A Red Sky Has Fallen

by Ryan Gilbert

  Her fingers found the ruby heart that was still hanging around her neck.

  “… and Riggs again. Please… help me.”

  “Nobody can help ye now.”

  Garrett stomped his way down the steps, a bottle of rum hanging from his hook at an awkward angle and a knife in his hand.

  “Riggs will… I know he will.”

  The pirate took a swig from the bottle and stared coldly at the girl. Taking the bottle out of his hook, Garrett pitched it at the cell. It shattered against the metal, showering Julia with broken glass and rum.

  He leaned in close to the bars and said, “I’m countin’ on it.”

  Brushing the glass off of her, Julia asked, “Then why are you running?”

  With a sneer, he lifted his hook and rested it on the bars of the cage. What minimal light was in the room was reflected in the curved, sharpened metal. It frightened Julia by its mere appearance.

  “Do you think that I just want to kill Riggs?” he asked.

  Julia backed away as he kept talking.

  “I want to do so much more than just kill him.”

  His knuckles turned white as he gripped the bars with all of his strength.

  “I want to take away everything that ‘e loves… everything that ‘e cares about. I will burn it in front of him and make him watch. When his will is broken, I will humiliate ‘im. Only then… when I have complete power… will I run this hook through his chest and rip out his heart.”

  The girl was terrified. Garrett was a lunatic, unlike any she had ever seen. He was what she had envisioned pirates to be before she had met any of the Red Sky’s crew… heartless, cruel, and purely evil.

  “I’ll never let you do that,” said Julia, backing into the corner of the cell.

  Running his hook across his chin, Garrett said, “Ah, but ye won’t have a choice, missy. Ye only serve one purpose fer me… to get my former captain to cooperate.”

  “Why do you need that so badly?” she asked as the traitorous pirate walked around to the side of the cell.

  “I want power… supreme power. Somewhere out there is the trident of the god Poseidon. If it were in my possession, then all o’ the seas would bow down to me. I would rule kingdoms… empires… even the entire world.”

  “You would enslave the entire world out of greed?”

  Knocking his hook against the bars, Garrett answered, “Out of greed, hatred, anger… hell, maybe even what a true pirate would call love.”

  Even in the dim light, she could sense that he was surveying her. His eyes watched the movements of her body, taking in every bit of curvature that he could see. There was nothing that she could do. For a split second, her vision turned red as she glared at Garrett through the bars. In that moment, she felt completely helpless. She was shocked back to reality when he opened the door to the cell and slammed it behind him.

  “Let me show you how I feel about yer precious captain.”

  Julia cowered in the corner, trying to shield herself from whatever Garrett was going to do.

  “Give me that pretty lil’ hand,” he said as he stepped closer.

  He grabbed her by the wrist and pinned her against the ground. She tried to get away from him, but he was too heavy. Emitting a deep cackle from his throat, Garrett raised his hook over his head, ready to bring it down and cut off the girl’s hand.

  Without a second to lose, Julia grabbed the knife from the villain’s belt and stabbed blindly. The blade missed Garrett’s head, instead connecting with his ear, cutting through the cartilage like paper. The pirate let go of her wrist and rolled off of her, holding his bleeding ear.

  Julia dashed to the door of the cell, quickly turning the key to unlock it. She could hear her attacker behind her, slowly getting to his feet. At the last possible moment, the door opened. Julia swung the door open and tried to escape, but Garrett grabbed her by the hair. With no other option, the girl kicked the barred door, smashing it into the pirate captain’s knee. The combined pain of his bleeding ear and hurt knee forced him to release her. Julia ran up the stairs, still hearing Garrett cursing and shouting obscenities at her.

  She quickly ducked underneath all of the hammocks of the waking crew, barely making it onto the main deck without being stopped. The pounding of the pirates’ footsteps grew fainter behind her as she burst out into the night air.

  As she looked out over the side of ship, she could not see anything except darkness. She did not know if there was land anywhere close to them. There was not even a way to see if there were any ships around.

