A Red Sky Is Upon Us

by Ryan Gilbert

  Still astonished by the enormity of the treasure, the pirates roamed around the room, lighting the other torches that covered the wall of the chamber. None of them knew what to grab first. As they surveyed the jewels, they looked to their captain for orders.

  Sheathing his sword, Riggs said to his crewmates, “Take what you can. We didn’t come all this way fer nothin’.”

  Coral Jack and Ripper dashed back and forth in excitement, stuffing random valuables into their pockets and trying to fill a chest with as much as they could carry.

  Burying his hands in a pile of jewels, Riggs let them fall through his fingers. Picking out a tiny red jewel, Riggs held it up to his eye and saw the pristine beauty to it. It was shaped like a heart. Looking past the ruby, he could see Julia, still speechless at the discovery. It reminded him of her.

  “So this is what notoriety feels like,” he said to himself, putting the jewel in his pocket with a grin.

  Finally, he was able to run his hands over a pile of treasure. He could not have imagined treasure this abundant. It was the stuff of legends. His dreams had come true. With a haul this bountiful, the Red Sky and its crew would be infamous.

  Grabbing a large bag from underneath one of the piles of gems, Riggs started to fill it with everything that he could get his hands on. Running his finger along the blade of a bejeweled dagger, he was surprised to feel that it was still sharp. He grabbed it, slid it back into its sheath, and stuck it in with the other riches that he had in the sack. Slinging the sack over his shoulder, he stuck it near the entrance to the chamber, alongside Ripper and Jack’s rapidly-filling chest.

  Passing by Julia, he saw that she had not moved at all.

  “It’s here for the takin’, love.”

  “I know,” she said, staring straight ahead.

  Clasping his hands in curiosity, he asked, “Um… then why ain’t ye takin’ anythin’? It’s all ours now.”

  “I’ve just… never seen anything like this before. Nothing back home could compare to this.”

  “And nothin’ ever will,” said Riggs, finishing Julia’s thought.

  He could see her eyes twinkling as they flitted back and forth, going from one piece of treasure to another. He held out his hand to her, which she took with little hesitation. Gently, he brought her closer to a pile of jewels.

  “Take some,” he said.

  “I don’t know, Riggs.”

  “What’re ye afraid of, love?”

  Turning her head towards him, she said, “I don’t… I don’t want to become a thief.”

  “Who’d we be stealin’ from? This treasure belongs to whoever finds it. Just take some,” Riggs said, gently prodding her.

  Julia stood there like a child, unsure of what to do. Rolling his eyes, Riggs grasped her wrist and carefully thrust her hand into the pile. She did not try to fight it, but Riggs could feel a tremor run through her arm as she pulled her hand out of the treasure.

  “I’ve never done this before, Riggs,” she said, looking at the shining jewels in her hand.

  “Ye know, there’s the reason it’s called a treasure map, love. Most o’ the time, ye find somethin’ worth keepin’,” he said as he pushed her hand into the pocket of her dress. There was a slight glimmer of a smile on her face.

  By now, Coral Jack and Ripper had filled their chest to the brim with treasure. Riggs started working on a smaller chest, filling it with diamonds, sapphires, and all sorts of precious rocks. He could not even begin to describe the emotions running through his mind.

  Placing the small chest alongside Ripper and Jack’s haul, Riggs grabbed a torch to go further into the cave. There was still some treasure in the darkened area of the cave. Maybe there would even be something more valuable than what had already been found.

  Taking a couple steps into the darkened area, Riggs started to see a shimmering reflection from his flame. There was a pool of water inside the cave, most likely the source of the stream of water from the entrance to the cave. Moving to the edge of the pool, Riggs could see the dim light on the wall cast by the torch. It revealed something mysterious. It almost looked like a figure.

  “Captain, where are you going?” asked Coral Jack.

  “All of you, come down here,” said Riggs, starting to get a little nervous, “I may have found somethin’ else.”

  As his three companions stood at the sides of the pool, the Captain started to wade closer to the figure, seeing that it was nothing more than bones. However, the kind of bones was what frightened the pirates.

