The two merman at Hali's side, stood in awe. Hali laughed to herself, for she had seen many a sunken ship over the years, but this was a new experience for Sam and Xavier. Strangely, this was yet another thing they had in common. Hali gave the men about thirty seconds to take in the view with all its splendor, but then the Guardian inside her took over.

"Let's go," Hali commanded her two devastatingly handsome soldiers, "and be quiet. Tiamat could be lurking anywhere."

"Yes, ma'am," Xavier grinned boyishly.

"I'll follow you anywhere, Captain," added Sam.

Hali couldn't help but smile at the two fools in front of her.

"Come on," she sighed, waving her arm in a motion that communicated, follow me.

The trio swam about, exploring every last detail of the shipwreck. For a vessel that hadn't been seen in over twenty years, the Revenge was in astonishingly good condition. Aside from being completely split down the middle, and the main mast, splintered beyond repair, Bonnet's ship remained intact. Her original paint job was even visible in places. Hali's heart was beating like a drum in her chest, out of fear and anticipation.

"So this is the Revenge," Sam's voice was just above a whisper, "the boys will never believe me."

"Then don't tell them," Xavier spat at his enemy.

Hali gave another exaggerated sigh, if facing mortal danger couldn't make them get along, no force on earth could.

"Pirates," Hali sounded disgusted, "just look at them!"

Skeletons, that were the remains of Bonnet's crew, littered the decaying deck of the ship. Many of the skeletons' were complete, and still embracing, tightly to their chests, the treasure they loved so dearly in life.

"That's a pirate for you," Sam added wisely, "never willing to give up his booty. Not even in death."

"I wonder why he was called the Gentleman Pirate," Hali asked with curiosity.

"As far as I remember," Sam's chest swelled as he gave Xavier a triumphant glance, "it was because he refused to kill women. Bonnet wouldn't hesitate on rob a woman though..."

"Oh," the guardian said rather thoughtfully.

Suddenly, Hali shuddered ferociously, the sight of these bones was really beginning to take its toll on her psyche. Each of the merman having taken notice of this, reached of her hand, then pulled away in revulsion, at the realization that their hands had touched each other's, instead of Hali's.

Rolling her eyes once more, Hali said, "Let's go, we have to find Tiamat now."

Hali gripped her book tighter, partly due to her internal fear, and partly because she certainly did not care to drop it among the bleached remains of the once living. Although if that did ever happen, Hali was sure that Xavier and Sam would be more than willing to retrieve it for her, and fight for the honor to do so. Hali smiled to herself as she imagined the scene.

They continued to swim the length of Stede Bonnet's Revenge. Certainly, it was a large vessel, but there was no apparent sign of Tiamat, no sign at all.

"She's got to be here," Hali said adamantly.

"Maybe she's below deck," offered the sailor.

"I suppose that's a possibility," mused Hali.

Sam brightened, "I'll go in first, to see if the coast is clear."

"Oh no," challenged Xavier, "I'll go in first."

There was absolutely no way he was going to let Sam upstage him. Not again, anyway.

"I know more about ships, Landlubber," Sam growled," I'll go in first."

Hali shook her pretty head, with her lovely fiery hair floating around her. By the looks of it, Sam and Xavier were about to get violent, for about the hundredth time since their acquaintance only a few shot days ago.

"We'll go in together," Hali chastised them like a mother chastises her children, "all three of us."

"But...," the merman protested in unison.

"Together," Hali repeated herself forcefully.

Together, they all ventured below the deck of Revenge. The room was very dark, they could have used an electric eel or two to light the way. Hali felt one of the men reach for the hand. His hand felt, well, bony.

"You really should eat more, Sam," Hali remarked, since the sailor was the skinner of the two men.

"What are you talking about, Lorelei?" Sam asked genuinely puzzled at the random question.

"Your hand is so cold and bony," Hali reiterated.

"I'm not even touching you," the sailor replied hesitantly.

"Xavier?" there was the slightest trace of apprehension in Hali's voice.

"It's not me, Hali," answered Xavier, rather unwillingly.

"But then?" Hali stopped short, "Who is?"

It was at this moment that Hali remembered her spell book. She recalled seeing a light spell within the book somewhere. Hali should have cast a light spell in the first place.

'I'm such a stupid Guardian,' she silently reprimanded her self, 'really!'

"Свет!" cried Hali.

Hali gave out a blood curdling scream, but she wasn't alone. Both Sam and Xavier were screaming just as loudly. Right before their eyes, stood a living skeleton, and clasped within its bony fingers, was Hali's wrist. The poor girl's skin was paler than it ever was in her whole life.


Hali couldn't bring herself to quit screaming. For crying out loud, a skeleton was grabbing onto her arm, and it refused to let go.

"Shut up, ye wench, or I'll make ya shut up!"

