The Captain's Stand

by Kat Mandu

  “I got burned one thank you very much,” Richard shouted throwing Talon up at the man causing him to flinch just long enough for the rope Richard was hanging onto to pull him back up on deck. Richard swallowed as a good portion of the deck was now on fire, as Arken dropped in to attack the man with thirty on his chest.

  “You’re Singing my fur,” she growled swimming at the man as she avoided the swings of his sword, using Talon.

  “Eat it you furry bitch,” He cursed kicking her in the stomach and sending her crashing to a massive pile of burning barrels. Richard glanced over a rope and with not even a second thought tossed it at the man. The rope coiled around the attacker as Richard tore off his jacket and raced into the fire grabbing Arken, and kicking his sword out of the fire.

  Richard patted the excise blaze off Arken who shook her head seemingly recover from the crash. “You’re going to have a hard time getting out of this one,” Thirty smiled as he picked up Talon. Brandishing both Weapons as Richard stared impassively setting Arken down. The smile suddenly dropped as Richard watched a thin red line appeared down the man’s center.

  “I was a little worried the story was going to end,” Nathan admitted as the man split in half the two digits now separated. Richard allowed himself a slight chuckle as he stood up and grabbed his blade. Separating the head and tossing the two half’s of the skull over to the attacking ship, the effect took a while but the fighting slowly started dying down.

  The Golden Eagle’s crew had the other surrounded as a few volunteers slowly and cautiously started collecting weapons.

  “Okay,” Richard sighed as he glanced over the surrounded sailors. “Who is the highest living officer?” He asked, crossing his arms. “Nathan, did we lose anyone?”

  “Not sure Boss was seen with Laurella with some injuries we will do a proper head count later,” Nathan whispered back as Arken frowned at the corpse. “I think I’ll join Boss, then my fur still feels singed. “I’ll start that count there,” she volunteered as she rubbed her arm.

  “Well?” Richard asked raising his voice as he glanced over the crowd.

  “Fourth mate,” said a reluctant voice, as a man stepped forward.

  “I have a few questions, care to join me for some Tea I am little parched. In the meantime, Tray, James I want you to give them some supplies and let them start some construction, have every able man the canons in case someone tries something.

  Richard nodded at Nathan who walked along behind the hostage as Richard entered his office but rather sitting at his desk, started up the small pot stove to heat up some tea as he gestured at an open chair.

  The man was rather average in all ways for a sailor as Richard wondered if he would even remember his appearance in a few days as the man’s eyes kept glancing at Nathan who stood near the door his hand on his sheathed Katana.

  “So this can go a few ways, Mr.?” Richard waved his hand encouraging the man to speak up.

  “Naldo, Captain Richard,” he tested Richard’s name as he eyed him. Richard didn’t bother looking at him as he got a few teacups.

  “Cream or sugar Mr. Naldo?” he asked he shook his head. “So any particular reason your Captain decided Pirating in-between three of the most powerful navel Nations?” The man fidgeted as Richard glared over his shoulder. “The few ways this can go are still in the air, Mr. Naldo if you give me what I want I am more inclined to let you leave this room in one piece. As a Pirate hunter, I am a legal part of the Britannia military and am obligated to turn you and the remainder of the crew over to the authorities. Now if I get my information, I may be inclined to send a less competent crew member to be in charge of roping up your ship, and in doing so might leave someone else in a prime position to take over the lost ship I end up leaving behind.” Richard said to his cups but directed at his prisoner.

  He poured out the hot water filling up, the strainer and soon brought over the tea tray setting in down between them. He set up his cubes and stirred in his sweetener and cream before taking a sip and staring at the man.

  Richard sipped at his tea listening as the man explained the situation. Going on about a message they got about a week ago and the name and description of the ship. The man known as Thirty was apparently a trained assassin of Blackbeard himself set up to wait in a part of the oceans until given orders to hunt down problematic individuals.

