A Red Sky Rising Page 24

  With a flash of white, the red lightning vanished, along with Jonathan’s magic. Riggs, breathless, watched as Julia fell into the ocean, limp as a ragdoll. Petey soon followed, still in the midst of a spasm.

  “Julia!” Riggs cried out, ignoring his injured ankle and diving over the side of the sinking Adventure Prize.

  He did not care about the gold. He did not care about the jewels. Hell, he did not even care about all of the treasure. In that moment, it did not matter.

  Riggs just wanted Julia.

  His love.

  His one true love.

  His wounds were numb to the salt stinging them as he swam as deep as he could, trying to find the girl. He had to find her. He had to.

  Around him, there was nothing but darkness. He was alone in the sea, searching for someone who could not be found.

  He returned to the surface for some air, and dove below the foaming waters again, not heeding the beckoning calls of his crew.

  He looked around frantically, trying to see anything that could possibly be Julia. Even in the minimal light of the morning sun, there had to be something to see.

  Right?

  There was nothing.

  Nothing to see.

  No one to save.

  As Riggs swam to the surface again, he felt hands grab onto him from above. Once his head broke the surface of the water, he saw the concerned and saddened face of Coral Jack as his crewmate hung onto the Red Sky’s ladder.

  “Captain, ye’ve got to get onboard. The Salvation… she’s not that far off.”

  “I’ve got to get Julia, Jack. I’ve got to get ‘er,” Riggs cried in desperation.

  “Captain!” said Jack, cut off by Riggs’ trying to dive down again.

  Grabbing his friend by the arms, Jack said, “Riggs… she’s gone. We need to get away from here… right now.”

  As Coral Jack forced his friend to get aboard his own ship, Riggs could hear the murderous laughs of Jonathan Warner, still pinned to the Adventure Prize. The sound would fuel his nightmares for years on end. He was sure of it. As Kidd’s vessel sank even more, the laughing stopped, signaling the end of Jonathan Warner.

  Riggs sullenly stepped onto the deck, slowly making his way over to his crew. All of them were surrounding a dying Petey. Sapphire had fished him out of the water while the Captain was searching for Julia. Now, the fairy rested Petey’s poor old head in her lap.

  Kneeling down at his quartermaster’s side, Riggs tearfully asked, “How’re ye feelin’, Pete?”

  For a second, the pirate’s one eye flitted around to see who was talking. It eventually reached the Captain as the old man’s breathing became labored.

  Petey forced a slight smile, saying, “D-don’t… rightly know… Captain. *cough* Can’t really… feel these ol’ limbs… no more.”

  “Don’t worry, mate. We’ll… we’ll fix ye up,” Riggs sputtered, choking back tears.

  “For the love o’ God, can somebody get some damn medicine? Please?” shouted Clint, grabbing some of the crewmembers to go and get it.

  Riggs looked to see the commotion, but Petey weakly laid a hand on his captain’s shoulder, urging him to stay. Holding his friend’s hand, Riggs was horrified to feel that it was cold as ice.

  “Did we… get the tre-*wheeze*… the treasure?” Petey asked, trying to distract himself from what was happening to him.

  “Yes, Petey,” Sapphire squeaked, “It’s here.”

  “Good,” was all he could say before a fit of hacking and coughing shook his body.

  Just barely catching his breath, Petey looked to his Captain once again. Much as he tried to ignore it, he knew what was going to happen.

  “I-I still feel… like I should… ap-apologize… Captain,” the old man stuttered.

  Laying his coat over Petey’s stomach to keep the man warm, Riggs said, “No. No, you don’t need to apologize, Petey. You tried to save the woman I love… and that’s a debt I can never repay.”

  Slowly looking around, Petey mumbled, “I… don’t see the… the young lady ‘ere.”

  He looked up at Riggs and held his captain’s hand. Tears dripped from the young pirate’s eyes onto their clasped hands as the old man’s heart started to beat even slower.

