High sea's and low lives
By Meanbow
This is an unusual Gunsmith Cats story. I still don't own any of the main characters, except my own original ones, and this one isn't set in familiar surroundings. It is set in the 16th century, and that's all I'm saying. If you want to know more…read on…
Chapter 1All aboard
The small, but very fast schooner, the Cobra, was heading in to harbour. It's Captain, Rally Vincent, was at the helm calling out orders to her crew
"Make fast the topsail, lower the main sails. Prepare to drop anchor" she called out
Her crew, a motley bunch assembled from all around the world, started to carry out her orders, and the ship's speed immediately dropped when the sails were lowered
Her first mate, Mr Bolton, dropped anchor. The anchor dragged and then the ship slowed. The topsail was lowered and secured and the ship stopped next to the harbour, ready for loading
"Anchor secured, Captain…" he called back, then headed back up deck to help the others
Captain Vincent looked over the ship's wheel at her ship and crew, and felt a warm glow all over. Life was good
Out of nowhere, her navigator, Becky, came up from below with maps and a compass.
She almost tripped over the bottom of her dress as she stood on it with her own shoes on the slippery deck, but Captain Vincent caught her
"Err, thanks Captain…" she went, getting back up and pushing her glasses back up her nose so she could see properly
"Any problems, Becky?" Rally asked, trying to find out why she had appeared on deck
"Yes there is Rally…err, I mean Captain" she started "We've entered dangerous waters here. My maps show that these waters are infested with pirates and merchantmen, I don't think it's wise to stay too long in them"
Rally smiled "That's why we're here, Becky. We're after them. There's a bounty on the head of Captain Black…500 gold doubloons, dead or alive"
The rest of the crew headed up to the captain's helm deck and stood there in front of her. Her cabin girl May, and her boyfriend from the orient Ken Taki, master of Chinese explosives and martial arts. Rally's hotheaded sister, Arlene, The ship's cook, Misty, who had been below cooking up supper, and first mate John.
"So that's why were here Captain…" went John
"Aye…so best be prepared for anything," she replied, smiling a sly smile
Captain Vincent looked around at her crew, and nodded
"Go on…the lot of you…disappear for a few hours shore leave…I'll stay and supervise loading" she went
"Yes ma'am" went John, who turned around and signalled to the crew to go
"YAY! Come on ken, and let's go see what's happening here…" May went, grabbing him by the arm
"But…my katana…" he protested, all the time being dragged towards the gangplank
"Sure you don't want a hand sis?" Arlene asked her, looking at her sister
"I'll be fine on my own…go, that's an order" Rally went to her
Becky and Misty left without argument, leaving Captain Vincent standing alone on the deck
Rally went below to her private chambers and went through her closet to find something that didn't look as if it had been worn for a few weeks on deck, and finally settled on a clean white open neck blouse, brown pantaloons, black knee-length boots and her captains hat. Finishing off her ensemble with her pistol and sword, she looked at herself in the mirror and nodded her approval
She re-emerged on deck to find the docks master waiting, with his list of provisions and his docking log ready
"Good morning Captain…" he went looking at her, but had a shock when she tilted her head to reveal her face "…a woman captain?" he went with shock
"Here we are Master dock smith…" she went, placing a few gold coins on his docking log "I'm Captain Vincent, and this ship is the Cobra…" she went matter-of-factly, as she was used to this reaction from all the ports they visited
"…Now do you think you could help me to obtain food and drink rations for a long voyage?"
