by Ryan Gilbert
Julia fell to her knees, sobbing. Staring out over the water, she could feel her tears running down her cheeks. Every other sound was blocked out of her head as she listened to the water gently moving up and down like nothing had just happened.
The entire scene ran through her head again and again. She watched Riggs fall with every second that she stared at the water. At first, she feared what awaited them. With Garrett in possession of the trident, it was certainly going to be a massacre.
She looked down at her hands. They were shaking like they had just been stuck in ice. In her mind, she could see herself wrapping her fingers around Garrett’s neck and squeezing the life out of him. A wave of anger swept over her as she clenched her fingers.
She was ready to fight. Deep down in her heart, she knew they would win. Watching someone murder their friend was enough to push anyone to their breaking point.
Dashing back to the Red Sky, Julia rushed up the gangplank. The ship was packed with new pirates, ready to join the crew and fight. Everyone was hurrying to get the ship ready for the battle.
Julia pushed her way through the crowd to the lower decks, where Ripper and Eli were trying to maintain order. They were not doing a very good job of it. With time running out, Julia grabbed a nearby bottle and threw it to the ground, the sudden noise startling most of the pirates.
Now that she had their attention, she shouted, “Now, listen to me. This will be the hardest fight of your life. We are going against a force much greater than any of us can possibly fathom.”
The pirates seemed to be invigorated by her speech, so she continued.
“We are all brave souls, putting our lives on the line so that those who survive can live freely. Some of you here may think this is hopeless.”
She saw several pirates nod their heads.
“This is not hopeless. I have hope that we will win this battle. Coral Jack has it. Ripper has it. If we look inside ourselves, we will see that hope and that drive to triumph.”
Drawing her sword, she screamed, “Will you follow me and fight?”
“Aye!” shouted dozens of pirates.
“Load those cannons. We’re going to make sure that Captain Garrett tastes the fires of Hell… and all the rage that comes with them!”
The pirates cheered and doubled their loading speed, ready for a real fight.
Julia climbed up the stairs to the main deck and directed Clint to bring the ship out to the bay. Eagerly, he spun the wheel away from the dock, determination shown in every movement. It would not be the time for songs or foolishness. It was time to end the power struggle.
“Hoist the skull and crossbones,” Julia ordered.
Eli and Petey raised the flag to the pride of everyone onboard the ship. Ahead of them, they could see the Magistrate turning to face its foe.
“Orders, Ms. Ha… Captain Hamond?” asked Clint.
She was a bit surprised by the address, but the navigator continued, saying, “It’s how he would o’ wanted it.”
With a little smile, she thanked him and said, “Let’s show that monster what the Red Sky can really do.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Bow cannons, fire!” Julia yelled.
BOOM BOOM
The cannonballs flew through the air, straight toward the Magistrate. The guns remained silent, but blasts of light shot through the air, exploding the cannonballs into tiny pieces just before they hit the ship.
Poseidon’s trident was proving to be a hard defense through which to break. If the crew of the Red Sky wanted to do any damage, they would have to be quicker.
K-BOOM K-BOOM
The cannons of the HMS Magistrate lit up the bay with white muzzle flashes and burning cannonballs. Clint did his best to steer the ship clear of the assault as several of the shots grazed the side of the ship.
“Full canvas. We need to get out to open water if we’re to win this battle,” Julia ordered.
“We’re trying, Julia, but he’s not going to let us get through that easily,” Clint responded, a cannonball smashing through the cabin windows below him.
Clint weaved the ship back and forth, saving it from multiple attacks. The waterspouts from the missed shots splashed against the side of the Red Sky, running into the portholes and dousing the gunners.
K-BOOM K-BOOM K-BOOM
The one hundred guns of the Magistrate were not stopping their assault. Luckily, the Red Sky was moving fast enough that most of the shots missed. However, there were a lucky few that hit their mark. Several crashed into the deck, throwing pirates overboard and into the water. Another smashed through the lower deck.