  “I’m… truly sorry… Riggs,” Petey wept, a tear running down his wrinkled face.

  Placing his hand on his dying friend’s shoulder, Riggs said, “Don’t be… and that’s an order, mate.”

  A smile spread across Petey’s face as his heart beat its last. Petey One-Eye’s final moments were spent surrounded by the people that he called friends, doing what he loved to do the most… pirating.

  Sapphire reached down over his face and closed his eye. The old pirate was still, almost like he was just sleeping. This time, there would be no waking from his slumber.

  Holding his head in his hands, Riggs stumbled to the helm. Not even sure of what was really happening, he ordered, “Full canvas. Get us… somewhere.”

  “But where, Captain?” asked Clint, still dashing to and fro.

  “Anywhere but here,” Riggs answered without even looking at his navigator.

  Using the railing to pull himself up the stairs, the Captain limped his way over to the wheel. Carved into the wood was the name of one of his other deceased friends, Doc, who had been killed when his heart was ripped out by a mutinous former crewmate. Letting the emotion from that memory flow back into his mind, Riggs took out a knife and scratched two more names into the wheel.

  Petey One-Eye.

  Julia Hamond.

  Once he finished the last letter, his hand started to shake. He dropped the weapon and collapsed on the ground in a quivering mess. His body shook as tears streamed down his face. He rammed his fists against the ground again and again, trying to get the pain to go away.

  Why couldn’t it have been him?

  Why?

  Once they noticed their captain crumpled on the ground, Coral Jack and Valera ran to Riggs’ side. They tried their best to comfort him, but he did not respond to anything that they said. They could not even tell if he heard them. All they could hear him say was this.

  “Give me the sea;

  Give me the wind.

  Give me a ship

  To plunder the land.

  Steal and lie;

  Steal and lie;

  There are no rules,

  But you will not die.

  Raise the skull and crossbones;

  Bring fear into a man’s soul.

  Shoot and loot, steal his gold;

  Send him down to the depths below.

  This heart is weeping;

  Surely yours is too.

  I want… to see you again.

  Julia… I love you.”

  As the Red Sky sailed off with its grieving captain and crew, the HMS Salvation was just reaching the site where the Adventure Prize had met its end. The fires onboard the Navy vessel had been extinguished, but the stern of the ship was still charred from the flames. Even if the pirates had been a bit slower, the Salvation would not have been able to catch them and put up a fight.

  Admiral Carter looked down at the water, peering through the churning waves to see what was left of Kidd’s ship. Unfortunately, the dark depths of the ocean did not allow for much visibility.

  He was still in shock from seeing the son whom he had long thought was dead, but he hid his emotion behind his gruff exterior. He could not have the crew of the Salvation thinking that he was weak.

  Over and over, he questioned how he could have failed. How could he have lost Elijah to that godforsaken band of scoundrels?

  Commodore Hamond stood alongside his superior officer, waiting for him to give an order. He too was concerned about everything that had happened. As he had watched the two pirate ships battle, he was certain that something awful had happened. With all of the lightning bolts that seemed to appear out of nowhere, he knew that there was something evil on the Prize. Whatever it had been, he just prayed that Julia and her friend
s were safe.

  “Orders, sir?” the Commodore asked.

  Taking his attention from the sea and directing it toward his fellow officer, Carter said, “Tell the navigator to turn the ship around and head back to port. We have some important matters to attend to.”

  The Commodore turned to leave, but Carter grabbed him by the arm, saying, “I’m not finished, Commodore.”

  “But you just told me to…”

  “The order can wait,” said the Admiral in an unnaturally calm voice, “That little act of defiance of yours nearly cost the Navy a ship. Because of you, those pirates escaped to pillage, plunder, and murder even more innocent people. How do you explain your actions? Can you even live with yourself knowing the price of what you have just done?”

  Glaring into Admiral Carter’s eyes, Hamond said, “Put me in front of any other pirate and I will gladly clap him in irons. When my family is involved, they come first.”

