Chapter Text
A thick, acrid gunpowder fog hung in a haze all around the deck of the great ship from the battle that seemed to go on without end. There was not the faintest breeze to clear it away; the winds themselves had betrayed the pirate crew. Left them a sitting duck in the calm ocean waters to the flotilla of smallboats filled with Imperials eager to finally lay hands on the Skull's Eye, the bane of the seven seas. Not a man-jack among them quailed at the thought of tangling with some of the toughest sea-devils in living memory. The bounty on the ship itself was as great as the bounty on the head of her Captain; even to split it with a dozen comrades-in-arms would be a deluge of gold dubloons. That is - if anyone survived to claim it!
Amidst the grey cloud, sporadically being renewed by a fresh plume from another firearm, echoed a veritable Babel of angry voices. Exhortations in the king's name countered with venomous curses against the former. The shot of a pistol from cabin-boy hiding behind the ship's maiden contrasted with the air-splitting crack of her black-leather whip. She was no stranger to violence and stood her spot as staunchly as a Spartan of old, sending crimson droplets flying through the air as she slashed at the faces of any soldiers who dared approach her, screeching like an angered harpy all the while.
Through the ocean of chaos flowed Captain Red Beard like a one-legged shark. In his good hand he swung a gigantic silvered broadsword as easily as a common seaman might hold a cutlass. "Skull-Cleaver" was its name, looted from an ancient treasure hoard. It flashed brightly in the sunlight as he rushed about his ship - saving a cornered crewmate, slashing the arm off an enemy or heaving an intruder overboard with the strength of Goliath. His hook-hand held a thick steel buckler from the same hoard with which he eagerly smashed the faces of his foes as much as he parried blade-strikes. Again and again the red-coated Imperials came at him to fall or flee just as quickly. All else had ceased to exist for the Captain but the battle before him. No matter that the foe seemed to be without end! The Imperial forces were the river and he was the rock upon which they would break. If it ended with him alone to tell the tale, if the ship were to sink, if the bodies of the slain were stacked up to his shoulders, he would still stand.
A stout officer with blue epaulets suddenly stood in his way but Red Beard merely swatted the man's sabre aside, roaring at the impudence. With a tremendous leap the Captain's peg-leg slammed down on the officer's foot a second before he shoulder-checked the agonized man to lie curled up and dazed on the deck.
Words thundered from his lips but Red Beard scarcely heard his own voice. There was only thought of winning the next combat. Two Imperials foolishly trying to reload their long muskets by the forecastle met a swift fate, yet he could see another longboat approaching from the starboard with the crossed-cannon ensign of the Imperial navy. Snarling like an enraged bear at the thought of more intruders aboard their ship, Red Beard scarcely looked before leaping down to the deck below, tearing the battered spear from the hands of a shipmate to hurl it like a lightning bolt into the neck of one Imperial before turning to stand off two more.
At his bellowed order the spearless man raced with a shipmate to haul back the nearest empty cannon far enough to heft a charge of powder and two string bags of shot from the ready-racks. There was no hesitation or fear as their backs were turned, only their duty. And the Captain set to his own mission with the force of a maddened titan.
The ancient blade of a mighty warrior flitted like a great and deadly bird's wing in the hand of a man who the original owner would well approve of. Parry-parry-dodge-counter-dodge-strike-block-parry-strike! clanged the the blades against one another in a ruthless song of battle. Then with a deft slash another Imperial lurched back, a crimson river pouring from the long wound across his chest. How fortunate for the fool - Red Beard's aim had been at his throat! If he took to one of the many boats, he might even yet live!
Fear began to show on the face of the last Imperial as he was left alone against the Captain, but to his credit the soldier refused to run while using all his skill just to avoid losing a limb or his head to the gleaming blade. They both knew his only hope was to buy time for more Imperials, like the ones rapidly rowing up to the ship's side.
