him.”

“I say we kill the scoundrel now, Captain,” Black suggested. “We’ll be avenging ourselves.”

“Not entirely, Mr. Black,” Smasho responded. “There’s still El Patron to worry about. Once he escapes we won’t have much time to destroy him. If he is able to get his hands on what we think he’s after, he’ll be unkillable, and we’ll be done . We can’t allow him to have that power for himself. We need Fireskull to help us defeat him, and perhaps we can claim it for ourselves.”

“This is true… but how do you plan to go about this?”

“You’ll see. Play along with me and it will be ours, and El Patron will be killed for real. Fireskull must live. He is of use to us… for now.”

----------------------------------

Oooooh mystery! What will happen next?

What will happen next? Well, obviously...

Actually, I have no guess. 0_o Now be quick at posting the next one, so I can figure out!

Nice chapter!!

This chapter's one of my more lengthy ones... there isn't quite as much action in it, but it is a good chapter that moves the story along and will help explain a lot of stuff. I actually finished this chapter Saturday or Sunday, but didn't post it until now since POF was down and I kept forgetting... Anyway, here you go! I think this is a pretty good chapter, but don't worry. There'll be a lot of action in the coming chapters.


Thunder boomed in the distance as Billy stepped out onto the black rock cliffs of Raven’s Cove. He turned around to watch the rest of his comrades emerge from the darkness of El Patron’s Mine. Storm clouds swirled overhead and fog blocked out the view of the ocean beyond Raven’s Cove. Flashes of lightning could be seen in the clouds, raising the hairs on the necks of Billy and his group. Billy’s long hair blew in the icy wind, and it began to drizzle. Not a ray of sunlight shown through the black clouds.

“Look’s like El Patron’s found his way out of his hole, eh?” Dan said over the howling wind. Zolina nodded as everyone sat down in a slightly sheltered area to rest a bit.

“So I’m assuming we’re going to make our way back to the Shadow King?” Kate asked.

“What about Davy?” Billy demanded. “We’re just going to abandon him? He’s my brother! What if he’s alive? What if he’s on his way out as we speak?”

“We can’t deal with ‘what if’s’ Billy,” Sam said, putting a hand on Billy’s shoulder. “Davy was as much you’re brother as mine. It pains me to say it, but we have to get out of here. You saw him, mate. He was trapped in that chamber as it collapsed on top of him. He’s gone.”

“No… he’s not,” Billy murmured. “I can feel it.”

The group sat in silence after that for a few moments, the wind blowing, but nothing moved. All there was on Raven’s Cove was barren cliffs and stone. Zolina pulled out the last rations of food and water and the canteen around along with strips of dried meat. After it was consumed, they were on the move again. After walking twenty or so meters they came to the bridge that they had crossed to get to this part of the island. Meg gulped as she crossed the flimsy bridge, shutting her eyes so she wouldn’t need to see the drop below to the choppy seas. Through the fog, Billy could see the dim lights of a ship. The Shadow King.

“Billy, let’s go!” Sharktooth said, beckoning to Billy. Him and the others were already on the other side of the bridge. Billy hadn’t noticed that he had stopped to look at the ship. Realizing how much the bridge was swinging in the wind. Billy made his way to the other side of the cliff and continued onward with his friends. Before long they reached the elevator, or at least where it had been. Something, perhaps one of El Patron’s ghosts, had destroyed the lever that pulled the elevator up. The group all peered down the drop. Billy suddenly remembered when he had tried to come up here and he had fallen and lived. He suddenly remembered his invincibility. Before he could tell his crewmates, Dog spoke.

“Look’s like we’ll have to climb down this thing now…” he said. “I suppose we can climb down one at a time using the rope.”

Without another word, the company one by one grabbed hold of the rope and climbed down, the rain pouring now from above them. Dan went down first, stepping down on the roof of the motionless elevator and climbing down to the platform on which it rested. Zolina followed Dan, then Kate, Sharktooth, Dog, Meg, and Sam. Smelly was carefully slung onto the back of Sharktooth as he descended. Billy went last.

Billy looked down the cliff and gulped. Sam was just stepping down, and Zolina waved upward to him. “Come on Billy! Hurry down so we can find some shelter from this rain!”

Billy had never been a fan of heights, and especially since this was the same place where he had been attacked by a ghost, only to survive. Nervously, he grabbed a hold of the rope and began to slowly climb down. The wind blew his hair in front of his face, stinging his eyes. The wind moved the rope a bit too much for Billy’s comfort. Suddenly he felt something wrong with the rope, and before he could react, he heard a snap and felt himself falling through the air.


There were muffled voices shaking. Billy felt his body being shaken by someone, and then the voices became more clear. Light began to filter through his slowly opening eyes.

“Billy, are you alright? Billy?”

Billy replied with a groan, and he heard a sigh of relief and felt the warmth of another human body hugging him. His eyes fluttered open to find himself being hugged by Zolina. When she noticed his eyes open, she drew back. “Thank God you’re alive, Billy.”

“Yes, thank God for it,” Dan said, scratching his chin with curiosity. “But I want to know how you survived that fall. That should’ve broken every bone in your body, mate. Wait a minute… didn’t you say something about being unkillable back at that tavern?”

“Yes, I did,” Billy remembered. “I don’t know why though. Perhaps because I am truly undead.”

“It’s because you are a ghost of Raven’s Cove,” a voice said. Joanna stood several meters away from them. When everyone turned to look at her, she walked forward to the crew and kneeled down to look at Billy.

“No sign of any damage,” she said as she nervously looked over him. Smelly whimpered.

“A ghost of Raven’s Cove?” Sam inquired. “What do you mean by this?”

Joanna raised her head to look at everyone. Billy sat up, and she explained, “You see, when a human soul is resurrected on Raven’s Cove, that soul is invincible so long as they are on Raven’s Cove. It is their one spot where they cannot die. Likewise, if a person is resurrected as a ghost, they will no longer be in the form of a ghost when they leave Raven’s Cove, except during the night, when they change back to their ghostly form. Night has special powers, you see, similar to Raven’s Cove. It is the time when evil things reveal themselves, so naturally it is when a dead person’s true self shows, and they turn from flesh and blood to a ghostly silhouette. During the day when they are human, they can be harmed as if they were a normal human, but come night, they will reform as a ghost in the spot where they were slain. At night, as ghosts, they are extremely hardy and difficult to kill, but it is possible. Their strength is incredible and one slice from one of their cursed blades will be fatal to most, unless they have a protective charm, which is rare. They are also able to take control of another mortal's body. There is only one known item that is capable of taking down these ghosts easily and resisting their powers. Either way, these ghosts are very difficult to defeat, no matter how you approach them.

“I’m going off topic, aren’t I? I’ve probably said more than I should, but I suppose you could use that knowledge. Billy is technically a ghost here on Raven’s Cove. The reason he is flesh and blood is most likely due to the fact that he was a heavy voodoo user in life and that meddled with El Patron’s resurrection of him. Billy, when you leave Raven’s Cove, you will be mortal and just as killable as a regular person. I doubt that the night time will affect you, seeing as you are flesh and blood right now.”

