The Sworn Protector: From Tragedy To Glory

Will Anyone Help?

We landed on the sandy shore of the island, and as we got out of the boat, I heard the captain say that he had never seen this island before. To add to the wonderful condition of their happy lives, no SOS signal had been sent. The radio tower of the Lestaway had been destroyed before the radio operator could send one. Out of the original 16 of crew members, only 7 were on the lifeboats. Then there was Katherine and me. Great! Life is so good!
So we took out our meager emergency supplies, ( a first aid kit, and that's about it) and started to scout out the island, for about two days, looking for a place that we could call "camp". We soon found a good spot, a small clearing in the thick woods surrounded by trees that looked able to support some sort of shelter. So then, leaving my sister and I alone to make lean-twos, the men scouted for wood to make a fire for the night.
Katie kept calm as I told her what happened to our parents. Yes, I was still crying about it. Katie held me tightly in her arms and promised me that she will always be there and will never leave me. I felt so comfortable in her arms that I didn't want her to let go of me.
"This is all part of growing up." Katie said to me," You will know that you're grown when you learn to accept the situations in life that you have no control over,whether good or bad, and make the best of it."
"Yeah, okay mother," I replied smartly,"but I want to still be a kid, and besides, I just turned 13."
We both laughed and got to work. 6 men, Drake not with them, walked into the camp, grunting under the load of wood which they carried.
"There!" The captain said, slamming his wood down, his men doing the same," That should be enough wood for weeks." He added, looking at the huge pile of wood. Then, he quickly glanced around.
"Has anybody seen Drake?" He asked.
Responses of "No" and head shaking came from the group. It was getting late, so the captain, knowing how tired he and the men were, sent us girls to look for him. I thought he was joking, and laughed when he told us to go. But I quickly stopped as Katie and the captain gave me a look of death.
" I-I guess we'll go." I finally said after a moment of awkward silence."But it is almost nighttime."
"Wait! What do you mean by "We'll go"?" He asked, his face red with sweat and anger,"You'll go by yourself, and that should teach you never to laugh at an order!" He said heatedly.
Katie's eyes widened, then narrowed. I,my face turning red with anger, yelled back at him.
" You're not my father! You don't tell me what to do!" I cried, the memory of my parents death flashed in my mind. I could see my father holding my mother as he watched the last lifeboat drop into the-
Slap! The captain smacked me clear across my face. The force of the slap made me fly sideways. My face almost hit the ground when I landed, my face stinging with pain. My sister was like an enraged mother lion, and five men were holding her back from tearing the captain to shreds. I lay where I had fallen, not daring to move,tears rushing down my face.
Then, two someone with booted feet walked up to me. I glanced up, and looked right at the face of a not so happy Drake. He was carrying a dead deer on his back. He threw it off his back and reached a hand out to me. I couldn't refuse his offer, and grabbed his hand. He easily pulled me up. He was so strong.
"What took you so long?" The captain half-shouted, half asked him."Where's your load of wood?"
"I brought something better then wood." Drake answered, pointing at the small deer carcass laying on the ground. "I brought dinner!"
"Very good." The captain said, then turned to the now slowly calmed down Atlantic storming Katie."Get cooking!" He rudely ordered. Then looked at me. I held my eyes on the ground.
"I might not be your father, but he's gone,so your mine now. You got that? You belong to me. Your little girlie girl life is over. It's time that you started to act your age. " He said to me.
"Leave her alone!" My sister shouted at her.
"Shut up! Or I'll punish you in a much more painful way then I did your sister." He yelled in her face.
"You won't get away with this!" She hissed back at him." I'll-"
"You'll do what? Tell your father's dead bones? One more word, and I'll whip the foolishness out of you." He said."And no one will be here to hear your screams." He added evilly.
" Try it! I dare you!" Katie challenged."You think your so tough, why don't you try fighting me by yourself, just me and you!"
"You want to fight me?" The captain said, astonished. The drowsy men were now wide awake. Drake watched with wonder on his face,as if he couldn't believe that anybody would ever challenge the captain to a fight. The captain gave the signal to the men who were holding Katie to let her go. She immediately got into a fighting stance. The captain just laughed at her, mostly because she was shaking so much.
She quickly came forward to deliver a sharp blow to his face, but before her fist could even get close to his face, he grabbed her hand. Within seconds, Katie was on the ground, the captain slowly taking his belt out.
