A Red Sky Is Upon Us Read online

  He held out his hand to her and waited for her to respond.

  She placed her hand in his and said, “It’s good to see I’ve finally reached you.”

  Julia smiled nervously and said, “Riggs… I…”

  “Captain, we got company!”

  Whatever Julia was about to say would have to wait. Within seconds, all of the resting pirates were on their feet, swords and pistols at the ready. The pirates stared out over the open water. The anchor was raised and the ship started to sail away from the island.

  “Where is it? I don’t see the Black Fog anywhere,” Riggs shouted to the crow’s nest.

  “It ain’t that ship, Captain.”

  As they rounded the island, the pirates began to see the white sails of the ship as it started to appear on the open sea. Riggs pulled out his spyglass to see whose ship it was, but he could not get a clear view of the flag.

  When Julia saw the ship, she felt a familiar feeling. She had seen ships like that many times before, back in Yorktown. Though she tried to suppress it, she could not help but feel the pride building up inside her as she saw those sails yet again. Even without a spyglass, she could tell that the ship was of the Crown.

  Then she remembered she was on a pirate ship.

  At that exact moment, Riggs finally got a clear look at the ship. He saw the English flag waving in the breeze. He also saw the one hundred guns of the HMS Magistrate poking through the portholes.

  “Full canvas! We need to outrun ‘em.”

  “Ain’t the cannons an option?” asked Coral Jack.

  “Load ‘em and fire when ready, but I want those sails done first. We’re up against a hundred guns, and I don’t like those odds.”

  Jack immediately dropped what he was doing and ran to help open the sails to full canvas.

  Once the Red Sky left the safety of the island, Riggs could tell that the Magistrate had noticed them. It started blasting away with its cannons, some of the projectiles nearly reaching the ship.

  “Clint, keep as much in the shallows as you can. Maybe we can trick ‘em into groundin’ themselves.”

  Commodore Hamond watched as the Red Sky tried to flee. Satisfaction finally flowed through his body as his ship gained on the red-sailed pirate ship. He had finally found his daughter’s captors.

  Standing beside the Commodore, a shackled Garrett said, “See? Searchin’ each island don’t seem like a waste o’ time now, does it?”

  Ignoring the pirate, Hamond ordered, “Send a shot across their bow. Let them know the Navy means business.”

  K-BOOOM

  The cannons roared as water splashed around the pirate ship. The Commodore was driven by both hatred and anger. He did not get a clear look at anyone on the ship when they had first spotted it, so he did not know if Julia was still alive or not. For all he knew, she could still be locked in the pirates’ brig.

  Jonathan hurried up the stairs to where the Commodore was standing.

  “I came as soon as I heard. Is it true that we’ve finally found those no good pirates?”

  “See for yourself, Mr. Warner.”

  He turned around and saw the familiar red sails outlined against the blue sky. He wanted nothing more than to see those pirates hanging from the gallows for what they did to him and Julia. They kept them apart, and just when he was getting to know the girl better.

  “Yeah, see fer yerself, ye pathetic puss bucket,” mocked Garrett.

  K-BOOOM

  “Now see here, pirate. I am a respectable English citizen, and you will treat me as such. I am your superior,” Jonathan spat at Garrett.

  “Oh… I be shakin’ in me boots.”

  “Scum.”

  “Unskilled wench chaser.”

  “Be quiet, the both of you. Lieutenant, escort Mr. Garrett back to his cell.”

  “At once, Commodore.”

  With a mocking laugh, Garrett allowed himself to be led back down to his cell. Hamond could barely stand to be around him any longer. Jonathan’s incessant bickering with the prisoner was not helping matters either.

  As soon as the shackled pirate was safely back with his fellow prisoners, Commodore Hamond ordered, “Send another shot into their hull. We need to stop them from getting away.”

