The Scathed

[Crestshot]

Alright alright mates, you can hold off on the for this week. I even have a chapter out early for you! Course, that's a different matter altogether. But before I get chatting too much...

The Caves



Once again, for the second day in a row, there was a crowd huddled near the burned remains of Luckie’s bakery. Kat looked upon the crowd, feeling the buzz of her rum slowly slipping away. As much as she didn’t want a clear, collected head for the battle to come, she knew she needed it. She took that moment as she walked towards the large band of pirates to transform. Hazel eyes hardened, her stance was suddenly more solid, and she brought the image of her sister, beaten and broken inside of a dirty jail cell, to the front of her mind. That would fuel her anger for the hours to come.

She forced herself to the front of the crows. “Shut it, all of you!” she shouted out. Men turned to her with skeptical expressions that Kat brushed away. “So, you all think you’re ready to rid Tortuga of these rats?” A huge roar rose up from the assembled pirates. Kat smiled.

“Well then, mates, let us be gone!”

Her crew helped organize the mob into three groups. Two would head into the ‘secret’ cave forts that the Navy had, storming from both entrances, while the others would head to their official, public headquarters. Those without were given ammunition and swords. No matter what happened tonight, one thing was certain; the Navy would fall.

Kat was examining a sword, the one she had taken from Jenkins, in the center of the hustle and bustle. It was clear that this wasn’t one of the ones the Navy handed out in bulk to their soldiers. The blade was sturdy, yet not heavy, and the hand guard was twisted in an intricate black design. Her hand curled around it solidly. It had probably been made upon his promotion to Captaincy.

A tap on her shoulder startled her out of her musings. She turned, expecting to see some townsman with an idiotic question, but instead was met with the bright violet of her sister’s eyes. Kat’s expression turned into that of a beached fish.

Sarah gave a small, timid smile. “I figured you could use some extra help,” she said.

Kat realized how she looked and closed her mouth. “Of course!” she said, recovering. “You have a cutlass?” Sarah turned to the side a little to show her small blade.

“Let’s not forget the voodoo,” she said, pulling the small doll that somehow held so much power out of her pocket. “Perhaps this small thing will help the tide turn.”

Kat grinned and nodded. “It’s good to have you on our side.” She turned out to the crowd. “Alright gents! Time to head out!” she yelled to everyone. She turned to speak to Sarah over her shoulder. “Stick by me, aye?”

The ragtag band of troops began marching to take back their town. Lawrence, being her most trusted officer, led his men against the Navy main base at the edge of Wildwoods, leaving Kat and Ironhawk with their brigades. Kat moved quickly through the trees in Wildwoods on the other side of the base, leading a group of about 25 men. Her eyes glanced around quickly, taking in every leaf, every twig, and any flash of a red uniform. They were what she estimated as halfway through when a sudden rustling sounded at her left. She motioned to the men behind her to stay silent and still, and began creeping slowly towards the source.

A shot rang through the trees with an ear-deafening intensity. “Who goes there!” a male voice yelled out.

Kat noticed the blood red sticking out in the trees now. She slowly drew her sword so as not to attract attention, and was suddenly glad for the camouflage of her crocodile coat. Her breathing was even as she stared at the bright red, preparing… and then without warning the man just fell to the ground.

Kat looked startlingly back to the group. She hadn’t heard a shot come from them, nor anything else that would signify attack on the man. Then she saw Sarah, her head and shoulders poking out above a bush, her doll in one hand.

She glanced back at her sister in slight shock, then walked over to the man. A pulse in his neck beat against her fingertips. Kat grumbled slightly, then took his bayonet and slung it over her shoulder.

“Come on! Let’s hope we don’t encounter any more of him!” she told the group, and started through the trees again. She moved to be next to Sarah and spoke lowly to her. “You could have killed him, couldn’t you?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Kat demanded, a small fire beginning to burn behind her eyes.

When her sister’s gaze turned to her, Kat could see that the coldness that Sarah’s eyes had always portrayed so well hadn’t disappeared with the blue. “Because I didn’t have to,” she replied curtly. She turned away from Kat as if that was the end of the conversation, and since Kat had no response but to sigh and shake her head, it was. To her, Sarah didn’t understand the implications of not killing that man.

They continued through the woods for the better part of half an hour, eventually coming upon the small mountains that housed the caverns. The woods broke away to a small clearing that was obviously crudely man made. There was a small entrance about three men across, yet tall, that revealed the opening to their promised freedom.

