The Lost Phantom

[Meg McBones]

This is really good Davy! I like it! Guess that everyone have their story... just not Meg.. she just *poof* appeared haha :')
- hands Daisy a rum bottle -

[The Stealthy Pirate]

Thats a good one mate!! - throws rum -

[Tiberius Fireskull]

I made a bit of an edit to one of the paragraphs. You may not see it as extremely different, but it is important for me to put in here. It is when Joanna is explaining about ghosts of Raven's Cove.

Joanna raised her head to look at everyone. Billy sat up, and she explained, “You see, when a human soul is resurrected on Raven’s Cove, that soul is invincible so long as they are on Raven’s Cove. It is their one spot where they cannot die. Likewise, if a person is resurrected as a ghost, they will no longer be in the form of a ghost when they leave Raven’s Cove, except during the night, when they change back to their ghostly form. Night has special powers, you see, similar to Raven’s Cove. It is the time when evil things reveal themselves, so naturally it is when a dead person’s true self shows, and they turn from flesh and blood to a ghostly silhouette. During the day when they are human, they can be harmed as if they were a normal human, but come night, they will reform as a ghost in the spot where they were slain. At night, as ghosts, they are extremely hardy and difficult to kill, but it is possible. Their strength is incredible and one slice from one of their cursed blades will be fatal to most, unless they have a protective charm, which is rare. They are also able to take control of another mortal's body. There is only one known item that is capable of taking down these ghosts easily and resisting their powers. Either way, these ghosts are very difficult to defeat, no matter how you approach them.

[SEAKING23]

Nice job Davy - hands rum -

[Davy_Mcwrecker]

HOLD UP A SEC!!!!!!!! I MUST MAKESURE THE RUM ISNT POISONED!!!!
*Intercepts rum and drinks rum gone*

Ahhhhhhhhh,,, it's no- *BURP* not poisoned.... :P

NEXT CHAPTER!!!!

[Robert Ironcastle]

HAHA!Lulz. Now,NEXT CHAPTER!

[Tiberius Fireskull]

Here's this next chapter mates. It's got a pretty cliffhanger ending, so I think you'll all either love it or hate it haha.

By the way, most of this story has taken place on Raven's Cove, and I'm not sure if any of you are getting sick of that setting. In case you are, I'll inform you now that the setting is going to change very soon and the plot is going to speed up a lot in the next few chapters. There is probably going to be a lot more action in the next few chapters, with quite a few fight scenes. Anyway, here you are! Oh, and I made another minor edit. Tiberius's ship is no longer Riptide Warrior. It's Dark Phoenix.

Chapter 20: Moonlight

The tunnel wasn’t completely dark. It was dim, but Davy could still see a few meters in front of him. The torch that one of Foulberto’s crew members carried also provided a bit of extra light, so there was more visibility. Not that there was much to see anyway. There was only stone, rock, some cracked stone, and the occasional fungus clinging to the walls or living in corners. It was a perfectly drab and boring tunnel, and Davy thought about how maddening it must have been for Foulberto and his crew to be trapped in here for so long, isolated from any other people, living or not. The only sound was the drops of some source of water in the cave, and the soft thud of Davy’s feet and crutch which had been provided for him to lean on, due to his bad leg. Finally, Davy broke the maddening silence.

“How long does this tunnel go on for?” Davy asked to Foulberto.

He grunted in reply. “It’s not incredibly long, I’d guess. The problem was that when we were stuck in here, it was cursed so that we would end up going in circles, never to get to the exit area. But now, we can get out of here, hopefully. I’d imagine that we’ve got perhaps another eight hours, give or take. You can hold off that long, si?”

“With the occasional break, I’ll be fine.”

“Bueno!” Foulberto said, clasping his hands. “You have a way to get off this infernal island, si? A ship?”

“Assuming she hasn’t been hijacked or sunken, then yes. The Shadow King is her name. She’s a strong ship.”

“A strong name as well,” the ghost said. There was a pause in speech, and sound returned to the rhythmic footsteps. Davy desperately looked for something semi-interesting to examine to prevent himself from going mad from the lack of scenery. He looked down at his clothes again. He was able to find some fresh clothing before him and the group left their primary cavern. He was able to find a pair of loose trousers with minimal wear. He also was able to scrounge up a blue striped shirt with short cut sleeves. He managed to find a short, red jacket to cover up most of the hideous shirt. He was also able to find a red sash belt, probably one of the few nice pieces of his outfit. He hated the clothes, being someone who was usually concerned about looking his best, and these threads didn’t flatter him at all. He made a note to himself to never wear such baggy trousers if he could help it. Eventually, the silence became unbearable once again and Davy had to break the silence again.

