Chapter 2- Escape! The clutches of the armada!
"PLEASE YOU'VE MADE A MISTAKE IM NOT A PIRATE!" I shouted at the top of my lungs to no avail
My cell was empty with nothing but a window and a bed.
The clockworks took us on their ship and into their cellars, I have no idea what they've done to Mr. Lew, but I do know the punishment of piracy by Armada law, death.
I have to get out of here I looked around for anything that could help my escape. I've spent plenty of time in cells being raised a beggar in the rough streets of scrimshaw. Unfortunately, There was nothing
"Damn this perfect ship!" hope was beginning to be the only thing keeping me going at this point
the sound of machinery running the ship was a constant ear sore drowning out any focus I had in me
I could then here the clinking of a clockwork coming near my cell
now was my chance.
The clockwork, tall in figure with the empty glare from nothing but its mask approached my cell door with a sparkshooter held across its mechanical chest where there was no heart, instead a bunch of nuts and bolts
"Hey!" I shouted for its attention
it stopped in its tracks and rhythmically turned to face me
"Quiet prisoner! You are under arrest for the crime of piracy" it spoke with separation and emphasis on each word just like a robot.
"yeah, yeah I got that but I really need to pee!" I grasped my groin region to indicate an emergency
"any chance I could use your bathrooms?" I asked hoping the cold machine would budge
"Armada ships have no need for restrooms, human"
Crap! How could I forget these things aren't living
"well maybe I can use that bucket over there?" I pointed to a large metal bucket at the end of the jail hall far too heavy for a single clockwork to carry
"Very well, any attempt of escape will result in immediate extermination" the clockwork reached behind itself for a key and unlocked my cell to open the large steel door.
The clockwork then pointed its large rifle at me and motioned for me to walk
I walked over to the bucket planning out my every move
The only problem is I had no plan.
I was completely helpless, my back is turned, clockworks are known for their exceptional aim so there's no point in trying to run unless I want to die, my hands are bound so id be no use in a fight.
I was now hopeless.
BANG
The ship had jolted from an explosion causing the clockwork to fall and drop his rifle
noticing the opportunity I quickly dived for the rifle and held it at the clockwork now back on its feet
"Halt! You are under arrest for the crime of pir-" I pulled the trigger silencing the machine causing it it fly back and become dysfunctional
"go to hell"
I need to find Mr Lew
I ran up and down the ships halls looking into every cell but couldn't find a trace
maybe he escaped?
BANG BANG BANG
The explosions continued from above the ship which sounded like more cannon fire along with several footsteps
BOOM
another explosion down the hall left a large hole in the ship
outside directly across the ship was another galleon, its flag a skull and crossbones
Pirates.
The ship began sailing towards the clockwork galleon ready to board I noticed as it got closer that it seemed run down and old much like our skiff which was now presumably sunken.
I heard several footsteps around the ship and it was impossible to tell where they were coming from with all the commotion outside so I had to be careful
I hastily ran down corridor after corridor looking for a way out
"you! You escaped?" an unfamiliar voice called from a few cells down
"please let me out!" the voice was that of a girl who was now sounding desperate
I went over to her cell to see the girl with scarlet red hair, deep black eyes, a pointed nose, olive skin, and freckles staring back at me who also seemed to have some muscle
"how do I get you out?" I had left the keys a few corridors down and I wasn't sure if I could remember my way back
"There! My ax! Bring me my ax!" she pointed to a double sided battle axe at the opposite wall of the corridor which had a shaft long enough for a staff
I went over to the ax and grabbed the handle and began to lift
the thing must have weighed a ton! How did she expect to ever use this?
I managed to haul the thing over to the girl in her cell
"thanks!" she reached out of her cell with one arm and hoisted and twirled the ax giving it enough momentum to strike the cell bars and snap them in two with little to no effort at all
"how the-"
"come on lets move!" she grabbed my arm and began running down the halls
we eventually found the iron door to the top of the ship
the girl grabbed the door handle and yanked
"its locked"
I looked around for another way out or something we could use
"grrraaaahhh!" the girl had completely thrown herself at the iron door and the lock budged causing the door to swing open
who is this girl? What is she?
…
outside the ship was complete chaos.
