Thieves of the sea

Before you start reading this, keep in mind I just write for pleasure. I have no real intention to bring it out, but I still would like your feedback on this. Any reaction is welcome. If you review me, I would be glad to review your work. I hope you enjoy the story so far.

Chapter 1

It was too late to turn back. He looked over his shoulder at the people running around him. All men were taking up their positions, preparing themselves for what was to come.
Time was running out.
He looked back again. They were chasing them at a deadly speed. He noticed that the ship was big, at least bigger than he could have imagined, but nevertheless very agile. It cut through the sea with the slightest effort. He had never seen a ship of such size move that fast before. Then he realised it was impossible to stay ahead of them and he knew the captain well enough to understand that he was not going to surrender just like that. The fight was inevitable. He heard Captain Furgeson draw his sword while his voice roared over the ship.
“Wait for my signal!”
Suddenly, the other ship fired its two bow chasers.
He ducked beneath the railing as he saw the balls coming straight at him. Crouched down, he tilted his head up. He saw both cannon balls hit one of the middle yards of the main mast. The wood cracked and broke off in one, huge piece. The sail attached to the yard ripped when the whole weight was coming down. The structure dropped onto the main deck, making the crew jump to the sides to avoid it.
He watched it happen while his heart pounded with anxiety. When standing up again, his knees felt weak. He swallowed and looked behind him again.
A few moments more and they would have caught up with them.
It was too late now to try anything.
Too late to run.
He stared motionlessly when the other ship closed the distance and went sailing next to them.
The following moment, he moved away from the stern rail, running down the stairs, as fast as his small legs could carry him.
He ran his eyes over deck and found what he was looking for.
He saw that the other ship was coming to a stop when he closed the lid above his head.
Bent down in his confined place, he could hear the pirates shout outside, challenging Captain Furgeson and his men.
The crew was prepared to fight, but as they were far from being real soldiers, their courage alone would not be enough to win this battle.
Nevertheless, Captain Furgeson was a man of principles. He would never give up his ship willingly. They had to go through him if they wanted to claim it.
With his voice of bitter determination he ordered his men to open fire.
Then two dozen cannons fired at once.
Inside the barrel, he held his hands on his ears, but it didn’t really help. The rumble was deafening. The cannon balls of the other ship didn’t miss once. They reached their targets, bringing huge damage to the whole ship.
Several men went down when the floor came up by the impacts or when railings were shot to pieces. The ones who weren’t hit, went down by gun shots fired constantly from the other side. Cannoneers below deck dove for cover, leaving their cannons, while the side of the hull exploded behind them as they ran.
The small, dry, somewhat comfortable barrel he was in, protected him from the worst damage. A lot of debris landed on top of the barrel, but fortunately most of it was light and small enough that it couldn’t break the lid above his head.
A sudden, loud crack nearby made him jump and he knew something bad had happened. The hard, dull sound that followed vibrated through the whole ship and confirmed what he was fearing.
The main mast was down.
Even if they were ever going to get out of this battle alive, it would be close to impossible to sail again. They might still have the fore mast, but it was not strong enough to gather the wind needed to move the ship.
If it wasn’t damaged beyond repair too.
After the main mast had fallen down, all noises stopped at once.
He heard, though he pressed his hands firmly against his ears, when the men on the other side shouted as grabbling hooks were thrown to their ship. Before the crew of the Valiant could even react, both ships were pulled together.
From then on everything went from bad to worse.
Now the cannons were silent, he could only hear shooting and screams coming from all directions.
He pressed his hands even more on his ears that they started to hurt. He almost didn’t feel it, he was too afraid to feel anything at all.
He didn’t dare to take a look at the scene outside.
The sounds had made his stomach turn already.
He wanted to disappear.
He wanted it to end.
Tears started to run down his face.
Why hadn’t he paid more attention to it when he saw that there was a black dot in the distance? He had thought it was his imagination playing with him. It didn’t bother him back then. It is not important, he thought.
