Part 4 --Sea Strangers--

''Singing the shanty was too good. after that all that, I began my sweeping. it was 5 PM. I became really bored and gave up on cleaning the ship, I looked at the horizon of the sea and saw a silhouette of a small ship. At first, I thought I was thinking very hard, but after I saw that the ship was coming closer, it was not an imagination, the ship was a 1 masted sloop. I quickly reported this sighting to my dad. "We aren't the only ones in the sea, spotting one or two ships in our journey isn't rare" He replied calmly. "I don't think that ship is normal, it's probably a pirate" I said. "Look at its flag, Its the Artuvan flag, our ally" He said. I didn't trust dad on that, that ship was coming suspiciously close to us. It was around 50 metres away from us when dad started being quite suspicious, just like me. In a matter of seconds, The crew of the other ship quickly brought the Artuvan flag down, and replaced it with a Jolly Roger. The flag had a black background to it. It had a red skull in the middle, and two red flintlock pistols positioned in an X cross just right below the red skull. My dad was speechless.''

"PIRATES, THEY'RE COMIN FOR US, GRAB YER SWORDS GUARDS" The Quartermaster ordered loudly.

''There where 5 guards on the ship but 10 swords in the weapon barrel -maybe those are reserve swords- I took the smallest sword because they're the lightest, it was a "Perisburg Hanger - Manufactured in 1751" as engraved on the blade of the sword. The pirates threw their boarding hooks and caught our ship, they boarded quickly. Dad immediately surrendered and it was all over- wait, no. The guards rebelled, probably because they didn't hear dad's command. But how could 5 men take down like 35 pirates? So I joined in the fight. One of our guards was shot down by the marksman. There where moans and screams. I was being chased by two pirates and crashed into another pirate, I stole his pistol and fired one of the chasers. But was caught by the other 2 pirates "Yer a dirty bad boy" The pirate said to me. "Time to learn your lesson for attacking us - Ha ha ha hah" "Spare me!" I pleaded. He took a dagger and placed it right on my neck, and grabbed me hard. "What will ye do now?" He laughed at me.''

''My sword was dropped on the deck, 2 guards were killed, and I was caught in the hands of 2 pirates and had no choice, but to die or surrender. Out of nowhere Amelia stabbed a sword into the back of the pirate, and that killed him instantly. "Thanks" I spoke quickly to Amelia.''

''It was very dark to see people die, but it’s the time when you’re at the point of death, so kindness was no choice. I had to do it for self-defense.''

''I took my short sword and attacked the other pirate. He grabbed the hilt and stole my sword and attacked me. I had nothing to defend myself and the sword hit my left arm and I had a cut. I took the dagger of the now dead pirate from the ground and attacked the other pirate. Meanwhile my dad was coming towards me, maybe to save my life or something. I blocked all the pirate's attacks. I sensed a pirate from my back coming with a sword to kill me, I moved left quickly and he accidentally killed my attacker with a sword on his chest. A lot of blood coming out from his body. The pirate looked at me and said "Yer a clever damnation for us" I replied to his "insult" "I might be a damnation for you, but i'm a gift for my father and his ship, what you are? a jerk criminal sailing in the sea?" I knew he felt insulted after my reply, but I had no choice to speak to him and pass the time for my advantage. He took his cutlass from the body of the other pirate and attacked me, I dodged all his attacks by moving quickly like a fly. I then slashed him, hit! but it didn't kill him, it was just a large cut on his belly. I kicked his legs before he attacked me and killed him with a dagger. I headed towards the main fight, this time with 2 guards handling 11 men, yes, they somehow managed to kill 15. I killed 3 and Amelia killed 1. Dad joined in with Amelia and me, so we had 5 attackers. The Boatswain took a reserved sword and stabbed a pirate who killed a guard. I attacked the 1st mate and stole his flintlock quickly, just like a thief steals from the pockets of his victim. I fired the pistol and killed him. I didn't how to reload pistols so I threw it hardly at a pirate.''

''"Aaah" Amelia cried. "What happened?" I asked her. "That pirate stabbed me, I need aid quickly" She asked for help. I dragged her below deck to the surgeon. "She's alright, the stab was lethal, just a bit deep. If it were slightly more to the middle and slightly deeper, it'll be probably fatal, now she just needs normal medical dressings and some rest.” the surgeon told us.''

''I ran aboard and saw that there were only 3 people fighting. One guard was killed. I joined in the 3 vs 5 fight and made it 4 vs 5. I took a sabre from a dead pirate, and oh boy! it was heavy. I attacked a pirate on the head giving him severe injuries. His pistol fell from his hand, I took it and shot him. The pirate captain kicked me from behind, it hurt a lot. Without any time to rest and wait for the pain to go I took the heavy sword and slashed the captain, he blocked it. He attacked me and I dodged it, but as I dodged it, I crashed into a pirate, his dagger left his hand and I took it and stabbed him. 4 vs 3.''

''The pirates surrendered and it was all over for the sea thieves. Our crew celebrated happily, and we captured the pirate quartermaster, the pirate captain and an ordinary pirate. The guard appreciated me "Boy, you were the best attacker in the battle, you should join a military academy, they'll immediately make you midshipman" "My son, you might become a captain of a frigate someday, the way you killed 6-7 pirates, with such technique and intelligence, you’re very talented, back at Valereena I'll assign you to the youth academy. I know you’re 12, an age that is way too old for the academy, but you will just take a few months to be assigned as a midshipman. May God bless you" Dad said. Everyone was proud of me, I felt shy and bad because I took the lives of more than 6 people, but remember, they were also killers and criminals. Our ship had no brig to keep the pirates locked in so the guard just tied their hands without ropes. And we all sailed peacefully to Artuva. The whole crew came out from below deck. The shantyman came and sang, and everyone sang the chorus with him. And Amelia, who was feeling better joined in too.''

"There was a gallant Vally ship sailing in the sea"

"blow high, blow low, and so we sailed a-wee"

"Our captain he was sailing to Artvie"

"Sailing down along tides of the sea"

"Turn the helm, adjust the sails, look to the the weather and a lee"

"blow high, blow low, and so we sailed a-wee"

"I see silhouette of a lofty ship to lee"

"Sailing down along the tides of the sea"

"Oh hail her, Oh hail her our gallant captain cried"

"blow high, blow low, and so we sailed a-wee

"Are you a sailor or trader cried he"

"Sailing down along the tides of the sea"

"Oh I'm neither a sailor or trader" Cried he

"blow high, blow low and so we sailed a-wee"

"But i'm a salt sea pirate all-a rather searching for my fee"

"Sailing down along the tides of the sea"

"For hooks, for hooks a long time we lay"

"blow high, blow low and so we sailed a-wee"

"Until the young boy took the last life away"

"Sailing down along the tides of the sea"

"Oh it was a cruel sight and grieved us awful sore"

"blow high, blow low and so we sailed a-wee"

"To see them all dead while celebrating with a roar"

"Sailing down along the tides of the sea"

"With rum and some grog we celebrated for minutes 23"

"blow high, blow low, and so we sailed a-wee"

"The ship it was their coffin, the grave it was the sea"

"Sailing down along the tides of the seaaaaaa!"