Post by Kamenwati on Nov 11, 2011 9:03:19 GMT -6
Death of the Shadow Storm
The breeze wafting off the water was warm and heavy with the scent of salt. With the sun beating down the breeze that over the railing and across the deck was anything but inviting and cool. Time had seemed to cease to exist in an endless world of rolling blue green water on all sides. By all accounts it was still early morning; but in the middle of a sea that acted like glass to magnify the sun’s rays intensifying the heat that radiated all around the ship and the small rolling waves out to sea.
The Shadow Storm was lulling amongst the waves and her crew sleeping soundless after days of battle, of cannon fire, and acid smoke sending ships and crews down to the depths of Davy Jones Locker. It has been a welcomed release at first; to leave the tensions of protocol and laws behind; to live a few days in the past when all that mattered was death and profit. Yet the truth of it was, that after days of it, one got a little tired of it, one began to wish a life of peace and reserve again. The crew knew it after a few days, their life on Skye had been better then the years they had been at sea pillaging ships and even working for the just cause of vengeance on other pirates and slavers. Despite their best efforts, some of the men had been wounded in the battles and lay on bottom deck some waiting to sail home for relief from their pain, others waiting to die. Many had lost the will to die at sea, dreaming only of those sun-kissed emerald isles of Skye to go home to. There was no honor left at dying at sea. Death had become one-sided. It was never a giver, it was only a taker.
The western and southern Middle Sea has been under attack by the pirate ship for far too long… Threatening Spanish trade routes, the King issued a proclamation to either capture or destroy the pirate at all costs. Letters of Marque had been issued to freelance privateers… and even twin warships of the Spanish navy. Time was now to stop the piracy… and Spain was ready.
The crew had begun to feel it, the insanity of its captain creeping over the ship as if her mind was somehow tapered with the rope, sail, and wood of the ship. Here, on this endless abyss of blue green water, none could help but notice it and each withdrew from it as if she were bewitched with her madness and often standing at the bow of the ship watching the water late into the night till the last man fell asleep. Gone were the days were she would reward them with a good days job with music and drink giving them rise to believe it was more than attacking Berber ships. That perhaps Ealora had plunged off a deep end there would be no retrieving her from. Their only escape was sleep and when the nights came and the time to douse the lanterns came plunging the Shadow Storm into a new world of darkness, an endless black hole besides the stars that glittered in the sky only some nights, it was a relief, to sink into the depths of sleep, escaping the tortures of sliding a sword into someone's gullet like a hot knife through butter or the resounding sound of a cannon by your ear and splintering wood.
Using the southerly soft breeze to speed her along, the Florencia, one of Spain’s newest warship, one design called a galleon, sailed toward destiny… The crowsnest bellows notice of sails at a distance… and as the Captain peers thru the telescope and laughs… “We have her… sails at full… run out the guns…” he orders… the Spanish language rolling off his tongue.
From the west, the privateer, San Cristobal, sailed upon the southern breeze, tacking for position… It’s Captain, as well anxious, to reap the rewards of bullion from the Spanish King… The caravel manned two decks of cannon, modified from a trade ship. Its Captain, a Macedonian seaman with lure of gold in his mind. The defeat of the pirate his goal.
Here in even the hot morning sun, the sea was peaceful. The crew slept soundly, with dreams of home. Even the Captain lay sprawled across her bed with one foot one and one foot off, a hand behind her head as if she had flopped down to sleep more out of boredom, than the need to rest; and yet her deep even breaths said plainly that she was asleep. For once ghosts of the past did not haunt her dreams but they were indeed haunted. Memories floated as if in a gray mist of days spent playing with her children, chasing after them in tag, hunkering low in a spot within hide and seek. Laughter and smiles that she could not escape though aware they were dreams, she begged silently, lips unmoving for release as she felt her heart would burst with pain.
The door burst open breaking the spell over Ealora and she shot up in bed, her hand moving to the spare space where her sword had been removed hours ago as Celadon eyes wild with fire swept over the room as if expecting the wheaten fields to spring up through the cracks in the boards and dissolve the ship into a place she did not want to be.
"We've got trouble" Taylor panted at her not waiting for her eyes to find his to let him know she knew he was there.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, her boots thudded dully against the boards as she swept past him. The break of his words enough to bring her to the present. She was not sure who held the spyglass out to her but she took it at a jerk as she made a hop and skip up to the wheel where the ground was higher and put the spyglass to her eye as Taylor joined at her right and pointed North and then turned his arm to point west as well.
Even before the spyglass was against her eye she spotted one ship to the North and one coming in from the West. As the spyglass came to her eye, her heart sank into the pits of her stomach and she pulled the item away as if willing the sight to be gone. As if it was an illusion of the tube but it was no illusion.
