The Pirate Raiders (19 page)

“So how do we handle the questions we’ll get Cap’n?”

“We’ll tell them that Hale died during the night, and we took it upon ourselves to bury him at sea.  There will be some on the crew that will be angered by this decision, but they’ll understand when we’re able to explain it later.”

“What about the other poor bloke?”

“I’ll deal with that myself when it becomes known who he was, you just follow my lead.”

Langley nodded and then the two of us spent the next half hour cleaning the mess off the poop deck the best way that we could.  I later returned to my bed, where Andrea still enjoyed a deep sleep.  I envied her for that.  For when the sun finally rose, I
felt far too tired for battle.

Chapter 16
:

As expected, many members of the crew were disappointed and angry that Langley and I decided to dispose of Hale Woodrow’s body during the night.  They felt it was disrespectful, and all of the men made their feelings known.  Gordon Littleton led the usual charge and I did the best I could to diffuse the situation and turn the men’s attention back to the job at hand.  It also quickly became known that another member of the crew was missing.  A young lad by the name of William Bonner could not be found anywhere on the ship.  After searching for almost an hour I finally, rather somberly, declared to the men that poor William must’ve fallen overboard at some point during the night.  This was not too uncommon of a thing so getting the men to believe it was not much of a chore.  The most unfortunate thing about this was the fact that it seemed to add to the dismay and discontent of the men.  I needed their minds on beating Captain Trimble and his crew, but now it seemed all they could concentrate on was Hale Woodrow and William Bonner.  I felt a tremendous amount of guilt for lying to everyone but at the same time I had to tell myself that it was an act that very well may save their lives.  Anything I could do to ease any pain they were feeling for their lost shipmates was something I was obligated to do under the circumstances. 

The first moment I saw Andrea was an awkward one.  Or, it was awkward for me at least.  Andrea, on the other hand, gave me a devilish smile and a pat on the derriere when she strolled past.  The previous night’s activities had obviously done wonders for her and I was glad to see at least one member of the crew seemed happy. 

When
Neptune’s Castle
finally sailed within sight of Small Hope Bay, I peered through my scope and witnessed a rather concerning site.  There were two ships up ahead, both of them had damage and it appeared that they’d been enthralled in a pretty nasty sea battle.  There were plumes of smoke rising from one of the ships and as I strained my eyes to get a better look, I swore that the ship looked like the
Jane
.  Two of the ship’s three masts appeared to be broken and they were flailing about in the wind.  I guessed that they must’ve gotten entwined in the rigging from the ship’s third mast.  It was amazing to see that it was able to withstand the extra weight and strain.  I wondered if it could truly be the
Jane
.

Had Ricardo beaten me here?

I turned my attention back to the other ship.  It was a truly massive vessel and it was unfamiliar to me.  Its sheer size and firepower rivaled that of my own.  The ship had damage also but it was not nearly as significant as what had been inflicted on what I thought to be the
Jane
.  Andrea, Gordon, and Langley stood idly by my side waiting for some word regarding what I could see. 

“There are two ships ahead…they seem almost dead in the water.  One of them looks considerably worse than the other.  We’ve obviously just missed a battle.”  I brought the scope down from my face and handed it over to Andrea.  “I think that one of those ships is Ricardo’s.  Take a look at the other one and tell me if it looks like the
Sea Witch
.”

Andrea peered through the scope and seconds later brought it back down.  Her expression told me all I needed to know before her nod confirmed it.

“That’s it,” she said.  “That’s my father.  I can just barely make out the red jack on the main mast.”

With those words I began shouting instructions to all of the crew.  Langley and Gordon helped in the effort and in less than a minute my men were at their appropria
te battle stations.  The time had finally arrived and I couldn’t believe my luck.  It seemed that Ricardo had already done damage to Trimble’s ship, and hopefully he'd killed a portion of the crew too. I was concerned about my friend’s well-being, but now was not the time to dwell on it.  We were going to take advantage of the vulnerability of the
Sea Witch
and hopefully put an end to Trimble’s reign of terror and any concerns about King Solomon’s signet ring, whether they were true or not. 

I fully expected to see some sort of movement by Trimble’s ship as we approached, and when I didn’t I grabbed my scope again to see if there was any movement on the
Sea Witch’s
decks.  I could see what remained of her crew, and they seemed to just be content with watching me approach. 

How odd, I thought.  Something didn’t feel right about any of this.  It felt as if we were sailing right into a trap.  I turned my scope back upon the other ship and what I saw made my heart skip a beat.  I pulled the scope away and rubbed at my eyes for a long moment.  I knew I was exhausted from lack of sleep and what I’d seen could’ve easily been construed as a hallucination.  I sighed and then took another look through the scope.  I saw the same thing again, and now I began to feel panic.  What I’d thought were broken masts flailing about in the rigging wasn’t masts at all.  Now it was very apparent that what I was seeing was indeed tentacles. 

The kraken
!

If I had not seen it with my own eyes
, I wouldn’t have believed it.  The monster seemed to just be holding the ship in place.  It’s long, grey tentacles rose up every side of the ship and the
Jane
seemed to be resting on the creature’s body.  Suddenly, it all began to become clear to me.  Ricardo, or someone on his crew, had evidently squealed to Trimble about our plans of attacking him.  It seemed to me that he was holding the entire ship hostage until we arrived.

“We’re almost within range to fire,” Robert shouted from the waist.

“Hold your fire until I give the order!” I replied.

I wondered how long it would be before someone was able to make out the kraken, and how the ship would react to it.  It didn’t take long at all. 

“A sea monster is taking that ship!”