  The skeleton was nailed to the wall of the cave, its arms outstretched, and its fingers curled. The mouth was open in a silent scream. Its black eye sockets stared down at the intruders, urging them to run. They stood their ground. Riggs’ eyes moved down the skeleton’s body and down to where its legs should have been. In their place were the bones of a fish tail. All of the pirates immediately became tense. It was terrifying.

  Riggs stood, up to his knees in the water, mesmerized at the skeleton of the mermaid. It was entrancing to witness. Never before had the Captain been so close to one of the most bloodthirsty creatures of the sea, even if it was just bones.

  He was now mere feet from the skeleton, with the light illuminating the wall behind the bones. Behind the dead mermaid, the gray rocks turned black, the color seeming to ooze from the bones. Riggs guessed that it was blood, dried for hundreds of years.

  One of the pirate’s feet almost slipped on something, but he was able to catch himself just in time to avoid losing his flame. Once he was steady, he brought his light closer to the water to see what had caused him to stumble.

  It was another skeleton, but this one was human. Tattered bits of cloth were hanging from the body, moving wistfully with the disturbances in the water. Some of the bones were so crushed that Riggs could not even tell they were limbs.

  Creeping around the bones in the water, the Captain was now standing directly in front of the dead mermaid. Spiders had taken refuge in the bones, filling the space with webs and bug carcasses. Taking a closer look, Riggs noticed something carved into the wall beneath the skeleton. Brushing away the dust and cobwebs, he read the inscription written there.

  “Fools of the sea,

  Heed my warning.

  I shall return,

  My uprising.

  Hurricanes howl;

  Trumpets will blast;

  You will all die,

  Bound to your mast.

  To the dark depths,

  Your ships will dive,

  The Curse of Ororis is alive.”

  It was a terrifying message. Riggs had heard of the dreaded mermaid Ororis, but he had always thought that she was merely a myth. In the legends, her power was enough to destroy entire legions of armies. Back in Rebelde, old pirates would tell legends of how the mermaid witch had left men in the middle of the ocean just for the pleasure of seeing them be killed by the creatures of the sea. Some had even claimed that, hundreds of years ago, she had almost annihilated everything that sailed on the seas. If the skeleton was that of Ororis, then everyone should be extremely careful.

  “Captain, what should…”

  “Stay out o’ the water,” he said, eyes fixed on the skeleton’s empty eye sockets.

  He looked around to try to break the skeleton’s dead gaze and something underneath the surface of the water caught his attention. It had a faint green glow as he reached down to the bottom of the pool and grabbed it. It was an emerald necklace, embedded in silver and attached to a thin, platinum chain. Inside the emerald, it almost looked like a light was shining out of it, surrounding it with an other-worldly radiance. Riggs looked back up at the skeleton as spiders scurried out of it. Its closed mouth looked like an evil grin. The Captain felt like it was watching him, but how could that even be possible? The mermaid was dead.

  As quickly as he could, Riggs waded back to Coral Jack, Ripper, and Julia. The skeleton was starting to make him uneasy. He climbed out of the water, still holding the glowing em
erald.

  “What the bloody hell is that?” asked Coral Jack.

  “Don’t know,” said Riggs, noticing the glow getting brighter.

  Panicking, he dropped the emerald to the ground, but it still kept getting brighter. He had never seen anything like it. None of the pirates wanted to touch it, unsure of what would happen.

  Interestingly, Julia was not as afraid as the pirates. It was just a light. What harm could possibly come from it? With the emerald still glowing, she reached out to pick it up.

  KABAM

  Once she touched the necklace, a green beam of light blasted out of the emerald and covered the entire room with an eerie glow. Wisps of black began to appear in the pool below the skeleton, seemingly out of nowhere.

  BOOM

  The entire cave shook, knocking everyone to their knees. Fear showed on the group’s faces as they pulled out their weapons, preparing for an ambush.

