Chapter 4: Ghosts In The Mist
“A ship with only two women on board,” Riley continued to rant, a slightly drunken slur in his voice, “an’ the capsin…catspin…captain’s!” he finally got the right word with a victorious exclamation. “And the castpin doe’n’t even use ‘em right!” He finished angrily.
Forrest giggled in an inebriated manner. “If the captain was half backwards, he’d be catnip!”
Riley found this equally hilarious in his current state and laughed uncontrollably for a minute before the anger took over him once more. “Waste ‘f a woman!” he practically roared.
“A real man woulda shown her who’s boss by now,” Forrest agreed, shakily trying to pour from one of the spouts in the nearby barrel into the mug. He thoroughly lacked the coordination to do so in his current state, however, and quite a bit of the dark liquor spilled onto the floor.
“Suzacatly!” Riley exclaimed, raising his mug in Forrest’s direction before taking another deep swig of ale. “Pretty little blond thing just begging for me to take her…” He abruptly slammed his fist down on the table, causing all the cups there to rattle. “I saw her first!” he insisted.
“Way firster,” Graham agreed from the back corner of the room where he’d passed out a bit earlier. It was quite clear that he had no idea what the conversation was about anymore, but he was too drunk to care.
“Yeah,” Riley agreed dumbly, blinking a couple of times and trying to remember what he was talking about. “She’s mine!” he finally shouted out once he remembered.
The door to his cabin opened in response to that. Riley and Forrest turned in surprise while Graham just groaned at the light that was being let in.
It took Xander all of three seconds to figure out exactly why they all had such blank looks on their faces, and his eyes narrowed in response. “We can hear you shouting from the far side of the ship! Are you drunk?” he demanded disapprovingly.
“We are not *hic!* drunk!” Riley insisted unconvincingly.
Xander batted the foul-smelling air away from his nose. “You are drunk,” he sighed in annoyed. “Great. Just great!” His tone turned furious then. “What kind of second officer are you?!” he demanded. “You have duties! Responsibilities to this ship!”
“Oh yeah,” Riley said with drunken sarcasm, “tell me all about them. Hey guys!” He turned to Forrest and Graham. “Listen up! Harrisusis gonna tell the secret of how he got chosen to be first mate over me.” His eyes narrowed at Xander, and he quickly leapt to his feet in an aggressive move.
Xander rolled his eyes when Riley’s lunge brought on a wave of dizziness and the other man staggered about the room, muttering vague threats.
“I’ll get you…show you to order me around…take that slut ‘f yours for a ride, too…”
At that, whatever good humor Xander had had about the situation vanished, and pure rage overtook him. Riley gasped, wide-eyed, when he was suddenly thrown violently across the table. He landed right on one of the rickety wooden chairs, smashing it to pieces.
In an instant, Xander had caught him up by his shirt again and threw him up against the wall. The young man’s normally chocolate brown eyes had turned a fiery black with rage, and he scowled at Riley, not intimidated at the other man’s size for even a second.
“You. Never. Talk. About. Anya. That. Way.” Each word was spoken with precise venom.
Riley’s eyes widened, and for the first time ever, he found himself afraid of Xander’s wrath. “I-I didn’t mean…” he began to laugh nervously, the extreme danger he was in sobering him instantly.
“NEVER!” Xander shouted.
“N-Never!” Riley agreed nervously.
Xander’s rage didn’t abate since he knew the other man didn’t really mean it, but at that moment he was distracted by a cry from on deck.
“Ship off the port bow!”
Xander frowned at that and released Riley. The drunken man slumped to the floor in relief. “You stay here,” Xander directed the three of them. “The state you’re in, you’ll only cause trouble…” And, with that, he dashed out to see what was happening.
* * *
“So, what would you do if someone came after you with a gun and a sword?” Anya asked curiously, her feet dangling over the rail as she continued to question the flummoxed helmsman.
“Uh…” he began, confused, leaning against the steering wheel. He stared out into the deep fog that surrounded them, searching for an answer within the mist…or, perhaps, hoping that Anya would disappear into it so he wouldn’t be embarrassed further by her prying question’s about a pirate’s life.
