Chapter Four – Sacrificing a life
Ricardus Black was a good captain, he led his men well and respected them, so because of that, they respected him back.
Ricardus looked out over the ocean, they had fought all day with various ships trying to steel their loot and as always, they had got through it and the Black Rock had survived yet another catastrophic blow.
Ricardus looked at his right hand man, second in charge, Marcus who was talking to one of the new crew they had picked up in England, he seemed like a nice guy, decent background, hard worker, but they were very wary who they let on this ship. You couldn't trust anyone.
"Seems like a nice lad" Ricardus acknowledged once he had walked away to mop up the poop deck,
"He is" Marcus admitted, he seemed like a nice boy, polite enough and a hard worker, Marcus was sure that they would get some good out of him, Richard nodded and then leaned over the railing as he saw his brother, Thomas.
"Thomas" Ricardus called, Thomas looked over to him and Ricardus gestured him to come with his head, Thomas nodded and then said something to one of the crew before walking over, "Marcus" Ricardus said and then they both followed him in to the cabin below,
"Great work today" Ricardus told them as they walked in and Marcus shut the door behind them, "We did it again",
"Yes, what a day ay" Marcus agreed, Thomas nodded in agreement and then sat back in the chair,
"So where too next Capt?" Thomas asked, Ricardus pulled himself out a seat and sat down, he shrugged,
"How about me travel to the pacific, find an island, forget about humanity and live the life" Marcus suggested,
"I wish" Ricardus laughed, an island all to themselves, it didn't sound half bad.
Thomas took out some of the rum in the wooden box next to him and tossed a bottle to each Ricardus and Marcus, "Cheers" they all said and smashed their bottles together.
A brilliant crew, best ship in the pacific, rum, what more could you want?
Someone knocked on the cabin door a few moments later and Ricardus got up opened it, one of the riggers, Morris was stood there,
"Yes" Ricardus asked,
"Umm, the crew were wondering if you'd consider letting us anchor up and pull in at the closest pub" Morris hesitated. Morris was a small boy, didn't have much on him, but he was good at what he did, better at it than some of the men who had been there long before he was born.
Ricardus looked at the crew which stood behind him, they did deserve it
"How does the Falcon sound" Ricardus asked, his men cheered and then he gestured to the guy at the wheel to turn towards the harbours pub.
Diro as they called him, pulled his hat off to the captain and turned the wheel towards the harbour.
The crew looked back at Ricardus and for a second there was silence, but then he shouted "Come on, we're not there yet, get back to work". The men cheered one last time, before they they went back to work.
The Black Rock pulled in to the harbour and once it had anchored up, the crew fled from the ship and in to the Falcon.
It was a welcoming place and the bar men always did them justice by making sure he had a new barrel of rum delivered everyday to quench the thirst of the many sailors who came through the door each day.
They had been there many a times and were well known there to be the only crew who didn't start a fight, but unknown to them, someone else was also celebrating.
Ricardus bought a few drinks and then went over to where Marcus, Thomas, Diro and Tyran, the new guy sat in the corner of the bar, their usual spot,
Ricardus put them on the table and then picked his up,
"Here's to us" Ricardus declared,
"Here's to us" they chanted and then clinked their bottles together, Ricardus sat next to Thomas and put his arms up round the seat,
"We should do this more often" Diro suggested and they all agreed,
"Well if Marcus gets his way, we'll all be on a island in the middle of nowhere" Thomas said,
"Hey, it is a good idea" Marcus shrugged,
"Yeah, but an island in the middle of nowhere won't have rum" Diro reminded them, they all agreed, but then Ricardus noticed Tyran looking behind him every now and then, like he was waiting for someone.
Ricardus looked at Thomas as he started talking about how he had once fought with a seagull, it was a true story, yes, he had witnessed it himself, but Thomas always came out with all sorts of things when he was on the verge of falling over and as he stood up to reunact the scene – just without the bird – you could see him swaying from one side to the other, it was only a matter of time or maybe even seconds before he fell over.
Ricardus tried to laugh with Marcus and Diro, but the fact that Tyran kept looking behind himself irritated him, Thomas fell back on to his chair with a thud and then looked over at Tyran,
"So Tyran, where did you say you were from?" Thomas slurred, he was utterly drunk now,
"Devon" Tyran answered, Thomas nodded and said, while trying to keep his eye's open,
"I've met some very good people from there, Scotland's such a nice place, brilliant people", Thomas put his head down on the table in front of him, in seconds, he was out cold.