A few hours later, her crew made it's way back to the Cobra, all merry from the rum they had drunk and little food they had eaten
"Are we all full now, or can you manage some of chef Misty's stew to wake yourselves up?" Captain Vincent asked them as they stumbled aboard "it's quite good tonight"
There were a few moans from the crew, and they all headed below to the galley
Chapter 2Bar room brawl
The next morning saw a crisp, clear sea and few clouds in the sky, with a good trade wind to move ships with ease
Captain Vincent was up on the helm, looking out over the ocean with her spyglass, observing other ships and traffic out in the bay, when her sister appeared and stood next to her and breathed deeply
"AHH, nothing like the smell of the sea to stimulate a person…" Arlene went, waiting for a response from Rally
Rally lowered her spyglass and looked at her sister and nodded, then passed the spyglass to her
"Take a look out there Arlene…tell me what you see" she went
Arlene raised the glass to her eye and took a look out over the bay
"I see no ships…" she went
"Precisely…where are all the big ships to?" Rally questioned, "this is a major trading port, it should be bustling with activity…not dead like this"
Arlene looked at her "pirates…" she replied
"My thought exactly sis, all the traders are scared to come in to port in case they are attacked…which means that the pirates have either a contact in the port telling them which ships have the best bounty on board…or they have a hiding place around here, somewhere that they can observe the bay from without being spotted" Rally went, taking the spyglass back off Arlene and closing it up
"What's first then Captain? Do we start talking to locals and the harbourmaster, or sail around the bay looking?" Arlene asked
"Both…" She replied, "I want two of you to man the skiff and take a row around the bay and see if you can spot any potential hiding places for ships, while the rest of us will start asking questions…difficult questions"
"Just…take care…remember what happened in Port Victoria? You ended up in irons for asking too many questions to the wrong people. You were lucky governor Coleman was an easy going type of guy, or I think you'd still be in those fitted things now" Arlene replied
"Nah…the governor's wife wouldn't let him hear the last of it if he hadn't let me go" Rally replied with a smirk on her face
The rest of the crew appeared on deck, and Captain Rally started to tell them of her plan. They all nodded their approval, and split up into teams. Ken and May took the skiff and went around the bay looking for potential hiding places, while the rest of the crew disembarked and took a part of the town each
Captain Rally and John went into the town centre. Arlene and Misty headed towards the shops and bars that lined the seafront. Becky stayed behind to finish off the inventory of the rations
John held the door of a sailor's bar open, and Captain Rally went in, followed in by him
A lot of the sailors looked awkwardly at Rally, as women are considered as bad luck aboard ships. The barman looked up from his glass cleaning
"The massage parlour is further down the road…" he went, then went back to his glass cleaning
Rally walked up to the bar and stood there, placing her left foot on the foot rail running the length of the bar, and leant in to the barkeeper
"I'm looking for information, not recreation" she replied, pulling the barman in closer
The barman looked her in the eyes, and nodded
"What sort of information, lassie?" he asked as she let him go and he returned upright behind his bar
"I'm looking for…" she started, and then went quietly "…pirates"
The barman leant back in towards Rally "be careful, lassie…pirates be a dangerous breed. They won't think twice about running a blade through your friend there and giving you a nice set of iron bracelets to wear…and not much else. A nice looking lassie like yourself would fetch a handsome price as a servant or as a lady in some madam's pleasure parlour"
"Really? How much do you think I'm worth then?" Rally replied sarcastically, running her hand down to the hilt of her sword
The sound of a pistol being cocked made her freeze, and look sideways
"Why don't we find out, my pretty?" goes the voice of a man
Rally turned around slowly and saw the scene behind her. John had been grabbed and had a scabbard at his throat, and there was a pistol trained on Rally. A man with an eye patch over his left eye was pointing it at her
She turned her head slowly, glancing at the man with the eye patch and at the man holding John and the scabbard to his throat. She nodded her head slowly at John, and then they made their move
