[Tiberius Fireskull]

finally, I am able to roll out another chapter.... this one is slightly longer, so prepare for a long read.


Chapter 13: The First Battle


Several hours after the Shadow King had set sail from Tortuga, Tortuga was far behind them. The seas were that bright blue that only the Caribbean Seas have, and the reflecting light was dazzling to the eyes. The sea wasn’t the only thing that was bright; the crew was happy to be sailing again, and there is nothing better than a happy pirate.

Davy walked around the ship with the aid of his new first mate, Sam, and they helped to check up on the crew, and make sure everything was “ship-shape”. The crew seemed to know what they were doing, as Davy expected. Most of them had pirated before.

But this is a different kind of pirating… the average pirate doesn’t fight the undead, and use voodoo magic. Davy thought. He hoped that this would all work out in the end.

Several hours later, even though it seemed like a much shorter time to Davy, the crew stopped for the night. They had done well. They were in the middle of the sea, with no land to either of their sides. It was going to be a clear night, much to Davy’s relief. He was sick and tired of seeing fog, as he was starting to really connect that with Jolly Roger’s appearances. As Davy went below deck, he ran into a fight along the way.

“It’s my rum!!! And ye can’t have it ye scurvy dog!” A young woman was standing with a small knife in her hand, up against a larger man. “Get lost before I bring this knife through yer ribs!”

“Oi, if I be wantin’ the rum, then it be mine! So hand it ova!” the man said. Davy ran in.

“Excuse me, is there a problem here?” Davy asked.

The woman went up to Davy, sheathing her knife in a waste carrier. “Yes Captain Fireskull, there is a problem. This… man -the woman spat towards the man- thinks that he can just be takin’ me rum! With no reason at all!”

“What be so special about yer rum that ye can’t just get another?” Davy asked.

“This is not the ship’s rum, it be me infamous rum. Anyone who knows about it is after it! Including this bilge rat!”

Davy looked at the man, “Leave her alone sailor. If I see you picking on any crew mate again it will be hull scrubbing for a week.”

The man gulped and nodded, before rushing off to get some food. Davy turned towards the woman.

“What be yer name sailor?” Davy asked.

“Zolina Crestrage, but I go by Zolina.”

“Ye have quite an attitude for a woman such as yerself.”

Zolina looked at Davy. “Well, if you will excuse me, I will be going to have some dinner before all of the other crewmates get to it first. Thank you for helping sort that mess out.”

Davy thought for a second, wondering what in the world had just happened, before heading into the dining area himself to get some food. After his meal, he went into his quarters, wrote in his journal, and went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~


In the morning, the whole process started over again. The crew went to their stations, and began work. There was a wind today, so the ship was able to make good distance, to wherever they were going. The ship was getting good speed, and stayed that way for several hours, until about noon. That’s when they spotted it.

It was a ship off in the distance. The ship had dark wood, and black and white sails. A lookout alerted Davy about it, and he climbed into the crow’s nest with a spyglass and took a look. What he saw was an EITC ship. It was a war ship, and it looked tough. Davy lowered the spyglass and climbed to the deck.

“ALL HANDS ON DECK!!!” Davy yelled out, ringing the alarm bell. It worked. In a few minutes, almost all of the crew was in front of him. Some were hung over from too much rum last night, some were confused, and some were looking at the ship in the distance. Davy spoke.

“There is an EITC three leagues in front of The Shadow King. Before I give my orders, I would like to consult my crew. Would you like to attack this ship, and show me your abilities? Or would you like to flee, and not take risks? The choice is up to you. All in favor, say aye!”

Not a single person didn’t yell out aye. Davy gave his orders, and the crew went to their battle stations. They charged the EITC ship. As they got closer, they saw that it was a frigate of some sort, probably a war class. If you used a spyglass, you could see the enemy’s crew frantically running around the deck, trying to load cannons.

They don’t stand a chance, or so I hope, Davy thought.

After several more minutes, the ships began to close in on each other. The two broadsides began to line up.

“FIRE!!!!!” Davy yelled at the top of his lungs. Matt Scurvytimbers and Billy repeated his order even louder, and then even louder than that, was the sound of the cannons being fired. The Shadow King had fired slightly before the EITC ship had expected, catching them by surprise. Several of the cannonballs hit the cannons of the enemy themselves, disabling them, and some of their crew.

