Post by Light Seer on Jun 3, 2007 19:38:20 GMT -5
Name: Pirates!
Type: Short Story.
Rating/Warnings: Pg-13/14? Some swearing, violence, and adult themes.
Critique Welcome?: Yes.
I was standing by the edge if the ship idly, scanning the horizon. My father used to tell me that if I ever had seasickness, it helped to watch the horizon, and not the water directly below. In fact, watching the water below was more likely to make you even sicker, so don’t even do it. But of course, I had to try it once. Once was enough, and I heaved. No one saw, so I would have been lucky enough not to hear about it later in the gallery. Thank god. The feeling of motion sickness lingered for a while, but I was fine.
A few moments after that, I wasn’t quite sure when, there was a ship off in the distance. It was to be expected since we were nearing our destination. It didn’t look like ship belonging to any navy, so it was assumed to be another merchant ship.
Well, we were half right. It used to be a merchant ship. As the ship approached, headed directly for us, a black flag was raised, billowing high above the sails of the imposter merchant ship. A white skull was printed on the flag with an eye patch blocked out of it, and swords crossed at the bottom. It was a well known flag, belonging to the infamous Captain James Roberts. A plague of fear was spread over our ship as the name Jolly Roger, painted on the side of the rival ship, came into view of my crew. Jolly my-
These pirates were known to be particularly ruthless, and two years previous to that day they had looted 118 ships. Aboard the Pristine we were ready to fend off amateur pirates, but not masters of sin. I ran to the quarter deck, or rather the deck near the back of the ship above the captain’s cabin, to seek instruction. A few other members of the crew followed, and the rest remained completely frozen in place.
It was then that the Jolly Roger raised her red flag. If the black flag was panic, this flag was death. Not only does the flag mean that your ship is under attack by pirates, it means they attack with the intent of slaughtering any resistance. However, they do give you warning. They look on the faces of our crew said enough for them; they wanted a surrender.
I decided I should speak up, since Captain Green did not seem to be doing anything. “What the hell are we going to do?”
Now, Captain Green was anything but a guppy. He was brave, but stupidly so. He decided right then that there was no way we were going down without a fight. If it was lose or die, he picked death. The only problem was that he decided to choose fate for all of us. He brushed his nose, and then pointed at the crew with a serious look in his face. “Attack! Grab your guns!”
I kicked the side of the ship, and then jumped down to the main deck with a heavy thud. Not only was I mad about this, I was enraged. We did not raise the white flag, and because of it I had to fight for my life. I didn’t want that, but pirates were already jumping aboard our ship with their daggers ready. Some of my crewmates were pulling out their pistols and swords, and others were running from the pirates.
I caught a glimpse of Roberts as he lead the command of the attack. He had a high ground, standing on the edge of the Jolly Roger as he directed his crew to encircle ours. They were outnumbered, but the cowards near the frontline on my crew were easy prey. They fell hard when their throats were slit, which stated to break the morale of my crew. They would be easy pickings with the majority lost, and shaking in terror they could barely hold their weapons.
In panic, one particularly brutish guy from my crew threw himself overboard in attempt to charge at some of the pirates. Well, no more village idiot to worry about. He snored too much for my taste anyway. Now a few real fights would break out. Two pirates charged at me, sword in hand, and I promptly drew my sword.
Actually, their swords were of rather poor quality. The hand guards were worn and likely to fall off soon, so I decided that my targets would be their right hands. Now, the best way to get to their weak point would be to wait for a point where they lunged at me first. That didn’t take long, they were very aggressive. I bolted to my left to avoid the pirate on the right. I made a quick turn to my left, before he could retreat from such a forceful lunge and was open to attack, then slammed the blade down on his sword-hand at the same moment. I gained some extra momentum from this movement, so I did not waste much energy or effort. He was not so fortunate, as I broke the hand guard off of the blade and probably bruised his hand in the very least. The second one glared at me, reassuring my death threat as if the fact that they were pirates was not enough for me to understand the danger of the situation.
At that time I could feel Roberts watching over my from his perch. I had to keep focused if I wanted to live through this, and turned all my attention to the second pirate at my hand. He chased me, and I could retreat and parry with enough agility in my feet and wrists that he could not keep up with me. At that point he decided that the best course of action was to put his all into a dramatic lunge to catch me, which in normal circumstances would have been a truly idiotic approach.
However, my back was against the wall of the captain’s cabin. I was trapped, so I had to beat his sword to the side to keep it from skewering me. He used so much force that he lodged his sword into the wood. I slipped out of the trap while he focused on trying to release his weapon, but it did not seem to be going anywhere.
