Here you are!
Chapter 5: The Planks
The rest of that day passed. Fifteen minutes after the Invincible had been sunk, the crew finished their celebrating and returned to their duties. They had gone slightly off course from Raven’s Cove, so they had to reset their course, which was done quite quickly. After that, it quieted down to normal, and the crew continued their work as if they hadn’t fought a Navy Warship just before.
But while most of the crew was simply happy that they sunk a legendary Navy ship, Davy and Zolina seemed the only ones that were concerned. Something had to have done that to the Invincible. Something very powerful, and they may be sailing directly towards whatever this was. This was bugging Davy a lot, as it should, for he feared for the safety of him and his crew. For that reason, he called a meeting of some of his higher officers aboard the ship into his cabin that night.
Sam, Matt, Kate, Zolina, and Meg all came into his room right after sunset. By now, the crew was finishing up their duties, and was going to head down to get some dinner before going off to sleep. They all sat down on a free chair or on a bed, and Davy spoke.
“Well mates, we did the impossible. We sunk the Invincible!”
“Aye,” Sam nodded. “A job well done mates. Who would have thought that one day, we would take on that Naval Vessel?”
“None of us, I’m sure,” Kate said smiling.
“Order, mates, order!” Davy said, calming his friends. “I for one, am actually slightly concerned.”
“Concerned?” Meg asked. “But we just sunk her! She’s gone now, to Davy Jones’s Locker! What’s to be concerned about?”
“The fact that we were able to sink it,” Zolina said firmly. This got the others quiet. “Davy and I were talking right after she was sunk. Think about it! This warship was crippled, with its hull ripped open and cannons completely gone! What could do that to it? And then it was actually sailing towards us at full colors! No captain in their right mind would do that! We came to the conclusion that something nasty did that to it, and that the Invincible was running away from it.”
“Why does that matter?” Matt asked.
“Because that would mean we would be sailing right towards it,” Davy stated.
“Could it be…” Sam gulped. “The Kraken?”
The room seemed to go quiet for a few moments, but Davy broke the silence.
“No, I highly doubt it,” he said. “If it was the Kraken, it would have finished the job, and it probably wouldn’t have let it run. The Kraken is not something to worry about right now…”
There was a sigh of relief from the group, but it didn’t change Davy’s thoughts. Zolina spoke next.
“Mates, whatever did that to the Invincible, well, it was strong. Very strong. I’m worried that we may encounter it soon, and if we do, I doubt that we stand a chance.”
“Why are you telling this to us?” Kate asked.
“So that you are ready,” Davy answered. “I just want to tell you all to keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. We need to be very careful now. And with that, I bid you all a good night.”
They all filed out the door, but Sam stayed behind.
“Aye, Sam?” Davy asked, walking up to him.
“Davy, I get the feeling something bad is going to happen,” he said slowly. “Something that may be far worse than Jolly Roger.”
Davy heard a whimper in the corner, and turned to see Smelly. He had forgotten that the dog was there, sleeping peacefully.
“I guess Smelly does too…” Davy muttered. “I know what you mean. Maybe we can avoid it… just keep your eyes peeled.”
Sam nodded, “I’ll do just that. Good night!”
~~~~~~~~~~
Davy was woken early by a frantic rapping on his door. He looked out the window, and saw that the sun was just a few minutes from rising. He groaned and got up. The frantic rapping continued.
“Shut it!” Davy snapped. “I’ll be out in a few minutes! I don’t want to come out in my underwear!”
Davy grumbled and walked to his wardrobe. He was a pirate that did not like to wake up earlier than he had to. He threw on a brown and black tank, and slipped a long, red shop vest over it. He put on a pair of brown breeches, and slipped on some of his simple, brown boots. Over his head, he tied a red bandanna, with a golden skull gleaming on the front. He buckled his sword to his side, and came out on deck.
“This better be good to wake me up this early,” Davy bellowed.
“Oh its good alright,” said the current lookout, Marina Darkskull. “Look out onto the ocean.”
Davy looked, but it was still dark. The sun was rising as they spoke. Davy squinted to see the ocean, but couldn’t make out anything other than black waves and couldn’t hear anything but the lapping of the water against the hull of the Shadow King. And then the sun spread its bright rays across the water, and Davy saw it.
Thousands of planks were scattered across the water. They must have covered an area of at least a square mile, but probably much more. In some areas, small sections of a ship were floating. The wooden planks littered the ocean. The Shadow King could not go through that section of the ocean without plowing through hundreds of the wooden boards.
“What… happened here?” Davy asked to nobody in particular.
“I have no idea,” Marina said.
“It must have been a shipwreck, where else would you get all the wood?”
“Judging by how many planks there are,” said Will, walking up from behind them. “I would judge that this would be a frigate, by how much wood there is.”
“Well, anything could sink a frigate, correct?” Marina asked.
“Aye, but not many ships can completely obliterate it!” Davy said in response to her question.
“Captain!” someone shouted. It was one of his veterans, Dog Gunmorgan. “Lifeboat spotted directly ahead!”
Davy ran to the front of the ship and scanned the sea before them. In the midst of the thousands of planks was a lifeboat. Possibly with some survivors in it who may be able to tell them what happened.
“Let’s set a course for it!” Davy ordered. The sails were lowered, and the Shadow King started sailing through all the planks and towards the boat. In almost no time, they had arrived right alongside it. Davy could make out the forms of two men in there.
“Bring ’em up!” Davy commanded. Two men went down to retrieve the two figures in the life boat. Davy waited patiently as they were brought up and laid down on deck. By now, for better or for worse, Witchdoctor Dan had received news that there were possibly hurt people coming aboard the ship. Davy wasn’t sure if he wanted to heal them or perform tests on them.
Dan grunted, “They’re ugly.”
“I’m not surprised that you would say that…” Davy muttered. “They appear to be brothers.”
“Ugly brothers.”
“Shut it!”
Dan grunted and began picking his filthy nails. Davy examined the two men. They were definitely brothers. Davy couldn’t tell at the moment who was the older one, as they were both covered with filth and looked as if they had been in a major battle. One of them was wearing a short, purple coat with a purple shirt underneath. He had black boots and black breeches, as well as a black hat with a skull and feather. The other was sleeveless with a long black vest, black pants, black boots, black hat, black everything. They had both clearly just woken up, but the look in their eyes made it clear that they had been at sea too long.
One of the Sorcerors held out his arm to the one in purple, but he swatted it away, looking out into the distance and muttering gibberish. The other was rocking back and forth, not paying attention to anything around him.
“Can you diagnose them, Doctor?” Davy asked Dan.
“Humph. I thought you wanted me to shut it,” he muttered.
“Dan!”
“Can’t be too sure of the cause, but looks like a medium to severe case of insanity.”
“Can you fix them?”
Dan grinned evilly. “Insanity is my specialty.”
“Of course it is…” Davy muttered, too quiet for him to hear.
“Alright ye dogs,” Dan grumbled. “Come with me. Let’s see if we can fix their insanity without killing them too bad.”
A few men helped to get the two brothers heading down into Dan’s room, leaving Davy alone, until Zolina approached him again.
“I think that these planks and the Invincible are connected,” she stated.
“Could it have been the same thing that attacked them?” Davy asked.
“Whatever it is, I think we’re getting closer.”
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I'm sure that now you will whine about me keeping you in suspense for so long. Go ahead, whine away. You stil have to wait
