Scurvy Stories: Mutiny on the Pirate Ship
“I don’t understand nothin’ anymore, lad. I don’t understand men and their awful ways. I don’t understand why they betray ya, and die for unjust causes!”
“Come lads and gals of all different sorts
Come hear our shanty on the ol’ wooden fort
Drink and be merry for our time is short
Intoxicated we shall be until we see the port!”
“Alright, ye terrible seamen,” Shifty rose as he held the sword underneath the chin of Black Beard as his eyes grew wild with fury.
“Now ya’ll be good little pirates and listen to me: I be Captain of this ship now. The Lady Kraken is mine!”
Murmurs and whispers washed over the terrified crew, but then H. Wallace III shouted out.
“What are your intentions? What have you to do with the loyalty of Captain Black Beard?”
Shifty gave his open wounded eye a little turn and gazed upon the tawny bearded pirate, Wallace, “Death I give to them. Death is what they deserve who brings us closer to our doom!”
One-Eyed Patch Pat grabbed Wallace III. He held a dagger to his throat as he screamed for help.
Black Beard managed to break free, to save his best mate, but was choked as the blade moved closer to his neck, “You shall have me crew… Just… don’t kill ’em. You can kill me… not them…”
“It don’t matter anymore, Black,” Gruff spat. “Shifty’s made up his mind.”
Bruce and Forger, the twisted twin brothers, held their revolvers at anyone who tried anything. They towered over the restless crew.
Gilly Leggs, who was perched in the crow’s nest, peaked down in the ensuing mayhem.
“Aye,” Black began with wide eyes open, staring at his saddened-visaged pirate members. Staring up at him for any authority, any might to be shown, they waited. “But so have I!”
Captain Black head-butted Shifty’s stomach as he groaned loudly. Wallace kicked Pat in the knee and it dislocated. Yelping like a mouse, Pat fell on the deck. Wallace then kicked him in the face and grabbed his knife and revolver, shooting it at Bruce who ducked before the shot was off.
Suddenly, Gilly Leggs shot Forger and killed him instantly from above and then swooped down and went for Bruce with his bejeweled sword as they tussled.
“Come on!” Scudder shouted as he urged Frank and Cleda down to the lower deck. They didn’t know what to do. He was frozen for a moment but then scurried off into the cabin along with his cousins, who maniacally chased after him like mere cats.
The crew erupted and several pirates clawed at Gruff and violently beat and spit at him. As for Black, he fought Shifty. Their swords danced against each other like wild swordfish.
Shifty punched the Captain as he flew into the ship’s wheel. His hat fell off and his overcoat was tangled in the wheel. Shifty guffawed at his blunder and punched him repeatedly.
“You ain’t no Captain. No Captain of mine!” But then, as Shifty, the one-legged pirate, stepped back, his peg leg was stuck in a tiny hole in the floorboards. Struggling, he fell back onto the dirty deck.
Black had a moment and freed himself from the clutches of the wheel and pulled his double blades out of their sheathes strapped to his calves. He went for Shifty’s throat as he held it there.
“So, it was you? Aye?” Black said quietly, enjoying this exchange.
“Now, now, now, Captain…” Shifty said, gulping. “I was only testin’ ya. This was a uh… a test, me good ol’ Captain. We would never hurt yas.” He chuckled nervously.
“Shifty, you always were a terrible liar. And a thief… and a fiend.”
“Captain, please…”
“And truly, you were always a terrible pirate.”
“Black, let’s talk about-”
But just as soon as he said these words, Black slit his crusty throat. He rose over his corpse and shot his gaze around and saw his pirate crew throwing Gruff’s body overboard. The cook screamed bloody murder. Then Gilly triumphantly held up Bruce’s decapitated head as everyone roared ecstatically. Throwing the bodies of Pat, Forger, and Bruce overboard as well, the crew sang a pirate shanty.
Empty inside but relieved the murderous and treacherous crew members were found out, Black strutted forward, gazing across his crew, and screamed,
“You silly worms! All of you, you think this be the end? This is just the beginning!”
Cries of murderous rage rang through the emerald waves. Swords and daggers rose from tattooed arms and hands in the maddening crowd.
Scudder along with Frank and Cleda emerged out from the bottom, terrified.
“This be the beginning of the end! A new era will emerge! A new time is here.”
Mad shouts rose over and filled the kid’s ears with malice. Scudder shuddered and tried to hold his ears from the terrible sounds.
“Aye, we only got a few things left to do,” Black shouted.
“We now make our way to Denneson the Water Dragon. To him is where we end. And if ya’ll don’t like it, then you all can walk the plank!”
He raised his curved sword as he guffawed like a dolphin and waved it forward. As the deafening shouts of the pirate crew roared, shouting incessantly, Scudder tiptoed like a leapord towards Wallace.
“Now, there be his followers. Denneson has a religion of terrible sorts. They worship him like a god and they will stop at nothing to kill us, but… If we show grit. If we be the violent kind, if we are merciless, then we shall prevail!”
