Broken Sails

The Third Option

As we waited there in the shadows, not daring to breathe, screams from the deck above indicated that a bloody fight were taking place. My first assumption would most likely be that these men, were colonial troops that had been sent here to kill us and take the ship. If that was indeed the case, it would also suggest that Flint's plan had not been successful. Quite the opposite. However, as I watched the men moving in front of us, the possibility of them being the Charlestown militia was becoming less and less likely. These men, are noticeably different from those we saw earlier today, outside in the rowboats. On the contrary, they looked nothing like civilized people, but instead, they seemed to be ones of our kind; pirates.

And yet, they were attacking us.
Couple loud grunts brought me back to my senses, just in time to see these strange looking men killing those from Flint's crew who were sleeping on their hammocks, one by one. Their silent but desperate screams forced me to turn my look away, resisting my own urge to scream. Silver, who was probably in a slightly more stable emotional state than I was, patted me on the shoulder getting my attention. He signaled me to move towards the opposite direction of where I was sitting. The invaders were too busy slaughtering sleeping men, so they wouldn't notice us. When we finally found the opportunity, we moved quickly and hid ourselves into a hidey hole that John had spotted earlier.

Silver cursed his inability to see what was happening above his head. But my question remained; who were these men? They had seeped out of the ocean and onto the ship like a black, rolling fog that spreads death, quickly and quietly. They must be pirates. The sound of a loud grunt brought me back from my thoughts once again. A brief sword fight followed and then a man's scream of pain pierced my ears. I looked at Silver. I couldn't tell if his facial expression was as terrified as mine since the light coming in through the crevice was meager, and beyond where he stood, we were plunged into blackness.

We both froze in place when we heard footsteps above us. «Captain Vane wants us all on deck» one of them said. For a minute it sounded like they were going up the stairs. We let a few seconds pass, in order to make sure they had all left. I had thousands of questions flooding my mind; were we the only ones that were left alive onboard? Who were these people and if they were indeed pirates, why attack us now? What did they want?

Silver opened the hatch, analyzing the room for any sign of human presence. He went out first and I followed his lead shortly. There were dead bodies from Flint's crew, lying all around. My heart raced as the rancid smell of blood and steel filled my nostrils and entered my throat. I gagged violently, nearly vomiting. Silver looked back at me, motioned me forward, and held his finger to his mouth, telling me to be quiet. I buried my nose in my palm and moved closer to him. This may not have been the first time I'd seen dead bodies, but the sight was all the same disturbing and upsetting, to say the least. "These are Vane's men" he whispered, but clear enough for me to hear. "You mean Charles Vane?" I accidently raised my tone a little resulting him to turn around and shush me with his finger again. However, his answer only bred more questions for me, that would have to wait for now. We kept moving quietly, until we reached the kitchen.

The only way I could think of in order for us to –possibly- get out of this situation alive, was to assemble the rest of Flint's remaining crew and then take the intruders down one by one. The problem was, we had no idea where the rest of them were being held hostages and in addition to that we were also unaware of the enemy's numbers. By the looks of it, it didn't seem as if they were a few. On the contrary; we were seriously outnumbered. As far as Silver saw it, we had two options: "Swim to shore and die by noose, or stay here on the ship and die by sword." as he'd told me.

«What about the others?» I asked raising my voice, just a tad. «There might be more survivors on the ship, we can't just leave them» I pointed out.