Rally grabbed the bar with both hands and kicked her right foot up suddenly and knocked the pistol skywards, John elbowed the man hard in the midsection, and winded him, making the scabbard fall forwards. John grabbed the scabbard mid-fall and turned it around, slicing the belt of the trousers of the man with the eye patch in one movement. His trousers fell towards the ground, and he leant forwards to grab them. Rally pulled her pistol out and his forehead met the pistol's barrel on the way down
"Now lassie…there's no need to be like that…we were just kidding…that's all" the man with the eye patch went, gulping and looking up the barrel of the pistol
"Stop calling me lassie…" she went, cocking the pistol
The man with the eye patch rolled his good eye inwards, and fell backwards towards the floor, hitting it with a thud
"HUMPH…he fainted" Rally went, sounding disappointed
"Maybe that's for the best, Captain" John went, sticking the scabbard down his wrap belt next to his own sword
Rally un-cocked the pistol and put it back on her belt, then stepped forward over the limp form of her would be aggressor
The rest of the bar went back to their conversations, trying to ignore the scene that just happened, when the door opened suddenly and British cavaliers marched in to the bar, all suddenly pointing their bayonets at Rally and john. The patrons of the bar suddenly made a mad dash attempt to escape, fighting with the cavaliers to escape. Rally and John also tried to get out, by sneaking out the back way, but were caught by waiting cavaliers
"When will you people ever learn?" went the man leading the cavaliers, a man dressed in a military uniform and with the rank of commodore on his lapels
"Remove their weapons…and put them in irons. They have a date with the cells in the fort" he went
Chapter 3
Cell's belle
The door to the cell slammed shut, and Rally turned around and grabbed the bars on the door tightly
"I DEMAND TO SEE THE GOVERNOR," she shouted at the guard
"The only person you'll be seeing is the judge in the morning…he doesn't take lightly to troublemakers here in Port Christian" replied the guard, who turned smartly on his heels and headed back up the stairs
"DAMMIT JOHN…" she went angrily "why does this always happen to us?" she asked as she slumped against the wall of the cell, and pulled off her boots to try and slip her feet out of the leg irons
"I wouldn't bother…these are smaller shackles than the other ones Rally. They must be the new models" John went, shaking his head
Rally stopped for a moment and looked at the irons. John was right, both the hand shackles and leg irons were smaller than normal
"Still…could be worse I s'pose" John went, trying to look positive
Rally just looked at him harshly
"How could it be any worse than this John? Here we are, sitting in a cell, chained hand and foot, waiting to see a judge in the morning, who could dish out any sort of punishment to us…it can't get any worse than that" Rally went
John dropped his head and went quiet…Rally had won the argument
A few hours later, a familiar face came down the stairs, with a small bundle of food wrapped up in a cloth
"Arlene!" exclaimed Rally, who stood up and shuffled towards the cell door to greet her sister
"Hey sis…we heard what happened from a couple of drunk sailors, and figured it was you two…" she started, then passed the parcel through the bars to Rally "Misty made it especially" Arlene went, winking
"Thanks 'lene" Rally replied
"Come on now, visiting time's over" went the guard, who took hold of Arlene firmly by the arm to lead her back out up the stairs
"Seeya sis" she went, just as she disappeared out of sight
Rally immediately unwrapped the parcel. Inside it was a small loaf of bread, some cheese and two apples. John took hold of the cheese and apples, and Rally broke open the bread. Inside it was a small set of lock picks and a small bit of paper
Rally unfolded the paper and read the note
'Rally, use these to get out of the chains, we'll be by later on tonight to get you out
Ken is preparing some of his special powder to open the cell.
Arlene, Misty, Ken and May'
"Good girl Misty" went Rally, fiddling with the lock picks in the shackles keyhole
That evening, John and Rally were looking out of the small barred window, waiting for their friends
"Where are they?" she asked, pulling out her pocket watch and looking at the time
The sounds of a quiet evening was suddenly interrupted by the sound of cannons being fired, and an explosion in the town
Rally looked out of the window, and saw a ship in the harbour, firing its cannons towards the fort
The noise from the next cell became ecstatic, as the men in that cell knew what was happening
"It's Captain Black!" one of them shouted
Then, a cannon fired in their direction and Rally's eyes went wide with fear. She jumped away from the window hurriedly and grabbed John on her way down. The wall exploded behind them, opening up both cells to the outside world