A group of three pirates started to migrate to my corner of the ship, and I knew it would not be wise to take them all on at once. I turned right back around and dashed for the pirate with his sword stuck in the ship, and jumped onto his back. With a push I had managed to leap onto the quarter deck, which would keep them from catching up too quickly. Of course, he started cussing at me profusely.
As I looked around at the rest of the deck, I began to understand why Roberts was watching me like a hawk. I was the only live member of the merchant crew at that point. The mass of pirates started to draw nearer, and I knew that it was over before they had all of their swords pointed at me.
Then something unexpected happened. A loud “Stop!” echoed over the group and pools of bloodied flesh on the main deck. Roberts landed on the Pristine, and walked over to approach me. They obediently let him pass, and he looked at me up and down.
“What is your name, sailor?” he asked me.
I decided I had nothing to loose by telling him my name, and lowered my sword. “Porter.”
Roberts paced back and fourth, and then nodded. “Well, Mr. Porter, I am sure you are aware of my stature.”
I smirked. “Captain James Roberts? Never heard of you before in my life.”
He chuckled with an expression of amusement. “Don’t get fresh with me. I am willing to offer you a deal. We could use someone with more skill when it comes to fencing, and our numbers are low right now. Now, you can either join our crew, or we could kill you right here. The choice is yours.”
I didn’t hesitate before answering. “Well then, I guess I’m a pirate now.”
The Pristine was completely deserted, with the exception of all goods on board. Well, until we moved them al onboard the Jolly Roger. I honestly felt no remorse for Captain Green. In fact, I still think he earned his watery grave being so pompous and all. I actually liked the crew of the Jolly Roger better. They had spine, and they weren’t complete pansies either. Not that I ever wanted to become a pirate, but it was not so bad. There were certain codes we had to follow, such as no brawling. If you wanted to fight with someone, they would drop you off on an island nearby with the quarreling pair. The rules stated that each would have a pistol with one shot, and any additional weapons the pirates owned.
It wasn’t too bad. By the time we were near the island of Hispaniola, I had started to get to know some of the crew. Some I didn’t mind too much, but others I would love to throw overboard. They were too drunk and angry.
The two pirates I was fighting with before, who I found out were named Francis and Jack, were less inclined to pick a fight with me than I thought. I was one of them. I met their acquaintance Ralph, who was easy enough to get along with as long as you were on the same side. He was more intelligent than the others, and it turns out he had slain most of my old crew. It earned him more respect, so people would bother him less whether they resented him for it or not.
On the main deck I approached a group having an argument of sorts, which tended to happen on ships. Then Ralph turned to me. “Porter is a short name, isn’t it?”
I stopped in my stroll and turned to look at him and shrugged. “Who wants to know?”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall to the forecastle deck. “Who do you think? So what‘s you’re name, shrimp?”
I hesitated for a moment before answering. “K-Kyle Porter.”
Ralph snickered. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you stutter,” he added in sarcastically. It did not end that badly. Somehow we got to talking about where we came from. His was the son of a poor farmer, and after a long turn of events somehow ended up on a pirate ship, which caused me to remember something. Part of hating pirates came so easily from dehumanizing them. It really is not necessary though. We all know the risks we take in breaking the laws, and breaking our own codes. Anyone who is caught to be punished meets his end well, and so there is no sympathy. I think that system worked well for me.
Some of the conversations were utterly stupid, mostly resulting in taunting and teasing of some sort. Although, the real trouble started once we landed at the port city. Captain Roberts was interested in enlisting more pirates onto his crew, and the rest decided to hit the taverns. A group of shady people seemed to loom around this particular one. There was music, a few barmaids who seemed to be new to the job, and ladies of the night scattered around the room looking for business. Most of them weren’t very pretty. There was one girl, with very dark hair, who I admit was far prettier than most of the other girls there.
Most of the men in the room were paying attention to her, and she noticed. It did not take long until she walked over to Ralph, Jack and I. The three of us were slightly drunk after having two glasses each. She was looking right at me with a wide smile on her face. I noticed then that she had really dark green eyes, which she probably used to lure tons of men into wasting their pockets on her.
She rested her elbow on the table and leaned her face on the palm on her hand, looking up at me. She was a rather short woman, actually. “You three enjoying your night?”
Ralph and Jack smiled at her, but Ralph was the one to answer her. “I am now.” She gave him a smile, and then turned to me. I blinked, then took another swig of rum.
She leaned over more, showing a little more, and then tried to make eye contact with me. “You are the only man in the room who was not staring at me, you know.”
I shrugged. “Is that so?” I said in a higher pitched voice than I usually do, and so Jack and Ralph burst out laughing at me. I forced up a low cough to cover for it, and pounded on my chest with a fist.