“So how do you plan to take El Patron down, once we escape here,” Davy asked Smasho. He thought he noticed a glint of annoyance in the ghost’s eyes, but it quickly faded away as he answered the question.

“I’m not completely sure yet,” Smasho said, chewing his lip. “We’ll figure that out later, amigo. For now, we need to worry about getting out of this tunnel.”

Davy raised an eyebrow, sensing that the ghost was hiding something from him. He decided to ignore it for now, and said something else. “Did you ever meet Tiberius? Tiberius Fireskull?”

The question seemed to catch Foulberto off guard. He hid any sign of expression from his face, showing indifference that really did not exist. He thought for a moment about his response as they continued walking.

“Tome treinta minutos. Except you two. Go scout ahead,” Foulberto ordered. The ghosts stopped and sat down, resting their muscles, assuming they had any. Davy figured these stops were only for him, as these ghosts probably could walk for days straight and never need rest. Foulberto beckoned for Davy to sit down across from him as he seated himself. Davy followed suit, and they sat in silence as Foulberto thought of his answer.

“I can’t say anything good about that scoundrel,” he said carefully. “After all, it’s the fault of that desgraciado that I ended up being locked away in this Godforsaken place. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have suffered this horrible fate, and perhaps I could have lived my life in peace, and I would have actually found… I suppose you want something a little less abusive about your ancestor.”

Davy nodded slowly. He could understand why this person would hate his Great-Great Grandfather, the pirate hero, but he did want to hear a few somewhat unbiased statements about him.

“What can I say?” Foulberto muttered. “I’ll say he was a powerful warrior, to be certain. Perhaps one of the best of his time. I cannot be certain, but I believe that he was born in England. When he was young, he crossed over to the Caribbean with his family. Somehow he got into piracy, and I think you know how he met us. But his sword fighting skills were amazing, as I said. He could wield just about any blade perfectly, be it a rapier, broadsword, or a simple cutlass. He cut down seven of our men in the course of about a minute, if I remember correctly. He was also very bold. His boldness was just as prominent as his sword skills. He knew he was taking a daring risk when he attacked our crew, but he did it anyway. Either he was bold, or extremely stupid. He was captain of a ship called the Dark Phoenix, and had a mighty crew of sailors that were extraordinarily loyal to him. They were also extremely deadly with the weapons they had, be it sword, gun, knives, or hatchets. They were ferocious in battle, stronger than we were, obviously, which is why we were defeated.”

“And what of Tiberius’s sword?” Davy asked. “The Divine Cutlass?”

“Si, si,” Foulberto said through his teeth. “That blade. It was a strong sword. Many people believed that the blade was forged by a gypsy… no, it was not. The origins of the Divine Cutlass are unknown. What is known is that it is not of mortal make. It is believed to be an ancient blade, forged by the gods themselves. It has many powers, one of them being that it was able to counteract the darkness of our Cursed Blades. The Divine Cutlass was superior, and that is the main reason why he won. Using that blade’s divine powers finished us off.”

Davy took that all in. He knew that there was definitely more to know that Smasho didn’t know about, and most likely information that he wasn’t telling him, but he was content for now. The group of ghosts and Davy sat for a few more minutes, the ghosts quietly whispering amongst themselves and Davy remaining silent. He pulled out some food from a pack and nibbled on it, then drank some water. Once through with eating, he leaned back against the cave wall and yawned. He was just about to go to sleep when he heard yelling from down the tunnel. His eyes snapped open and his hand reached instinctively for his dagger, but he quickly realized it was just the two scout ghosts returning excitedly, which Davy thought as a strange emotion for someone who was dead. They started talking in fast Spanish to Foulberto, who eagerly stood up. He made nodding motions with his head as the two ghosts spoke and gestured down the tunnel. Foulberto dismissed them, and then spoke.

“Everyone, our two scouts report that the exit is not far from here,” he announced. “Let’s get a move on, amigos! We can make it to the exit very soon and feast our eyes on blue skies once again!”

The ghosts cheered in their raspy ghost voices, and followed the scouts as they lead the way to the exit. They walked for a good fifteen minutes or so in an excited silence before Foulberto nudged Davy. Davy turned to see what the ghost wanted, and he saw him pointing up. Davy looked upward to see that the roof had turned from sold stone to a more claylike substance, with roots poking out. Davy could faintly smell fresh air. The sweet smell of fresh air. The whole group picked up their pace without really noticing.

