CHAPTER 11: AMBUSH

Raven and Beast boy rushed to the deck and saw that it was empty. No one was on it.

Then, they went to the dinning room and found pirates gathered around the table, all munching happily on various types of meat.

"Ahoy!" said the smiling Captain when they burst in, "We saved ye both a seat! We were worried when ye weren't comin' fer grub! Our Cabin boy's ne'er cooked anythin' this delicious!"

"Where's George?" Raven asked quickly.

"Th' Cabin boy?" The Captain looked at the rest of the pirates, then frowned, thinking back, "We be nah sure, but he left th' cabin a while ago. Probably t' th' cabins t' do some swabbin'. Some o' our cabins really are gettin' filthy!"

At this, the table burst into laughter.

Raven groaned, was she and Beast boy too late? Could George have already left the ship?

Raven and Beast boy went back out onto the deck. Raven started to fly and Beast boy changed into a sparrow. They flew over the ship, and out to the ocean, circling the area closest to the ship and making the distance they cover wider and wider with each circle.

Finally, they located something small and moving in the waters, about 600 metres from the Red Dagger's ship. Raven was about to swoop down when Beast boy nipped her ear.

"Oww!" Raven swatted him away angrily. Then, she created a sort of black, floating platform for them both to stand on.

Beast boy morphed back into human form and said, "Don't. If that's George, look where's he headed to." he then pointed to something in the distance.

Raven's eyes followed his fingers and could just make out the outline of another ship in the distance!

"Why not just follow him and find out why he's going towards there." Beast boy suggested.

Raven nodded. For once, he had actually managed to come with a pretty good plan. This way, they can have more answers. And so, the two followed the small moving object as it made its way to the large ship. Raven lowered her flying platform lower and saw, the figure of a small boy on what seems to be a boat. There was no doubt in her mind now, that was definitely George.

Beast boy sighed inwardly. Does George have to row so slowly? He was pretty sure he could row faster.

At least this gave him time to think. So many things have happened since this morning, it wasn't even nine yet! In fact, it should be around 8.30. Leave it all to Raven to figure this whole mess out. He wondered if she's been reading Sherlock Holmes lately or something, for she seemed to notice even the tiniest of all details.

After a few more minutes. George had reached the ship. Raven stopped moving the platform and held still, keeping her and him in the shadows where they can still watch George closely.

He now appeared to be looking around for any followers, as his eyes darted about, Beast boy thought they landed on them for just a fraction of a second longer than usual. But when he looked at the other direction, Beast boy sighed in relief silently, it was probably just his nerves.

Then, George whistled a short tune loudly.

"George?" a hoarse voice called from the ship.

"Aye. It's me!" George replied.

A rope ladder came down and George took what seemed to be a cloth bag and started to climb. When he reached the edge of the ship, two pairs of hands pulled him in. Then, there was a lot of noise on the ship, and a lot of talking.

But since Raven and Beast boy were too far away, they couldn't hear a word.

"I'll turn into a sparrow again," Beast boy told Raven, "Maybe I'll be able to pick up something."

Raven nodded and Beast boy morphed into the bird and flew off.

Beast boy landed on one of the ship's mast. From there he could see the ship's flag. It was a white skull against black satin with a silver spear through it. He frowned, what a disturbing flag!

Then, he focused his attention on the people below him, straining to hear what they were saying.

"'ave ye brought it?" a large pirate asked.

George nodded and took out a black, silk pouch from his pocket.

The pirate untied the strings and emptied out the pouch's content. He grinned as a sparkling gold ring with a red diamond fell out. It glimmered in the lantern lights that were held up by the many pirates gathered on board.

"Aye, th' Captain will be pleased. Ye've done well, me lad, 'n made us Death Skulls proud!" the large pirate clapped George on the back.

Here, Beast boy almost fell off the mast. The Death Skulls? George knew the Death Skulls? George was working for them? No, working with them? Oh! The imposter!

"Where is the Captain?" George questioned.

"He's on th' Daggers' ship now! Waitin' fer th' signal t' attack!" the large pirate said excitedly, "'n th' Daggers don't suspect a thin'! Thanks t' ye 'n yer delicious feast!"

"Wait, so it's an ambush?" George asked.

"Aye! Now, go unpack in yer cabin. 'tis time t' fire th' cannons!" the large pirate pocketed the ring and all the other pirates cheered as they walked off.

