Getting Under Your Skin
The beautifully glistening blue waves of the ocean under a starry night were soon soured and polluted as they were cut open. A vessel of a volatile nature journeyed through the waters, leaving only filth and putrescence in its wake. The Crackerjack, the bane of the seven seas and the pride of the infamous bandit Horace the Horrible, had been venturing cross the waves. After their humiliating defeat to the Laughingstock, they had sought to resupply, replenish their stock and plot their vengeance against their rivals.
The monstrous fiends that crewed this mangled excuse of a ship were working hard to manage the ship, heaving and towing as they unbound the secured sails. As the sails dropped and the winds were caught, the captain commanded "Heave to and securrre those rrropes, ye putrrrid wrrretches!" With a grunt and a series of grumbles, the crew doubled their efforts and finalised their tasks and the ship hastened as the wind became enslaved to the ship's whim. After a brief loss of balance for the entire crew by will of the ship's sudden burst of speed, the Captain turned away from the banister and sought to return to his cabin.
"Me first mate!" the captain then called as he pulled the doors open, "Ye'll be joining me in me cabin!" To this, a single crewmember raised her head and turned to face the overhead balcony in response to this command, "Aye, Cap'n". The First Mate, here actually being what could loosely be recognised as a woman, was no less vile and hideous as her associates. Her slimy skin was a pale and ghostly, her right eye had been crudely sewn shut with a fishing line and one arm was considerable longer than the other. She approached the captain's cabin and pulled the door open, stepping inside as the doors shut behind her.
The captain sat at a table with his arms folded, drumming his gloved fingers against the wooden surface. "Therrre were a girrrrl on that ship" Horace snarled, "A girrrl I be never seeing before". He huffed before continuing "All by herrr lonesome, she nearly blew me crew to kingdom come. She be a grrreater menace to me than all the crew o' the Laughingstock". He gave a short chuckle at his own words, before frowning once more and concluding "Who be this girrrl and wherrre be she coming frrrom?"
"I could not possible imagine, my captain. I'd never seen such sharpshootin' since me youth in the Sand Lands" the first mate replied, "Could she be in league with the Laughingstock?" Horace suddenly kicked his chair back and yelled "Who cares? Them fools be the least of our worries. They be no match for me awesome power!" With a short breathe to relax from this outburst, he then added "But this stranger could be capable of anything". "Ye think she could be a threat to us?" the cyclopean accomplice asked, to which Horace waved his hand in dismissal. "It will matterrr not. I alrrready have a plan to deal with that vicious little brrrat!" Horace cackled as he wandered to the window to gaze the horizon.
"And I be knowing the scallywag ferrr the task".
From this, the first mate offered a vaguely intimidated expression and stammered "Ye can't possibly mean that unholy beast!" "Enough Sunny!" Horace barked bemusedly, "He shall appreciate his rrreturrrn to Candle Cove…. And ourrr gift of flesh to him". "That creature will not ally himself to our cause. Only to his own" Sunny continued to criticise her captain's plot, only to once again be silenced by his stern glare through his monocle. Horace turned away from the window and approached a large chest in the corner of his cabin, pulling it open and finding an assortment of unnatural relics and compounds. "Prrreparrre the rrrest of the crrrew. We will begin the summoning rrritual verrry soon" Horace snarled, Sunny simply nodding before making her way out of the cabin and back onto the main deck. Horace smiled as he held a black candle in his grip, "The Skin Taker shall stalk this plain once morrre."
In her absence, the crew continued to toil on the many duties they set to accomplish. Impressed by their dedication, she called "All hands! There be a summoning ritual in the hour!" All crewmembers looked up at her and paid attention to her words. "Masters Philip and Hans! Assist the Captain! The rest of you, get back to work!" Sunny commanded. Two insidious figure ascended the stairs and joined the first mate. The first was a tall figure in a green coat with a pair of red beady eyes and a long, writhing trunk for a mouth, closer resembling a fly instead of a man. Following him was an even taller fiend in a hooded cloak to hide his face, sporting a pair of hooks in place of his hands.