  “A set up why am I not surprised, but I don’t recall anyone with the name thirty being a Pirate Lord.” Nathan pointed out.

  “Keep an eye on him I want to check something, I am going to need to speak with Boss as well.” Richard turned as he headed for the door. He exited as he caught Tin moving the headless corpse towards the rail. “Tin don’t mess with that body, I need to check it,” Richard ordered as Tin looked at the body with a very confused and concerned expression.

  Richard walked along to the surgeon’s room. He entered in to see quite a few people resting and waiting as well as Tray forcible pinning a screaming man down as Laurella seemed to operate. Arken actually noticed him she had her arms wrapped up as well as her chest.

  “I didn’t think your burns were that bad,” Richard frowned walking over to her.

  “Nothing too bad but she put on some Aloe Vera, nothing that won’t cause me mild pain and discomfort. Are you feeling okay, I mean you did run into a fire with Alcohol on you,” She glanced over in concern only to frown. “You look fine,” she pointed out as Richard stopped and made eye contact as he started to inspect himself.

  “Just lucky? I mean I was only in for a few seconds, Look I got shit to do, is Boss in here.” Richard shrugged it off as Laurella spun around him.

  “You got burned?” she quickly rushed over as Richard waved his hands in front of him.

  “I am fine dock see nothing to worry about,” Richard laughed as he gestured to his body

  “Richard,” Arken said as Richard turned to glance at her.

  “Take your coat of,” Laurella stated as Richard took it off and holding over to the doctor.

  “See no burns my skins not even a red mark,” He smiled only for his eyes to catch something as he inspected his coat to see good parts of it had burn holes in it as Richard frowned, eyeing one of the holes. “Now this should have at least given me some mild burns, I mean leather is pretty resistant to fire but,” He glanced at his arms he still had his old scars but no burn marks. He glanced over at one of the lanterns and with the cold confidence of a madman grabbed onto the glass.

  “Richard what the hell are you doing!” the two screamed as Boss about jumped moving to pry Richard’s fingers off the glass.

  “Ah,” Boss cursed but Richard kept his hands on without even seeming to sweat.

  “Richard your fingers are going to fuse you may not feel anything but this could do serious harm,” Laurella warned as Richard let go.

  “Nothing,” Richard frowned looking at his hand, “I felt the heat it was just a lack of pain or burning and no damage,” Richard inspected his hand before showing Laurella his palm. “Moving on Boss I need you to check something for me.”

  Boss frowned looking at the light then back to Richard before he gestured for the door. The pair headed back out, “Need help questioning the man?” He asked,

  “Nope, I need you to look at the captain’s body. You have the ability to sniff out magic correct, I didn’t think about it too much but I don’t think this one was a Pirate Lord. The Lords are well known but not a one is known to be sporting a thirty on their chest.” Richard explained as he knelt down next to the body.

  Boss frowned as he focused in on the body. “I just recently realized this ability so I don’t know exactly what I smell or what it means. But this smells stale, kind of like this Eagle but older, I think,” Boss admitted,

  “Is there a place where it is strongest?” Richard asked.

  “Give me a second,” as he leaned down and started to smell the body, leaning over it Richard rubbed the back of his head as the weirdness of the situation he was in. Boss frown
ed pulling his head back as he frowned before picking up the man’s hand sporting a red jewel, in a gold ring. Boss plucked it out and tossed it in his hand. “Gold with a Yellow stone, these colors seem to follow you around.” He joked holding the ring over Richard’s hand.

  “Let’s see if my theory is right,” Richard slipped the ring on. He took out talon and tossed the blade away and he felt an unusual sensation and the blade flew back into his hand. “Nice,” He commented as he raised his hand letting the barrels slide along the hull.

  “So how does it work?” Boss asked as Richard smirked,

  “It seems I just need to focus at a point and it will alter gravity. I can go small, he focused just above the hilt and the blade started to hover out of its sheath. The ship suddenly seemed to jump for a second. “Seems it has its limits, pity a flying ship would be amazing.” Richard smiled taking the ring off.

