Pirate Legacy
Chapter Four
As we entered the throne room in the temple, three Sharks were waiting for us in front of a stone table. Their leader wore a pair of goggles, a black tank top, camouflage cargo pants, tribal tattoos on his arms, and he wielded two D-shaped blades. The Jade Amulet shone brightly on his chest in the sun streaming through the broken roof of the throne room.
"You made three mistakes, Pirate. First, you took the job. Second, you didn't bring an army." The lead shark said. "Last? Don't fight me in the dark. The dark is where I shine."
"Hold your ground, friends. Cutthroats are bullies and cowards – beat their leader and the rest will turn tail. So get Fin!" Shepherd whispered to us. We all nodded, and as Bonnie ducked for cover behind the fallen pieces of the roof to fire from a distance, while the rest of us engaged Fin and his flunkies directly.
Rena and I double-teamed one of Fin's guards, so while I drew his attention, Rena jump-kicked him in the back of the head, knocking him out like a light.
Shepherd made a beeline to Fin Dorsal, and they now dueled, Shepherd's cutlass clanging against Fin's cutters.
Bonnie fired her sparquebus, and the other remaining bodyguard fell down, stunned.
"Give it up, Fin! You're outnumbered four to one!" I called.
"Don't give up so easily on me, Pirate." Fin said as he deflected another of Shepherd's blows. He then locked blades with Shepherd and with a mighty push, sent Shepherd reeling.
"I've got this!" I called as I ran forward. I leaned backwards to avoid Fin's swipe, and it just barely missed my nose. As I leaned forward again, I slashed at Fin, but he was a lot more agile than what his muscular bulk might imply as he jumped backwards.
As he swiped at me again, I redirected his blade to the ground, and I pushed him right into the stone table. As he got up, a bit dazed, he quickly shook it off and redoubled his efforts to kill me. As our blades locked together and we began pushing towards each other, I realized I was outmatched in this contest of brute strength. "Bonnie!"
Bonnie fired her sparquebus and Fin roared in pain before I pushed down onto the ground and pressed the tip of my sword into his chest.
"Face it. You've lost." Fin grimaced and gritted his teeth as I slowly let him get onto his knees and allowed him to throw the Amulet onto the floor.
"I want you to remember this moment, Pirate. This is the moment you won your first victory. And the moment you made your worst enemy." Fin Dorsal said menacingly towards me.
"Ah, shut your jaws, you bully! Well done, Pirate – you're a good one to have handy in a fight." Shepherd said as he shackled Fin's hands and hefted him up to his feet. "I'll report back to Lieutenant Smollet – you take the Amulet to Avery. I hope we meet again."
I picked up the Jade Amulet and began swinging it around on its string. "Now let's get this back to Captain Avery."
As we exited the temple and the Skull Cave, I said excitedly, "I can't believe we're finally going to get our first ship!"
Rena laughed. "I know. I can't wait either."
"Sure is nice to be serving with a crew again. Working for Avery's all well and good, but I'm aching to be back on the open skies." Bonnie said.
As we entered Captain Avery's office, he stood up to greet us. "You've done it! The Troggy bombardment has stopped, you've recovered my amulet, and Fin is brought to justice. Well done!"
As I tossed him the amulet, Captain Avery checked it over to see that it was alright. "You didn't even try to swap my Amulet for a fake – what are you, an honest pirate? Ha!"
"Well, a deal's a deal – and you've done your part, sure as silver. A ship I promised, and a ship you'll have." Captain Avery said as he handed me a letter with a red wax seal with a Jolly Roger on it.
"You take this writ down to the docks and seek out the dock master. He's waiting for you with your new ship at my private docks at the beach. Farewell to you, Captain!"
I smiled as I put the letter in the inside pocket of my coat. "Let's get going."
As we exited the manor, I gushed, "I can't believe it. We're really going to get a ship!"
Rena and Bonnie laughed as we walked past Nikolai's general store, where he was sweeping the front porch. He waved to us as we passed by, and Rena and I waved back.
"You know Nikolai?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah, he's our landlord." I said, chuckling a little at thought that a thirteen year old was our landlord.
As we arrived at Avery's private dock, the dock master was waiting for us with all of his body parts in front of a dock leading to a beautiful Monquistan thirty-gun frigate with a blue paintjob and white sails. I was expecting a more second-hand ship, but here was a ship made by some of the best craftsmen in the Spiral, meant for me! I handed the letter to the dock master as I gazed at the ship.
"Ah, Avery's sent you to claim a boat, I see. Congratulations, you are the proud owner of that mighty ship!" The dock master said, jerking a thumb at the ship.
"Thank you, sir, I…" I said, but the dock master cut me off as he looked over his shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry – that's not your ship…"
"WHAT?" We cried as the Monquistan ship, manned by a few Pirates, moved out of its spot to reveal a large raft, and even that's too kind a word for it. It was really just a wooden platform with one mast and a crude wooden rudder nailed to six barrel halves. It was armed with two cannons just below the deck, part of middle of the platform sawn away to make room, and a small compartment with a hatch that was probably meant for storage of all manners of things.
"That's the one. And what a ship she is! You'll be the terror of the skyways in that beauty!" The dock master said, laughing while clutching his stomach. A bystander then spoke up.
"If I, Blind Mew, may be so bold, young Pirate, that boat is indeed the saddest excuse for a ship that ever moored at this harbor." The bystander said.
