The Pirate's Legacy: New Horizons

Chapter 14: Seductive Sirens

The Wall of Death was a long stretch of narrow, rocky land that went on for miles. Tucked in niches or stuck on outcroppings were bits or entire pieces of vessels that had been accumulated throughout its existence. From above, tall cliffs sat precariously amidst the outcropping as if waiting to drop on any ship that made the mistake of sailing under them. Below, strong currents drew the sea to the Wall of Death with a force that threw waves crashing onto the Wall of Death's crude face.

A captain with everything to lose chose to sail his ship as far away from that godsforsaken landmark as possible. There was no possibly safe way through without demolishing the ship or drowning the crew. However, a sliver of the Wall of Death had collapsed long ago. It left an opening just wide enough that The Jolly Roger could get through, but even then it would be a tight fit. Dread Robin would have to make sure to avoid damaging his beloved ship's sides, or else they would have to deal with the lower decks filling up with water. A thin strip of coral reef had grown just below the turbulent waters in this opening, the reef's jagged edges jutting above the surface. The edges alone would be enough to shred a ship's hull, fill the vessel, and then drown the crew if any foolhardy captain tried to sail through the area, but Dread Robin had no other choice. It was the path the Mermaid's Tear had shown him. To turn his ship around and take a longer, but guaranteed safer path, around the Wall of Death was not an option. Time was breathing down his neck.

The alarm had been raised past midnight, waking up the captain and his crew immediately. Everyone had gone up to the main deck. Every inch of The Jolly Roger's railings was crowded with ashen-faced pirates. Some had climbed on the shrouds for a better look. No one spoke, not even to pray. There was no sympathetic god around to hear them. Only Dragus, his scarlet eye shining brightly beyond the Wall of Death's highest peaks, stood witness to their impending doom.

The pirates had their own reasons for avoiding this heathenish strip of land. The gentlemen of fortune spoke at length of supernatural beings that made their dwellings in the cliffs or the surrounding waters. There were tales of sea serpents that picked up ships with their tails and threw the vessels crashing against the cliffs, or of Cetus, the whale-like creature who was a bad omen to any sailor that laid eyes on it and whose mouth was so large it could swallow a ship whole. Yet, always, pirates mentioned the sirens. Cursed by Portunus to feed off human flesh, but to never be satiated by it, the sirens were said to have made their permanent home in the Wall of Death. If the current or the cliffs didn't end a ship, Calypso's former handmaidens could use their gift of song to compel the captain and his crew overboard, driving them mad in the process.

Standing at the helm's balcony with his telescope held up to his eyes, Dread Robin observed the tides pushing and pulling over the coral reef. At its lowest point, the sea uncovered the greatest surface area of the reef's treacherous edges. Yet, when the waves came in, the coral reef was submerged completely for a few seconds before the water receded and started up the cycle again. "We need to ride a large enough swell so that we avoid the edges," the Pirate King muttered as he stowed away his telescope. The Jolly Roger could easily join the graveyard of ships along the Wall of Death. The trick was not to sail against the current, or the action would hasten their doom as they would be sailing against the winds as well. They must use both the current and the winds' combined power to come at the coral reef headfirst to propel the ship over the reef's edges. First, there were the sirens. Dread Robin had seen movement amid the waves and on the rocks. The scarlet moonlight shined on the sirens' silver skin, but none were out in the open. Yet. They were lying in wait for the ship to get at a closer range.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, the Pirate King bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Alright, you bug-eyed blowfish! If I don't see you shaking a leg by the time I'm finished speaking, I'll feed you to the sirens myself! Load the portside guns! Break out the rifles and whatever piece of iron scrap you can get your hands on! We won't be staying tonight, but we'll leave a parting gift on our way out!"