She chucked, like an experienced woman instead of a little girl, and then inched closer to me. Ralph and Jack were not amused. I looked at her arm, which was closest to me, and then her face with a look of suspicion. She then decided to start up some meaningful conversation with me. She said to me, “Isn’t it terrible? What society does to people like you and me.”
She was kind of weird for that kind of women, but I suppose everyone needs some kind of conversation like that regardless of who they are. I shrugged and smiled at her. We were a lot more alike than she thought we were. “Yes, but it isn’t too bad.” It was then that I noticed my chest kind of hurt. I think the bandages I was wearing at the time might have been too tight. It didn’t matter too much I guess.
She started playing with her dark, curly hair, still looking at me. “It takes a bit to get used to, but I don’t miss my old life.” She started opening up to me, telling me about where she came from. I found it interesting at least, and I liked to talk about that sort of thing. Her name was Elizabeth, and she came from an upper class family in England. Shortly after she was married she moved to the Caribbean because her husband was appointed Governor of some British province there. It was an arranged marriage, and she was not very fond of him. He also died before she had any children. The law was not in her favor in terms of keeping the land, and so she lost most of what she had and then left to make money on her own.
I told her a little about myself as well. I was the youngest child to my mother and father. My older brother died of T.B., but I never mentioned his name. My father died recently, and then I later left to join on a merchant ship to support a life for my mother and me. She was still ill with depression of my father’s departure, and I did not know how well she was at the current time. She left to live with my uncle and his wife. I told her about how I came to become a pirate recently, and then Captain Roberts came over. Francis did, too.
He leaned against the table, looking from Elizabeth to me. It was the most discomforting feeling to watch him glance at her, entranced by her beauty, and then turn to look at me with a hint of spite. My insides turned as I concluded that this situation would not end well. Most of all, I did not want Roberts looking at me that way.
Elizabeth was engaged in conversation with Roberts, which made me feel uncomfortable enough to leave. I walked outside, feeling sober. I could wander around for a while, and return to the ship. I sat down on the docks and the pier, and looked out at the water. I realized that my plan was interrupted when I heard footsteps coming from behind me. Elizabeth looked down and whispered to me, “The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”
I became nervous. This was very bad for me. Three sets of footsteps followed behind me, and I turned to see Roberts, Jack, and Ralph. Ralph approached me directly, while Roberts stood in a pensive pose, a look of amusement on his face. It seemed that he knew something no one else might have, or just came to some sort of conclusion. However, we all knew what was inevitable.
Ralph looked down at me. “On your feet, Porter.”
I stared at him for a moment, and then stood up.
“So, you think you get all of the women now that you’re here, pretty boy?” He pushed me, and I stumbled backwards a little.
“No. Really, I don’t.”
He made his point clear when he drew out his sword and pointed it at me. He wanted to fight someone now. Apparently he had a jealously complex. I pulled out my sword, then held it in a vertical neutral position as I carefully backed away from him.
“Whoa there. Really, it’s not what you think.” I continued to back up as he approached me. I really did not want to get into a brawl right in the open. A few people started to crowd around us as he lunged at me. He was still kind of drunk, but he was deadly and brash enough to do damage. The sense of preserving himself was gone.
“I am challenging you to a duel. Get your d**n pistol ready.” The others were thoroughly amused. I was tossed a pistol with one shot, as was Ralph. I caught it in my left hand, and he started the countdown. We were on an island, and ready to go.
I held it as if I intended to aim, and then made a run for it. He shot at me, and then missed. The bullet bounced off of the brick road I was turning on, and I disappeared around the corner. I heard some laughter, as well as the cussing from Ralph as he tossed the gun aside. He then ran after me.
I could have shot him, but maybe it wouldn’t have to end like this. I pocketed it for the time. At the end of this road was a stone wall, and then a ledge into the sandy beach and some vegetation. I jumped down, hoping that he would cool off before chasing me. Some followed far behind, and I suppose that some decided it wasn’t worth their time.
I rolled into the beach to lessen the blow of the fall, and turned around sharply to see Ralph jump into the air. He was not far behind at all. He came down with a thud, slamming his fist into the ground, and then abruptly stood up to chase me. He slowed down for a moment in pain from the jump, which was a good twelve feet by the way, and then started to pick up some speed.
I did not really want to kill him, and so I was lagging. I blocked to the left, to the right, from the top, all while quickly stepping backwards as fast as possible. He was extremely aggressive. He would lose strength soon with such large motions from the hand. It was bad form for him, but for the time being it was very powerful.
He started lunging at me with his entire body. I wanted to try to convince him against this. “No, really, it was not like that at all.”