He was an old gray Cat with a white beard and mustache wearing a wide brimmed black hat, dark glasses, gold earrings, a black coat over a dark red shirt and green trousers, white knee socks, and black shoes with brass buckles. He leaned on a wooden cane in his left and he held a tin cup in his right, for when he begged to make a living.
"I cannot see, but even from here, I distinctly hear its worn planks creaking and groaning like a sick yak." Blind Mew said.
"Damn you, Avery…" Rena said, gritting her teeth, but I put a hand on her shoulder, swallowing my anger.
"Easy, Rena, I'm upset too, but we're going to confront Captain Avery, not murder him." I said gently.
"Very well then…" Rena muttered, but as we marched up the hill to Avery's manor, I heard Rena muttered a few words like "That two-faced son of a sky snake, that ungrateful liar!" and a few choice suggestions on where he could stick his cutlass.
As we entered Captain Avery's office, he was sitting at his desk doing paperwork. Rena walked over and slammed her hands onto his desk, startling him. "What makes you think that deathtrap counts as a ship?!"
"What, you don't like your boat – I mean, your ship?" Captain Avery said. "But I'm afraid there's nothing to be done – I've honored the letter of our agreement."
As much as I hated to admit it, we didn't actually make him swear an oath or anything, so he didn't have to give us anything all, but he did, and I guess we should be grateful, but Rena could be stubborn.
"I'm afraid I can't give you a better ship, Captain, but I can point you toward that which every pirate loves even more than his ship: treasure." Captain Avery said. "Have you ever heard of Captain Gunn? It's a fine tale, and like the best of tales, it ends in gold... Take a seat and I'll tell you."
As we sat down, Captain Avery began his tale. "Captain Gunn was a legend of the skyways, feared by pirates and princes from Marleybone to Monquista. A finer smuggler never slipped past a blockade. Gunn sailed to MooShu – mysterious realm of the Samoorai and the Ninja Pigs. And there he made a tremendous discovery…"
"On the cliffs of MooShu, there grows a rare and tasty delicacy – Yum-Yum fruit, the most precious commodity in the Spiral. That's right! Yum-Yum fruit! It can restore disease, grant strength, and even restore youth! And it makes your breath minty fresh – which is nice."
"Unfortunately, the Emperor of MooShu holds Yum-Yum Trees sacred. Stealing Yum-Yum fruit is punishable by death… if you get caught. Gunn smuggled back loads of the stuff. And he sold it by the ton: Yum bread, Yum Cake, Yum Pudding – but his real stroke of genius was when he bottled it. And he called his creation, 'Yum.'"
"Pirates went crazy for Yum, and everybody else did too. Gunn was rich! He even trademarked the song. Whenever a pirate sings 'Yo ho-ho and a bottle of Yum', crafty old Gunn makes a penny. When he retired, Captain Gunn was the richest pirate in history. And then he died."
"So where is his gold? No one knows! His Last Will and Testament has been lost for year… until now!" Captain Avery said as he stood up. "An associate of mine found the Will, and I can get you on his crew… if you do me one favor."
"What now?" Rena moaned, but I shushed her. Captain Avery ignored her little bit of rudeness and went on: "There's a Chalice in the treasure, wrapped in sail cloth. Bring that one piece back to me, and the rest of Gunn's loot is yours. Go to the Privateer's Office and talk to the Commodore. He'll send you to the crew hunting Gunn's gold."
As we left Captain Avery's office, Bonnie said to me, "You go talk to the Commodore, Matt. I'll take Rena to the Kraken Skulls Tavern. She looks just about ready to go back in there and kill Avery. The Privateer's Office is down the road, and it's the building flying the gray flags with the blue pilot's wheel and gold telescope."
"Thanks, Bonnie." I said as we split up. As I stopped in front of the Privateer's Office, I took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
"Come in!" A voice said in a Marleybonian accent. I opened the door to find a gray sheepdog wearing a blue officer's dress uniform sitting at a desk in the far end of the room.
A fireplace crackled merrily in the left wall next to a bookshelf and a few crates, and a map of the worlds of the Spiral dominated the right wall. In the center of the room stood a table with a three-dimensional layout of Skull Island and its skyways. I could recognize many places on there, including Skull Island Town, Flotsam, Port Regal, Scrimshaw, Puerto Mico, and a wooden whale carving representing the nomadic Jonah Town.
As I walked over in front of the Commodore's desk, he suddenly shouted, "Strike the colors! Sound the general quarters!"
After a moment of confusion, I realized he was speaking in naval terms. "Strike the colors" meant we were surrendering, and "sound general quarters" simply means, "battle stations!"
"Sir, are you telling me to surrender, or to get ready for battle?" I asked. "And we're also on land, sir."
"What's that? Ah yes, of course we're on land. Hmm, just testing you, that's it." The Commodore answered.
"I'm looking to join the crew searching for Gunn's gold." I continued on.
"There's gold, where?" The Commodore asked, looking around. "Ah, Gunn's gold, of course! Avery sent you, didn't he?"
I nodded, and he continued on. "Right, ask the barkeep in the Kraken Skulls Tavern for Ensign Emmett. Good hunting!"
As I turned to leave, the Commodore stopped me. "Where the blazes do you think you're going? If you're to make it out there, Matt, you need to be prepared. It's time for your first lesson."
A few hours later, as I left the Privateer's Office to go home, I thought that maybe if all goes well, I might actually forgive Captain Avery for cheating me.