Era of a Red Sky

by Ryan Gilbert

  “Matthew and Catherine Hamond, I hereby find you guilty of piracy,” the Admiral growled through his teeth.

  Reaching to his side and grabbing the lever, he said, “May God have mercy on your wretched souls.”

  He swung the lever.

  The trapdoors swung open.

  “No!”

  BOOM

  A whole segment of the upper level of the fort blew apart, sending a cannon and several soldiers flying into the air. Everyone turned towards the commotion, not knowing what to make of the situation.

  “What is happening?” Carter shouted to his men.

  “We’re under attack,” was the response from one soldier rushing to his post.

  “That is impossible! We have captured all of the pirates.”

  “It’s a ship, sir,” shouted a soldier, “It’s flying the skull and…”

  BOOM

  If Riggs had been paying attention, he would have recognized the cannons of his own ship. Instead, he was frozen in shock as he watched the bodies of the Hamonds hanging from the gallows. His body felt numb to everything. How he was holding Julia back, he had no idea.

  BOOM

  It felt like the entire fort shook. A soldier screamed something about the wall, but it was so muffled that none of the pirates could hear it.

  BOOM BOOM BOOM

  A whole section of the wall blew apart. Through the cloud of dust, the pirates could see a hole that led to freedom. The instant that they saw it, most of the crew ran for it.

  “Come on, Captain,” urged Coral Jack, whipping the chains of his shackles into an officer’s face. While the man was stunned, the boatswain grabbed a set of keys hanging from the man’s belt and kicked him to the ground.

  “Julia, we need to go,” Riggs pleaded, steadily trying to drag her away.

  “No, I need to save them!” she cried, trying to escape the hold of her pirate lover.

  She could not take her eyes off the dead bodies of her parents.

  “There is nothin’ we can do for them now. We need to go!” Riggs yelled in her face.

  “I can’t let them die like this,” she screamed.

  BOOM BOOM

  Even more soldiers flew from the top of the fort, shrieking as they fell. The Red Sky would not be able to keep up the attack much longer. Gritting his teeth, Riggs hoisted Julia off the ground and carried her to where Coral Jack was hiding by the hole. She clawed at his back and shoulders, trying to get away, but the pirate endured the pain.

  Once they reached the escape route, Coral Jack unlocked their shackles as quickly as he could. Riggs kept Julia under control for a few moments longer while Jack freed her as well. At that point, Julia’s strikes started to get weaker as reality set in. She could barely see what lay in front of her as her tears poured down her face.

  Hastily, Riggs grabbed her by the hand and led her and Coral Jack down the rocky face of the cliff down to where the red sails stood out against the water. When they reached where the path dropped off, they all skidded to a halt.

  It was a straight drop right down to the water. They would have to jump.

  A shot struck the ground next to them, letting them know their time was running out. They had no choice.

  With Riggs still holding on to Julia’s hand, both of them jumped, closely followed by Coral Jack. If it had been a regular escape, their stomachs would have jumped to their throats as they plummeted to the water below.

  Their hearts were already there.

  Riggs and his crew climbed aboard the Red Sky. The Captain hoisted Julia onto the deck, helping her stand on her own two feet. Needless to say, it was quite difficult.

  As soon as the pirates had all boarded, Clint rushed down from the helm.

  “Captain, what happened?” he asked, noticing the saddened faces of his friends.

  At Riggs’ side, Julia murmured, “He just… he just…”

  Trying to shush the girl, Riggs replied, “Carter was waitin’ for us.”

  “What about the Hamonds?”

  At first, Riggs did not answer the question. As calmly as he could, he led Julia to his quarters and brought her inside. He tried to have her lay down on the bed, but she just collapsed on the floor, sobbing. There was not much that he could do right now. After giving his love a kiss on the cheek, he stepped out to rejoin his crew.

  When Riggs had closed the door behind him, Clint asked, “Captain?”

  Before his navigator could even catch a breath, Riggs bashed his fist against the wooden rail at his side. He hit the rail again and again, feeling the pain run up his arm. As his emotions boiled over, he kicked a barrel with enough force to break one of the boards.

  He was angry, and he needed to take it out on something.

  As quickly as he could, he ripped the broken board away from the barrel and started bashing it against the ground.

  “What do ye think happened, Clint?” Riggs shouted in frustration, “Carter killed ‘em.”

  Looking around at the remaining crew, Clint hazarded one more question.

  “And Eli?”

  Riggs bashed the broken wood against the rail several more times, while growling, “Shot him right in the heart. The bastard killed his own son and didn’t even blink an eye.”

  With the wood splintering apart in his hands, Riggs tossed the broken board over the side of the ship. Spinning around to face his crew, he reached out his hand, wanting something.

  “Bugger it. Give me a knife,” he ordered.

  “Captain, I don’t think ye should…”

  “Give me a damn knife!” Riggs yelled.

  Hesitantly, Clint took his knife out of his belt and handed it to his friend. Holding it tightly in his hand, Riggs made his way to the wheel, where all of the names of his deceased friends were carved.

  Doc.

  Petey One-Eye.

  Julia’s name had been crossed out.

