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Hmm... Crest, while you're lurking there, you may want to read this other chapter I wrote... I'll spare you a long chapter, so this one is pretty short, told from the perspective of Billy.
Chapter 26: Orders
Billy’s body fell down onto the deck of The Harkaway. Normally he could land fine after a teleport, but normal didn’t really describe his situation. The cuts that Davy had given him with his sword burned as if it were acid. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but it still hurt as if it was, and not to mention that one of his favorite shirts was now stained with blood. His head throbbed violently, aching horribly. The blood had become dry, and caked on his head. In other words, Billy looked more dead than alive.
He slowly got up, head still throbbing. He stood, leaning against a rotten mast, and looked around. A few skeleton crew members glanced at him, but then continued with their duties. Billy looked down at the ground, feeling sick. He took a few deep breaths of what would have been fresh sea air. Unfortunately the stench of the dead covered it up, causing Billy to vomit below him. After he was done, he looked up, straight into the eyes of Jolly Roger.
“Well then Billy,” Jolly said in his cruel voice, ignoring the various injuries on Billy. “If you came back alive, I’m assuming your mission was successful, and Davy Fireskull is dead?”
Billy chewed his lip. He new better than to lie to Jolly. He could see right through it. He said, “Captain, Davy beat me. He was too powerful for me. I failed in my mission.”
Jolly cried out, stomping his foot, “You failed?! You lost to your pathetic excuse of a brother?! I knew you were useless! I should have killed you when I had the chance!”
With that, Jolly lifted Billy up using his dark voodoo, and sent him flying across the deck. Billy cried out in surprise, and slammed onto the deck, rolling for a few feet before he stopped. Billy grunted, and got up, only to have Jolly kick him again, sending him flying into a wall. Billy got up again.
“You’re a pathetic excuse for a pirate,” Jolly said, lifting him up again with dark voodoo. He brought him close to him. “You’re weak, and you will die weak. I should have killed you when I killed your father.”
Jolly brought up his right hand, the one with the flintlock pistol and blade on it. He put the blade right at Billy’s throat. Billy closed his eyes tightly, waiting for death to come. It didn’t.
“But, I may have some use for you,” Jolly said. He dropped him, and Billy crumpled to the floor. His head was throbbing worse now, and the gash on his arm had started bleeding again. Billy was starting to worry if he would die of blood loss. Now he didn’t just look like death, but felt like it too. He dragged himself up. Part of him wondered if he should kill himself right now, and free himself of Jolly Roger. But he pushed that thought aside.
This will all work out in the end, he thought to himself. Then out load, he muttered, “What are your orders captain?”
“My power grows every day, as does my army,” Jolly said, drawing the Sword of Darkness from it’s sheath. His right hand had morphed back to normal now. He examined the black blade. “Thanks to this pretty little sword your brother got me, it has increased my power, and allowed me to raise more undead than ever!
“Many years ago, I launched an attack on Port Royal, one of the Caribbean’s main islands. I was able to deal a great deal of damage to it, but we were beaten back. That invasion took a lot of my power to use, and after that I had to go into hiding and recover. Slowly I built up my strength and forces, taking care of pesky Navy and East India Trading Company ships. My power grew. It was a very slow process, but with this sword that your brother got me, it has increased my power significantly. I now have raised countless undead, as well as fleets of ships! All of this at my fingertips! Soon, I must make a strike. Not just a puny little attack against a fleet of Navy vessels, no! A whole invasion of an island! And I plan to begin with Port Royal. I cannot risk getting defeated yet, so I want you to lead the assault against the island. If you can capture it, you will have proven yourself to me.”
“An invasion of Port Royal?” Billy asked. He thought about what he was doing. “That would be difficult. To get our troops in we would need to get close to the island, and the fort that the Navy has there will be a problem. If we spawn several of our strongest ships there, we can catch the fort by surprise, and while they are loading their cannons we can open fire. The fort will be in ruins, and they will sink few if any of our ships. Once the fort is down there won’t be too much resistance.”
“Yer correct Billy,” Jolly said grinning. “Once that fort is down, that will take care of the majority of their forces. The last of them will be confused and scared, and the townsfolk can barely fire a gun. And then we will burn the town!”
Billy nodded. “How will this work?”
“I plan to start the raid in three days. We can sail there, and take our time until then,” Jolly said. “I also want some of your wounds to heal a bit. A wounded soldier is as good as no soldier. We will attack in the middle of the night, when they are asleep. Once the fort is down, as you said, I will send several of our ships into their harbor. We will sink any ships there before we start the raid, so that there will be nobody escaping. After they are sunken, the troops will come into the town and capture it. By dawn, the town will be a ruin. You will get off the ship right after our troops begin their raid. You will give the orders and do some fighting as well.”
“Very well captain,” Billy said, bowing his head.
“Now, go and clean yourself up!” Jolly ordered. “You look awful, even for a pirate.”
Billy walked off to bandage his wounds and clean himself a bit. When he was gone, Jolly walked to the edge of the ship, and looked at the dark sea around him. He smiled cruelly, and then spoke.
“My conquest of the Caribbean has begun.”
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