"Be it who I think it is?" a ghostly whisper spilled forth from the skull like teeth of the hooded monster "Be it he who claims the fear of those he has slew?" "I pray it may be" Phillip Fly answered in an almost unintelligible sputter, "Our luck has been running out for too long, me friend". Phillip held his hand against his chest and pulled four leaf clover from his coat, examining it with his red eyes. "Perhaps our luck is finally on our side" he remarked before placing the trinket on his chest, "I can only hope he shall save me a souvenir". Hoody Hans simply chuckled as he clanged his hooks together threateningly, before the two villain entered the cabin to consult their captain.
Within moments, the crew had assembled a collection of trinkets and compounds, all aligned to encircle a small space. This summoning circle would draw upon the dark magic of these element and direct it towards the middle, where they would harness the power to summon this mysterious creature. Horace the Horrible stepped forward and held an open hand towards the circle, exposing a black substance to the air. The liquid fell from his fingers and fell to the floor, only to suddenly stop and hovered into the circle. Horace smiled as this was exactly what he wanted; a sign that he would have his revenge.
Elsewhere upon the writhing ocean waves of Candle Cove was the infamous crew aboard the Laughingstock. The sunlight has been preparing to creep over the horizon as the shining hue of sunshine bled into the night sky. Ever since their newest crewmember, the underage deckhand Janice, earned the crew a tremendous victory and a humiliating defeat to the Crackerjacks, the seas had remains quiet for several days. Perhaps this was a sign that their fates had turned for the best and that they would find solace on the ocean for at least a short time. If only fate were as kind.
Janice was busy assorting supplies and preparing them for transport into the bowels of the ship, which was greatly pleasing the ship herself. Janice approached the bow and leaned over the guard rail to address the vessel face-to-face, gazing upon the eyes and mouth shifting faintly as the ship ploughed through the waves.
"It's been a long time since there has been any sign of those baddies on the other ship" Janice explained, only having a vague memory of the villains they encountered. The ship gazed upwards and smiled "Indeed. It's not often those villains hide for so long" before grimacing when a thought came to mind. She sneered "Perhaps they are planning something big for the next time" and soon grew concerned as she saw the fearful look on Janice's face. "You will need to be brave my dear. Those villains may be cruel, but they also have friends… friends even more evil than Horace or his cretins could ever be" she explained.
Janice was about to walk away before she stopped in her tracks and returned to the bow, asking "Why do the Crackerjack's want to fight us anyway? What did you do?" The Laughingstock shut her eyes in deep thought, "We have shared a history with them and have been fighting for lots of reasons… but it's mostly because they want to steal our hard earned treasure". "Oh I see… Pirates don't like to share, do they?" Janice questioned. "No, I suppose not. But they also don't like stealin' another pirate's treasure" The laughing stock answered, "It's against the Pirate's code of honour".
Janice was about to speak but paused for a moment to consider what the Laughingstock had said. She asked "There's a pirate's code of honour? I always thought Pirates didn't follow rules". The laughingstock giggled and stated "They don't. The pirate's code of honour is more like words of caution" before sneering slightly, "Though caution never seems to enter Horace's thinkin'". "Sounds a bit complicated. How many of these codes are there?" Janice asked curiously. "Several. Poppy can give you the details" the Laughingstock answered with a reassuring smile, "But only later; you still have work to do".
Elsewhere aboard the ship, up in the crow's nest on the tallest mast, the captain of the ship was scanning the horizon for any trouble. Percy scanned his gaze over the ocean and upon the horizon that glistened in the sunlight. But as his gaze began to turn elsewhere, he was awed by a truly unexpected sight. It was something that he had not seen in all his life. It was something he had only ever heard in old ghost stories, and yet its meaning was all too familiar and all to terrifying for the cowardly bilge rat.
Wasting no time racing down the mast and landing clumsily on the main deck with a stumble, Percy began running u and down the deck screaming "All hands, Attention!" Heads rose in fright to meet the equally petrified gaze of their commander immediately stood erect to address him. With the entire crew paying attention, Percy announced "Men! There be dark magic a-brewing! For in place of a sunrise, a green flash has stirred to welcome the morning!"
"The green flash!?" A crewmember exclaimed, as the rest of the crew began to murmur amongst themselves and mull over the prospects of this terrible news. Janice stepped towards Percy and asked "Green flash? What's a green flash?" She looked around for Poppy in order to inquire about this mystery, but was disheartened when she finally was met with his concerned look. "This be terrible" Poppy muttered to himself, "Horace, ye poxy cur! What've ye done?!"
