Joshua was fairly far out, and having fairly bad luck. None of the fish seemed to be biting today!
Slumping down in his boat, he left the line out and turned towards the ocean. All he could see was fog, fog, and more fog.
But suddenly, he could see something else.
A small shadowy speck appeared very far in the distance. Frowning, Joshua stared at it for a second.
"What's a ship doing way out there in this weather?" he muttered to himself. Minutes later, he realized that the speck was getting bigger – at a very fast speed.
And bigger. And bigger.
Sitting up in his boat, he squinted into the distance. It wasn't just a fishing boat…it was a ship.
A big one.
It came closer, and closer, and Joshua realized that it was heading right towards the town. And when it was clear enough, Joshua could see the giant flag it was waving proudly at the top of its tallest mast. And it wasn't a British flag. This one was jet black, with a picture of a skull and two crossing swords below it. This ship belonged to…
"Pirates!" Joshua gasped. His eyes grew wide with fear – he'd heard all of the tales about pirates on the seas, and how they didn't care who and how they killed people. But they didn't head for the ports. Instead, their ship started to turn and faced the giant barracks that was built along the shore. He could see the words THE WICKED WENCH emblazoned on the boat in gold lettering.
Joshua was fairly far away from the ship, but he could hear yelling and chanting coming from its deck. And he heard a fairly loud yell of "STRIKE YOUR COLORS YOU BLOOMIN' COCKROACHES! FIRE AT WILL!"
They suddenly fired on the fort. Cannonballs flew from the ship and hit the fort hard, causing bricks to instantly crumble and fall into the sea. He could hear screams from the fort as soldiers manning it were hit and killed.
Suddenly, he heard a noise like a high pitched whistle. Looking back towards the pirate ship, he realized that one of the cannonballs was flying toward him.
At him.
Joshua's eyes grew wide and he dove into the water seconds before the cannonball shot through his boat, causing wood to fly everywhere and the remainder of the boat to begin to sink. Gasping in the cold water, he grasped wildly for a large piece of wood that had broken off of his boat.
Swimming towards it, the cannonballs aimed towards the rest of the port in his direction narrowly missed him, causing huge splashes and bright glows in the water as they hit. Joshua lunged for the driftwood, and managed to grab it as a cannonball exploded behind him. Water flew everywhere – salt water landed in his eyes and mouth, and he yelled in pain. Swimming blindly, he tried to get back to the port, his eyes burning and only barely able to see out of them.
Somehow, miraculously, Joshua made it to dry land. His blond hair was a muddy brown now that it was wet, his clothes and entire body were soaked, and he felt that all of the energy was drained out of him. And the freezing cold water only made it worse.
The last thought before he passed out on the sandy beach was one about warning Amy…
Amy heard the cannon fire from her bedroom, and when she looked out the window towards the fort she couldn't believe her eyes.
Pirates.
Pirates!
Horror stories had been told to her as a young girl, about how they would come take a town's supplies or treasures, and how they would mistreat the women and kill the men. She started downstairs, and ran out to the street to warn others.
But when she turned to look once more at the pirate ship, her eyes widened and jaw dropped.
They were coming ashore.
Many boats were coming from the main ship, towards shore. Each of them chock full of pirates.
Whirling around, Amy rushed towards town to warn the others, occasionally tripping.
"Bloody dresses," she muttered with frustration as she ran to find anyone to help.