  “The blood of their victims will be on your hands, Commodore.”

  “They’ll be on mine just as much as yours,” Hamond said, shifting the blame to his superior.

  “What?”

  “My daughter is a part of the same crew as your son. He had a gun pressed to his forehead and was begging for you to kill him… and yet, you refused. You had the opportunity to put an end to one pirate’s life, and you could not do it. This whole situation is just as much your fault as it is mine.”

  The two men stood in silence, the tension between them starting to show. Neither would budge. After a long pause, Carter cleared his throat to say something. Hamond was expecting an explanation, but what he heard was a threat.

  “This is the second time you have failed me, Commodore Hamond. Pray that there is not a third.”

  “Apologies, sir,” he said halfheartedly.

  Admiral Carter stepped away from the rail, weaving through the sailors working to repair the vessel. Hamond followed, on his way to deliver the Admiral’s order to the navigator.

  “Commodore, there are lessons that both of us can learn from this experience. For myself, I learned that sometimes people that I thought that I knew, even one that grew up in my own home, cannot be trusted. My son is corrupted by an evil that is growing in power on these seas, an evil that we must destroy.”

  “And how do you propose to do that, sir?”

  Reaching the doors to his quarters, Admiral Carter turned to face Commodore Hamond. On his face was a serious determination that even Hamond had not seen before.

  “We’re going to find the heart of this evil… and burn it to the ground.”

  With that bold prediction, the doors slammed shut, leaving Commodore Matthew Hamond alone with visions of death and destruction. He could barely imagine what was coming. It was going to be something far worse than anything he had ever seen before. For the Red Sky’s sake, he hoped they would never cross paths again.

  Even their worst nightmares could not prepare them for what Carter would do.

  Several Days Later

  Waves crashed on the long, sandy beaches of the island. Clouds blocked out the sun, shrouding the entire area in mystery. A chilly breeze blew through the air, catching the ripped sails of the ships long marooned in the sands. The skeletons that rested on the rotting decks had their dead eyes fixed on the island that spelled their doom. There were patches of trees starting to regrow all over the forested land from the devastating fire that had nearly overtaken it. The mountains stretched high into the sky. The island’s caves dared anyone to explore their hidden dangers… that is, anyone who was lucky enough to find it.

  Isla de Dolor was the place of dreams for those who searched for riches and a bringer of nightmares for anyone who encountered the many horrifying secrets of the island. There had only been one band of thieves to escape. The rest had met their ends.

  Fish swam back and forth through the water, undeterred by the black tendrils of smoke that floated beneath the surface. The black water that had surrounded the island had gradually started to disappear once the magical emerald had been destroyed.

  Suddenly, the fish darted away as she stepped out of the water. Shaking her head to get the hair out of her face, she trudged forward, pulling a body behind her.

  Dragging the body onto the shore, a pain shot down her arm. She brought her hand to her shoulder, feeling the scar in her skin. It had never been the same since that day. Letting the body’s arm drop to the ground, she grabbed it by the clothes and pulled it further up the beach.

  When they were out of the reach of the tide, she reached down and held her hand under the chin. There did not seem to be that much damage. An examination of the rest of the body yielded the same results. When she brought her hand to the chest, she felt something that she had not felt for over a year.

  It was the effects of magic, but more specifically, magic made for killing. It was an all too familiar feeling.

  Just as she was about to lift her hand, she felt something else. It was faint and very weak, but still there.

  Taking a seat on the beach, she transformed her legs into a black fin and laid back, watching the body of Julia Hamond intently. Ororis brushed her red and black hair out of her eyes with a smile on her face.

  “Your story’s not over yet, darling. We’ve still got a lot to take care of.”

  The End… For Now

  « COMING SOON »

  Dawn of a Red Sky

  The Red Sky Series

  A Red Sky Is Upon Us

  A Red Sky Has Fallen

  A Red Sky Rising

  Dawn of a Red Sky

  Era of a Red Sky