“So all the ghosts that we have fought now will be vulnerable during the day?” Meg asked.

“Yes, that is true,” Joanna replied. “But at night they will be almost as strong as they are now.”

“Wait a minute hold up,” Billy asked. “If I am supposedly invincible here on Raven’s Cove, why is it that during the fight in El Patron’s tomb I got a few burns from him when he gave my memory back?”

“El Patron is… special, to say the least,” Joanna said. “He has special abilities that I do not know very much of that allow him to still bring harm to ghosts of Raven’s Cove. He would have the power to kill you while you were here, Billy. Or at least destroy your physical body.”

“That’s a happy thought,” Billy muttered.

“I must go now,” Joanna said. “El Patron has escaped, and should he see me helping you I would be killed.”

She began to walk away, but turned around. “One last thing.” The crew turned to face her. “Davy Fireskull is not dead.”

Everyone stared at her in shock.

“Impossible!” Kate stuttered. “He was killed in the collapsing cavern! I’m certain! I—”

“I am not sure what happened to him, but he has found a way out,” Joanna said. “If he found who I believe he did, then we may be in far more trouble then we think…”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Sharktooth asked. Joanna merely shook her head and materialized.

“She has a nice habit of poofing away when we try to ask her something important,” Dan said sarcastically.

“Well she did tell us one very important thing,” Billy said. “Davy’s still on this island. Somewhere. He’s probably still underground. We can’t leave without him.”

“Agreed,” Sam said. “But we have no idea where he is. I think that our best option for now is to head back to the Shadow King. Once we get there we can alert the crew of the situation, and show that Billy is back, as well as give us time to rest and reenergize. We can send in some other crewmates to go in and help Davy with us, so we have some strength in numbers in case trouble arises. What Joanna said about someone who he may have met up with makes me uncomfortable.”

“Well first we need to find some shelter,” Zolina said, looking around through the pouring rain. Everyone’s clothes were completely drenched and they needed to find some shelter and start a warm fire. “I know its only midday right now, but we should rest and just wait until tomorrow. I’m not going out a night with El Patron on the loose.”

“Aye, there’s a few shacks over there we can go to,” Dog said, pointing to a cluster of buildings. The others made a few mutters of agreement and everyone began to jog to the shacks through the pouring rain. The crew began to enter a shack that they had found, and at the same time, the sound of a loud booming echoed in the distance.

“That didn’t sound like thunder…” Dan muttered as he headed in.


Rock flew off the mountainside, flying into the sea below. The booming of the explosion shook the island, lightning flashing in the air. Thunder boomed and rain poured in sheets, soaking any fabrics that would be out. Lucky for the emerging figures of the newly made hole in the mountainside of Raven’s Cove, they had no clothing made of any thread. The ghosts quickly assembled onto the cliff outside, until there was a crowd of almost fifty of them. Once they were all assembled outside, a final figure emerged from the mountainside. A glowing white ghost wearing the armor of a Conquistador.

“MEN!” El Patron bellowed, holding up his sword. “We are free!”

The crew of ghosts cheered in response, a sound as loud as the thunder that was constantly rumbling in the sky. He looked below into the chasm below him and his crew. Dimly, he could see a mast protruding out from the chasm, almost at level with him. He followed it down and could see the form of a ship sitting in the shallow waters at the bottom of the chasm.

“You ten,” El Patron said, pointing to ten of his crewmates. “Come with me. There is one last order of business that I must attend to before leaving this prison of an island. The rest of you work on blowing open that rock wall that separates our ship from the open sea.”

The crew obediently went to their duties, the ten El Patron selected following him across the ledge. “Now let’s see if you’re still on this island.” El Patron boomed through the thunder of the world that he had been locked away from for so long. And then he stopped and held his sword to the sky, bellowing mightily, his crew mimicking him. El Patron cackled, unleashing a blast of lightning from his blade into the sky. The clouds lit up and a deafening blast of thunder tore through the sky. “Let the whole world tremble in fear in the darkness of this day, knowing that the mighty El Patron has risen once again!”

----------------------------------------------------

Ooooh dramatic ending! What will be happening next? Am I leaving you with suspense? No? Okay. Questions? Comments? Praise? Rum? Rum would be nice. I worked hard on this!

This is really good Davy! I like it! Guess that everyone have their story... just not Meg.. she just *poof* appeared haha :')
- hands Daisy a rum bottle -

Thats a good one mate!! - throws rum -

I made a bit of an edit to one of the paragraphs. You may not see it as extremely different, but it is important for me to put in here. It is when Joanna is explaining about ghosts of Raven's Cove.

Nice job Davy :) - hands rum -

HOLD UP A SEC!!!!!!!! I MUST MAKESURE THE RUM ISNT POISONED!!!!
*Intercepts rum and drinks rum gone*

Ahhhhhhhhh,,, it's no- *BURP* not poisoned.... :P

NEXT CHAPTER!!!!

HAHA!Lulz. Now,NEXT CHAPTER!

Here's this next chapter mates. It's got a pretty cliffhanger ending, so I think you'll all either love it or hate it haha.

By the way, most of this story has taken place on Raven's Cove, and I'm not sure if any of you are getting sick of that setting. In case you are, I'll inform you now that the setting is going to change very soon and the plot is going to speed up a lot in the next few chapters. There is probably going to be a lot more action in the next few chapters, with quite a few fight scenes. Anyway, here you are! Oh, and I made another minor edit. Tiberius's ship is no longer Riptide Warrior. It's Dark Phoenix.



The tunnel wasn’t completely dark. It was dim, but Davy could still see a few meters in front of him. The torch that one of Foulberto’s crew members carried also provided a bit of extra light, so there was more visibility. Not that there was much to see anyway. There was only stone, rock, some cracked stone, and the occasional fungus clinging to the walls or living in corners. It was a perfectly drab and boring tunnel, and Davy thought about how maddening it must have been for Foulberto and his crew to be trapped in here for so long, isolated from any other people, living or not. The only sound was the drops of some source of water in the cave, and the soft thud of Davy’s feet and crutch which had been provided for him to lean on, due to his bad leg. Finally, Davy broke the maddening silence.

“How long does this tunnel go on for?” Davy asked to Foulberto.

He grunted in reply. “It’s not incredibly long, I’d guess. The problem was that when we were stuck in here, it was cursed so that we would end up going in circles, never to get to the exit area. But now, we can get out of here, hopefully. I’d imagine that we’ve got perhaps another eight hours, give or take. You can hold off that long, si?”

“With the occasional break, I’ll be fine.”

“Bueno!” Foulberto said, clasping his hands. “You have a way to get off this infernal island, si? A ship?”

“Assuming she hasn’t been hijacked or sunken, then yes. The Shadow King is her name. She’s a strong ship.”

