I Make My Own Luck
Chapter I
"Monster's Hunt"
POV: Shay
"Shanty!" I yelled at my crew members and turn the steering wheel of my ship all the way to the right. The man began to sing "Drunken Sailor "as Morrigan slowly turned around almost hitting an iceberg. My quartermaster, Gist, gave me a weird look as if questioning my sailing skills; I shook my head at him implying that everything was alright. The man shrugged and gave out a command to add more sail. The wind was on our side today. I half smiled embracing the cold breathe blowing behind me; the Templar sails were fully open and now demonstrating a big red cross in the middle. I tightly grasped the steering wheel feeling a huge blast wash over me as my ship increased its speed.
Our main course was New York where I was about to see the Templar's Grand Master for the second time. God, that man was unpredictable, he always had something going on in his head and you could never tell if he planned a murder. I glanced at Gist again; the explorer was standing near me and looking straight forward into the grey sea. His hands were crossed and pressed against his chest as if he was thinking about something. Not a long time ago, he told me that Master Kenway was a great man but with a bad habit of being devilishly honest and not keeping secrets for long. I took it to my consideration and promised Gist to watch my words when I get a chance to speak with Kenway again.
"Capitan Cormac," I blinked coming back to reality from my deep thoughts as I heard Gist call me. "There is a heavy wind approaching, should be lessen the sail?" I shook my head and smiled at him. I turned my head forward and yelled at the crew.
"Loosen all sail we've got, she'll take it." I exclaimed at my men turning the wheel again. Gist shook his head and repeated the command that the crew shortly followed. The ice around us started slowly disappearing as we left the Arctic waters and, after a long while, some green popped up on land here and there. The wind became gentler making Morrigan go steadier than before; I decided to not slow down and continue at the fast pace. The crew did not receive their expected command to halve the sail; it did surprise them a bit knowing how much I liked to go slower on the warm waters enjoying every view.
"I see you are unable to contain your excitement, Captain Cormac." Gist suddenly spoke interrupting me from looking around with my spyglass that I got out in order to see if the port we needed was close. I lowered the device and glanced at my quartermaster, he smiled at me waiting for me to speak.
"If you got a chance to shake a hand with a Grand Master for a second time, you would be as enthusiastic as I am, Gist." I said holding up the spyglass to my eye again. The man chuckled and shook his head at me. "I still do not understand your refusal to accompany me to his quarters; it is a great opportunity for you." I continued suddenly spotting a ship in the distance; I could not quite see what kind it was but decided to ignore it. We did not need any fights today, we-I have greater plans than capturing a pathetic ship, and then not knowing to either salvage it for some money or send to my navy. Besides, my hull armor was not perfected yet, and any big fight would cost me a lot of damage to repair.
"-and as I said before, I do not like him that much." Gist's words finally hit my ears as I woke up from the endless observing. I had no idea what the man was talking about, but judging by his last sentence he was mentioning his dislike toward Master Kenway. I chose to just shrug my shoulders and nod my head to make it seem as if I was listening attentively. Gist smiled wide and turned his face away looking forward again. "Thank you for understanding and letting me stay and guard Morrigan, Captain Cormac." He looked very pleased at the moment. I sighed as I figured out the theme of his topic that I casually skipped.
"Of course, surely." I rolled my eyes; suddenly one of my men started yelling something and throwing their arms up gesturing toward the right side of Morrigan. I gazed at the direction he was pointing at and gasped as I saw a ship approaching us quickly. It was a Man O' War, a dangerous beauty of the seas that I appreciated and hated the most. I remember sailing Captain James Cook's Royal Navy ship, it was a great experience, especially when I got to sink enemy's ships; but being targeted by one of those was something out of my desire.
The Man O' War slowed down and slowly drifted right next to us; it came to a stop. Thinking that the ship was from Cook's navy and had some kind of a message for us, I slowed Morrigan down keeping it parallel to the vessel. Silence hung around us, no one dared to speak; it seemed as the big ship was observing us and making a conclusion of how pathetic we looked compared to its own power and size. I felt cold sweat on the back of my neck and gulped secretly pleading the ship to continue on its way and mind its own business. Unfortunately, the ship did not move; I felt very disappointed with a hint of fear hiding behind my straight face.
I glanced at Gist and noticed the man's pale face; he gave me a puzzled look making me realize that asking him about this situation was pointless. I let go off my wheel desperately gazing over the port not far from us that was out precious destination. A wild thought of grabbing the wheel and yelling to resume our speed to get to the land came across my mind, but I shook it off and walked up close to the ship's railing.