As George obediently made his way across the deck to a door, he looked around again, and then, up at the starry sky.

And just for a brief moment, he thought he saw a green sparrow fly past.

"They're going to ambush the Red Daggers!" Beast boy shrieked as he fell onto Raven's platform.

It wobbled a bit but Raven managed to steady it again.

"Please! We need to go back!" Beast boy grabbed her shoulders, and shook her.

Raven gritted her teeth and pushed him off. "Tell me what happened first." she demanded quietly.

Beast boy explained everything he saw in a rush.

"So, you're saying that George is one of the Skulls?" Raven said slowly.

"Yes! And I think he's always been! Raven, you heard what I said, the cannon's going to fire soon and if we don't warn them in time -"

"We will." Raven said firmly. "You go and warn the Red Daggers. I, will buy time."

"Are you sure -"

Raven gave him a look that shut him completely. Beast boy could tell that she was serious and that they had wasted enough time already. So Beast boy nodded and flew off as a peregrine falcon, for increased speed, and reached the other ship in only a matter of a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Raven scanned the ship for the cannons. Ah! There they were! Right at the side, and sure enough, some men were already standing there, holding up matches. When a pirate began to light up his matchstick, Raven doused the fire by shooting wisps of her black powers onto it. The pirate looked puzzled as he tried and tried to light the match again, only to be doused by a mysterious wisp of black.

Irritated, the pirate beside him pushed him aside and tried lighting his own matches. But again, his match was also doused by Raven's wisp of black. By the time the third pirate was trying, Raven was almost having fun, just flicking her powers onto their feeble fires over a distance. But it was so repetitive …

She swooped down, behind the men. "Wondering why you can't light your matches?"

"Who are ye?" the pirates spun around and glared, raising their weapons.

"Your worst nightmare." And with that, Raven sliced all three cannons in half with her powers.

~Meanwhile~

Beast boy was panting hard by the time he landed on the deck, no, fell onto the deck. His arms were tired after all that flapping and now they felt like a ton of concrete bricks. He could barely move, but he forced himself to drag himself all the way to the dinning room.

"Captain!" he stumbled through the door and to the surprised Captain. "You're being ambushed!" Beast boy grabbed the Captain's shirt and shook him.

Captain Hugh pushed him off and fixed him with a worried stare. The other confused pirates looked on, wondering what was happening.

"Wha' are ye natterin' about? We be jus' eatin' 'n thar ain't no ambush here!" Thomas burped loudly and everyone laughed.

"This isn't a joke! The Death Skulls are on this ship now! And they're going to ambush you any time -"

CRASH!

The door to the room fell open and so did the mouths of the pirates when they saw who was standing at the doorway …

It was the Captain of the Death Skulls with his men, raising their weapons and all prepared to kill.

"Ye know, though we didn' hear th' cannon fire, we decided that now's th' best time t' attack anyway. Aft all, we couldn't let ye Daggers be properly tipped off by 'im." The Captain of the Death Skulls nodded towards Beast boy, who gulped, "Ye were natterin' too loud. We could hear every word. I wonder, how did ye get that information?"

Beast boy opened his mouth and closed it, looking like a goldfish.

"Geoffrey, wha' be th' meanin' o' this?" Captain Hugh growled, standing up.

"Hugh! 'tis nice t' see that ye be still alive! But I reckon 'twould be nicer still, t' see ye when ye be dead!" with that Captain Geoffrey of the Death Skulls charged towards him, swinging an axe.

The other pirates followed him and started brawling with the Dagger pirates.

The Daggers, being slightly drunk and taken by surprised, were obviously losing. Beast boy found himself pushed into the kitchen. No one took notice of him and though the door was closed, he could hear the yells, the foul language used and the breaking of various dinner plates.

He had to do something.

So Beast boy morphed into a gorilla and rushed out of the kitchen. He swung his arms everywhere, connecting with the heads of various Death Skulls. The pirates gasped, especially the Red Daggers. Was that actually the skinny little green guy a minute ago?

"Attack th' rogue monkey!" Captain Geoffrey commanded.

The pirates got over their shock and started to fight again. Now wasn't the time to question things, they can do that later.

Monkey? Beast boy fumed as he took away a nearby pirate's sword, he grasped it firmly, then took aim and threw it at Captain Geoffrey.

Unfortunately, he missed by a few inches when a Death Skull pulled his Captain aside. But, the Captain was distracted and Captain Hugh took that opportunity to deliver a blow to his head.