“Starboard cannons, fire!”
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The pirates’ shots were right on the mark. Two of the shots were struck down by the trident before they even made it to the ship.
The last shot was too quick for Garrett. It smashed into some of the bow cannons of the Magistrate, flipping them into the water. With half of its chase cannons gone, it had to resort to using its side cannons.
Now there was much more of a target area for the pirates.
“Quick… all starboard cannons, fire.”
The force of its attack rocked the Red Sky. The space between the ships became clouded with the exploding of cannonballs and flashing lights. The Magistrate tried desperately to keep from getting hit, but enough of the shots hit their target to cause significant damage.
Clouds and mist hung over the water, blocking the two ships’ views of each other. For the pirates, it was like sailing through a fog bank.
Clint steered the ship to the left, trying to get out of the clouds so that they could continue the attack and surprise the Navy ship from the side. If the attack strategy worked, then they could launch a strike against Garrett before the traitor could even see them.
As they got closer to leaving the fog bank, the crew rushed to load the starboard cannons. They needed to be ready once the call to fire came.
At last, Julia could see the outline of the HMS Magistrate. It had not moved. Just as she was about to order the assault to begin, something cut her off.
K-BOOM K-BOOM
The strange thing was that the Magistrate was not directing its attack at the Red Sky. It was firing in a completely different direction. Once the ship had left the bank of clouds, Julia understood why.
Leaving the docks were several other ships. Either they were ready and willing to fight or incredibly desperate to leave. Regardless of their motives, they were providing the Red Sky and its crew with a tactical advantage.
BABOOM BABOOM
As they sailed out to help the pirates, they were helping to distract Garrett so that the Red Sky to attack. With several mighty pirate ships bearing down on him, the mutineer could not ignore so credible a threat. Through a stroke of luck, it seemed he had turned his attention away from the Sky, leaving himself open to cannon fire.
“Fire!” Julia shouted with all her might.
BOOM BOOM
Onboard the Magistrate, the imprisoned Commodore heard a multitude of cannons firing away at each other. Regrettably, he could do nothing but sit in the brig and watch as his soldiers ran around under the hypnotic control of a bloodthirsty pirate.
He did not even know where the Magistrate was. With Garrett using that strange mist, they could have been anywhere.
Sitting down on a bench, Hamond reached into his coat pocket and took out the book that Travers had given him before he died. He flipped through the pages, wondering why his lieutenant wanted to give it to Julia. From the brief glimpses that he could see, the book just looked like a journal of some sort.
As he leafed through the book, something on the last couple pages caught Commodore Hamond’s eye. It looked like a letter. All around him, the sounds grew quieter as he started reading it.
“Dearest Julia,”
BOOM
A cannonball blasted through the hull, shocking the Commodore back to the battle. Pocketing the book again, he slid underneath
the bench as small bits of wood fell to the ground. Another cannonball knocked two soldiers back against the outside of the cell, rendering them unconscious.
Hamond crawled out from underneath the wooden bench and saw the remainder of the soldiers running up the stairs to help with the attack, their black eyes still showing no feeling. It cut deep into his heart to watch such fine soldiers be forced into the servitude of a madman.
Crawling over to the side of the cell, he tried to see if there was a way that he could get out of the metal prison. Rummaging through the dead soldiers’ pockets, he tried to find a key to the cell.
Neither of them had it.
BOOM
More cannon fire rocked the ship. The Commodore needed to hurry if he wanted to save the Magistrate.
As he was searching, he felt something poke his finger, drawing blood. He recoiled, but he was intrigued at the same time. Pushing his hand underneath the soldier’s body, he felt the pointed tip of a bayonet. Ecstatic, he pulled the musket into the cell and ripped the bayonet from the end.
Scrambling to get to the locked door, the Commodore jammed the bayonet into the lock and jimmied it around. If a simple pirate like Riggs could pick a lock and escape from a legion of soldiers, then he should certainly be able to do the same.
