A Pirate Tale

[andyspins]

This Is just a little short story I wrote.

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A Pirate Tale


I grabbed my lantern and trotted out onto the deck, it was dark and deserted. I had been selected to scrub the deck. Again. It seems that all of us that joined the crew at the last stop, Ireland, had been at the bottom of the pile. All the dirty work, we scrubbed the deck, we were the ones that went hungry when food was low. It was probably just because we were the newest, but part of me still wondered… “Ahoy Edward!” I jumped, startled, “Oh, it’s you Davy? Gave me quite a fright there!” Davy was also from the newest batch of sailors, assigned to watch duty no doubt. “Well, best be getting to work,” I said. I then hunkered down and started scrubbing the crusty deck, slowly breaking down the encrusted barnacles. This went on for hours, painstakingly swabbing and rubbing, all across the deck, there were a couple sticky spots, but I’m not sure I want to know what they were. When the long tarry was over, I crawled into my hammock above the powder kegs, and drifted asleep.

I was awoken to the sound of the Captain shouting, “all hands on deck! Bloody get up here!” The crew stared to rush towards the door, creating pandemonium, pushing shoving, and punching, I finally made it out on deck. There the crew was lining up in front of Captain Daniels, he then said, “A ship has been spotted from the crow’s nest, it’s on the horizon now, but we be approaching it fast. So arm yourselves! Load the cannons! Prepare for battle!” I rushed down the creaky stairs to the armory, I grabbed a broadsword, which was pretty unique to me, most others used cutlasses, 6 flintlock pistols that I tied to my belt, a large rifle, and plenty of ammo and powder. I went back up on deck and saw that there wasn’t anymore work for me to do, before the Captain managed to change that I hurried down to the hold. There some of the new fellows were gambling, they used a bandana with 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 printed in squares on it, and a dice, you placed your bet on a number and you win if the dice rolls that number. I grabbed a bottle of grog and sat down, “Pick your number,” said the dealer, who today was a chap nicknamed Blackpowder. “5!” cried out Davy, as he set down two doubloons on the number. I called out, “3!” Another crew member picked one, and the last also picked 5. Blackpowder rolled the dice, it was a 4, “to the dealer,” he said with a wretched smile. “Numbers!” Davy stuck with 5, muttering something about Leprechauns, I chose 6, and the other 2 went with 4, suspecting Blackpowder of using a weighted dice, we all bet 2 doubloons. He rolled again, “Well, it looks like Eddy here will have a bit more cash,” he said as he revealed a 6. I took the money, but just then there was a commotion on deck.

I rushed up the stairs and was greeted by the sight of the other ship only 100 yards away, it was flying a jolly roger, and it hadn’t seen us yet. “Raise the British flag,” the Captain ordered, “we’ll start the fight when they’re least expecting!” We soon pulled up next to the ship, I was hiding behind crates, Captain Daniels got on one knee like he was surrendering, I pulled out my rifle, took aim, and the enemy captain staggered and fell into the water. The two crews then open fired, after the initial rounds were fired I jumped between boats and drew my broadsword, when I looked forward I saw one of their crewmembers running at me like a mad man. I drew one of my pistols, but he was too fast for my finger, I dropped to the ground and rolled out of his sword’s path. As he was raising his sword for a blow I steadied my hand and shot him, he landed on top of me and I barely escaped his blade. I shrugged him off and looked for the next opponent, I saw a different opponent with much more finesse, I ran over and locked swords with him. He twirled and jabbed, but his cutlass wasn’t made for that kind of fighting, I parried a couple of his blows, then spun my broadsword and he fell to his knees bleeding, I grabbed his cutlass and stabbed it into the rigging as I ran past. It fell on some people, but didn’t disrupt the fighting that much. I saw Captain Daniels fighting the first mate, and he was losing. When he saw me he grabbed my arm and shoved me in front of his foe, on reflex, I jabbed my sword into his stomach. “Uh, thanks,” the captain muttered as he ran away. I survived the rest of the fight, but what the Captain had done was always in the back of my head.

We got back to the ship, and the Captain was ready to divide up the plunder, He cut half for himself, which resulted in a couple of grunts, but nothing major, he then took a fourth of what was left and gave it to the first mate, he gave 50 gold coins to all the older crew members, he then gave all of the new guys 10 coins each. “What’s this!?” Davy cried in outrage, “I fought out there, and all you give me is 10 doubloons?! What the bloody” he was cut off by Captain Daniels putting a hole in his thigh. He immediately passed out from pain, the Captain then took his 10 coins and kept for himself. “Get in the crew quarters! NOW!” screamed the Captain. The crew stayed there for the rest of the night. When I came up the next day, Davy was dead on the deck.

“This is out of hand,” I said to the crew. “Well what are we supposed to do about it,” spit Blackpowder, “waltz up and tell him our bloody feelings?!” I looked at him, and said, “mate, have you ever heard, of a mutiny?” The room hushed. Then silence was broken by a man called Scurvy, “I’m in.” The room chorused with the agreement. “Then it will be done,” I said, “here’s our plan, we’ll strike at night…” And so the plan was made, and the battle was to start.

The night came, and at midnight the mutinous crew took daggers, and stuck as many of the sleeping crew as possible, after 5 of them one woke up and shouted, “attack! We’re under attack!” He then bleed out on the floor. The battle started, guns smoked, blades clashed, and the air smelled of smoke and fear. The fight slowly moved upstairs as the surprised crew fled and were chased by mutineers. After a while the Captain heard the commotion, he burst out of his cabin shouting “WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Luckily I was standing out his door. With my gun. “Hah! You’ll never hit me that aim!” the Captain sneered. But I wasn’t aiming for him, I was aiming for the powder keg that had been stored under my hammock, which had been placed next to hid door. The Captain saw the keg, “Oh” but that was all he got to say before the keg exploded full force. The Captain (or pieces of him) flew into the water. The rest of the crew quickly surrendered. I walked up to the helm, raised my sword, and declared, “I hereby christen this ship, The Vengeful Clover!”
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Note:There won't be any more chapters, it's a stand alone.