"This will teach you to show respect to authority!" He said. His men, and even Drake started to laugh. I watched in horror as he raised his belt high in the air. It was nighttime, and he looked like a demon in the light of the fire, that was started since the sun went down.
Slash! The belt mercilessly lashed Katie's body. A piercing scream escaped from Katie's lips. The men just laughed.
"Go ahead, scream as loud as you can. No one will hear you!" The captain said. He continued to lash her. I couldn't take it, the lashing, the screaming. I couldn't bear it. Why wouldn't anybody help. I started to run away. I took off into the woods. I'd rather die than to live with these men. Drake took off after me.
    But little did I know that someone did hear the cries of my sister.
"What was that?" Johnathan said to his second in command Oliver Smith. Oliver was the man that had told him about the ship in danger.
"It sounded like a scream, Sire." Oliver responded. They were out walking on one of the walls of the small castle. They heard it again. It was faint,but noticeable.
"Summon a group of the guards. I want to check this out." Johnathan commanded. He, in just two days was starting to like his job.
"Of course, Sire." Oliver respectfully answered. He turned and ran into the castle. Johnathan rushed into the stable, where his black horse was already saddled and ready when he arrived. He hopped on and galloped through the opened castle gates. He didn't ride alone. Forty men galloped with him. They had crossbows, swords, and spears. They were ready to fight.
   " I can't believe how fun this is!" The captain said evilly. Katie was bruised and bleeding all over."You're not finished yet!" The captain added. Katie was already almost unconscious. The captain raised his belt to strike again, his men cheering him on.
  " Alright! I've seen enough." A voice shouted from the woods.
"Kill those cruel bastards but bring the girl back to the castle." It continued. It was Johnathan's voice. He had watched the cruelty of the captain. Thus he pronounced the death sentence. He turned to go back to the castle, leaving Oliver to finish the job. Katie had shut her eyes, and slowly slipped into unconsciousness as three black arrows thudded into the captain's body. Confusion reigned as Johnathan's men unmounted and fought with the struggling rest of the surviving crew. A couple crew members ran off into the woods.
"Don't let those men get away!" Shouted Oliver. Four men who were still on horses took off after them. Oliver walked over to the fallen girl and felt her neck for a pulse. It was there, but was very slow.
"Get a stretcher down here and notify the castle doctor to be prepared for a patient!" He ordered the man mounted on a horse next to him. The man took off back toward the castle.
"Come on, little one," Oliver said to the girl," You can't die on me now!" The stretcher had arrived, and two men carefully and slowly set her down in it. Then, they picked up the handles on each side of the stretcher and bore her quickly and carefully to the castle as they could.
  Meanwhile, I was running as fast as I could away from Drake, who was still pursuing me. I finally got far enough ahead so that I could find a place to hide. I was in the middle of a dense forest. I slid around a tree and crouched down behind, hoping that he wouldn't find me. I soon heard the heavy running footsteps of Drake, and he stopped right where I had stopped to look around for a place to hide. He stood listening attentively. I was sure he could hear my breath as I breathed in gasps from all that running. All of a sudden he smiled, and I could hear his firm,slow steps heading right to the tree that I was behind.
"Come on, Jenny!" He called," Everything you saw was just a joke. We would never hurt you. All we want is for you to obey. Jenny!" He kept calling my name over and over as he got closer and closer. He was almost right behind the tree.
Snap! Swoosh! A branch snap and moved as something behind Drake moved through the forest. Drake turned around quickly.
"Jenny? Ahh, there you are. Wait! Where'd you get that....?" Twang! I had turned to look at who he was talking to and saw a blue tipped arrow pierce through him. A small hooded dark figure stood, bow in hand, a short ways from Drake's twitching body. Suddenly Drakes body disintegrated into dust, and the blue tipped arrow lay where Drake had fallen. The dark figure picked up the arrow and motioned me to follow. I just stood there, mouth gaped open and starring at the person. The person whistled a loud piercing whistle, and a white horse galloped to the person. He, as I was assuming because I just couldn't tell due to the hood that darkened his face, swung up on the horse. Then he galloped to me and pulled me up behind him. I got a closer look at his bow,and noticed the strange engravings on it. We galloped on and on. I held tightly to him, as I didn't want to fall. Finally, here was someone who had proven that they will protect me. Here was someone that helped me when I needed help the most. I slowly started to fall asleep, but I struggled against sleep. But finally, as the horse galloped on and on, sleep got the best of me, and I fell willingly into its
arms.