  “What about a flying person?” Boss asked as Richard looked up in the sky.

  “I wouldn’t risk it, but that would be really cool,” Richard admitted, “Anyway thanks, I got one last thing before we get moving, make sure nobody tries to book it and let them know we are more than willing to take on any volunteers. Only volunteers,” he repeated, as he headed back.

  “Hey, Nathan how are things going?” He asked his mate who was sitting down not even noticing Richard as he walked in interrupting the man’s tale.

  “… That’s how I met Richard, of all the things to get me, oh sorry captain,” Nathan said smiling nervously.

  “So have you decided?” Richard inquired,

  “I guess I am a captain, do I follow you?” He asked

  “Do as you wish to go straight, or go crazy, But I have no interest in creating a fleet,” Richard smirked,

  “Oh,” The man seemed disappointed. “Well if you change your mind, Captain Richard, I bid you a dew,” He got up and headed out. As Richard pulled out the ring he tossed it to Nathan who caught it in surprise.

  “Now that he’s gone the man wasn’t a lord he had an artifact and you save my ass, so the artifact is yours keep it safe and use it sparingly for now, we don’t want people getting jealous until we have enough to go around, be so kind as to see our guests off I feel like I need to relax for a while.” Richard dismissed as he headed to his chair, only for the slight knock at the back window paused him as he turned to glance behind the chair.

  Chapter 58

  Richard and Boss were sitting in a rather open room, the two were waiting for the representative to enter in. Boss seemed to be lost in silent thought, as the sunlight shined into the open windows eliminating the décor of the room. Plenty of pictures showing vineyards and wines decorated the comfortable chairs and couches. They had Left Laurella and Nathan in charge of offloading some cargo to the local merchants selling off some of the excess supplies the Golden Eagle had come with.

  “So something has been bugging me,” Boss suddenly said breaking the silence. Richard turned over with a dull looking on his face but decided not to indulge his boredom with a smart remark.

  “Well hit me what is plaguing you today?” Richard asked,

  “We are fighting the Pirate Lords right?” Boss asked as Richard nodded, “They have abilities like Morgan Does raining blades from the sky, I noticed that Arvil has abilities but he is a Mage son, but what is to keep one from pretending to be the other? Not to add more but that Amaro guy he used blood just like the Pirate Lords but he used what you dubbed magic, now I don’t know what makes that different but how does that line up with the Dragon Mage, isn’t he suppose to be the only magic user.”

  “That is a long string of questions,” Richard commented,

  “It’s been bugging me as of late,” Boss admitted.

  “Okay Let’s start from the bottom, all Mages are Magic users, but not all Magic users are Mages. Magic is a blanket term used to handle anything that a person or item can. Mages, come in a lot of names from around the world but what separates a mage is that they don’t have a limit.” Richard explained as Boss looked at Richard with a skeptical look.

  “Bad wording I don’t mean a limit as in they can do anything they want, they are not all powerful. But a Pirate Lord, a mage son, a magical creature, or some kind of Artifact or magical item, can only work impact what it was born with, examples like Arvil he can do anything he wants with the wind, but only wind, as Mage son he is a Descendent of a Mage. That Magic carries down but is not as potent giving when they are born that ability sticks you can’t change cant increase its scope. Same thing with Artifacts while some are made by nonmagic folks, and some are made by Magical Creatures or even older ones by Mages, these items have one ability,” Richard held out the gender-flipping coin as Boss frowned at the item. “One thing and that is it, some made by mages are stronger like that ring we found, but as you saw it too has a limit,” Richard explained as he pocketed the coin.

  “Okay so Mages can do a lot of things everything else has a set limit, so what about the Pirate Lords that separates them as a group?” Boss asked, “Also with Amaro, he didn’t seem to have a limit and seems like a Mage since he didn’t seem to some kind of ability like the Lord, the Mageson, or the coin.”

