Pirates Return IC

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Daniel saw the dark skinned man kill his attacker, then another Red Hand. Then he was swept away in the melee again.

"Thank you," Daniel whispered after the dark skinned man. He ducked under a big crate and reloaded his three pistols.

 

Alexa spun around as Ricardo left the surgery after telling her to prepare explosives. Fortunately, she already had some prepared. Siezing them, she looked around the surgery, making sure she had all of her knives, both throwing and fighting, with her as well as ensuring that her pistol was loaded and at her side.

She charged out to join the battle, small phials of explosives in one hand and a knife in the other. The deck was already smoky and the tang of blood filled the air.

An attacker approached, his eyes filled with bloodlust. His sabre already drawn, he managed to cut her left arm. Alexa gritted her teeth and ducked under his sabre, stabbing him in the chest. Yanking her knife out, she made her way towards the captain, cursing as she felt the blood drip down her arm.

"Captain, the explosives you asked for!" She handed them to him, then threw a knife into the throat of another attacker. "Just throw the phial hard enough for it to break, the impact will do the rest."

Turning away, she caught sight of something that made her blood freeze. Daniel. Bleeding. She swore loudly, then drew another dagger, wincing as someone jostled her injured arm. Distracted by the sight of her son, she didn't notice another attacker coming up on her side.

The first thing she knew about it was a sharp pain in her already injured left side. She hissed in pain, and fell to her knees. She drew her loaded pistol, and managed to shoot her attacker in the groin, then let the pistol fall.

Grimacing with pain, she drew another knife, and tried to make her way towards her son.

 

Pipes slung around his neck, Matty scrambled to his favorite battle station - perched on the lower spar on the foremast. Sure he'd be trapped if a cannonball came his way, but he wouldn't be the only one to fall if that were the case. And if the ship were taken... well, Matty's own history told him that pirates were inordinately fond of a good piper, and hated to see one go to waste.

He was clear of the melee on the deck, and could call out warnings to those below. Not that the newcomers would have learned the simple code of bugle-notes so soon, but there was nothing he could do about that.

The chaos wasn't leaving anyone unblooded - he saw Daniel saw the large black, only to be cut himself and rescued in turn by the new quartermaster. Some fancy fighting, that was... Matty put a Spanish flavor into the battlesong he was blaring from his pipes.

A cannonball did come his way, tearing through the sheets but thankfully missing the mast itself. The spar he sat on thrashed as the lines snapped, knocking him off balance. He flailed for his grip with one hand, the other clutching his pipes to his chest, but fell to the deck in a tangle of canvas. It was impossible to tell which way was up in the white mass but he twisted desperately to protect the delicate instrument. 'Twould be easier for the sawbones to fix my bones than to replace these pipes, he mused in the seconds before he hit the deck, taking the impact on his left hip and knee.

Someone else was flailing to get free of the canvas. Spotting a red-marked hand, Matty didn't think before twisting a length of line about the still-shrouded head and twisting until the man stopped fighting. Then he scrambled to his feet, limping badly, and looked around desperately for some concealment from the madness all around him.

 

Duece swung the gun down onto the mans forehead, satisfyed when he heard the heavy crunch, he turned to find another of the attackers. Just as he turned he was tackled hard and landed on his back. Luck be his lady that he had his gun drawn and ready. As the pirate punched Duece hard in the face once, the young man brought the gun around and fired one shot into the pirates throat. The dead weight fell sideways off of Duece, as he scambled to his feet. His eye was swelling shut and he had blood on his face.

Duece saw Alexa fall and fire shot. He was just about to go run and help her, when a cannon shot hit the railing beside him, sending splinters and Duece flying, Duece landed hard on deck, his left arm numb, looking at the wounds, he found that it was embedded with splinters.

 

Bison was enjoying himself, even if his face didn't show it. A large man had just met his death on the end of the black giants spear, and another knocked overboard with the butt end a moment later. The close quarters were a hinderance to the large man, causing him to be cut more than once.

Continuing to fight against overwelming odds, Bison managed to kill many men, but they never seemed to stop coming. Using his spear as a ram, the tall warrior stabbed through two men, violently ending their lives. He was about to challenge another when a shot from a pistol struck him in the shoulder, and another in his hip. Turning, he saw a man, almost as large as himself, firing off two large pistols into the crowd.

Hefting his spear with his only good arm, Bison hurled it at the gun toting pirate, sending him off his feet and onto the other ship. Pulling his dagger, Bison stationed himself next to the smaller, young looking man who he met earlier in the fray. Bison decided to stand guard while he reloaded.

 

The impact from the cannon trucked the ship, and sent Ricardo reeling. He stumbled, trying to keep hold of his weapons. Hs shoulder hurt like the devil, splatters of blood covering his clothes. He’d done his best to stay as close as possible to the boy, but the fray had swept him along.

Where was the boy? His eyes swept the deck, stinging with smoke ands sweat, until he saw the fire-red hair, matted ant tangled with blood.

Alexa!

He dashed forward, burying his dagger in the back of a passing Red Hand, reaching the surgeon as fast as he could. She was stumbling, her left side sticky with blood.

Ricardo grasped her with his right arm, hissing in pain. “Señora, he growled, his voice hoarse from the smoke. She flashed a glare at him, but before she could speak, Ricardo began to drag her across the deck, towards where he’d seen the boy. “I’m helping you to go to your son.”

