Chapter II

Killian

I awoke to men screaming and canon fire. I looked out the window at the end of my quarters and saw the sun shining brightly; it must be midmorning. Why hadn't Lewis woken me up before this? Time was of the essence.

I hardly had time to for the thoughts with the ship lurched to the side, knocking Mara off the bed. She sat right up, hair covering her whole face.

"What's going on? What happened?" She tried to push her hair out of her eyes but there was too much of it, much of it stayed covering her face.

"I don't know; you stay here. I'll go find out. Keep the door closed, do not let anyone but me in, okay?"

She nodded and I was off, grabbing my sword and hook on my way out the door. I closed it and waited to make sure she locked it behind me. After I heard the latch I quickly made my way up on deck. I could smell sulfur almost immediately when I got on deck. It was total chaos on deck. Men were running everywhere; swords were clanging against each other and through the smoke, Black Beards ship coming at us at full speed.

"LEWIS! LEWIS! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" I bellowed at the frantic men on deck. Lewis looked up from the cannon he was manning.

"Black Beard, Captain! Don't know how he found us or why he's attacking but we've got quite the battle on our hands! May be best to have Marcus take Mara!"

"She'll be fine, she's tucked away in our quarters; we don't have the time to prepare a skiff to take her!" I grabbed my sword and started fighting along side my men. Through the smoke and carnage I could see the giant ship getting closer. Soon enough all of Black Beards men would be here and we'd be outmanned. My thoughts turned to Mara; she was safe in our chambers for now, but she wouldn't be if we didn't gain control of the situation. I began fighting harder. Man after man went down and I began feeling like we could over take the enemy.

Mara

The banging and shouting kept getting louder and louder. The boat was rocking so hard I could barley stand. I grabbed my wooden sword and tried to run to the corner to hide. I wedged myself between my bed and the wall of the quarters. I could hear men screaming and see them falling off the ship from the window at the back of the room. I tried to cover my ears to block out all of the noise. Our ship had been attacked before, but daddy had always made Marcus take me away from the fighting on the skiff. This was the first battle I had ever experienced, and I would be glad if I didn't experience one ever again.

The ship lurched to the side again, throwing me from my cubbyhole. I landed on my knees; I couldn't see anything because all of my hair was in my eyes. I sat on my feet and tried to push it aside but it relented. With a crash the window at the end of the room exploded. I looked up to see an old man with a long dark beard climbing into the room. I scurried back into my cubby before he could see me. As I settled back into my cubby I realized I had left my sword in the middle of the room. I stuck my head out of the cubby to see where the man was; he was going through daddy's desk. I hoped he would find what he was looking for in there and then leave. I settled back in and waited.

I could hear his boots on the hard wood coming towards my hiding spot. I held my breath, not daring to make a noise. I closed my eyes, too scared to see what was happening in the room. Slowly I heard the man walk over by my wood sword. I so wished I had grabbed it. I had no way of defending myself now. He chuckled and I heard him walk towards me. I opened my eyes and screamed when I saw him standing directly in front of my, staring down at me. He smiled ghoulishly down at me as he spoke.

"Now, here's the treasure I was looking for."

Killian

We were slowly getting a handle on Black Beards men. I knew I had to fight harder than I ever had before. If they were here for any treasure they would be trying to get into my quarters to get to my safe. Normally I wouldn't be so desperate to save it; there would be more treasure, and more battles to be fought for it.

Just as quickly as the battle had begun, it seemed to have ended. Black Beard's men seemed to be dispersing quickly, jumping across to their ship or onto skiffs. The smoke began to settle and I knew it was over. I ran over to the starboard side to see what damage we had done to them. There didn't seem to be nearly as much damage to their ship as there was to ours. I wondered why the sudden retreat when suddenly a dark figure flew past my face. In the same second I heard her.

"DADDY!"

I saw her; Black Beard was holding her by the collar of her shirt over the edge of his ship.

"No." The word was barely audible. "LEWIS! FULL MAST, CATCH UP TO THEM. NOW. WE CAN'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH HER!"

"Captain there's too much damage to our ship, we won't be able to catch up them."

"I DON'T CARE. NOW. WE CAN'T LOSE THEM!"

Lewis paled and turned, shouting orders at the crew. I ran to the bow, I didn't know what to do, I was stuck on this ship and the ship wasn't moving fast enough. Black Beard had moved further onto the deck, I could hear Mara screaming for me. Tears began running down my face. I couldn't help her; there was nothing I could do.

"I'M COMING MARA! I'M COMING! DON'T WORRY, I'LL FIND YOU!"

"Don't hold your breath."

I turned. Pan's shadow hovered before me. I lunged. I should have known.

"You! This was your plan all along! You were never going to give me the day to find the doll! You were just going to distract me while Pan took the only good thing I had left in my life!"

"We gave you all the time we could. Black Beard proved to be a better business partner."

"SO YOU TAKE MY DAUGHTER?"

"We needed you to understand that our business transactions were over. Pan will take care of her. Don't worry."

I turned my back to the shadow. I could see we were gaining on Black Beard. I started to feel a glimmer of hope. I saw the shadow fly up towards the speeding ship ahead of us. I landed momentarily in front of Black Beard before flying up into the mast. The giant canvas slowly began turning black, and I could see it begin pulling upward. Suddenly my glimmer of hope was gone. The ship slowly lifted up into the sky, disappearing behind the clouds. I sank to my knees, I was sure my heart was going to stop beating. The last thing I heard before the ship totally disappeared was Mara screaming Daddy.

I sat there until I was sure that I wasn't going to wake up from this nightmare. I could hear my crew cleaning up. Just like when Milah was murdered nobody bothered me. I slowly made my way to my quarters. I wasn't sure how my legs were moving. I found my flask of rum and sat on Mara's bed. I downed the entire flask in one shot. I was numb; even number than I had been when I lost Milah. The only difference now, was that I didn't have anyone to soothe my pain. I rummaged around my quarters searching for more rum. I would drown myself in it. From this point forth I would be ruthless; I would be the pirate I was before I met my wife. I would drink, pillage and bed whatever woman I wanted. I would fill this hole in me with alcohol and carnage until I found my daughter.