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.

More and more drops fell down on the floor. Thomas stared at it, his mind blank. He couldn’t help but listen to the wind and rain outside and felt how the storm was growing.
Shadows played on the floor in front of him. He turned his head to look up when he heard different sounds coming from above. When he realised they were moving the grates, he elbowed his friend sleeping next to him.
“Mario…! Mario, wake up…!”
The unpleasant pushes in his side made his friend turn to him.
“Qué…qué pasa?” he asked irritated.
Thomas stood up and moved slowly to the opening that was being made.
Mario, noticing now what was happening, was awake in an instant and moved next to him.
When Thomas could see Vaughn, he stood still.
Both men looked at each other.
“We are not going to take any chances here,” Vaughn said loud enough to be heard over the wind. “Disarm them!”
Thomas had found it already strange they had not taken their weapons earlier. He guessed that was because they only wanted to make sure both of them could not threaten them anymore once they were locked up. It didn’t matter then if they had their weapons or not. And when they finally would be delivered at the Royal Navy, their weapons would be of no use at all. Unless for finding a quick death while fighting their way out. If that were even possible.
Thomas saw three men coming down the steps. They were about the same size as Vaughn and seemed quite as strong as him too.
Two of them stepped up to him and had the intention to grab his arms.
Thomas stepped back and lifted his hands. “No need to.” He look up briefly to the man above watching him.
Slowly he raised the baldric of his sword from his shoulder and handed it to one of them. Then he took his knife in one hand and his pistol in his other hand, flipped them and caught the blade and barrel of the weapons before giving them to the other man.
“Hey, hey, tranquilo,” Mario shouted.
Thomas turned around and watched how the third man pulled Mario roughly to his feet.
“Yes, we’ve heard you all right,” the man said while trying to take Mario’s pistol.
Mario struggled to get away from the man and reached behind his back for his knife. As the man took the weapon, Mario grabbed the arm holding his pistol, forced it behind the man’s back in one powerful move and raised the blade of his knife to his throat all in a single motion.
“Let us go! Or I’ll kill him” he threatened.
Thomas sighed and dropped his head, annoyed.
All three men were taken by surprise for a moment, but one of the two other men, still standing next to Thomas, slowly crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Put it down,” the man said in a deadly calm voice.
Mario repositioned the blade and breathed nervously. “Soy pirata. I will do it, I mean it.”
Thomas took a step forward but was held back by the man next to him. “Mario, don’t-”
“Let me do this. I can get us out,” Mario replied. His eyes turned to the man with his arms crossed. “They have to listen now.”
“No, this is not the way!”
A laugh came from above. “Ha, at least one of them is reasonable,” Vaughn shouted to them.
Thomas looked up briefly and then stared back at his friend.
“Mario, listen to me. Drop the knife.”
His friend grinned and shook his head.
The man looking at Mario dropped his arms, took the pistol Thomas had just given to him, pulled the hammer back and instantly pointed it at the man Mario was holding.
“You think I won’t shoot because of him?”
Thomas’ eyes went wide. “No, wait,” he interrupted as he pulled himself free. He went to stand in between them, lifted one arm to stop the man on his right while he talked to his friend on his left. “It’s not worth it! Look at me!”
Reluctantly, Mario looked at him.
“Let him go. You can’t win this.”
Mario considered Thomas’ words and came to the conclusion that, how much he wanted to deny it, Thomas was right. The next moment he released the man in his grip and dropped the knife on the ground.
From the moment the threat had passed, both men grabbed Mario, not intended to let him go soon. At last they could lift the baldric with his sword and pick up the knife from the floor.
One of them slammed a fist in Mario’s stomach. He doubled over but the men didn’t gave him the chance to recover and pushed him to the steps. Then they pulled Thomas to the steps as well.
As Mario tried to catch his breath, Thomas leaned over him.
“You’ll thank me later for that,” he whispered.
Mario looked at him. He was still not happy with the course of actions. “It depends,” he replied in a low voice.
The man who had been pointing his pistol at Mario pushed them in the back. “Come on, we haven’t got all day!”
First Mario went up the steps, Thomas followed right behind him. He had already felt how the ship had been rolling and turning on the high waves. The rocking of the ship had not changed all this time. On the contrary, he could even swear it was still getting worse.
