CHAPTER 9
A temporary truce had seemingly taken place onboard the Golden Queen; especially between Alfred and Arthur even though no words were spoken between them. Nobody tried to attack the Columbian Navy lieutenant after Natalya's attempt and he relished the nonviolent atmosphere, also silently promising not to do anything destructive. Yet.
Alfred found out that, setting all the stories about them aside, the pirates were actually normal people. The crew had force-fed him some kind of bread which looked like rocks and turned out to be scones made by Arthur himself. It was tradition that a new person onboard was forced to eat them so that everyone will have a nice laugh (except the captain who would make a sour face and curse them all to hell) at the following gastrointestinal struggle, usually indicated by vomiting by the side of the ship. They were disappointed though, when the navy lieutenant swallowed three whole scones without blinking and did not hurl afterwards. Everyone was so amazed that they did not notice the small smile on Arthur's face.
On his second night onboard, they invited Alfred in a small celebration of the captain's birthday in the kitchens. It was a night of drunken revelry and delicious food, something that greatly surprised the blue-eyed man. Both Francis and Hong cooked; their cuisine turned out to be both eye candies and mouth-watering. The celebrator, however, was cooped up in his cabin and had been refusing to come out ever since the force-feeding episode. Alfred then found the perfect excuse to exit the party and avoid Francis's blatant sexual harassment.
He walked to the captain's quarters with a jug of rum in hand. When he knocked, nobody answered, and when he pushed the door open, he found Arthur asleep with his head cradled by his arms on his desk. Different maps and papers littered the desk's surface. Alfred grinned. If he could only take a closer look at those documents, he'd have a higher chance of manipulating the pirate captain into the perfect trap.
He stepped forward and leaned to take a peek at the papers, saw the different colored lines Arthur had made on the maps. He was so close that he could almost smell peppermint in Arthur's breath. Shaking his head, he followed one line with his gaze and just when he was about to know the location the long arrow was pointing to—
"I see someone snooping~"
Alfred screamed.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He stumbled backwards. The jug he held slipped from his fingers and he realized that the liquid spilled onto his pants. Right on his crotch. The horror of the realization, however, didn't come anywhere near the horror of hearing the childlike voice speak again; this time, in a singsong tone.
"Little navy officer,
Came to place a bet;
He wants to kill the captain
But he wet his pants instead~"
"S-S-S-SHUT UP! W-WHOEVER YOU ARE!" the blue-eyed man yelled.
Luckily, Arthur stayed asleep on the desk.
"Look at him; so scared~" the voice chuckled.
Before Alfred could shout again, icy vapor erupted from a cabinet behind the desk and settled near his feet. The mist slowly crept upwards, forming legs, a torso, and finally a head. When the swirling stopped, Alfred could see a translucent man towering over him. It took all his willpower not to faint again.
"Privyet, Alfred F. Jones. I am Ivan Braginski, resident spirit of the Golden Queen." the translucent man greeted.
The navy officer only gaped at him like a dying fish.
"I am here to warn you: human, beast, or undead, someone is yet to hinder me from protecting Captain Kirkland at all costs. So you will stop plotting his demise, da?"
Shit. It was so unfair that the pirate had a freaking ghost as a protector.
"I-I-I…I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU, GHOST!" Alfred screeched, and promptly threw the nearest object at Ivan: the empty jug of rum.
As expected, it sailed right through the spirit.
"HE'LL BE HANGED SOON! AND IT WILL BE BECAUSE OF ME! I'LL—"
"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK?!"
Alfred's head whipped around and he saw Arthur already standing by the desk. The green-eyed man was holding his head in pain.
"Arthur?!"
"YOU?!"
"Him!" Alfred stood up too and pointed, but the space Ivan had occupied was already empty.
"WHAT THE BLAZES ARE YOU PLAYING AT?! AND HOW DID YOU GET IN?! AND WHY—"Arthur's rant was cut short when his gaze went lower.
Alfred, realizing it, instinctively covered his crotch with his hands.
They both went red.
"I—"
"You—"
"Uhm—"
"Ahem—GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE, GIT!"
The blue-eyed man ran away as fast as he can, ducking to dodge the lantern thrown at his head.
His dream was a whirlwind of images.
There was ice and snow and long, silvery hair suddenly catching fire and turning short, auburn red. He followed the hair with his gaze; auburn red that reached only the shoulders of a woman whose back was turned to him. The lady shifted to face him but his mind could not register her features, only her eyes were important. Emerald-green eyes that could see right through his soul and when he stepped back in fear, the person facing him was Arthur. His green eyes looked ahead blankly and his face was that of a soulless man. Fire burst from beneath the pirate's feet and Alfred could only watch in morbid awe as the flames licked at the man before swallowing him completely.
A deafening explosion jolted Alfred into consciousness.
There was some kind of commotion outside his cabin and when he threw open his door, he was greeted by the view of the pirate crew scuffling in different directions.