K-BOOM K-BOOM K-BOOM
“Fire the damned cannons already,” he heard Garrett shout.
Hamond jammed the bayonet from side to side and from up to down. It was much harder than it seemed.
BOOM
BABOOM
Another cannonball blasted through the hull, obliterating the hinges to the door. The door swung free, knocking the Commodore on his backside. It landed on top of him, but with some shimmying, he managed to push it out of the way with his uninjured arm.
Freed from his captivity, Commodore Hamond made his way out of the cell. Before he could react, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Aiming a musket, he fired once he saw someone appear. The soldier fell down the stairs, unable to get up.
On his way past, the Commodore looked at the soldier, a mere boy. His black eyes showed no pain as he tried to move, but he could not. The shot had torn through his spine.
The freed Commodore leveled a gun at him, and said, “I’m truly sorry, son. You did your country proud.”
BANG
He blocked his emotions from his head as he clambered up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he realized he was on a deck loaded with cannons. If he was going to take the ship back, a sabotage would be the best chance to do it.
Taking his last remaining musket, he leaned it against the wall. None of the hypnotized soldiers noticed or cared what he was doing. They were too preoccupied with getting the cannons ready to fire.
BOOM BOOM
K-BOOM K-BOOM
With the loudness of the cannons, no one noticed the Commodore cut the powder kegs loose. Using his uninjured arm, he shoved one of the barrels down the row of cannons. It knocked down a couple soldiers before it came to a stop. Several other powder kegs soon followed. Hamond stared down the barrel of his musket and took the shot, immediately ducking behind some boxes.
KABAM
The explosion blew out an entire section of cannons and engulfed many of the soldiers in fire. The Commodore was up the stairs and ready to fight by the time anyone realized what had happened.
Julia and the crew of the Red Sky watched as fire erupted from inside the HMS Magistrate. One of their cannonballs must have hit a powder keg, she thought.
The other ships were still doing their best to attack, but Garrett managed to hit the smallest one with a blast from the trident. The entire front half of the ship caved in, slowly sinking it.
Firing the bow cannons again, the Red Sky grew ever closer to the Magistrate. The second half of the Navy vessel’s chase cannons were blown into the water, taking away its advantage during a pursuit.
K-BOOM
The Magistrate fired back, blowing through the starboard side of the Red Sky. Ripper and Coral Jack were almost crushed by a cannon that was knocked loose in the barrage.
Trouble started to arise when one of the other ships tried to make it past the Magistrate. It made the fatal mistake of passing right by the port side of the ship, most likely thinking that Garrett’s ship was too crippled to continue battle. The moment that the other pirates tried to pass between the Magistrate and the Sky, Garrett unleashed a barrage.
At least twenty cannonballs burst through the hull of the pirate ship, sending water flooding into the destroyed vessel. The crew of the Red Sky could only watch. For the time being, the sinking ship served as a barrier between the two main combatants.
As Clint brought the ship out of the bay, the crew saw the water underneath the sunken ship light up. A gigantic waterspout sucked the conquered ship down to the depths, undoubtedly brought about by Garrett’s power. Once the cannons were able to shoot freely, they blasted away, trying to blast the Red Sky out of the water. Luckily, Clint kept the ship directly in front of the Magistrate, where it could no longer shoot them.
“We’ve got ‘em now. Where to, Captain?” asked Clint.
“How well can you navigate rocks, Clint?” Julia asked, staring off to the side of the island.
He followed her gaze and saw the treacherous rocks that surrounded the coast. It was near-insanity to try to pilot the ship through areas like that, but if it would take away Garrett’s mobility, then he saw no better choice. Clint ripped the wheel to port and sailed toward the rock formation.
Behind them, they saw the final ship that had been assisting them get overrun with a massive wave. The crew was swept into the water and the ship capsized, sinking down to the ocean floor.