“A strong name as well,” the ghost said. There was a pause in speech, and sound returned to the rhythmic footsteps. Davy desperately looked for something semi-interesting to examine to prevent himself from going mad from the lack of scenery. He looked down at his clothes again. He was able to find some fresh clothing before him and the group left their primary cavern. He was able to find a pair of loose trousers with minimal wear. He also was able to scrounge up a blue striped shirt with short cut sleeves. He managed to find a short, red jacket to cover up most of the hideous shirt. He was also able to find a red sash belt, probably one of the few nice pieces of his outfit. He hated the clothes, being someone who was usually concerned about looking his best, and these threads didn’t flatter him at all. He made a note to himself to never wear such baggy trousers if he could help it. Eventually, the silence became unbearable once again and Davy had to break the silence again.

“So how do you plan to take El Patron down, once we escape here,” Davy asked Smasho. He thought he noticed a glint of annoyance in the ghost’s eyes, but it quickly faded away as he answered the question.

“I’m not completely sure yet,” Smasho said, chewing his lip. “We’ll figure that out later, amigo. For now, we need to worry about getting out of this tunnel.”

Davy raised an eyebrow, sensing that the ghost was hiding something from him. He decided to ignore it for now, and said something else. “Did you ever meet Tiberius? Tiberius Fireskull?”

The question seemed to catch Foulberto off guard. He hid any sign of expression from his face, showing indifference that really did not exist. He thought for a moment about his response as they continued walking.

“Tome treinta minutos. Except you two. Go scout ahead,” Foulberto ordered. The ghosts stopped and sat down, resting their muscles, assuming they had any. Davy figured these stops were only for him, as these ghosts probably could walk for days straight and never need rest. Foulberto beckoned for Davy to sit down across from him as he seated himself. Davy followed suit, and they sat in silence as Foulberto thought of his answer.

“I can’t say anything good about that scoundrel,” he said carefully. “After all, it’s the fault of that desgraciado that I ended up being locked away in this Godforsaken place. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have suffered this horrible fate, and perhaps I could have lived my life in peace, and I would have actually found… I suppose you want something a little less abusive about your ancestor.”

Davy nodded slowly. He could understand why this person would hate his Great-Great Grandfather, the pirate hero, but he did want to hear a few somewhat unbiased statements about him.

“What can I say?” Foulberto muttered. “I’ll say he was a powerful warrior, to be certain. Perhaps one of the best of his time. I cannot be certain, but I believe that he was born in England. When he was young, he crossed over to the Caribbean with his family. Somehow he got into piracy, and I think you know how he met us. But his sword fighting skills were amazing, as I said. He could wield just about any blade perfectly, be it a rapier, broadsword, or a simple cutlass. He cut down seven of our men in the course of about a minute, if I remember correctly. He was also very bold. His boldness was just as prominent as his sword skills. He knew he was taking a daring risk when he attacked our crew, but he did it anyway. Either he was bold, or extremely stupid. He was captain of a ship called the Dark Phoenix, and had a mighty crew of sailors that were extraordinarily loyal to him. They were also extremely deadly with the weapons they had, be it sword, gun, knives, or hatchets. They were ferocious in battle, stronger than we were, obviously, which is why we were defeated.”

“And what of Tiberius’s sword?” Davy asked. “The Divine Cutlass?”

“Si, si,” Foulberto said through his teeth. “That blade. It was a strong sword. Many people believed that the blade was forged by a gypsy… no, it was not. The origins of the Divine Cutlass are unknown. What is known is that it is not of mortal make. It is believed to be an ancient blade, forged by the gods themselves. It has many powers, one of them being that it was able to counteract the darkness of our Cursed Blades. The Divine Cutlass was superior, and that is the main reason why he won. Using that blade’s divine powers finished us off.”

Davy took that all in. He knew that there was definitely more to know that Smasho didn’t know about, and most likely information that he wasn’t telling him, but he was content for now. The group of ghosts and Davy sat for a few more minutes, the ghosts quietly whispering amongst themselves and Davy remaining silent. He pulled out some food from a pack and nibbled on it, then drank some water. Once through with eating, he leaned back against the cave wall and yawned. He was just about to go to sleep when he heard yelling from down the tunnel. His eyes snapped open and his hand reached instinctively for his dagger, but he quickly realized it was just the two scout ghosts returning excitedly, which Davy thought as a strange emotion for someone who was dead. They started talking in fast Spanish to Foulberto, who eagerly stood up. He made nodding motions with his head as the two ghosts spoke and gestured down the tunnel. Foulberto dismissed them, and then spoke.

“Everyone, our two scouts report that the exit is not far from here,” he announced. “Let’s get a move on, amigos! We can make it to the exit very soon and feast our eyes on blue skies once again!”

The ghosts cheered in their raspy ghost voices, and followed the scouts as they lead the way to the exit. They walked for a good fifteen minutes or so in an excited silence before Foulberto nudged Davy. Davy turned to see what the ghost wanted, and he saw him pointing up. Davy looked upward to see that the roof had turned from sold stone to a more claylike substance, with roots poking out. Davy could faintly smell fresh air. The sweet smell of fresh air. The whole group picked up their pace without really noticing.

About five more minutes passed, and the tunnel slowly started getting larger until it formed an archway that lead into a room. The group examined the room in awe. It seemed strangely out of place in the midst of all the rock and earth around them. It looked similar to an underground cellar where food or alcohol was stored. There were barrels that lined the sides of the room, as well as some stacked up crates. The ceiling was quite low, likely only about two meters in height. On the other side of the room was a short staircase that led to a trapdoor. The exit.

“For two centuries we have been trapped in this Hell,” Foulberto said in awe. “Now we can finally leave.”

He strode to the staircase and climbed up a few steps until his back was pressed against the wooden door. He called some of his crewmates to come and help him out, and with a mighty heave, they pushed and the door moved upward, letting in the moonlight. It seemed to be storming outside, and rain poured into the room. Davy noticed a bright light flash and then moments later the loud boom of thunder. Foulberto took no notice and closed his black eyes, walking up the steps into the air.


The rain soaked Davy as he weakly stepped out into the rain. They had emerged in between two cliff faces. To their left side was a dead end, but to the right side there was a path that lead to the Raven’s Cove beach. A flash of lightning illuminated the path, and Davy could make out the choppy waters of the sea. He turned to see Foulberto as he helped the last of his men out. He then stomped his foot and bellowed as loud as thunder.

“MEN, WE ARE FREE!”

There was a loud cheering from the crew. Davy looked in wonder at the ghosts as their glows slowly disappeared and the black ghostly substance they were made of slowly turned into flesh. He watched as the crew examined themselves in awe.

“Real flesh,” one said. “It has been too long.”

