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PhantomKnight -> The Sea's Curse (1/28/2010 17:25:51)
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Chapter 1: The Cursed Items
The air is wet and salty. The bright burning sun shines down upon the Caribbean Sea; the water glistens like millions of little crystals. The sky is as blue as the water below, with little puffy clouds sailing gently overhead. Birds soar across the sky, searching for an island to rest on. It is a serene display of the ocean’s beauty.
Dancing upon these waters is an elegant British heading back to its colonies in the Americas. Its pristine white sails are pushed fully by the powerful winds of these waters. The body of the ship is made of the most treasured timber in Britain and Spain.
Sitting upon the deck of the ship is a young woman of Britain. She leans against the railing watching the wave splash against the side of the ship. She is dressed in a faded white dress and gloves. Her white gloved hands hold a bright white umbrella to keep her chestnut brown hair free of the salty air, and her pale complexion shielded from the sun’s rays.
“Are you enjoying yourself, Ms. Higgins?” someone says behind her.
She turns to find the captain of the ship standing over her. He is dressed in clean, red captain’s jacket. The entire of his attire is pressed, cleaned, and fixed to absolute perfection. The Captain’s hair is powdered white accustomed to the time; with a black captain’s hat sitting neatly on top of his head. He looks down on Miss Higgins with stern blue eyes and a face weathered by many years upon the sea.
“Very much so, Father,” she says warmly. “But please, Father, you don’t have to treat me as one of your clients. Just call my Catherine like you always do.”
“I must decline Miss Higgins,” he says sternly, “You see, if I let my men see my more gentle side in front of my daughter, I would lose respect.”
A little disappointed, Catherine says, “I understand, Father.”
“Very good,” The Captain says, with a wink, “This evening we will have dinner in my quarters. Please enjoy the voyage.”
The Captain waves her off and heads back to the helm. Catherine turns back to watch the waves again. She seems a little depressed and bored. Ever since she was younger, Catherine had a fantasy of traveling upon the ocean. She dreamt of meeting pirates, finding treasure, and having an adventure upon the open seas with her father. Now that she finally convinced him of taking her aboard the ship, things haven’t turned out like she had hoped. Many of the sailors working on the ship show much distain for her, seeing that having a woman upon the ship is considered bad luck.
As she peers down at the waters below, she notices something bobbing up and down with the waves. She looks harder and realizes that it is a small barrel. It follows the waves of the sea, floating its self along until it bumps against the side of the ship. Now that it is closer, Catherine notices that there is something inside the floating barrel. She calls over a sailor who was busy swabbing the decks. He greets her with an angry scowl.
“What do you want?” the sailor growls.
“There is something in that barrel down there,” she answers, pointing down over the railing.
The sailor looks over the side and sees the barrel. His vision seemed to be far better than Catherine, because he rushes over to the Captain.
“Captain, Captain,” he shouts, “There is a man overboard.”
The Captain rushes over to the side to verify. He looks down and sees that there is a man inside the floating barrel.
“Man overboard,” the Captain shouts.
The crew scurries about the deck to rescue this person. They ready their fishing net and hoist it down, snaring the barrel in it. They hoist the barrel up to the side of the ship and spill its contents onto the deck.
The man in the barrel falls at Catherine’s feet. He gets up and rings himself off. This young man is wearing a slimy, black captain’s jacket. His attire is dirty, slimy, and seems to have permanently fused with seaweed. He has long, greasy black hair that is tied back in a long ponytail that hangs down to his shoulder blades. A black eye-patch covers his right eye. A deep scar runs across his right eye and half way down his cheek. Unlike everyone else onboard, he is much tanner. He looks about the ship rather confused.
“Where am I?” the young man asks.
“You are onboard a British ship heading to the New England,” the Captain says, stepping forward.
“Ah I see,” the young man says with a grin, “I thank ye for pulling me out of that water.”
The Captain does respond, but instead studies the young man’s face. After a minute of his examination, the Captain reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. Unfurling it, he looks at its contents, and then gives a nod to his crew. Immediately, several crew men seize the young man by his arms and chest.