When they got on deck, a group of men immediately surrounded them. They had no weapons but the anger in their eyes was disarming both of them enough to think of an escape plan. The three men who came on deck behind them, took the weapons they had just collected and used them against the two of them.
Rain was coming down in sheets. Their shirts stuck to their backs in no time.
As they stood there, waiting, Vaughn stepped up to them.
“As you can see, we are in quite some trouble! We need canvas to get out of this storm! You two will climb up and have it done!”
Thomas and Mario looked up and back at Vaughn.
“Why do you ask us to do it?” Thomas asked.
“Yes, why not men of your own,” Mario added.
Vaughn crossed his arms. “Because four already tried of which two are injured and two are dead,” he said cold.” We can’t afford losing more men.”
He looked up. “Secure the lower main topsail to the yard and make canvas.” He moved his eyes back to the two men standing in front of him. “That with the main sail should be enough to get us out.”
Thomas looked back at him. “I don’t think you main mast will hold it. Looking at the shape it’s in, canvas is the last thing you need.”
“I did not ask you for your opinion. You will do as I say.”
“Sure, if you accept the consequences.”
“Very generous of you, looking out for us. But the weight this ship had to carry has been significantly reduced when you and your men took it from us. Ironically, knowing that will save us. So now we are as light as a feather, therefore I don’t fear to raise all sails, even in this storm. Satisfied?”
Thomas nodded, but not willingly.
“All well, but what is in it for us?” Mario asked.
Vaughn crossed his arms and took a step forward.
“You help us and we might just let you live, how does that sound?”
“That is not wha-“
“Good enough for me,” Thomas cut him off.
Mario turned his head in surprise to his friend and grabbed his arm.
“Thomas, you know I trust you and you have better ideas then me, but going up there now is loco.”
“This is our chance, Mario. Our chance to prove ourselves to them.” He leaned in closer so only his friend could hear him. “We might finally gain their trust. They need us.”
Mario rolled with his eyes.
He grabbed him by his shoulders. “If we don’t do something now,” he said, ”we will all die.”
“Going up there is just the same. Death.”
Thomas grabbed him tighter. There was sharpness in his voice. “We will all drown if we don’t do it! You like that better,” Thomas snapped back. “Do you?”
Mario looked away from him and said nothing. Thomas released his grip on him.
“Fine! Do what you want, but I’m going up there!”
He glanced at Vaugh next to him, passed him and left. He grabbed the shrouds, pulled himself up the railing and started climbing the ratlines at a high speed. The wind and rain made it not easy for him, but nevertheless he made his way up.
He looked down again and saw Mario still standing amongst the others. The next moment, he sees Mario turning around, looking at him too and making his decision. Thomas smiled when he saw his friend walk over to the shrouds on the other side and climb onto the railing.
When Thomas reached the lower main topsail yard, he saw Mario had caught up with him. Taking into account the distance between them, it was impossible to talk to each other. Instead, Thomas made clear with gestures that he was going to do this side and Mario had to do to the other. When both of them were finally at their places, they worked as fast and as hard as they could to have the job done. It was not easy as the ropes holding the sails were wet and therefore difficult to handle. They balanced on the footropes hanging from side to side. They had to speed up their work, but the weather made it almost impossible to work properly. The wind pushed in their backs with all its force.
As they had no knifes or anything sharp enough to cut the ropes to make it all go faster. It was a lot of work to tie and untie the ropes.
Thomas looked up. The storm was still gaining power and that alarmed him. Vaughn was right, they had to get out as soon as possible. He still doubted if the biggest sails would hold but they didn’t really have another choice. This was their last chance to survive it.

-

Mario had finished his work and made his way to the platform in the middle. After Thomas had tied the last rope of the yardarm he was working on, he turned back to get to the platform as well. As he went back, he noticed Mario had almost reached the platform at the mast. His friend swung his right leg on the platform and with the slightest effort and in a careless way pulled himself up. But then a strong wind all of a sudden surprised him, made him loose his balance and pushed him over the side of the platform. Luckily, in his fall, Mario saw the chance to grab one of the ropes nearby and regained his footing on the rope. It did however scare him enough to not try anything more reckless as that.