“Ghosts of Raven’s Cove turn to flesh during the day,” Foulberto reminded them. “It must be day time now, despite the blackness of this storm. And there can only be one cause for a storm such as this…”

Davy noticed Foulberto’s hand edge towards one of his throwing knives. With a movement faster than the lightning that struck moments later, Foulberto drew one of the knives and sent it flying to something behind him. There was a grunt of pain and a thud. Lightning flashed, revealing the figure of a human body laying on the floor, a knife protruding from his throat, blood pouring out from the wound. Foulberto approached the figure and brutally yanked out the knife. He spat on the face of the person, and looked around him.

“Too afraid to face me one on one, you dog?” he bellowed. “Come now El Patron, even you aren’t as low as that!”

He knelt down, rubbing the blood of his knife and putting it back in its leather holder. He drew a pair of long battle daggers, and bellowed. He heard the sound of laughing in reply. Foulberto’s crew turned to the source to see the outline of a figure walking towards them from the darkness, surrounded by several others. Lightning lit up the night once more, revealing El Patron and nine other crewmates of his. El Patron had a large, black blade drawn, which he swung casually as he approached Foulberto. He was dressed in full Spanish Armor, minus the helmet. His long black hair whipped in the wind of the storm, and his eyes, even when he flesh and blood, had the faintest glow of red. Davy backed up nervously, knowing he was in no condition to fight El Patron.

El Patron did not make any move to fight, nor did his crew. Instead he walked up to his former first mate and his crew and stared at him for a few moments. He glanced at Davy at one point, taking note that he was indeed alive. He finally spoke.

“Well then Foulberto, I see you have made it out alive as well,” El Patron sneered. “Has your punishment in your little hole helped you to gather your thoughts?”

Foulberto scowled at El Patron, holding up his knives. “Aye, I’d say that it has.”

And then Foulberto did what Davy had never expected him to do. Davy watched in horror as Foulberto sheathed his daggers, and shook hands with his former captain.

“Welcome back to the crew, Mr. Smasho.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------

There you have it mates! I should be rolling out chapters really fast now, perhaps even two a week if I'm lucky. School's out tomorrow, so I will have a LOT of free time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to come!

You used the divine powers of the Divine Cutlass? Makes sense, I like it.... xD

That ending was surprising, I must admit. I'm anxious to see the next chapter!

Dun dun dun!!! That was good mate!!

Well.I believe I speak for all of us here to say that the ending was somewhat.....unexpected,to put it mildly.

This chapter is a bit more lengthy, but its very good, filled with a lot of action. I think you'll all like it, as I did very much. Anywho, enjoy!


Matt Scurvytimbers sat in the cabin that normally belonged to Davy. As the captain while he was away, Davy permitted him to use the room to work on writing logs and plans. Right now, it was close to night time aboard the Shadow King. The crew would most likely be below decks, playing cards or chatting before bed. It had been almost a week since Davy and the others had left to go and find El Patron. The first two or three days hadn’t been too bad. The crew had busied themselves making temporary repairs to the ship using wood from the ruined Raven’s Cove docks, practicing their voodoo and swordplay, and joking with each other, among various other activities. But after the third or fourth day of this, things began to get boring. The pirates were used to having to do things all the time, and the sitting and waiting got excruciatingly monotonous. The crew began to get restless. They spent most of their days after that playing cards and doing other activities to pass the time. There was very little to do other than that, and with all the storms that had started, the upper deck wasn’t used much, ruling out activities that required space, such as swordplay.

Matt sat back in his chair and let out a sigh, stretching his stiff muscles. He stood up and walked around the cabin. He glanced at the windows, and saw that the stormy weather hadn’t changed. Rain loudly pelted against the windows, and the occasional flash of lightning lit up the choppy waters of the cove. Matt hoped that the weather would get better before they left, because any sailor knows that trying to get out of a narrow cove like this one in a ship as large as the Shadow King is extremely risky.

He once again examined all of the possessions around him. On one wall was a painting of a man whom Matt knew to be Henry Fireskull, Davy’s father. He wore a wig and a feathered hat atop his head, and was garbed in a long coat with a purple shirt underneath. In his right hand was a cane adorned with several small jewels, showing off the wealth of the family. Davy had taken it from the ruins of his former home in Port Royal several years earlier, along with another few items that were once his or Billy’s. Including one of Billy’s toys as a child.

Matt walked over to the dresser and pulled open the bottom drawer. He rummaged through loads of clothing, cursing at how Davy cared too much about how he looked, until he found the toy. He pulled out a simple little stuffed bear. It was worn with age, and much of its once brown, velvet fur was now gone, exposing the stitching of the toy. One of its button eyes had fallen off, and there was a growing tear in its back. Matt held it for a moment, remembering his old friend. He felt like he could almost hear him now, yelling his name. Sam too, who had lived with him during the time he had lived with Billy. And… was that Zolina?

Matt put the toy away as he heard a loud rapping on his door. He hurriedly went to the door and opened it. His jaw dropped in awe as he saw the owner of the toy he was just holding.

“B-b-billy?” he stuttered. “But… ten years ago you… how are you here now… and…”

“Easy there, mate,” Zolina said, stopping him. “We’ve got a lot to tell you.”

The more-shocked-than-he-had-ever-been Matt sat down in his chair as they began telling their tale. All the while he stared at Billy, examining his friend who had been dead for ten years. He listened as they told how they found Billy, without any memory and not knowing who they were, and then how they entered El Patron’s Mine. Then onto when they found El Patron was almost free and their separation with Davy, to their encounter with Joanna the ghost again. Dog had said that they had rushed as fast as they could to get here, going for almost twenty hours through the pouring rain.

“And Davy is still out there…” Billy muttered.

“What do you propose we do?” Matt asked. “I mean, with El Patron up and about he could be well on his way to these docks to attack us! I’d say that we haven’t got more than a day and a half before he gets here, and I’d rather not meet him and his ghosts.”

“Well we can’t leave him!” Billy said.

“And we won’t,” Sam interjected, before Matt could respond. “I say we wait two days. We can send a search party out tomorrow morning. We’ll find him. But I have to agree, we can’t stay here forever. If we are all killed, El Patron will have won, and there will be nobody to warn anyone else of his rising.”

“You’re the first mate,” Matt shrugged. “But be aware that the crew may mutiny against you if worst comes to worst.”

Sam nodded. “But while I’m here, you follow my orders. We’re in a dangerous situation and we can’t risk anything.”

“Aye then,” Matt said, nodding. “It’s late now. We should probably get below decks and get some rest. You can find some provisions, if you’re hungry.”

The group exited Davy’s cabin into the pouring rain. They couldn’t see any change in the light, but they could tell that it was night time. On Raven’s Cove, you could always feel it. They hurried through the pouring rain, moving to the stairwell that led to the crew’s quarters. They could hear the crew below decks, singing sea shanties and cursing as they lost a game of cards. The group eagerly wished to get into that dry room and have something to eat, out of this horrible rain.

But something felt wrong. Dog noticed this, frowning and stopping. The others continued on as Dog tried to figure it out. Then he noticed a slight glow out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see it, and called the others over.

“See that glow in the sea?” he yelled through the thunder and rain. “Right over there.”