  The whole sticking-to-the-shallows plan was not working. Actually, it was making the Red Sky’s situation much worse. Clint was having a hard time dodging the shots that were being fired at them. He could not turn to the port side because he would run into the sand dunes. The only way he could turn was starboard, and that was directly in the line of fire. Regardless, Riggs told him to take the chance so that they could all escape. Coral Jack could repair the damages when they got to Rebelde.

  It all happened so fast.

  Clint turned the wheel.

  A cannonball crashed into the hull, smashing into part of the mechanism for the anchor.

  The anchor dropped into the water. Nobody could grab onto it since the rope was unraveling so fast. One pirate tried to stop it but was immediately tossed overboard.

  The Red Sky stopped so abruptly that everyone was thrown forward. Some men who were not prepared for the sudden stop were thrown over the sides of the ship. The bow dipped deep into the water, spinning the ship around to face the HMS Magistrate. As the ship spun, the remaining crew slid around on the decks. Riggs was nearly chucked into the water, but caught onto a rope at the last possible second. Julia held onto the rail for dear life, her feet actually leaving the ground at one point.

  Once the ship righted itself, the pirates seized their weapons and dashed to the lower decks to man the cannons. Riggs ran around, helping his fallen crewmembers to their feet. Everyone needed to be ready and able to ward off the Navy’s attack.

  Julia clung to the rail, unsure of what to do. Her mind was full of conflict. Family or friends? The pirates or her father? One decision could result in deadly consequences.

  “Fire! Fire all cannons!” shouted Riggs, panicking.

  The Navy had no reason to keep the pirates alive except for Julia. The emerald was of no use to them. If they thought that Julia was dead, they would destroy the entire Red Sky.

  BOOM BOOM BOOM

  The cannons blasted in quick succession. The wooden hull of the HMS Magistrate splintered as the cannonballs blasted through the portholes.

  K-BOOM

  The Magistrate’s cannons shot again, knocking some of the Red Sky’s cannons out of their portholes and the pirates manning them across the deck.

  As the gigantic vessel came closer, Riggs was more frightened than ever before. Searching for Julia, he saw her standing behind the stairway railing. Pirates screamed as cannonballs blew them off the ground. Grabbing the girl by the arm, the Captain brought her back to the rail. Both of them were petrified.

  “Riggs… what are you doing?” she whispered.

  “I’m hopin’ they see ye. That way, they stop firin’ on us,” he said, his voice aching with anxiety.

  As the cannons blasted away at the pirate ship, Commodore Hamond strode across the deck of the Magistrate, searching for any glimpse of his daughter on board the pirate ship. He did not expect to see her on the deck at all. He was nearly certain that she would still be locked in the brig, like a regular prisoner.

  K-BOOM K-BOOM

  The cannons continued to blast as they neared the pirate ship. Now, Commodore Hamond could actually see the pirates’ features. They looked like vile, disturbed creatures, dirty from long months at sea with no personal hygiene at all. It was going to be like all of the other times that he had sent pirates to the gallows. He would just be ridding the sea of another evil.

  Then something caught his eye. He was shocked.

  “Cease-fire. Cease-fire! Keep your guns trained on them, sailors,” he yelled.

  There was Julia, standing on the deck, free of all chains and restraints. She looked dirty and a little unkempt, but otherwise fine. She was not wearing her usual, proper dress, but instead wore a shorter dress, like one that a
woman sailor would wear.

  When the pirates noticed that the guns had stopped firing, they crawled out from behind their hiding spots. Seeing the barrels of the muskets aimed at their heads was just enough incentive to not shoot.

  Jonathan looked over the Commodore’s shoulder, pointed at the pirate right next to Julia, and said, “That’s him. That’s their captain right there. He’s the one that assaulted me. He’s the worst of them all.”

  “Make ready to board,” ordered the Commodore.

  Within seconds, gangplanks were placed between the two ships, and a couple dozen soldiers swept the Red Sky, dragging the captured pirates onto the main deck. Nearly half of the crew had either been blown off of the ship or had been killed by the attack. The pirates’ wrists were shackled, and they were forced to stand at gunpoint to show respect for their conquerors.

