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Ye called for Chapter 15?
Chapter 15: The Battle in the Storm
Jolly Roger turned to his first mate. His first mate was a larger skeleton, but not as large as Jolly. He was wearing a torn bandanna, and an eye patch. He had a sword at his belt, and was dressed in pirate-like attire, torn as it was. He was chosen as first mate for his intelligence, and the fact that he had been a notorious pirate captain before Jolly got to him.
“He lives!” Jolly Roger shouted, slamming his hand against the railing of the ship in rage. “How can he live!? Its been two months since I sank the Black Swan! He jumped overboard! I saw it! He should have drowned!”
“Captain,” his first mate, whose name was John Darkhart in life, said. “Even if he lived before, that was the past. This is the present. For now, I see it fit to worry about taking him down now. I am confident that we can defeat that ship.”
“Ye be right. Go below and make sure the crew is prepared for battle. He will not be gettin’ away this time.”
“However there is always that one sly chance that the unthinkable will happen. We need a backup plan.”
“Arrr… pray we don’t be needin’ it. If that happens, we can take his brother, Billy. He is the last family that Fireskull has left. I have a plan in my head for what to do for that… now go! I want those cannons ready! They are almost upon us!”
“Aye, aye Captain!” Darkhart said, before running off.
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“Alright mates! They are almost here! Ready the cannons!” Davy shouted out. “Remember! After we do some major damage, I will give the order to board! And prepare for a nasty fight!”
There was a loud yelling of “Aye aye!” from the crowd. Right as the ship’s were within 500 meters of each other, the first drop fell. From then, the rain began to pour, and the winds kicked up. Davy could now see Jolly Roger staring at him from the helm of his ship without his spyglass. Roger did nothing, just stared into Davy, sending a chill down his spine; unless of course, that was just the icy rain.
The ships began to get closer together.
100 meters…
75 meters…
50 meters…
20 meters…
“OPEN FIRE!!!”
The cannons of both ships fired, sending the cannonballs flying directly towards their opponents. The Fury shots from The Harkaway didn’t bounce off the hull of The Shadow King as Davy had hoped, but they didn’t do much other than causing a few dents, which was still good. The cannons of The King slammed into the hull of The Harkaway, but did roughly the same amount of damage. The Harkaway had stronger cannons, but The Shadow King had a stronger hull.
The two ships began circling each other in a duel of death, and fired broadside after broadside. After the third of fourth broadside, the ships both began to take some real damage. The hulls on both ships began to splinter, slowly but surely. The ships exchanged broadsides after broadsides, and yet still, nobody made a critical hit. Davy moved to take the wheel from Sam, and when he grabbed it, he watched a cannonball from the enemy slam into the deck, sending crewmates flying.
“SAM!” Davy shouted through the storm and cannon fire. “GRAB MATT AND GET THE WOUNDED BELOWDECKS!”
“AYE, AYE SIR!” Sam replied.
Davy steered the ship in a circle, with The Harkaway directly across from The Shadow King. He watched as cannonballs flew from both ships, and slammed into both ships. It was a horrible sight to watch as his crew was killed, but he knew it couldn’t be helped, and at this slow rate, the battle would last forever.
Unless… Davy thought. Davy called upon the voodoo stored in his body, and then used it to harness the power of the storm, for a small enough amount of time to send a giant wave slamming against The Harkaway. He saw skeletons fly off the ship and into the sea, as well as several cannons. Davy also figured that it wet their gunpowder supply, so they wouldn’t be able to fire their guns.
“QUICK MATES! WHILE THEY’RE DOWN! FIRE AWAY!” Davy cried out.
The Shadow King’s cannons fired, and slammed into the weakened Harkaway. The Shadow King fired two more broadsides, each seeming to do more damage than the first. The enemy was losing strength. It was time to board.
Davy gave the boarding order, and the crew switched from round shots to grapple hooks. They hooks were fired at the enemy, and most of them succeeded in landing. From then, the boarding commenced.
Using their swords to zip line across the ropes, the broadsword, including Billy, went in. Using their broadswords, they tore apart the rigging of the ship, and then followed the rest of the crew, Davy leading them with the Sword of Darkness. With this sword and its almost unlimited power, he was confident that he could beat Jolly Roger.
