To be a pirate or a king's man?

Chapter 15 - The Gate

Chapter 15

Two blades locked over Morgan's head. Sam's was hovering mere centimetres from Morgan's scalp, with Jack's on top, pushing down.

"Fool. Do you imagine that you can defeat me, boy?" Jack demanded, as he continued to press Sam's blade down. The flat was now on Morgan's hat, who was kneeling low, staying out of the way.

"No, but I can save my captain, who can defeat you!" Sam heaved up with his blade and kicked Jack back. Jack was an expert swordsman, and landed in a fighting stance, sword raised and ready. He charged. Sam stood before Morgan, guarding him, and met the charge, parrying Jack's sword out of the way and bringing his second sword round to decapitate him, but Jack had already moved and was circling them. Morgan stood up, his ruby eye burning a reflection of his rage. He drew his swords.

"I bested you when you were healthy, Jack. I can do it when you're weak, but this time I will not spare you!" and he charged forward, bringing his famed and feared blade in a wide arc that was met with Jack's new sword. The two captains locked together, face to face and blade to blade, snarling at each other with a feral anger. Morgan head butted Jack and swung with his right shoulder, knocking him back before advancing and whirring his blades in a whirlwind of steel that was met by Jack's defence each time he swung. Jones sat back in his throne and watched the swordplay, along with everyone else in the hall. Then he raised his hand and the manacles binding the captives turned to water, which reformed as swords in their hands and solidified, arming the men in seconds. They attacked Morgan's crew with fury equal to Morgan's own and killed several before the crewmembers knew what had happened.

Sam charged in and saved one man's life, blocking a swing and slashing across, missing his assailant's chest by millimetres. Sam plunged forward with a thrust that impaled his opponent, and then turned the blade and opened the man's stomach, watching his intestines flow out as the opponent screamed in agony. Sam turned back to the fighting and pressed the attack, gathering the men to him as they fought against the best warriors in Jack's crew. Men went down on both sides as they fought, but Jack and Morgan were still locked in their deadly dance. So the fighting continued; crew to crew and captain to captain, every man in the hall fought. Every man except Davy Jones, who watched with mild amusement whilst sat on his throne. When it became apparent that Morgan's crew had won the fight through numbers and endurance thanks to their better diet for the last few days, he rose and plunged the hall into darkness with a sweep of his hands, extinguishing the torches in their brackets. The fighting stopped as the men became blind. Even Jack and Morgan split off and stalked away from each other.

A light burst from the back of the hall, as deep a blue as the ocean had been when Sam had killed the kraken. A deep groan of many voices came from the source of the light, some screaming, others sighing, others the short gasps of men fighting for breath. The light widened until it filled the back of the wooden hall, and stood there, a flat blue rectangle, shimmering like the ocean surface on calm day. The groans grew louder. They were joined by the slap of wet feet on stone and the groan of a ship at sea. A man walked out of the rectangle, dripping wet and with blood flowing from a wound in his stomach and his throat. When the wet man raised his head, the light from behind him revealed a  man's face; bloated but still recognisable.

"Tyler?" Sam gasped as the corpse lifted its head a snarled a feral growl, as if in response to its name. The blood still came from his stomach and neck as he walked forward, with the slow shuffle of an old man who had lost most of his leg strength. The corpse that was once First Officer Tyler stopped behind Jones' throne, and was joined by a group of more walking corpses. Some were in the rich clothes of nobles, others in the rags of beggars. There were cut throats, opened guts and the uninjured who had simply drowned in the horde, all of which were standing by Jones' throne and groaning. Jones stood up and walked forward; the mass of corpses followed him. Jeremiah and Jenkins were among them, along with Ed and many others who Sam had killed on the Hurricane.