#pumpkin post

“Brace yourselves!” Vasquez shouted over the storm. Scrambling to their feet they rushed to tie themselves to the wooden rails or anything nailed down to ready themselves for the might of the ocean.

The wave struck the ship with a raging force, it swept across the deck claiming anything that wasn’t tied down. One crew member was ripped from the rail he was tying himself to.

The wave pulled him down beneath the surface handing the sailor over to the current which clung to him tightly and dragged the struggling man into the murky depths.

Back on deck his presence was quickly recognised. Goodnight who was the first to notice and ran over to the railing slipping and sliding on the wet decking as he gripped at the rail and peered over the edge ready to dive down and save his friend “BILLY!!”

Sam set a hand on his shoulder “There’s nothing we can do Goody. Not in such treacherous waters.”

Beneath the waves Billy struggled trying to swim against the unyielding current. The surface seemed so far away he could see the hull of the ship above him and no matter how he swam he couldn’t get any closer. Tired and full of dread Billy could swim no more and the air finally escaped his lips, the bubbles of air rushed out of him seemingly unaffected by the current as they drifted towards the surface.

Billy relinquished himself to the tide and felt his body fall deeper into the depths.

A strange current softly brushed and whirled around him. He fell no more as the current held him gently. Opening his eyes he was greeted by a mass of golden hair that blocked out the view of the ocean around him and a pair of blue eyes that seemed to glitter and glow in the darkness. They looked at him curiously and it leaned in close inspecting him. Looking up at the surface the creature looked back at him touching his face with pale fingers before wrapping its arms around his chest and swimming effortlessly against the powerful current he could not overcome. He couldn’t keep his consciousness the water was filling his lungs rapidly and his eyes were clouded with the vision of the pale beauty before him

“Hang on. I have you.”

Billy didn’t remember anything after that. He next found himself on the deck of the boat coughing up harsh salt water surrounded by his crew mates all soaked from the storm that had passed as quickly as it had come.

“Good lord you’re okay” Billy slowly pushed himself up his voice was sore from the coarse water,

“You have the luck of the devil, eh Cabron” Vasquez joked helping the shivering man onto his feet.

“We found you floating by the ship after the storm cleared”

“You’re lucky to be alive.”

Billy tried to remember but all her could recall was the fair maiden with hair like the sun, blue eyes that glittered like jewels and a soft voice that was carried by the tide. He stood looking over the railing down at the blissfully calm waters and stared out to sea, out of the corner of his eye he noticed a flash of light, leaning over the railing he saw something that looked like fins too long and elegant to be any sea creature he had ever seen, silver tipped with blue he only caught a glimpse of it as it vanished beneath the ocean waves.

“A mermaid” he mumbled but that preposterous, they were myth it was a simply trick on his tired mind caused by his trip into the waters.

-

For the crew of the Magnificence things went back to normal, as normal as things can be when you're chasing pirates. The ship was ship shape and clean as it could be with the constant spray of sea air. Jack and Goodnight the two oldest members of the crew met with their Captain in his quarters to deliver the damage. All three men had been part of different navel crews and one thing and another they ended up on the Magnificence with their rather unorthodox crew. They sailed the open seas for the most part to bring one particular band of sailors, Bogue trading company. Ex-naval, he traded in flesh and goods pillaged from towns and harbours, anything he could take and sell. Nobody stood in his way or they were quickly dispatched by either him or his ruthless crew. Sam had lost something precious to Bogue and he was not going to let him get away with it.

“So how is it?” Sam asked looking up from a map laid out on a large mahogany table, a gold sextant and small spyglass weighed the thick parchment down in place.

“Good news we didn't lose too much in the storm” Jack started with the good news “No crew injuries other than Billy's dip in the ocean but he'll be fine”

“The bad news?”

“The storm set us off course and Bogue has given us the slip. The only way we'd make any head wind would be to go through Angel's cove” Goodnight presented his bad news and leaned over the map pointing to the sunken ship symbol on the weathered map “It would be a bit touch and go but I think we should be able to navigate it”

“I still disagree. I've been on the oceans for years and I've heard of no sailor making it through there” Jack had been a well decorated member of the navy since his youth his experience and knowledge of the oceans was always helpful. Their captain stared at the mark on the map and sat down in his chair humming low as he contemplated his options. Letting Bartholomew Bogue get away was out of the question but was it worth risking his crew to the dangerous patch of ocean that had swallowed countless ships that tried to navigate it's fast currents and hidden obstacles.

“It's risky.”

“We can do it Sam.” Goodnight looked Sam in the eye and his unwavering confidence won. Sam sighed and nodded. Together, somehow they could do it. He rose from his chair looking at the map one last time,

“Let's go chart the course then.” grabbing his hat setting it firmly on his head he left his quarters with deep rooted conviction. They had to catch up to Bogue that rotten excuse of a sailor had a lot to answer for. Goodnight's voice rang across and through the ship summoning the small crew to the deck to await Sam's directions.

“We're going through Angel's cove”

“Are you mad? Angel's cove? Where you meet the angel of death? No one has made it through there alive!” Faraday was the first to argue this decision. The others shared his concern but were not so vocal about it.

“Now I understand your objections but this is the only way to catch up to Bogue.”

“We can do it” Billy was the next to speak but in favour of bracing the danger, he had been a pirate after all and that was a life flooded with risk and the constant possibility of death. Eventually all crew members were ready to take on the cove.

“Well then. Set sail for Angel's Cove!” Sam ordered climbing the stairs to the helm and looking out to the distance. Perhaps the rumours of the cove were simply rumours and legends and they could simply pass through. Sam could only pray.

In the distance strange rocks emerged from the horizon. The crew slowly stopped running about the deck and leaned over the rails or hung from the rigging to stare at the eerie scene they were cruising towards unfold.

“Those rocks look weird” Faraday pointed out taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

“Those aren't rocks Güero” Vasquez corrected as the outcroppings became more visible “Those are ships.”