Ralph sneered at me, taking another leap at me. “Like hell it isn’t, pretty boy.” I had to block the stomach, the right, the left, top of the head, left again, knee, and then narrowly dodged a blow to the right by jumping to the left.
He was not going to listen to reason. We started to cross step in circles now, both swords held out vertically. My blood was rushing in anticipation of the outcome, in a stillness of battle that remained exciting. Cross left foot in front, step out with right foot, cross in back with left foot, step out with right again. Reverse! Cross right foot in front, step out with left, cross in back with right, step out with left.
I started to attack him now, taking my blade from a vertical position and raising it above my head while pulling it back slowly, then rushed into a path that continued to direct towards my right at his shoulder.
“Listen to me!” He shifted his blade to block mine, so I stepped backwards to draw the blade away and swung right back to the left side to hit his shoulder. He just barely avoided getting slashed.
I cross stepped to the side now, picking up speed and constantly changing direction. The intention was to wear him down. I swung the blade down towards his knee, and he stepped back to avoid the blow. I was left open to an attack, but he was too slow this time to take advantage of it.
I took a basic aim on my left at his torso, which he blocked by pressing my sword away and further to the left. I circled the blade under his, and lunged forward to stab him while bending my knees to increase distance without actually getting closer. He pushed the sword to my right now, and the tip of the blade skinned his abdomen. It was a minor wound, but he was still bleeding.
He wasn’t too happy about that. Thankfully, my sword was between the two of us, and I could retreat before he could take a whack at me. I cross stepped to my right, avoiding his advance, and turned to face him. He was too hasty and eager to reach me that I had a clear view of his exposed back. I took an opening to advance and then lunge again. This one I really went into, extending the blade first and half a moment later stepping forward on one foot and pressing all of my center of gravity on to it. He was smart enough to dash forward before turning around sharply to block. This time his blade was on the inside, and mine on the outside.
A lunge is always a nasty position to get out of. You have to move your center of gravity back to a stable position before you can retreat. He seized the moment of opportunity to try and crack my skull. He drew his blade back and well over his head, making it clear what his next move would be. I pulled back barely on time to avoid getting crushed and quickly raised my blade up to protect my head, angling the sword so that it pointed downwards. His blade made a loud clang against mine, and I stumbled backwards slightly. I took the action of pushing on his hand so that it slid down the blade sharply, pressing more of my weight onto it. He was not expecting me to physically grab his hand, and was forced to turn and expose his back. I pressed the tip against his back.
Ralph paused. I think he was becoming more aware of what he was really doing. I gripped the pistol firmly, and readied it. The silver shone in the moonlight nicely, which caught my distraction for a moment, but the sudden harsh breeze of the wind reminded me of where I was and what I was doing. “You know where your heart is, right?”
He was breathing heavily, but said nothing. I decided to finally speak up, and dropped the low tone to my voice. “I have something to confess.” I took a short pause. I was not so sure if I was ready to let my secret out, but I really did not want to fight to the death over a woman. “My name is Katherine.”
Ralph turned around, apparently forgetting that I had a gun and sword pointed at his back. “You’re a woman?” I took off my hat, and pulled the tie out of my hair. He folded his arms and looked me in the eye. “Well, what do you know? You are a woman.”
I pulled my hair in back, tied it, and put the hat back on my head. “So, you see, I really have no interest in Elizabeth. I was just happy to be in the company of my own kind. I don’t think she could tell, though.”
Ralph snickered. “A woman aboard our ship? That’s rich. I wonder how Captain is going to like this one.” He scratched his arm, pausing to think about it. “I don’t know whether or not he thinks they are bad luck.”
I shrugged. “He doesn’t have to know.”
He snickered again. “Actually, Captain might not mind so much having a woman around.” I felt a little flushed . “I thought you had a funny look on your face when Roberts came over. Now that makes sense.”
We started walking back. “Oh, I did? It wasn’t as funny as the look on your face.” He started cursing and I snickered.
I arrived back at the tavern and Ralph went inside; he needed more drink and probably another Elizabeth. I waited outside, and stared out into the ocean. I was contemplating about announcing what I actually was when Captain Roberts walked outside.
He spoke to me directly. “I have to admit I am surprised by this outcome. I thought only one would have come back alive.”
I shrugged, picking up the lower tone again. “I’m just that good.” He had a rather amused look on his face. “We just had no reason to fight anymore. Burned off enough steam.”
I paused, and then dropped the act. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”
He smirked. “I suppose I did.”
I folded my arms. “So, what now?”
He gave me an amused look, and then looked back out at the water. “With a sword like that you aren’t going anywhere.”
I smirked. “Sounds good to me.”