Clockworks were lined up and firing across the deck where multiple pirates had boarded and were storming the ship
"should we help them?" I asked the girl crouched beside me hiding behind a few crates
"if it means getting to crush some clockworks, im all for it" she stood straight up and took a few steps back
she clutched her ax and began to aim towards the line of clockworks forming up completely oblivious of whats to come
she launched her ax in a spiral towards them completely taking out the whole line one by one slicing through the machinery like butter until it hit the wall and stuck
"Ha! Got 'em." she dusted off her hands
"Very impressive, Ms Armstrong" a devious voice appeared from behind us undetected
we turned to find one of the armada leaders.
Decon
the girl gasped and immediately threw a punch
decon dodged it pulled out his flintlock held it to her gut and pulled the trigger sending her flying across the deck as sparks flew
"tsk tsk tsk Reckless Rebecca Armstrong, always living up to your name aren't you? Did you really think a measly attack like that would have any effect on me? You didnt even have your weapon" he withdrew his weapon
"and you, Daniel Nightingale, son of the most esteemed pirates throughout the spiral and not even a simple sword to defend yourself with? Pitiful."
"N-Nightingale?" rebeccas faint voice was heard behind me clearly out of breath and in pain
how does this thing know me
"to think that the two pirates who came to defeat countless aramada officers brought up such a useless excuse of a son, guess smuggling and stealing really was the only thing they were good at."
my blood began to boil. What could this machine possibly know about my parents!
"That and abandoning their child" the machine let out a most sinister laugh taunting me
"shut up!" I began running towards the clockwork without thinking my only intent was to stop its mockery
my outburst was met with a backhand stopping me dead in my tracks
"Sigh, you humans really are such fragile beings" I felt the hard metal of his flintlock against my chest
"why not end the bloodline here eh? Join your parents at the bottom of the skyway" the clockwork, stood tall, gun pointed right to my heart clicked his flintlock ready to fire
I was ready to die.
SNAP. CLANK
an ax ran through Decons arm separating it form his body
I looked behind me to see Rebecca had thrown it with what little strength she had left still hunched over clutching her wound and breathing heavily
"Never. Underestimate. A buccaneer!" she panted and grinned
"You insolent child!" Decon went for his gun
Rebecca sprinted towards him and before he could reach it she drop kicked him straight in the chest sending him flying back into the ships cabin
she slammed the door shut and used her ax to block the doors handle shut locking him in
"Lets. go." she began limping towards the pirate ship
I closely followed
…
"That be the lost 'o them boys yaaaar!" the boisterous red coated pirate with a long unkempt beard an eyepatch and a peg leg stood over dozens of fallen armada troops
wow. Who knew the stereotypes were true
"yes although we still have not retrieved what we came for, no?" a monquistian monkey in elegant marleybonian attire with the accent of a frenchman stood beside the pirate
"I'm. Right. Agh" Rebecca called out but fell to the floor in pain
"Quick lads tend to her wounds!" one male pirate with jet black hair and purple eyes and tanned skin and another female pirate with brown hair braided in dreadlocks deep red eyes and dark brown skin went over to rebecca in aid
"Rebecca! What happened" the boy called out
"Twas da workins of da clockwork Decon. I an I sense him presence" the girl spoke
"In that case we'd best hightail our way out of here lads, grab rebecca and the boy and lets be on our way
ahhh this chapter took forever to write and I might as well publish it since its pretty long hopefully someone reads these im pretty much doing this for fun. Shoutout to my one follower! New chapter soon (sorry if I dont follow this with a flashback)
End Ch-2
Flashback
"Please sir, may I have some food?" I looked up at the tall wharfrat in front of me hoping he'd give me something to eat. I hadn't eaten in 2 days
"whats a young boy like you doing wondering the streets alone? Where are your parents" he bent down next to me
"i lost my mommy and daddy" tears began to fill my eyes
it had been a month since the incident at sea
"now now don't cry little fella" he handed me a loaf of bread
"here, why don't you come with me ill watch over you till you find your parents" I wiped my tears and took the bread
"thank you mister uh?" I never got his name
"Call me Mr. Lew" he led me to his ship
"My names Daniel" I said to him as we walked down the street
"Well Daniel, we'll wait as long as it takes"