“What in the name of…” Billy muttered. There was a patch of the sea, a bit bigger than the size of the captain’s quarter’s aboard the Shadow King, that was glowing a bright orange. And it was moving closer. Ghosts.

“Oh God,” Zolina gasped. “They’re attacking sooner than we thought!”

“Over there, too!” Sharktooth yelled, pointing to the dock. Sure enough, there were about twenty glowing ghosts walking down the beach and coming onto the dock, preparing to board the Shadow King. They had waited for night to attack, when they would have been stronger. These ghosts; however, didn’t look like El Patron’s crew. They seemed to be other souls that had been resurrected by El Patron. Some appeared to be Conquistadors, some looked as if they were pirates or sailors, some others looked to be townsfolk. They all carried a weapon of some sort: swords, daggers, pistols, muskets, whips, and even chain-shot cannonballs. Their red eyes glowing with hate, the ghosts on the dock slowly made way for the boarding plank, while the ghosts marching underwater began to climb on deck.

“SOUND THE ALARM!” Sam bellowed. Dan ran to go and ring the alarm bell near the steering wheel. “Dog, go and and knock over the boarding plank before the ghosts reach it. That’ll slow them a bit. Prepare for battle!”

The alarm bell rang with a deep gong, and within less than a minute the crew of the Shadow King began to pour on deck, taking note of the ghosts and drawing their weapons. The ghosts began slowly pouring onto the deck, and the battle began.


Davy heard bells on the other side of the steep, rock cliffs of the canyon he was in. He knew the bells anywhere. The Shadow King was being attacked. But right now he had to worry about what was happening right now. The one ghost he thought he could trust had just shaken hands with El Patron, and there was little he could do to fight, should a fight come.

“Its good to be back, Captain,” Smasho said. The crew of El Patron was now turning back into ghosts. Night had fallen, meaning they would be more difficult to defeat. Not that he had a chance at all. Davy exploded in rage.

“Why!?” he snapped at Smasho. Smasho casually looked at him. “You fooled me! You were with him from the start! You don’t want to kill him, why did you need me?”

Foulberto laughed, and looked at Davy. “I think that the both of us had different interpretations of my deal, amigo. It will all end the same, though.”

“Yes, and that will be with you being dead, Fireskull. Although I truly was hoping that had been accomplished two days ago in the mines…” El Patron said, drawing his sword. Davy backed off, drawing his dagger. He knew it would be pointless to fight, but he wasn’t going to let El Patron simply kill him. He limped backwards and stumbled. El Patron’s deep, booming cackle filled the canyon, overpowering the thunder. Davy looked his attacker in the eyes, his bright red eyes. He raised his sword and Davy shut his eyes for what he thought was the last time. But before El Patron brought the sword down, a shrill howling pierced the air.

Everyone turned to see where it came from. Davy had to turn his head to look behind him and see the glowing red figure stood still several meters away. Davy could vaguely make out the form of a woman through the heavy rain. It was Joanna. She had activated the rage within her and returned to the deadly form of a Rage Ghost to come to Davy’s aid.

Before El Patron could say anything, her figure moved with astounding speed and tackled El Patron. In shock, El Patron’s crew ran to their captain’s assistance as Davy crawled to his feet and began limping away.

“Go Davy Fireskull!” Joanna cried. “The elevator! Make for the elevator! I repaired it and it is not far from here!”

Davy didn’t look back. He moved as fast as he could towards the dim form of the elevator in the distance. He could hear the sounds of a fight behind him. Once he had gotten about half way to the elevator, which was now about twenty five meters away. He now dared to turn back. He saw the dim form of Joanna being held down by El Patron’s ghosts, and then El Patron running a blade through her. Her light faded and she was gone.

Realizing he didn’t have much time, Davy began to change his pace from a quick walk to a limping jog. He didn’t look behind him, but he heard El Patron yell, “Bring him to me alive! I want to kill him myself!”

Davy started to run, his leg protesting in agony. He stumbled a few times, but picked himself up quickly. He quickly started hearing the sound of ghosts behind him through the pouring rain. Lightning illuminated the area in front of him and he could see the elevator. He looked behind him, and saw the ghosts gaining. He didn’t have much time. In one last boost of energy, he sprinted onto the elevator platform and dived into the elevator, pulling the lever as he fell. The elevator rattled and started raising slowly. Davy weakly stood as the ghosts closed in around the base. The yelled in rage as Davy got away. Davy took several deep breaths as the elevator rose. After a minute, the elevator reached the top of the cliff and stopped. Davy stepped out and peered down through the rain. He cursed loudly as he saw that the ghosts hadn’t given up the chase just yet. Using the rope that the elevator ran along, they climbed up the cliff to get to Davy. He didn’t have much time. Davy turned and jogged down the path that had lead to the rope bridge. Then, he noticed a second side path. He turned to see a few ghostly hands emerging from the cliff’s drop. Making a quick decision, he went down the new path as he heard the ghosts finishing their climb.

This path was much more narrow, with one tall, steep wall on the left side, the side that the other path was on, and one shorter wall on the right side, about three meters high. Davy quickly turned around to see the crowd of ghosts coming up behind him. The path made a sharp left turn, and Davy rounded it quickly. A bit too quickly. Davy immediately backed up as soon as he made the turn. The path ended about a meter in front of him, dropping off into the cove of the island. Below him, Davy could see the form of the Shadow King, dotted with ghosts. The drop was far, and the stormy grey waters below him looked anything but welcoming. But Davy reconsidered that when he looked behind him. The ghosts had caught up with him. The lead ghost grinned, pointing his sword at Davy.

Everything seemed to grow silent. Davy held his dagger in a battle ready position towards the ghosts, his feet just inches from the edge of the precipice. There was nothing but the sound of rain and the faint sound of a battle going on hundreds of meters below.

“Here you go!” Davy said, throwing his dagger at one of the ghosts. In that moment, Davy cursed himself for getting into this situation, and dived into the stormy waters below.

--------------------------------------------

There you are mates. I suppose you could consider this ending a cliff hanger... considering that Davy actually jumped OFF the cliff...

Not so much a cliff hanger as a cliff.....jumper?
Excellent chapter.Although I am a bit sad to see Joanna go.

Ooh, I liked that chapter! The dialogue was good as well! :D

Good chapter mate!!

Here's the next chapter. I really like this chapter. Its filled with action, some drama, the death of a main character, and some hints of whats to come later in the story. Its a lengthy chapter, so be prepared for a longer read. Enjoy!

Chapter 22: Battle in the Cove

Billy saw him fall. He didn’t see him very well, it was just a quick blur before he hit the water. But he knew. It was Davy. He cried a tear of joy, but nobody saw it, for it was raining too hard. The other reason was that the ghosts had now flooded the deck of the Shadow King. Billy quickly ducked, swung around, and ran his broadsword through a ghost’s belly. The ghost stumbled backward and fell to the floor. He slashed a ghost’s face behind him and then drove the blade into the chest of the fallen ghost as it was picking itself up. He finished it off by twisting the blade and driving his dagger, which he held in his other hand, into the face of the creature. It screamed in pain and faded away.