We just sat there for a while, staring out at the water. Things were different after that, but not too different. It turned out to be for the better after all.
Type: Short Story.
Rating/Warnings: Pg-13/14? Some swearing, violence, and adult themes.
Critique Welcome?: Yes.
I was standing by the edge if the ship idly, scanning the horizon. My father used to tell me that if I ever had seasickness, it helped to watch the horizon, and not the water directly below. In fact, watching the water below was more likely to make you even sicker, so don’t even do it. But of course, I had to try it once. Once was enough, and I heaved. No one saw, so I would have been lucky enough not to hear about it later in the gallery. Thank god. The feeling of motion sickness lingered for a while, but I was fine.
A few moments after that, I wasn’t quite sure when, there was a ship off in the distance. It was to be expected since we were nearing our destination. It didn’t look like ship belonging to any navy, so it was assumed to be another merchant ship.
Well, we were half right. It used to be a merchant ship. As the ship approached, headed directly for us, a black flag was raised, billowing high above the sails of the imposter merchant ship. A white skull was printed on the flag with an eye patch blocked out of it, and swords crossed at the bottom. It was a well known flag, belonging to the infamous Captain James Roberts. A plague of fear was spread over our ship as the name Jolly Roger, painted on the side of the rival ship, came into view of my crew. Jolly my-
These pirates were known to be particularly ruthless, and two years previous to that day they had looted 118 ships. Aboard the Pristine we were ready to fend off amateur pirates, but not masters of sin. I ran to the quarter deck, or rather the deck near the back of the ship above the captain’s cabin, to seek instruction. A few other members of the crew followed, and the rest remained completely frozen in place.
It was then that the Jolly Roger raised her red flag. If the black flag was panic, this flag was death. Not only does the flag mean that your ship is under attack by pirates, it means they attack with the intent of slaughtering any resistance. However, they do give you warning. They look on the faces of our crew said enough for them; they wanted a surrender.
I decided I should speak up, since Captain Green did not seem to be doing anything. “What the hell are we going to do?”
Now, Captain Green was anything but a guppy. He was brave, but stupidly so. He decided right then that there was no way we were going down without a fight. If it was lose or die, he picked death. The only problem was that he decided to choose fate for all of us. He brushed his nose, and then pointed at the crew with a serious look in his face. “Attack! Grab your guns!”
I kicked the side of the ship, and then jumped down to the main deck with a heavy thud. Not only was I mad about this, I was enraged. We did not raise the white flag, and because of it I had to fight for my life. I didn’t want that, but pirates were already jumping aboard our ship with their daggers ready. Some of my crewmates were pulling out their pistols and swords, and others were running from the pirates.
I caught a glimpse of Roberts as he lead the command of the attack. He had a high ground, standing on the edge of the Jolly Roger as he directed his crew to encircle ours. They were outnumbered, but the cowards near the frontline on my crew were easy prey. They fell hard when their throats were slit, which stated to break the morale of my crew. They would be easy pickings with the majority lost, and shaking in terror they could barely hold their weapons.
In panic, one particularly brutish guy from my crew threw himself overboard in attempt to charge at some of the pirates. Well, no more village idiot to worry about. He snored too much for my taste anyway. Now a few real fights would break out. Two pirates charged at me, sword in hand, and I promptly drew my sword.
Actually, their swords were of rather poor quality. The hand guards were worn and likely to fall off soon, so I decided that my targets would be their right hands. Now, the best way to get to their weak point would be to wait for a point where they lunged at me first. That didn’t take long, they were very aggressive. I bolted to my left to avoid the pirate on the right. I made a quick turn to my left, before he could retreat from such a forceful lunge and was open to attack, then slammed the blade down on his sword-hand at the same moment. I gained some extra momentum from this movement, so I did not waste much energy or effort. He was not so fortunate, as I broke the hand guard off of the blade and probably bruised his hand in the very least. The second one glared at me, reassuring my death threat as if the fact that they were pirates was not enough for me to understand the danger of the situation.
At that time I could feel Roberts watching over my from his perch. I had to keep focused if I wanted to live through this, and turned all my attention to the second pirate at my hand. He chased me, and I could retreat and parry with enough agility in my feet and wrists that he could not keep up with me. At that point he decided that the best course of action was to put his all into a dramatic lunge to catch me, which in normal circumstances would have been a truly idiotic approach.
However, my back was against the wall of the captain’s cabin. I was trapped, so I had to beat his sword to the side to keep it from skewering me. He used so much force that he lodged his sword into the wood. I slipped out of the trap while he focused on trying to release his weapon, but it did not seem to be going anywhere.
