Chapter Forty Three
"Get up you stinking bilge rats!" I yelled and many of them fell out of their hammocks.
"Where are we?" I asked my first mate, I figured out my first mate is a man named Cotton, he had a parrot always on his shoulder, I liked that. "Where are we?" I asked again growing more impatient with him. Then, the cabin boy came up to me.
"He's a deaf, Captain, he trained the parrot to talk for him" explained the cabin boy, I nodded my thanks.
"Oh, well, uh Cotton's parrot...same question" I said, looking over a the strange bird.
"Hard to starboard...brack! Hard to starboard!" the parrot squawked.
"We think that means ;almost there'" reported the cabin boy, I smiled at the good news. As I looked over the horizon I saw a East Indian Trading Company vessel.
"Finally...some fun" I said with a crooked smile, then turned to find blank stares from my crew. "To your battle stations you lazy dogs!" I yelled and everyone began scrambling to fulfill my order. Once they got close enough we raised my flag. "Fire!" I yelled and cannons sounded...music to my ears.
*As the fight raged I saw that on the East Indian Trading Company vessel was a familiar face. Maldoff. One of my parents' guards that tried to raid the 'Argg!' He was trying to come onto The Purple Gun which I will soon rename as The Bloody Rose in honor of my first ship. But, he never made it to my ship, there was too much cannon fire. I was looking to destroy his ship, The Endeavor, but he wasn't looking to destroy my ship.
I only heard a few cannon fires from his ship. Then, his ship stopped moving, but The Purple Gun kept sailing on. I looked back at his ship and the main mast had fallen down. I smiled they can't track us, at least until after they make port, I thought, my crew started cheering.
*It was night. I was in my quarters staring at a map and trying to calculate how many days it would take until we hit Singapore. So far I had counted two days, then, I heard an unusual noise from the deck, so, I walked outside and saw lights, hundreds of them! One of them got closer and closer and ever more closer until it hit my leg and caught it on fire! I gave out a yell and ran down to my sleeping crew.
"Get up you stinking bilge rats!" I yelled and many of them fell out of their hammocks. "Hands to blazes now!" I yelled running through the room back up to the deck. All of the crew was on the deck and staring dumbly at the strange lights.
Then, the lights blinked out of existence, like they never were there! "What in the bloody hell?" I asked and went to the port side.
"Maybe it was Davy Jones" one of my crew suggested.
"No, Davy wouldn't play games like this...he would just send the kraken on us" I explained, then where the lights originally were, now the silhouette of a port stood, with a sign that said "Pirates Be Warned" and dead pirates hanging from it, I couldn't even take off my hat I was in awe.
"How did we get here so fast Cap'n?" the cabin boy asked, shaking.
"Damned if I know" I replied staring directly at the port of Singapore.
Chapter Forty Four
"Have you ever heard of someone named Captain Brittney Turner?" I asked
I watched off the bow as we neared the port of Singapore. "Um Cap'n?...who's steering the ship?" the cabin boy asked, I became stiff and turned to find that the wheel was spinning by itself! I ran to the wheel and tried to take control of it.
But, it spun as it pleased.
As I wrestled with the wheel my crew became more and more anxious, "captain" the cabin boy said, fear taking over his voice, we were nearing the port and the wheel was turning every which way, finally, little of the wheel turned my way but then shot straight back left. The force was too much for me, my grip loosened and it flung me over the wheel, my back hit the deck and I got the wind knocked out of me. "Captain!" the cabin boy yelled and rushed over to me.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" I growled getting up, but my standing was short lasted. I fell right back down on my rump when the ship hit the port. "Tie 'er up!"
"What are we going to do now Cap'n?" the gunner asked after The Purple Gun was tied into port.
"What we are going to do is...I want all of you slimy no-helps to look for any Pirate lord's ship and/or the Black Pearl...savvy?" I said and they all started laughing "that was an order" I snarled, they all stopped laughing and got to work. As I left The Purple Gun I started thinking of where to look to find everyone else. A Bar? Possibly, so I started there I went into this bar called Your Last Drink "hate to know what happened to the owner" I whispered as I walked inside, It wasn't as bad as Tortuga, the smell of rum still heavily coated the air but brawls didn't break out as often.
I went to the barmaid. "Have you seen Captain Jack Sparrow?" I asked, leaning on the bar and drinking a shot.
"Ah, lass, you just missed 'em" she replied, giving me a sad smile.
"Did he say where he was going?"
"Somethin' 'bout meeting Calypso at half mast...but what can you believe? He was drunk as a pig, served him eight drinks, I did" she said with a giggle, I nodded my thanks. Meeting Calypso at half mast? I thought what the hell is that supposed to mean? I asked myself as I headed out of the bar, I started looking around and sighed, I then decided to meander a bit.
Shops and pirate friendly restaurants lined the street. I finally came upon a magic shop, I decided to stop in. Once I entered, the shop owner was completely fine until he got a good look at me. It was like he saw a ghost. He turned pale and I thought his hazel eyes were going to turn gray.
"Are you alright?" I asked with genuine concern for the man.
"Get out of here, you demon!" he yelled throwing inanimate objects at me.
