The Raven Coven

An Unforeseen Complication

David never thought he would have seen himself doing something like this, but here he was, on a pirate ship about to rob a poor unsuspecting cruise ship. David was part of a ten man crew with three speed boats. Their boats even had black and white skull flags, the Captain’s idea.

The Captain was an old man who liked to hangout at David’s little town by the sea. He would drink at a small tavern by the beach where he was constantly recruiting. One day he finally caught David desperate enough to join him.

A week later, he was a pirate and on his way to commit his first robbery. They were on the cruise ship within minutes. Seven of the pirates climbed on board and before anyone knew what was going on, they were being held at gunpoint. They dragged everyone they could find to the main showroom.

There was about a hundred people on the floor, scared shitless as the pirates took all of their valuables.

“Kid,” called out the Captain. “Come here.”

“Yeah?”

“There are probably people hiding in their cabins. Go check the rooms with one of the guys and get all the money you can find.”

David waved over one of the pirates and they ran off to the cabin suites. Between the two, they checked every room they passed. David searched another room and was about to move on when he caught something in the corner of his eye.

“What’s wrong,” asked the pirate as he continued checking rooms down the hall.

“I thought I saw something.” David re-entered the room and pulled the sheet of the bed off of the floor. He backed up until he could see under the bed and found a red headed woman below. “There’s someone here!”

The pirate was halfway down the hall when he stopped to look at David. “Need help?”

“No,” yelled David. “Come out of there,” he said to the woman.

“Are you sure,” asked the pirate as he stood next to David just in time to see the beautiful woman come out from under the bed. “Wow.” The two men were in awe of the woman.

“Please don’t hurt me,” she said, snapping the two men out of their daze.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” said David. “We just want your money and jewelry.” He held out an open bag for her to put in her valuables. David was so distracted by her beauty he didn’t realize she was pointing towards the counter. “Oh, right.” He went to the counter and grabbed all of her jewelry while his comrade kept his eyes on her. “I’m done,” he told him.

The pirate had never taken his eyes off of the woman until he heard something in the distance. “Do you hear that,” he asked, turning around.

“I don’t hear anything,” said David as he noticed the woman give him a suspicious stare.

“How can you not hear it. It’s like someone is singing.”

David tried to listen carefully. “Sorry, I don’t hear anything.”

“It’s so beautiful. Take her with the others. I’m going to go check it out.”

David watched his comrade walk away as if in a trance. David looked towards the woman. “Do you hear anything?” She motioned no. “Okay, follow me, I’m going to take you to the others.”

There was a noise down the hall causing David to look back. The pirates were running down another hallway when the Captain saw him.

“What are you doing kid,” he yelled. “Let’s go.”

David took one last look at the woman. “Sorry again.” He ran off to join his comrades. He reached them on deck just in time to hear something fall in the water.

“What was that?”

A couple of the pirates, including David, went to the side of the ship to find nothing but the ocean. They continued to look around for the exception of David, who noticed something was wrong.

“Where are the boats?”

That was when everyone noticed the speed boats were gone. The pirates began to panic as they searched for their getaways.

“Where did they go,” yelled the Captain.

The pirates continued to search as David went to stand next to the Captain. “What do you think happened?”

“It doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t betray us.”

“Hey you,” yelled one of the pirates.  “What do you think you’re doing?” The pirate pulled the red headed woman from out of the shadows. “Captain, I found this girl spying on us.”

“Bring her to me,” said the Captain. The pirate brought the woman to his Captain, who grabbed her by the chin to get a good look at her. “Does this have something to do with you? What did you see?”

“She didn’t see anything,” said David. “She’s nobody. I found her hiding in one of the cabins.”

“Didn’t I send you to check on the cabins with someone? Where did he go?”

“Umm, he heard singing.”

“Singing?”

There was a loud scream followed by multiple splashes. The pirates looked in horror as they were surrounded by half women, half fish, creatures.

“Mermaids,” whispered the Captain.

“Water nymphs actually,” said the woman.

David and the Captain turned to look at her as the water nymphs began to sing. David looked as all of the pirates walked into the nymphs’ arms and were pulled into the ocean. The last one to join them was the Captain as David watched him disappear off of the ship.

David turned his attention toward the woman who was looking at him curiously. “What are you?”

“I’m the ship’s protector,” she answered. “Now the question is what are you and why don’t you hear their song?”