That was the first cry I heard from someone on the poop deck.  From then on the men became frantic, some of them even leaving their battle stations in hopes they could get a better look near the bow of the ship.

“Back to your stations you sea dogs!  You’ve got duties to attend to!”  I roared the command with all the authority I could muster and it seemed to work.  The men snapped out of whatever trance that had taken over their senses and began to wander back to their respective stations.  Some of them I had to bark at individually and whatever scowl they directed at me I returned tenfold. 

“Whatever sea monster is trying to send Ricardo’s ship to Davy Jones locker will fail to do so on our watch mates!  Ready your guns and prepare to send that beast back to the hell from whence it came!”

The men roared in unison and again readied their guns and cutlasses. 

“It’s not the creature you need to attack,” I heard Andrea say behind me.  I turned to face her.  “It’s the
Sea Witch
you need to hit first.  It’s my father that is controlling the kraken.”

I considered what she said and soon came to the conclusion that she was right.  It was Captain Trimble that I’d come for and he was in a most vulnerable position.  We may never have a chance like this at him again.

“You’re right,” I said.  “But I’ve got to try to do this in a way to save Ricardo.”

“That’s very sweet of you, but I don’t know that you’ll be able to find a way to do that,” she replied, that annoyed tone of hers
had returned.

“Well, I’ve got to try,” I snapped, and then I directed the crew to train their guns toward the
Sea Witch
. 

“No one fire until I give the
order!” I reminded them again.

As we drifted even closer to the two ships, I grabbed my scope again and searched for Captain Trimble.  I peered at the quarterdeck until I spotted an older fellow with a tattered bicorn hat upon his head, and he wore a long dark canvas coat.
  The majority of his face was heavily scarred and a black eye patch covered his left eye.  The evil-looking man had to be him.  I handed the scope to Andrea and asked her to confirm my suspicions, which she did.  I then ordered Gordon to go and fetch my speaking trumpet from within my cabin.  If there was any chance of saving Ricardo, I was going to have to at least try and reason with the man.  When we were finally close enough, I took a moment to adjust my hat and I then gave it my best shot.

“Captain Trimble,” I shouted into the trumpet.  “I see that your ship has damage.  Order your beast to release that ship or I will be forced to finish it off.  Don’t make me sink your vessel.”

I watched as a member of Trimble’s crew brought him his own speaking trumpet through which he made his reply.

“Captain Redd, I presume?” he shouted with a raspy, high-pitched voice.  “I don’t think you fully grasp the severity of your situation, lad.  I can have that ship crushed in a matter of seconds and then I can turn it on you before you are able to sink this ship.”

“You’re not going to turn that creature on me, Trimble,” I replied.

The savage pirate seemed confused, and finally asked, “And just why won’t I, captain?”

At that moment I reached behind me and pulled Andrea forward, I put my cutlass to her throat.  She squealed in response, obviously taken off guard by my action, which was exactly how I’d planned it. 

“What are you doing?” she muttered nervously. 

“Trust me,” I whispered.

“Is that my daughter?” Trimble asked, surprise in his voice.

“Aye it is,” I answered.  “She’s a pretty lass and although it’d be a shame to hurt her, I won’t hesitate in doing so unless you command the beast to release that ship!”

Trimble held the speaking trumpet by his side for a long moment and stared blankly in my direction.  Our ship had now drifted close enough that the speaking trumpet wasn’t necessary anymore.  He seemed confused by what I’d just said, which in turn confused me.  Then, after a long pause, he began to laugh. 

“Do what you must,” he shouted.  “But just know that if you do not tell me you’re going to surrender by the count of five, I will order that beautiful animal to crush that ship into tiny pieces of kindling.  There will be nothing left…now, ONE…”

“He doesn’t care about me, I told you that,” Andrea said, pulling away from me.

“TWO!” Trimble shouted.

“What about the bloody chest full of rum?” Gordon asked.

“THREE!”

“There’s no time, he’ll kill everyone on that ship…you need to surrender now and we’ll reveal the chest afterward,” Andrea said.

“FOUR!”

I noticed Trimble raise his right hand and the golden ring that I could only guess to be the ring that once belonged to King Solomon glistened in the morning sunlight.  I could literally see the muscles within the kraken’s tentacles begin to tense up.

“Alright, I surrender!” I shouted quickly.  I then ordered all of my men to drop their weapons.

Captain Trimble slowly lowered his arm and an evil grin formed on his etched and weathered face.  For the first time I could see his face well and I could see the burns and eye patch on the left side of it that Andrea had told me about. 

“Good decision, lad,” Trimble answered, and then he ordered his men to board our ship.  They threw grappling hooks over our rails and pulled the two vessels together.  I noticed that Trimble, although he moved quite well for a man his age, still suffered from a slight limp.  No doubt a result from all of the injuries he’d sustained from the battle with the
Dawn Breaker
all those years ago.  He gingerly climbed over the railings of both ships and stomped his boots onto the waist of
Neptune’s Castle
loudly to make his presence known to all.  He spat on my ship when he boarded it then marched straight up to me.  He pulled a dagger from his belt as he approached and I suddenly became very concerned. 

“Where did you find my daughter?” he asked, speaking as if Andrea could not even hear us. 

“I helped her escape the gallows.  You don’t seem very happy to see her.” I said.

“Happy to see her?” he asked in disgust.  “Why would I be happy to see that little sea devil?”

I noticed him glance over at his daughter, and I did as well.  Andrea stared at the deck, but when she made a quick glance at her father I could tell there was something else going on here.  Something I hadn’t been told about.

“You should watch out for her, lad,” he said pointing his dagger at her.  “If she’ll try and kill me, her own bloody father, just imagine what she’s capable of doing to you when your back is turned.”