The Rookie Pirates (Parts 1-6)

16. Along Came a Mad Man

Part III: The Levon Pirates

16. Along Came a Mad Man

Jessica sat on the thatched roof of the tavern, watching the busy cobbled street. She sighed as she thought to herself. She couldn't get the dark and mysterious physician out of her head since her return to Southport. She once again looked down at the street, and she perked up a little. It was officially the weekend of the harvest festival, and the red moon would shine above the centre of the island tomorrow evening.

A big smile soon spread across her face as everyone celebrated around her. Colourful bunting draped from building to building, and confetti fluttered up into the air. Music played loudly and people danced. Bountiful food filled the market stalls, and fairground rides reached as high as the sky. A stage stood in the centre of the town square in preparation for the yearly beauty contest, and, of course, the temple priests had gathered the local offerings to place within the temple.

It was the tradition of the priests to collect offerings from people to give to the harvest god, which usually consisted of food or drink. They were strange men - to Jessica they were, anyway. They always wore long grey robes with a piece of black rope tied around their waists, and cowls concealed their facial features.

They weren't allowed to show their faces to ordinary people, and it would be considered extremely disrespectful to look directly at them. The islanders treated them like gods. People would move out of their way and bow as they walked past.

It was for this reason why Jessica didn't like them; she didn't trust people who thought themselves better than others and wanted to hide their identities. It always felt unnerving to Jessica.

Besides, Jessica did not believe in their harvest god. There were two main religions throughout the world of Aqua. There was the belief in the Ancient Gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, and then there was the belief in the Sea Witch Morgana, both of which had connections with one another and had their own ideas when it came to cursed souls and the creation of the world.

Jessica was the same as her father, who was a firm believer of the Sea Witch, Morgana.

Jessica smiled. There was no point in watching the festivities when she could join in on them. She jumped down from her spot on the thatched roof and landed gracefully like a cat landing on all fours. Her hand gripped the hilt of her rapier sword, a sword she had finally given a name.

She might not have trusted Jude and may have found him infuriating, annoying, and extremely teasing, but though she would never admit it to him, she found it nice listening to him speak in her native language. He spoke it well. His pronunciation was perfect, probably better than her own. It had been a long time since she had heard her common tongue spoken out loud - a good seven years - and it brought back happy memories. Because of this, she decided to name her new sword in her native language: Aculeus, which in translation meant Sting.

It seemed most fitting, considering that the names of some of her sword techniques were about bees, and the sword seemed to like it, too. Since naming him, it was like he had finally come alive in spirit, and he would hum and vibrate every so often.

At first, she had sensed that her sword's spirit had been upset with her for not taking good enough care of it. Ever since Jessica had kept better care of Aculeus, he shined as bright as the sun, not a speck of dust on him.

Jessica hummed as she skipped between the different market vendors, trying different foods and buying fresh vegetables. She found one of Mr Simms sweet stalls and bought some more honey drops, letting her favourite flavour entice her taste buds and make her heart melt in delight.