Because I'm going to be ending The Lost Phantom and I want to start on my new story soon, I'm going to sort of finish this story a bit quick. You may be upset, but I promise you, the next book will be worth the wait... err, less wait. I estimate that I'll probably have another six to ten chapters, whereas before I probably would have had closer to fifteen. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I'll be trying to finish this book up in the next two weeks so I can have the new starter of the new series after that.
Chapter 23: The Miscellaneous Fleet
Davy estimated that it would take about two weeks to get to Tortuga, but they had gotten lucky with the winds of this season, so he figured they may be able to make it in one and a half. Once they were a few days from Raven’s Cove, the living crew had gathered up their lost mates and put them each into a large wooden box with some heavy weights in it, along with their prized possessions. They were cast into the sea where they sunk to the sea floor. Some said things about the deceased, others simply stood and watched, unable to say a thing. And then finally came Matt in his wooden coffin. Billy and Sam seemed to be taking it the hardest, having lived with him years before Davy had come to Tortuga and met them.
“Matthew Scurvytimbers,” Billy said, with a few tears running down his face. “I’ve known you for twenty years. You were as much a brother to me as Davy was, and I’m glad to have met you. You were one of the best sailors I’ve ever met, your knowledge of the mast and the helm more than that of a man who had sailed for double the time you had. I… thank you, for everything. For rescuing me from angry pirates in Tortuga, for being one of my big brothers. You’ll live on in my memories, and you’ll be remembered aboard this vessel as a hero, and a loyal friend.”
Billy choked up at that point and walked off, not wanting to watch or say any more. Sam was not one for short speeches, and instead decided to just say a simple goodbye and thank you to Matt. And then he was cast into the sea.
Davy, now that they were done saying their goodbyes to the deceased, went into his cabin to rest and write in his log. He had only been in the cabin for a few minutes before he heard a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he called, looking up to see who it was. He saw Billy walk in through the door, quietly shutting it behind him. Davy smiled. “Ahoy Billy.”
“Ahoy Davy,” he said, walking around the room. He was silent, examining all the paintings on the walls, the objects on the furniture, and the view of the dark sea reflecting the cloudy sky. Davy watched his brother as he examined all the little details of all the little things, before finally turning to Davy with a small grin. “Not exactly as I remembered, but its been ten years, hasn’t it? Ten years I’ve been gone.”
Billy chuckled and sat down. “I just thought I would come in… we never really got to actually catch up, savvy? We never got a chance to say… to say anything of importance, really.”
Davy nodded, “You’ve no idea how much I’ve missed you all these years. There wasn’t a day where I didn’t think about you at least once. I never forgot what you did that night.”
“Neither did I,” Billy said, stroking the small goatee on his chin. “What do you propose we do now that El Patron is out? And it seems as if he’s got a whole fleet of ghost ships as well. That ghost ship you encountered coming into The Cove was probably just one of them.”
“Aye, but I can’t help wonder why,” Davy muttered. Then they heard a knock on the door. “Come in!”
Meg came through the door, and she had a rushed look on her face. Something was wrong. She held a spyglass in her left hand, her right hand pushing open the door. She was sweating from the hot sun that had beaten down upon the crew, as they had gotten far enough from Raven’s Cove to get away from the storms the island seemed to attract.
“Davy, you’d better see this,” she said, beckoning for him to come and look. Puzzled, Davy stood up and walked outside. He followed Meg to the starboard side of the hull where she pointed to an area in the distance. It didn’t take very long for Davy to notice the small fleet of ships. He estimated that there were probably five to seven ships, of varying hull classes. He shrugged.
“Just a fleet of ships, what’s the big deal?” he asked.
“See for yourself,” Meg replied, handing him the spyglass. Davy peered through it at the fleet. He could tell that there were about seven ships, as he estimated.
“There’s a ship flying Spanish colors… probably a merchant vessel. There’s a frigate that’s not flying any colors… perhaps it’s a pirate vessel towing it. And that’s the… Royal Navy?”
