Return of the Dark Revenge

Captain Cardinal and his crew left Swords that night and headed for France to drop Fritz off at his parents' house. The entire crew had a chance to gawk at the golden llama, but soon Jake stowed it away somewhere in his office for safe keeping.

A day into their journey, the lookout noticed a ship in the distance. It was too far on the horizon to tell who it belonged to. Under normal circumstances, they would just wait until it drew closer, but this time Jake already had a hunch on who it was.

"Red-Eyed Beck, make ready a rowboat for yourself and Christopher. Pack food and water. Do you have weapons?"

Flustered by the urgency in Jake's voice, she managed, "Uh, yeah, I have my cutlass and pistol. Who is it out there?"

"Bring two pistols just in case. It could be Murdock, and I don't want to take any chances with you and the baby. Row out as far as you can, until you can hardly see the Ruby. No matter what else you hear happening behind you, don't come back until you hear three, solitary cannon fires. Okay?"

"Alright, I will." Becky ran off to get her things together.

"Mom, I think you should go—"

Quick-Foot Charlie interrupted, "I am going to stay here and fight. I have been saving my strength thus far, and I think I can do my part in helping. After all, I didn't earn the nickname 'Quick-Foot' for nothing."

"Are you sure you remember everything you used to know? I mean, the last time you fought was over twenty years ago."

"I remember everything perfectly well, thank you very much; it's just my muscles that need to catch up. Nora has been slowly helping me get back in shape, and I think I can handle it."

"I guess that'll be good enough. You can stay on board then, but stick close to the helm. And go ask Coldsteel to give you a good cutlass and pistol."

"Okay, Jake, I'm all ready," Becky announced. "I thought maybe I should take the llama, but, who knows, it could really have some magic in it, and I think you should keep it close. You better be careful, you hear? I don't want to be a widow."

Jake flashed a reassuring grin, "I don't want you to be a widow either. We will be as careful as we can." He took Christopher from Becky's arms and said, "Now, Christopher, it's your job to keep your mother in line while you're away, okay?"

Christopher merely looked at him and smiled.

"And you better not lose that ruby your grandmother gave you." He kissed Christopher's forehead and passed him to Quick-Foot. He gave Becky a strong hug and a passionate kiss goodbye. "Okay," he cleared his throat, "you've gotta go now."

Becky swallowed her tears and took Christopher. She got into her rowboat and began rowing away. With furrowed brow, Jake watched the boat slowly sail farther away.

As soon as Becky was out a few yards, Scully came up to Captain Cardinal. "Captain, I didn't want to say this while Red-Eyed Beck was still here, but we've confirmed that it is the Dark Revenge, Ethan Murdock's ship. What are our orders?"

"Ethan probably knows that we have the llama, so he's gonna try to board again. Therefore, we are going on the defensive." Jake began deciding where would be the most strategic places to put his forces. "Pitzel, you know the standard maneuvers for avoiding unwanted boarders. And never leave your post. If they do end up boarding, try to keep us just within cannon range."

"Aye, aye, Captain Cardinal!" Pitzel saluted.

"Spaghetti, as soon as they are next to us, barrage them with cannon fire! If we run out of cannonballs, shove whatever sharp objects you can into the cannon and fire that at them!"

Ketchum Kert grinned from ear to ear, "More than happy to, Captain!"

"Mimosa, I want you leading on the starboard side. Fritz, stick near the bow of the ship and look out for people trying to board from the water. Nora, you're in charge of the port side."

"But, Captain, where will I go?" Scully intervened. "I'm still able to fight."

"I know you can fight, but once your energy runs out, you aren't going to be able to give orders. Just this once, you are better off not leading a group. Try to stick around the bow of the ship." Captain Cardinal looked back to see how close the Dark Revenge was. "Okay, everyone, get into your positions! Start cannon fire right…NOW!"

Just as last time, Murdock's men swooped on the Ruby's deck and attacked. But this time, Jake was more familiar with how Murdock worked and was better prepared for their attack. He made sure to have a circle of his men around himself for extra security.

Thanks to the strategic positioning of Jake's crew, everybody was pulling together to beat off the intruders. Allison hit people with a frying pan from the galley, but a burly pirate hoisted her onto his shoulder and tried to kidnap her. Luckily, Mimosa heard her screaming and used an oar to clobber the pirate. Fritz and his band of men played a key role in beating off men who were attempting to climb up the side of the ship. Muggins was whirling about a piece of wood, knocking as many enemies off the ship as he could manage. Nora was fiercely tearing through the enemy. She noticed Muggins was beginning to become outnumbered and she began to maneuver her way over to help him.

"Oh!" Muggins exclaimed as he saw the men surrounding him fall to the ground. "Thank you, Nora! I thought I was a goner!"

"Don't—" Nora decked out another man, "mention it! Since I'm ovah 'ere now, there's sumthin important I wanted to ask you!" She fought a couple more pirates to get closer to him.

"A-are you sure this is the best time for an important question?" Sam asked as he ducked out of the way of a cutlass swing.

"Well, who knows if we'll be getting' out of this bat'le alive! Now's the better time than any! I've been thinkin'," Nora said before charging at the legs of someone about to kill one of her other crewmates, "Since we've been makin' eyes at each other for a bit now—" She knocked out someone who was trying to get Muggins from behind. "I was thinkin', we should just get married pretty soon!"

Muggins nearly stopped fighting due to shock. "Do you really—watch out!" With his board he blocked the cutlass of a pirate who was going after Nora, "Do you really mean it?"

"Well, nah I wouldn't 'ave said it if I didn't mean it!" she grunted while grappling with a hefty man.

"Then I fully agree with you, Nora! Let's get married!" On his last word, Sam whumped the man Nora was fighting with in the back of the head with his board.

Nora wanted to kiss him since they were so close, but she didn't get the chance to because Scully ran nearby and called out, "Nora! The captain needs help!"

Immediately, Nora sprang forward to follow Scully and yelled to Sam, "We'll talk more about this once we get away from the bat'le!"

From her little rowboat, all Becky could hear in the distance was constant cannon fire. She was now facing the Ruby, for even though she could hardly see the ship, she hoped to see a sign that the fight was over. Christopher was fussing in his bassinet and then started to cry.

"You must know that your daddy and his ship are in trouble, don't you?" Becky rhetorically asked as she scooped him up. "Hey, you lost your ruby in your blankets. Here you go."

Once the jewel was back in his clutches, Christopher slowly stopped crying. He looked at it with the same mesmerized look as when he first had it.

"Seriously?" Becky looked at her son with disbelief. "That's why you were crying? Who knew a baby could love something so much!"