Davy landed, and used the Sword’s power to become invisible. He snuck up behind several skeletons and killed them silently. Instead of becoming skeletons again, like living enemies did, they merely turned into a pile of ash. Davy ran around the deck, an invisible killer, slicing the crew of The Harkaway to bits, but soon, the invisibility wore off, and Davy got into the real fighting.
He defeated skeletons one by one, until you could easily find Davy by following the trail of ashes. Unfortunately, nobody did that, as they were too preoccupied fighting for their lives. Davy conducted voodoo through the Sword of Darkness, sending bolts of lightning into his enemies, or igniting them using cursed fire. He even was able to freeze them in place using cursed ice abilities.
Right as Davy sliced the head off of one of a skeleton foe, he felt a slice on his back, and he fell over, clutching his Sword. He cried out in pain.
“Not so tough now, are we Davy Fireskull?” a voice said.
Before Davy could react, his back began to tingle, and all of the sudden, he felt the wound close, leaving nothing but a small white scar. The Sword of Darkness healed the user!
Davy got up and turned around. In front of him stood John Darkhart, the first mate of Jolly Roger.
“That didn’t hurt much,” Davy said.
“Do ye want it to, mortal?” Darkhart taunted.
Davy grinned, “Lets dance.”
The two began to swordfight. Darkhart was a powerful swordsman, and even with the extra powers of the Sword of Darkness, Davy couldn’t beat him. He was too fast for Davy to cast anything. After a few minutes of back and forth fighting, Darkhart managed to get Davy to trip backwards over a plank of wood sticking up out of the floor. Darkhart grinned.
“Any last words…” Darkhart didn’t finish his sentence, because right then, he was tackled by a figure. Davy got up, and saw Will Seaeagle, part of his broadsword brigade, pulling out his sword to battle with Darkhart.
“I got him Davy!” he said, “Now go and get Jolly Roger. He is at the helm of the ship battling Sam, and it isn’t looking well for Sam either.”
“Thanks mate, I owe ye one!” Davy said before running up.
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Davy climbed the stairs of the ship, battling his way through other skeletons. Half way up, he looked at The Shadow King. She had taken heavy damage, and a huge portion of the broadside cannons were exposed. Skeletons had boarded her in greater numbers than the Shadow King had sent to The Harkaway. Davy had to defeat Jolly Roger now or order a retreat, as it was not looking good for The King. He decided that his ship could hold for a little longer, and he raced up the stairs.
He found Jolly Roger and Sam Bladebeard battling. Sam was an amazing swordsman, but Jolly Roger was just too powerful. Roger knocked Sam onto the ground, and raised his sword to do a finishing blow.
Davy quickly aimed his sword at Jolly, and right before his sword began descending into Sam’s heart, Jolly was struck with a bolt of lightning sent from the Sword of Darkness. Jolly flew to the back of the ship, and slammed against the wall. He slumped over, dazed.
Davy ran to Sam, and said, “Sam, get back to The Shadow King, and take the crew with you. She can’t take much more damage, and our crew is outnumbered. It will be a massacre if we don’t retreat and help our crew. I can take Jolly Roger.
“I can’t just abandon you! You could die!” Sam cried out.
“Mate, ye have to. I can take Roger. If I die now, I bring Jolly with me, and if he dies with me, then I will die complete. The Shadow King needs you right now. Please.”
“Davy…”
He looked into Sam’s eyes, and a message passed between them.
Sam sighed. “Aye, aye captain…”
“Thank you Sam. And Sam, if I believe it is too dangerous, or if you believe it is too dangerous, retreat! If I am still on this ship, then I will send a ball of lightning into the air, and that will be my signal.”
Sam nodded. “And lets hope that you won’t have to do that.”
“Aye, lets hope. Now go!”
Sam ran off, his sword in hand, towards the ropes.
Davy turned towards Jolly Roger. He was getting up now, and picked up his fallen sword, a rusted cutlass, but Davy knew it was anything but weak. Jolly Roger walked towards him, sword in hand. Davy drew his sword, and held it out.