"Captain?" Taylor murmured to her ear.
"War ships" Ealora whispered back.
"Orders?" Taylor retorted.
Seconds turned into hours as Ealora's chest heaved with the intake and the exhale of her breath. The crew seemed to suspend in time as if lifted into some mystical veil where time itself did not exist. She was aware Taylor was still waiting and placed the spyglass to her eye again as she turned West. The ship was sailing East towards them. Damn it, she could not tell how many cannon's they had on board. Turning North she tried to spy the same and cursed under her breath again as she yanked the spyglass away from her eye.
"Captain!" Taylor hissed more urgently as the able bodied men of her crew had all come on deck to see what was the matter.
"Get this to Ravee, tell him to look sharp for cannon count" Ealora barked as she threw the spyglass at Taylor. "MAN YOUR STATIONS!” Ealora voice rose in a shrill cry and all eyes turned to her.
Again she felt time suspended as if they were in a bowl of jello. Unmoving and yet bobbing in time. Seconds were again hours and then time seemed to speed up to catch up with itself as bodies began to heave themselves left and right as chaos broke out over the deck.
"Captain, there aren't enough cannon's on first deck!" Bailey called as he began to usher his team to each of their cannon's and each turned to him with a downward thumb to signal there wasn't enough ammunition.
"Captain, the East seeking ship has three count Cannon's on three tiers! They are turning South by southeast!" Ravee shouted from the crow's nest downward. "I can't see the northern ship yet but they are turning Northwest, Captain!"
Ealora groaned, of cannon decks, they were evenly matched, the problem was there was two of them. "Falcon, get to third deck and load the netting with as many cannonballs as you can and get your team together to haul them up to top deck on fore and aft!! Bailey, use Falcon's teams cannonballs as well as your own, load the cannons, get them ready for fire!" Ealora called.
"Their moving swiftly Captain!" Ravee called from the crow's nest and Ealora attention drew upward to find that the western ship was no longer west but Southwest at their backs while the northern ship was now at their western side.
Death was selfish and unforgiving. It was a taker and it did not matter when, nor where. Death was always at someone's back. In the end, everyone owed a debt for the life they lived, each reached an end and met death to pay their debt. Time did not matter to death, a life could barely breathe before it was taken or not breathe at all. Other reached an end where everything was painful and the bones were brittle when death came and some lost their lives to the glory of battle. If one were lucky, it was swift and painless. For others, it would not be painless but much quicker than they expected and then there were those that suffered in the span that seemed timeless and devoid of an end.
The firstmate, with a hand raised, readied himself to alert the crew when the Captain gave the order… Having turned nor’west, the Captain tacked the wind to gain speed…his aim was the pirate ship that lay ahead… though unexpectedly, he saw the pritaeer caravel tacking opposite him to the west… “Damn that privateer… make ready the chain rounds… port side fire, prepare to come around…” The firstmate regarded the privateer… “But Captain, we might hit the privateer.” The Spanish captain smirked… “May God have mercy upon his soul… FIRE !!!!” then the conversation in Spanish was interrupted… the galleon cut loose with three decks firing almost simultaneously.
Death would come for many today and Ealora heard it in the first boom and whistle of the cannon as it sounded to the left of her.
"GET DOWN!!! TAKE COVER!!" She screamed as the cannonball made a resounding bang in front of the ship sending splintered debris and fire in all directions.
With a grunt and Taylor's arm around her, Ealora was sent to the deck, her hands moving to brace her head as she went down. A chain reaction as the air was filled with smoke to muffle where the sounds were coming from, Ealora heard it again, another boom followed by another, and another and another. Again and again it came. The second strike sailed past the middle of the ship and landed on the starboard side of the ship sending a spray of seawater over the deck as the men let out screams moving this way and that with the chaos. The third strike blasted within the water on the port side of the ship and it was only then when Ealora head came up the she realized how uncoordinated the two ships were as their cannon balls collided with one another.
"FALCON! I need those nets!!!" Ealora screamed down into the cargo hold as she scrambled to get back to her feet while the cannon fire continued from the ship at their aft their second strike sailing the length of the ship to explode in the sea at their fore. Ealora ducked again as a spray of water from the assault blasted over the ship.
"Get those cannon's ready on the starboard side, don't fire until I give the command!" Ealora screamed as she joined the crew now scrambling to lift the nets carrying the cannonballs within them up onto the deck while Taylor left her to help the other crew with the net at the back.
