James' Tale

A storm was coming we could see it on the horizon, taste it in the wind, the intimidating black mass of clouds coming closer and closer to us, the waves becoming so big that they splashed up into our ship, rocking and tilting us precariously towards the sea. The wind whistled through the ship, scraping anything that wasn't tied down across the deck. The crew were running around like lunatics, as this must have been the biggest storm we had seen for a very long time, and then we all crammed into the safety that was below deck. I was the last one below deck, locking the doors behind me just as we hit the storm. All throughout the night we were tossed about like rag dolls, water slowly dripped through the decking getting us wet and the never ending thunder keeping us all up.

Then in the morning, when the storm had stopped we made our way to the deck. What we found was not a pretty sight, everything was in ruins, and 2 of the masts were broken, bits of the splintered wood covering the floor everywhere you look. We just stood there looking at the damage wondering what to do when I noticed the silence. I looked about me; the sea was as flat as a mirror spreading for miles off into the distance, not even a slight ripple. There was no sound of the waves, no flapping of the sales, not even the quiet whistling of the wind to comfort us. Just silence.

The weird thing about silence is how cutting it can actually be. Slicing through the atmosphere like a scream in the dead of night, silence pierces the mind until your ears ring and the world becomes topsy-turvy. Time is non-existent as you observe your surroundings, and suddenly everything rings with a certain sense of clarity.

I walked over to the railing, looking out over the mirror sea and watched as a dark silhouette of a ship came over the horizon, in that same sort of utter silence. Finally breaking the silence the captain yelled back to the crew to get the guns ready as we were about to taking over that ship. We took down our flags and tried our best to sail closer to the ship, as she began to focus we saw that she was a Spanish gallon, unaffected by the storm, anchored in all her glory. We had managed to trick the gallons crew that we were just a poor ship needing help after the huge storm. The fools agreed to help us letting us on bored there ship. Once we were all on board we waited for Captain Calico to make the first move. He lifted his pistol and shot the ship's captain right in the head, the noise ringing out over the sea, his blood spreading out in a pool around his head. That was our cue. I pulled out my sword, swung it around digging it into the side of the sailor behind me. Blood splatted up my sword, on to my hands as the sailor fell to the ground with a cry, as quickly as I could I pulled my sword out of his side and plunged it into his chest and twisted. I turned back to the rest of the fight going on, the clanking of swords and the bang of pistols ringing in my ears, I could see that we were outnumbered but they were unprepared and already down sailors.

I run up to a sailor about to swing his sword at Will, who was clumsily holding his, my sword went straight though the sailors chest. Pulling my sword out, the sailor fell to the floor with a thud; I looked up to see if Will was okay and with a shaky smile he nodded at me, then careful not to look down he quickly made his way to the captains quarters avoiding the dead bodies on the floor. Poor Will he never really was a fighter. By this time only about half of the sailors were left, the deck covered with bodies and blood. I turned around just as a sailor brought his sword down to kill me but I quickly blocked the blow with my own sword. The clash of our weapons was drowned out by the noise for the fight going on around us. I lunged for his chest but side stepped out of my way, I stumbled and he used this opportunity to plunge his sword into my leg. I cried out as the pain burned its way around my leg, my vision blurring. Managing to stay standing I swung my sword with all my might at the blurring figure of the sailor, connecting with his side then stumbling to the floor with a grunt. The sailor came toward me holding his sword high when he was a step away from me; he fell to the floor, blood spreading out from his back where a bullet had hit him. It was the captain who shot him, he had saved my life.

I blacked out after that but when I woke up my leg was gone, burnt shut by the crew's doctor. We had obviously won the battle because as I looked around I didn't recognise my surroundings. In the end and after a long conversation, the captain allowed me to stay on board, so I took the compensation and was given the new roll as the cook for the gallon.