The Cherished
Chapter 6.5
Captain Kat's POV
0300 Hours, Open Ocean, the Caribbean
I woke to screaming. I could discern the word 'pirates' in all the chaos and in an instant I was up and readying myself. I attached my two swords to my side and ran out onto the deck in nothing more than my shirt and pants, sliding in the rain. It came down in blinding sheets and almost obscured the bloodshed before me from my view.
'Almost' being the key word, of course.
Men were all around me - dying, screaming, swearing, and fighting – and the bodies were piling up around me. Be-wigged men fighting scruffy pirates, stabbing, slashing, killing them. It was gruesome, violent, and the stench of blood made my head spin.
I searched for a familiar face, something to which I could ground myself and who I was fighting with. The rain pounded down upon my back and head, beating a forlorn rhythm into my brain. I shrunk down low to evade the cold of both the rain and the steel swinging in large arcs above my head.
"Slow down, buddy! You could put an eye out with that thing!" I said, blocking the next blow with one of my own swords. My attacker was a brawny pirate, with a face not even his mother could love and eyes as hard as crystal. They regarded me in quiet, almost ape-like, curiosity, before his face melted into a state of confusion.
"You're a pirate." He stated, almost in disbelief. I nodded cheerily.
"Yes, I am. And you're going to be dead in a moment so it doesn't really matter." I said, backing up a step. His face was one I remembered from somewhere, a face long lost in my memories. I shrugged it off and ran for it, across the soaking wet deck with great haste. If it was true, and pirates were attacking the ship, then I had to find James before he killed himself out there.
It felt like ages before I found him. He was fighting for control of the wheel with the pirate's Captain. I ran over to join in the now hand-to-hand brawl, but I felt my heart jump to sit in my throat when I saw exactly who he was fighting.
The man was young and well built, not much older than meself, with shoulder length, reddish-gold hair, drawn into various braids and dreadlocks. He was sporting a bread of a darker red shade, all wiry and matted from lack of hygiene. He wore a simple shirt, faded black pants, a tattered gray sash and a large hat with a grey plume. I froze where I was when his grey eyes, alight with hate and anger, caught mine. His face, once alive and taught with hate, slackened.
"M-Mornin', Arthur..." I said, waving hello to the boy, now a full grown man, that I had left for dead with the Sirens. His eyes grew fiery once more and he reached down for his sword. Our blades clashed above my head; his bulky form towered above me.
"So, that's a 'no' on the whole talk-it-over dealie, eh?" I asked, holding his sword at bay as he swung it about. He let out an inhuman roar, and his face changed. His eyes turned the color of flame, and his beard and hair rippled about his face like fire. His open mouth dripped a substance that was red and thick like blood, but flowed like lava and shined gold. I started, gaping at him with frightened eyes. He swung his sword forward in a stab – right at me heart. I found my legs wouldn't move, so I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the painful death that was to come.
I waited for a good minute, but there was no pain. I opened one eye and found I was not in heaven. I was standing behind Norrington, who was rigid and stiff. I looked down and saw why – he had a sword through his gut. The sword dissolved before my eyes, as did the chaos around me. Norrington fell forward onto his knees and I helped him sit up against the wheel.
"Captain..." My name was nothing more than a whisper coming from him. Blood was flowing freely from his mouth, which was turned up in an almost ironic smile. "You are a good woman..." He started, but I shushed him before he could continiue.
"You aren't going to die so stop acting like you are. I'm going to find Gillette and when I do you'll be fine." I said, standing. I ran down the deck and stopped. Everyone that I had seen participating in the fighting were lying on the deck, dead. I saw Arthur's now non-flaming head among the bodies. My eyes searched for a living soul as I padded my way though them, closing their eyes when I could stand to touch them. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Gillette's face before me. His eyes were frozen in terror, his jaw broken, leaving his mouth hanging agape. I closed his eyes and fixed his jaw so that he looked a little more peaceful than when I'd found him. I turned to leave, but froze when I saw two familiar faces among the pirates.
One was the brutish pirate I had fought before, and beside him was another, dark skinned and light haired. Apart I would have never recognized them, but together their faces and their names invaded my mind and made it freeze. Both men had died when they were boys, along with Arthur Flame-face. I kneeled by the pale-white one, and closed his glassy eyes. His name was Mathew, and the other was Jonathan. I ran my hand through Johnny's bleached-blonde hair, watching their faces seemingly return to their youthful state in which I saw them last. After a moment longer of mourning properly, I left.
Norrington was right where I left him, alive and breathing. I sat down beside him with a heavy heart.
"Gillette's dead." I said solemnly. He didn't make a sound. "Everyone is. We're the last two alive."
"No, you're the last alive, Captain." He said, his hand reaching out to clasp mine. I watched as he took his last breathe, and as the lights faded from behind his eyes. I felt my shoulders begin to shake in sobs.
"No! NO!" I cried. "NOT AGAIN!" I started crying out of pure terror. Suddenly, I felt hands grip my shoulders with astonishing strength, and they lifted me off the ground. I was facing Arthur again, who was completely on fire. His voice was like a snake hissing.
"You killed usssss... and for that you mussst die." He said, and suddenly I felt the hands begin to burn past my shirt. I screamed as I felt my skin sizzle, and my vision flickered between focused and out-of-focus. Arthur started walking towards me, form swaying and smoking. He took me into his arms, enveloping me in his fire, and I screamed again, louder than before. The fire liked at my face and burned through my shirt and I let out a dying scream once more before blacking out.
