Ed and Tilly walked out onto the deck of The Revenge bright and early; just like they did every morning, and collected their practise sticks from where they were kept. They then made their way to the centre of the deck, ready for their lesson.
"I think we'll try something new today," Ed said,
"What?" Tilly prompted when Ed didn't continue,
"I think we'll add in some footwork,"
"Footwork? That seems a bit advanced,"
"Well, you need footwork to be able to string two moves together," Ed said,
"Do you?"
"No fight is ever stationary."
Tilly nodded, "If you say so." She raised her stick out in front of her, just like Ed had taught her, "What do I do?"
Ed raised his stick, mirroring Tilly. "Okay, when I step forward, like this," Ed slowly stepped forward on his left foot, "You step backwards on your corresponding foot."
Tilly stepped backwards, "Like this?"
"Yes, exactly, now block my swing at the same time." Ed moved his feet so that they were level with each other and Tilly did the same. He smiled at Tilly, then stepped forward and thrust his sword at her.
Tilly moved her sword to block his and took her step back, but in her haste to do both of the moves, she tripped over her own feet and toppled over.
Ed grinned and offered Tilly his hand, "You good?"
Tilly scowled at Ed but took his hand and let him pull her up, "I'm fine," She said as she brushed herself down.
Before they could continue with their lesson, they were interrupted by a loud cry from Frenchie, "Ship ahoy!"
Ed and Tilly turned to look at each other, "Let's put the lesson on hold for now," Ed said.
Tilly nodded and the two of them hurried over to when the crew were quickly gathering around Frenchie,
"What have we got?" Stede asked,
"Looks like a merchant ship," Frenchie said, holding a telescope up to his eye, "…it looks pretty still actually."
Izzy snatched the telescope out of Frenchie's hand and raised it to his own eye, "Looks abandoned," he said, "Sail's torn, railing's broken, I'd say it was hit by storm,"
"Is it worth raiding?" Stede asked,
"If it was hit by a storm, the crew probably left in a hurry and didn't take much with them, so it could have any number of treasures on board, ready for the taking," Ed said,
"Or it could all be water damaged and covered in dead crew," Izzy countered,
"Worth going and finding out though," Ed replied.
Stede clapped his hands together, "That settles it then. Get ready to board, everyone!"
"My first ever raid!" Tilly cried, "This is exciting."
Ed's eyes snapped to Tilly and he frowned, "Ah, well…" He glanced over at their abandoned sticks, still lying on the deck, "I'm not sure that's the best idea,"
"You heard Izzy, it's abandoned, nothing is going to happen,"
"Alright," Ed said, but the frown still remained on his face, "But you are not going on board until somebody has done a full sweep of the ship."
Tilly shrugged, "That is fine by me."
It didn't take long for the Revenge to catch up with the abandoned merchant ship. As Izzy had described, the ship was battered, there wasn't a single part of it that didn't look like it had been damaged. There was a layer of water on the deck, like it had been hit by a storm, as Izzy had suggested.
They lined the Revenge up with the ship and Fang and Pete slide some boards across to form a gangplank.
"Fang, Archie, with me," Izzy called as he jumped up and walked across to the ship. Fang and Archie followed them, and they set about doing a preliminary sweep.
It didn't take long for the three of them to complete their search of the ship and make their way back,
"So?" Ed asked,
"The place is definitely abandoned," Izzy reported,
"Looks like the crew abandoned ship," Fang said,
"There is a ton of water everywhere though," Archie said, "You have to wade through the halls."
Izzy hummed in agreement, "The ship's going down, we should be quick and get out of here before that happens."
Stede nodded, "Alright everyone, all aboard!" He stepped onto the gangplank and made his way over to the ship, closely followed by Ed.
Lucius offered Tilly his hand and helped her up on to the gangplank. She carefully walked over to the other ship, then Ed helped her down at the other side.
"What are we looking for?" Tilly asked, looking around the ship. There wasn't much on deck, presumably everything had been knocked overboard in the storm.
"Anything you want," Stede said,
"Anything valuable," Izzy corrected, "Don't bring back to any old tat,"
"If you want it, then it is valuable," Stede said with a smile.
Ed took hold of Stede's hand, "Let's go have a look," he said and pulled Stede below deck.