“Father, what’s going on?” Catherine shouts, rather shocked.
“This man is Marcus Del Silver, a pirate,” the Captain states. “He is wanted by the crown and has a substantial bounty on his head. It will be the gallows once we reach New England.”
“Guilty as charged,” Marcus says with a grin. “Oh woe is me. I am doomed now that I have been captured.”
The Captain ignores his sarcastic cries and has him thrown in the brig. Hours pass by on the ship with Marcus sitting in his cell. Catherine out of curiosity has decided to slip down to the brig to meet this pirate. When she gets down to his cell, she screams. Marcus has stripped himself down and hung his clothes up along the bars to dry them out.
“What are you doing?” she shrieks.
Marcus turns to see who the guest is, completely unfazed that she is staring at his bare body. Catherine shields her eyes when he turns to face her.
“My apologies, Lass,” he laughs. “Just trying to get my clothes a little dry.”
“Please, make yourself decent,” she squeaks.
Marcus checks his clothes and decides his pants and boots are dry enough to put back on. He bangs on the bars to let Catherine know that he is now decent. She walks over closer to his cell and sits down across from him. He sits down in a hay pile at the corner of his cell.
“So what brings you here to see a criminal like me, Lass?” he asks, looking her up and down.
“I’ve never seen a real pirate before,” she answers, “I guess I am a bit curious what a real one is like.”
“Well, is this what you expected?” Marcus questions with a grin.
“Well, no,” she answers, with a bit of disappointed. “I expected someone a lot more cunning; someone who wouldn’t be caught quite as easily as you did.”
“And I bet you think that all pirates nothing, but a bunch of rogues of the sea,” Marcus questions.
She answers, “Yes I do think that. Is that assumption wrong?”
“Yes,” Marcus comments, “There is an entire hierarchy for the pirate life that many don’t know about. This entire world is commanded by the Pirate King and the four Pirate Lords.”
“Pirate King?” she asks, “Pirate Lords? Just what are you talking about?”
“I guess I should explain,” He says, “I didn’t expect you to know any of this, Lass. First off, the Pirate King Cortez is the leader of all the pirates in the world. His word is
law in our world. He is the most wanted man in the world.”
“Have you ever met the Pirate King?” she asks.
Marcus chuckles, saying, “I have. We crossed swords that time, and it didn’t end well. We each took something from each other. I took his left arm.”
“And he took?” Catherine says, more intrigued.
“My right eye,” Marcus says, pointing to his eye-patch.
The room becomes deathly silent. Catherine is terrified about this new world that is being drawn before her eyes; such a barbaric society that is hidden upon the seas. Marcus looks out of the porthole, gazing at the dark clouds that slowly sweep the sky. He goes over to the prison bars and throws on the rest of his attires. With a devious grin, he turns back to Catherine.
“By the way, Lass,” Marcus says, “Have you ever heard of the Cursed Treasures of Poseidon?”
Catherine answers, “No.”
Marcus says, “The Cursed Treasures of Poseidon are artifacts given to the world by the Sea God Poseidon. These items give the user powers unlike you would ever see. However, they come at a heavy price. The user of these items our cursed to the sea for eternity.”
Skeptical, Catherine remarks, “Please, you honestly think I would believe such a fairy tale?”
Marcus grins from ear to ear, stating, “If it was a fairy tale, you think I would let myself be captured to get my hands on one.”
Suddenly, there is a loud bang from the distance. The side of the ship is blown apart as a cannonball rips through the cell, freeing Marcus. Debris from the blast has knocked Catherine unconscious. Marcus takes her body and heads up to the deck.
The deck is now in chaos as they have come under attack. Out in the distance is a large galleon. Its black sails blend in with the dark clouds, giving off the illusion that it is moving on its own. Cannon fires from this galleon, hitting the British ship hard. The galleon cuts through the waves of this storm, reaching its way to the ship.