A group of three pirates started to migrate to my corner of the ship, and I knew it would not be wise to take them all on at once. I turned right back around and dashed for the pirate with his sword stuck in the ship, and jumped onto his back. With a push I had managed to leap onto the quarter deck, which would keep them from catching up too quickly. Of course, he started cussing at me profusely.
As I looked around at the rest of the deck, I began to understand why Roberts was watching me like a hawk. I was the only live member of the merchant crew at that point. The mass of pirates started to draw nearer, and I knew that it was over before they had all of their swords pointed at me.
Then something unexpected happened. A loud “Stop!” echoed over the group and pools of bloodied flesh on the main deck. Roberts landed on the Pristine, and walked over to approach me. They obediently let him pass, and he looked at me up and down.
“What is your name, sailor?” he asked me.
I decided I had nothing to loose by telling him my name, and lowered my sword. “Porter.”
Roberts paced back and fourth, and then nodded. “Well, Mr. Porter, I am sure you are aware of my stature.”
I smirked. “Captain James Roberts? Never heard of you before in my life.”
He chuckled with an expression of amusement. “Don’t get fresh with me. I am willing to offer you a deal. We could use someone with more skill when it comes to fencing, and our numbers are low right now. Now, you can either join our crew, or we could kill you right here. The choice is yours.”
I didn’t hesitate before answering. “Well then, I guess I’m a pirate now.”
The Pristine was completely deserted, with the exception of all goods on board. Well, until we moved them al onboard the Jolly Roger. I honestly felt no remorse for Captain Green. In fact, I still think he earned his watery grave being so pompous and all. I actually liked the crew of the Jolly Roger better. They had spine, and they weren’t complete pansies either. Not that I ever wanted to become a pirate, but it was not so bad. There were certain codes we had to follow, such as no brawling. If you wanted to fight with someone, they would drop you off on an island nearby with the quarreling pair. The rules stated that each would have a pistol with one shot, and any additional weapons the pirates owned.
It wasn’t too bad. By the time we were near the island of Hispaniola, I had started to get to know some of the crew. Some I didn’t mind too much, but others I would love to throw overboard. They were too drunk and angry.
The two pirates I was fighting with before, who I found out were named Francis and Jack, were less inclined to pick a fight with me than I thought. I was one of them. I met their acquaintance Ralph, who was easy enough to get along with as long as you were on the same side. He was more intelligent than the others, and it turns out he had slain most of my old crew. It earned him more respect, so people would bother him less whether they resented him for it or not.
On the main deck I approached a group having an argument of sorts, which tended to happen on ships. Then Ralph turned to me. “Porter is a short name, isn’t it?”
I stopped in my stroll and turned to look at him and shrugged. “Who wants to know?”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall to the forecastle deck. “Who do you think? So what‘s you’re name, shrimp?”
I hesitated for a moment before answering. “K-Kyle Porter.”
Ralph snickered. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you stutter,” he added in sarcastically. It did not end that badly. Somehow we got to talking about where we came from. His was the son of a poor farmer, and after a long turn of events somehow ended up on a pirate ship, which caused me to remember something. Part of hating pirates came so easily from dehumanizing them. It really is not necessary though. We all know the risks we take in breaking the laws, and breaking our own codes. Anyone who is caught to be punished meets his end well, and so there is no sympathy. I think that system worked well for me.
Some of the conversations were utterly stupid, mostly resulting in taunting and teasing of some sort. Although, the real trouble started once we landed at the port city. Captain Roberts was interested in enlisting more pirates onto his crew, and the rest decided to hit the taverns. A group of shady people seemed to loom around this particular one. There was music, a few barmaids who seemed to be new to the job, and ladies of the night scattered around the room looking for business. Most of them weren’t very pretty. There was one girl, with very dark hair, who I admit was far prettier than most of the other girls there.
Most of the men in the room were paying attention to her, and she noticed. It did not take long until she walked over to Ralph, Jack and I. The three of us were slightly drunk after having two glasses each. She was looking right at me with a wide smile on her face. I noticed then that she had really dark green eyes, which she probably used to lure tons of men into wasting their pockets on her.
She rested her elbow on the table and leaned her face on the palm on her hand, looking up at me. She was a rather short woman, actually. “You three enjoying your night?”
Ralph and Jack smiled at her, but Ralph was the one to answer her. “I am now.” She gave him a smile, and then turned to me. I blinked, then took another swig of rum.
She leaned over more, showing a little more, and then tried to make eye contact with me. “You are the only man in the room who was not staring at me, you know.”
I shrugged. “Is that so?” I said in a higher pitched voice than I usually do, and so Jack and Ralph burst out laughing at me. I forced up a low cough to cover for it, and pounded on my chest with a fist.