  Riggs jabbed the knife into the wood, carving in jagged letters the names of three more people.

  Eli.

  Catherine Hamond.

  Commodore Matthew Hamond.

  The instant that he was done carving, he headed to the stern of the ship. He did not even stop to give the knife back to Clint. He whipped it at the deck, the blade sticking in the wood. He walked past the crew without a word, grabbing on to the rail and glaring back at the fort as they sailed away from Yorktown.

  For once, Riggs did not have anything that he could say. Not a single word was coming to his mind.

  Not even his song.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Admiral, the doctor is here to see you.”

  “Send him in,” ordered Carter.

  After failing to stop the escape of the pirates, Admiral Carter had retired to his office in the fort, trying to create another strategy to ensnare the pirates. The crew of the Red Sky had evaded him far too many times. If he wanted to bring an end to them, he would have to be even more crafty and sly than before.

  The soldiers standing at the doorway opened the doors, letting the young doctor into the room. He seemed like quite the proper man, standing with perfect posture like a good Englishman should.

  “Good afternoon, sir,” said the man, “My name is Dr. Lucas Morris. I understand you summoned me because you need some medical attention.”

  Handing a blood-covered towel to the officer at his left, Carter said, “Yes, doctor. I need you to help me fix this.”

  His nose was bent at an awkward angle, though his breathing remained quite alright. Dried blood coated his lips as it had run straight down from his nose. It was not something that could really faze the doctor, but Carter did not expect it to. Dr. Morris walked around the large desk, trying to see the minute details of the Navy officer’s injury.

  Resting his hand on a chair, he asked, “May I?”

  Carter nodded his head, saying, “Of course, my good man. Whatever helps you do your job is right at my beckoning call.”

  Without Carter even having to say anything, a soldier stepp
ed forward, carrying the chair over next to his superior officer. Dr. Morris thanked the soldier, to which the man bowed his head in acknowledgment.

  “If you could please run and fetch a pitcher of water and a basin, then I can get started,” Morris said to the soldier.

  Immediately, he went to do as he was told.

  Turning back to Carter, Dr. Morris said, “Now, Admiral, if you could lean forward just a bit so I can diagnose the extent of this break…”

  The Admiral obeyed, leaning forward slightly.

  “Yes, just like that,” said the doctor, “That will make the procedure go along just fine.”

  The doctor’s fingers traced the odd angles of his broken nose, only applying slight pressure where needed.

  “Does that hurt, sir?”

  “I have had much worse happen to me, doctor. This is nothing,” replied Carter.

  “Might I ask how this injury occurred?”

  To that question, Carter was a bit surprised.

  “You were not here to witness the executions?”

  Dr. Morris shook his head.

  “Sad to say, I was not. I had a particularly nasty case that had to be treated immediately. If not for that, I would have been there.”

  At that moment, the soldier returned with the basin and the water, setting them on the desk next to the doctor. Morris thanked the man and started to clean the blood away from the Admiral’s face.

  After several seconds of silence, Carter asked, “Dr. Morris, have you ever dealt with pirates?”

  The man grimaced, shuddering a bit.

  “I have not, thank God in Heaven. I have treated many men and women who have encountered those evil creatures and, I must say, I admire their courage and fortitude. Severed limbs… eyes ripped from their sockets… people beaten nearly to death. If I were to encounter those… things, then I have no idea what I would do.”

  “You are a lucky one, Doctor,” said Carter, “Piracy robbed me of my son, and it seduced one of my best officers.”

  “Would I be correct in assuming that officer was Commodore Hamond, the one that was due to hang today?”

  The Admiral scrunched his nose for a moment as the doctor pressed on the bone.

  “Sir, try to keep your face still,” urged Dr. Morris.

  “My apologies,” said the Admiral, “and yes, Commodore Hamond was the very man and hang he did. It was truly a pity though. He was genuinely one of my best officers. I would have thought him loyal to the end, but alas, something changed.”

  A look of realization came over Dr. Morris’s face.

  “I know this may seem like a preposterous question, but did the commodore happen to be related to a certain Julia Hamond?”

  Carter nodded his head.

  “She was his daughter.”

  “What had happened to her? I have heard rumors around the town that she had joined a pirate crew and run away with the captain.”

  His mind seemed to wander as he said, “What a waste of such beauty…”

  As the last bits of blood were washed from his face, Carter raised his eyes to the ceiling and sighed.

  “Unfortunately, the entire Hamond family was drawn to piracy in one way or another. From my understanding of the events, Julia was captured by the crew of a ship called the Red Sky. The captain, an extremely dangerous man, kept her as his sole captive, even as he released the rest. What he did to that poor girl, I have no idea, but it did its job. That girl alone brought about the destruction of several Navy vessels and the deaths of countless men.”

  With his typical unemotional droll, Carter said one last thing, considerably more quiet than his previous statement. It was almost like a whisper.

  “You are right though, Doctor. She was certainly beautiful.”

  Laying the basin and pitcher aside, Dr. Morris placed his hand gently underneath the Admiral’s chin, observing the broken nose once again. Carefully, he rested two fingers on either side of the displaced parts of the nose, trying to feel exactly where it had broken. After several slight bits of discomfort for Carter, Morris found where the break had occurred.