Wallace, the crazed look in his eyes, came as his matted blond hair stuck out everywhere. He clapped while Scudder tugged on his coat.
“Uh, Wallace… I uh… I have something-” Scudder began.
“Who’s tuggin’ on my coat?! You?”
Suddenly, Scudder backed away, petrified of the awful look Wallace gave him. “Wallace-”
“That’s Mr. Wallace to you! You three? Did you — did you know about this?”
“About what?” Frank asked innocently.
“About the treacherous crew! Mother of the sea! Captain gave ya a special mission, didn’t he, lad?” Looking at Scudder, he snarled savagely.
Scudder stood in between his cousins and the brute, Wallace. “He did, and I was going to tell him.”
“But what? What could possibly have prevented you from telling Black!” Suddenly, Wallace seized Scudder by the collar, picked him up, and threw him at the feet of Captain Black Beard.
Frank and Cleda screamed but were pushed by Wallace into the clutches of the Lady Kraken crew who held them.
“Tell ‘em,” Wallace shouted fiercely. “Tell ’em how you failed miserably, you ol’ scum!”
Horrified at his predicament, Scudder pleaded. “Captain Black Beard, please, you gotta understand.”
But the pirate Black Beard gazed wretchedly down at the poor blond boy and snarled,
“Understand? I don’t understand nothin’ anymore, lad. I don’t understand men and their awful ways. I don’t understand why they betray ya, and die for unjust causes! I’ll never understand why in good heavens, you, Scudder of all of me mates would ever NOT tell me of these men and their plans of betrayal.”
“Captain-”
“Tell me: Did you know about it? Why didn’t ya tell me outright? Speak up for your time is limited, boy.”
Scudder couldn’t fathom what was happening before his crystal blue peepers. He looked down at his hands, his dirty, blood-stained palms, and then hung his head, defeated.
Quietly, he said, “Black, I would never betray you. I tried to tell you. But you wouldn’t listen.”
Black started to chuckle and then burst into uproarious laughter. Then he whipped out his long curved sword, its brilliant blade gleaming against the ocean.
“I… I wouldn’t listen. You listen here, boy.” His voice was strange, it was not his voice, he was a different pirate, a pirate cursing himself to damnation.
“I’m gonna spare ya and your kin, but next time you try anything, next time you fail me again, I’ll rip out your heart and store it in one of me jars and pluck out your eyes and feed it to the birds. I’ll cut out your tongue and feed it to the sharks down under. Don’t fail me again, lad. Understand that, Scudder?”
Scudder painfully nodded while a single tear fell from his nose and he looked up, trying to reason with the black-hearted pirate.
“Mr. Black… Edward, please.”
Disgusted, Black said, “You of all me crew, little Scudder, I would have trusted with me life. But now I can see you are just as good as dead!”
Black grabbed Scudder’s collar and raised him up to his flared nose and looked him straight in the eye like a hawk.
“Don’t cross me ever again, boy.” And he threw him onto the poop deck. “Now, since Gruff, our cook, is no longer alive, you’ll take his spot as head chef!” He chortled loudly.
The crew guffawed and hooted like the gang of pirates they were destined to be, not hiding anymore against their gutless masks but revealing their true intentions.
“Now. Listen up here!” Black declared, raising his bejeweled sword. “We are going back to work and we be heading to the lonely island of the Sea Serpent Denneson! We be going there to kill him and his evil cult!”
“Careful Captain,” Gilly Leggs said as he wobbled towards him. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Why not, Gilly?” Black spat. “Explain to me why we wouldn’t?”
“Because, Captain, those who defeat the cult and kill Denneson will take their place.”
“I can’t believe we are talkin’ of such rubbish! Do you think I care? Do you really think Gilly Leggs the Second will care whether his Papa was a ghostly pirate who haunted the Seven Seas like the rogue he always was?
“Where else will we go? Tell me, crew! Where else will you all get jobs? Where can we go? Who can tame us? No woman, no boss, no religion, not even God Almighty can save us!
“No, no, no, we be far too gone! We are those without a home. We are those who travel so far to see wild lands and kill evil tribes and get back our wives from those dumb enough to take them from us. We are the travelers of the world. We are bloody rotten pirates!”
Black paused and glared out at his crew, who stood shell-shocked by his silver tongue by his charming and succulent words. He then turned and walked slowly to face Wallace III as his boots echoed on the wooden ship.
“Anything else you want an answer for? Anything more I need explainin’ to?” Black spat and his eyes were like a green snake.
Gilly Leggs gulped and then whispered, “Nay.” And then forcefully grinned to please his murderous Captain.
“Alrighty then, if we be damned, then we better prepare for it. Now, set sail! Go North, go South, go West, go East! It won’t matter. Either way, we journey to our doom.”
Scudder eyed Frank and Cleda to follow him down in the lower deck. Descending into the messy kitchen, Scudder lit lamps as they took in their surroundings of the slop shop.
“Well, shall we get started?” But just as Scudder said that, two rats scurried along the counter and jumped off, and ran into a little hole in the far left wall.
To Be Continued…