“We’re comin’ across some choppy waters, Captain. Should we find a different way to draw him off?” asked Clint.
Sure enough, the sea was getting rather unpredictable. The previously calm waters had changed to waves of white foam crashing against the ship. With each passing moment, the Red Sky became harder to control.
Still determined, Julia said, “Keep a steady course. We can stop him.”
Grimacing, Clint responded, “I don’t know how well that’ll end fer us.”
“Did Riggs believe in your piloting skills, Mr. Wayko?”
“Aye.”
“Then so do I.”
Julia leaned over the rail and watched as the Magistrate followed behind them, trying to keep up. She knew that Garrett wanted to kill them all with his own hands. There was no way that he could refuse watching them die. He enjoyed causing others pain. Capsizing the ship or throwing everyone into the sea would not satiate his hunger for the crew’s blood.
As she stared back at the Magistrate through the crashing waves, she noticed something rather odd. A cloud was enveloping the ship, much like the mist that Garrett had used at the dock. It whirled around the ship in the same manner.
When the cloud flew into the air, the ship was gone. Instead, the cloud just flew even closer to them and at a much faster pace.
Panicking, Julia ran to the wheel and pushed it to starboard.
“Julia, what are ye doing?” asked Clint, unaware of the cloud.
Before the girl could even say a single thing, the ship materialized right next to them on the port side. If the pirates thought the Navy ship was intimidating from far away, then the much darker HMS Magistrate was like a full-fledged demon.
Before the pirates even knew what was happening, grappling hooks had been thrown onto the Red Sky, connecting the two ships. They were so close that the red sails and the glowing blue sails almost touched each other. Before the ropes could be pulled taut, Clint turned the Sky away from the Magistrate, creating some distance between the two ships. With both ships approaching the rocks, even a small bit of space could mean the difference between life and death.
“Stay at the wheel, Clint,” Julia said, holding her sword at the ready.
Soldiers started to swing onto the pirate ship now that there was nowhere for it to g
o. It could not pull away any further to avoid its attackers. The pirates fought back with all that they had, but most of the soldiers managed to board.
Pistols fired and swords clashed. Ripper tripped a soldier down the stairs and bashed the man’s head into the boards below. Coral Jack dueled with another soldier, dodging a strike and tossing the man overboard. Valera tackled a man to the ground and dug her fangs into his face. Eli locked one of the soldiers in a chokehold until he was dead, using him as a human shield from other attackers. Petey swung a musket like a club, cracking any man unfortunate to be close enough upside the skull.
Defending Clint from his attackers, Julia heard, “Get over there, ye miserable goats. I want them dead.”
It was Garrett, and everything did not seem to be going according to his plan. Kicking one soldier down the helm stairs, Julia looked over and saw the murderer standing at the Magistrate’s helm.
When he saw her, his angry expression changed. His dastardly smile returned as he pointed a glowing trident straight at her and Clint.
She felt herself get pulled backwards just as Garrett shot a beam out of the trident. Clint had gotten both her and himself behind the wheel just in time. The beam blasted past them, just barely missing them.
Julia crawled around the wheel, keeping just out of Garrett’s sight.
“What’re ye doing?” asked Clint.
“Seeing how Captain Garrett handles surprises,” said Julia, spinning the ship into the HMS Magistrate.
The hulls smashed together, jolting everyone from what they were doing. The girl watched as Garrett tumbled down the stairs of the Magistrate, still holding onto the trident. Every soldier and pirate was thrown off balance. The soldier in the crow’s nest was tossed from his perch and fell to his death.
Readjusting the wheel, Julia tried the same tactic again. This time, the Red Sky’s cannons yanked a good-sized chunk of wood from the Magistrate. Some of the hooks detached from the ship, but more were thrown over to keep the two tethered together.
For a third time, Julia rammed the ships into each other. This time, she heard a horrible scraping noise, like one of the ships was skimming the rocks.