The Macedonian Captain had ordered his men to ready their cannon… and to prepare for hardtacks. “We can outmaneuver the Spaniards… but that pirate…” he cants his head. “Damn..its a woman…” he drops his spotting glass and looks at his firstmate… “I want that bytch as mine… yu all can have whats in the hold…” the Macedonian uttered in such an odd language. As the ship lilted to one side in a hard turn, the broadside cannon fired… the first deck guns fired over the decks, busting sails on the pirate ship… The privateer had miscalculated and sent cannon balls over the pirate’s deck and toward the oncoming Spanish galleon.
The ships were moving again taking up speed as the ship to their south moved to the east and the ship to the west moved to the south reminding Ealora for a split second of circling sharks to a bleeding meal in the sea. It was clear to Ealora then that the ships had not come to capture but to destroy. Grunting with the might it took to lift the heavy nets, she pulled with her crew until she had the net into position and then left her place at the Rope. "Falcon, get on the sails and get ready to sway the net when I say, Bailey, I want you aft doing the same, GO!" She called to both men pointing where she wanted them before moving to join her crew at the starboard cannons.
Ealora was huffing as she took her position, her arm raised. "Wait for my signal" She called as she watched the ship moving from the south gaining position on their eastern side. "Falcon, Bailey...start swinging!" She was antsy, shifting her feet from one foot to the other as she heard the men grunting with the efforts to pull the ropes swinging the cannonball filled nets back and then release sending the nets forward and aft swinging back and forth like pendulums. On a backward swing, Ealora's arm went forward "Cut the lines!" She called and the lines to the nets were cut sending the nets sailing into the air and towards the warship on their eastern side. Ealora turned watching them fly and slapped the nearest man on the shoulder. "FIRE THE CANNONS!" She yelled down the line and resounding the cannons boomed in unison, their cannonballs's sailing into the air as the nets fell. All she needed was two of the four cannonballs to hit their mark and with a ominous boom the fire was filled with smoke and balls of fire as two of them did indeed hit their mark as the cannonball nets landed upon the deck of the ship. Screams ripped the air as the warship exploded and split down the middle. Men afire jumped from the flamed railing into the sea as the ship steadily sank into the ocean.
The San Cristobal circled the Shadow, and was coming around again for a broadside… when the Macedonian Captain realized he had been outsmarted by the female captain… and a technique, that would cut his caravel in half… the keel snapping under the pressure of the shredded hull and spars. To make things worse, he had already lit fuses to return fire, and his own cannon exploded setting his gunpowder n the cargo hold to explode… the keel snapping like rotten timber… The San Cristobal sunk to the bottom… no longer would the Macedonian Captain make mistakes he would regret.
The crew of the Shadow Storm began to cheer until the air was ripped with resounding sounds of cannons fired and the ship was rocked as some hit their mark into the side of Ealora ship. Thrown forward, Ealora gripped the railing tight in order to keep from sailing over the side as the ship swayed heavily to one side before righting again, bobbing within the water like a top.
The Florencia began her attack… but the Captain gave orders to veer off, as the caravel past her stern… going into a gun run… “Break off… Damn, bring her around…” the Spanish Captain ordered… along with some curses that would curdle milk… but the explosions that followed made him look and smile… “Si… that is the price you pay for arrogance…” he commented on as he looked again in the spyglass… Seeing the Macedonian caravel sink, then explode made him smile as he ordered the galleon into a figure 8 to tack the wind… and in a wide swing, he made his attack back toward the pirate.
The crew began to cheer again as the first warship began to make a wide arch heading away from the ship and the crew though them scared and running for their lives. Throwing her hair out of her face, Ealora's feet pounded against the floor as she sailed to the back of the ship to watch the ship’s retreat only to see the shift of the ship as it did a figure eight and sailed towards them again. Ealora's mind was working rapidly on a new plan of attack, the Shadow Storm was damaged and rapidly taking on water.
It was clear to her then, they would not survive the attack, or at least the Shadow Storm wouldn't. This realization hit her like a ton of bricks and she swiveled on her feet sailing past the men again. Everything seemed to happen in a blur. Only a few men left, others were strewn across the deck their faces singed and darkened by fire while others were bloodied and gapping from the flying debris that had sent them on their way to the afterlife. "Rig that Cannon and drop it to third deck" She huffed as she passed Taylor and some of the men still alive. Gripping the rope, she jumped into the opening lowering into the deck and sailed downward, gritting her teeth as her glove frayed against the rope burn on the decent.
Her boots smacked heavily into the water all ready pouring into the deck. Wading into the water, she cut the ropes holding one of the crates into place and began to push it into position. A splash caught her attention and she stopped until a shoulder joined her own and Taylor grunted beside her. "What the hell do you think your doing" She hissed as she began to push her weight against the crate again and slowly it sloshed through the water towards the wall of the ship "Shut up and push."