Marcus takes the opportunity in this chaotic scene to snatch a sword from an unsuspecting sailor, and then knocks the man overboard. The other crew men take notices of Marcus’ escape, including the Captain.
“Kill that man and save my daughter,” the Captain shouts in desperation seeing that his daughter has been taken hostage.
The crew swarms around Marcus. Each lunge their rapiers at him, but he evades every sword stroke with ease. He in turn, cuts down every one of them. The Captain leaps down, drawing his blade to save his daughter. He swings his sword wildly with every intent to kill Marcus. Marcus deflects the strikes, and disarms the Captain with an upward thrust.
“I’ll be taking what’s mine,” Marcus says, extending his hand.
“What are you talking about?” the Captain questions.
Marcus laughs, “You are in possession of a Cursed Treasure and didn’t even realize it. This makes things much easier.”
Marcus reaches up and takes off his eye-patch. In the eye socket is a smooth black stone with two glowing, red rings; giving the appearance of a human eye.
“With my Cursed Treasure, the Eye of Davy Jones,” Marcus says, “I can see the Cursed Treasure in your pocket there.”
The Captain reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a silver crystal. Marcus snatches it out of his hands and looks at it with maddening admiration.
“This is it,” he says gleefully, “I finally have gotten my hands on the Wind Crystal.”
“You have what you wanted, now give me back my daughter,” the Captain begs.
“I think not,” Marcus says, looking down at her, “I’ve grown quite fond of her during my little conversation of her. I’ll be taking her with me.”
The Captain is filled with rage and lunges at Marcus. He is propelled away by galling winds surrounding Marcus. Marcus is holding the Wind Crystal high over his head; wind is pouring out of the crystal, creating a barrier between him and the Captain. The orb lifts up off the ground, floating Marcus and Catherine onto the Galleon which has sailed right next to the British ship. He is greeted by his crew, taking Catherine off his hands and setting her down on the deck. Marcus turns to face the British ship.
“Now, face the fury of the Wind Crystal,” Marcus shouts.
Marcus places the crystal in a gap in his sword’s guard. Wind swirls around the blade. Stepping up on the ledge, Marcus aims his blade at the enemy ship. He aims for the main mast. With a short slash, a gust of wind emits from the blade, slicing through the mast like it was made of paper. It comes crashing down onto the deck, knocking other crew men overboard. Marcus gets ready for a vertical strike to cut the ship in two. As he swings down, Catherine, who has regained consciousness, knocks the blade out of his hands. The crystal pops out of the sword and slides across the wet deck. Catherine crawls over and snatches it. Marcus, rather annoyed, stands over her with his sword pointed at her neck.
“Hand over my crystal,” he demands.
Catherine looks from Marcus to the crystal. She does the only thing she can do. She places the crystal in her mouth and swallows it whole. Marcus grabs her in shock.
“What have you done?” he shouts at her.
“I did what was needed,” she shouts back.
Marcus yells, “You don’t understand Lass, you are cursed now.”
“Well at least I spared my Father’s ship,” she says defiantly.
Marcus, in a fit of rage, barks, “Open fire on that ship; obliterate it.”
Cannons fire and blast the ship to bits. Catherine rushes over to the railing and watches her Father and the ship get caught up in a hell fire of destruction.
“Father!” she cries out in a tearful shout.
Catherine turns to Marcus. There is a terrible hatred in her eyes. She rushes Marcus and slams her fists into his chest. She pounds and pounds on him, although it does not seem to faze him at all.
“You evil, heartless, wicked man,” she screams with each fist pounding on his chest.
Marcus finally grows tired of her and pushes her off her feet and onto her backside.
“Well, Lass,” Marcus says with a grin, “Looks like I can’t just throw you overboard. So, I have decided to make you part of my crew.”
“Like I would want to have anything more to do with you,” Catherine snaps.
Marcus laughs, saying, “I’m sorry, Lass, but I feel like it was fate for us to meet. Whether you want to or not, you are part of this ship from here on out. Welcome, Lass, to the pirate life.”
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