Scurvybones Origins: Part 3

Scurvybones Origins

Chapter 3

An angel and a devil on board

The boy who had chosen to call himself Scurvybones stood upon the deck of the navy ship. All of the navy soldiers were beginning to snap out of the state of disbelief that they had been thrown into, thanks to the announcement of the boy’s name.
The navy captain stepped forward after a few seconds and faced Scurvybones head on
“You boy” he said “Scurvybones, was it? Do you honestly believe that you have the power to defeat my entire crew? There are thirty men here, how many do you have?” the captain asked
“Two, and a girl” Scurvybones replied before he even knew what he was saying.
The navy crew erupted in showers of laughter, each one of them close to tears at the foolhardiness of the boy. Even the girl who stood on the plank beside him gave a small laugh. It was then that the door to the lower decks of the ship burst open and Jack Sharkeagle walked out
“Actually captain, uhh, captain...” he stuttered
“Scurvybones” his cousin coughed
“yes, captain Scurvybones” Jack started but then stopped and looked at him for a moment before continuing “we have three men and a girl, I just rescued a man from the brig and he has agreed to assist us” Jack said, feeling very proud of himself.
The ship then met with a deathly silence, it was as if all of the naval crew had suddenly seen a ghost. Each one of them gradually turned around to look at their captain who was staring at the floor in fear. This distraction gave Scurvybones enough time to turn around, look down at his boat below him, turn to the girl on the plank, smile and her and then shove her off the plank. She fell without even an ‘eep’ and landed on a pile of blankets that Amber had been scurrying around collecting.
“Hi, I’m Amber” the young pirate said with a bright smile.
The girl from the plank simply stared and then tried to get her bearings, but not before forcing out the words “I’m Jess”
Back above the navy captain was storming over to Scurvybones “do you know what you have done!?” he roared “that boy isn’t human! He’s a monster!”
Scurvybones gulped and then grinned “any enemy of yours is a friend of mine, Jack, where is he?” he asked his cousin
“Uhh, he said he had to go to get his affects before he could come above the deck” Jack replied
“Ya couldn’t have asked him to be quick about it?” Scurvybones hissed
“You fool” roared the navy captain once more “that man will not assist you, he’s a demon! He’s a devil! He’s...” but the captain was cut off
“I believe the phrase you’re searching for is” were the icy words that drifted down from the afterdeck “he’s a pirate”
Everyone spun around and looked up to see the figure of Tobias Daggerbellows standing and looking down at them all. His aura was pitch black and the look that he gave them seemed to pierce their very souls. He turned his attention to Scurvybones and nodded at him before looking at the navy soldiers. He drew a cutlass from its sheathe by his side and in an instant he leapt down to the deck and charged at them. The soldiers tried their best to draw their weapons in time, but nobody had a drawn a blade before Tobias had run six men through with his blade. They fell to the floor in pools of their own blood as the pirate demon continued. All the men now stood with swords and tried to converge upon him in a group, but it was useless. He spun around and took out several of them at once and then continued to send his sword through one man and out the other end, taking out the man standing behind him as well. His movements were all precise and deadly, the navy soldiers could not keep up. As for those who were able to watch the fight, the two of them were simply staring. Jack’s mouth hung open as he gawked at the amazing speed and skill of the pirate whilst Scurvybones simply stared. After a few seconds he turned to Jack who returned his gaze as Scurvybones mouthed the words ‘what the hell!?’
After about a minute Tobias had cut down all but two opponents. He was faced with the captain of the navy vessel and his first mate. Both of the expert swordsmen attacked at the same time. Tobias leapt up and kicked the first mate to the floor with a boot to the chin and then locked his blade onto his other opponent. This was the one bout that he could not finish in a single blow, the lock that he had with his antagonist was strong and would need some kind of incredible move to break it; however it was then that Tobias’ eyes widened.
The first mate leapt to his feet and charged towards him with his blade held high. He dropped it on Tobias who could do nothing but watch and let out a low growl