Jolly Roger grinned menacingly. “The Sword of Darkness? Ah hahaha! I am surprised ye found that mighty weapon! I have been hunting for it in fact, for the past several years now! Ye know why there have been so few of my lovely little invasions in recent years? No? It is because I have been using all my forces to find the very sword you hold. With it, I shall truly become invincible!!!”
Davy glared at Roger. “I don’t think so!”
Davy and Jolly charged at each other and slammed their blades together. The two sword locked, and the two opponents held them together, each trying to overpower the other. Davy sent a current of lightning up the blade, and it conducted onto Jolly Roger’s blade, and then onto him. He staggered backwards, and Davy swung his sword at Jolly’s belly.
Jolly Roger jumped backwards, then responded with an overheard cleave, which Davy blocked. The two fought together in a dance of death, neither gaining any advance on the other. Davy sent voodoo curses flying at Jolly Roger, and Jolly Roger sent others flying back. One minute, a bystander would have thought that Jolly was about to be killed, the next, that Davy was going to lose the fight. The two couldn’t gain any advantage over the other, and so the battle continued. Davy sent Jolly flying backward using an invisible force, and quickly turned to look at his ship.
The fight was not going well for The Shadow King. He could see that most of the skeletons were defeated; however, the hull had taken severe damage, and the entire broadside deck was exposed. One of The King’s masts was destroyed, and there was a large gash in one of the sails of another. Davy realized that The Shadow King would sink if it didn’t retreat.
With reluctance, Davy looked upward, and fired a ball of lightning into the air. When it was above the masts of The Harkaway, he detonated it, sending lightning bolts flying in all directions. Immediately, he saw grapple lines being cut, but he didn’t have time to see more than that, because just then, Jolly Roger lifted him up using voodoo magic, and slammed him against a helm mast. Davy looked up, dazed, to see Jolly grinning.
“Ye have been a worthy opponent,” Jolly Roger sneered, “but unfortunately, it is time for you to die. And it is time for me, to take what is now mine!” Jolly Roger picked up the Sword of Darkness, and held it up. He showed no signs of it attacking his mind like it had Davy’s. It began to glow with that strange black light.
Jolly Roger took the blade, and sheathed it in his belt. Then he turned to Davy, and lifted him up. He brought him close to his face.
“Any last words Davy Fireskull?” Jolly Roger asked in mock politeness. But then, he yelled out in pain, dropping Davy. He staggered to the side, with his hand on his left shoulder. Davy and Jolly both turned in confusion to the stairs of the ship.
“Get away from my brother!” Billy Fireskull said, holding out a musket. He threw it aside, and drew his broadsword. He yelled a battle cry, and charged towards Jolly Roger.
“This won’t be hard!” Jolly cried out.
Using his strange flintlock blade on his right hand, Jolly attacked Billy. The two clashed for about a minute, and Davy, still dazed, could do nothing but sit there helplessly. He turned and saw The Shadow King sailing away.
Good, at least they are getting away… but Billy, I can’t let him die… Davy thought groggily.
Davy turned to hear a cry of pain from Billy, and the sound of a sword clattering onto the ground. Roger had sliced Billy across the chest with his blade, and now lifted him into the air. He tossed Billy around like a rag doll, slamming him into the mast, and then the ground. Billy, slumped against some railing, and looked up. His face was covered with blood, and his nose may have been broken.
By now, Davy was on his feet, and was standing near the edge of the ship.
Billy looked up at Davy, “Brother… run…”
Billy drew a pistol, and fired it near Davy’s feet, Davy jumped backwards and, not realizing how near he was to the edge of the ship, fell backwards into the lifeboat. He got up and looked at Billy.
“BILLY! NO!”
“I’m sorry Davy…” he said. Then took his pistol, and fired it at the ropes holding the lifeboat up. The bullets hit the ropes, proving Billy’s perfect aim even in his weakened state. The ropes snapped, and the lifeboat began falling towards the water.
“NO!!!!!” Davy cried out at the top of his lungs.
The last thing he heard was of Jolly Roger cursing him that he got away. Then, the lifeboat hit the water, and Davy knocked his head, rendering him unconscious.
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