I scanned the dark blue waters. The waves made small white foam lap at the sides of the dark wooded ship. The moon shone brightly tonight, and the sea was calm; quiet. Almost too quiet. We could have a storm.
I glanced around, the crew was below deck enjoying a pint of rum. I alone stood on the deck, something was coming, I could feel it. I spotted a ship on the horizon, and I couldn't fathom why I had not seen it before. It's sails were dark, almost black but not quite the right shade. I shook my head, that couldn't be the ship. It was a lot smaller than I was expecting, about half the size of the Black Storm. It was coming on too fast to be a any friendly trading ship.
I turned, and sprinted to the the hold cover. I pulled up on the barred hatch, the metal creaked in protest. Dropping down lightly, the crew silenced their chatter. I pointed to the north, behind the ship.
"They're coming." I whispered, a deep heated tone in my voice. "Extinguish the lanterns."
Their faces paled as we went above deck, now was the time to pull any sort of mischief you had up your sleeve Calypso. We might not make it to morning without some kind of luck.
The men hurried around, their feet quiet as mice, shadows in the dark. Until the lanterns were extinguished, turning our ship into a vague shape floating on the waves.
A salty spray of water drenched my hat, the wind blew hard against my face. Maybe we would have some sort of chance.
The waves grew with the wind as I tied down the cannons on either side of the ship. The sails were inflating with the hard cold air. The ship behind us was gaining though. The wind whipped my hair around, stinging my face as I looked into the sky. Rain was starting to fall. The light pattering sound turning into a hard thumping as the torrent increased. I could hear the shouts of the crew as we prepared to increase the speed of the ship. Our Rigger, commonly known as Rat, swung around above me in the ever increasing wind. He busily tied off the small sails and untied the large ones. They opened and I could hear the snapping sound as they caught wind.
I ducked as the mast swung around, we were turning. I had not given the order to fire upon the ship. I frowned in confusion as I ran up onto the poop deck, Dan, or Shark Tooth was our sailing master. His face was creased in concentration and he didn't look up for a good minute. His bushy eyebrows almost covered his eyes where there wasn't dark scarring.
I covered my eyes as another spray came over the side of the ship, "What are you doing?" I called, squinting at him.
"Tacking, it will be easier to outrun them." He called back, eyes focused ahead of him.
I nodded, I had forgotten the zig zag maneuver. It would let us build up speed against the current. I ducked Rat swinging on his rope again and jumped down to the main deck almost slipping on the overspill of water.
Anette stood yelling orders to the men who were rushing to get things moving, tying down more loose objects as the rain and waves increased in their intensity. I marched in her direction. My face was splashed full of water as the ship turned again, banking hard to the right. We ducked in unison as the for boom pole swung over our heads. She glanced my way, green eyes bright in the darkness.
"Are you ok?' I yelled over the noise of the storm and crew.
She shrugged, giving me a large grin as she yelled another order to the crewmen.
"Hell of a vacation isn't it?" She yelled, her voice carrying choppily through the wind.
I grumbled slightly, "Don't call it a vacation, assumes we'll be having fun!" I shouted back.