Billy cursed as a ghost slashed through the back of his shirt. He spun around and slammed the ghost hard with his sword. It flew sideways and stumbled off the edge of the ship into the sea. Billy glanced around to see that the ghosts now were outnumbering the ship’s crew. The only reason that most of the Sorcerors hadn’t died yet was because a fair percentage of the ghosts were not trained fighters, or they didn’t have effective weapons. Either way, there wasn’t much time left. There were simply too many ghosts to fight against. Right now, though, there was Davy to worry about.

Billy sprinted to a different level of the ship and looked to see if he could spot his brother. He looked desperately, shouting his name. A ghost came up to attack him, but he simply cleaved his sword down onto the ghost’s collar, grabbed the ghost’s hair, and threw him into the sea. Desperately he looked one more time to see if he could spot Davy… and there he was!

Davy had just surfaced and was weakly paddling toward the Shadow King. He truly was alive. Without thinking, Billy unbuckled his sword sheath from his belt, dropped all his metal accessories and weapons, and dove into the sea. He surfaced, the salt water and rain stinging his eyes. His hair was a wet mess now, the ponytail that normally stuck up now just a part of his messy hair. The choppy waves were tall, and as he took a breath he ended up swallowing a mouthful of sea water.

“Davy!” he cried through the storm. Thunder shook the island and lightning lit up the seas. He spotted Davy. He could tell that he didn’t have the strength to keep floating. He slowly was starting to go under in the storm. Billy called his name one more time and began swimming in his direction as fast as he possibly could. Billy paused a few seconds for air, looking for Davy as he did. There he was, less than ten meters in front of him. They made eye contact for a minute, but nothing was said through the storm. They both swam towards each other again, but then the unthinkable happened. Billy froze as he looked below the weak form of Davy, and saw the dim form of a glowing ghost swimming up from the sea floor.

Billy tried to call for Davy, but the sound of thunder and rain covered his warning up. By the time Davy felt the icy could touch of the ghost on his ankle, he was under water.

“Damn it!” Billy screamed. He looked under the water for his brother, but didn’t see him. After a moment of desperate searching, he saw the orange glow several meters from him. The ghost surfaced for a moment, letting Davy get some air. It appeared that the ghost wanted Davy alive, likely to bring to El Patron. Billy swam furiously to reach the ghost, faster than he had ever swam before. Right as the ghost dived under water, Billy grabbed Davy from him, and yanked him up as hard as he could, bringing the ghost with him. As he came up, Davy made a gasp for breath and was able to get free. The ghost screamed in rage as Billy grabbed its neck and delivered deadly punches to its face. He finished by freezing some of the sea water around him into a group of ice crystals and drove them into its face. The ghost lifelessly sank to the sea floor, its glow fading.

“Billy…” Davy choked. Not choking out of happiness of seeing his brother, but choking due to sea water that had made its way into his windpipe. He coughed up the sea water as Billy grabbed a hold of him and began side stroking back to the Shadow King, where the battle was steadily getting worse. After a few minutes of paddling, Billy and Davy climbed up a ladder in the stern of the ship and collapsed onto the deck, luckily where no ghosts were fighting. The two brothers laid, drenched and chilled to the bone, on the ground, exhausted and panting. Nothing was said, the sound of the battle almost in a different world.

“Seems like every time we meet up again, we’re separated, eh?” Davy said finally, with ever so small a smile.

Billy chuckled. “Aye, I wonder how long it’ll be this time.”

“Well it won’t be ever again if you guys don’t come and help us out!” a voice said. The two brothers sat up and looked towards the stairs to see Sam standing there. His hat had been blown off in the wind, and his clothes were torn from battle. He had several bruises over his body, which showed through his tattered clothes. There was a small cut on his lip that was dripping blood. Other than that, he looked more or less okay. “Its total Hell down there!”

“Good to see you too, Sam,” Davy muttered.

“I’m sorry Davy,” Sam said apologetically. “I just think that it would be nice if we could do all the reunion formalities after we ensure that we will live?”

Davy nodded, drawing his dagger. “Not much to fight with, but it’ll have to do until I can scavenge a blade.”

Davy moved as quickly as his damaged leg would carry him down the steps. He saw Billy and Sam disappear into the crowd, surrounded by the attacking ghosts. It wasn’t looking good now. There had to be at least forty ghosts aboard the Shadow King, with about thirty five to fight, perhaps less considering how many were probably wounded or dead by now. Davy heard a sword swing as he stepped down on the main deck where the battle took place. He ducked down as a sword barely missed his head. He quickly swung his dagger behind him and felt it make contact with the hard body of a ghost. The ghost grunted, but other than that did not show any sign of pain. It swung again and Davy blocked the blow on his dagger. He returned the blow with a punch to the ghost’s jaw. The creature staggered backward, slightly dazed, as Davy delivered a series of quick cuts to it.

Before he could deal an ending blow; however, he felt the presence of another ghost behind him, and turned quickly to deal a deadly slash to its face. He followed through with a powerful head butt to its chest, knocking it backward. He spun around and gave the ghost he was attacking before, who had now gotten back up, a stab to the throat. It screamed in pain, and Davy gave it a few good punches to the face before finally stabbing the glowing figure through the heart, twisting his blade to make sure that it truly was dead. The ghost collapsed to the floor and faded.

Davy turned around quickly, remembering the other ghost, but he was a tad late and the ghost gave him a slash across his upper left arm. Davy cursed as blood began to stain his shirt and trickle down his arm. The ghost pulled his sword back to prepare for a stab, but Davy was able to sidestep it, unfortunately right into another ghost. The ghost hissed and raised its sword to strike Davy down. At the last moment, Davy ducked to the side and the sword cleaved down into the other ghost’s skull. While the ghost was shocked, Davy quickly drove his dagger into its head, twisting and doing everything he could to make sure that the ghost would die. It collapsed as Davy withdrew his blade.

He now attempted to get through the crowd of fighting pirates and ghosts, attempting to find some of his officers. They needed to figure out a way they could escape this battle. And then he saw Matt. He was locked in combat with a white ghost. Foulberto Smasho. Davy, horrified, tried to move through the sea of fighters to save his friend, who was losing the battle, but he was too late. Before his very eyes, Foulberto disarmed his friend, driving one dagger into Matt’s stomach, the other slitting his throat. Davy watched as his crewmate, officer, and friend crumpled lifelessly to the floor, blood staining the area around him.

“No!!!” Davy bellowed in rage. He charged at Foulberto, bringing his dagger down on him. His foe calmly brought up his two daggers and blocked Davy. He twisted his blades and Davy’s dagger flew out of his hand, skittering across the blood soaked deck. Smasho gave a small kick to Davy’s chest, sending him falling to the floor, just a meter away from the dead form of Matthew Scurvytimbers. He held a dagger pointed at Davy, a silent warning not to move.