Taylor grunted not worrying about what it meant to tell his Captain to shut up. With the crate in place they began to swish through the water again to another crate and began to move it to this crate towards the other one. The cannon had been lowered and was hanging heavily above their heads. The men above grunting with the effort to keep it steady and not drop it onto their Captain's head. With the new crate pressed against the other, Ealora jumped away shaking her head as sweat mixed with dirt dropped into her eyes. Taylor gripped the top of the crate and pulled himself up then offered a hand to Ealora to pull her up. "OK!" She called to the men above and the cannon lowered and she and Taylor directed it onto the top of the crate.
"Give me the position!" Ealora called to those above.
"Their all most into position to our West Captain! We have no more cannons up here!" One of the men called down.
"I know!" She growled as she heaved some of the boards off the top of the crate. "Taylor, get the men off the ship" She responded to her first as she worked to position the cannon into the opening she had created in the crate of gunpowder. "I'm not leaving you" Taylor bit back and Ealora sent her elbow into his face nearly knocking him off the crate. "I didn't ask you! GO!" Taylor held his bleeding nose for a moment before scrambling off the crate and going to the rope before being tugged out of sight. Placing wick into position, she strung the long cord through a ring on the rafters and then coiled it to the furthest side of the ship.
"Ealora they are preparing to fire!" Taylor yelled through from the top.
The Florencia was in her track toward the pirate ship… and the three layers of guns now exposed more lethality than any one ship could withstand… “FIRE !!!” the word in Spanish would be recognizable in any language if only by content and context… and the layers of guns exploded as the galleon neared the Shadow…
Using the fire burning against the side of the ship, she lit the wick and then scrambled towards the rope and slowly pulled herself upward towards the top of the ship. "GET. OFF. THE. SHIP!" She grunted out as she pulled herself upward. She hadn't anticipated the quick burning wick and the cannon exploded into the crate of gunpowder and against the crate of cannonballs in front of it sending cannonballs flying out of the gapping side and into the side of the broadside warship. With luck on her side, some of the cannons lodged into the recently lit cannons and the tunnels of metal now blocked exploded. Ealora found her grip slackened as a board from the side of the ship flew at her head striking at the side of her head and fell with a yell into the now rapidly rising water. The shock of the water kept her conscious as she hit the water and she groaned releasing bubbles into the water as she kicked her legs and pulled her arms through the hole in the ship as it sank around her into the crushing blue.
The Spanish Captain knew not the pirate’s ability… and already the pirate ship was wounded… what would occur next would only be testament to a wily sea captain… The pirate ship’s sides exploded with such force that sent metal shards, and wooden splinters… all that acted as their own methods of destruction… cannon were forced from their decks and acted as huge cannonballs, ripping the sides of the galleon with gaping holes… cannon from the galleon, not already expended now exploded in place… the whole starboard side of the ship took on water… bodies and debris would be floating upon the middle sea… In a matter of minutes, the galleon would sink alongside the Shadow… both sent to a watery grave.
With a large gasp and intake of breath as she broke the surface she coughed and sputtered as she was kicked by the now heaving waves of the explosion of two ships. All around her boards floated from the ruins of three ships. As quickly as the Shadow Storm fell into the sea, the last warship was much slower but was sinking effortlessly into the sea. Grunting with the effort it took to pull her weight through the water and the pound of her head, she swam for a floating pile of boards and slowly pulled herself upon one of them.
"Taylor!" She screamed and winced with the pain in her head. "Falcon, Bailey!" Each scream ripping a hole in her head or so it seemed. The air was heavy with acid smoke and the rush of water as it engulfed the warship sinking into the sea. Bobbing back and forth against the waves, Ealora sighed resting her head against the board not even caring at the water that sloshed towards her face. She was so very tired now, exhausted and heartbroken over the loss of her ship and seemingly, the loss of her crew. Her grip slackened against the boards as she slowly succumbed to darkness floating all most effortlessly on the debris in the open seas.
Peregrine’s ship, which had been anchored off the coast of Asilah… Now sailed thru the Strait… the Captain’s orders were to sail to Oran, on the coastal shores of the southern Mediterranean and the northern shores of Tamazgha… and wait until the signal was given to them by Kamenwati…
But after only three days of sailing, the trek to Oran would be detained. The Captain, looking thru the spyglass saw a familiar sight… the Shadow Storm, Ealora’s flag sailing amongst the breeze… smoke began to fill the air as the ships began to fire upon each other. Ordering full sails…cannon at the ready… Peregrine’s ship began a track to assist the pirate… but by the time he arrived, all three ships had sunk…nothing but debris floated upon the waves top…