About five more minutes passed, and the tunnel slowly started getting larger until it formed an archway that lead into a room. The group examined the room in awe. It seemed strangely out of place in the midst of all the rock and earth around them. It looked similar to an underground cellar where food or alcohol was stored. There were barrels that lined the sides of the room, as well as some stacked up crates. The ceiling was quite low, likely only about two meters in height. On the other side of the room was a short staircase that led to a trapdoor. The exit.

“For two centuries we have been trapped in this Hell,” Foulberto said in awe. “Now we can finally leave.”

He strode to the staircase and climbed up a few steps until his back was pressed against the wooden door. He called some of his crewmates to come and help him out, and with a mighty heave, they pushed and the door moved upward, letting in the moonlight. It seemed to be storming outside, and rain poured into the room. Davy noticed a bright light flash and then moments later the loud boom of thunder. Foulberto took no notice and closed his black eyes, walking up the steps into the air.

~~~~~~~~~~

The rain soaked Davy as he weakly stepped out into the rain. They had emerged in between two cliff faces. To their left side was a dead end, but to the right side there was a path that lead to the Raven’s Cove beach. A flash of lightning illuminated the path, and Davy could make out the choppy waters of the sea. He turned to see Foulberto as he helped the last of his men out. He then stomped his foot and bellowed as loud as thunder.

“MEN, WE ARE FREE!”

There was a loud cheering from the crew. Davy looked in wonder at the ghosts as their glows slowly disappeared and the black ghostly substance they were made of slowly turned into flesh. He watched as the crew examined themselves in awe.

“Real flesh,” one said. “It has been too long.”

“Ghosts of Raven’s Cove turn to flesh during the day,” Foulberto reminded them. “It must be day time now, despite the blackness of this storm. And there can only be one cause for a storm such as this…”

Davy noticed Foulberto’s hand edge towards one of his throwing knives. With a movement faster than the lightning that struck moments later, Foulberto drew one of the knives and sent it flying to something behind him. There was a grunt of pain and a thud. Lightning flashed, revealing the figure of a human body laying on the floor, a knife protruding from his throat, blood pouring out from the wound. Foulberto approached the figure and brutally yanked out the knife. He spat on the face of the person, and looked around him.

“Too afraid to face me one on one, you dog?” he bellowed. “Come now El Patron, even you aren’t as low as that!”

He knelt down, rubbing the blood of his knife and putting it back in its leather holder. He drew a pair of long battle daggers, and bellowed. He heard the sound of laughing in reply. Foulberto’s crew turned to the source to see the outline of a figure walking towards them from the darkness, surrounded by several others. Lightning lit up the night once more, revealing El Patron and nine other crewmates of his. El Patron had a large, black blade drawn, which he swung casually as he approached Foulberto. He was dressed in full Spanish Armor, minus the helmet. His long black hair whipped in the wind of the storm, and his eyes, even when he flesh and blood, had the faintest glow of red. Davy backed up nervously, knowing he was in no condition to fight El Patron.

El Patron did not make any move to fight, nor did his crew. Instead he walked up to his former first mate and his crew and stared at him for a few moments. He glanced at Davy at one point, taking note that he was indeed alive. He finally spoke.

“Well then Foulberto, I see you have made it out alive as well,” El Patron sneered. “Has your punishment in your little hole helped you to gather your thoughts?”

Foulberto scowled at El Patron, holding up his knives. “Aye, I’d say that it has.”

And then Foulberto did what Davy had never expected him to do. Davy watched in horror as Foulberto sheathed his daggers, and shook hands with his former captain.

“Welcome back to the crew, Mr. Smasho.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------

There you have it mates! I should be rolling out chapters really fast now, perhaps even two a week if I'm lucky. School's out tomorrow, so I will have a LOT of free time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to come!

[Captain Sharktooth]

You used the divine powers of the Divine Cutlass? Makes sense, I like it.... xD

That ending was surprising, I must admit. I'm anxious to see the next chapter!

[The Stealthy Pirate]

Dun dun dun!!! That was good mate!!

[Robert Ironcastle]

Well.I believe I speak for all of us here to say that the ending was somewhat.....unexpected,to put it mildly.

[Tiberius Fireskull]

This chapter is a bit more lengthy, but its very good, filled with a lot of action. I think you'll all like it, as I did very much. Anywho, enjoy!

Chapter 21: The Glowing Sea

Matt Scurvytimbers sat in the cabin that normally belonged to Davy. As the captain while he was away, Davy permitted him to use the room to work on writing logs and plans. Right now, it was close to night time aboard the Shadow King. The crew would most likely be below decks, playing cards or chatting before bed. It had been almost a week since Davy and the others had left to go and find El Patron. The first two or three days hadn’t been too bad. The crew had busied themselves making temporary repairs to the ship using wood from the ruined Raven’s Cove docks, practicing their voodoo and swordplay, and joking with each other, among various other activities. But after the third or fourth day of this, things began to get boring. The pirates were used to having to do things all the time, and the sitting and waiting got excruciatingly monotonous. The crew began to get restless. They spent most of their days after that playing cards and doing other activities to pass the time. There was very little to do other than that, and with all the storms that had started, the upper deck wasn’t used much, ruling out activities that required space, such as swordplay.