The guards heard the explosion below, and one of them came down to see what was going on, only to see the men in the second cell escaping out of the hole. He grabbed his keys and opened the cell door to their cell to try and stop them, but was attacked by one of the group and knocked out, disarmed and left
Rally and John saw this as an opportunity to escape, and headed towards the holed wall. Rally squeezed out through the hole and John followed, but then went back into the second cell and out to the passageway, and grabbed his sword and Rally's belt with pistol and sword, and then headed back out
In the town, pirates and escaped prisoners were fighting with locals and cavaliers, looting, robbing, pillaging and destroying things. Bodies were lying all around, buildings were set on fire and women and children were taken to be sold as slaves, to the pirate ship
Rally and John fought their way back to the docks, John showing off his fighting skills with two swords, keeping two men at bay while Rally reloaded her pistol. She shot it and another pirate fell to the floor
"We'll never make it back to the cobra at this rate…" went John, fighting with another pirate before running his sword through him
"We've got to…the others could be in trouble" Rally replied, as she shoved a pirate out of the way with her left boot before shooting him
Aboard the Cobra, the crew were defending it as best they could, Ken doing as much work as he could on his own. May threw one of Ken's special exploding china pots at the docks, and it exploded, sending attacking pirates flying in all directions
"GOT'EM!" she called excitedly, jumping up and down
Arlene was on the helm, sword in hand and fighting off invading pirates. Misty was at her side, using small knives as throwing weapons. Becky was below, hiding from the commotion above in the hold "this is not happening…this is NOT happening" she said to herself over and over, whilst covering her ears. Suddenly the cargo bay overhead door smashed into pieces as a pirates body came flying through it, falling off a boarding rope that was sliced by Misty's throwing skills. Becky screamed, shocked more than scared
The pirates ship came closer to the harbour, and fired its small deck cannon at the Cobra. The Cobra was holed and started to list to port. The pirates started to jump ship and swim to the pirates' ship, a commandeered frigate called the Excelsior.
A female figure was dragged out of the hold, kicking and screaming, by an escaping pirate, pulled into the sea and dragged over to the ship
Captain Vincent and John made it to the docks, only to witness their ship listing, and a member of her crew being taken hostage
The remaining pirates made their escape, and boarded the Excelsior. Becky was seen being dragged up to the deck by the pirates by her hair, then her clothing was unceremoniously cut off her, leaving her standing there in her underwear, before being dragged off to the cells onboard the ship to join the rest of the hostages taken prisoner from Port Christian
Chapter 4Race against time
Commodore Phillips came running down to the harbour side with the remnants of his cavaliers. They all stopped to observe the damage caused and to watch helplessly as they sailed away unthreatened
"DAMN YOU, BLACK!" he shouted towards the escaping ship, waving his sword in the air angrily
"…Becky" went Rally quietly, looking at the ship, and then at her own badly damaged ship
Commodore Phillips lowered his sword and sheathed it, then looked with surprise at the two people standing there on the dockside next to him
"YOU…" he went, looking at Rally and John with burning hatred in his eyes "You're the reason they came here…GUARDS! SIEZE THEM"
The guards grabbed Rally and John by the arms, and turned them to face the commodore
"We're not the reason they came here…" went Rally in reply "the men in the cell next to us were. They were part of his crew. My name's Captain Rally Vincent, I'm a privateer in the employ of the British Colonial Government, sent here to track down and capture Captain black, dead or alive"
Commodore Phillips looked at her " a privateer…then why didn't you let myself know upon your arrival?" he asked
"Too risky…I was trying to get the pirates amongst the people to talk, try to find out as much as I can about Captain black" she replied
The guards let them go, and commodore Phillips walked over to her slowly and offered his hand to shake "so sorry Captain Vincent. I was not informed about your arrival in the area"
Rally grabbed his hand and shook it "do you have any ships capable of catching that one of theirs?" she asked, letting go of his hand and turning around to look at the harbour. All around the bay, the main ships owned by the colonial government were sunk or sinking. The only one that wasn't sunk was the cobra, but it was badly damaged on the starboard side. The Cobra's crew came walking up the walkway; Ken put his Katana blade away as he walked. Misty and Arlene were injured from fighting with the pirates; Misty had a few grazes and Arlene had a sword wound on her left arm that was bleeding, May was looking sad and exhausted from the battle, holding on to Ken's left arm