Davy kept examining the ships until he realized that they were not an organized fleet, but a random assortment of ships. A British ship would have never sailed next to a Spanish ship without firing. Something was strange with these ships.
“I believe that I have an explanation,” Davy said after a few minutes of thought. “And I don’t like it. I heard rumors before we left for Raven’s Cove about ships disappearing, sailors coming off ported ships and acting strange. Then we learned that ghosts could take control of mortal bodies. That would also explain the ghost ship we saw. That fleet there, it’s a ghost fleet. Chances are that somehow some ghosts got aboard those vessels and took over. Several ships that were hijacked by ghosts came together to form this fleet. We still don’t know why, but we need to move. It looks like they’re heading for Tortuga, in our direction. I’d rather that we don’t get near them.”
Davy turned to face the crew, most of whom were now watching the fleet carefully. “Mates, change of course! This problem is worse than we realize! Make a heading for Cuba, near the mouth of the Pantano River!”
“Cuba?” Billy asked.
“We need help from someone who knows everything about the sea. Someone who is a master of voodoo, as I think that we’ll be needing that for what I am going to do,” Davy replied.
~~~~~~~~~~
The journey to Cuba was not too long. In fact, it only took about three days before Cuba was sighted. It was much closer than Tortuga and was not very far off their original course. As the ship docked, some of the crew went into the small port near Pantano River’s mouth to get some repairs done to the
Shadow King. After they left, Davy and Billy went alone to the Pantano River. The boat that remained after the larger portion of the crew went to get repair and food supplies was not very big, only fitting two people. So Davy and Billy used what they had.
They traveled fairly light. They wouldn’t need very much. They had a few canteens of water and rum, a few small tidbits of food, and then their swords. Very little in the ship’s armory was of interest to Davy, but he finally settled on a simply made saber, with a blade about the length of his old sword. It was a bit light for him, but he decided to make do with it.
Quietly, Billy and Davy rowed their small boat up the Pantano River to get to their destination. Davy still hadn’t told Billy who they were going to see, but Billy had a feeling he knew. He had a vague memory of when he served Jolly Roger about the skeleton leader mentioning something about a witch living in the swamps of Cuba.
After an hour of tiring rowing, they stopped the boat next to a small shack on stilts, several meters above the swampy water below. It was run down, but it had a solid roof to protect against any rain, and there were lights from inside, showing life. Davy tied their boat to a wooden beam and then followed Billy up the steps. They arrived at the door, after ducking to avoid a snake slithering on a low branch, and Davy gave a soft knock on the door. A moment later, the door opened, revealing a tanned woman that seemed ageless. She spoke in a thick accented voice, with a smile that seemed friendly but rather scary.
“Ahh, Davy Fireskull,” Tia Dalma said. “’tis been a long time since I have seen you.” Then, turning to Billy, she said. “And I thought you were dead.”
“It’s a long story, involving the rise of El Patron, Tia,” Davy said, interrupting. Tia didn’t seem surprised.
“I know he has risen. I have sensed it,” she said. “He is powerful, rising hundreds of people as ghosts. If he succeeds in his objective, he will be unstoppable, but I am not the person to answer your questions.”
“What?!” Billy said. “We don’t have much time! We need to destroy him as soon as we can, or he’ll be too strong to destroy later! We don’t have time to go and search for answers ourselves, to ‘find our own paths’! If you don’t tell us what we need to know, then who will!?”
Tia Dalma chuckled. “I think that your brother knows the answer to that, William.”
Billy winced at his full name. It had been a long time since he had heard it. He turned to look at Davy, who had a look as if realization had just dawned upon him.
“Well Davy, who can tell us?” he asked. Davy looked back at him with a determined look and spoke the name.
“Tiberius. Tiberius Fireskull knows.”
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Again, I'm sort of rushing these chapters because I am sort of abandoning this story-line, and I want to start the next. The stuff I'm cutting is really just stuff that is more of adding on to the main plot. Not really necessary for a whole chapter, but it makes a nice one anyway. For example, I'll turn a long voyage that I would make one chapter into a few paragraphs. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, but I again want to get moving along.