Matt sat back in his chair and let out a sigh, stretching his stiff muscles. He stood up and walked around the cabin. He glanced at the windows, and saw that the stormy weather hadn’t changed. Rain loudly pelted against the windows, and the occasional flash of lightning lit up the choppy waters of the cove. Matt hoped that the weather would get better before they left, because any sailor knows that trying to get out of a narrow cove like this one in a ship as large as the Shadow King is extremely risky.

He once again examined all of the possessions around him. On one wall was a painting of a man whom Matt knew to be Henry Fireskull, Davy’s father. He wore a wig and a feathered hat atop his head, and was garbed in a long coat with a purple shirt underneath. In his right hand was a cane adorned with several small jewels, showing off the wealth of the family. Davy had taken it from the ruins of his former home in Port Royal several years earlier, along with another few items that were once his or Billy’s. Including one of Billy’s toys as a child.

Matt walked over to the dresser and pulled open the bottom drawer. He rummaged through loads of clothing, cursing at how Davy cared too much about how he looked, until he found the toy. He pulled out a simple little stuffed bear. It was worn with age, and much of its once brown, velvet fur was now gone, exposing the stitching of the toy. One of its button eyes had fallen off, and there was a growing tear in its back. Matt held it for a moment, remembering his old friend. He felt like he could almost hear him now, yelling his name. Sam too, who had lived with him during the time he had lived with Billy. And… was that Zolina?

Matt put the toy away as he heard a loud rapping on his door. He hurriedly went to the door and opened it. His jaw dropped in awe as he saw the owner of the toy he was just holding.

“B-b-billy?” he stuttered. “But… ten years ago you… how are you here now… and…”

“Easy there, mate,” Zolina said, stopping him. “We’ve got a lot to tell you.”

The more-shocked-than-he-had-ever-been Matt sat down in his chair as they began telling their tale. All the while he stared at Billy, examining his friend who had been dead for ten years. He listened as they told how they found Billy, without any memory and not knowing who they were, and then how they entered El Patron’s Mine. Then onto when they found El Patron was almost free and their separation with Davy, to their encounter with Joanna the ghost again. Dog had said that they had rushed as fast as they could to get here, going for almost twenty hours through the pouring rain.

“And Davy is still out there…” Billy muttered.

“What do you propose we do?” Matt asked. “I mean, with El Patron up and about he could be well on his way to these docks to attack us! I’d say that we haven’t got more than a day and a half before he gets here, and I’d rather not meet him and his ghosts.”

“Well we can’t leave him!” Billy said.

“And we won’t,” Sam interjected, before Matt could respond. “I say we wait two days. We can send a search party out tomorrow morning. We’ll find him. But I have to agree, we can’t stay here forever. If we are all killed, El Patron will have won, and there will be nobody to warn anyone else of his rising.”

“You’re the first mate,” Matt shrugged. “But be aware that the crew may mutiny against you if worst comes to worst.”

Sam nodded. “But while I’m here, you follow my orders. We’re in a dangerous situation and we can’t risk anything.”

“Aye then,” Matt said, nodding. “It’s late now. We should probably get below decks and get some rest. You can find some provisions, if you’re hungry.”

The group exited Davy’s cabin into the pouring rain. They couldn’t see any change in the light, but they could tell that it was night time. On Raven’s Cove, you could always feel it. They hurried through the pouring rain, moving to the stairwell that led to the crew’s quarters. They could hear the crew below decks, singing sea shanties and cursing as they lost a game of cards. The group eagerly wished to get into that dry room and have something to eat, out of this horrible rain.

But something felt wrong. Dog noticed this, frowning and stopping. The others continued on as Dog tried to figure it out. Then he noticed a slight glow out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see it, and called the others over.

“See that glow in the sea?” he yelled through the thunder and rain. “Right over there.”

“What in the name of…” Billy muttered. There was a patch of the sea, a bit bigger than the size of the captain’s quarter’s aboard the Shadow King, that was glowing a bright orange. And it was moving closer. Ghosts.

“Oh God,” Zolina gasped. “They’re attacking sooner than we thought!”

“Over there, too!” Sharktooth yelled, pointing to the dock. Sure enough, there were about twenty glowing ghosts walking down the beach and coming onto the dock, preparing to board the Shadow King. They had waited for night to attack, when they would have been stronger. These ghosts; however, didn’t look like El Patron’s crew. They seemed to be other souls that had been resurrected by El Patron. Some appeared to be Conquistadors, some looked as if they were pirates or sailors, some others looked to be townsfolk. They all carried a weapon of some sort: swords, daggers, pistols, muskets, whips, and even chain-shot cannonballs. Their red eyes glowing with hate, the ghosts on the dock slowly made way for the boarding plank, while the ghosts marching underwater began to climb on deck.

“SOUND THE ALARM!” Sam bellowed. Dan ran to go and ring the alarm bell near the steering wheel. “Dog, go and and knock over the boarding plank before the ghosts reach it. That’ll slow them a bit. Prepare for battle!”

The alarm bell rang with a deep gong, and within less than a minute the crew of the Shadow King began to pour on deck, taking note of the ghosts and drawing their weapons. The ghosts began slowly pouring onto the deck, and the battle began.

