Harsh Seas

Chapter 1

To my friend who pushed me to do a story. Without you , I'll be happy reading but now I know the joy of writing :D

This is my first story. Comment anything you like I don't really care. I like honest opinions though. I procrastinated a little with writing the story but now that it's finally published tell me how you think of the story and if you like it, vote! The picture at the side is the full cover and I thought the song fits this chapter. Anyway, enjoy reading.

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"Xandra!"

My head automatically turned to where the voice was coming from, high above a fellow crewmate was calling me.

"Rowan! What is it?"

He climbed down from his post on top of the ship's mast to speak to me properly. "Pirate ship spotted east from here bearing unknown flag" he reported.

"Must be a new ship. New pirates have been seen frequently lately." Marcus said  behind me obviously  been listening to our conversation "Ignore them. If we're lucky they'll ignore us" he told Rowan.

As Rowan turned back to his post, I told Marcus "you know it yourself that that is low probability".

"Better safe than sorry" he said.

"Pirates are never safe" I replied just as a cannonball  shot through the air and missed our ship by a couple of metres. There was no wind today. They have bad aiming. I'm grateful for that.

"Ready the cannons!" Marcus shouted to the crew.

I turned my head towards the captain. He gave a nod in my direction. That was all I needed to know.

I turned towards the crew readying the cannons. I saw Marcus there and walked up to him and shouted so they could hear me over the newest cannon shot sounds "Fire!" and 3 cannonballs shot off at once, each hitting the target.

I felt no pity for them. They messed with us and they're getting their just desserts.

By now the ships are side by side with each other. At this range even they can't miss. This could be more troublesome than it's worth.

I tugged at Marcus's shirt. "C'mon, it's time for us to join the fray". I said it in my usual tone of voice but since Marcus knows me as much as I knew myself, he could tell how eager I am to fight. 

"You got your sword?" he asked.

"Always"

The enemy pirates had started to come to our ship and are fighting with the crew.

I parried an enemy's attack while Marcus parried the one behind me. Marcus got my back while I got his. We had perfect coordination.

I looked over his side while pushing another enemy into the water. I saw Rowan dropping his sword in pain as there is a big cut on his hand and being kicked to the ground by the enemy. He was going for the finishing blow. Tsk. Rowan was never a good sword fighter.

"Marcus, I can handle this" I said while darting my eyes from Marcus's face to Rowan.

Marcus got what I was saying and help parry the blow while I'm holding out on my own here. 3 against one, isn't that a little unfair to you?

I was encircled. They were smirking thinking their getting an easy win. I just going to show them how wrong they are. We were near the ship's edge. Hmm... this is going to be easy.

I kicked the first guy nearest to the edge in the stomach, grabbed the sword that flew out of his hand and heard him yelling all the way down to the water. I turned now facing the second guy. He attacked, I parried it. I sensed that the third guy is going to attack. Years of doing this became like a sixth sense for me. I ducked bending down and turning to attack before he could respond. He too fell into the water. I turn back to parry the attack the second guy was going to give me when Marcus came and hit him from behind.