Desperately Seeking Sally
Chapter Two"Sorry to have drawn things on, but considering the trouncing you've given my men in the past, I figure fair's fair." Captain Dan said after we had emerged from the tunnels underneath the Scurvy Dogs' hideout.
"You've done me and mine a great service, Matthew, and I'm ready to leave our old quarrels behind us. Let's talk about the Brass Monkey."
"The Brass Monkey, he's as tricky as a ghost, and more elusive than the breeze. But his pride is his biggest weakness."
"In the ongoing hostilities between my countrymen and Monquista, Brass has sunk a dozen Marleybone warships, the highest for any single captain."
"Go destroy twelve Monquistan ships, then come back here. If the Brass Monkey thinks his record's in danger, you can draw him out."
"We should go." I said, turning to the others. We boarded the Aquila and we sailed out into Tradewinds Skyway.
"Monquistans are on us, Captain!" Richard Clutterbuck shouted at me as he pointed to an approaching flotilla of four Monquistan warships.
"Beat to quarters!" I shouted as a bell was rung on the quarterdeck, and the men ran to their battle stations. "Make ready… fire!"
In their haste to sink the Aquila, the Monquistan ships had turned right into the wind, trapping them in irons. As the two closest ships began to turn away from the Aquila, the men fired their guns, sinking them. "All hands down!"
Cannonballs, sparks, and splinters flew everywhere as we ducked down behind cover, and the men returned fire with their muskets, stunning a few of the Monquistan crewmen.
As the men hurried to reload the guns, the Aquila turned to port to intercept the Monquistan warship coming about. The men fired the cannons at the Monquistan warship's bow, exposing her powder store, which exploded as the swivel guns fired upon it, sinking the Monquistan warship.
The Aquila and the last warship circled each other like wolves as the men raced to load their cannons first. The men loaded the heated shot into the cannons, and on David Clutterbuck's mark, opened fire.
The heated cannonballs lodged themselves into the wood of the Monquistan warship, and she fell out of the sky, leaving us to repair the Aquila.
As the carpenters were finishing up the Aquila's repairs, I took out my spyglass and scanned the horizon for any sign of Monquistan ships. I then noticed four Monquistan frigates sailing alongside a man-of-war, probably a Monquistan treasure fleet bound for Puerto Mico.
The men had caught sight of the treasure fleet as well, and I didn't even have to call for their battle stations as they hurried back to their guns.
The Monquistan man-of-war, like other ships-of-the-line, was built for large naval confrontations but was ill-equipped to deal with lighter, faster ships like the Aquila, so she'd be our first target.
While the men were heating the cannonballs in the furnaces on the quarterdeck, I steered the Aquila in between the man-of-war and the frigate to the man-of-war's port side. The men fired the heated shot from their guns, sending sparks and burning splinters flying.
The Aquila came about and intercepted the second frigate on the man-of-war's starboard side, exposing her powder store, which was then blown up by our swivels.
As we moved in front of the man-of-war, the man-of-war turned to port side, and we saw the Monquistans finish loading heated shot into their guns.
"Oh, shit." I said as I turned the wheel to starboard. The Aquila turned around just in time to avoid most of the heated shot, but her stern was heavily damaged and there were several small fires on the deck.
As the fires were being put out, I steered the Aquila to starboard side, and the men assigned to the starboard guns not putting out the fires opened fire on the frigate to the man-of-war's starboard side, exposing the frigate's powder store.
David Clutterbuck threw a grenade into the powder store, and a few seconds later, it exploded and with it, the powder store, causing the burning frigate to fall out of the sky.
Sailing out of range of the man-of-war's guns, the port side fired another broadside at the last frigate's starboard side, sinking her, leaving the man-of-war all alone.
Bonnie took over one of the two swivel guns on the Aquila's port side, and as we approached the man-of-war, she didn't fire a cannonball, but a charge of gunpowder into an open furnace on the man-of-war, causing the furnace to explode and set fire to the man-of-war's quarterdeck.
The men fired one last broadside, and the burning man-of-war sank beneath the clouds, to the cheers of the men. The men were then sent to work repairing the Aquila's stern and my quarters.
My quarters were pretty simple, with a bunk for me to the left of the door, and next to my bunk, a small round table, and the rest of the room was dominated by a picnic table nailed to the deck.
As the carpenters left my quarters after they had finished repairing them, I decided to take a nap to regain my strength. Not even bothering to get under the covers, I used my blue overcoat as a blanket while my blue three-cornered hat covered my face.
A half hour later, someone removed my hat from my face, and my eyes opened to find Rena smiling down on me as she held my hat in her hand. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We've spotted three Monquistan gunboats on the horizon."
As I got out of bed, Rena handed me my hat, and I put on it and my coat as we ran outside to the helm, where I could see the three gunboats flying Monquista's flag due north of the Aquila.
"Beat to quarters!" I shouted, and as the men were hurrying to their battle stations, I shouted: "Give me everything you've got, full sail!"
As the men unfurled her sails, the Aquila sailed towards the three gunboats, which had just spotted her and were loading their guns.
"We'll sink them in one broadside." I said as we approached them on our port side. At David's yell, the men fired their guns at the three gunboats, and we sunk them all before they could even light their cannon fuses.