~~~~~~~~~~

Davy heard bells on the other side of the steep, rock cliffs of the canyon he was in. He knew the bells anywhere. The Shadow King was being attacked. But right now he had to worry about what was happening right now. The one ghost he thought he could trust had just shaken hands with El Patron, and there was little he could do to fight, should a fight come.

“Its good to be back, Captain,” Smasho said. The crew of El Patron was now turning back into ghosts. Night had fallen, meaning they would be more difficult to defeat. Not that he had a chance at all. Davy exploded in rage.

“Why!?” he snapped at Smasho. Smasho casually looked at him. “You fooled me! You were with him from the start! You don’t want to kill him, why did you need me?”

Foulberto laughed, and looked at Davy. “I think that the both of us had different interpretations of my deal, amigo. It will all end the same, though.”

“Yes, and that will be with you being dead, Fireskull. Although I truly was hoping that had been accomplished two days ago in the mines…” El Patron said, drawing his sword. Davy backed off, drawing his dagger. He knew it would be pointless to fight, but he wasn’t going to let El Patron simply kill him. He limped backwards and stumbled. El Patron’s deep, booming cackle filled the canyon, overpowering the thunder. Davy looked his attacker in the eyes, his bright red eyes. He raised his sword and Davy shut his eyes for what he thought was the last time. But before El Patron brought the sword down, a shrill howling pierced the air.

Everyone turned to see where it came from. Davy had to turn his head to look behind him and see the glowing red figure stood still several meters away. Davy could vaguely make out the form of a woman through the heavy rain. It was Joanna. She had activated the rage within her and returned to the deadly form of a Rage Ghost to come to Davy’s aid.

Before El Patron could say anything, her figure moved with astounding speed and tackled El Patron. In shock, El Patron’s crew ran to their captain’s assistance as Davy crawled to his feet and began limping away.

“Go Davy Fireskull!” Joanna cried. “The elevator! Make for the elevator! I repaired it and it is not far from here!”

Davy didn’t look back. He moved as fast as he could towards the dim form of the elevator in the distance. He could hear the sounds of a fight behind him. Once he had gotten about half way to the elevator, which was now about twenty five meters away. He now dared to turn back. He saw the dim form of Joanna being held down by El Patron’s ghosts, and then El Patron running a blade through her. Her light faded and she was gone.

Realizing he didn’t have much time, Davy began to change his pace from a quick walk to a limping jog. He didn’t look behind him, but he heard El Patron yell, “Bring him to me alive! I want to kill him myself!”