"CAP'N! IT'S THE KONSTANZE!" somebody shouted. "AND SHE HAS TWO OTHER GUNBOATS WITH HER!"
"TELL ME THEIR BLOODY LOCATION!" Arthur's voice answered.
It turned out that nobody needed to, for as soon as he had spoken, another earsplitting crash rocked the ironclad ship. Everyone aboard was sent tumbling to his knees. A huge warship loomed before them by the starboard side in no time, followed by two smaller but decidedly not weaker vessels, their cannons smoking.
He made it.
Alfred had managed to make the Golden Queen rendezvous with the Konstanze naively. Arthur Kirkland and his crew were trapped.
"That bloody…JONES!"
The navy officer looked up to see Arthur glaring daggers at him from an open upper deck.
Alfred gave him a sneer.
"YOU WILL REGRET THIS, YOU TOSSER!" the green-eyed man shouted but did not advance towards him. Instead, he focused on barking orders at his panicking crew, long strings of curses running out of his mouth.
"PREPARE THE BLOODY CANNONS! WE'LL FIGHT BACK! NO, WE'RE NOT GOING TO FUCKING RUN, MIKHAIL! FRANCIS—!"
"Oh, you must feel so betrayed and so angry to call me by my name—"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I SAID READY THE GUNS!"
But the enemy's three ships were closing in fast, firing at them repeatedly, mercilessly. Alfred was awed at how the navy's ammunition just slid off the pirate ship's hull, unable to penetrate it like it usually does if the hull was made of timber. The cannon balls left dents though, and each impact reverberated three times more painfully in the ears.
Now, if only he can make the Konstanze's crew see him before they fire too high and accidentally break his bones with the shells.
His injured shoulder was suddenly gripped firmly, causing him to wince. He was roughly forced to turn around and a huge fist made contact with his jaw. He was sent sprawling to the ground.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM! HE'S MINE!"
Alfred opened one eye to see Alejandro stepping back, away from him at Arthur's orders. The pirate captain then ran towards them.
"Man the guns! Didn't you hear me the first time?! I'll personally take care of this one." Arthur promised menacingly, each word laced with venom, and the other pirate obeyed, leaving the two of them.
The blue-eyed man will never admit that he was slightly relieved, but when Arthur pulled a sword from a sheath hanging by his belt, he reacted in panic. He tried to pull himself up but the green-eyed man stomped a foot on his hurt shoulder. Alfred let out a small scream of pain.
"You will regret the very moment you started planning this, .bastard." the pirate hissed.
Arthur leaned forward and added more weight onto his leg. His victim gritted his teeth, but forced his eyes open to meet him eye to eye.
"Y-you're…the…bastard…Kirkland…" Alfred was able to say. "And you're…all…going to…die."
He could see pure rage fill those emerald eyes and then pain shot up his head as he was pulled up by the hair. The sword was pressed against his neck, and the shorter man whispered one last time into his ear.
"Yes, but I'm afraid you will have to wait longer for that. In hell."
But the pain of having his throat sliced open never came.
Something white and blue rammed into Arthur and sent him flying backwards just before a burst of white-hot flames flew from the right. Alfred felt his body burn as the fiery blaze passed him by; he had avoided being incarcerated just by mere inches. Arthur, on the other hand, would have been fried to death if it weren't for his savior who turned out to be Natalya.
A huge shadow wove in and out of the pirate ship's deck and for a moment, Alfred wondered what it was. Then, the shadow multiplied by two, and he realized that something must be flying overhead.
The blue-eyed man craned his head and looked up to see…
"DRAGONS!" a chorus of screams echoed.
The two, colossal lizard-like creatures flew high up in the air in circles as if in search of something. Their scales glinted like deadly blades in the sunlight and their massive wings beat powerfully as they fought to keep themselves airborne. Each human in all four ships was so stunned by their appearance that the cannon fire had immediately ground to a halt. They all stared in awe of the dragons' magnificent colors: one silver, one gold.
Then, from inside the Golden Queen, a small, black creature zoomed up and into the sky.
"NO! EINION!" Arthur yelled.
There was a mighty crack! and in a blink of an eye, Einion had transformed into his full size in the air. The green-eyed man's shout has apparently attracted attention however, as the golden dragon turned his long neck in the direction of the sound.
It dived.
Many things happened at once.
The now huge, black dragon met with his golden foe with a sickening thud and was sent spiraling away, only to get blasted by the third dragon's fiery breath. The two small gunboats in the sea began steering in reverse, in hopes of avoiding getting burned to death. The commander of the Konstanze ordered his crew to stay firm, his red eyes gleaming in determination.
The golden dragon, undisturbed by the previous obstacle, raced towards the pirate ship, its eyes trained on Arthur. Only a few meters away from collision, it opened its mouth. Natalya curled her body over Arthur's protectively and let out an uncharacteristic small whimper.
Then it rained fire.
Author's Notes: Yeah, I'm still alive, hi~ I'm so sorry