Beast boy turned his attention back to the Death Skulls. They were looking really angry that he had tried to kill their Captain. But now was no time to be afraid, Beast boy attacked with all his might.

He managed to dodge most of the blows, but some cuts and scratches still made it to his arm. Very soon, Beast boy became very bruised and very battered.

As he fought, he thought about Raven and hoped she was doing better than he is now.

She left the three unconscious pirates on the deck. It won't be long until the rest notice the cannon hadn't sounded and came out to investigate. Raven had only three minutes at the most.

Raven closed her eyes and sank beneath the deck of the ship and melted through walls, she concentrated, saying the three words, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." over and over again, but quietly, almost like a whisper. Then, she sensed her target was nearby, very close in fact.

He may even be above her.

Raven rose out of the wooden floor and opened her eyes. She found herself in a small cabin, and there, right in front of her, was him.

"Hello George." She said quietly.

George jumped, he had not expected to hear her voice ever again! He shook his head, he must be imagining things. But slowly, very slowly, he turned around, hardly daring to look. Then, he found himself, only about two metres from Raven!

"H, h, how … did y, you get h, h, here?" George asked, trembling.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one to ask questions?" Raven lifted an eyebrow.

George could only stare.

"You betrayed the Red Daggers you know." It wasn't a question.

Suddenly George laughed, "I never betrayed them! I was a Death Skull long ago!"

But Raven didn't seem surprised by this. Beast boy had already told her about his suspicious, and George only confirmed it. This was nothing new.

"But they trusted you." Raven stated coldly.

"The Red Daggers are fools!" George laughed again, "Their Captain's a lovesick, pathetic, blind individual. It was almost to easy to take it!"

"Why?"

"We wouldn't want to be lost forever, buried under the sea would you? The Death Skulls are ambushing the Daggers tonight, they're going to sink their ship with their cannons once they've killed everyone on board!" George sneered.

"That won't happen." Raven shook her head and took a step towards George.

George's eyes flickered to her feet. He had noticed that she was coming closer to him. It was so strange, Raven had this … effect on him. There should be no reason why he should fear her. His stomach knotted and he took a step backwards, only to crash onto his dresser.

"You have every right to fear me," Raven's eyes became white, "Give me the ring, or this will be your last night on Earth."

Then, the door to George's cabin was flung open and a pirate poked his head in, "George, we've found three dead pirates, thar might be an -" the pirate trailed off as he stared at Raven.

"Intruder? That'll be me." Raven directed a spinning orb of black to the pirate and he fell back against the wall with a crash.

"Now, the ring."

George hurled a dagger at Raven, she dodged but then, as she jumped over, she gave George enough time to run up to her and kick her in the knee. Raven dropped to the floor and rolled over as George tried to pierce her head with a sword.

She aimed a swift kick at George's red, angry face and he stumbled back. She then blasted him with another spinning orb of black. That was when two other pirates rushed in the cabin.

"Thar! Th' intruder! We've found her!" a pirate cried. Raven wrapped her black powers over his mouth tightly, then with a flick of her risk, his head connected with the side of the wall and he blacked out.

But it was too late, the others have already the heard the cry and was rushing down to the cabin. Soon, Raven found that she was surrounded by many pirates. Then, she spotted George, hurrying away out of the door.

She changed her mind from staying to fight to catching George. Raven disappeared below the floors again while the pirates gasped.

Raven could hear footsteps, quick running footsteps above her, that was surely George. Probably trying to escape. She shot up in front of George, stopping him in his tracks as he skidded to a halt.

"How do you do that? How can you keep finding me?" George panted hard. He's never been able to understand. She keeps locating George, they kept bumping into each other, it was as if she were a shadow.

"My powers." Raven said, "I'm giving one last chance. The ring, or else."

George shook his head, he didn't know whether he was doing that because he didn't understand Raven had powers or because he didn't want to give the ring to her.

But he did understand that he wanted to get rid of her, he needed to get rid of her. So George took out that black, silk pouch from the pocket with trembling hands. He held it up, in front of his face.

"You want the ring?" he asked.

Raven's face remained, stony, expressionless.

"Then, you can have it!"

Then George flung the pouch away, towards the vast, black ocean.

A/N: Does this chapter make sense? It was really hard to write it and the first half may sound forced as I had a little writer's block then. Well, the next chapter's coming up soon! It may be the final chapter of the 1500s! Yay!