She chucked, like an experienced woman instead of a little girl, and then inched closer to me. Ralph and Jack were not amused. I looked at her arm, which was closest to me, and then her face with a look of suspicion. She then decided to start up some meaningful conversation with me. She said to me, “Isn’t it terrible? What society does to people like you and me.”
She was kind of weird for that kind of women, but I suppose everyone needs some kind of conversation like that regardless of who they are. I shrugged and smiled at her. We were a lot more alike than she thought we were. “Yes, but it isn’t too bad.” It was then that I noticed my chest kind of hurt. I think the bandages I was wearing at the time might have been too tight. It didn’t matter too much I guess.
She started playing with her dark, curly hair, still looking at me. “It takes a bit to get used to, but I don’t miss my old life.” She started opening up to me, telling me about where she came from. I found it interesting at least, and I liked to talk about that sort of thing. Her name was Elizabeth, and she came from an upper class family in England. Shortly after she was married she moved to the Caribbean because her husband was appointed Governor of some British province there. It was an arranged marriage, and she was not very fond of him. He also died before she had any children. The law was not in her favor in terms of keeping the land, and so she lost most of what she had and then left to make money on her own.
I told her a little about myself as well. I was the youngest child to my mother and father. My older brother died of T.B., but I never mentioned his name. My father died recently, and then I later left to join on a merchant ship to support a life for my mother and me. She was still ill with depression of my father’s departure, and I did not know how well she was at the current time. She left to live with my uncle and his wife. I told her about how I came to become a pirate recently, and then Captain Roberts came over. Francis did, too.
He leaned against the table, looking from Elizabeth to me. It was the most discomforting feeling to watch him glance at her, entranced by her beauty, and then turn to look at me with a hint of spite. My insides turned as I concluded that this situation would not end well. Most of all, I did not want Roberts looking at me that way.
Elizabeth was engaged in conversation with Roberts, which made me feel uncomfortable enough to leave. I walked outside, feeling sober. I could wander around for a while, and return to the ship. I sat down on the docks and the pier, and looked out at the water. I realized that my plan was interrupted when I heard footsteps coming from behind me. Elizabeth looked down and whispered to me, “The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”
I became nervous. This was very bad for me. Three sets of footsteps followed behind me, and I turned to see Roberts, Jack, and Ralph. Ralph approached me directly, while Roberts stood in a pensive pose, a look of amusement on his face. It seemed that he knew something no one else might have, or just came to some sort of conclusion. However, we all knew what was inevitable.
Ralph looked down at me. “On your feet, Porter.”
I stared at him for a moment, and then stood up.
“So, you think you get all of the women now that you’re here, pretty boy?” He pushed me, and I stumbled backwards a little.
“No. Really, I don’t.”
He made his point clear when he drew out his sword and pointed it at me. He wanted to fight someone now. Apparently he had a jealously complex. I pulled out my sword, then held it in a vertical neutral position as I carefully backed away from him.
“Whoa there. Really, it’s not what you think.” I continued to back up as he approached me. I really did not want to get into a brawl right in the open. A few people started to crowd around us as he lunged at me. He was still kind of drunk, but he was deadly and brash enough to do damage. The sense of preserving himself was gone.
“I am challenging you to a duel. Get your d**n pistol ready.” The others were thoroughly amused. I was tossed a pistol with one shot, as was Ralph. I caught it in my left hand, and he started the countdown. We were on an island, and ready to go.
I held it as if I intended to aim, and then made a run for it. He shot at me, and then missed. The bullet bounced off of the brick road I was turning on, and I disappeared around the corner. I heard some laughter, as well as the cussing from Ralph as he tossed the gun aside. He then ran after me.
I could have shot him, but maybe it wouldn’t have to end like this. I pocketed it for the time. At the end of this road was a stone wall, and then a ledge into the sandy beach and some vegetation. I jumped down, hoping that he would cool off before chasing me. Some followed far behind, and I suppose that some decided it wasn’t worth their time.
I rolled into the beach to lessen the blow of the fall, and turned around sharply to see Ralph jump into the air. He was not far behind at all. He came down with a thud, slamming his fist into the ground, and then abruptly stood up to chase me. He slowed down for a moment in pain from the jump, which was a good twelve feet by the way, and then started to pick up some speed.
I did not really want to kill him, and so I was lagging. I blocked to the left, to the right, from the top, all while quickly stepping backwards as fast as possible. He was extremely aggressive. He would lose strength soon with such large motions from the hand. It was bad form for him, but for the time being it was very powerful.
He started lunging at me with his entire body. I wanted to try to convince him against this. “No, really, it was not like that at all.”