However that didn’t stop the EITC ship from firing. They fired, but less shots were able to be fired due to the surprise timing on the part of The Shadow King. The cannons of the enemy rammed into the Shadow King’s hull; however, the tough hull that the ship had made many cannonballs do nothing but dents, and very few penetrated the hull.

Another round of broadsides was exchanged. The Shadow King hit a small gunpowder stash, blowing apart the deck with all the broadside cannons, and crippling the ship. Then the boarding began. Davy grabbed the Sword of Darkness, and unsheathed it. The blade seemed to glow with its eerie darkness. First in the boarding party went the broadswords-men, tear apart any rigging left in the way. In this party included Billy and Matt. Then, Davy and the rest of the boarding party swung on. Davy was immediately engaged in a swordfight with a crew member.

Both fought well, but an explosion from behind caused Davy’s opponent to stumble, and Davy ran him through his heart with his sword. Immediately, the crewmate seemed to be drained into the Sword of Darkness, until all that was left of him was a smooth skeleton lying on the floor. Davy stood in horror, looking at what he had done, but he didn’t have time to admire his handy work, as an explosion from behind forced him to move forward. He found himself face to face with the EITC captain. Davy readied his sword, and the battle began. The captain was an amazing swordsman, and he would have defeated Davy, but then he looked at his blade. He froze in shock, and Davy could see the fear in his eyes, as he had felt before. He took this opportunity to finish off his opponent, who’s essence drained into the sword, leaving a skeleton. Then, behind him he heard one of his crewmates yell out.

“Dear Lord! What was that!?”

Davy turned to see Sam staring at him, and the skeleton laying at his feet. Davy looked him in the eye, giving him a message that stated that he would explain later.

The battle raged on for another hour. Davy suffered few injuries, other than a bruise on his left arm from a piece of flying debris. Finally, the enemy crew was defeated. They were gathered up in the center of their ship, which was blown to smithereens. The sides of it were ripped off from the broadside fire, and the lucky gunpowder shots. Two of the three masts were down, and the third one’s sails were badly burnt. The deck was torn apart. The ship that they stood on was merely a skeleton of what it once was.

As the crew was rounded up, Davy told them exactly what he had planned to tell them. “We have defeated you, and therefore, we demand that you turn over your valuables to meself and me crew. If you deny us, you will be killed, and we will take it anyway. If you give it to us, you will be spared, only if you decide to join the crew of my ship, The Shadow King…”

“We’ll never join you!” shouted out a sailor, spitting in Davy’s direction.

Davy gave a little smile, “To the sharks with him then.” Some crew members grabbed him, and threw him overboard, much to his obvious protest.

In the end, they had to tie up all the enemy crew to their last standing mast. They looted the cargo, and then fired several explosive cannonballs at the ship. The last of the ship’s gunpowder exploded, sinking the ship. The crew gathered on the main deck, for Davy’s speech.

“A job well done mates. Very well done for our first go, and I am proud of each and every one of you. Now, I would like you all to get some shuteye, you have earned it. Sam, Matt, Billy, I would like to see you in my quarters please.”

As the crew headed off to their bunks, Davy and his friends moved inside his cabin. Davy shut the door behind them.

“Now, I have some explaining to do,” Davy started. When he knew he had all of his friend’s attention, he told them everything he knew about this sword that he possessed. He said it must just be a power of the sword to drain his opponent’s essence at a single cut.

“Strange blade there brother,” Billy said, and Smelly nodded beside him.

“Aye, strange indeed…” Sam mumbled.

“Now, there is something else I would like to address,” Davy said. “I believe that I should be teaching you all to use voodoo magic. Who knows, you may need it in the future some time. Not tonight of course, perhaps in a few nights we can start.”

The others agreed, and then Matt brought out something that caught Davy’s attention. He pulled out a small journal, one that had EITC printed on the front.

“I wanted to show this to ye Davy,” Matt said. “It was a journal I found in the captain’s quarters of the ship we plundered. I wanted to wait ’till we had some time alone with Billy and Sam to show it to you. There is a recent section that may catch your eye…”

Davy began reading it, starting at the most recent. Nothing was too interesting, until four days ago. The pages were stained with blood and water, so it was hard to read, but Davy was able to pick out that they had spotted a mysterious ship sailing nearby. A ship with a rotted hull, and tattered sails.