A sudden drawn-out call came from behind the Captain,...then a mighty KABOOOOOM that shook the ship. All four Imperials aboard the approaching longboat were swept away by the double-charge of shot as quick as a puff of breath might snuff out a candle-flame. The men who'd fired the cannon scrambled to stand beside their captain, one drawing out a pair of gleaming daggers and his mate greedily snatching up the sabre dropped by the wounded Imperial. Red Beard didn't even have to give an order, merely to stand tall and park the tip of his greatsword on the battered deck timbers as a way to say "have at him, lads". They practically threw themselves at the Imperial whose desperation now turned to terror, finding no help from the wounded soldier who was awkwardly climbing up the slippery staircase on all fours.
Cheers began coming from the pirate crew as they realized the small victory, redoubling their efforts to throw the intruders overboard for shark bait - whole or in pieces!
Unassailed for an instant, Red Beard stopped long enough to swap his sword-hand for his hook-hand and raise a defiant clenched fist along with a voice fit to startle the dead.
"SKULLS FOR THE SKULL'S EYE!"
A ragged chorus from the crew answered him back - "SKULLS FOR THE SKULL'S EYE!"
Encouraged by the reply, Red Beard bellowed all the louder. "NEVER GIVE UP THE SHIP!"
"NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!
At the final chorus the ship's crew seemed to go into a fury to rid themselves of the Imperials. Musket-shots suddenly thundered from the midmast platforms and two soldiers climbing up the rigging fell down to plunge into the dark waters. Another Imperial threw himself into a boat where one of his comrades was feebly laying in, shoving away from the hull and desperately trying to get both oars into the oarlocks.
"BEGONE!" Snarled a pirate with a ragged blue-and-white shirt, catching the man's attention to terrify him all the more. "Row home and cry to your little 'king!' The seas belong to us and the Skull's Eye! ARRR!!" The Captain belly-laughed at the frantic attempts of the unwounded soldier to get his boat away, sobbing in horror and clumsily fumbling about with the heavy oars while his comrade blubbered senselessly.
"Redbeard." A distinguished voice broke through his cruel reverie. The Captain whirled about with the speed of a striking viper, eyes darting about for the source of the challange.
"Redbeard!" Again...! It was measured and refined, not the croaking of some common soldier.
Then at once the Captain saw him at the forecastle. Unruffled by the rivers of blood about him and as sure-footed as a mountain goat. While nearly every other Imperial had been violently evicted from the rear two-thirds of the ship the defiant figure had boarded by the bow with five others. Officers all, by their tricolored hats. Each one had a brace of pistols at the ready and a sabre through their shoulder-pack sleeve. And the haughty Imperial was standing. on. one. of. HIS. treasure chests.
Red Beard felt his battle wrath immediately turn to blind bloodlust at the sight of the Imperial daring to set foot on of his crew's wealth.. Yanking the tip of the broadsword from where it had embedded in the deck, he grasped Skull-Cleaver with both hands while letting out a horrific roar that would have stopped a grown lion in its tracks. Every one of the cocked pistols immediately pointed right at him, but he gave them no mind at all!
"How fitting!" sneered the challenger. " A bunch of filthy stinking beasts with a monster such as you for a leader! In the name of the King I claim this vessel, its stolen goods and its crew to be seized for uncountable crimes against the crown! Every last rum-soaked bilge rat is to be put in cages where such vermin as you belong!" The man's thin moustache accentuated the sneer that formed on his face as he looked down. "Except for YOU, of course..."
"ADMIRAL." The word dragged out of Red Beard's mouth. Speaking it aloud was like pulling a length of dry, frayed rope across his tongue. "Mayhap ye've noticed that none of yer precious redcoads are still aboard. Seize our ship? HAH! Ye couldn't seize a lass if she were tied to a chair a'ready! Now I'll be generous and give ya' lot till the count of five to be off the Skulls Eye. And if ye don't...." his voice went up two octaves in pure fury "I'll gut ye to make a fiddle an' carve yer leg bones inta hornpipes fer playin sea shanties with 'em!"
"Stand fiiirm...." droned one of the officers. Red Beard merely stood fast himself even as eight loaded flintlocks tracked his every move. Behind him he could hear the crew hustling at some task. They were coming up with something to even the score and he knew he needed to buy them precious seconds by drawing the attention of the hated intruders. "BE THERE ANY MEN AMONG YE THERE TO COME AT ME?" he bellowed, stamping the tip of his broadsword into the deck again to emphasize the challenge.