"I'm sorry to report captain…Becky has been captured and the Cobra is badly damaged just on the waterline. It's fixable, but it'll take a few hours at best" Ken went
The Commodore looked at her ship, and at the rest of his fleet, then went "let's get that schooner repaired, and anything else that's seaworthy. I want that man in irons, to hang from my garrison's scaffold"
The Cobra was attached to a pulley and a group of cavaliers and sailors pulled the ropes and the ship started to right itself, but the extra weight of the water and the cargo already onboard made it difficult to maintain that position
"Come on men…put your backs into it!" called the Commodore, yelling his orders out at the men, whilst on the water, a wood smith was cutting and repairing the hole, while other men and the Cobra's own crew were furiously baling the water out of the cargo hold
It took them a few hours of work to fix the hole and bale the ship to an acceptable level. Captain Vincent and Commodore Phillips were standing on the helm, going over the navigation charts for the area
"I think that they are more likely to head towards another trading port…to dispose of their prisoners on the slave markets…the nearest port that trades in slaves is a weeks sailing from here, in Jamaica" the Commodore went, pointing the route out to Rally
"I agree, he'll want to get rid of them somewhere, and that port is one of the biggest dealers in slavery in the western world, although he could also head east, towards Japan and their markets" Rally added, pointing out that route to the Commodore
"The shogun's are very fussy who they trade with these days, captain. I somehow doubt he'd head there"
"We'd best agree on where we're going, or else the longer we argue, the further he gets away from us" Rally went, staring hard at the Commodore
"Very well captain, I'll leave it to your judgement, as it is your ship…" he replied, then tipped his hat and left the helm
Captain Vincent walked over to the handrail on the helm and looked down on the main deck of her ship "All hands…prepare for departure!" she called out, then went back to the ship's wheel and checked it for response
It took an hour to prepare for departure. The ships own crew were being joined by a handful of the Commodores' guards, and the Commodore himself.
Captain Vincent held on to the wheel, and nodded to John to begin. "Alright then, raise the anchor…drop the topsail…bring in the gangplank…let's get after them pirates!" he called out the orders to depart
The gangplank was dragged on board and the main anchor rose. On the dockside, some men were pushing the Cobra away from the jetty with bargepoles, to make sure they cleared it. Rally swung the wheel hard to port and the ship began to turn to face the open seas
The topsail dropped and immediately caught the breeze, filling out and making the mast creak as it did. The ship lurched under the force of the sail, and started to move under power. The ship was facing the main channel and was heading out to deep water. Rally shouted out "Let's get this thing moving…hoist the mainsails…full canvas"
"Yes ma'am!" called John, then turned around to the crew "alright you lot…you heard the Captain, full canvas"
Two days of sailing full canvas, and there wasn't a sight of the Excelsior anywhere
Rally stood on the helm using her spyglass to scan the ocean, but to no avail. The crows' nest hadn't reported any sightings either
"Where the hell is he?" she questioned herself "no frigate is that fast…no other ship can match the Cobra for speed"
Commodore Philips approached Captain Vincent "any signs yet captain?"
"Nothing…" she replied, not taking her eye off the spyglass "wait a minute…" she went, and started increasing the range on the spyglass' magnification "…THERE!" she went, passing the glass to the Commodore and pointing in a south easterly direction
"I see her…" he went, and then asked, "can this ship catch up to her, she's still a few hours ahead of us at least"
Captain Vincent smiled "time to show you why the Cobra's the fastest schooner in the western civilized world…" she replied, then walked back over to the handrail and called down to John "Raise the secondary mast and sails" she went smiling broadly
"I was wondering when you would do that, Captain…" John commented "Let's get the second mast raised and under sail" he bellowed, and walked over to a large canvas covered item that ran half the length of the centre of the ship. He pulled the canvas cover off and a large mast was underneath, fixed on a pivot, and attached to the ship. It had a complex pulley system on it to raise and lower the device
