Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
━━━━━━━━ ☠ A R N E ☠ ━━━━━━━━
"Now he's the one who sings while the lubbers scrub the floor!"
"Oh my, oh my, oh my!"
"And he's the one who laughs when the storm begins to roar!" Big Jones raised his voice.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my!" The crew on the deck sang along.
"When his fiddle starts to play, better hide away if you don't wanna die! He is the one to blame when a mate goes overboard!"
"Oh my, oh my, oh my!"
Everybody on the ship joined him on the next part of the song, except for Arne. The cabin boy sat next to the other helpers on the main deck and ate what was left from the dinner the cook had prepared for the pirates. They had already eaten and were now drinking and singing to the songs Big Jones was singing. Butch next to him played the fiddle like a mad man.
Arne watched him while he chewed on the last bite of bread he had left before brushing his hands clean on his trousers. Dinner hadn't been much, but it was enough for him to not go hungry to bed in a few hours.
"He's the fiddler, he's the fiddler, he's the fiddler on the deck, better take care and be aware, he's like a cutlass in your back!"
They would sing until they passed out or were tired – and sober – enough to get up and walk to their quarters in the early morning. Arne didn't find it odd, he was used to it, his father had been a pirate as well.
"He's the fiddler, he's the fiddler, he's the fiddler on the deck, better take care, he's everywhere, he's like a needle in your neck. He's the fiddler on this wreck!"
Butch stopped playing and screamed: "I'm the fiddler on the deck!"
Everybody laughed, toasting to the old man. Arne had never met anybody as insane as this sailor, but he looked up to him in a way. Butch had seen and heard incredible things. He often told the children on the ship about his previous jobs, one of them was scarier than the other. But Arne liked the creepy stories, especially the ones about the Buzzard. Butch claimed he has seen the treasure of the mysterious man with his own eyes, near the island of Kerch. And he claimed that the Buzzard wasn't just a boogieman, he was a real person walked between both sides, the living and the dead – which was a danger according to the old pirate.
Butch picked his instrument up again and carried on playing, while Big Jones started the next verse.
"He's dancing in the tops when the ship goes down the drain-"
"PIRATES!" Somebody in the front shouted as loud as he could and got up to his feet, running over to the railing. "It's just one ship, but it's big enough to take ours. Oh Saints, they have a lot of people on board ..."
"Go and get the Captain, Arne!" Big Jones yelled. "The rest of you - get to your positions!"
Arne jumped up and ran over to the Captain's cabin, opening the door without knocking. The Captain sat on his desk, writing in his notebook looking up to him in confusion and anger, ready to put the young helper into his place. "Sir, pirates are near, they sail under the pirate flag!"
"They want to take the ship!" Butch cried out and ran over the deck towards his Captain. He might be insane, but he wasn't dumb. "They are adjusting the course and are heading straight over to us!"
"Nobody's going to take MY BILLY! Butch, to your position!" The Captain shouted and got up from his chair, rushing outside to see for himself. When he did, his anger turned into fear. "Oh dear ... it's-"
"Captain, we can't let him take The Billy!" Butch yelled while making his way up to the steering wheel. "This man-"
"Shut up and drive us out of here!" The Captain cut him off. "Get your weapons ready! We won't give up without a fight!"
Arne rushed over to his position in the front of the boat to the other children and pulled a knife his father gave him. He had been in a dozen of these situations and knew what to do but he was always a little bit scared when it came to a confrontation at sea. A thousand things could go wrong, and he could easily be killed or thrown into the water. The waves would take him far away from the ship, left him helpless and devour him eventually. As beautiful as it was, the ocean was a cruel place.
The crew got ready to defend themselves and the Billy, but it never came to a shooting. Suddenly, the wind was gone and so was their safe escape. The ship just drifted between the gentle waves, not moving much. In confusion, the men and women on board looked around, not being sure what was going on. Seconds after the wind had suddenly disappeared, crew members around the main deck dropped to their knees, breathing shallowly and fell down to the wooden floor. One after the other fell into unconsciousness until there were only the children, Butch and the Captain still standing on their feet.
Meanwhile, the pirate ship had made its way closer to The Billy and a plank was place as a passage between the two ships. Arne pressed his back against the railing behind him when a tall figure stepped onto the plank and walked over to their side.
Oddly, the young man smiled at them when he jumped down onto the main deck. He looked around, pleased to see the crew members on the floor. "Ladies and Gentlemen – The Billy is ours!"
This must be the Captain of the other pirate ship, Arne figured. What did he do to knock out the crew of the Billy? Was he the Buzzard? Did he really have magic powers that made him walk between the living and the dead? Could he transform into a bird? Did he kill the crew within seconds? Arne had imagined him differently, more serious and more frightful. Would the Buzzard wear a blue jacket over a red vest instead of wearing a black outfit? And why was he smiling so much?
The red headed Captain put his sabre into its sheath, he didn't need to use it. Then, he nodded over to Butch, who was standing next to his Captain, both men looking baffled at the young man on their main deck. "Fiddler, why don't you play us one of your pretty songs while we raid your ship? Please be so kind and don't pick a boring one."