"If I didn't know you were his brother, I'd think you were from a completely different planet" Marcus admitted,
"To be honest, I'm ashamed to call him my brother at times" Ricardus admitted,
"Ahh well, you live with it" Marcus shrugged and Ricardus went to nod, but one of his crew rushed over to the table in a hurry,
"Sir, their here" he panicked,
"Calm down mate, who?" Ricardus asked, Bob did have a tendency to be a little over-dramatic,
"Drone sir" he replied, Ricardus looked at Marcus and then stood up, out of the chair and looked at Nathaniel, the Blue Drones captain who had just walked in through the doors of the Falcon.
Everyone in the pub stopped to look at them, they weren't the sort of people to come round these parts and when they did, there was usually trouble.
One man who couldn't stand trouble was Roderick Fin and he just so happened to be looking after the pub for a friend.
He came out from behind the bar with a white apron on and food caught in his beard, but though he didn't seem very intimidating as he was a big, short man, it didn't mean he wouldn't clobber you with a rolling pin if you caused any trouble in his pub.
Thomas had got it plenty of times.
"Look here right, I don't want any trouble off you tonight, this is a family pub and I don't want any blood to be spilt on these grounds tonight" Roderick informed them, he hated the Blue Drone as much as the next guy, but this pub had a good reputation for selling to anyone who came through those doors and he had to keep it up,
"I assure you, we're only here for a quick drink" Nathaniel announced, putting a hand up and looking at all the men who were sat at the bar, he knew most of them, outlaws who had nothing, but rats for brains as he put it.
Nathaniel looked over at Ricardus and grinned, "My friend, may I offer you a drink" he insisted, Ricardus watched him for a second and then nodded, there was no harm, "Good".
Ricardus joined Nathaniel at the bar, "So my dear friend Ricardus, how's life been treating you?",
"Well you know Nate, same old, same old" Ricardus shrugged as Roderick handed him his drink,
"Well I see your brother's going down the same road as your father" Nathaniel mocked, Ricardus kept his mouth shut and took a gulp of his drink, "How old was your father when he died?" Nathaniel asked, "Around the forty mark wasn't it?",
"Yeah, when did you parents leave you?" Ricardus asked, "Around the week old mark?", Nathaniel laughed,
"At least mine didn't drink like pigs",
"At least I got to see mine" Ricardus shrugged,
"At least mine are alive" Nathaniel added, that remark hit Ricardus like a rock.
His parents had died when he was about ten, he and his brother had been heartbroken, but luckily his sister, Elizabeth had taken them in. They were lucky she had decided to come to the orphanage that day, though in a way she had regretted it since because she'd never been able to have a baby of her own, but she did love her brothers and her husband, the baker was fond of them too.
Nathaniel departed over to where his second in charge stood and then Marcus came and sat down next to Ricardus,
"Don't you just want to kill him?" Marcus sighed, it would take so much wait of their shoulders,
"Maybe" Ricardus replied, "But then they'd never stop", Marcus nodded in agreement.
Ricardus and Marcus rejoined the others in the corner of the pub and for a few hours, they talked about their next destination, next war at sea, though Ricardus knew for a fact that none of them would remember it in the morning.
Ricardus and his men got out of the pub in the early hours of the morning and due to most of the men being too tired to walk, Ricardus said they would stay in the harbour for the rest of the night.
The crew went in to their barracks and were all out by the time their heads hit the hammocks.
Ricardus on the other hand stayed out on deck that night, looking at the stars above and the waves which crashed against the ship, it was so peaceful, so calm, the deck was clean, gleaming in the moonlight, thanks to Tyran who hadn't stopped scrubbing nearly all day.
Ricardus thought about the day, about the fight against the Metals Hove and then in the Falcon, Nathaniel Drone, oh how he hated him.
The next morning, most of the crew woke with a hangover, but they got back on their feet and were soon getting the ship ready for take off.
Ricardus overlooked the work and so far, everything and everyone was accounted for, but then he saw Tyran talking to one of the Blue Drone crew on the harbour, his first instinct was that Tyran had betrayed them, went behind their backs, but then the Blue Drone crew member pushed Tyran backwards and took his gun out, shot at him.
Ricardus acted on instinct and instantly drew his gun, aimed at the mans head and shot.
He fell off the peer and in to the water, Tyran lied gagging and coughing, but then as the other Blue Drone crew members filed out of the pub, alerted by the the gun shot, all hell broke lose.
Bullets and gun powder flew everywhere and nearing the end, only a few members of each crew had survived without injury, Ricardus, who hid behind the ships wall reloaded his gun and aimed it at one of the Blue Drones crew member's head's through a crack in the wood, but as another gun shot was fired, Ricardus jumped a little and pulled the trigger.
