The Final Battle

Jake's ring of protection was whittled down to just one man. It seemed as if Murdock's men never stopped trying to come after Jake. That was for the most part true, for Murdock had ordered everybody to seize the man in the fanciest hat, which was of course the captain. Two large men had backed Captain Cardinal and his one man against the superstructure of the main deck. One of the ruffians began chasing Jake's last protector, leaving the other burly man to take out Jake. He drew his cutlass and made ready to run Jake through. Just in time, however, Scully rushed between Jake and the fiend, in turn getting stabbed in the bicep. Quick-Foot Charlie jumped down from the bridge and onto the shoulders of the pirate. She used her legs and choked him until he collapsed.

"Thanks!" Jake breathed a sigh of relief, but noticed that Scully ran off to go fight more people. "Scully, wait! You need your arm bandaged! Nora! Go help him!"

As soon as Nora set her eyes on Scully, she dashed over to him. Breathing heavily, he was leaning against the pole of a mast and was clutching his arm. "Oy, ya crazy pirate! Come on! We've gotta get you ovah to the doctah before you lose too much blood! At least you tied sumthin ovah your wound. But your shouldah is bleedin' again!" She put his good arm over her shoulders to help him support his weight and ran with him.

"Wait!" Scully yelled as they were running. "Mimosa is hurt over there!"

"Ugh! I'm nevah gonna get you propah help! Come on; let's go help 'im!"

A couple of the Ruby's men were defending Mimosa while he was on the ground struggling to hold his hands on his right thigh near his knee.

"What happened to ya?" Nora asked once she helped beat off the surrounding enemies.

"I was fighting with someone, and I didn't notice that he had a kerambit knife in his other hand. And then he slashed me in my thigh. I think my quadriceps tendon is severed."

"Am I the only mate who manages to get away with few injuries?" Nora rhetorically asked the sky. She tore off the sleeve of her shirt and tied it around Mimosa's thigh. "Oy, January! Help me get Mimosa to the doctah! I've gotta help Scully get there too!"

Finally, Murdock's men were beginning to thin out. However, one man had not been spotted yet: Ethan Murdock. Everybody was keeping an eye out for him since attacking the enemy with the fanciest hat was an understood rule for the crew of the Scarlett Ruby; but they saw no pirate enemy wearing such a hat. The reason for this was because Ethan had taken his hat off before swinging onto the Scarlett Ruby. While fighting off Jake's crew like the rest of his men, he searched as hard as he could for the golden llama.

Ethan strode into Jake's cabin, and began pulling out the drawers of the dressers. Murdock forgot one little fact about himself, however: he looked severely different from the rest of his crew. Jake recognized him from behind and followed him in.

"Get off my ship, you slime of the sea!" Captain Cardinal commanded.

Murdock whirled around as he pulled the last drawer out of the dresser. "Not until you give me the golden llama! I know you have it in here somewhere! You can just hand it over now, and I'll tell my men to stop killing your crew." He took a slow step closer to Jake.

"We both know you would just try to kill me as soon as you got the llama."

"That may be true, but that statue belongs on the Dark Revenge, even if your wretched parents stole it. Now it should rightfully be in my control since I captain the Revenge." Seeing no change in Jake's mind, he went back to rummaging through the drawer he last pulled out.

"Hey, get up! I'm not done with you!" Jake stormed over to Murdock and pushed him over with his foot.

"Oof!" he exclaimed as he fell headfirst into the empty shell of the dresser. Ethan's weight broke the false bottom of the dresser, revealing the llama statue in a sack. He struggled out of the dresser and saw the statue. "Ah, there it is!" He snatched the sack and tried to run off.

Jake shouted, "You're goin' nowhere with that!" He clotheslined Ethan as he tried to run.

Murdock fell on his back yet still maintained an iron grip on the sack; he jumped to his feet and charged past Jake. Jake caught up to him on the main deck and drew his sword. Murdock turned, unsheathed his sword with his right hand, and clutched the sack under his left arm. They crossed swords, and Jake began forcing Ethan back towards the edge of the ship. Using some fancy footwork to distract him, Jake swung his sword at Murdock. He jerked back to avoid being slashed and lost his grip on the llama statue. It slipped out of his arm and toppled over the side of the ship!

"NOOO!" Murdock bellowed. "Now look at what you've done!" He plunged at Jake with his sword. Yet again, the two went at each other. Murdock was coming on Jake with a fury. He lurched his sword at Jake, aiming for his heart. Jake attempted to jump out of the way, but he felt Murdock's sword enter his side. Staggering back, Jake grabbed his side and continued to fight Murdock.

Once Jake and Ethan had brought their fighting onto the main deck, almost all other fighting ceased. Everyone could sense that this was the fight that would determine who would be the final victor. People came closer to watch. Murdock was finally able to disarm Jake and kicked him to the ground.

Quick-Foot Charlie dashed over from the sidelines and stabbed Ethan Murdock right in the heart. His body fell over the side of the ship, right down to where the llama statue lay.

"That was for my husband!" Charlotte panted.

Everybody was amazed by the action. The crew of the Scarlett Ruby all looked severely at the remainder of Murdock's men. They cowered away and dived over the side of the ship.

Jake fell to his knees and gustily exhaled, "It's over now!" Then, he remembered that Becky was still away from the ship. Weakly, he called out, "Ketchum Kert, do you still have those three cannonballs I wanted you to save?"

"Aye, Captain, they're still down here awaitin' to be used!"

"Good! Pitzel, sail far enough away from the wreckage, and after that, hold anchor."

Becky was nervously twiddling her thumbs. "It's been quiet for at least a half hour. Why haven't I heard anything?"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Ooh! There's the signal!" Becky rapidly picked up the oars and started rowing.

They helped Becky and Christopher back onto the deck, which was still in need of cleaning up after the battle. Becky held Christopher close to her chest and slowly walked over to Jake.

"I-is Murdock…dead?" Becky asked as she embraced Jake.

"Gah! Yeah, he is."

"Oh, oh! What's wrong? Why, Jake, you're bleeding! Someone, come help!"

Wally Nipperkin jogged forward with a piece of old sail. "This should help stop the bleeding! The doctor is busy helping Mimosa."

"It's not that bad," Jake tried to convince Becky. "I'll be fine until the doctor is done with Mimosa."

"You better be, or else," she threatened as she tied the sail around Jake. "So, where's the llama?"

"At the bottom of the sea, with Murdock," Jake answered.

"Are we going to go after it?"

"We decided that it isn't worth it." Nora piped up. "It can stay at the bot'om of the ocean for the next numpty to find."

"Oh. Who all survived?"

Jake took back the conversation, "Over half the crew at least. Scully is doing okay, and Mimosa is probably not going to be walking well for a while."

"Yeah, and I heard someone say it is gonna leave a nasty scar," Ketchum Kurt interjected. "Mimosa's lucky he didn't lose his whole leg!"

"Speakin' o' them, there's Mimosa now!" Nora pointed to the hobbling figure.