He knew now that was a mistake.
A deadly mistake.
He wanted to be at home. It had been two and a half weeks now since he had left his home in Port Royal.
He always wanted this so much, being at sea. It had been his dream from the first time he had seen a ship lying in the harbour. Every day he watched the ships come and go. How many times hadn’t he asked his father for permission to leave with the other sailors? And now, when he had reached the age of twelve, his father had told him he could spend almost a whole month at sea.
He had been living alone with his father, George Bailey, who made and traded maps. A lot of merchants and travellers came to his father’s shop for navigational maps. Every time he had the chance to look at these charts, he dreamed about what it would be like. Discover those strange places, meet its people, see the world…
When his father wasn’t home, he would take a map from one of the shelves and start reading it.
He was fascinated by it. He learned how to read a map long before he could even read a book.
Later, when he would have the right age, he would succeed his father and lead the shop himself. It was not a big fortune, but he would do it, with the same pleasure and dedication as his father did it.
When his father had told him the news, he had been speechless. He had arranged that he was able to travel three weeks with Captain Furgeson on his merchant ship, the Valiant. He knew the captain, because he and his father were very good friends. He came regularly to the shop to buy some maps for his trade voyages.
The time he had to wait before he could leave, was long and felt like months instead of weeks. When the day had finally arrived, he almost couldn’t wait to go to the harbour. There he saw how beautiful the ship was.
To him, it was obvious that the name resembled its strength. It was a huge two-master, equipped with twelve cannons on each side, which made it one of the most heavily armed merchant vessels that sailed the Caribbean.
Not surprising, if you knew what kind of pirates roamed the seas. This ship could outrun everything and everyone, he had concluded.
After he had said goodbye to his father, they had set sail.
From the first moment he had liked the wind blowing through his hair and the showers of water soaking him after a big wave hit him on the bow.
No one could take that feeling away from him.
As his time at sea was coming to an end, he had been wishing he could spend more time on the ship. Of course he had to do some work on board like everybody else, but he didn’t mind. He had learned how to make knots, how to manage the navigational instruments, even how to repair a sail. He liked it to spend some time with the crew, who from the first moment had been very nice to him. They saw him as their friend and he did likewise.
But he had also been thinking of his father at home. He wished he were there.
He longed for home, seeing his father again, telling him his adventures and what he had learned.
As the battle raged outside his barrel, he thought again of those peaceful times.
“He will be so proud.” He smiled at his own thoughts. Then his smile slowly faded. “Will I ever see my father again?” he realised with a shock.
A shiver went through his spine.
He remembered how the image of the dot had kept nagging in his mind. Why hadn’t he listened to his feeling earlier? It was until after some time he had looked back in the direction where he had seen it. Only then he had noticed that the dot was actually a ship and that it had come much closer to theirs. That’s when he had decided to inform the captain about it and had gone to the captain’s cabin.
Furgeson has been occupied with studying his maps when he rushed in.
“Captain, I’ve spotted another ship,” he had said almost out of breath.
The man had looked up from his charts. “You should learn to knock first, young man,” he had said somewhat annoyed, his eye browns frowning.
Having the captain watching him, with that frown, he couldn’t help but to look at his own feet.
“I’m sorry, sir…I know…” He dared to look up again. “…but it’s urgent.”
Captain Furgeson leaned backward and stood up. His frown made room for curiosity. “Another ship you say?”
“Yes. Behind us,” he had answered. “I first thought it was nothing, but it has come much closer now.”
The captain moved away from his desk and walked up to him. “Well, let’s have a look at it then.”
After that, the captain had gone upstairs with him. The other crewmembers had seen the ship too by then. Furgeson had taken his spyglass to look at the other vessel.
“You’re right. It is coming this way and very fast too,” the captain had said while frowning again.
