Okay okay guys, no more suspense... well, there is a bit more... but you get some questions answered now!
Chapter 7: The Red Fog
Witchdoctor Dan had been “working” on the two brothers for about a day and a half now. It was currently the afternoon of the day after they had come across the floating planks that had littered the sea. He had taken the two brothers under the deck and they hadn’t been seen since, although some crewmates talked about strange screams and noises coming from the room. God knows what Dan was doing to the two.
The voyage continued on as regular. The seas were clear as far as the eye could see. Nothing but that beautiful blue tone that the sea always had in the Caribbean. That afternoon, Witchdoctor Dan came up to Davy as he was watching his crew work. The man looked exhausted, grumpy, and hungry, but accomplished.
“Well Captain,” Dan said. “It wasn’t easy, but I may have fixed them.”
“Very good!” Davy said, clasping his hands. “How did you do it?”
Dan grinned, “Some things are better left unknown… would you like to see them?”
Davy nodded, and Dan took him down into his room. His room was strange, to say the least. There were strange bottles and jars littering the furniture everywhere, leaving no place to sit except a little chair in the corner. There were several shrunken heads hanging on the walls, glaring at Davy with their evil, beady eyes. The place was in complete disorganization. He noticed that there was a little bookshelf in the corner, with several very thick books. He couldn’t read the titles, but he figured they probably had to do with voodoo and other witchdoctor-like topics. In the back of the room, on the floor, were the two brothers. They had been cleaned up, but they were tied up with ropes and gagged in the corner.
As Davy and Dan came in, they started making noise through their gagged mouths and attempting to hop up and down. Davy raised an eyebrow.
“Dan,” Davy said carefully. “Why are those two bound and gagged?”
Dan shrugged, “Why not?”
Davy shook his head and chuckled, then approached the two brothers with his battle dagger. At the sight of it, the two brothers’ eyes grew wide with fear, and started shouting as if they were being murdered.
“Shut it!” Davy snapped. “I’m going to cut the ropes ye dogs!”
Instantly the two brothers calmed down, and let Davy cut the ropes. In a few seconds, they were standing up, breathing normally, and stretching.
“Good God!” said the one in the purple jacket. Now that he was cleaned up, he looked older than the other one. “What the hell was that?!”
“Gentlemen, or pirates if ye be,” Davy said politely, as was his way when meeting new people. “I am Captain Davy Fireskull, and you are currently aboard the Shadow King, a pirate vessel manned by the mighty Shadow Sorcerors crew. We are a crew that is unlike most other pirate crews that sail the Caribbean. We are able to harness the powers of voodoo and use them to our will. I will have Dan here explain it to ye in further detail very soon. We found you two floating in a lifeboat in a sea littered with planks of wood that were once a ship, and we are curious as to what happened to you and your ship, your names, and what you were doing in this area, so close to Raven’s Cove.”
“Wait a moment,” the younger one said. “What’s Raven’s Cove?”
Dan grumbled something, probably insulting the young man’s ignorance. Davy paid no heed and continued on.
“Raven’s Cove,” he said. “Is a strange island. It is where the dead rise in the form of ghosts. It is a mysterious island that is on few maps, and that those that do know about it try to avoid. We; however, are on a straight course for it. The reason will remain unknown to you until you have officially joined our crew, if you do that is.”
“Well, to answer your questions,” it was the older one that answered. “I go by Sharktooth.”
“Aye,” the younger one said. “And my name is Vingshiblomayorgen.”
“Beg pardon?” Davy asked, puzzled.
He repeated the name, and Davy’s frown grew bigger.
“Pirate Guy!” Sharktooth interjected. “Just call him Pirate Guy…”
“Very well Sharktooth and Pirate Guy,” Davy said monotonously. “Now, could you tell us what happened to your ship?”
“I don’t remember exactly…” Pirate Guy said slowly. “It’s all just a blur in my memory. I just remember some strange ship attacking us, with lots of fog. It was really powerful…”
“Our ship was a regular frigate, a good ship,” Sharktooth added. “But I remember it taking us down in just two or three broadsides! Incredibly powerful. I don’t remember at all what it looked like, though. I just remember lots of fog, and screaming, and this strange howling.”
“Howling you say…?” Davy said. He scratched his small beard.
Is it possible that… Davy thought to himself. No, impossible. It can’t be. I’m over thinking this…
“Thank you mates,” Davy said, lost in thought. “Dan, give them the lecture on voodoo. Try not to do anything to them.”
“I’ll try my best Captain Fireskull.”
With that, Davy left the cabin, and headed back above to help the crew out. It was currently early January, so the days were slightly shorter, and the nights were longer, so by now the sun was only about two hours from setting. As soon as he stepped outside, Dog Gunmorgan approached him.
“Davy,” he said. “Raven’s Cove is in sight.”
“Is it now?” Davy answered, pulling out his spyglass. He walked to the front of the ship, where he had a clear view of the sea ahead. Sure enough, the form of a black, rocky island loomed in the distance. If Davy looked carefully through the spyglass, he could see little dots moving around the island, the ravens the island was named for.