  “There’s no escapin’ us, Ms. Hamond.”

  Julia spun around and was face to face with Garrett again. His hook arm hung at his side while his other hand was pressed against his head. Blood trickled down his unshaven neck and chin as he confronted the girl.

  “I’ll ignore the fact that ye nearly cut me ear off… solely because I don’t want to kill ye before yer beloved captain shows up. If ye come wit’ us, then I’ll make sure me crew don’t hurt you. Agreed?”

  Climbing onto the rail, Julia shouted, “No! I will not let you use me to kill the people I love.”

  Garrett took a step closer and asked, “And what do ye plan to do? Swim all the way back to yer home?”

  The ship swayed, almost knocking Julia off the rail. The girl held onto the rigging for dear life. Her toes were the only parts of her feet that rested on the wood.

  “If that’s what’s needed, then yes,” she said, unsure of her plan of action.

  Garrett could see the indecision in her expression. In that moment, her thoughts were transparent to him.

  “Ye don’t know what’s in these waters, now do ye?” he asked, sneering.

  Peeking below her, Julia answered, “No… what?”

  The Captain merely shrugged his shoulders and said, “I have no idea… but let’s find out.”

  After the final word, he jumped forward and knocked the girl off the rail. Julia flailed her arms and tried to grab onto something, but there was nothing but air.

  Once she hit the water, she was temporarily blinded as her head fell beneath the surface of the water. For a moment, she could not tell which way was up and which was down. It was all cold blackness.

  She broke the surface of the water and gasped for air. The breeze that had been refreshing now turned to a bitter wind, biting into her skin as she tried to stay afloat.

  Over the sound of her splashing, Julia could hear the pirates laughing at her. They seemed to be having a great time at her expense.

  “Does the wench not like gettin’ wet?” taunted Garrett.

  Julia floundered in the water, her body weighed down by her dress. She could barely keep her head above water as she spit the foul-tasting salt water out of her mouth. She tried to swim back to the ship, to keep herself from freezing to death in the water.

  BANG

  A shot hit the water right in front of her, just barely missing her arms and legs beneath the surface.

  “Ye want to escape, then escape… if you can,” Garrett shouted, waving his pistol in the air.

  “I can’t… I can’t,” she cried, trying to get closer.

  Pointing out over the waters, Garrett ignored Julia and said, “Well well well… looks like we’ve got ourselves some shark bait.”

  The struggling girl turned around and could not see anything at first. When she actually did see the fin cutting through the water, she nearly froze where she was.

  It tore through the waves, coming straight toward her. There was no way that she could make it to the Red Sky in time. She tried to swim, but her arms did not want to move. Julia flung her arms up in front of her, hoping that it would be a quick death.

  *phtunk*

  The shark thrashed about until its speed slowed, and its corpse came to a rest in front of Julia. It nudged her with its dead fin and sank beneath the surface, a harpoon embedded in its brain. She could feel its rough skin rub against her leg as it sank to the ocean floor.

  Quic
k as she could, Julia swam over to the ship and climbed onto the waiting ladder. She would much rather prefer the danger of the pirates than the unpredictability of nature.

  “Well, boys, looks like our little friend ‘ere is gonna be staying wit’ us fer a while now,” said Garrett, resting a firm hand on Julia’s shoulder.

  She was too tired to put up any resistance. The sea had soaked her to the skin, a mighty unpleasant feeling for the girl. No one offered her any extra layers as the wind caused her to shiver. It was hard for her to tell if the shivering was from the cold or from her fear.

  The Captain whipped Julia around to face him. She shuddered as she met his terrible gaze. With his hand still gripping her shoulder, he held his hook in front of her face, letting the fear build in her eyes.

  “Don’t try me patience again, Ms. Hamond. Next time, I might not be as forgiving. Go with these fine gents, lock yerself in the brig, and don’t… don’t try somethin’ like this again. It’d be a shame to see a pretty face go to waste.”

  He ran his hook along her cheek, but she pushed it away. In an instant, she was yanked backwards by two burly pirates and hauled down the stairs and into the brig.