“No” he growled angrily “I’m not done yet, no!”
Tobias knew he could do nothing and he knew that exactly as he heard the loud ping of metal against metal. He turned to see what had happened and was surprised. The boy known as Scurvybones had brought his sword into the way right in time to stop the first mate’s assault. He was shaking and could not hold him off for long, but he gave Tobias enough time. The growling pirate then dropped his sword and kicked the captain in the chest. As he fell back he hurled his dropped blade into the chest of the navy man before turning to Scurvybones. He nodded to his rescuer and then placed his hands onto Scurvybones’ blade. The two looked at each other and then turned their gaze towards the first mate, who was not looking rather terrified. Both of them pushed as hard as they could and before long they had forced the first mate across the deck and had sent him tumbling down into the bilges of the ship.
Scurvybones heaved a sigh of relief, however Tobias simply took the young pirate’s rapier from him and followed the first mate down to the bilges and shut the door as he went.
Jack turned to Scurvybones with his eyes wide “what do we do now?” he asked, still rather taken back
“Let’s get back to the ship” he said and the two cousins climbed down the side of the navy vessel and dropped onto their own light sloop.
“Is it over? Did you win?” Amber said happily
“Sure did” grinned her brother “now where is the girl who we risked life and limb to rescue?”
The girl, Jess, was standing a few feet away from Scurvybones. She was possibly the fairest creature the boy had ever laid eyes on. She had long brown hair and bright blue eyes. He walked towards her with a smile
“Hi” he said “I’m...” he started before being cut off
“Where the hell do you get off doing something like that!?” she yelled at him. Her aura of beauty changed in an instant to that of rage. Scurvybones shook all over and had to take a step back “you pushed me off that god damned ship! What, were you just hoping that Amber here would have something to protect me on the way down, or did you not even care about that? Huh? Huh? And Scurvybones? What kinda dumb name is that? You’re amateur, you know that? Bloody amateur!”
Scurvybones simply stared at her and then he snapped back to reality “so, am I to assume that you want us to put you back aboard that navy ship?” he asked
She opened her mouth to reply and then stopped and smiled uneasily and even curtsied slightly “I’m Jess, it’s nice to meet you Captain Scurvybones”
“Well it’s nice to meet you too Jess, now tell me, why were they trying to kill you?” he asked her
“Because I’m an heir to the throne of this country right, my father and mother were killed in a house fire which they started, and they thought that they killed me too, right? But they didn’t, so when they found out that I was alive, they took me to sea to finish the job, and that’s where you came and rescued me, which I’m very grateful for by the way”
Scurvybones turned to Jack and Amber who both had their eyebrows raised as high as they could go
“Is that so?” responded Scurvybones “well then I suppose we’ll need to keep you under our express protection, won’t we?” he said
“Umm” she started “no offence, but I don’t think that you guys are strong enough to defeat the entire royal navy”
It was then that they heard two loud clumps. All of them turned to see Tobias Daggerbellows standing on the edge of the ship where he had just leapt down from the navy vessel
“Permission to come aboard, captain Scurvybones. I listened to what the girl said from the navy ship and I’m interested in what you are proposing. If you’ll let me, I wish to join your crew to assist in the protection of this girl and the defeat of the royal navy, who so viciously imprisoned me” he responded, his callous and icy tone replaced with a simple gruff one.
“Well, Mr. Daggerbellows, it would be an honour to have to sail with us” Scurvybones said happily whilst trying to ignore his cousin Jack who was mouthing the words ‘but he’s a freaking psycho!’ “And furthermore, I do ask that you both stop calling me ‘Scurvybones’, if you are going to be in my crew and aboard my vessel, there is no need for formalities. So please, call me Scurvy” said the young pirate.
After a bit of heaving the light sloop was finally pulled free of the sinking light galleon. With only minor bowsprit damage it was able to continue its voyage as before, but now with a larger crew. The beautiful Jess, heir to the throne, and the demonic Tobias, brutal pirate swordsman. Their journey has just begun.

To Be Continued