The Pirate's Treasure (#Wattys2017)

03. Captain Wolfe (Revised)

"Please," I whisper as I hear more sounds of gunfire from the upper deck. "Be careful, Lily."

     James pulls at the bottom of my dress, reminding me that he's still in the room. I pick him up in my arms and sit down on the bed, rocking him gently as he covers his ears to try and block out the screams and sounds of the gunfire.

     Damn it, I thought while biting my lip in anticipation, where is she?

I swiftly stand from the bed and take James over towards the door. "If I told you to stay here, could you promise me that you would?" I plead as James nuzzles his face into the crook my neck. "Would you, James?"

He nods his head, not understanding how serious the situation is. "There's a good lad," I say while setting him back on the floor of the cabin. "Don't leave this room, and don't let anyone in. Mother will be back soon, as will I."

He sits on the wooden floor, watching me position furniture by the door with enough room for me to squeeze out of the door way. "I love you, James," I say before walking out into the hallway and closing the door. Tears sting my eyes, but I know crying now won't do me any good.

I run as fast as my legs can carry me, my dress flowing behind me as I realize I am running up into a battle with no weapon. There's a sword in the Navigation Room, I think to myself upon reaching the stairs to the upper deck. If I'm able to slip past and inside, I might be able to grab it.

My feet do two steps at a time as the massacre is revealed to me. Rugged pirates plunge their swords into our soldiers, killing them without a second thought. I feel as though I'm about to be sick until I remember my mission and hurry towards the Navigation room door. My legs jump over the bloody corpses of both our men and pirates.

"The Lass!" Shouts a male voice as I spin around to see two muscular men run towards me. "Come on!"

My first instinct is to scream, but instead, I quickly open the dual doors and slam them shut, holding it closed with all my might. A candelabra resides not too far away in which I grab and use to jam the door knobs.

The doors shake violently as I step backwards, hearing a squishing sound as I do. Looking down, my white shoes quickly turn red as I stand in a puddle of blood. Shaking out of my skin, I realize that the blood belongs to the Captain of this ship, William Drake. My feet move out of the puddle as I can feel myself gagging over the overpowering smell.

The doors are almost opened as I search frantically for the sword. Throwing papers frantically out of drawers and searching high and low, the sword case is finally found. My fingers shakily do the latches as I pull out the silver cutlass, which was to be a gift for my fiancé. Close by is a hopefully loaded pistol, which I take in case and strap to my leg with my garter.

The doors are finally busted in as I stand there with my sword in hand. The two men swung at me, which I blocked, as I push them backwards. I retorted my own swings as my sword gashed one of the men's arms, making it go limp. The second man grabs my free hand before slightly slicing my side. I resist with clenched teeth as my sword plunged itself into his chest. My eyes widen in terror as the man stop trying to fight me and falls to his knees before crumpling over. I pulled my sword from his body as he collapsed, his blood conjoining with that of Captain Drake's.

Looking down at my side, my white dress turns slightly red, but doesn't seem too serious. I return back outside on deck, my sword dripping with blood as my mouth falls agape over what my eyes behold. I run near the barrels and crouch down beside her body, seeing blood drip from her mouth and onto the wooden floor.

"Lily!" I cry out, dropping the sword next to me as my hands cupped her face gently. She weakly smiles upon realizing that it's me. "I've got you, Lily. You're okay now."

Blood, either her own or someone else's, was splattered on her outfit and hands. I blinked back tears as I watched her eyes open slowly, however, they didn't stay open for very long.

I held her head up gently for her to speak. "It was a pleasure to have served you, Miss Kate," She says with a weak smile before it was unable to remain any longer upon her face. "My dearest friend."

Hot tears roll down my cheeks as I grab her hand tightly into my own. "I can't imagine a world without you in it, Lily. Life would have been... dreadfully boring without knowing you." We laugh silently through our tears, until her eyes close and do not reopen.

She was right, I thought to myself, they do kill without a second thought.

The battle that was going on behind us hardly mattered now to me. My most trusted friend died in my arms with such a pure heart and soul. I started to sob over her body, my tears mixing with the blood on her outfit and skin. As I look up, a shadow his now clearly cast in front of me. I turn around to see a man holding a large cutlass in his hand, prepared to slit my throat. I'm too weak and broken to fight back. Accepting the certain death that awaits me, I close my eyes, but the blow never comes. My eyes open slowly to the cutlass inches from my throat with another cutlass blocking its path. My eyes travel up to the man who had stopped the cutlass from hitting me with his own.

The man is certainly not one of our men, making him a pirate. But why would a pirate save one of the people he's supposed to kill? He's dressed in a white outfit, his hood drawn far over his face to conceal his identity. My eyes can see few blonde stands of hair fly from beneath it. Two, no doubt loaded, pistols are strapped to a sash which runs from his shoulder and across his chest. On both sides of his belt hang two unsheathed. My eyes yearn to look upon his face, but with the shadows from the hood, I am only able to pinpoint the tip of his nose.

My eyes stare up at him for a moment in utter fright. He nods to the man who grumbles before walking towards his next target. My legs go weak as he looks down at me, his eyes surely meeting my own under the darkness of his hood. I can feel that his eyes have shifted towards the bloody sword at my side. He couldn't possibly believe that I killed Lily? We haven't exchanged a word, but his attention quickly turns to my Father. Whatever goodness took over the man is gone as he roughly walks towards my Father. I watch in horror as my Father continues to battle two pirates at once, countering their attacks bravely.

     I wobble while standing, feeling a sharp pain in my side that I had been sliced on. Shakily, my hand reaches down to grab the cutlass. The blood has dried upon it, sending my stomach into a frenzy of sick feelings. My vision is disoriented, but I shake my head to try and clear it. "Father!" I yell in his direction just in time for him to block the mysterious pirates attack. I watch as the hooded man quickly looks over his shoulder towards me, as though I've said something of importance to him.

     To my horror, the two begin to fight one another. The sounds of the clashing swords cause me to nearly jump out of my skin. I raise my cutlass and shake off the feelings of fear; my father needs me. Rushing towards them, I gasp as my fathers sword flies from his hand and onto the wooden floorboards beside him. The hooded pirate is about to strike my father, but I quickly throw my sword in between them. His shoulders fall backwards as though he's in shock and confused that I'm even attempting to fight him. My long breaths heave my body up and down as we stare at one another for a moment. The pirates attention is now focused on me as I hold my cutlass out before me, the intimidating man causing me to back up as he walks closer towards me. He thrusts his sword at me, which I block, almost stumbling to the floor in the process. He's much stronger then I am, but I don't give up and return my own thrusts. Our swords clash with each others until I hold mine over across my chest, the pirate pushing down on it with his own.

     My back hits the wooden rail roughly as the man continues to push down on my sword. I can hear the railing start to crack beneath me. It's as though the cracking of the railing has made him even more determined to end me. He continues to push harder down on my sword, my arms not able to support his weight much longer. My back arches over the top of the railing in attempt to keep myself stable. In that moment, I gasp loudly as the railing gives way, and I'm sent overboard. My eyes instinctively close themselves as my body falls off the ship and lands roughly in the rowdy waves. I refuse to let of the cutlass as my body starts to sink in the unforgiving ocean.