We sailed back to the Scurvy Dogs' hideout, where Captain Dan looked annoyed at us as we approached him in the cave. "See here, Matthew, I've a bone to pick with you."
"What did I do?" I asked.
"If you'll recall, I once asked you to go down into the tunnels and drive back the monsters." Captain Dan began.
"I'd hoped you'd quiet things down, but you did nothing of the sort! The creatures are riled up worse than ever!"
"You and your crew were the ones who heated them up, as it were, so it stands to reason you should cool them down. Go down there and finish the job, eh what?"
We descended down into the tunnels, where several Scurvy Dogs were already holding the line against a raiding party of orange Troggies and bandaged Aztecosaur mummies, led by a Troggy chief and an Aztecosaur mummy whose bandages had more amulets on them than the rest.
"It is not enough to fight them monsters, Captain my Captain. We got to beat them leaders. Then they go quiet." Old Scratch said. I nodded at Bonnie, and she aimed for the Troggy chief, who went down in a burst of electricity.
The Troggies' eyes were opened wider than usual as they turned around to look at the stunned body of their chief, and the Dogs took the opportunity to throw grenades at them, defeating many of them before the Troggies retreated, leaving behind the Aztecosaurs.
Leaping out from behind the barricade the Scurvy Dogs had set up, I weaved through the Aztecosaurs to get to their leader. I cut through the bandages with my swords, exposing the dark blue scales before I was knocked back by the Aztecosaurs.
Quickly getting up again, I saw Rena run alongside me, and she pulled ahead while she slashed at the side of an Aztecosaur.
As we reached the Aztecosaurs' leader, we created three slashes across his exposed chest at the same time, and he roared in pain.
More cracks of gunfire went off from behind the barricade the Scurvy Dogs had set up, and two more Aztecosaurs were stunned, falling onto the stone floor.
The Aztecosaur leader brought down his fist on me, but I managed to bring my swords up above my head just in time, and I just barely kept his arm from cracking open my skull.
For a brief moment, I then felt more weight come from above me that suddenly went away. The Aztecosaur leader roared in pain with a bloody eye as he fell to the floor, dead.
Rena then landed on the stone floor near me, and I guessed that weight I felt must've been her using the Aztecosaur's arm as a springboard for her to stab him through the eye to his head.
The Aztecosaurs, undeterred by their leader's death, turned around and began to lumber towards us. Sheathing my left sword and pointing my right sword at the Aztecosaurs, I prepared to use a power that hadn't been used for over eleven chapters: "Gunnery!"
A ring of small blue fireballs appeared around the point of my sword, and they homed in on the Aztecosaurs, exploding as they made contact. The few Aztecosaurs left standing were either stunned by the guns of the others, or by mine and Rena's swords.
"You put them through the wringer, eh? Hopefully, they'll stop making such a racket and storming my office here. Good, good – you've done well." Captain Dan said as we returned. A Scurvy Dog then ran to Captain Dan, who then read the letter handed to him.
"Good news! Your deeds have drawn the ire of the Brass Monkey. We just received this letter." Captain Dan said as he handed me the letter for me to read aloud.
"To the insolent captain of the cowardly fleet of Marleybone,
Your arrogance can no longer be borne. I, Brastillo de Brass, greatest captain in these or any skies, challenge you to combat, ship to ship.
I await you in the Antilles Maelstrom. If you know the meaning of the word honor, and if you are no coward, come face me, alone."
"Good hunting! A final word – Sally mentioned someone named Gilbert – if you make it to Port Regal, he may know where she's gone." Captain Dan said.
"We should go." I said as I turned to leave. Antilles Maelstrom was not that far from the Scurvy Dogs' hideout, and we tied ourselves down to the Aquila with rope as we entered the maelstrom.
In the eye of the storm stood a Monquistan man-of-war with red sails with golden laurel emblems, and the brass letters on the man-of-war's bow read: "El Pretension."
"So, this is the finest Marleybone can pit against me? Ha! Prepare to learn the true meaning of defeat, ruffians!" A gray-haired Monkey wearing a captain's uniform, probably Count Brastillo de Brass, shouted from the quarterdeck as we drew closer.
The Aquila and the El Pretension circled each other like wolves as the men hurried to load their cannons. I had ordered the men to load chain shot into the guns so we could board the El Pretension, and capture the Brass Monkey alive.
"She's onto us, Captain!" Richard Clutterbuck shouted as he pointed to the El Pretension, who was sailing right towards the Aquila's starboard side.
"He's trying to ram us!" I shouted as I spun the pilot's wheel, bringing the Aquila next to the El Pretension's starboard side just in time.
The Aquila fired its chain shot, toppling the masts of the El Pretension, to the cheers of the men. As we came about again, we drew to a stop beside the El Pretension.
"Hook us in! Bring her close!" Rena shouted as she drew her sword and pointed it at the El Pretension. The men threw grappling hooks from the deck and the rigging onto the El Pretension, pulling her closer so we could board.
"Man the swivels! Cover from the quarterdeck!" David Clutterbuck shouted as he fired his pistol at a Monquistador trying cut one of the ropes.
"The ship is yours, Rena!" I cried as I let go of the pilot's wheel to join the boarding party on the quarterdeck, and with battle cries in the air, David I led the charge onto the El Pretension.