It was difficult to see but Thomas knew Mario was trembling where he stood. It had scared him just as much as it had scared Mario, but he understood that that was part of the job they had to do.
Eventually Mario got on the platform and reached out to Thomas to catch his hand.
Together with Mario’s help, he was able to climb on the platform. Both of them moved to the mast and leaned tired against it.
Thomas looked at Mario. “Well, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Both of them, still catching their breath, couldn’t help but laugh.
“You know what this reminds me of?”
“What then?”
“Three years ago, we were following that galleon. What was her name? Three masts, multiple decks, and I think it was Portuguese.”
“Ah, the Tubarão.”
“Yes, the Shark, that was it. We were tailing her for days until we finally saw the chance to take her. And if it wasn’t for that storm, we would have.”
Mario listened to him with his eyes closed. “And what a storm it was.”
Thomas nodded. “We all thought Valdez had lost his mind, if he hadn’t already. Sending us up there, was madness.”
“And this isn’t?”
Thomas looked up at the clouds above them.
“I know what you mean, but at least we can say that the weather today is not as bad as it was back then.”
Mario gave him an indignant look. “Don’t say that. It might change soon.”
Thomas grinned and nodded playfully.
They had to brace their feet against the wood of the platform when a sudden powerful jar went through the whole ship and brought it to a stop.
“What was that?”
“Definitely not the wind,” Thomas said while moving to the side of the platform.
Down there he saw all men leaning over the railing to see what had stopped them so abruptly.
“Just as I thought! We’ve hit a reef!”
The men below were frantically pulling at the sheets to unfurl the sails.
Thomas looked to both sides of the yard. The part on his right was coming down as it should, but the part on his left didn’t. Thomas peered at that side to see what was wrong. One of the ropes was holding it where it shouldn’t. Thomas looked over his shoulder at his friend.
“Mario! You have to go back and tell them to lower all sails! But not the spanker! We need it to catch the wind and steer us away from the reef!”
He turned to his left, swung his legs over the side. “Then turn the rudder hard to starboard and wait for my signal!”
That said, he started climbing down to the spar below him.
Mario shouted after him. “Wait! What are you…”
Thomas didn’t hear him anymore as the wind was too loud to hear anything else. The rain beat his face as he tried to get to the lower main topsail yard. When he reached the yard, he kneeled down and went with one hand in his left boot.
He hadn’t told them on purpose that he did have a knife hidden away. He also couldn’t have used it before because he had, supposedly, given in all his weapons. Showing this, would mark him as a liar, for which these people already saw him. Nevertheless, it was necessary to use it now.
He lifted the knife up and put it behind his belt. It was too difficult to see through the rain, so he used his foot to feel the footrope suspended under the spar. As soon as he felt it, he jumped down, grabbed the yard with both hands and slowly moved over the footrope from one side to the other side of the yardarm.
He felt how the rope was bending more and more as he put his weight on it. It was in a very bad shape and seemed to have worn out.
He saw a movement in the corner of his eye. It was Mario, coming down as well.
As he wanted to get down on the footrope too, but Thomas stopped him with a signal of his hand.
“No! Get back! It’s not going to hold us both!”
Mario held himself back and stared at him. He grabbed the mast behind him.
“What about you?!”
“I’ll be fine! Go help them,” he shouted, pointing down. “Tell them what I’ve told you!”
Mario’s eyes moved to the ground beneath him and then back to Thomas.
“Go,” Thomas shouted once more.
His friend breathed heavily and nodded.
Step by step, Mario moved back to the shrouds. He raised one more look at Thomas and then started climbing down.
When Thomas saw him leaving, he let out a sign. They were both of the same age, but he was sometimes just too reckless for his own good. Thomas didn’t want to see his friend fall to his death. It had almost happened, only moments ago. That had been too close. After all, he had told him the truth. The rope was really not going to hold them both. He felt how it was bending down even more by now. That made it also difficult to keep his grip on the yard, to which he held on to as good as he possibly could.

-

At last, he reached the rope that was giving the men trouble unfurling the lower main topsail.