This was sufficient to enough to end Hali's screaming. The infernal bag of bones was speaking to her in plain English! The terrified girl, much forgetting that she was the Guardian, the Ocean's Heart, and savior of the sea, commenced to wriggle out form the skeleton's grip. However, this was to no avail, for the horrible thing held on tightly.

Where its eyes once were in life, there was nothing more than two gaping holes. A few of the ribs in his ribcage, were shattered, and the bone that should have been its left big toe, was missing altogether.

Looking around, Sam found and old chest, empty and decaying, but still quite heavy. Without warning, he hurled it at the undead creature, and it's bones fell apart one by one, crashing into a hellish pile at Hali's finst. Hali immediately rushed into the protective arms of Xavier. However, Sam had no time to even begin to feel a little bit jealous, because the pile of bones began to reconstruct itself right before their very eyes.

"Who are you?" stammered Hali.

"Don't ya mean, who was I, lass?" the skeleton seemed to have a certain fondness for jokes.

"Fine," Hali humored the monster, having regain some of her courage, "who were you?"

The skeleton swept into a dramatic bow, "I be Captain Stede Bonnet, ye swabbies!"

Sam appeared to be extremely offended at the sailing lingo. Here he was, his captain's first mate, being called a swabbie. Unacceptable!

"I'll have you know, captain," Sam said defensively, that I am a first mate, myself."

"Sam!" Hali scolded, "now is not the time to be challenging bones!"

"Arrrrr, sassypants," Hali's words looked to have insulted Captain Bonnet's skeleton, "I won't be bones fer long!"

The three merpeople standing before the monstrosity were left with their mouths agape.

"Tiamat!" exclaimed Hali.

"Yo ho ho," what used to be Bonnet laughed eerily, "so, ya know 'er as well?"

"What did she promise you?" Hali demanded.

"Aye, the proud beauty tell me ta kill ya, and she'll make me human again."

Hali gave an audible gasp.

"Why, Lass," the skeleton grinned dreadfully, "Don' tell me ya have the Davies, thar!"

"I thought you didn't kill women," Hali tentatively asked.

"Arrrrr," Bonnet's skeleton acknowledged, "but that long before I went ta Davy Jones' Locker!"

"If you touch her..." Xavier warned.

"Avast ye varmint," roared the skeleton, "before I slit open yer belly and make ya dance till yer innards fall out!"

"Well, that doesn't sound like fun." added Sam.

"Shut up, ye scurvy dog, or you'll be gallows meat!"

Ariel was right. Pirates, generally weren't happy people after all.

Unexpectedly, the skeleton of Stede Bonnet, yelled, "Dogs ahoy!" and rushed at them with its rusted, old cutlass.

Sam hastily scooped up a couple of swords that lay, unused for two decades, and tossed one to Xavier, who caught it up by the hilt, rather craftily. Neither man was very handy with a sword, but they couldn't very well make idle time, with the mad remains of a dead pirate's skeleton coming after them. Surprising, Bonnet's skeleton was still rather skillful with a blade, despite having no usage of his limbs in the last twenty years. The two men fought off the monster, bravely, but they were no match for the undead one. The skeleton already had given both Sam and Xavier a few good slices to their arms. They were both dripping with blood, but still on they fought blocking at least half of the former pirate's blows.

Hali fumbled through the pages of her spell book, looking for some sort of enchantment that could help the boys out of this mess. Her search yielded absolutely no results. Hali gulped. She was going to have to craft her very own spell, yet again. If she screwed it up this time, then Xavier and Sam were as good as dead. Hali quivered, once the skeleton had taken care of the boys, it would come after her next. She desperately needed to get this spell right, the first try. Hali didn't have the time to cast another one, after all.

Держава
З маіх продкаў,
выпараецца
Гэты вораг касцей,
І захаваць мае сябры
ад далейшага шкоды.

At first, it appeared as if Hali's incantation had no effect if the skeleton whatsoever. Then, Bonnet's skeleton spontaneously exploded into many shards, flying through the salty water, in all directions. All three had to hit the deck in order to avoid being drilled through by the sharp bone fragments. Hali, Sam, and Xavier, all waited, half expecting for the skeleton to reconstruct itself again, but after several minutes, it became obvious that the daemon was finished for good. It was over.

"That's it?" Sam questioned in disbelief.

"Really, now," Xavier offered is agreement.

Hali simply shrugged her petite shoulders, "Tiamat really should work on her spells, to make them stronger."


Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah

All right, here is a nice long chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoyed it. I thought it was rather comical. That Stede Bonnet didn't scare me one bit... but them again, I did write him, so I knew how it was going to end and Hali didn't. Poor Hali! The pirate lingo Bonnet's skeleton used in this chapter are all words I found on line. I would have defined them for you, but I'm too lazy for that kind of taxing work! SO, you'll have to look it up for yourselves.

Anyway, I always intended to mention that Sam was first mate on his ship, but I jsut never had the opportunity. Luckily, I found the opportunity right here!

Little bread and butterfly's kiss the tulips,

xJadeRainx