Author's Note:
Well, it's been a nice long summer vacation of brainstorming and working on my fics, among other things. Thank you for waiting and enjoy!
Scroop's golden eyes opened quickly as he tried not to fall out of his hammock. Had it been the dream in which he had heard the screaming? He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and remember what it was he had seen. All he could remember was a mass of shadowy bodies, fire and a piercing scream. He hadn't recognized anyone from the dream. It was only the chaos and the screaming that had managed to wake him up.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" John exclaimed as he hurried back up to the High Duchess's mansion. Even if he was no longer presentable for the ball, he had to warn somebody of Rebecca's capture.
The young man sprinted up the steps, taking them by twos, as he reached the front doors into the mansion. He slammed open the doors and immediately felt all eyes upon him.
John ignored the stares, trudging towards the dance floor and finding Rebecca's older brother.
"Giles!" John turned the other man around. "They've taken Rebecca! Pirates!"
"What?" Giles asked, bewildered. "Pirates?"
"Yes." John nodded. "They've kidnapped her."
"Why the devil would they want Becky? Unless-" Giles cut himself off in the midst of his thoughts. "Come on! My carriage is outside."
"Giles!" Brianna Hart –Giles's fiancée- turned the aforementioned man around by his shoulder. She looked up into Giles's copper-brown eyes with concern.
"Bri, she's my baby sister." Giles stated calmly.
"But, the High Duchess!" Brianna looked at Giles with wide dark blue eyes.
"I think the High Duchess will understand." Giles said sincerely. "Now, could you stay here and give my regrets to our hostess? I need to find Rebecca."
The young lady sighed, looking down. "I suppose."
Giles cupped his fiancée's chin, looking into her eyes. "I love you, Bri." He stated truthfully.
"I love you too, Giles." Brianna planted a kiss on Giles' lips and smiled up at him. "Good luck." Giles nodded and then led the way out of the High Duchess's mansion.
John and Giles hurried out into the pouring rain, running towards Giles's carriage.
"Gag the broad, she's making much more trouble than she's worth." One of the shadowy pirates within the carriage ordered.
The pirate at Rebecca's left side pushed her back into her seat, holding her there while the pirate at her right side forced a bandanna over her mouth. Rebecca swung out her elbow, having her hands tied behind her back, and caught one of the pirates in the stomach.
The man grunted and growled dangerously. "More trouble than she's worth is right." He pulled out a dagger and pressed the tip against Rebecca's neck. "What does Bones want her with, anyways?"
"Didn't say," the shadowy voice came from across the two pirates and Rebecca, "reckon it's important since he 'ad us go teh Emery of all places."
The man bearing the dagger sheathed the aforementioned weapon. "And he had us follow the carriages -in broad daylight, might I add- to the High Duchess's mansion!" The pirate scoffed, "You know, we're damn lucky that we didn't get jailed!"
"So yeh see, darling," the shadowy man -sitting with his back to the driver- reached forwards to roughly grabbed Rebecca's face with one of his gloved hands and forced her to look at him, "We went teh a whole lot o' trouble teh obtain yeh. Now it'd be nice if yeh made the trip back a little more bearable than yer already making it." He released his hold on Rebecca's face and leaned back in his seat.
Rebecca's answer was a very hard kick to the man's shin, though doing so resulted in an uncharacteristic clank and sent a shock of pain through her foot.
The man chuckled. "This one's got a bit o' wind in 'er sails…" The other two pirates chuckled sinisterly.
"We'll use your vessel –with all due respect- John." Giles stated as his carriage rushed through the rain towards the port. "Brianna and I took a cruise ship here, and there's no way that it'd get us back to Treaka in time."
"Treaka?" John looked at his friend in confusion. "Why in the Etherium are we goin' back teh Treaka?"
"Because that's where the pirates are taking her." Giles stated. John gave his old friend an odd look. Giles sighed at this. "Look, I'll explain what's going on once we get to your ship." He cleared his throat. "Which dock is it at?"
"Fifteen. In the Gamma Sector." John stated.
Giles nodded and gave the directions to his driver. The carriage made a right turn and Giles sat back in his seat, gripping his knees nervously. He allowed a glance out the carriage's window, squinting through the pouring rain for his sister.
The carriage finally came to a stop and the two pirates sitting beside Rebecca grabbed her by her arms. Rebecca was forced out of the carriage onto the puddle-filled streets of the port. The young woman pulled in vain against the hold of the pirates.
Rebecca tried to move the gag bound over her mouth by nudging her shoulder against her face, but found that the bandanna had been tied quite tightly. Rebecca lunged forwards, head-butting the pirate walking ahead of her in the back and managing to push the gag off of her face.
"Help!" Rebecca screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that her voice wasn't lost though the pounding rain. She continued screaming, her lungs burning, as the pirates grabbed a hold of her.
