OK mates... I will be posting every Monday, but since I had this chapter done, I decided that I would post a day early, just for you. So, without further ado, I give you:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enraged
Once Christopher had turned 16, after his ship, the
Shadow Executioner, had been built, and he had recruited his closest friends, William Goldwalker and Pirate Guy, to be on his crew, they were soon ready to begin the maiden voyage of the
Executioner. While the crew was loading the ship up, their parents stopped by. They were all saying how proud of their children they were, how, hopefully, they would rid the island of the dreaded, demonic Royal Navy. There had always been a rule in this part of the island that pirates were not to be spoken of. The parents forgot about this rule.
Before the young men could do anything, their parents were forcefully yanked into the middle of a large circle, composed of Navy Sergeants.
“Speaking of pirates, are we, ey?” yelled one of the guards.
“After this, I think you will be able to keep your mouth shut!” shouted another one.
The soldiers started a mosh pit, pushing all of the adults around, and laughing. This went on for about 5 minutes. During this time, Chris was busy thinking of a way to rescue them. Nothing came to him. Instead, he shouted, “Leave my parents alone!”
He was pushed out of the way by one of the guards. “Bloody boy! Do you not
see what is happening to them?” he questioned “Do NOT let this be you, kid!”
By the time the man had finished talking to Chris, the soldiers had moved on to a gruesome part of their humiliation. The men had their bayonets and swords drawn, ready to strike. First one blow, then another. After only 30 seconds, the crew’s parents were bruised, cut, and stabbed. Seeing this caused Chris to become enraged. Far more enraged than he had ever been before, times ten. The crew’s parents were scrunched together in the center of the circle.
Then came the truly horrific part. Six men disbanded from the circle and grabbed one of the parents each. Now bruised, bloodied,
and man-handled, the parents did not resist. They were lined up shoulder to shoulder. An officer walked down the line, inspecting each one of the accused.
“So, you think you can talk about pirates, do ya?” he questioned happily “About how they are going to someday free you filthy peasants from the divine ruling of the Royal Navy on your island? Well think again! I run this island! I DO! There will be no talk of pirates amongst ANY of you! And just to make sure that this does not happen again, I will make you a deal. MEN!”
The moment the officer spoke this word, each man who was holding a prisoner was joined by another soldier. There were now a total of 12 sergeants in front of the officer. Just then, as if it were second nature to the sick, cruel soldiers, they uniformly pulled their swords out and held them to each culprits’ neck.
“I will give each of you
peasants one more chance.” said the officer “Recant what you said, about the pirates rescuing you from our clutches, and you will be freed. If not, you will be sent to the fiery depths of below. If you wish to recant, do it now! Anyone? No one?
Good……”
The way that the officer said that last word sent chills down Chris’s spine. He said it with such happiness, as if he were happy that he was sentencing six people to death. Chris only saw the officer nod to one person, yet one after the other five of the bodies fell. The only one left standing was Christina, Christopher’s mother.
As her turn for death approached, she spoke “I love you Christopher.” She said, dripping with tears “You are destined for great things. I know it.”
Everything after that happened in slow motion for Chris. The blade in the sergeant’s hand started to move. Terrified, Christopher watched, etching her mother’s bloody, broken face into his mind. This image would forever haunt him. He saw the scarlet-red blood starting to drip from her throat. He looked down, seeing only more brokenness. Her hands were shredded to pieces. Her chest, bruised from bayonets. Chris watched in pain, but as the body started to fall, he forced himself to look away. He heard the body fall, and that was it. The street was abandoned. Six bodies lay in the middle of the road.
“Time to go, mates,” Christopher said. “It is time to set this island free. Finish loading up the ship, then tell the crew that we are sailing towards Port Royal.”
“WAIT!” a female voice shouted breathlessly “Captain Ironhawk, I would like to join your crew.”
“Why in the world would you want to come with
me?” Chris spat out.
“Because I saw what those guards did to your parents. They did the same thing to my parents. Right down to the taunts. The four of us have the drive and the fuel to wipe out the Navy.” she explained “Plus, I think that I would make a great addition to your team.”
“Oh yeah?” Ironhawk questioned “Why’s that?”
“I can work a voodoo doll. Very well. I was trained by Tia Dalma herself. She taught me the ways of the art. I do not like to attack, but when I do, I can silence an enemy permanently in one shot.” she went on “My healing is very powerful. I can patch up a gash in nearly seconds. Like I said, I would be a good asset to the crew.”
Chris thought about this for a moment. “Do you realize how dangerous this will be?” he questioned “You may not make it out with your life. You sound like you would be a good asset to my crew, and I am willing to allow you to help, but you need to realize that you will be risking your life.”
“Yessir, I understand. I truly think that this is my destiny,” she said with passion. “to help you in your quest against the Royal Navy.”
Chris liked the way this girl thought. “Alright, meet us on the
Executioner in exactly 10 minutes. If you aren’t here, we are leaving without you.”
She was so excited that she was back in seven minutes, bags and all. Captain Ironhawk showed her to her sleeping quarters. Then, it hit Chris that he had not asked her for her name. “What is your name, anyway?”
“Goldcastle. Charlotte Goldcastle.”
“OK, Goldcastle, I am Captain Christopher Ironhawk. Welcome to the crew.”
She looked to be no more than 20 years old. But anyone who could handle a doll as well as she could was welcome on his ship.
On the ship, Chris spent many of the days at sea on his top deck, where the Captain was able to clear his mind. On the third day at sea, Charlotte came up to see Ironhawk.
“Is everything alright, Chris?” she asked sympathetically “You have been up here for days. Is something on your mind?”
Chris hesitated for a minute, then said, “Before my parents were killed, I thought that I was just doing this to save my country form the evil grasp of the Navy.” he paused “But now,
now it is personal. I WILL avenge my parents’ death. The Navy had no right to do that. I will make an oath to strike down every Navy swine that I come into contact with. As we do this, their forces shall shrink, and ours shall grow. When I believe the time is right, we will raid their most heavily-guarded fort, Kingshead. That will teach them. That will teach them to mess with Christopher Ironhawk, the most powerful pirate to ever sail within the Caribbean.”
“Christopher, I know that the Navy did a bad thing. I do not agree with them, but I think that you are taking this a bit far. OK, you are mad, and you want to get them back, but do you realize how many of them there are? For all we know, there could be 10’s of thousands of them!”
“I know this, and we will figure it out when we get that far, but for right now, we will do all we can to stop the Navy from doing anything that will upset the balance in the Caribbean. The war between the two forces has been going on for years, centuries, even. But today,
today, this war becomes personal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This chapter was pretty hard to write because of how descriptive I had to be during the executions. The thought of losing parents, aye? I can't imagine the feeling. But I think that I nailed the feeling that I would have if my parents were taken from me.
I can just imagine Char dragging all of her suitcases up the gangplank, filled with her potions and dolls. Love ya, Char!
Anyways, did I do awesome? Terrible? Should I stop writing all together? Let me know what you think, mates.
~Chris Ironhawk