He had looked up to the crow’s nest. “Can you see her colours?!”
“She doesn’t fly any!” the man had shouted back from his place on top of the mast.
“What does that mean?” he had asked the captain.
“I’m not sure,” the captain had answered uncertain.
“What should we do, sir?” his first mate had asked.
“Stay calm,” Furgeson decided, while he had closed his spyglass. “We’ll see what they want from us.”
He had seen how the ship had gotten closer and closer. He had noticed that it was as big as theirs. He had been able to see the gun ports on the left side and at the bow. They had been closed.
When the strange ship had reached up to them, still half a mile behind, it had hoisted its flag and his deepest fear had become reality.
The fight seemed to go on forever. How much time had passed since he had hidden inside the barrel? Five minutes? Ten? He had no idea. He listened to the noises outside, until he thought he heard no more.
Slowly he lowered his hands.
He was right. The shots and screams had stopped.
He swallowed and tried to control his breathing. He seemed not able to slow down is racing heart.
He gathered his courage and cautiously opened the lid of the barrel, just enough to see if it was safe. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see.
The sight was shocking. Blood soaked the upper deck and dead bodies were lying everywhere he looked.
He fought the urge to throw up.
He wanted to get off the ship, right now.
He didn’t see Captain Furgeson, but he could only guess what had happened to him. If he had the choice, he preferred not to see his body lying among the others he knew.
He wanted to keep the good memories alive.
By seeing this madness, he also realized that, however the ship carried twenty-four cannons, they had been of no use at all. The crew of the Valiant had been taken by surprise and therefore did not have the time to fully prepare themselves for the battle. They hadn’t had any chance against their attackers.
“I have to get out of here,” was the only thing that went through his mind. “I don’t want to die…”
He turned his head. Not far from him he saw some members of the pirate crew talking to each other.
The rail to his left was close. If he could reach it without them seeing him, then he had a chance to get away. He didn’t know how far and how long he could swim until his body would give up, but it was his only escape from these murderers.
“I have to try it,” he convinced himself. “If I don’t, they will find me…”
He looked around again. The pirates were bringing the cargo of the Valiant to their ship. As they were occupied with their task, he saw his chance.
He left his hiding place as fast as he could and ran for his life. He didn’t even look behind him. The sea was his escape. That was all that mattered.
Because he wanted to get out so fast, he unintentionally dropped the lid of the barrel when he jumped out.
One of the pirates heard the noise and turned to him. “Oy, there’s one left! Get ‘m!”
He climbed up the rail and was about to jump when two rough hands pulled him back.
“Well, well, what do we have here,” the one holding him said. “Tryin’ to escape, didn’t ye?! Let’s see what the captain thinks about that.” He grinned and pushed him to another man. “Take ‘m away!”
A big hand dragged him along by his right arm.
He pulled, twisted and turned. He resisted with all the power he had. “Let me go,” he shouted, both furious and afraid.
He tried to pry the man’s fingers from his arm, but his own fingers were too small and too weak to be successful. When that didn’t work, he lunged himself forward and dove with his teeth to the man’s hand.
Before he could even reach the man’s fingers, another hand landed full on the left side of his head.
He would have fallen backwards by the hit if he wasn’t held up by his arm.
It had happened so suddenly, he was stunned for a moment. His left cheek burned with a stinging pain.
He rubbed it with his left hand, trying to ease the feeling.
“That will teach ye,” the pirate shouted at him.
He pulled back at his arm and as he was still impressed by what just had happened, he could only try to keep up with him as he took him across the plank connecting both ships.
Once on board the pirate ship, he saw the rest of the crew. They were all alike and different at the same time. All of them looked fierce and were armed to the teeth. He could see their swords, still with a red shine of the blood they had just spilled.
He didn’t have the time to think about it when the man pulled at his arm again.
They walked across deck until the stairs up to the upper deck. The man shove him in front of him.