“We should be there in a few hours,” Dog stated.
“Good, I suppose,” Davy muttered. The truth was that Davy was quite nervous. He knew about Raven’s Cove at night. It was a very dangerous place. He had been hoping that it would come in sight tomorrow morning, but apparently the wind at their backs had been a bit stronger than he expected.
Should we turn back? Davy wondered. No, I’m being paranoid. We’ll be fine.
“Onward then!” Davy announced. “Once we enter the cove we can send a small party of us on foot.”
“Aye, aye Captain Fireskull!” Dog said, before walking off.
The rest of the afternoon passed, and Raven’s Cove got closer and closer. Davy all of the sudden was filled with a feeling of dread and fear. He could sense that something was not right with the island. Something stranger than usual. He couldn’t tell what though. He shifted his vision away from the black island, and looked out westward, opposite the direction of Raven’s Cove. He noticed that the sun was just about to set. He always loved to watch the sun set. He didn’t know why, but it was just something he enjoyed doing. Perhaps the reason was that he and Billy used to love going down to the docks when they were young children to watch the sun set with some of their sailor friends. Davy smiled as the yellow orb dipped beneath the horizon, ending the day, and beginning night. And then everything went wrong.
All of the sudden, Davy realized that it had become quiet. He turned around to look at his crew. They were still working, but it seemed as if they were in a different world from him. They were silent, and were moving as if they were moving through water, in slow motion. Davy looked at the water beneath him, and it too seemed to be moving very slowly. Puzzled, he looked over towards Raven’s Cove, and what he saw he would never forget.
A little less than a mile away from the Cove, was a small patch of fog. Not regular fog that hung over the water naturally, or the green fog of Jolly Roger, but a red fog. The small patch of fog slowly grew until it was a massive cloud of it, menacingly hanging over the water. But that wasn’t it. As soon as it grew, Davy could see a shape emerging from it, and then he figured out what had attacked the
Invincible, destroyed Sharktooth and Pirate Guy’s frigate and left all those planks.
The form of a ship slowly emerged from the red mist, but no ordinary ship. It was a massive Ship of the Line, possibly even larger than the
Shadow King, but it wasn’t exactly solid. It was misty and cloudy, not a solid ship of the Earthly world. When Davy looked at it, it reminded him of Joanna in her Rage Ghost form, when he had been stranded on Raven’s Cove. Except this was an entire ship, like a ghost ship. Its tall masts held long, tattered sails, and its figurehead was that of an undead Conquistador.
Once it was about halfway out of the mist, it felt like a massive gust of wind blew by, and time seemed to return to normal, and sounds returned to the world, but not for too long, because once the crew saw what was emerging from the fog, they’re chatter died down once again. That was when the howling began. It was the howling of tortured souls, cursed to be trapped on this Earth forever. The screaming and howling from the ship, likely coming from a ghostly crew, made the hairs all over Davy stand straight, chilled his bones, and made him clench his teeth and seal his eyes.
Davy cried out, putting his hands to his ears, but it was no use. The sound was in his mind, not his ears.
“Davy!” Sam cried, running towards him. He was wincing, but was determined to speak. “What the hell is that thing?!”
“That,” Davy said, between clenched teeth. “Is what wrecked the
Invincible. What destroyed that frigate. It’s a ghost ship. Something that seems so horrible and dangerous that even Hell couldn’t keep it!”
“What are we going to do about it?!” Sam cried out in fear. “We can’t fight it!”
Davy looked at the horrible ship. It had fully emerged from the original cloud of fog, but another cloud of fog still followed the ship’s ghostly silhouette. It had set its course, and was coming straight towards the
Shadow King. Fear welled up inside of Davy as he looked at the massive ship sail towards them at speeds that could leave a Navy War Sloop far behind. He glanced towards his crew, who were now frightened. They all were pointing at the ghost ship and talking to each other with nervous looks on their faces. Davy had to get control of this soon.
“Davy,” Kate said. She had come up to him. “Those rumors we’ve been hearing. The ones about strange ships. I think they’re true, but I think there’s more to it than just this one ship. We need orders if we are going to survive this thing. Now.”
Davy snapped out of his trance and nodded.
Fighting that thing is impractical, Davy thought.
It’ll kill us too fast. At the speed it’s going, we can’t outrun it. And there’s nowhere to hide… unless…
Davy looked towards the opening to the cove of the island. It was just big enough for the Shadow King to fit through comfortably. Looking at the approaching ghost ship, it may just be too wide. It was risky, but it was their only hope.
Davy turned back towards his crew. They were bickering now, and starting to yell at each other in fear. It was complete chaos. Davy held out his hand towards Sam, who handed him his gun. Davy fired three shots in the air in quick succession, and the crew fell into silence.
“ALRIGHT MATES!!!” Davy bellowed. “Looks like we have a major problem here! But I have an idea! Full sail to the Cove!!!”
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