Beneath him, the sailors were still struggling with the sheets and trying to secure them. It seemed an endless fight, with the wind and rain terrorising them from all sides.
In the middle of the madness on deck, he could see glimps of Mario making his way to the helm, to Captain Bradford. Thomas saw his friend explaining the situation to the man.
“Thomas says you have to lower all sails but not the spanker. It will steer us away from the reef.”
The captain raised his eyes up to the mast and to Thomas.
“And why does he think that will help us?”
Mario shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, but he is confident it will work.”
The captain shook his head declining. “He’s wrong.”
A powerful wave hit the ship full in the back and knocked all of them off their feet.
They all felt the movement of the keel scraping the rock beneath them.
While Mario was trying to get on his feet again, he looked at Thomas who, luckily, still hung there. He had made his way to cut the last rope holding the lower main topsail.
Mario turned around and faced the captain, being pulled to his feet by Vaughn.
“You have to do something! Now!”
Vaughn stepped to the front and called out to the others. “Douse the sails!”
The captain stepped up to him and grabbed his arm, turning him around. “You’re taking orders from him now?!”
“Yes,” Vaughn shouted back, “because yours are not giving the expected result!”
He shook his arm free and walked to the rear.
”Haul away the spanker to starboard!”
The men immediately went to do what they were ordered. The lines to the spanker at the rear of the ship were hauled in. The sail slid open and caught the wind instantly. Four men were needed to shift the sail to the right.
It was hard to notice, but the ship did start to move.
Mario could feel the hull of the ship drifting away from the reef, back to deeper water.
Bit by bit, the wind pushed the stern to starboard and therefore also the bow to port. The next moment
Mario looked up to the lower main topsail yard.
Leaning by his right arm, Thomas was pointing down with his left arm to the sail below him. Then he made a flat hand and moved it up and down and kept repeating that until Mario understood.
Mario turned around and ran to Vaughn.
“Lower the main sail!”
Vaughn looked up briefly to Thomas and shouted the order to the men.
The sailors didn’t hesitate and pulled the lines needed to drop the sail.
As soon as the sail was down, the bow turned even farther to port.
By now, they had already turned almost a quarter to the left, completely free from the reef.
The sailors ran to the sides to measure their movement. One of them turned his head around fast to look over his shoulder at the captain on the upper deck.
“We’re sailing backwards,” he cried out in surprise.
Mario smiled. ‘Thomas was right again,’ he thought
~
Thomas snatched the knife with his left hand, stuck the blade between the sail and the rope and moved it quickly back and forth. Like the other ropes he had been working on, this was soaked as well and difficult to cut through. The weight of the sail pulling down at the rope and the stiffness of itself made it all too hard to work freely. He felt how the rope beneath his feet was giving away. By now, his right arm was almost the only thing keeping him from falling down.
His time was running out and he felt how his left arm was getting tired. He left the blade between the sail and the rope, swung his left arm over the yard and grabbed the hilt again but with his right hand.
He had to hold on just a little longer. He would not give up until he had cut the rope.
He kept the blade moving under the rope. He gritted his teeth at the effort.
“Come on then,” he said with a grunt.
His feet barely touched the footrope anymore. He had to cut it now, there was no time left. He put all his force on the knife and gave it one last, powerful pull.
The sail dropped free, catching the wind in its way down.
Thomas put the knife back behind his belt and swung his right arm over the yard as well.
While the sail went down, the footrope on which Thomas had been standing all the time, ripped in two. As he had expected as much, he pulled himself up by his arms until he leaned with his chest over the spar. He grabbed the sail on the other side firmly with both hands. With much effort, he moved all the way back to the mast. Each time he had to replace his hands and pull himself along the way back.
At last, he reached the mast again. Next, he grabbed the shrouds and climbed back down to the deck.
Yet another hard blow of the wind made him loose his balance when he was halfway down. His feet slipped from the shroud but luckily his hands could find a grip. He turned his eyes to the ground below him. It was still quite a way down, but he guessed he could make that fall. However he was not sure of the amount of pain it would cost him.
Anyway, he felt that he couldn’t hold on to the shroud for much longer. He took a deep breath and let go of the rope.

Next chapter: "Thieves of the sea"