Compass (A Pirate Story)

Chapter 3 (Anthony)

Anthony had woken up to the sound of excited shouts.

"There is a ship! I think I even see a British flag!"

"It's our lucky day, when do we attack?"

Anthony jumped up from the hammock, quickly threw on some clothes, and ran up the small staircase. The bright sun blinded his eyes before he adjusted to the sight of a large British ship in the distance. This was curious, he thought to himself. There is something different about this ship. His crew turned to him, ready to hear the orders.

"This ship is a democracy, and it seems we are all in favor of attacking," Anthony grinned, "but there is something very interesting about that vessel. The only time Britain uses ships that size is to deliver something really important. Specifically riches or treasure. We can't let this go to waste! Prepare the ropes and smaller boats to board the...," he paused, trying to read the flag underneath the British banner, "...Victory's Fortune!"

The pirates boarded the smaller life boats with ropes and hooks to attach themselves to the bigger boat, so they could disable the rudder and take the ship for themselves. The main focus was the food, which gave his crew new-found energy in the hopes to not starve. They were really depending on this heist to go well.

Grinning with determination, Anthony grabbed a pistol and boarded the last boat. A few meters away, was the giant ship, already swarming with several sailors and pirates. Hand-to-hand combat was one of Anthony's strengths, which he passed onto his mates and taught them about several strategies to win any fight. But, this group of sailors seemed pretty well taught themselves, but he knew his friends would manage to win somehow. No one could compete with a person's hunger.

Anthony looked around and saw James fighting with a short sailor carrying a large boarding axe. Raising his loaded pistol, Anthony shot the man in the leg, and helped his friend up.

"We are going to need to think fast," James urgently gestured to more sailors entering the deck, "we seem to have underestimated that amount of sailors on the ship, we won't win this battle!"

"Yes we will," Anthony bit his lip, "leave it to me!" He ran behind the nearest sailor, a man with bright red hair, and pressed his "emergency dagger" to the sailor's throat. The men around him automatically froze, and he gestured for them to back away from his crew.

"Get away! Any move against my crew and your friend here will die..." Anthony knew he couldn't distract the sailors for long. He yelled, "scatter," to his teammates and threw the red head off the ship and into the water, then dove in after him. If Anthony held this guy hostage, then the ship will come back to rescue him, and his pirates will have another chance to take over it.

Cold water took his breath away, and he floated back up to the surface, coughing. The red head was already being hoisted up into the small rowing boat by the pirates. It appeared he was unconscious due to shock, which made everything a little easier for them.

"Hey Anthony!" James and Dea's rowboat was filled with bags of dried beans and some pickled vegetables.

"We managed to grab a good amount of food!" Dea laughed, helping Anthony get into the boat.

"That's really good! I got a hostage to bait Victory's Fortune back to us so we can try to get that special treasure again!" Anthony smiled, feeling pretty victorious.

"Good idea. The mission was partially successful then," James nodded respectfully. Not all the pirates seemed as optimistic as James though.

"Hey, George was shot! We are gonna need an amputation again," Edward, the master gunner, called out.

"Yeah, and Hugh fell off the boat!"

"I have a sword wound..."

"Adam here was grazed!!" Anthony turned to Dea and James.

"Do we have the doctor surgeon ready?" They nodded, hooking the boats back onto the Serpent's Revenge and climbing up to the deck. Anthony turned to gang.

"Good news and bad news," he started off, "we have some injuries, but thankfully no casulties! We didn't get the treasure, this time... But we got food! And a hostage!" The gloomy silence turned into cheers. The pirates weren't dumb, they knew that if there was a hostage, there was a chance. All they had to do was wait.