Chapter 8
"Start of the Battle"
As the prayers began to be said in the prayer room of the HMS Victory, the ships guarding it and Denmark's Queen and Princess from the savage French and Spanish fleets. On the orders of Sir Strachan, the ships were assigned to take a ship and attack it from reaching the Victory. Aboard the HMS Caesar, John stood with a platoon of soldiers armed to the teeth with rifles, while shouts of orders were heard.
"They won't get near us, Sir Strachan!" called John to the commander up on the poop deck. "If they want to free Villeneuve, then they have to get through us!"
"Indeed, my boy," shouted Sir Strachan, drawing his sword. "It's time for you to pick up where your father left off, young Nelson!"
Just then, the Formidable came up with Pelley at the command, looking down at his men, waiting to hear him give the order. The only one standing between him and freeing his superior as well as taking the Queen and Princess of Denmark as trophies, was the HMS Caesar and its commander.
"We'll see about that, won't we?" said Pelley, looking down at the French commander. "Ney! Prepare to board the Caesar at once!"
After doing a brief sign of the cross, Ney ordered the trumpeter to sound the advance and at the banging of the two ships, the French soldiers charged onto the Caesar and John gave the order for his men to take their positions.
"At 100 yards," he called. "Volley fire present!"
The English soldiers got into position and once the Frenchmen were at 100 yards. John lowered his sword and called for them to fire their weapons. The first wave killed several French soldiers, but they just kept on coming. Another wave of gunfire erupted from the English soldiers killed a few more, but it was no use and the French soldiers crashed into the English soldiers, killing several of them instantly.
"Fall back!" shouted John and drew his sword, engaging the French soldiers. The son of Admiral Nelson was tasting his first share of combat and was going to do everything in his power to protect the ship that his father loved and cared for. "Don't let them advance to the Victory!"
The sounds of cannon fire continued to be heard as both the Caesar and Formidable suffered damage from the cannon blasts. Sir Strachan also joined the fight and did whatever he could to protect his young troops. But, Pelley was watching and knew that this was his chance to join in the fight.
"You men!" he shouted to a platoon of French soldiers. "Follow me to our conquest and the freedom of our captured leader! Charge!"
Running down from the poop deck, the brigade of French soldiers charged onto the Caesar, but John and several other soldiers knocked several more into the ocean with the butt of their rifles. A soldier came up and swung his rifle at John, hitting him in the face. With John on the ground, several soldiers surrounded John like a pack of wolves, but John got up and kept fighting, killing the soldiers that surrounded him with his rifle and knife that he kept in a small holster.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the dead were already falling into the sea and the merarmy was now more ready than ever to join the fight. For Triton, there was no turning back now and everyone knew it.
"Shall we join the fight?" he cried, raising his trident high over his head. "Will you give your lives for the glory of Atlantica?"
The mermen roared in response at their leader's cry and with a blast of his trident, Triton led the mersoldiers to the surface and aided the British and Danish forces against their enemies. Some had climbed onto the ships themselves and engaged their enemies directly. Triton himself also joined, focusing his attention onto the Formidable, skewering the soldiers that had been attacking John.
"Thank you, King Triton!" cried John as the sea king killed a soldier that was attacking him. "I owe you my life!"
But this was no time for exchanging thanks and Triton knew it. For there were more soldiers fighting amongst the chaos.
"Protect my granddaughter, human!" he ordered to John. So, doing as he was told, John returned to fighting against the soldiers, determined to carry out their leaders orders of capturing the HMS Victory and taking its prizes.
Meanwhile, Eric and Victor were also fighting their lives out against the Spanish forces and for a while, they seemed to have the upper hand.
"Steady, men, steady!" cried Eric as his men formed a square on the main deck. "Aim for the Spanish! Fire!"
Eric lowered his arm and the soldiers in the square fired at the Spanish soldiers, who had up until that moment, been getting the upper hand against the Danish soldiers. This changed the tide of the battle on the Danish greatly.
"Abre la boca!" shouted a Spanish soldier, pointing a gun at Eric intending to put a bullet into his mouth, but a soldier in the square took his gun and shot the soldier in his chest, killing him. For the next few minutes, the squares continued to fire, but had to disperse when the Spanish overwhelmed the Danish, forcing Eric and his men to fall back.
"Keep praying, my love," thought Eric as he was pushed to the edge of his ship. "We need all the faith we can get!"
But before Eric could give another thought, a Spanish soldier punched Eric in the chest and into the waters below. Struggling to get back onto his ship, Eric attempted to grab onto the side of his ship and climb, but the current of the seas preventing him from doing so.
"Eric!" cried Victor, who was being cornered by several Spanish soldiers. "Climb on!"
But, Eric didn't respond and felt at that moment that now, Eric had a choice to either continuing trying to get back to his ship or swim to the Victory and get to his wife and daughter. His ship was going to fall to the Spanish eventually, but if he was going to die, it would be with his family.
"He's going to the Victory!" thought Victor. "Vanessa could be in danger. Who knows what these pigs might do to her?"
Following the example of his king, Victor jumped into the ocean and attempted to follow Eric to the HMS Victory, although at that moment, the French musketeer assigned to kill Eric had his target in full view and for a moment, it seemed like Eric was to die under mysterious circumstances…