“Yeah, Collins!” one of the rather amused pirates that were hovering around listening to Anya’s interrogation shouted out. “What would you do?”
“Use you as a shield!” Collins shouted back.
Anya’s brow wrinkled for a second. “Yes, I guess that would work,” she finally decided cheerfully, “as long as you don’t ever use Xander for a shield.”
Collins chuckled slightly. “Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetie. So,” he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try and find dirt on the first mate in order to embarrass him later, “how’s ol’ Xander been treatin’ you in the sack?”
Anya perked up immediately as her favorite topic – sex with Xander – came up. However, before she could begin to explain the high quality of the orgasms Xander provided her with, a shout suddenly echoed from the crow’s nest.
“Ship off the port bow!”
Everyone started at that, and Anya looked to one side while everyone else looked to the other. “Right,” Anya grumbled under her breath, pushing her way through the crowd of men who had flocked to the side in question, “port is the ship’s left, not necessarily my left…” She blinked when she saw the dim, dark outline in the midst. “What is it?” She purposefully poked the sailor nearest to her.
“What is it?!” he called up to the crow’s next, belatedly realizing that it would be easier to see from above.
“No markings!” The shout came down.
This caused a flurry of activity.
“Someone find the captain!” Collins ordered. “This could be an attack!”
No canon fire sounded, however, as the other ship drifted steadily closer.
“What is it?” Xander demanded, running up at that moment.
“Ship. No markings,” Collins squinted into the fog. “Looks like a derelict…”
“A ghost ship?” someone asked nervously.
“ ‘Ghost ship’?” Anya repeated, fascinated.
Xander noticed that she was present for the first time. “This could be a trap,” he informed her. “You’d better get below deck, and—”
“Blah, blah, blah, a pirate’s life is too dangerous,” she grumbled under her breath, obviously displeased but giving in to his wishes anyway.
“Where’s William?” Xander demanded, checking to make sure that the guns that had just been brought up from the galley were all properly loaded…
* * *
“I will see a noose around your neck for this!” Elizabeth announced primly, throwing one of her shoes at William as hard as she could.
“For *ow* what?” he demanded when the shoe hit him squarely in the head. “Gettin’ *ow* beat up by *ow* you?” He frowned for a second. “Waitta minute…that was three ‘ow’s… Jus’ how many shoes do you ‘ave, pet?”
The mystery went unsolved as his feet quickly slipped out from under him, along with the sheet, and before he knew what was happening, Elizabeth had him pinned down beneath her, the dagger chained to the bed at his throat.
“Do I win?” she said excitedly, practically bouncing up and down in her victory.
“You wouldn’t,” he gestured to the dagger with a confident little smirk.
“Wouldn’t I?” Unconsciously, she licked her lips. After all her frustrated attempts, she finally had him trapped and completely at her mercy…so why did all her thoughts suddenly revolve around how good he felt beneath her?
He let out a little moan at the unintentional sensuousness of her gesture. He could feel himself hardening beneath her. Fortunately, the sheer volume of her skirts meant that she couldn’t also feel it.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to get you exactly like this?” she said with a sly little smile. Her body slowly leaned further into his. “I told you I would escape, and I’m never wrong…”
“An’ where exactly are you gonna escape to?” he countered, scarred eyebrow raised.
She bit her lip for a second. She really hadn’t thought much beyond the ‘wrestle William to the ground’ stage. In fact, she wasn’t even doing that part too well. She’d kind of let the dagger slip away from his throat and was just enjoying lying there on top of him and…what was wrong with her?
“Captain!” a breathless voice gasped from the doorway of William’s cabin. The young pirate dashed over to Elizabeth’s room when he saw that William wasn’t there. “Captain,” he repeated in relief, “there’s a ship – right off the bow.” His face turned a bit red when he saw what the captain and his ‘guest’ had apparently been doing. “Er, uh…pardon me, Miss Summers…” He looked nervously down at the floorboards.