  “If you could hold on to the chair, sir… this might hurt a little.”

  The Admiral shrugged, not really bothering to hold anything.

  *cr-crack*

  Carter flinched as Dr. Morris wrenched his nose back into place. As carefully as he could, the doctor removed his hands from the Navy officer’s face. The Admiral delicately reached for his nose, satisfied to feel it back in its original position. It was funny how one bone could cause so much of an inconvenience.

  “How does it feel, sir?”

  “It feels just like it should, Dr. Morris. Thank you,” said Carter, breathing with nostrils that were both a bit more open.

  “If you feel like you are having any more problems with that, feel free to summon me. If I am not occupied, then I will be right over,” said Morris, proud of himself.

  “Shall I have one of my soldiers escort you out?”

  “That would actually be quite helpful. I think it’d be very difficult for me to find my way through those corridors.”

  “Fair enough,” said Carter with a smile, “Good day, Dr. Morris.”

  Bowing, the doctor replied, “Good day to you as well, sir.”

  With a wave of Admiral Carter’s hand, a soldier started to escort the good doctor out of the room and out of the fort. After telling a servant to dispose of the bloody towel and water in the basin, Carter could finally get back to planning for the destruction of all pirates.

  “Lieutenant, what do you believe our best course of action would be?” he asked, turning his attention back to the charts on the desk.

  “Sir, technically, our best course of action would have been to pursue them. By now, they are too far away to tell where they are.”

  Pouring over the maps, the Admiral said, “Do we know of anywhere else that they could hide?”

  “We have already destroyed Rebelde. Other than that, none of our scouts know of any place for them to gather.”

  “Surely there has to be somewhere,” said Carter in disbelief.

  The lieutenant just stood there, not wanting to shake his head.

  “I am sorry, sir. So far, we have found nothing.”

  Frustrated, the Admiral said, “We will. I know we will.”

  As he reached for another map, he said, “Run and fetch my other papers. They might have some…”

  He stopped in the middle of his sentence, like he had heard something.

  “Sir?” asked the lieutenant.

  Carter held up his hand to silence his underling. He needed to be able to hear what was happening.

  If he strained, he could hear an unsteady thumping noise. To him, it sounded like dozens of barrels tumbling over, one after the other. It started to get closer to the office, the closed doors muffling the sound.

  “Prepare yourselves, men,” he ordered, directing two of the soldiers in the room to stand guard at the door.

  The sound kept increasing in volume, slowly getting closer.

  The soldiers readied their muskets, unsure of what to expect.

  All of a sudden, the doors flew open, a cloud of purple mist filling the hallway. Before the soldiers could even react, two tendrils of magic snaked out of the mist, whipping through the air and knocking the men across the room. They hit the wall hard and fell to the ground.

  The Admiral’s primary line of defense was gone.

  Carter stood his ground, pulling a pistol out of the desk and aiming it into the mysterious mist. He would not go down without a fight.

  “Show yourself,” he ordered, directing his lieutenant to make his way around the front of the desk.

  A few moments of silence passed. It seemed like their attacker was toying with him.

  “I order you to show yourself,” he growled.

  “My apologies, Admiral,” said a female voice.

  Even as Carter kept his aim steady, several rather strange people strode through the mist.
As soon as they entered, the mist seemed to dim the light of the candles, making the office seem eerie. What stood in front of the Navy officers was unlike anything they had ever seen.

  The first person that they laid eyes on was the frightfully deformed man leading the pack. It was hard to tell, but to Carter, it looked like the whole side of his face had melted away. A leather coat hung from his shoulders and fingerless gloves covered his dirty hands.

  At his side sauntered a woman, a woman with a red streak running through her black hair. Her pale skin accentuated her features more than the Admiral could have imagined. A seductive aura emanated from her as she peered through her hair at the officer. Even as the purple mist leaked from her hand, what drew the men’s eyes was the way her clothes clung tightly to her body, leaving little to their imagination.

  Behind them both was another figure, but neither Carter nor his lieutenant could even guess at what it was. Not one bit of skin was showing on the extremely thin creature, almost like he was nothing more than a skeleton. In his hands was a scythe, sharpened to a lethal point. There were several other abominations behind the creature, but Carter could not even begin to guess why they looked so terrifying.

  “Before you pull that trigger, you should know that I’ve only incapacitated your men,” the woman said to Carter, “None of them are dead.”

  “You have attacked the English Navy. I cannot let that be,” said the Admiral.

  The leader of the frightful group stepped forward, glaring at Carter.

  “If we had attacked you, then you would be laying on the floor in a puddle of your own blood by now.”

  After taking a moment to consider, the Admiral took his pistol and lowered it, still keeping it trained on the intruders. He did not have enough men to fend off all of the group at once, but he still had to remain cautious. The best that he could do was take the situation in strides.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  From the unburnt side of the leader’s face, Carter thought he might be smiling.

  Opening his hands at his sides, the leader bowed to the Navy officer and said, “I am Hades, better known to those who sail the seas as Davy Jones.”