"Poppy, what's wrong" Janice asked nervously as she hugged his leg, hiding beneath his long coat for shelter. "The green flash is the work o' powerful dark magic, Janice" Poppy answered with a fearful huff, "It means that an evil soul has returned from the land of the dead to walk amongst the livin'". "An evil soul? Who?" Janice questioned further. Poppy pursed his lips and answered "I don't know… But I be as sure as the night that this be Horace's doin'". He clenched his fist as his fear was replaced with seething rage, "And if I know Horace… then the soul he's returned must be…"
"The Skin Taker!" an already terrified crew began panicking and Janice found herself lost in a squabbling mass of hysterical deckhands. Percy was among them as he began rambling under his breath to contemplate his surrender strategy for the impending doom. Janice approached him and asked "Percy, who is the Skin Taker?" Little more than a girly shriek of freight responded to this question as Percy suddenly fainted to the floor with an intelligent tumble. Witnessing this, Poppy rolled his eyes and pulls Janice to his side.
"All hands! Attention! Address ye first mate!" Poppy roared as the crew slowed their actions to a stop and all eyes focused upon him. These included Percy's, as the foolish coward had begun recovering from his state. "We must not panic! There's yet to be any sign of Horace or this evil soul! So none of ye make any premature assumption and go about stirring up terror upon this ship! Understand!" As the crew saluted in acknowledgement, Janice asked with a fervent call "What is the Skin Taker anyway?"
Percy howls "He's been here before and he'll be back again" before he started pacing across the deck, "Oh, this is Horace's doin', I swear it on me mother's own grave!" Poppy, left disgruntled by Percy's pathetic display, then commanded "Be it Skin Taker, we must protect Janice at all costs!" Having drawn her attention, Janice then asked "What? Why am I in danger? Is this evil dead man here to get me?" Poppy held her close and growled "He'd die a'fore I let that wicked no-gooder lay one finger on ye, lassie".
One crewmember, unlike then rest of the uneasy crew, was simply sitting idly on the side of the deck. Janice had noticed him on occasion and never had a close look at him thanks to the man's avoidant nature. Had she a proper look at the man, she would have realised that his whole face and body was a complete jungle of brown hair and a pair of long, floppy ears. He was not a man at all, but a dog. A Sea Dog.
Sea Dog stood up and yelled "Hold it a minute there, you band of superstitious pansies!" All the crew turned to face him as he explained "The skin taker be little more than an old spook story for young'ns to behave theirselves". With a sneer, he continued "None of you lot have ever seen that fiends and have only ever heard of him in stories. And that's all, it is, you children!"
"Are ye a complete fool, Sea Dog?!" Percy screamed in disbelief, "The Skin taker be a real thing!" he continued as the rest of the crew nodded and murmured in agreement. Outnumbered, Sea Dog was forced to stand down and withdraw his forth-put claims. He turned away and called to the souls behind him. "I warn ye lot, ye be chasing an old wives' tale" he snarled, "And I should be knowing. I be chasing tales since me youth". With that, he skulked his way back below deck to attend his other, more important duties.
A few days had passed since that day and the crew were beginning to run low on supplies following their travels. They had passed by the Treasure Islands and were currently off the coat of a small Island. From she had been told by Poppy and Percy, the Island was known as Little Bedford, though it seemed to have little history. Apparently, it's rarely visited for any purpose other than supplies, notably a fresh spring located in a cave along the coast.
By the next Monday morning, a crewmember leaned from the crows next, howling to the crew below with an enthusiastic "Land, ahoy!" The main deck was abundant with lively soles toiling away in preparation to land, raising the sails and determining the appropriate landing zone. Poppy and Janice stood together as the valiant blackguard drew his telescope and scanned the shoreline. After a few moments, his eye landed on a black void protruding from a gathering of hillside trees, before closing his scope and pocketing it.
"Who's gonna collect the supplies?" Janice asked as Poppy descended to the main deck, carefully avoiding the bustling deckhands as they prepared for landing. "Well, we be needin' to remain on shore for at least 6 hours. We have had previous volunteers to go ashure, and they will be directed by me" Poppy explained. He turned to a group of pirates preparing to drop a life-boat, namely a black haired teenager.