  They were not concerned with being gentle either. When it did come time to lock her in the brig, the two shoved their captive so hard that she smashed into the side of the hull. All they did was laugh, lock the door, and leave.

  Julia leaned against the wooden wall and slowly slid down to the ground. She rested her elbows on her knees and tried to stay warm. It was the only thing she could do. There was no way to escape.

  The sun poured into the prison cell the next morning. Riggs had not slept at all that night. He had been using that time to try to plan how to escape. So far, nothing had come to fruition.

  His crew lay spread out all over the prison floor, snoring as they slept. They had already given up on escaping. Being stuck deep inside a Navy prison was not a comforting place for a pirate, especially the crew of the Red Sky.

  Cocking his head to the side, Riggs heard footsteps coming down the hall. Mentally, he tried to prepare himself for the hangman’s noose. If he was going to die, he was not going to go down without a fight.

  Fortunately for the Captain, when the soldiers arrived, he saw the Commodore standing behind them. He walked with a cane, something Riggs immediately observed as the man had to visibly keep himself from falling over. He must have been fighting through some serious pain to walk all the way to the prison. From the look on his face, he had calmed down enough to face the pirates.

  Riggs kicked Clint in the side to wake him as the guards unlocked the cell door. Caught by surprise, Clint flailed his arms around, hitting Coral Jack in the face, who in turn spat a glob of saliva straight into Petey’s good eye.

  “You blasted idiot, what was that for?” yelled the old man.

  His exclamation roused the rest of the crew, who rubbed their eyes and yawned, then became tense once they saw the Commodore entering the cell.

  “What do you want? Come to give us our last meal, Commodore?” asked Clint.

  “Or did ye come to kill us yourself?” asked Coral Jack.

  “Neither.”

  “Really? Then what did ye come for? A day ago, you wanted us hangin’ from the gallows,” asked a curious Riggs.

  “I did… and still do, but, in case you haven’t noticed, not everything is alright here.”

  “I could’ve told ye that when we sailed into port.”

  “Enough with the sarcasm!” the Commodore snapped.

  Riggs did not say another word. He did not want to jeopardize anything, especially if Hamond was there to make them an offer. Judging by the tone of his voice and determination, it was an offer with which he did not necessarily agree.

  Leaning on his cane, Commodore Hamond said, “Listen to me very carefully, gentlemen. I have already let you sail away once before. I will not let you do it again…”

  He paused.

  Petey, beckoning for him to continue, said, “But…”

  “… but I need to get my daughter back. I want her back home… safe and sound.”

  Riggs stood up from the ground and said, “And ye need us… why? We’re finally where you’ve wanted us to be.”

  “Wanted… yes. But right now, I need you to help me. Whatever differences we’ve had in the past, I’m willing to put it behind us for my daughter’s sake.”

  “Why do ye need us? Doesn’t the almighty Navy have enough ships to find one pirate ship?”

  With a grunt, the Commodore hobbled forward and said, “It’s not the ships that make a difference in the Navy. It’s the men on those ships… none of which are pirates.”

  Rubbing his scruffy chin, Riggs said, “Correct me if I’m wrong, Commodore, but didn’t ye find us easily enough without help when I took Julia the first time?”

  “You’re wrong, Captain Riggs.”

  The pirate was confused. Whenever the Red Sky had first encountered Julia, the Commodore had found them unnaturally quickly.

  “Explain, Commodore,” said Riggs.

  After a deep breath, the Commodore said, “Whenever we were pursuing you, there was a… slight complication. We picked up some other pirates along the way, and in exchange for their eventual freedom, they let us know some of the secrets of a pirate’s life… especially a life on the run.”

  Riggs gritted his teeth and said, “And let me guess… one of these pirates happened to be Marcus Garrett.”

  “The one and the same. He was an awful human being, even in the brief time that I was with him.”

