I decided to throw out another chapter, rate and put some comments up on how you like it and I may continue.
Chapter 3
A Call To Arms
As the Sun rose for the next morning, John woke up, alert due to all of his years of military training. Engraved in his mind were the monotonous sounds of shuffling feet as the preliminary year of training in the Navy required everyone to be alert at all times, which meant even when asleep the officers would arbitrarily wake up the Navy Cadets and then wake them up repeatedly and come to attention and back to asleep to build good instincts and training. Also, years of training prepared me for these kind of situations, where I was stuck in the midst of a pirate territory. Even if it was Port Royal, it was common sense that Pirates always lurk around and even though some of the Navy soldiers believed it was extinct of Pirates, Pirates were everywhere and were dealt with every day. The idea that Pirates exist at Port Royal is haunting to some, but others it is a fact of every day life. Kind of like you can not have a coin with heads but no tails, just as you can not have Navy without pirates. It is a balance kind of way.
But enough of that nonsense, I shook my head and the first thing in his mind was how was I going to get through town with a Navy Soldier outfit in the morning? Pirates are in the shadows of alleys, waiting for some unsuspecting Navy soldier to walk by and then mug him, take all of his important documents, valuable weapons, doubloons, and then throw them into the forest, where all evil lurks.
The forest of Port Royal is an evil place, where all darkness haunts and devours anyone who dares step too far into the forest. Any man who has walked down the beaten down path has never been seen again. Some say it is an evil spirit looking for revenge, but others look at the forest as a bigger picture, Jolly Roger looking for spirits for his skeleton crew. Whichever one it is, being in the forest is a death sentence for any who walk inside there.
So step one: dress as a Pirate. There is no reason why John thought he should be going down the steps of Port Royal dressed in a big red coat, like a bulls eye target. While thinking of this, John spots a ragged pirate running arbitrarily around the streets, drunk and intoxicated. The drunken man was running around at a jogging pace, until he tripped onto a rock and face planted straight into the ground. Because of the weakened state of the drunken man, falling over did enough to knock him out completely, maybe for an hour or two. But ten minutes was all John needed. He pulled the man into the bushes, stole his coat and his hat, took the boots and put them all on. He took his switchblade and put some cuts into his pants, and then threw some dirt onto them. Finally he made the pants look more "piratey" by cutting the ends of them making them look ragged and shaggy.
"A true pirate," mutters John and then he walks out of the bushes, the same man but a different look. It just so happens that while he was getting ready to get to the docks for support ships a gang of pirates approached him. "Dang it!," curses John silently, as the gang of pirates approaches him. But there's something strange about the pirates. They were not rowdy, they were not loud, but they were stealthy and ridiculously hard to hear in the birds' chirping. The pirate gang stops, and one man steps out from the center. He had an officious air to him, like he was more important than the rest. He even looked nicer, he had a silver, clean coat, clean pants, a glamorous hat and boots that any pirate would die for.
"Who are you Pirate? I have not seen you around these parts before," said the "officious" pirate. John had to think of something quick to say, and be smart enough to say something that would not get his head chopped off horribly by these pirates and then looted. John replied, "I am a mere sailor. I came here from Tortuga hearing of better things and more Navy to loot. I arrived only to be attacked by two Navy Cadets, not the brightest bunch of people but they put up a fight against my rusty cutlass. I ended up slaying both of them and throwing them into the water, but now I have nowhere to stay during nights and I don't know my way around towns being new and all."
"Well, this be your lucky day pirate, as I feel happy today after our successful raid on some Navy Transporter ships! Me friends here and I will show you around and get you a better cutlass and pistol, but we best make haste, you see that smoke rising from Fort Charles?"
"I do."
"Well, that smoke there is from the Queen Anne's Revenge herself! We have a Call to Arms and we need to get prepared for the battle of our lives. Tonight be the night for cutting some people up! Don't worry though, since you are new you should be getting a musket just to snipe off people from a distance. Not good putting newbies into the front lines and getting themselves killed? Eh?
John nods.
"Well, I guess I forgot to mention about who I am. I am Sarvanueli – Pirate Commander of the forces in Port Royal and formerly an Officer in the Spanish Maine. You?”
“I am John Dufaux, from Tortuga.”
“Well John Dufaux, let’s get you a tour of Port Royal quickly before Blackbeard’s men come walking all over this place from Fort Charles. More than likely he strikes at night, where he gains more power and energy from the Moonlight. Here, I actually have a spare sword in my possession. I looted it off some Navy Lieutenant, nice sword I must say but mine is still the best," he said in an eerie tone.
“Thanks, where to then Commander?” John had a sense he was back in the Navy, with the positions of each person and their rankings. Maybe Pirates weren’t as disorganized as he originally thought.
“Here let’s get you a tour of Port Royal. Pirates, go sharpen your blades for the next fight, get ammunition, I don’t care what you do, as long as you are prepared to win.”
The Pirates shouted in a happy tone, “Aye Aye Commander!” Then the Pirates dispersed into their own businesses of preparing for a battle.
“Well John, get all your stuff and let’s go-“In the middle of Commander Sarvanueli’s sentence, a deafening bell sounds in the distance. Not once, not twice, but three times.
“God dang it! My apologies to you John, but it looks like that I must go. The Pirates need my help preparing for the battle tonight. It will be a bloody one.”
“What do you want me to do to prepare for the battle tonight?”
“I want you to go grab that musket over there, leaning against the wall and rush back up to that elevated platform near the Governor’s Mansion. The entire Navy is in disarray from the attack on the Fort, so we shouldn’t be seeing any Navy stragglers around during this fight. And now we have Pirates v. Pirates, a true battle to be fought to the end! Enough talk though, you must prepare for this fight, and I must prepare.”
John was curious – he just had to ask: “Commander, what are our chances of winning?”
“Depends, but our chance – infinitesimally small, don’t tell the other Pirates though, they might chop off me head.”
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Not a lot of action, but in the next few I have set some nice little action scenes you should enjoy. Not sure how it is now, but if it is definitely acceptable to everyone I may continue. Thanks!