"Good day," I yelled at the Man O' War hoping for the Captain of the monster ship to hear me. The silence continued embracing the space around us; I became nervous by seconds. "We are going to continue our way to New York, unless you have any business with us!" I said with my determination slowly fading from my eyes as I saw a hooded man walk up to the edge of the ship and glare at Morrigan's Templar sails.
"An...an... Assassin?" Gist gasped and called me to command the crew to catch the wind as fast as we could, but I stood there frozen. The Brotherhood member smirked and yelled something at his men, after a second I was aware of his order.
It seemed like the Man O' War had an endless amount of cannons popping up from the little windows. The cannons started firing and hitting our ship, causing a massive destruction. One of the cannons balls almost threw me off in the deep waters after hitting the deck right next to me; planks of wood collapsed and exploded in thousands of pieces that burst in different directions. I managed to dodge the shot by lowering my whole body down and the sprinting up the small steps to the wheel.
"All sail, I said unleash all sail we have!" I yelled desperately, my voice cracking. Gist held on to his hat yelling the same command I announced trying to get the remaining crew's attention, since the rest were hit and killed by the damned cannons. Morrigan was in no state to fight back; escaping was our only choice at the moment. The ship slowly began to move away from the attacker and soon we were on our way as fast as the wind allowed.
"They are firing mortar, Captain!" Gist shouted looking back at the Man O' War. "We need to maneuver the ship away from the targeted spaces." He said looking closely at the direction the cannons were turning.
"I know Gist, I know." I said hurriedly turning the wheel to the right and left. "Bloody hell, we are still going to get hit, some sails are heavily damaged and useless right now." I said cursing repeatedly as the fire started falling upon us like thousands of stars from the sky. My crew ran around crying for help and mercy; I clutched my teeth feeling my arms go numb from the endless spinning of the wheel from side to side. We were so close to the port, just a little longer and we would have had it. Yet the fortune decided to handle us differently this fine day; the mortars fired one after another turning Morrigan into a mess that I could hardly call a ship anymore.
"Captain Cormac, turn the ship around this corner so they would lose the sight of us!" Gist suddenly exclaimed pointing at a huge chunk of land tall enough to hide us from the enemy's eyes at least for a moment. I nodded my head appreciating his suggestion and straightened the ship coming around our only hope. The Man O' War immediately stopped firing, a few mortars flew passed us thankfully not hitting the ship anymore. I decided to use this moment and quickly come from another side and dock the ship at the port. The monster seemed to lose its prey since the ship was slowly turning around away from us, its cannons gradually sliding back into hiding.
I closed my eyes in relief trying to breathe in some fresh air; I felt as if I held my breath for the whole escape from the Man O' War. Dark circles appeared in my eyes but I brazenly pushed on. New York was a reach away, the docking space was open welcoming us to the city; I gave out the command to stop and drop anchor.
"Anchor ahoy!" Gist shouted to the remaining good number of fifteen that managed to survive the horrible attack. I released the wheel and dropped on the ground trying to collect my thoughts together. All excitement was gone now; I sorrowfully stroked the wooden surface under me. Morrigan looked devastated; she had never experienced such a wicked attack from a big ship. I sighed heavily and slowly stood up looking around the remains of my ship. Planks of wood where scattered all around, many cannons destroyed, bits of sails hanging here and there.
"We will repair it, Captain Cormac." I felt Gist's strong hand on my shoulder. "I know a good master here, he does a great work and for cheap." He gave me a reassuring squeeze and I nodded my head grateful and suddenly felt very dizzy. I grabbed my head and nearly lost my balance. Gist quickly grabbed me and pushed me back on my feet. "Captain Cormac, are you alright?" He asked worriedly looking at me; I did not nod this time. I lowered my head and noticed a thick wooden stick poking out of my stomach; I then slowly dropped my hand and touched it, intense pain striking me immediately.
"Gist…" I hoarsely called his name taking a step back. Blood quickly filled my mouth, I anxiously tried to swallow it but it kept coming up to my throat. A thin trickle of scarlet liquid ran down from the corner of my mouth. The piece might have stabbed me when I was dodging the cannon that struck near me exploding the wooden planks. I mentally cursed and looked up at my quartermaster that was now panicking and shouting something at me. I saw his lips move but there was no sound coming out; the world around me became slow and blurry. The pain seemed to gently fade away, only reminding me of its presence somewhere away in the distance. The metallic taste of blood in my mouth became sweeter and lost its hint shortly afterwards as the world turned completely blunt.
"Dammit," I whispered. "I was looking forward on seeing Master Kenway again." A small smile appeared on my lips and then suddenly everything around me became black.