  “Well ain’t this déjà vu all over again?” Riggs muttered to himself.

  “Ya can say dat again, Captain,” said a frustrated Ripper.

  A soldier jabbed them in the back with the butt of his gun and ordered, “Quiet. Show some respect for the Crown.”

  Riggs chuckled and rolled his eyes. The soldier was barely older than Riggs himself, and yet he was already spouting nonsense about the Crown.

  “I don’t suppose parlay would mean anythin’ to ye?” Riggs asked.

  “Officers of the English Navy do not adhere to the rules of pirates, Captain,” boomed a loud voice.

  Commodore Hamond slowly made his way down the gangplank, observing how the pirates watched him. To him, they looked pathetic. There were two older men, a black man, a man who looked like he was insane, a man who looked too sane to be a pirate, a boy who was covered in grime, much like the ship, and a captain who looked younger than most of his crew.

  “Father!” exclaimed Julia, breaking away from the group and running to him.

  He was overjoyed to see her alive and well. She leapt into his arms and they embraced like she was a lost child.

  “I thought I’d never find you,” he said, almost crying.

  “Father, let me explain…”

  “Round up the prisoners. Get them to the Magistrate’s brig now,” he ordered the soldiers, not hearing what his daughter was trying to say.

  Julia, still held close by her father, looked back and saw the expressions on the faces of the crew of the Red Sky. Everyone except Riggs had a look of pain on their faces as they watched their freedom slip right out of their hands. Also etched in their expressions was a look of betrayal as they watched the girl who had been at their side walk away from them. Riggs was just looking at the ground in resignation. She knew that he had not wanted this day to come. She would have been lying if she had said that she wanted it to end this way.

  One by one, the pirates were led onto the HMS Magistrate. Julia watched as the crew was led onto the Navy vessel. She heard the chains clanking as they moved. There was nothing they could do.

  It hurt her to watch her friends being treated so poorly. Nobody else could have understood the change that she had gone through over the past couple weeks.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked her father.

  The Commodore, beaming from ear to ear, looked her straight in the eye and said, “Something you will not soon forget. It is something that should have been done long ago.”

  Turning to an officer, he said, “Lieutenant, get me a torch.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  Letting go of his daughter, Commodore Hamond raised his arms to get the attention of his soldiers.

  “Gentlemen, we have gotten that for which we came. My daughter had been lost… but now is found. I thank God for that.”

  The pirates were being led down to the brig, but the Commodore stopped the soldiers and said, “I think these criminals need to see the consequences of their crimes.”

  Torch in hand, Hamond said to the pirates, “I cannot even call you gentlemen, you wretched scum. First, you attack ships that belong to the royal Crown, not a threat to you at all. Then, you kidnap my daughter, a crime more hurtful than theft. This is not even mentioning the fact that you stole that ship from the English Navy itself.”

  Nearly all of the pirates were confused. Not even Riggs knew the full history of the Red Sky. He only knew that it used to be a Navy ship.

  “You dare to corrupt an honorable Navy captain and steal the Doomsday Angel, the fastest and most dangerous ship on the seven seas, and use it for pirating… your own evil deeds? That is a crime that does not go unpunished. Since you have corrupted it with your villainous essence, it would be unfit for a proper English sailor to even think about using your vessel, powerful and legendary as it is.”

  The pirates all looked at each other in disbelief. They had one of the most powerful ships in the English Navy? Why was it that they had to mutiny to get any recognition?

  “Therefore, prisoners of the Crown… Captain, especially… you leave me no choice.”

  Commodore Hamond raised the torch above his head. The shock of panic overtook Riggs.

  “I, regretfully, must destroy the Doomsday Angel and wash away the foul stench that these criminals have left behind.”

  “No!” Riggs shouted.

  All of the pirates tried to push forward, to try to get the Commodore’s attention. Riggs pushed past the soldiers but was met with a jab to the face from Jonathan Warner.