Davy started to run, his leg protesting in agony. He stumbled a few times, but picked himself up quickly. He quickly started hearing the sound of ghosts behind him through the pouring rain. Lightning illuminated the area in front of him and he could see the elevator. He looked behind him, and saw the ghosts gaining. He didn’t have much time. In one last boost of energy, he sprinted onto the elevator platform and dived into the elevator, pulling the lever as he fell. The elevator rattled and started raising slowly. Davy weakly stood as the ghosts closed in around the base. The yelled in rage as Davy got away. Davy took several deep breaths as the elevator rose. After a minute, the elevator reached the top of the cliff and stopped. Davy stepped out and peered down through the rain. He cursed loudly as he saw that the ghosts hadn’t given up the chase just yet. Using the rope that the elevator ran along, they climbed up the cliff to get to Davy. He didn’t have much time. Davy turned and jogged down the path that had lead to the rope bridge. Then, he noticed a second side path. He turned to see a few ghostly hands emerging from the cliff’s drop. Making a quick decision, he went down the new path as he heard the ghosts finishing their climb.

This path was much more narrow, with one tall, steep wall on the left side, the side that the other path was on, and one shorter wall on the right side, about three meters high. Davy quickly turned around to see the crowd of ghosts coming up behind him. The path made a sharp left turn, and Davy rounded it quickly. A bit too quickly. Davy immediately backed up as soon as he made the turn. The path ended about a meter in front of him, dropping off into the cove of the island. Below him, Davy could see the form of the Shadow King, dotted with ghosts. The drop was far, and the stormy grey waters below him looked anything but welcoming. But Davy reconsidered that when he looked behind him. The ghosts had caught up with him. The lead ghost grinned, pointing his sword at Davy.

Everything seemed to grow silent. Davy held his dagger in a battle ready position towards the ghosts, his feet just inches from the edge of the precipice. There was nothing but the sound of rain and the faint sound of a battle going on hundreds of meters below.

“Here you go!” Davy said, throwing his dagger at one of the ghosts. In that moment, Davy cursed himself for getting into this situation, and dived into the stormy waters below.

--------------------------------------------

There you are mates. I suppose you could consider this ending a cliff hanger... considering that Davy actually jumped OFF the cliff...

[Robert Ironcastle]

Not so much a cliff hanger as a cliff.....jumper?
Excellent chapter.Although I am a bit sad to see Joanna go.

[Captain Sharktooth]

Ooh, I liked that chapter! The dialogue was good as well!

[The Stealthy Pirate]

Good chapter mate!!

[Tiberius Fireskull]

Here's the next chapter. I really like this chapter. Its filled with action, some drama, the death of a main character, and some hints of whats to come later in the story. Its a lengthy chapter, so be prepared for a longer read. Enjoy!

Chapter 22: Battle in the Cove

Billy saw him fall. He didn’t see him very well, it was just a quick blur before he hit the water. But he knew. It was Davy. He cried a tear of joy, but nobody saw it, for it was raining too hard. The other reason was that the ghosts had now flooded the deck of the Shadow King. Billy quickly ducked, swung around, and ran his broadsword through a ghost’s belly. The ghost stumbled backward and fell to the floor. He slashed a ghost’s face behind him and then drove the blade into the chest of the fallen ghost as it was picking itself up. He finished it off by twisting the blade and driving his dagger, which he held in his other hand, into the face of the creature. It screamed in pain and faded away.

Billy cursed as a ghost slashed through the back of his shirt. He spun around and slammed the ghost hard with his sword. It flew sideways and stumbled off the edge of the ship into the sea. Billy glanced around to see that the ghosts now were outnumbering the ship’s crew. The only reason that most of the Sorcerors hadn’t died yet was because a fair percentage of the ghosts were not trained fighters, or they didn’t have effective weapons. Either way, there wasn’t much time left. There were simply too many ghosts to fight against. Right now, though, there was Davy to worry about.

Billy sprinted to a different level of the ship and looked to see if he could spot his brother. He looked desperately, shouting his name. A ghost came up to attack him, but he simply cleaved his sword down onto the ghost’s collar, grabbed the ghost’s hair, and threw him into the sea. Desperately he looked one more time to see if he could spot Davy… and there he was!

Davy had just surfaced and was weakly paddling toward the Shadow King. He truly was alive. Without thinking, Billy unbuckled his sword sheath from his belt, dropped all his metal accessories and weapons, and dove into the sea. He surfaced, the salt water and rain stinging his eyes. His hair was a wet mess now, the ponytail that normally stuck up now just a part of his messy hair. The choppy waves were tall, and as he took a breath he ended up swallowing a mouthful of sea water.