"None that are stupid enough!" snapped another officer, drawing numerous loud jeers from the pirate crew.
"We've cut down twelve boats of ya lot for crabmeat," snarled Red Beard "Bring twelve more and we'll do the damn same to THEM!"
That cracked the iron facade of the Admiral, just the tiniest bit. "Yes...you wretched lot must have had stray cats for mothers, seeing as you all seem to have nine lives each. So I'm ending your career now, monster. Without you the Skull's Eye will soon be mine - even if I have to burn her to the waterline rather than take her as a prize."
"BURN HER!" roared Red Beard, waving the broadsword wildly. "DAMN YER HIDES! YE'LL ALL BURN IN DAVY JONES' LOCKER!"
"Oh come now, purred the Admiral in a mocking voice, "isn't that one does to rid oneself of a bad infestation of vermin? I can only imagine what other disgusting creatures slither about this abomination." He snorted loudly in disdain. "Give it up, peg-leg! You might dodge one or two bullets - but not eight at once!"
"Oy! Fancy-shirt!" screeched a woman's voice. "DODGE THIS!!!"
Not one of the pistols' aim wavered, but the Admiral's eyes warily shifted aft only to spot a most unwelcome sight. Four pirates, including a woman with a bloodied blackthorn whip in one hand, could be seen huddled around the aftmost cannon. They were wounded and gasping for breath from exertion but grinning like devils all the same. At the sight of the newcomers they'd shifted the gun as far to one side of the ship as it would go, then turned the whole thing on its swivel-base to aim right at the forecastle. If the fuse was touched it would certainly gouge the ship badly - but most of the blast would still go right through the Imperial group.
"You wouldn't dare shoot your own ship..." the Admiral dared halfheartedly. He knew the answer even before the words left his lips. Red Beard guffawed and his crew howled like hyenas at the notion that any one of them wouldn't gladly do far worse to their own ship before allowing it to fall into the hands of their mortal enemies. As if the cannon weren't bad enough of a problem, his keen eyes spotted a pair of small carronades being clumsily hoisted atop of the railings of the poop deck. If they volley-fired the damn things along with the cannon....
One of the officers noticed as well and whispered out of the side of his mouth. "psst! sir, do you see..."
"aye," he acknowledged. "damn it! did they not take any losses from the marines?"
"I s'pose retreat is against orders?"
At that word the Admiral sighed mightily. "orders? Forget orders...he'd sink us before we rowed a quarter-mile. No. This mission now falls to me alone." With a final self-exhortation for king and country, the Admiral straightened the lace-trimmed hat upon his greying head before taking a long step forward.
" 'Captain' Roger!"
"Aye! Tired of hiding behind them funny-hats, admiral?" called Red Beard, taking a few cautious steps forward. At this the Admiral yanked his decorated sabre from its sheath with a loud ring of steel, a furious scowl twisting across his face. "To the death, you rogue!"
A roar of approval washed back and forth among the assembled pirates. All of the officers scrambled to give the two men a clear stage on the foredeck for their champion as the Admiral stood rooted to the spot. Then in a few booming steps up the stairs...Captain Red Beard was there. An imposing presence to nearly anyone who sailed the seven seas, in the flesh with gleaming broadsword. A hundred names he had been given in a dozen languages, spoken in fearful tones by all who had stood before him and his crew.
But not his mortal foe. Not the man who had spent a score of years using every trick in the Imperial Navy and invented new ones trying to bring his nemesis to heel. Season after long season with his underfunded, undermanned squadron constantly trying to keep the seas safe for His Majesty's vessels. Or indeed - safe for anyone but the lowest with no coin for him to clasp.
There was no foolish bandying of words when the two of them were suddenly within the improvised arena, nor any time spent circling and showboating like a pair of fighting-cocks. It began at once with a sizzling slash at his feet that Red Beard dodged by an inch. A counter with the Captain's broadsword that whisked a shred of white lace threads from the Admiral's hat -
And then a mighty CLASH!!!