Pirates For The Mainland

Another day of drinking went and the day of confrontation came. The sea was calm and inviting as they neared the nameless islands. Captain Nog was suspicious of their lack of violent meeting with the fish-men. They had not been able to get so close to the islands in previous attempts.

The crew were all ready for a fight. The men held the new guns and manned old cannons, staring out into the rolling waters for a ship to magically appear. Everyone wanted their luck to be as good as it seemed, but no one wanted to believe it.

"What's going on?" Dart questioned. "There's no Cray guard. Not one ship waiting for us."

"I don't like this one bit," Nog replied. "Something is up. They'd never just let us waltz up to the beach."

"Maybe someone beat us here?" Neko suggested, to the worried looks of his mates.

The Red Jewel approached land unopposed. Nog had planned take the island with all hands, so she had her ship run aground. The seasoned steamship dug into the beach with Dart's direction and right away dropped anchor into the shallows. Two men got to the beach to set two more chain anchors, using anchor guns to dig the end-bolts into the beach with loud hissing shots.

Nog ordered the crew to debark and they obeyed with haste, making their way down rope ladder in a matter of moments. All hands of the Red Jewel stood on the beach and awaited further instruction, their prototype weapons at the ready. With great curiosity and caution the three pirates walked passed the crew on the sand to stand and look at the dark jungle ahead of them.

"What the f.u.c.k is going on here?" Nog questioned no one in particular.

The captain looked back out to the sea and caught sight of an answer she didn't want. In great defiance of all logic, two Cray sh.i.p.s of dark wood and tall open sail broke the calm sea from the depths below. Their spiked bows surfaced first with great speed, almost taking the sh.i.p.s out of the water completely before they splashed down to float with their cannons facing the beach.

"Into the trees!" Nog yelled as the cannon fire came their way.

The black powder guns of the Cray boomed with their firing and the iron balls ripped through the Red Jewel. The crew ran for their lives as many shots landed in the sand, sending an enormous amount of energy into the poor souls in the way. Blood sprayed into the air as men were torn like wet paper by the attack.

A handful of the men made it into the thick cover of the jungle with the three pirates leading them. The sand behind them became stained with blood and filled with the cries of the fallen. The crew quickly found a cut in the ground where they could slide down and be safe from any incoming fire. The men jumped down into the gully onto the waiting plant life while the pirates held close to the top to try and keep a lookout.

Neko sat on the edge of the slope, looking deeper into the forest and taking glances towards the beach. There didn't seem to be anyone coming after them yet, but he knew that it was only a matter of time. The slope down into the gully was manageable with the plentiful plants and giant tree roots that filled it. Had they not been paying attention, it would have been easy to miss it and fall in on accident.

"There must be a bunch of Cray around here somewhere, waiting for the fleeing humans to come close," Neko said. "They drove us off the beach and right into their fishy hands."

"F.u.c.k!" Nog cursed. "These bastards will pay! I'll rip the throat out of each and every one of them!"

"See anything strange?" Dart asked Neko.

He continued to looked around for the enemy, but when he glanced back at the beach he was suddenly taken from his seat by a cannonball. The iron projectile carried him into a thick tree on the other side of the gully, emptying his lungs and splintering wood before dropping away harmlessly into the plant life.

"You've got to be f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me," Neko said between breaths.

"Well, there's that mystery solved," Dart said. "Neko can survive a black powder cannon."