Ralph sneered at me, taking another leap at me. “Like hell it isn’t, pretty boy.” I had to block the stomach, the right, the left, top of the head, left again, knee, and then narrowly dodged a blow to the right by jumping to the left.
He was not going to listen to reason. We started to cross step in circles now, both swords held out vertically. My blood was rushing in anticipation of the outcome, in a stillness of battle that remained exciting. Cross left foot in front, step out with right foot, cross in back with left foot, step out with right again. Reverse! Cross right foot in front, step out with left, cross in back with right, step out with left.
I started to attack him now, taking my blade from a vertical position and raising it above my head while pulling it back slowly, then rushed into a path that continued to direct towards my right at his shoulder.
“Listen to me!” He shifted his blade to block mine, so I stepped backwards to draw the blade away and swung right back to the left side to hit his shoulder. He just barely avoided getting slashed.
I cross stepped to the side now, picking up speed and constantly changing direction. The intention was to wear him down. I swung the blade down towards his knee, and he stepped back to avoid the blow. I was left open to an attack, but he was too slow this time to take advantage of it.
I took a basic aim on my left at his torso, which he blocked by pressing my sword away and further to the left. I circled the blade under his, and lunged forward to stab him while bending my knees to increase distance without actually getting closer. He pushed the sword to my right now, and the tip of the blade skinned his abdomen. It was a minor wound, but he was still bleeding.
He wasn’t too happy about that. Thankfully, my sword was between the two of us, and I could retreat before he could take a whack at me. I cross stepped to my right, avoiding his advance, and turned to face him. He was too hasty and eager to reach me that I had a clear view of his exposed back. I took an opening to advance and then lunge again. This one I really went into, extending the blade first and half a moment later stepping forward on one foot and pressing all of my center of gravity on to it. He was smart enough to dash forward before turning around sharply to block. This time his blade was on the inside, and mine on the outside.
A lunge is always a nasty position to get out of. You have to move your center of gravity back to a stable position before you can retreat. He seized the moment of opportunity to try and crack my skull. He drew his blade back and well over his head, making it clear what his next move would be. I pulled back barely on time to avoid getting crushed and quickly raised my blade up to protect my head, angling the sword so that it pointed downwards. His blade made a loud clang against mine, and I stumbled backwards slightly. I took the action of pushing on his hand so that it slid down the blade sharply, pressing more of my weight onto it. He was not expecting me to physically grab his hand, and was forced to turn and expose his back. I pressed the tip against his back.
Ralph paused. I think he was becoming more aware of what he was really doing. I gripped the pistol firmly, and readied it. The silver shone in the moonlight nicely, which caught my distraction for a moment, but the sudden harsh breeze of the wind reminded me of where I was and what I was doing. “You know where your heart is, right?”
He was breathing heavily, but said nothing. I decided to finally speak up, and dropped the low tone to my voice. “I have something to confess.” I took a short pause. I was not so sure if I was ready to let my secret out, but I really did not want to fight to the death over a woman. “My name is Katherine.”
Ralph turned around, apparently forgetting that I had a gun and sword pointed at his back. “You’re a woman?” I took off my hat, and pulled the tie out of my hair. He folded his arms and looked me in the eye. “Well, what do you know? You are a woman.”
I pulled my hair in back, tied it, and put the hat back on my head. “So, you see, I really have no interest in Elizabeth. I was just happy to be in the company of my own kind. I don’t think she could tell, though.”
Ralph snickered. “A woman aboard our ship? That’s rich. I wonder how Captain is going to like this one.” He scratched his arm, pausing to think about it. “I don’t know whether or not he thinks they are bad luck.”
I shrugged. “He doesn’t have to know.”
He snickered again. “Actually, Captain might not mind so much having a woman around.” I felt a little flushed . “I thought you had a funny look on your face when Roberts came over. Now that makes sense.”
We started walking back. “Oh, I did? It wasn’t as funny as the look on your face.” He started cursing and I snickered.
I arrived back at the tavern and Ralph went inside; he needed more drink and probably another Elizabeth. I waited outside, and stared out into the ocean. I was contemplating about announcing what I actually was when Captain Roberts walked outside.
He spoke to me directly. “I have to admit I am surprised by this outcome. I thought only one would have come back alive.”
I shrugged, picking up the lower tone again. “I’m just that good.” He had a rather amused look on his face. “We just had no reason to fight anymore. Burned off enough steam.”
I paused, and then dropped the act. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”
He smirked. “I suppose I did.”
I folded my arms. “So, what now?”
He gave me an amused look, and then looked back out at the water. “With a sword like that you aren’t going anywhere.”
I smirked. “Sounds good to me.”
We just sat there for a while, staring out at the water. Things were different after that, but not too different. It turned out to be for the better after all.