  BOOM

  The force caused a crack to form in the ceiling, showering the four with tiny rocks and dust. Quickly, it ran across the rock face, snaking in every possible direction. The wall behind the pool started to split in half. The group held their breath as it cracked the wall behind the skeleton, and the dead mermaid tumbled into the pool of black water.

  BOOM

  The water started to swirl, black mist oozing from the cracks in the wall and the nails that had held the mermaid. None of the four could see anything that was happening in the water. Purple, pink, black, and green swirled like a maelstrom as the water began to rise, pouring over the sides of the pool. Lightning shot from the pool, blasting a gaping hole in the wall next to Riggs. The pirates could not believe their eyes.

  KRAKOW

  An unseen force knocked the entire group off their feet. They landed hard on the ground, now covered with a steady stream of water. When they had pulled themselves together, they saw something none of them had ever wanted to see.

  Pulling herself to the edge of the pool was the mermaid. Her jet-black hair fell over her shoulders, a red streak running down the side. Her red eyes stood in stark contrast to her deathly pale skin. Two human skulls covered her breasts and a tattoo of a sea serpent circled around her arm. Fangs stuck out from between her ruby red lips as a sinister smile stretched across her deceptively beautiful face. The four could see her black fish tail fluttering in the water. Her hands crackled with electricity as she crawled out onto the rocks.

  “Run!” shouted Riggs.

  As quickly as they could, they all dashed to the entrance of the chamber. Ripper and Coral Jack grabbed their full chest on the way out, narrowly missing getting hit by one of the mermaid’s lightning bolts. Riggs grabbed his sack and box and pushed Julia out in front of him, trying to keep himself between her and the mermaid.

  The ground was flooding with water as the group ran to the staircase. The weight of their treasure chest nearly threw Ripper and Jack over the edge, but they recovered in time to keep hauling it up the stairs. Riggs and Julia dashed past them, trying to get back to the beach. The group saw the clouds swirling above the island like a hurricane. The wind howled as it tore across the island.

  Riggs looked back to the cave and saw columns of fog shooting out of the entrance. The ghosts were back and ready to fight. Ripping out his sword, he swung at the ghosts whenever they would come close. Several shot over his head, and he pulled Julia to the ground to keep her from getting decapitated by the ghost’s swords.

  The four ran aimlessly through the woods, slicing and shooting at the ghosts that pursued them. Riggs was leading the pack, trying to clear the way and defend everybody as best he could. Once he dashed through some gigantic plants, he felt something change.

  He couldn’t feel the ground beneath his feet.

  The entire group fell down the steep hill, rolling and tumbling head over heels as they and their treasure slid in the dirt, leaves, and rocks. Unable to control their descent, Riggs smacked into a tree at the bottom of the hill, Julia landed on top of him, and Ripper and Jack nearly got crushed by their chest.

  “Love, I can think o’ better ways fer you to get on top of me, but this ain’t one of ‘em,” groaned Riggs.

  Julia did not have enough breath to even respond as she grabbed her ribs and shot him an annoyed look.

  At the top of the hill, Riggs could see the columns of fog flying across the sky. Hauling Julia to her feet, he tried to ignore the pain in his back. Ripper and Jack followed close behind.

  The pirates on the Red Sky were just waking up from a night of drinking and singing. Even Clint had fallen asleep on guard duty. He awoke with a start and yawned.

  A lightning bolt lit up the sky, jolting the navigator to his feet. Astonished, he dashed to the rail and saw the clouds spiraling in the air above Isla de Dolor. Bolts of lightning intertwined themselves with the clouds, creating a scary spectacle. Waves started to smash against the side of the ship, spraying water into the air. The creaking of the ship made it sound like the Red Sky wanted the wind filling its sails. The rope of the anchor was pulled taut as the current pushed against the ship.

  When the crew heard the crack of thunder, they immediately dashed onto the deck to see what caused the uproar. They were horrified by the sudden, unnatural storm.

  “We gotta get out o’ here!” yelled one of the men.

  “Not without the Captain, we ain’t,” scolded Clint, grabbing the spyglass.