“Davy!” he cried through the storm. Thunder shook the island and lightning lit up the seas. He spotted Davy. He could tell that he didn’t have the strength to keep floating. He slowly was starting to go under in the storm. Billy called his name one more time and began swimming in his direction as fast as he possibly could. Billy paused a few seconds for air, looking for Davy as he did. There he was, less than ten meters in front of him. They made eye contact for a minute, but nothing was said through the storm. They both swam towards each other again, but then the unthinkable happened. Billy froze as he looked below the weak form of Davy, and saw the dim form of a glowing ghost swimming up from the sea floor.

Billy tried to call for Davy, but the sound of thunder and rain covered his warning up. By the time Davy felt the icy could touch of the ghost on his ankle, he was under water.

“Damn it!” Billy screamed. He looked under the water for his brother, but didn’t see him. After a moment of desperate searching, he saw the orange glow several meters from him. The ghost surfaced for a moment, letting Davy get some air. It appeared that the ghost wanted Davy alive, likely to bring to El Patron. Billy swam furiously to reach the ghost, faster than he had ever swam before. Right as the ghost dived under water, Billy grabbed Davy from him, and yanked him up as hard as he could, bringing the ghost with him. As he came up, Davy made a gasp for breath and was able to get free. The ghost screamed in rage as Billy grabbed its neck and delivered deadly punches to its face. He finished by freezing some of the sea water around him into a group of ice crystals and drove them into its face. The ghost lifelessly sank to the sea floor, its glow fading.

“Billy…” Davy choked. Not choking out of happiness of seeing his brother, but choking due to sea water that had made its way into his windpipe. He coughed up the sea water as Billy grabbed a hold of him and began side stroking back to the Shadow King, where the battle was steadily getting worse. After a few minutes of paddling, Billy and Davy climbed up a ladder in the stern of the ship and collapsed onto the deck, luckily where no ghosts were fighting. The two brothers laid, drenched and chilled to the bone, on the ground, exhausted and panting. Nothing was said, the sound of the battle almost in a different world.

“Seems like every time we meet up again, we’re separated, eh?” Davy said finally, with ever so small a smile.

Billy chuckled. “Aye, I wonder how long it’ll be this time.”

“Well it won’t be ever again if you guys don’t come and help us out!” a voice said. The two brothers sat up and looked towards the stairs to see Sam standing there. His hat had been blown off in the wind, and his clothes were torn from battle. He had several bruises over his body, which showed through his tattered clothes. There was a small cut on his lip that was dripping blood. Other than that, he looked more or less okay. “Its total Hell down there!”

“Good to see you too, Sam,” Davy muttered.

“I’m sorry Davy,” Sam said apologetically. “I just think that it would be nice if we could do all the reunion formalities after we ensure that we will live?”

Davy nodded, drawing his dagger. “Not much to fight with, but it’ll have to do until I can scavenge a blade.”

Davy moved as quickly as his damaged leg would carry him down the steps. He saw Billy and Sam disappear into the crowd, surrounded by the attacking ghosts. It wasn’t looking good now. There had to be at least forty ghosts aboard the Shadow King, with about thirty five to fight, perhaps less considering how many were probably wounded or dead by now. Davy heard a sword swing as he stepped down on the main deck where the battle took place. He ducked down as a sword barely missed his head. He quickly swung his dagger behind him and felt it make contact with the hard body of a ghost. The ghost grunted, but other than that did not show any sign of pain. It swung again and Davy blocked the blow on his dagger. He returned the blow with a punch to the ghost’s jaw. The creature staggered backward, slightly dazed, as Davy delivered a series of quick cuts to it.

Before he could deal an ending blow; however, he felt the presence of another ghost behind him, and turned quickly to deal a deadly slash to its face. He followed through with a powerful head butt to its chest, knocking it backward. He spun around and gave the ghost he was attacking before, who had now gotten back up, a stab to the throat. It screamed in pain, and Davy gave it a few good punches to the face before finally stabbing the glowing figure through the heart, twisting his blade to make sure that it truly was dead. The ghost collapsed to the floor and faded.

Davy turned around quickly, remembering the other ghost, but he was a tad late and the ghost gave him a slash across his upper left arm. Davy cursed as blood began to stain his shirt and trickle down his arm. The ghost pulled his sword back to prepare for a stab, but Davy was able to sidestep it, unfortunately right into another ghost. The ghost hissed and raised its sword to strike Davy down. At the last moment, Davy ducked to the side and the sword cleaved down into the other ghost’s skull. While the ghost was shocked, Davy quickly drove his dagger into its head, twisting and doing everything he could to make sure that the ghost would die. It collapsed as Davy withdrew his blade.