“Are we ready?” she whispered backwards to the group. She heard it pass and spread through the men. A message then rebounded back to her, landing at Sarah’s whisper in her ear.

“Aye.”

A malicious grin flicked onto Kat’s face. She drew her sword without caring about the sound. Bayonets turned towards her as she led her brigade bounding out of the trees. Two shots fired off, but they flew past everyone’s heads. Before they could reload, the mob had reached them, and the two were struck down. Kat silently added two more marks to her mental tallies.

Someone grabbed the torch at the entrance and handed it to Kat. She took it in her left hand, leaving her right free for her sword. With that first step into the caves, the light in her hand prodding the darkness, she knew she had finally reached the point of no return.

Their steps echoed against the stone walls. The first few feet was narrow, but it soon opened to a wide, tall space that Kat figured had been extended with explosives. There was nobody there, however, which was highly unexpected. Kat looked around in confusion, but continued walking. However, they soon came to a fork.

She stared at the two paths for a moment, realizing her plan had not made room for this. The men behind her were rustling nervously, aware that she didn’t know what to do.

A shot echoed suddenly from the path on her left. It seemed to shoot energy behind her. The flame of the torch burned the air next to her face at the speed she was going. She flew past a fallen Navy hat as she began hearing yells from further down the tunnel.

They emerged in another high and wide area of the cave to the sore sight of pirate versus Navy. The second brigade had made it far before Kat’s, and seemed to have been engaged for a while. Bodies littered the floor here and there, red uniforms and dirty, ragged clothes alike. Men lay groaning in pain. She heard Sarah gasp and saw her rush to the nearest man. Voodoo doll in hand, she knelt next to him and began chanting over him, pulling out a bottle whose liquid she forced down the man’s throat.

Kat took her torch and pushed the end of it deep into the sand, effectively putting it out. She then drew her other sword, her original golden handled one, and went charging into the battle. It was easy enough to take out the two men that had been facing away from her with quick stabs into the back, but that soon brought attention to her. A Navy who had been paired up against one man broke off from his fight to try and slice at her head. With two swords, it was simple to parry that away and stab him in the chest. Blood poured from the wound as the man fell to his knees. Another tally.

Her dual wielding made it easy for her to cut through the battle. She slashed and sliced men like Nemesis herself, goddess of vengeance. Men came up to try and stop her, but there was no hope for those poor souls. Kat’s sword was soon dripping in blood.

Tally after tally. Death after death. She passed Luckie, who stood off to the side a little and flung knives into people’s backs. She glanced at Sarah, who was healing a man on the sandy ground, fling a soldier away from her with a flick of her doll. She encountered Charles, tripped onto the ground and about to be struck down.

With only the thought of her brother’s safety, and too far away to meet the soldier with her swords, she spun the bayonet still on her back and pulled the trigger, dropping a sword. The little lead ball had a sure shot into the man’s neck.

Kat suddenly stilled. She realized what she had just done.

The Code was broken.

Anger rushed through her body. “Are we done yet?!” it burst from her in a desperate scream. She scooped up her dropped sword and gripped the handle so hard that her knuckles turned white. “Are we done killing each other yet?!” she shouted as she began moving through the crowd. One man attempted to cleave through her, but she parried away and kicked him down. “Surrender, you Navy dogs! Nobody wants to die, to fight any more, but we shall not leave until we win! There are few of you, yet there is always more of us! There are always pirates!”

Some men had begun to stop their battles and listen to her words. “So surrender! Give up! Conserve your forces and go back to England, where they don’t care if you are ruthless swine! Go back with your heads bowed in defeat, but at least you shall still have your lives!”

She stopped her pacing dead center in the cavern. The fighting had stopped completely now. “So are we done?”

The residents of the room seemed to stare at each other in contemplation. Then, one by one, weapons clattered to the floor. Arms of red uniforms were raised. Kat took great delight in the site.

Her attention suddenly spun to her side, which had shot out in a scream of pain. She sheathed her right sword and touched her hand to her side. It came back bathed in blood.

She fell into the sea of darkness.



Ah, the sea of darkness.

Crest does good? Haha. Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging for very long. This chapter had to be posted today for reasons soon to be revealed. Thank you for the reviews! I look forward to seeing what you post next! Thanks for Reading!

- Kat Crestshot