Janice had heard the conversation and walked to the bow of the ship, and Miss Laughingstock immediately looked up to greet her. "I know what you want to ask" she said, "The supplies are in a dangerous cave". Janice looked out to see the island and said "Is there nowhere else to get supplied on this island". "You have to go inside" Miss Laughingstock concluded as Janice went back to the main deck. Her mind was made up. If she wanted to be a proper pirate, she would need to face any dangers she might come across with a stiff upper lip.
"Can I join you?" Janice asked excitedly, "I've never been to an island before!" Poppy paused and looked behind him, meeting her gleeful eyes with a disheartening gaze. "I'm no' sure. It may be too dangerous. We can't be sure if anyone else may already be on the island" Poppy explained. As he was about to turn away, Janice surprised him when she said "You think the Skin Taker might be there, don't you?"
"Oh not this again!" a disgruntled Sea Dog snarled as he swabbed the deck with his rickety wooden mop. He paused to look at Poppy and Janice before continuing "Are we going to starve to death at sea because an old fairy tale scared us from any land? Tell me now". "Enough o' that, Sea Dog. Get back to work" Poppy ordered sternly, earning merely a shrug from the surly janitor who answered "Nevermind. Either way, I delight in that I remain here whilst all yer superstition is taken to the island with you".
As Sea Dog returned to his duties, Poppy held Janice by her shoulder to get her attention. He stated "All the same, I think the island may hold dangers you are not prepared for. Perhaps you should remain on the ship with Sea Dog and the others". Janice, with a raised eyebrow in scepticism, answered "I have done lots of things that I never thought I would do, and I have fixed problems that I was never ready for. How can this be any different?" Janice then shrugged and added "And besides, I ain't got no problem with this 'Skin Taker' person". Despite her refusal to cooperate, Poppy couldn't help but admire this girl's bravery and finally succumbed.
The crew rowed to the beach and eventually landed, a few hands pulling the boat further up along the sand to escape the rising tide. They ventured to the entrance of the cave and drew torches, setting them alight as they entered. Cautiously, they drew their weapons in preparation for any potential danger they may meet. Poppy lad the way with a lantern raised until they eventually came to a large space, a series of tunnels splitting in different directions.
Poppy took out his map and read the direction to go, before pointing at a specific tunnel and calling "This way, men". The crew followed him into the tunnel while Janice followed along behind them, having a lantern to herself. However, as she started following them, she heard a series of strange noises, resembling a bundle of sticks clattering together in a rapid faction. This sound was coming from multiple directions, as if it was moving fairly quickly throughout the tunnel system.
"Come now, Come now, one and all" she heard a voice sing delightedly, "It's time to gather round". Janice listened closely to the lyrics as the song continued. "Hush now, hush now, don't ye cry" it continued before a lengthy and unsettling pause, "Don't scream or make a sound". Curious and scared at the same time, she turned to the rest of the crew and called "There's so-"
They weren't there.
Nothing but a stone wall and a maze of tunnels greeted her as she sought her companions. She shone her light around frantically at the many tunnels, desperately trying to remember which one her friends went into. The light from Poppy's torch had long since disappeared into the winding cavers. Janice's body stiffened and her breaths became hoarse from anxiety. The clattering sound returned, drawing her attention to the darkness behind her. Her lantern finally caught a strange sight in its lights as a strange and ill-fitting figure emerged from the background.
It was slender, but its pallor was a distinctive white, as pale as a bone. It was seated in an awkward position upon one of the upper ledges of the cave's many stone surfaces. She slowly approached it, with a lantern in one hand and a dagger in the other in preparation. As the light illuminated the cave around her, the figure was slowly revealed; and the sight that befell Janice rocked her to her core.
It was a corpse; the skeletal remains of some poor soul. It was sitting limply with its mouth hanging open, it hands and feet resting limply and bent to awkward angles. He had worn little at the time of its death, clad only in a blackened cloak with tatters and a crude top hat stitched with an odd material, neither cloth nor leather. Despite this ominous appearance, Janice relaxed as she saw she was in no true danger.
But as she put her dagger away, she noticed something strange about the skeleton. Its jaw was moving back and forth, or more rather, from side to side. It was wobbling at odd angles all on its own, peaking Janice's curiosity once again. "Why does its jaw move like that?" she asked herself, intrigued in its loosest form taking control of her better judgement. She turned away from the skeleton to try and find her friends again, returning to the immediate problem.