It hit Nathaniel right in the chest and he fell to the floor, bellowing in pain.
Second in charge, Christopher aimed his gun at Ricardus instantly, it missed, but only because Ricardus had a few extra seconds to move as the bullet ripped through the wood.
Ricardus stood up and fired a few bullets before diving for cover behind some barrels , it was only then he stopped to think about what he had done, though bullets still roared throughout the sky, though he had just done many ships like his a favour, he knew now that the Blue Drone would never stop chasing them.
They wouldn't stop until he was dead, lost at sea forevermore.
Marcus shot at Christopher and then ordered the crew to start the ship and as the sails were put up, the wind blew north and right now, all they wanted to do was get out of here as quick as possible.
Ricardus sat in the cabin, his head in his hands, he couldn't believe he had just done that and out of all the men who were there, the bullet had to hit him.
His only hope was that Nathaniel was actually alive and had got through it, if not, then he would be chased until the edge of the earth, until he was dead.
Marcus came in to the cabin, it was a shame that the only way to solve this was to kill Ricardus, an eye for an eye, a captain for a captain, that was the saying.
Ricardus looked at Marcus as he came in and he smiled at his old friend, they had a plan, but they just hoped it would work.
They had agreed to meet the Blue Drone at Silver Back, a well known wreck site for lost ships.
Ricardus told his crew he was doing it for them and if he didn't solve it now, all of them could one day be dead.
The crew tried to tell him they didn't care, fighting for their captain was one of their many duties as sailors, but Ricardus didn't want to take the chance of losing any more men.
Ricardus looked at Christopher who stood at the front of the deck as the Blue Drone drew nearer, Christopher couldn't believe a captain was doing such a noble thing, facing a whole crew with no one, but five useless men, to make sure his the rest of his crew pulled through, it was something he'd never do, but that was the promise, Ricardus Black fought them and they'd leave the rest, though they weren't very good at keeping promises.
Marcus, Diro, Thomas, Morris and Philip had all insisted on helping him and though Ricardus didn't want to risk their lives because of something he'd done, though it had been purely by accident, they weren't going to take no as an answer.
Ricardus stood there, knowing that his life as he knew if, the life of Ricardus Black was over and he'd never be able to have it back...
The fight began and as cannon balls, gun powder, bullets flew from all angles, only when Christopher saw him fall in to the blue ocean and not resurface did he stop his men.
That was the last they saw of Ricardus Black...
Marcus watched as the Blue Drone drifted away, their blue sails up and the british flag held up high, he knew they would be back, knew there was no way on this earth they would settle for that.
Marcus looked down at his men who stood on the deck, they were all mourning for the loss of their captain and knew Marcus would now take Ricardus' place as Captain of the Black Rock, but they did have a few doubts.
Marcus was nothing like Ricardus, when Ricardus was fair, right, didn't get too worked up about things, Marcus had a short fuse. Anything could set him off.
A couple of weeks past and as they anchored up to sail to the pacific from the isle of man, Marcus decided to get a few new recruits.
The crew waited on board as Marcus waited on the dock, but no one seemed to come and as the minutes started to drag, some actually wanted to consider leaving him there and sailing away in to the night, but then someone came out of an alleyway.
He wore a dark cloak and that mixed with the dim light from a shop light didn't give them any indications to who it was.
The crew watched as Marcus talked to him for a few minutes before shaking his hand and then coming aboard the ship, most of the men couldn't believe they had wasted all their time on waiting for one man, though Marcus had said good things about him, said he was captain material, the crew still yearned for Ricardus and believed no one could take his place,
"Here boys is your new captain" Marcus announced, the crew looked at each other, what was Marcus on about and then back at the hooded figure, they watched as the hooded figure took his hood down and their mouths dropped to the floor,
"His names Richard Alpert and I'm sure he will lead us well"
Richard and Hurley watched as Locke pushed the door to the cavern open....
To Be Continued....
I'm sure I read somewhere that the Black Rock came to the island around 1800's, so I don't think it could have been an Egyptian ship because that was over 5000 years ago.
I really have to go over the plot of this because there are so many little things in lost which add up to bigger things later. It's so confusing, I feel as if my heads going to explode. First with Jacob and all those flashbacks with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, John, Sun and JIn. Then after they'd got off the island with Hurley and Sayid. I'm like why did you do that for? Why bring someone to the island who's the loophole, as in john dead, soo, impersonator getting Ben to kill Jacob???
My head hurts!!!! Sorry I ranted :)