"I'm not a demon! I'm a pirate!" I shouted back.
"Same difference!" he yelled and hid under the counter.
"So much for pirate hospitality" I grumbled, fixing my hat and walking out of the shop. By the moon I guessed it was around midnight, only pirates remained on the streets. A group of male pirates stared at me as I walked down the street and back toward the port.
"Hey, lass!" one of them yelled but I ignored him "I said 'hey lass!'" he yelled again. He was Irish, I just rolled my eyes and continued to walk, they came over to me and blocked the street ahead.
"What?" I spat, not in the mood to be annoyed.
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out at this hour?" he asked me, leaning against a building with his arms folded.
"To my ship, now move" I growled, one hundred percent ready to go to sleep.
"Little demanding aren't we?" He said, touching my cheek, I slapped his hand away.
"Move or I'll move you"
"Oh you think you can order me around?" he asked very cockily, I pulled out my sword, It glistened in the dim light. The man clapped and began laughing.
"Ah, the lass is a pirate!" he said with a smile "tell me, dearie, who do you sail for?" he asked, I cringed, this man thought I was a prostitute.
"Have you ever heard of someone named Captain Brittney Turner?"
"Of course I've heard of her! Who hasn't?" He continued laughing and sighed, then I stepped back into the light and their mouths dropped.
"Have a savvy night" I said and they parted as I put my sword away and walked between them. Meeting Claypso at half mast I thought then, I tripped and looked up to find an old sword shop called Half Mast...damn, I'm good!
Chapter Forty Five
"They mustn't find the chest" it made me jump back a little
I smiled as I stared up at the building named The Half Mast, as I started walking toward it I got a feeling in my gut that I shouldn't go in. But, ignoring the feeling with my determination to find Jack, I slightly turned the knob and silently crept in. .As I walked in the smell of burnt paper filled the air, there was a long hallway leading into a room with flickering candle light. I heard faint whispering so I kept my breathing as silent as possible and advanced to the corner. When I was half way to the corner someone shouted "No, they mustn't find the chest!"
It made me jump back a little.
Despite the danger of getting caught my feet seemed to have a mind of their own and slowly edged forward until I was upon the corner. I peeked around the corner and saw two men, one was sitting in a chair, he looked like Maldoff. It was Maldoff! The other one was leaning on a dinning table, by his body language he seemed frustrated. He had a black and gold coat on with brown pants and black buckled shoes.
They both were from the Royal Navy, more specifically the East Indian Trading Company. "They mustn't find the chest...If the Brethren Court find the chest they will kill Jones and that will be a problem" the frustrated one said.
"How so?" Maldoff asked, leaning back in the chair he sat in.
"If the Brethren Court get a hold of the heart they'll kill Jones and nothing will hold them back from completely destroying the East Indian Trading Company" He explained.
"What about Blackbeard?" Maldoff asked
"He'll probably be right along with the Brethren Court...he hates the Royal Navy and he will use that against us" the frustrated one said.
"Ah, yes, Augustine, but I have full confidence that we will get that chest...just, not with you" Maldoff said then stuck his sword straight though Augustine's heart.
*I watched in shock as Augustine fell to the floor, gasping, blood was pouring out of his mouth. Soon he became pale and stopped breathing "now we shall get the chest without any traitors...shall we General Augustine?" Maldoff said with a smile as he wiped the blood off of his cutlass. Something inside me exploded as I looked down at the dead 'Augustine' which wasn't his name at all, it was Nathen..my parents favorite guard...he always treated me with respect. "Now, Augustine, we both know that it wasn't right for you to help the pirates' escape, so why did you do it, hum?"
Maldoff asked turning the opposite direction of where I was hidden, I sighed and walked out from behind the corner.
"You know you're talking to a corpse, right?" I asked and he dropped his sword at the sound of my voice.
"Princess?" he asked turning in disbelief "you're supposed to be dead" he said with wide eyes.
"Things aren't as they seem, mate" I said letting my sleeve fall, revealing my Pirate Lord mark, then I held my pistol up "now, where's Captain Jack Sparrow?"
*I flung the door open as I ran for the port, with Maldoff's words ringing in my ears "Augustine told him to run away from here... from what I heard he was taking the Black Pearl to another port" Its not like I believed Maldoff, but it's the closest thing I have to a lead. As I rounded the corner I saw a boat start to pull out of port.
"Oh, no!" I whispered, breathing heavily, and ran even faster, but I got there too late. The boat was already too far gone, I felt empty. My legs wouldn't allow me to go after him, I could only stand there and look out at the farthing boat. "Damn" I growled, tears threatening to fall from my eyes, I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath.
Soon the silhouette of the boat faded and the lights I saw before were fastly approaching, I looked up to find them all swirling around me, like they were dancing in joy. I turned to the left to go back to my ship when all of a sudden I heard someone begin to speak to me. "Why ya so down? You look like someone you love just sailed away from ya and that was your last chance at 'em"
"Maybe it...maybe it was" I whispered, a tear falling from my eye. The lights vanished and I looked over to the person standing next to me, I couldn't believe it! I screamed in delight.