John grabbed the ropes running through the pulleys and started to pull, Ken and a few other guards came and joined him, and the secondary mast started to raise itself to an upright position. Once it was up and locked, a mast support swung outwards and locked horizontally, and the secondary sail was unfurled from the support. It filled with the breeze and the ship began increasing in speed
"Not long now, Commodore…we'll be up alongside them within 2 hours at best" Rally went, with a big smile on her face. She knew her ship could easily outpace even the fastest and most manoeuvrable of ships being built, so there was no way a heavy frigate would outpace the Cobra
Chapter 5Sea borne battle
Onboard the Excelsior, the man in the crow's nest started shouting down to the deck
"CAPTAIN…I SEE SAILS APPROACHING" he called, and pointed north-westerly
Captain Black hobbled over to the ships stern rail and pulled his spyglass out and took a look for himself
"Damn British…they don't know when to quit" he said, observing the flag flying from the ships mast, and then he noticed the speed that it was approaching, by looking at the size of the breakers on the ships bows
"OPEN ALL SAILS, ME HEARTIES…FULL CANVAS" he bellowed in a bid to escape the pursuit
The sails on the frigate opened up to maximum, and the mast started creaking from the extra strain being placed on it by full canvas
"Go on…RUN!" called Rally from the helm of the Cobra, even though she knew they wouldn't hear her. She had seen them unfurl all their sails and knew they were trying to take flight. She grabbed the wheel and flung it hard a' starboard and started to sail with the wind to catch more in the sails, a sudden pull forward from the wind and the ship's bow lifted out of the water for a few brief seconds, before crashing down hard and breaking the water beneath them. Rally smiled, and guessed that the ship was doing roughly 26 knots
The excelsior's pirate crew were starting to panic as the sails of the pursuing ship started to get bigger and closer. The first mate, Smith, went over to the Captain and told him of the crews anxiety
"Prepare the cannons for a fire fight, smith…if we can't outrun them, we'll sink them…and I do believe these waters are filled with sharks, aye?"
"Aye, Captain…I'll prepare the cannons" Smith went, then barked out the captains orders of preparing the cannons
The Cobra was within range now, and Captain Black knew they would need a clean shot into her hull to sink the pursuer
Rally was on the bow of the Cobra, watching the Excelsior's crew and her Captain for signs of treachery. She noticed Captain Black was also looking at the Cobra, and then she swung the spyglass down towards the rear of the ship and saw the rear main cannon was being repositioned to fire at her ship. Rally turned and ran from the bow towards the rope that held the anchor up. She drew her sword and called out to everyone "HOLD ON…THIS IS GOING TO BE A ROUGH TURN. JOHN, LET GO OF THE WHEEL"
John looked at Rally and had a question he was about to ask, but saw Rally had her sword drawn and guessed what she was about to do, and let go of the ship's wheel and grabbed the handrail instead. The others grabbed whatever secure item they could find, and Rally swung her sword straight down on the anchor rope. The rope was cut in three swings, and Rally fell on her backside as the rope cut and the anchor dropped suddenly. It hit the water and fell towards the seabed, catching on a secure bit of coral. The rope went taught and the ships' bow suddenly went down in the water and the helm swung outwards and turned hard towards port, just as the cannon on the excelsior fired off it's round. The cannonball went flying past the bow with inches to spare, but the bow runner was caught by the ball and broke in two
"OPEN FIRE!" Rally shouted, and ken was ready up front with the starboard catapult, loaded up with his china pots and their exploding mixture. The catapult fired and the pot went hurtling towards the Excelsior, and went through the window on the captains' quarters. It hit the floor and exploded inside the cabin, destroying it completely
Chapter 6Fight!
Aboard the frigate, the pirate crew immediately loaded the cannons facing the Cobra, and started to return fire. On board the cobra, the Commodore's guards had their Muskets and were firing shots at the pirate crew, taking a few men down with their shots. Ken launched a few china pots filled with explosives from a catapult on the back, the pots flying through the air and exploding on contact with solid objects. John had aimed the front bow cannon at the pirates ship and fired off the shot. A grappling hook shot out from the end of the cannon, attached by a large rope to the deck of the cobra via a pulley. The shot went through the hull of the frigate, and hooks extended from the harpoon. John immediately started to turn the pulley and the rope started to tighten, the hook suddenly grabbing onto the inside of the hull, meaning escape was impossible for the pirates.