  Wiping the water off of the glass, Clint peered through it, trying to spot where Riggs was. As the Red Sky rocked back and forth and sprayed mist everywhere, he was having a very difficult time getting a clear image. Shielding the glass with his hand, Clint tried his hardest to see the beach.

  “Do you see him?” shouted Eli over the claps of thunder.

  “I don’t rightly know… can’t see much o’ anythin’ right now.”

  Lightning was striking all over the island. Clint could see fires starting as trees burned and smoke billowed into the air. Looking through the spyglass again, he really wanted to get the group of four back onto the boat as soon as possible. Surely, they had seen all of the anomalies that were happening.

  Just as he wiped the glass again, Clint saw the four burst out of the woods and onto the open beach.

  “They’re out… and they’ve got somethin’.”

  Then he saw the ghosts leap out of the woods not too far behind the terrified group.

  Tossing the spyglass to the side, Clint shouted, “Hoist the anchor and get the ship ready to sail! We need to get outta here.”

  Ripper and Coral Jack were running like their lives depended on it. Julia was actually struggling to keep up with them… and they were carrying a heavy chest. Riggs was keeping the ghosts at bay by using himself as a barrier between the ghouls and his friends. Try as he might, he could only fight so many.

  Getting to the longboat, Ripper and Jack heaved the chest into it and tossed Julia in as well. As Riggs got closer, Ripper pulled out his pistols and started trying to shoot the ghosts, which actually seemed to help a little. Once the pellet hit them, some ghosts would turn into smoke and fly backward, like they had actually been hit with something. Other ghosts would simply fall to the sand, pulling the dispersing fog back into their bodies.

  Spinning around, Riggs tossed his sword into the longboat and helped Ripper shove it into the water. There was no time to worry about it being black water. They needed to get away from Isla de Dolor as fast as they could. The wind had started to pick up speed and it almost stung his face as the mist from the water bit into his skin.

  Julia grabbed Riggs’ sword and swung it at an approaching ghost, almost missing it completely. Ripper yanked his pistol out of its holster and blasted the ghost in the face. None of them had time to watch where the column of smoke landed. They just needed to escape.

  Coral Jack swung an oar and smacked a ghost upside the head just as it was materializing. Riggs and Ripper could feel the ocean water underneath their feet, but they did not care. The boat needed speed, and
they would make sure that all four of the group would survive.

  A column of smoke landed right in front of Riggs and Ripper. Still pushing the boat, they both kicked the ghoul backwards. As the ghost reformed itself, Julia and Jack pulled the two into the boat. Immediately, everyone scrambled for the oars and rowed like the devil himself was chasing them.

  The rising waves were making speed a real problem. Each wave was a challenge. Peering out into the swirling mist, Riggs tried to see where his ship was. The water pounding against his face made it hard to see anything.

  A column of smoke and fog flew over the longboat. Once it circled around to try and attack, Riggs shot at it, knocking it into the water for the time being. At last, he saw the red sails pointing straight toward the longboat. Then he saw the black hull coming out of the mist. The waves broke against the bow as it sped towards them.

  Another ghost flew toward the longboat. Riggs tried to shoot at it, but his pistol only clicked. He was out of shots. He could hear the ghost shouting its battle cry as it careened through the air.

  BOOM

  A cannonball obliterated the ghost, sending smoke and fog flying in all directions. As the longboat pulled alongside the Red Sky, ropes were thrown down, and the boat was on deck in no time.

  Everyone stumbled out of the longboat, still carrying the treasure, and pulled out their weapons. Riggs pushed Julia behind him as the pirates watched the columns of smoke start to target the ship.

  “Good god, Captain. What’ve ye done?” Clint shouted over the wind.

  “That’s not important now. Just hold off these ghosts and get us out of here,” Riggs replied, shoving Clint toward the helm.

  The ghosts were halfway from Isla de Dolor. It looked like a massive wall of fog was rushing at the ship, the ferocity of several hundred years of death crashing down on the pirates. Within seconds, the crew could see the glowing whites of their eyes shining through the fog and smoke. The Red Sky was ready to fight.