“You swine!” Davy roared. “You treasonous, villainous, monster! How do you live with yourself?!”

“I wouldn’t really say live,” Foulberto said, gesturing to his ghostly form. “But as I said, I believe we had different interpretations of my offer.”

“You’ve killed too many of my friends and crew tonight, Smasho!” Davy said.

“Ha! Too many? Fireskull, El Patron wanted to kill you all here and now. I, on the other hand, want you all to survive this attack. I’ll leave you with the thoughts of all these lost sailors in your head, so you know what you are going up against. I assure you, amigo, this is just the beginning. El Patron and I have some different plans, you see. And mine call for you to live just a tad longer, which is why this attack is over.”

Smasho barked a few orders in Spanish, and the attacking ghosts looked at him, puzzled. The battle paused for a moment as the exhausted Sorcerors backed away from the ghost or ghosts they were fighting to catch their breath.

“NOW!” Smasho bellowed. The ghosts all nodded and faded away until they were nothing. “I’ll see you very soon Davy Fireskull.” And then Smasho was gone.

Davy surveyed the deck of his ship. There were over a dozen of his crewmates dead, including his long time friend. They came to Raven’s Cove with over forty crewmates, and now there were probably twenty five or thirty. Too many people were lost, and Smasho had said that this was just the beginning. He examined his exhausted, bloody and bruised crewmates.

“Mates, we have little time,” Davy said, weakly standing. “I wish we had time to rest, but we do not. We need to leave Raven’s Cove and make for port right now. Make for Tortuga! Once we are on our course you may all rest, but right now we must work more! Bandage any wounds fast, but I want to be leaving in the hour! Go!”

The crew weakly began to go to their stations. There were slight adjustments to stations due to the many losses that had occurred that night. As Davy wished, the Shadow King had exited Raven’s Cove within the hour, making way for Tortuga, away from the stormy island of Raven’s Cove.


“You did what?” El Patron roared, glaring furiously at Smasho. Smasho did not flinch or show any sign of fear to his captain. Foulberto had just arrived back on El Patron’s ship, El Tyrano, where the rest of the crew waited. They had successfully made a tunnel just large enough through the cliff for the ship to get through. The crew was awaiting orders to begin sailing through, but El Patron wasn’t giving any orders until he was done with his first mate. “You let them go?! You fool! We could have had them!”

Foulberto calmly opened his mouth to speak, “Captain—”

“Shut up!” El Patron said, giving him an infuriated slap across the face. “You let them get away! The Great-Great-Grandsons of Tiberius Fireskull, who locked us away! The ones we swore vengeance on!”

“Captain!” Foulberto said, with calm assertion. “Patience is key. If we kill them now, what if we need them later? You are rushing things, Captain. They will die anyway, once we have what we want in our possession. Do not act like this was our only or last opportunity.”

El Patron snorted. “Very well then, but I will not forget this. I was generous enough to accept you back into this crew instead of leaving you here on Raven’s Cove. Do not disobey me again.”

“I won’t, Captain, I assure you that,” Smasho said. “Now, what do you plan to do?”

“We must locate the Blade of the Damned,” El Patron said. “The ghost ships that I sent out may have located it by now. If not, we’ll need to search the Caribbean. Although I believe that I know someone who may know the location…”

“Then we will find this person?” Smasho asked.

“Yes we will, and we will then find what we are looking for. And when we do, the Fireskull brothers will wish they had died tonight.”

----------------------------------

Any comments? I'm hoping that I can finish The Lost Phantom this summer and start the next book. I'm very eager to get to the end of this book... you guys will love the ending...

Dun dun dun!!!!!!! That was good mate.



Sounds a bit Rick Riordan-ish to me @_@

Aww! Not Matthew!

Jk, I like when people die.

o.e Not disturbing.................


Why always death? Why isn't it ever bunnies? ( sound familiar? )

Any who, great chapter. ( I've noticed that most of the weapons used are in my inventory, has someone been sneaking into my account? :jk: )

I've got an announcement to make about not just this story, but my whole series. I am going to be bringing it to a close.... not now, but after this book is finished. Originally, I was going to have The Lost Phantom have a bit of a cliffhanger ending and have the next book finish the story, but I have decided now that I want to restart my whole series, from scratch. That's right, as in pretend this one and Shadows Rising never existed. The reason being is that you guys have all told me how good these are and that I should publish... the thing is, I can't really publish these due to the fact that they are based off of POTCO. For that reason, I plan to restart the whole series from the very beginning and keep it completely independent of POTCO and as much as possible from POTC too. I will still use the same characters (Davy, Billy, the Shadow King and her crew, Tiberius Fireskull will be in it too, etc.). Even if I don't publish it, I want to be doing this story independent of the game. I think it'll make it a lot better, and I want to do it more than just create a story out of something that's already there.

I will finish The Lost Phantom, if you guys still want me to (I still want to :p ), but I do want to restart.

Because I'm going to be ending The Lost Phantom and I want to start on my new story soon, I'm going to sort of finish this story a bit quick. You may be upset, but I promise you, the next book will be worth the wait... err, less wait. I estimate that I'll probably have another six to ten chapters, whereas before I probably would have had closer to fifteen. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I'll be trying to finish this book up in the next two weeks so I can have the new starter of the new series after that.



Davy estimated that it would take about two weeks to get to Tortuga, but they had gotten lucky with the winds of this season, so he figured they may be able to make it in one and a half. Once they were a few days from Raven’s Cove, the living crew had gathered up their lost mates and put them each into a large wooden box with some heavy weights in it, along with their prized possessions. They were cast into the sea where they sunk to the sea floor. Some said things about the deceased, others simply stood and watched, unable to say a thing. And then finally came Matt in his wooden coffin. Billy and Sam seemed to be taking it the hardest, having lived with him years before Davy had come to Tortuga and met them.

“Matthew Scurvytimbers,” Billy said, with a few tears running down his face. “I’ve known you for twenty years. You were as much a brother to me as Davy was, and I’m glad to have met you. You were one of the best sailors I’ve ever met, your knowledge of the mast and the helm more than that of a man who had sailed for double the time you had. I… thank you, for everything. For rescuing me from angry pirates in Tortuga, for being one of my big brothers. You’ll live on in my memories, and you’ll be remembered aboard this vessel as a hero, and a loyal friend.”

Billy choked up at that point and walked off, not wanting to watch or say any more. Sam was not one for short speeches, and instead decided to just say a simple goodbye and thank you to Matt. And then he was cast into the sea.

Davy, now that they were done saying their goodbyes to the deceased, went into his cabin to rest and write in his log. He had only been in the cabin for a few minutes before he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” he called, looking up to see who it was. He saw Billy walk in through the door, quietly shutting it behind him. Davy smiled. “Ahoy Billy.”

