Son Of The Seas

5. Something dark this way comes

The Bourbon was almost pitch black dark as thick fog enveloped the ship. Hardly any moonlight came through although it was nearly sunrise. Captain Francis and Charlotte stood on the upper deck, looking out over the side, trying to see anything they could.

John stood at the foot of the staircase, also trying to look. Gareth and Jeffrey were both up in the crows nest, trying to get a better view. Each of them held a hand full of musket balls. Ready to drop them as a signal if they saw something.

Below deck, in the cannon compartment, all the cannons were manned and loaded, ready to fire. The fog was so thick, even with the dim light, a man could hardly see his hand before his face.

Horatio and Peter stood at the entrance, ready to go below deck and straight to the galley. There was a dead silence across the ship. Nobody dared to move as the slightest sound could reveal their location.

Everybody stood and stared into the blackness. The only sounds that could be heard, was that of the ocean waves crashing against hull of the ship, and the ship herself, moaning as the wood contorts to the water pressure. Horatio put one hand on Peter's shoulder, as reassurance and to nudge him should anything happen.

There was a sudden swoosh in the air.

"What was that?" Whispered a voice in the fog.

Moments later, something fell on the deck with a loud thud. Peter's entire body shook at the sound.

"Easy sonny," whispered Horatio. Moments after the thud, the sound of tiny musket balls hitting the deck echoed across the deck.

The sign.

"That was Gareth. From the crows nest," said a voice. The light started to grow into a dim orange in the distance. Peter tilted his head as he heard the swoosh sound again. He gasped as more musket balls hit the deck.

"Take cover down there!" Shouted Jeffrey from above.

Horatio grabbed Peter and shoved him through the door way and under cover. A mad chaos erupted on board as every man jumped and scurried to find cover. Horatio jumped in after Peter and landed on his back, then arched his back and grunted with pain. Peter looked out and saw a shower of arrows coming down.

Some men jumped over the rail and got pierced in the back. There were arrows everywhere. The deck, the masts, the rail. Then there was a dead silence again. Some men started reappearing again. Peter stuck his head out and listened. No swoosh sounds.

The light from the emerging sun was becoming brighter and brighter as the fog was thinning out.

"Men, arm yourselves," shouted a voice from the other side of the ship. Peter could make out it was the captain from his silhouette.

Francis and Charlotte stood on the upper deck. The crew started crawling out again. The sun was fully emerged and the fog thinned into a light mist, still too thick to see the horizon, but thin enough to be able to see the entire ship. Most of the men just stared at the bottom of the middle mast.

The thud they heard earlier was a lifeless Gareth, falling to the deck with an arrow in his back. Suddenly, there were three loud bangs from one side. Peter looked and took a step back when he saw a large ship next to the Bourbon. But this ship looked different from the Bourbon. It was thinner, yet longer than the Bourbon. The sails looked like pig's ribs running upwards.

There were three metal hooks in the rail, each attached to a rope leading to the large vessel.

The ropes pulled tight and three dark figures pulled themselves across on the ropes. One of the men drew his cutlass and aimed to cut one of ropes. Just as he lowered his arm, it got met with an arrow straight through his lower arm. The man shouted and grabbed his arm, holding it tight.