  “That was for Ms. Hamond,” he said, spitting on the pirate captain.

  As soon as Riggs hit the ground, ten musket barrels were pointed at him, halting his outburst. Commodore Hamond stopped for a second to see what the commotion was about.

  “Stand down, Captain. Do you want to make this worse for yourself?” the Commodore asked.

  “If ye think I’m just goin’ to let you burn my ship, then you’ve…”

  “I’ve what? I’ve done the right thing. I’ve done my duty to the Crown by ridding the world of you vermin.”

  Julia stood behind her father, watching the genuine hurt covering the faces of the broken pirates. The Red Sky was their home. All of them felt an attachment to the ship. She watched as Riggs buried his face in his hands and could not bear to watch. He had fought so hard to make the ship his own. Now it was all going to be for nothing. She sympathized with the crew. Even she had developed an attachment to the Red Sky.

  As her father brought his arm back to toss the torch and set the ship ablaze, Julia gently grabbed his arm and said, “Father… can you… maybe just tow the ship? I’ve been on it and I’ve seen its power. The Navy could use a ship like it… even if it was used by pirates.”

  Riggs’ head perked up.

  The Commodore looked lost for a second. It was like he could not understand why his daughter would make such a request.

  “Julia, that ship was your prison for weeks.”

  “I understand, father, but it could also be a great asset for the Navy. Think of how quickly you could pursue other pirates if you had a ship like that.”

  Lieutenant Travers, who happened to be standing close enough to hear the two, said, “She does have a point, sir.”

  The Commodore thought for a couple seconds and said, “You know, dear, you are right. I was just blinded by hatred for these… vermin.”

  “I understand, father,” said Julia.

  Travers turned to the Commodore and asked, “Sir, should we bring the prisoners to the brig now? We don’t want to have any of them getting any bright ideas about escaping.”

  “Yes, of course, Lieutenant. Excellent idea.”

  With a simple nod, Travers ordered the pirates to be brought to their waiting cell. As Riggs was hauled to his feet, he gave Julia a quick grin in thanks for saving the Red Sky.

  Not noticing the exchange between the two, Commodore Hamond said, “Attach some ropes to the ship. We are bringing the legend back to Yorktown and back to the Crown.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Commodore Hamond gathered his chief officers in his cabin for an urgent meeting. They
had accomplished what they had believed to be impossible: the rediscovery and capture of the Doomsday Angel.

  “My friends, I believe this calls for a toast,” said the Commodore, pouring each man a glass of wine.

  “And we would agree with you completely, Commodore,” said Travers, holding up his glass.

  “Would you have ever imagined that we would find two lost treasures on one rescue mission?” asked Hamond.

  “My thoughts exactly, sir,” said one of the men, “Who would have possibly imagined that we would find your daughter on board that legend of a ship.”

  Another officer said, “With the Angel returning to the fleet, the Navy will be unstoppable.”

  “Cheers to that.”

  The group sipped at their glasses and congratulated each other on a job done better than expected. Several of the officers even thought that Hamond should be promoted. How could he not be promoted after he found and captured the most dangerous ship to be stolen from the Navy?

  *slam*

  The crowd of men turned around and saw Julia standing in the doorway. She was still wearing the dress that the pirates had given her, but she had washed all of the dirt and dust off of her face and skin.

  “Julia, this is a private meeting.”

  “Can’t a daughter have some time to talk to her father… especially after he’s rescued her?” she asked.

  Without the Commodore having to say anything, the other officers placed their glasses on the table in front of them and left the room, again congratulating him on a job well done. Julia watched as each of the men left. She could feel their eyes watching her as they passed by. Soon, it was just her and her father.

  “I’m so happy to have you back safe.”

  “Thank you, father. I thought about you and mother every day.”

  “Oh, my dear, your mother is going to go mental. I doubt she’ll even let you leave the house again.”

  “She doesn’t need to worry,” said Julia.

  “Those pirates didn’t hurt you, did they?”