Tilly and the rest of the crew also made their way below deck, some of the splitting off from the group every time they reached a new room. Like Archie had said, a shallow puddle of water lined the corridors, and they had to wade through it as they explored,
"Must have been a nasty storm," Wee John said,
"Surely everything's going to have water damage," Jim frowned.
Suddenly, there came a cry of delight from behind one of the doors. The crew all looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then Frenchie reached out and opened the door to reveal Stede and Ed standing over a piano,
"We're so taking this," Stede said, and Ed smiled at him,
"Oh, yes," Tilly cried. She pushed past the others and made her way over to the piano. She ran her hand along the top of it and smiled to herself. It wasn't anything special, but it looked stable enough. She lifted the lid and hit a couple notes, "It's in tune too," she marvelled.
"How are you planning on getting that back to the ship?" Izzy sighed,
"Somebody got it in here in the first place, it can't be that hard," Stede replied.
Ed took hold of one side of the piano, "Fang, can you give me a hand with this?"
"Sure, Boss." Fang walked over and took hold of the other side of the piano,
"Ready? Lift!"
Fang and Ed lifted the piano and took a few steps towards the exit,
"I'll get the door," Tilly called, rushing over the get in front of them.
Fang and Ed carefully carried the piano up to the deck of the ship, with Tilly walking in front of them, watching out for anything they could catch the piano on.
"How are you planning on getting that over the gangplank?" Lucius asked,
"Umm…Carefully?" Ed replied.
Ed, Fang and Tilly all stared at the planks for a moment,
"Okay, how about I go over first then I can keep an eye on where you're stepping?" Tilly offered,
"Alright, let's try that," Ed agreed.
Tilly jumped up onto the gangplank and made her way back to the Revenge. She knelt down by the railings, so the planks were at eye-level. She nodded at Ed and Fang, and Ed gingerly stepped up onto the gangplank.
"You're good," Tilly called as Ed stepped backwards across the plank. Ed nodded at Fang and he too stepped on to the plank, "Just a few more step. Careful with your left foot there, Edward, you're getting close to the edge."
Ed stepped down onto the deck of the Revenge. He took a few more steps backwards so that Fang could step down too, then they carefully placed the piano down.
"Excellent!" Stede cried.
The three of them looked over to see him standing by the railings of the other ship.
"And I look what I just found: the perfect addition to it," He held up an old battered piano stool with a large smile. He made his way back to the Revenge and set the stool down in front of the piano.
"Can I?" Tilly indicated towards the piano.
Stede nodded, "You can play?"
Tilly smiled as she sat down at the piano, "I teach piano," She explained, "Well, I used to." She let her fingers dance over the keys, and she started to play the first song that came into her head: an old song her mother had taught her a long time ago. She was so absorbed in her music that she didn't notice that all the crew had stopped what they were doing and had gathered around her,
"Wow," Lucius breathed, drawing Tilly back to the real world,
"You're really good. We should start a band," Frenchie said.
Tilly blushed at their praise, "Thank you, my mother taught me to play." Tilly looked over to where Ed was standing next to Stede. Instead of the look of awe the rest of the crew were wearing, Ed was looking at her with a look that could only be described as misty-eyed nostalgia.
"We should move the piano," Olu said, "It'll get damaged out here,"
"Yes," Stede agreed, "Let's move it to the jam room."
Fang walked over to the piano and took hold of one of the sides, "Well, this will be easier than bringing it over here was."
Wee John took up the other side and together he and Fang carried the piano below deck, with Pete following behind them with the stool.
The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, with the crew all going back and forth between the Revenge and the stranded ship, collecting up everything they could find. Eventually though, they had all the treasure aboard and the crew settled down for the night.
The moment the ship was quiet, Tilly slipped out of her bed and made her way down to the jam room and the piano. She lifted the lid, then sat down and started to play.
"You look like Mum."
Tilly stopped and turned to see Ed standing in the doorway, "Do I?"
Ed hummed as he walked over and perched on the stool next to Tilly. "I remember watching her play when I was a kid. She can't have been much older than you are now."
Tilly smiled and put her hands back on the piano keys, "Come on, play with me," She said, "There's no way Mum didn't teach you too."
Ed sighed with faux reluctance then rested his hands on the keys too.
Tilly picked the first song her mum taught her to play, a song she was sure her mum would have taught Ed too.
After a moment Ed joined in and the two of them played to the quiet ship, well into the night.