"Shut her up!" One of the pirates shouted, "Or we'll be spotted."
Rebecca struggled in the hold of the two pirates, refusing to stop her screams of bloody murder. She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her temples as she tried to pull with all her might against the men. One of the pirates withdrew a sword and hit Rebecca at the base of her neck with the hilt, knocking her out.
"Hurry yeh filthy bilge rats!" The pirate in charge of the group ordered as nearby lights began to flicker on. "Her screams will 'ave alerted the town guard, an' Bones wants a clean getaway."
"Jimbo!" John called out to the HMS Aurora. "We need teh get goin'!"
"You're crazy, Johnny!" Jim shouted. "Half the crew's in port."
"This is an emergency, Rebecca's been kidnapped!" John stated as he and Giles made their way up the gangplank.
"Rebecca?" Jim's amber eyes widened as he bolted to the Aurora's control panel and sounded the ship's alarms. "All hands on the main deck!" He called. "All hands!"
The ship's alarms blared red as the resounding noise echoed through the port. Giles hurried up to the helm of the ship.
"James Silver, right?" Giles asked Jim.
"Yeah." Jim stated. His hands were a little shaky as he began firing up the controls to the ship while the crew began to assemble on the main deck.
"Giles Townsend."
Jim nodded. "I heard a lot about you while John was serving in the war, I was too young at the time." He added. "You're one of Rebecca's brothers, right?"
Giles nodded, smiling a little. "And I have every intention of getting my baby sister out of those filthy pirates' clutches."
Jim flashed a smile, trying to cover up his nervousness. "Same here."
Rebecca began to regain consciousness, still being dragged along by the pirates to their ship. The rain hadn't lightened up since it had begun and thick black clouds veiled the night sky.
The bandanna had been retied over Rebecca's mouth, more tightly this time, and her dress clung tightly to her body from the rain. She looked around, trying to make out anything other than the dark forms of her kidnappers through the pouring rain.
"All hands to stations!" A voice called from above them.
Rebecca was then dragged up a gangplank and forcefully shoved onto the main deck of a large vessel. She stumbled on her feet and looked around, trying to identify the features of the ship through the pouring rain.
"Come along, girly!" A nearby pirate dragged her by her upper arm to the centre of the main deck, facing the helm of the ship.
The pirate crew worked quickly to get the ship ready for launching, ignoring Rebecca's presence.
"Cap'n Bones!" The pirate retaining Rebecca called up to the helm, "We have the girl!"
"Good." An aged voice came from the helm, "throw her in the brig and let's get sailing!"
"Aye Cap'n!" The pirate then dragged Rebecca below deck towards the ship's brig.
"Are we all set teh sail, Jimbo?" John climbed up the helm. His face was hardened with determination, but one could sense the uneasiness about him.
"Yeah, but… all in all, we've only got eight people." Jim pointed out.
"Well 'ave teh go with just that, Jimbo," John stated, "we just don't 'ave the time teh get everyone else."
"Aye." Jim nodded. "Initiating launch in five! Four! Three! Two! One!"
"Fire Away!"
The HMS Aurora blasted out of the spaceport. Once they cleared the planet's rainy atmosphere, they had a slightly better visual and began searching the Etherium for the elusive pirate ship through the thin clouds of space dust.
John scanned the Etherium but his mind was elsewhere. 'How could I 'ave let her outta me sight? If I 'ad stayed with her…' John stopped himself and thought about the High Duchesses garden.
"There!" Juanita's call from the crow's nest cut through John's thoughts. "Off the port bow!"
John looked to where Juanita was calling and gasped. "It can't be."
"Billy Bones' ship: The Black Arrow!" Giles answered, looking at the dark vessel that had appeared through the clouds of space dust. "Flint's best vessel in his pirate fleet... next to The Walrus, of course."
"Captain." Jarred called from the bow of the ship. "There's something strange forming in front of that ship…"
True to the male Shikaran's words, a ray of green energy was emerging in front of the ship, forming into a massive triangle.
"It looks like…" Jim began, "A portal? Wait a minute-" the first mate exclaimed. "He's gonna get away!"
"Fire all thrusters!" John commanded. "Full speed."
The HMS Aurora lunged forwards as all of the ship's thrusters launched the ship behind the legendary Black Arrow. The triangular portal opened to view the very familiar section of the local galaxy, Treaka being near its centre.
The two ships plunged through the rift and were immersed in a thick cloud of space dust, which acted like a thick fog. The Black Arrow disappeared from their sights as the HMS Aurora began to slow down.
"Nothing." Martin stated, standing at the starboard bow with Scroop.
"There has to be something." Scroop leaned against the railing, squinting through the thick dust. He felt nothing short of despair as he strained his golden eyes to find the missing pirate ship. To find Rebecca…
Author's Note:
Thank you to Whisperwings for still loyally betaing after such a lengthy wait.
MG#6