He now attempted to get through the crowd of fighting pirates and ghosts, attempting to find some of his officers. They needed to figure out a way they could escape this battle. And then he saw Matt. He was locked in combat with a white ghost. Foulberto Smasho. Davy, horrified, tried to move through the sea of fighters to save his friend, who was losing the battle, but he was too late. Before his very eyes, Foulberto disarmed his friend, driving one dagger into Matt’s stomach, the other slitting his throat. Davy watched as his crewmate, officer, and friend crumpled lifelessly to the floor, blood staining the area around him.

“No!!!” Davy bellowed in rage. He charged at Foulberto, bringing his dagger down on him. His foe calmly brought up his two daggers and blocked Davy. He twisted his blades and Davy’s dagger flew out of his hand, skittering across the blood soaked deck. Smasho gave a small kick to Davy’s chest, sending him falling to the floor, just a meter away from the dead form of Matthew Scurvytimbers. He held a dagger pointed at Davy, a silent warning not to move.

“You swine!” Davy roared. “You treasonous, villainous, monster! How do you live with yourself?!”

“I wouldn’t really say live,” Foulberto said, gesturing to his ghostly form. “But as I said, I believe we had different interpretations of my offer.”

“You’ve killed too many of my friends and crew tonight, Smasho!” Davy said.

“Ha! Too many? Fireskull, El Patron wanted to kill you all here and now. I, on the other hand, want you all to survive this attack. I’ll leave you with the thoughts of all these lost sailors in your head, so you know what you are going up against. I assure you, amigo, this is just the beginning. El Patron and I have some different plans, you see. And mine call for you to live just a tad longer, which is why this attack is over.”

Smasho barked a few orders in Spanish, and the attacking ghosts looked at him, puzzled. The battle paused for a moment as the exhausted Sorcerors backed away from the ghost or ghosts they were fighting to catch their breath.

“NOW!” Smasho bellowed. The ghosts all nodded and faded away until they were nothing. “I’ll see you very soon Davy Fireskull.” And then Smasho was gone.

Davy surveyed the deck of his ship. There were over a dozen of his crewmates dead, including his long time friend. They came to Raven’s Cove with over forty crewmates, and now there were probably twenty five or thirty. Too many people were lost, and Smasho had said that this was just the beginning. He examined his exhausted, bloody and bruised crewmates.

“Mates, we have little time,” Davy said, weakly standing. “I wish we had time to rest, but we do not. We need to leave Raven’s Cove and make for port right now. Make for Tortuga! Once we are on our course you may all rest, but right now we must work more! Bandage any wounds fast, but I want to be leaving in the hour! Go!”

The crew weakly began to go to their stations. There were slight adjustments to stations due to the many losses that had occurred that night. As Davy wished, the Shadow King had exited Raven’s Cove within the hour, making way for Tortuga, away from the stormy island of Raven’s Cove.

~~~~~~~~~~

“You did what?” El Patron roared, glaring furiously at Smasho. Smasho did not flinch or show any sign of fear to his captain. Foulberto had just arrived back on El Patron’s ship, El Tyrano, where the rest of the crew waited. They had successfully made a tunnel just large enough through the cliff for the ship to get through. The crew was awaiting orders to begin sailing through, but El Patron wasn’t giving any orders until he was done with his first mate. “You let them go?! You fool! We could have had them!”

Foulberto calmly opened his mouth to speak, “Captain—”

“Shut up!” El Patron said, giving him an infuriated slap across the face. “You let them get away! The Great-Great-Grandsons of Tiberius Fireskull, who locked us away! The ones we swore vengeance on!”

“Captain!” Foulberto said, with calm assertion. “Patience is key. If we kill them now, what if we need them later? You are rushing things, Captain. They will die anyway, once we have what we want in our possession. Do not act like this was our only or last opportunity.”

El Patron snorted. “Very well then, but I will not forget this. I was generous enough to accept you back into this crew instead of leaving you here on Raven’s Cove. Do not disobey me again.”

“I won’t, Captain, I assure you that,” Smasho said. “Now, what do you plan to do?”

“We must locate the Blade of the Damned,” El Patron said. “The ghost ships that I sent out may have located it by now. If not, we’ll need to search the Caribbean. Although I believe that I know someone who may know the location…”

“Then we will find this person?” Smasho asked.

“Yes we will, and we will then find what we are looking for. And when we do, the Fireskull brothers will wish they had died tonight.”

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Any comments? I'm hoping that I can finish The Lost Phantom this summer and start the next book. I'm very eager to get to the end of this book... you guys will love the ending...