Inside the cargo hold of the Excelsior, Becky and the other prisoners from Port Christian were panicking as the sound of gun and cannon fire became louder. Suddenly…a large harpoon device came crashing through the side of the ship, and dropped to the floor. Becky knew immediately what it was and stood up and shuffled over to the harpoon as best she could, seeing as her feet was shackled together, and the chain running to an iron loop attached to the deck. She pushed a button on the harpoon and the grappling arms shot outwards from the body in a cross formation, she then stood back as the harpoon was suddenly pulled backwards towards the hole already made in the hull before the arms grabbed the hull and stopped. Becky smirked… 'You're goanna get it now, Black' she thought to herself
Up on deck, a boarding party from the Cobra made it on board the frigate, and Cavaliers and Cobra crewmembers were battling pirates hand-to-hand with broadswords, scabbards, Katana's, and other assorted swords. Captain Vincent swung over to the Excelsior on a boarding rope and landed perfectly on the top deck, making Captain Black turn around and look at her with a mix of shock and anger. He immediately pulled his sword out, and swung for Rally. Rally retaliated by grabbing her sword and blocking his attack, her smiling face mocking him
"Captain Black…we meet at last" she went, peering over the top of her sword blocking his attack
"Aye lassie…for the first AND the last time" he replied, pulling his sword back and swinging it again. Rally parried his attack and countered with her own attack, stepping forward into the attack with graceful footwork. The two Captains continued their mano-et-mano for a few minutes, while below, the prisoners were being let loose by Misty and Arlene
"WHAT KEPT YOU?" shouted Becky as they approached the cell door with the keys, which Misty had procured from the pirate guard
"So glad to see you as well, Becky" Arlene replied "Maybe we should leave you here with them upstairs…"
"Ahh, that's not what I meant to say…" she started, then suddenly shouted "LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"
Arlene suddenly turned and saw a large pirate coming towards herself and Misty. She pulled out her pistol and cocked it, then squeezed the trigger. The gunpowder went BANG! And smoke came from the barrel; the pirate stopped where he was, but slowly looked up.
"OH SHIT…I forgot to load it with shot" Arlene went, looking up at the large pirate, who now had an evil smile on his face. Arlene quickly bought her left foot up hard and fast between the pirate's legs. The pirates face contorted into a look of pain, and he dropped to his knees in front of the girls. Arlene turned the pistol around and hit the pirate on the head with the butt of the gun, knocking him out
Back upstairs; the pirates were slowly losing the fight to the Cavaliers and the Cobra's crew. They were tiring, and surrendered to the Cavaliers peacefully. Captain Black and Captain Vincent were still engaged in their swordplay, neither letting up for a moment
"Take a look down there Captain…you've lost" Rally went while parrying with Black. Black suddenly changed tactics and shoved his big boot into Rally's chest hard, causing her to stumble backwards and drop her sword from the winding.
"I think not…" he smiled evilly, and dropped his sword and pulled his pistol out, aimed it at rally's head and squeezed the trigger…
Chapter 7All a dream
Rally suddenly sat up in bed quickly; sweat pouring down from her forehead, her nightclothes sticking to her body. She blinked her eyes a few times and looked around…it was dark, but she recognised her surroundings; she was home, in her bedroom. She heard breathing next to her…it was John, who had been woken up by Rally's sudden sit-up.
"Hey…you alright?" he asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes and looking over at the alarm clock, then back to rally "let me guess…bad dream?"
"Yeah…I guess…" she replied, puzzled as to what she just experienced. John sat up next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek
"Dreams can't hurt you…their just illogical data that the brain tries to sort into some sort of fashion while you sleep, that's all" he replied, pulling her towards him gently
"It seemed so real…I was there, you were there, and so was Becky, Misty, Arlene, Ken and May…we were onboard a ship, fighting pirates" she went to John
"Oh boy…" John went, sighing heavily "that's the last time we watch a pirate movie and eat a 3-cheese pizza before bed"
"But it seemed so real…" Rally went as John pulled her gently down back to the bed with him, holding on to her. She knew what she had to do, so she cuddled up close to John and sighed smally
"Just a dream…only a dream" she went, almost whispering to herself as she closed her eyes and fell back to sleep
More Gunsmith Cats soon!