“Ahoy Davy,” he said, walking around the room. He was silent, examining all the paintings on the walls, the objects on the furniture, and the view of the dark sea reflecting the cloudy sky. Davy watched his brother as he examined all the little details of all the little things, before finally turning to Davy with a small grin. “Not exactly as I remembered, but its been ten years, hasn’t it? Ten years I’ve been gone.”

Billy chuckled and sat down. “I just thought I would come in… we never really got to actually catch up, savvy? We never got a chance to say… to say anything of importance, really.”

Davy nodded, “You’ve no idea how much I’ve missed you all these years. There wasn’t a day where I didn’t think about you at least once. I never forgot what you did that night.”

“Neither did I,” Billy said, stroking the small goatee on his chin. “What do you propose we do now that El Patron is out? And it seems as if he’s got a whole fleet of ghost ships as well. That ghost ship you encountered coming into The Cove was probably just one of them.”

“Aye, but I can’t help wonder why,” Davy muttered. Then they heard a knock on the door. “Come in!”

Meg came through the door, and she had a rushed look on her face. Something was wrong. She held a spyglass in her left hand, her right hand pushing open the door. She was sweating from the hot sun that had beaten down upon the crew, as they had gotten far enough from Raven’s Cove to get away from the storms the island seemed to attract.

“Davy, you’d better see this,” she said, beckoning for him to come and look. Puzzled, Davy stood up and walked outside. He followed Meg to the starboard side of the hull where she pointed to an area in the distance. It didn’t take very long for Davy to notice the small fleet of ships. He estimated that there were probably five to seven ships, of varying hull classes. He shrugged.

“Just a fleet of ships, what’s the big deal?” he asked.

“See for yourself,” Meg replied, handing him the spyglass. Davy peered through it at the fleet. He could tell that there were about seven ships, as he estimated.

“There’s a ship flying Spanish colors… probably a merchant vessel. There’s a frigate that’s not flying any colors… perhaps it’s a pirate vessel towing it. And that’s the… Royal Navy?”

Davy kept examining the ships until he realized that they were not an organized fleet, but a random assortment of ships. A British ship would have never sailed next to a Spanish ship without firing. Something was strange with these ships.

“I believe that I have an explanation,” Davy said after a few minutes of thought. “And I don’t like it. I heard rumors before we left for Raven’s Cove about ships disappearing, sailors coming off ported ships and acting strange. Then we learned that ghosts could take control of mortal bodies. That would also explain the ghost ship we saw. That fleet there, it’s a ghost fleet. Chances are that somehow some ghosts got aboard those vessels and took over. Several ships that were hijacked by ghosts came together to form this fleet. We still don’t know why, but we need to move. It looks like they’re heading for Tortuga, in our direction. I’d rather that we don’t get near them.”

Davy turned to face the crew, most of whom were now watching the fleet carefully. “Mates, change of course! This problem is worse than we realize! Make a heading for Cuba, near the mouth of the Pantano River!”

“Cuba?” Billy asked.

“We need help from someone who knows everything about the sea. Someone who is a master of voodoo, as I think that we’ll be needing that for what I am going to do,” Davy replied.


The journey to Cuba was not too long. In fact, it only took about three days before Cuba was sighted. It was much closer than Tortuga and was not very far off their original course. As the ship docked, some of the crew went into the small port near Pantano River’s mouth to get some repairs done to the Shadow King. After they left, Davy and Billy went alone to the Pantano River. The boat that remained after the larger portion of the crew went to get repair and food supplies was not very big, only fitting two people. So Davy and Billy used what they had.

They traveled fairly light. They wouldn’t need very much. They had a few canteens of water and rum, a few small tidbits of food, and then their swords. Very little in the ship’s armory was of interest to Davy, but he finally settled on a simply made saber, with a blade about the length of his old sword. It was a bit light for him, but he decided to make do with it.

Quietly, Billy and Davy rowed their small boat up the Pantano River to get to their destination. Davy still hadn’t told Billy who they were going to see, but Billy had a feeling he knew. He had a vague memory of when he served Jolly Roger about the skeleton leader mentioning something about a witch living in the swamps of Cuba.

After an hour of tiring rowing, they stopped the boat next to a small shack on stilts, several meters above the swampy water below. It was run down, but it had a solid roof to protect against any rain, and there were lights from inside, showing life. Davy tied their boat to a wooden beam and then followed Billy up the steps. They arrived at the door, after ducking to avoid a snake slithering on a low branch, and Davy gave a soft knock on the door. A moment later, the door opened, revealing a tanned woman that seemed ageless. She spoke in a thick accented voice, with a smile that seemed friendly but rather scary.

“Ahh, Davy Fireskull,” Tia Dalma said. “’tis been a long time since I have seen you.” Then, turning to Billy, she said. “And I thought you were dead.”

“It’s a long story, involving the rise of El Patron, Tia,” Davy said, interrupting. Tia didn’t seem surprised.

“I know he has risen. I have sensed it,” she said. “He is powerful, rising hundreds of people as ghosts. If he succeeds in his objective, he will be unstoppable, but I am not the person to answer your questions.”

“What?!” Billy said. “We don’t have much time! We need to destroy him as soon as we can, or he’ll be too strong to destroy later! We don’t have time to go and search for answers ourselves, to ‘find our own paths’! If you don’t tell us what we need to know, then who will!?”

Tia Dalma chuckled. “I think that your brother knows the answer to that, William.”

Billy winced at his full name. It had been a long time since he had heard it. He turned to look at Davy, who had a look as if realization had just dawned upon him.

“Well Davy, who can tell us?” he asked. Davy looked back at him with a determined look and spoke the name.

“Tiberius. Tiberius Fireskull knows.”

------------------------

Again, I'm sort of rushing these chapters because I am sort of abandoning this story-line, and I want to start the next. The stuff I'm cutting is really just stuff that is more of adding on to the main plot. Not really necessary for a whole chapter, but it makes a nice one anyway. For example, I'll turn a long voyage that I would make one chapter into a few paragraphs. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, but I again want to get moving along.

I'm confused. So your next story will do NOTHING with potco?

My next story is going to be much more independent from POTCO (as in not using characters from it, other than ones I have created myself). It is going to be pirate-based, using a lot of the characters from my old stories, but I'm restarting the series. Due to the lack of interest I see this thread has gotten since my last chapter, I may abandon this story where it is. I assure you the next one will be much better.

Its all up to you. I can finish this story (it won't be as good as it would be originally though) or I can leave it for now and start my other one, possibly coming back to finish this one.

I like this story,although it is your choice if you want to stop it here.I'd prefer it to be finished but again,not my choice.

What I may end up doing is doing both stories. It'd be tough, but I think I could do it. This story honestly doesn't have more than five or six chapters left, at this rate. I am starting on the new one, but I won't abandon this one yet. ;)

This story is great! Keep on writing, mate.

Wow, great story Davy, I just read it all today! I hope you will be able to continue this story and give it a proper ending, but I look forward to reading your new story. I'm sure it will be fantastic. :)

The story is GREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAATTT!!!