“Well, c’mon than,” the man said pointing to the stairs. “Move!”
He turned around and looked up. A push in his back urged him on. Slowly he climbed the stairs.
His heart raced uncontrollably. Where was he taking him?
As soon as he could see the upper deck, he could also see the silhouette of another man standing with his back to him.
The pirate grabbed him by his shoulder to stop him.
“Captain, we’ve found a rat,” he said. “A small one.” The man pushed him in the back again. He could just hold his balance and looked up at the big man in front of him. He swallowed as he turned to look at him.
The captain however looked a little surprised. “Very small indeed, Daniel” he said while looking at the man holding him.
“Do you know who I am, boy?” His voice had a slight foreign accent.
He tried but couldn’t get a word out. His fear had taken full control over him.
The captain looked at the man called Daniel and grinned. He turned his attention back to him.
“You really don’t know,” he teased.
He was afraid he knew exactly who he was but he just could not command his voice to work. He was too terrified.
The captain lifted an eye brow. “ Not even a guess? I’m sure you have an idea.”
Provoked by his teasing, he finally found the courage to answer.
“You’re…you’re Captain Valdez.”
The captain grinned again. “I thought you’d know.”
Captain Hernán Valdez was a big thirty-five-year-old man with Venezuelan roots and one of the most notorious and feared pirates in the Caribbean. He had attacked Spanish ships and harbours in the bay of Venezuela for years, burned down the Colombian city of Cartagena and captured numerous ships of the Spanish and British fleet. The previous year, he had also attacked a Spanish galleon which had been carrying a shipment of gold from Costa Rica to Spain. Due to the incident, the Spanish authorities now offered a huge reward for his capture.
But that didn’t stop him. At the contrary, he attacked the settlement of Puerto Caballos in Honduras, flying under false colours. And until now, neither the British nor the Spanish were able to catch him yet.
He had heard the stories of men who saw their chance to escape Valdez’ attacks and were able to tell the tales. From what he had witnessed, he now understood why there were so little survivors of those attacks.
Captain Valdez turned away from him and gave orders to bring the gold-filled chests below. He followed Valdez’ gaze and looked down. There were three in total. Not much for looting, not to say attacking in such a bloody, violent way. Even the cargo couldn’t be considered as valuable to these men. As if they could use sugar, breadfood, bananas, mangos, coffee and cotton for their own purposes. However, the food the Valiant had carried was important, so they took what they needed and left the rest to rot. He saw several men loading the chests onto their ship.
It went all very quickly. After the cargo was on board, Captain Valdez took the wheel and gave order to set sail again. In mere moments they put a great distance from the raided ship.
All that time, the Captain had not talked to Daniel or to him.
“What are we going to do with ‘m, Captain” Daniel asked at last.
Valdez finally spoke. “Where did you find him?”
“The lad tried to escape,” he said grim.
Captain Valdez, still standing at the wheel, turned around to look down at him again. “Oh, did he?” he asked, not even pretending to be surprised.
“He’s the last one,” the pirate behind him said.
The captain turned back to the wheel. “What’s your name, boy?”
He drew short breathes while he tried to get control over his beating heart. He swallowed.
“Thomas Bailey…,” he replied. It was nothing more but a whisper.
Daniel grabbed his shoulders firmly and shook him. “The captain asked you something. Speak up!”
Thomas swallowed again. For a moment he thought he would die from fear.
At last, he finally was able to calm himself enough to answer again. This time it sounded more confident.
“My name is Thomas Bailey.”
Daniel lifted his hands from his shoulders and Thomas felt his confidence grow. When none of the two men said anything in return, he dared to ask the question that had been burning on his lips since he had been brought to the captain.
“Are you going to kill me too, Sir?”
Captain Valdez turned once more to Thomas and his eyes were wide.
“Sir? Did you hear that, Daniel?” His eyes moved to the man. “He called me ‘Sir’,” he said amused. The captain burst into a laugh, followed by all the men surrounding him.
