man crew upon the upper deck’s gangways, it took but a brief time to assemble every man to attention as Captain Rike stood upon the roof of his quarters, at the back of the vessel. Achilles sat to his right, and Davey stood to his left. He waited for each of the men to arrive and looked over them to ensure each was present. Rike spoke out to his crew loudly and clearly, his powerful voice resonating across the entire ship.
“Crewmates! We be soon approachin’ our destination! This’ll be the grandest plunder that many of you shall ever see. The rewards shall be just, you shall be rich, gentlemen! Upon finishin’ the Grand Martona, and punishin’ ‘er bastard captain to the watery grave ‘e be deservin’ we shall rejoice for many a moon at the closest port we be knowin’, lads! Any man who wishes to leave us then may do so, for believe me, upon succeedin’ this quest you shall never again ‘ave to worry ‘bout riches nor nothing for all of time. The richest of men alive exploit and rob from the poor, no landlubber be moral, lads. We pirates be moral! We be stealin’ from those rich bastards that ‘ave already been plunderin’ the poor. We are pirates! And we shall be until the end o’ time!” The entire deck burst to life, filled with energy by the words of their captain they cheered and hailed Rike as if he were a king.
As we prepared ourselves in the midst of the Caribbean the fog continued to thicken and had risen up into the skies, ‘twas difficult to see but a thirty foot or so distance away from Roselyn herself. I began to have fears that the Grand Mortona may slip past us without even a hint of her presence within the close seas.
A further trouble was that not one of the none essential crewmates I had asked was willing to go out to search for the Grand Martona, Rones was the only man to step forward amongst the crew however the quartermaster was vital for executing Roselyn’s naval assaults. It seemed more than just a few of the crew mates had become paranoid of the vast fog that surrounded us. Failing, I had no choice but to inform Captain Rike. Approaching his quarters Achilles rose and stood aside the door, as if he was aware something was at fault. I knocked on the woodwork, and hearing Rike’s acknowledgement I entered. The captain was sat at his table looking over a map of the Caribbean.
“Capt’n, the crew be fearin’ travellin’ out upon the boats. I cannot get a single man but Rones to attend to the deed.” The captain turned his head to look at me, yet he did not make eye contact, ‘twas as if he fell into some kind of hesitant trance, he spoke too without interest.
“I shall lead, lad, gather the crew upon top deck once more, quick as you can.” I did not hesitate to follow my orders. Leaving the quarters I saw Davey and asked that he would help gather the crewmates from the lower decks, he went immediately and before long we were again all on top deck. Captain Rike stood upon his quarters with Achilles and Rones as before, waiting to address his crew. They stood in silence. Many of them did not look at Rike, few it seemed wished to be by chance asked individually by the captain to sail out in the small paddle boats.
“Lads! What I be hearin’ does not disappoint me, that none o’ you will go by boat in search o’ our bounty. Though I fail to understand why, Sollertis ‘as made it quite clear that there be nothin’ to fear. Lads! I will be in the lead boat, come, who o’ you is man enough to sail with me?”
I know not if it was out of shame or inspiration, yet once the words of the captain had been spoken, fourteen of the crewmates stepped forward, as if their captain had instilled in them a renewed burst of courage, merely by the knowledge that by their side would be his presence.
As night fell the fog became mighty thick, ‘twas chilly in the air also, something that seemed to put every man aboard on edge. I informed Samuels, our ships navigator, to drop the anchor when time came to rest and wait for our target to become present. He was a stocky lad with a mass of bright orange hair that sprawled thickly outwards in all directions from his head. He had bright red cheeks and a large pointy nose. His features made him immediately distinguishable amongst any crowd for ‘twas such a peculiar array of physical traits.
A brief conversation was had with Captain Rike now that our plan of action had changed as he stood with Sollertis, waiting for the men that had volunteered to row out in the small boats with him to come up from the orlop.
“You’re in charge now, Sailor, ensure the crew be doin’ their duty, I’ve informed Davey to organise the cannoneers, you only ‘aveto worry about ensurin’ the men be calm and workin’ ‘ard. Keep an eye out for any signs, lad, this won’t take long, I ‘ope.”