“A ship?” William leapt instantly to his feet, slipping from Elizabeth’s grasp.
“Hey,” she protested weakly. She wasn’t quite sure if he was able to evade her clutches because she really hadn’t holding him that hard or because he hadn’t been trying before…or perhaps an odd combination of both.
“Where are Xander and Riley?” William was instantly in his own room, fastening his sword to his belt and removing a small pistol from his desk drawer.
“Xander’s on deck, and…er…” The sailor really didn’t want to have to report that the second mate was drunk while on duty.
“Tha’s fine,” William insisted, rushing out the door. He turned back for one last second, however. “Stay here with ‘Lizabeth,” he ordered. “Anythin’ happens, you’re not to let any harm come to her.”
“Right, sir,” he agreed nervously, eyeing the ‘hostage’ warily. He had no doubt that she would knock him out the instant William left the room.
“Good man,” William nodded before dashing up to the deck.
The young man turned and gulped just before the heel of Elizabeth’s shoe came down on the back of his head. As he drifted off into unconsciousness, his last thought was: Told you so.
* * *
“Everyone stay where you are and prepare to fire,” Xander ordered, testing the strength of the rope ladder that had been looped between the two ships. “Don’t worry about what happens to me.” With that, he quickly made his way over to the other ship, his feet nimble on the ropes.
It was just as he reached the halfway point that the first shot was fired.
“Xander!” William cried out in alarm, arriving on deck just in time to see his first mate fall into the water. He pulled out his pistol and…
All hell broke loose.
The dozens of pirates that had been hiding just below the rails of the ‘ghost ship’ all leapt up simultaneously, firing at William’s crew with brutal accuracy. The more experienced pirates instantly hit the deck, waiting for the first volley of the enemy’s shots to be fired.
They rose up once again in a ferocious wave, but by that time, the ‘ghost ship’s crew had already invaded the decks. Swords clashed and fists swung, and in the middle of it, William fought whoever came him, desperately trying to force his way over to the side and discover whether Xander had survived…
* * *
“Elizabeth!” Anya exclaimed in relief when she crashed right into her friend on the stairs that led below deck.
“Anya!” Elizabeth said in surprise, dropping the sword she’d ‘acquired’ for a second to give her friend a quick hug.
“What are you doing out here?” Anya demanded. “They’re right behind me!”
“Who are—?” Elizabeth began, but her question was answered when the door at the top of the stairs shook with the force of a powerful impact.
“They’re coming down here!” Anya said in alarm. “We have to find someplace safe to—”
Elizabeth grabbed her shoulders and gave her a quick shake, pulling the other woman out of her mild hysteria. The door at the top of the stairs made a cracking sound as the wood started to give way.
“What’s happening?” she demanded of Anya.
Anya shook her head and turned her full attention to the matter at hand. “We’re under attack!” she exclaimed. “Again.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “This is getting old,” she said, mildly annoyed.
“It’s only happened twice,” Anya pointed out.
“It was old after one time,” Elizabeth retorted, snatching up the sword she’d dropped. “Is it the navy?” she suddenly asked hopefully.
Anya shook her head. “More pirates, I think…”
The door shook again as the foreign pirates continued to batter it.
“I-I locked it behind me,” Anya said somewhat nervously, “but that will only hold them for so long…”
“Right,” Elizabeth agreed. “We need a room with a solid door that we can defend, but also has enough room to fight in, if it comes to that.”
Anya nodded. “The dinning cabin,” she decided.
“Lead the way,” Elizabeth gestured with her blade.
Anya easily made her way through to bowels of the ship, quite familiar with its design by now. Elizabeth followed her, nervously looking back over her shoulder to make sure the raiders hadn’t broken through yet.
“In here!” Anya announced in triumph.
Elizabeth slammed the wooden door shut behind them, and the two of them quickly moved to barricade it with the scant furniture that was present in the room.
“What I wouldn’t give for one of my father’s wardrobes right now,” Elizabeth joked lightly when their task was accomplished.