Thomas backed away as he feared he had been too bold after all. He immediately bumped into Daniel. After another moment, when everybody stopped laughing, the captain looked very carefully at him.
“Do I have a reason to kill you, Thomas?” he asked.
Thomas frowned, not knowing what to answer.
He waited for the captain to continue.
“Let us say I let you live, would you go and tell what you have seen here?”
“No, no, of course not, sir!”
“It is ‘captain’ for you. Remind that.” Captain Valdez lifted an eyebrow. “So you are not impressed by all of this?”
“Yes, I am impressed. I will never be able to forget it, s… I mean captain.”
“Still, you wouldn’t tell anyone if you got back?”
Thomas was confused. “I…I don’t know…should I then?”
“What do you think?”
Thomas’ eyes moved to the ground.
“I think,” he began, ”if you let me live and I tell the story, you’d be enraged because I did. If you let me live and I don’t tell anyone, you’d be insulted because I didn’t tell”. Thomas paused. “And if you kill me, you wouldn’t have to care about any of that.”
The captain crossed his arms. “And what option do you prefer?”
It was silent for a moment. “The forth,” he said, looking at his feet.
Captain Valdez frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked interested.
Thomas dared to look at the Captain. “You let me live and I won’t go. I will stay here.”
Another silence.
As no one reacted, he feared, once again, he had said something wrong. He braced himself for what might come next.
The captain started to laugh again, alone this time.
“You’re a very clever boy, Thomas, for your age. How old are you?”
“Twelve,” he said, without hesitation this time.
The captain grinned. “Twelve? The proper age to make a fine cabin boy, ain’t it, lads?”
“Aye, Capt’n!” the rest answered.
Captain Valdez leaned down. “We have an agreement, then. Welcome to the crew, Thomas Bailey.”
The Captain straightened and pushed him aside as he walked away.
Thomas saw the rest of the men follow behind him. Their laughter made him feel uneasy.
He followed them with his eyes, but turned when he heard the sound of an explosion. He looked back and ran to the stern.
He watched the Valiant as it sank deeper and deeper into the sea.
That ship, that once seemed so great and uncatchable, turned out not to be so.
And together with the ship, his strength to fight back also sank to the bottom of the ocean.
Thomas felt empty.
His wish had come true. He would spend a lot longer at sea, but this was not the way he’d wanted it.
When would he be able to go home and see his father again?
He felt lost and didn’t know what to do. This his new home? What had he done? He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. He fought against the tears that were burning behind his eyes.
They were all dead. Captain Furgeson, the first mate, the rest of the crew,…
He was the last one the pirate behind him had said.
The only survivor.
He wanted that this was all a dream, even if it were a nightmare. Then he could wake up and see that everything was still the same, like it used to be. He wanted he hadn’t hid himself, that he had been part of the fight. In that case, he would be dead by now. Everything was better than this.
What would happen to his father? If he wouldn’t come home? If the ship that should arrive, never arrived? ‘He will be so worried,’ he thought. He was the only one his father had left, after the death of his mother. It had been hard for him to give her death a place and move on. Knowing his son not coming back would break him completely. He would ask every traveller and on every ship, if they had seen him. But no one would ever know, because he was the only survivor of the battle.
No one would recognise him.
No one would ever know he was still alive. He would disappear from the world and become a thief.
And not just a thief.
A thief of the sea.
A pirate.
It suddenly hit him what that meant. He knew that the Royal Navy chased pirates and now they would chase him as well. If they would ever catch him, they would probably sentence him to death for something he never wanted to do or wanted to be. He would be innocent, but no one would ever believe him.
Thomas knew he had no choice than accept his destiny, but he promised to himself that he would do whatever he could to prevent that anyone else was harmed by his doing. If he were captured, he wanted to die in the knowledge that he had done his best.


Next chapter: "Thieves of the sea"