“Aye, capt’n.” I replied nodding, Rike nodded his head repeatedly at me, as if reassuring me I would do a fine job running his beloved ship. At this moment he looked down at Achilles for the giant dog had begun wheezing erratically, I had never seen him in such a state.
“Don’t worry, lad, I’ll be back before you know it.” The captain knelt patting the beast on its head and it calmed down immediately. James burst from the orlop hatch and walked up the gangway of the upper deck followed by the seven men that Rike had selected from the volunteers.
“‘Ere be the ten men, cap’n!”
“Ten?” Exclaimed Sollertis, turning abruptly about, though hastily recognising the deckhand’s mistake he shook his head and turned back to look out towards the ocean.
“Thank you, lad.” The captain acknowledged. Sollertis looked at the captain with raised eyebrows.
“There are three kinds of people in the world, Rike, those that can count, and those that cannot.” After a brief pause the captain released a burst of quiet laughter then nodded at myself and Sollertis, the men then made haste to their respective boats. ‘Twas an honour to have known such brave men.
As the crew stepped into action Davey went about ordering men to their cannon stations. Upon the upper deck rested sixteen cannons, six at port and starboard, and four more resting upon secured platforms at the ship’s beak head. Beneath in the orlop were stationed a further twenty two cannons, ten resting between port and starboard and another two positioned again at the front of the vessel behind Rones’ sleeping chamber. Six cannoneers were to remain at the front facing cannons on the upper and orlop decks.
A further fourteen men waited within the orlop deck in preparation for side cannon use and twelve upon top deck should the battle turn to an all out standoff, though generally our methods of attack prevented this from occurring.
Once anchored, Sollertis and his crew of carpenters dismantled Roselyn’s masts which were held up by an ingenious system of cogs, ropes, and pulleys. We could become almost unnoticeable upon dark nights so long as our masts were grounded. A secondary set of structures that supported another, smaller, yet vastly more numerous system of sails would be used to hastily approach the unsuspecting Grand Martona, Roselyn would be barely visible until the very last moments of our assault, or so it was planned.
Once the paddle ships had been deployed and had began to station themselves within a vast chain to scout for the enemy vessel we each took up our positions on deck. And so we would wait, wait until our unsuspecting quarry strolled right into our trap, for as Rike said, the greatest plunder we would ever know was waiting just beyond the cursed mists that consumed our vessel. Each man was as eager as the next, as excited and as ready to gain the prize we had come for: The captain of the Grand Martona, and all the treasures that laid amongst her hold.
2.
We waited on the Martona for many an hour into the night, ‘twas for some time we believed we had indeed simply missed her. As I patrolled up and down the ship, looking out constantly for the closest paddle boat to Roselyn, I could not help but have my doubts. ‘Twas my turn on watch, as I often took the same post as any man on deck did, I had never been one to exploit my rank onboard for I believe strongly in leading by example. To my great surprise Achilles came and sat by my side, as if to be watching out himself for the lights of the paddle boats to come alive. This gave me a strange reassurance that perhaps we were not late, but early. I looked across to him. Into his great blue eyes, and I m
ention this moment for ‘twas such a strange one. The dog looked over at me and after a moment of his piercing gaze capturing my stare, he nodded, as if he had learnt from his master what the action meant, then turned back to look out for the small boat floating some feet from Roselyn’s starboard.
In size and weight, when stood on hind legs, the beast was quite easily the height of an average man, and so too was his weight immense, no doubt heavier than most of the deckhands onboard. He was certainly something special. Rike purchased him many moons ago from a shifty dealer who claimed the puppies had brought him great amounts of misfortune. Always a man to smirk at such things, for as he once said, “I ‘ath been cursed be more captains than I care to remember lad, and I still stand as ‘ealthy as any other man. Those who believe shall be those that succumb.”
Rike took up the largest of the pups. The name Achilles came from a story Sollertis often spoke of from his Greek past, a hero who was unequalled in combat, not even by his gods. It seemed quite fitting for such a magnificent animal. His fur was thick all over, ‘twas completely black running three quarters of the way down his coat, as dark as the skies that surrounded the stars on a cloudless
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