There was a crack behind her, startling her and drawing her attention back to the skeleton. As soon as she saw the skeleton again, she gasped in fright. It had turned its head and looked directly at her, its neck cracking as it did so. The lantern's light shone upon its face and Janice could see a pair of eyes lurking inside the hollow sockets, piercing her soul as they gazed upon her. Its jaw opened slowly and swung back and forth.
"To grind your skin."
The skeleton leaped up and tackled Janice to the ground, gripping her wrists within its skeletal grasp. Janice was about to screamed before she fell to the ground and lost her breath upon hitting the rock beneath her. She struggled in a panic as she tried as hard as she could to get away, but the skeleton had an unnatural strength to keep her at bay. The skeleton looked down upon her and snickered sadistically.
"You're the Skin Taker, aren't you" Janice squirmed nervously. Skin taker nodded slowly as it replied "I am", before releasing the girl's hand and reaching inside its coat to find something. Its hand slowly withdrew from the cloak, clutching a large Straitrazor with a dried red substance along its edge. It snickered once again as it concluded "And you will make a lovely addition" before gesturing to its coat. Janice looked towards the section he pointed at and noticed something she never did before, and wished she hadn't.
Stitched within the coat, was a child's face.
But just as Skin Taker was making his preparations, he heard a loud call from the darkness as a light bloomed within one of the many caves. The fiend stood up and pulled Janice up with her, cupping her tear-stained face to prevent any escape. "Janice!" a familiar voice called as the band of pirates rushed in and spread out. Poppy, infuriated, yelled "Skin Taker! Don't ye dare hurt that girl! Ye be answerin' to me, ye cruel monster!"
"Stop me if ye dare!" Skin Taker spat back as he took Janice's lantern and tossed to the wall, breaking it and putting the light out to shroud the pair of them in darkness. The pirates nervously staggered around, but Poppy was not as afraid as he ran into the darkness with his torch. He swung his fire around madly and finally caught a comforting glimpse of Janice, who was no longer held hostage and ran to his arms. Crying in fear, Janice hid beneath Poppy's coat as he pointed his sword around in search of a skeleton to skewer.
"Aaargh! Hurk! Glrk!" The pirates heard as one of the pirates collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood, gripping both his slit throat and his slashed stomach. The pirates began to panic before Poppy yelled "All 'ands! Out of the cave! Hurry!" sounding the most fearful that Janice and the other pirates had ever seen. Making no secret of their desperation, all the pirates sprinted in a panic to reach the entrance.
As a pirate ran alongside his colleagues, one to his left was suddenly pulled by his collar and dragged back from whence they came, screaming as he was brutally murdered by the ruthless terror. As the light of the outside world shone to greet them and backing their efforts, several more pirates had been caught be the unnatural speed of the skeleton and dragged screaming to their excruciating doom. Finally, as the remaining survivor's reached the beach, they all stopped and caught their breath, all far to taxed to handle any more hysteria and madness their day has wrought.
Poppy hugged Janice and held her close, both crying tears of you and terror. Poppy and Janice both looked back to the entrance of the cave and saw a fiendish skeleton, coated in blood and twitching with excitement. With more than enough skin for his collection, Skin Taker simply disappeared into the darkness of the cave as a loud cackle echoed from within.
"I'll rip now, rip now, tear your skin, and feat upon your bones!" Skin Taker sang from within the depths of the cavern, "I'll sew my cape with you within, so you won't be alone". The song echoed over the beach and Janice covered her ears as the song echoed over and over in her head. Poppy held Janice to his side and sighed. "We'll get that villain yet, lassie" Poppy comforted, "This ain't over".
The pirates, Janice and Poppy included, were silent for the rest of the trip back to the ship. Once they finally arrived, the boarded and were met with the horrified crew. "Poppy! What Happened?! Why is there blood on ye!?" Percy asked in shock. Janice boarded hanging her head and shanking in pure fear. "Skin Taker… That be what happened…" Poppy huffed miserably before taking a bucket of water to wash his blood off.
The rest of the day was thankfully less exciting. Half of the supplies taken from the cave were lost in the attack, but there was now less members of the crew that would need it. Janice was curled up in the corner of the main deck and Sea Dog spotted her as he was mopping. He walked over and stuttered "I… I'm so sorry… I swear, I am". Janice turned to looked as his with tears in her eyes.
"His coat… His Hat… They couldn't have been children… could they?"