  “Okay Araro, maybe more like a Pirate Lord than a Mage, as he only seemed to be able to do so much were as the Dragon Mage was latterly flying in the air and repairing damage, although the possible connection is concerning. But Araro is an unknown he may, in fact, have learned some way of being a Mage. I found a journal that hinted that he was trying to be one at some point in his past. On to the easier question A pirate Lord is a few things one is notoriety one cannot be called a pirate Lord unless they are feared. Second is they need to fly under the flag of the Leader of the Pirate Lords Blackbeard who was the first who figured out how to grant the abilities, the abilities that Brendan was after and Morgan has. These are the two big things under Blackbeard and feared, so the ability if what I have picked up is true is a gift of loyalty and the final step to being a Pirate Lord, as Brendan had to prove himself worthy of such knowledge.” Richard paused as he pondered that comment, not sure if his answer made sense.

  “So what does that make the Twins or that guy with the Thirty tattooed on his chest?” Boss asked,

  “No idea, but the twins are a lot like Stephano very mobile but not physically strong, Even though the Mage is unlimited in what they can do there are other kinds of people with magical abilities that can be learned but these often need something like a ritual, such as what Araro was doing or an item, ergo limited.”

  “Okay then I take it Magical Creatures are also like Mageson only as a group they are all the same inabilities were as the Magesons are more random?” Boss half asked Richard nodded,

  “More or less, some Magical beings can with the help of an outside force do things even a Mage could not like Spark’s ability to grant a wish, but dealing with a being that can grant wishes is some risky fucking shit, anything that sounds too good to be true usually is,” Richard warned, “Okay so what is common, what are the odds of running into a Pirate Lord, versus a Mageson, or a Magical creature. Also, can a Bendact be any of those people?” Boss carried on, as Richard scratched his head.

  “Anyone, to be honest, most are human’s, but if its compatible with a human.” Richard shrugged,

  “That seems weird,” Boss frowned, “I mean Arken that would be a lot of fur,” Boss glanced over at Richard.

  “That is the tip of the iceberg this world, there are a lot of usual people, I want you to picture this, I hear in the Alexander Library, they have a woman who looks like a woman from the waist up but the bottom is that of a spider,” Richard smiled,

  “You are fucking with me,” Boss asked,

  “Nope, get this there is a turtle monster that will suck your soul out of your ass,” Richard chuckled, “But you can ward them off with a cucumber which is a vegetable.”

  “You got to be making this up,” Boss laughed,

  “Nope, you think this is crazy, we need to take
you Zethan, Bendacts all over the place,” Richard waved his hand,

  “Have you ever been there?” Boss asked,

  “No actually but I talked to a lot of seasoned Sailors, so I could be wrong. But I do know for a fact that there are learnable magical abilities, I saw a man call upon a spirit animal a blue transparent bear. The thing is you need a Totem made of magically enchanted wood,” Richard explained,

  “Could you replicate it?” Boss asked glancing at him.

  “I saw it a long time ago about a decade and a half ago. I want to try but the tricky thing is how or what the Spirit animal changes as well as how it works. Have I learned it they are like a guide and represent, or they change depending on what is to be expected in the future? It’s difficult to pin down but a ritual from a Medicine man. Now that’s something I can’t explain, to well it’s been a long time since I dwelled on these topics. But I heard Legends of one so Spiritually gifted they could walk out of their body and exist only using their sprit but I can’t say pass this ability you got to earn it.”

  “Right,” Boss eyed Richard as he stroked his beard, “Well you let me know when you can start doing spirit tricks.”

  “Welcome Mister Richard and Boss, I hear you are in the market for ze finest of wine,” The man commented as Richard nodded,

  “I have a list of what I need as I am just the Delivery boy, never had a drop of wine in my life,” Richard admitted, as the man’s eyes went wide.