“So now what?” Anya asked nervously, fiddling with the sleeves of her gown. “Do we just wait? Because Xander’s out there, and—”
She was cut off by the first pound on this door.
“They’re in,” Elizabeth whispered.
Anya gulped and retrieved her dagger from the folds of her skirt. And, together, they waited…
* * *
Some instinct told William to duck right before the shot was fired. The gunpowder impacted on the foe that had been sneaking up behind him, and the raider fell to the deck, his eyes dead. William took advantage the gunman’s surprise to slash at his ankles. The man fell to the ground in pain, and a quick stab was all it took to end his life.
Unfortunately, two more of the foreign pirates quickly took his place.
William barely had time to scramble to his feet before he was besieged once more. He easily parried his two foes’ blades before making a strategic retreat. With a quick jump, he caught hold of the rigging above him, hoisting himself up and to safety.
Below him, four of the enemy followed his ascent.
William’s brow furrowed for a minute at the intensity of the attack. Elsewhere on deck, his men were quickly outnumbering the enemy. An unusual number of the attackers were chasing him, given how poorly they were faring elsewhere. In fact, if he didn’t know better, he would have sworn they were after him personally…
A one-eyed pirate caught him right as he reached the main mast, and he was able to deftly slip behind the wooden beam before the blade could strike him. A quick lunge, and the opponent was falling from the rigging to plunge into the ocean.
Not pausing for a moment’s rest, William climbed for the crow’s nest, the other three men still hot on his trail. He reached the sanctuary without a second to spare and finally was able to get the advantage over his attackers.
The smartest of the three slipped down the rigging to safety. The other two didn’t have the balance or firm footing to effectively attack him, and both quickly met their watery graves.
He chased after the fourth, not wanting the man to make a surprise drop down onto any of his crewmen. They met down on the mast yet again, and William was surprised to find that this one was actually quite an excellent swordsman.
The exchanged a quick series of feints and lunges, all while hovering forty feet over the perilous waters below.
A quick parry and redouble, and his opponent’s blade knicked his arm, drawing first blood.
“Ha!” the other man reveled in his victory…
Only to be caught off guard when William’s next lunge was followed quickly with a dagger to the heart.
“You fight well,” William said with a small smile as dawning realization shone in the other man’s eyes, “but you forgot one thing…”
The man gave him a curious, disbelieving look.
“There is a reason I am called ‘the Bloody’,” William said in a cold, formal tone that belied his usual rough accent. And, with that, he sent his final attacker plunging down into the deep sea.
His head turned abruptly at the sound of gunfire impacted less than ten feet above him, and he looked down to see the sniper speared through the back, his arm thrown off by…
“Thought you were dead, mate,” William sighed in relief, quickly sliding back down the rigging to guard his first mate’s back.
Xander gave him a catlike smile and pushed his drenched bangs back from his forehead. “Unlike some people,” he said with a wry chuckle, “I have the commonsense to duck out of the line of fire.”
William laughed at that before the two of them returned to battle…
* * *
‘On three,’ Elizabeth mouthed to Anya.
The other woman nodded nervously, flinching slightly when one of the door’s hinges burst open.
Elizabeth held up one finger, and Anya’s free hand reached for the latch.
Two fingers… Anya caught the clasp.
Three!
Anya flung the door open wide, and half their attackers fell to the floor, caught surprised by the door suddenly giving way.
Elizabeth and Anya both lunged forward, blades flashing. Elizabeth lost track of Anya almost instantly as she was swept up in the battle. Wielding her sword as a bat, she hacked away at the first few, only to find her arms roughly caught over her head.
She struggled in her captor’s grasp, but he merely twisted her wrists. Hard.
She let out a little cry of pain, and the sword fell from her grasp, clattering to the floor. Still, she refused to be defeated so easily and kicked back at her opponent. Unfortunately, the angle was such that her skirts got in the way and lessened the blow.
Her assailant barely even flinched before catching one rough hand about her throat and squeezing.
Elizabeth struggled helplessly in his grasp until slowly the world began to go black…