  Riggs was about to rush at the Commodore and throw him to the ground, but he saw the soldiers watching the pirates’ every move. He tried to control himself, but it was extremely hard. The mutiny and senseless bloodshed could have been avoided if Riggs had known about the Commodore’s association with Garrett earlier. If the Commodore had warned him, none of them would have been in this situation. The mutinous traitor was even smarter than Riggs thought.

  “That ‘awful human being’ is sailin’ away with Julia as we speak,” Riggs said through clenched teeth.

  The Commodore’s cane dropped to the floor. His face looked like he had just seen a ghost. It was a look of pure terror and fear.

  “A-are you serious?”

  “Deathly serious. He mutinied against me and left us all to die in the middle o’ the ocean.”

  The Commodore stood up with shaking legs and grabbed his cane from the ground. He did not even bother trying to hide his emotions. The pirates watched him scold himself as he rested an arm against the bars of the cell. From his heaving shoulders, Riggs could tell that the man was weeping. The Captain could understand the regret that Commodore Hamond was feeling.

  Composing himself, the Commodore hobbled to the entrance of the cell and said to the guards, “Bring these men down to the port. Don’t let them leave your sight. They’ll be helping us bring down the Red Sky.”

  To the pirates, he asked, “Do we have an agreement?”

  “Aye,” answered Riggs.

  “Aye,” echoed the rest of the crew, after a moment’s contemplation.

  Escorted by soldiers, the pirates followed the Commodore out of the prison and into the streets of Yorktown. For a brief couple of minutes, Riggs felt like he was an English citizen again, the weight of the Crown and its rubbish laws pressing down on him.

  It was not a pleasant feeling. The soldiers watched his every move. He wanted to be free again.

  The Commodore and his soldiers led them out to the streets. The instant that the pirates stepped out into the sunlight, the people of Yorktown rushed at them, trying to tear them apart. The soldiers formed a blockade to keep the criminals from getting murdered, further angering the crowd. The dead bodies had been cleared, but the blood still stained the roads. As the pirates passed through the citizens, they were spit on and reviled like dogs. They just kept walking, focusing on the task at hand.

  Several times, people broke through the wall o
f soldiers to try and attack the pirates, but they were flattened when the butt of a musket connected with their face. Riggs was tempted to grab a soldier’s sword and defend himself, but he realized that these people were just blinded by grief. He would not kill someone for that.

  As the soldiers pushed another man back, Coral Jack tapped Riggs on the shoulder and whispered, “What’s the plan, Captain?”

  “It’s simple, Jack. We convince the good Commodore to give us a ship, and then, when they’re not lookin’, we escape to find the Red Sky ourselves.”

  “Ye think he’ll actually do that?”

  “The man’s clearly not thinkin’ straight. Of course, he will… ‘specially if I tell ‘im that it’ll get Julia back quicker.”

  The soldiers returned to their original posts, and the conversation ended.

  After several more minutes of walking, the entire group reached the port. It was still partly destroyed, but there were some ships that were sea-worthy, largely untouched by the attack.

  The Commodore led the group down the row of ships, stopping at the ship that was most familiar to the pirates, the HMS Magistrate. It was the only ship that had been able to stop them before.

  “Gentlemen, once we get onboard, you will provide us with a heading to where you believe the Red Sky is. Failure to do so will result in your execution. Are we clear?”

  “Aye, Commodore,” said Riggs.

  As he walked up the gangplank, another ship caught the pirate’s eye. He stopped, peering through the rigging and sails of the other Navy vessels. It was a smaller ship, but it looked like it had enough cannons to adequately defend itself… twenty-six to be exact. There was some damage from Garrett’s attack, but it was still floating.

  “Commodore… what be the name o’ that ship?” asked Riggs, pointing.

  “Oh, the Dagger… I’m surprised you didn’t notice it before. It was built solely to hunt pirates, but it’s still being repaired from your ship’s attack. Pity, really… it could’ve helped.”

  “Let us have it.”

  Even Riggs’ crew was surprised. It was not like him to make a downright stupid request like asking for a damaged boat. What good would it do them?