 

Picking out his target carefully in the whirling chaos and smoke of the battle, Jacques threw the last but one of his blades into the fray, and followed it in at a run.

Not yet wounded save for a few cuts on his face and arms from shrapnel and splinters, he intended to stay that way for a little while, at least. Leaving his cutlass at his waist for now, Jacques tightened his grip on the last of his three favourite daggers - a long stiletto blade, with fine scroll-work right down to the hilt that had taken him a tenday to complete.

Seeing that Ricardo and Alexa both were wounded and heading straight for the mêlée, he rushed over to help them clear a path, hoping they were too busy arguing with each other to start on him.

 

Alistair had been in the cabins, resting, when the Wave Hunter attacked. There was a giant boom, and then faint distant yells of combat, and he retaliated by...shutting the door and lying down. He rocked quite gently on his hammock, humming to himself and playing with his gun. It wasn't as if he didn't know the ship was under attack, but he didn't care. The captain didn't pay him, so he see no need to risk his hide. He hardly flinched when the cannonball rocked the boat, and only hummed a bit louder.

There were quick footsteps coming from outside. He arched a brow but continued humming as the door was kicked open, and an aggressive looking pirate with a bandana rushed in. He looked around wildly before laying his eyes on Alistair.
"Ere, who're you?!" he shouted, waving his cutlass, and wondered why exactly this pirate was not fighting like everybody else. Alistair glanced at him, held out his pistol, and fired. The bullet hit the pirate in the stomach, causing him to scream in pain, and Alistair leapt off the hammock, brandished his musket, and pinned the pirate sharply to the wall by his throat.

"Who are you? Who's your captain?" Alistair asked as the pirate gasped for breath.
"Wave Hunter...Fran...leBihan..."
"The Frenchman with the armour?"
The pirate nodded sharply. Alistair's eyes widened; this leBihan fellow had a rather high bounty on his head. He had to get him before the other useless pirates did.

With this thought, he sharply stabbed the musket forward into the poor pirate's throat again, picked up the fallen cutlass, and slitted his throat. Twice. For good measure. Upon making sure he was dead, Alistair strode out of the cabin, holding the cutlass in one hand and his blunderbuss in the other.

 

One good thing about being small, I'm easy to overlook. Matty dropped to his hands and knees and crawled to the relative shelter of the hatch that covered the stairs leading up from below. His left leg still ached but he could tell that nothing was broken, never mind what color his skin would turn in a few days.

As he leaned back against the hatch to recover his wind he heard footsteps running towards him from the other side, about three men. He risked a cautious peep around the corner and saw several men, all marked as Red Hand. One was trying to jimmy the hatch lock and the other two bore heavy clay pots that smoked and stank.

Explosives? They mean to sink us, even with their own men aboard? Without a thought Matty brought his bugle to his lips and blew a tremendous blast. The lock-pick dropped the knife he'd been using. One of the clay pots dropped and broke, its contents scattering and the fire guttering out. The man who'd been holding it turned on Matty with a vicious sneer.

"Ye keep goin'," he said to the others. "This be why the Cap'n gave us two of the things, ain't it? I'll tend to this little rat while you deal with the ones below." He drew a long cutlass and advanced on the frightened piper.

The bugle made nothing of a shield against the cutlass, and Matty doubted he could get off another ear-splitter. Had any of his own crewmates noticed. Would any of them care?

 

Zheng apporached the three red hands blocking his path slowly, pistol in hand. His pistol levelled with one and a he fired a shot which ripped into a man's chest, he fell to the ground blood oozing from the horrible wound. In one swift movement, his hand dropped the pistol and gripped the sword on his back. He wrenched it clear quick enough to block a thrust at his groin. Reversing the motion he sent a deadly riposte across the mans throat, but was denied by the cutlass of another man. Zheng stepped back and the dance began.

The chinese broadsword licked out meeting steel aqnd he twirled to slice the man's head clean off. He felt the coldness of steel against his thigh and winced as the sword cut into him. It was not deep. The Red Hand dodged the reply and Zhen backhanded him in the face sending him from his feet. Another blade sliced his back and Zheng spun round on his heel for a full circle, disembollowing the perpetrator on the way around. The broadsword met steel again and he battered the Red hands sword aside before punching the man on the throat with such ferocity it crushed his windpipe. He turned and entered the fray.

He spotted Ricardo dragging Alexa to safety. He ran towards them and his sword cut a man's throat before he had the chance to wound Ricardo. Turning once more he looked for his next victim.

[ August 04, 2005, 21:35: Message edited by: Lawless ]

 

Fighting on the corridor was remarkably easy for Alistair. He had already fixed a bayonet on his musket earlier, and since there were hardly any room to swing cutlasses, he would just thrust forward and impale the few pirates that came his way. And since there were no space to hide at all, accuracy didn't matter much with pistols. A Red Hand armed with throwing knives did manage to hit him in the shoulder, but fortunatly the knife was rather blunt and only left a slightly deep wound which made him swear.

As he reached the hatch leading up, there was a deafing bugle sound which made him jump on his feet, followed by the sound of something crashing, and then muffled orders. Looked around, Alistair dived into an open door, and watched as two men walked past, one carrying a pot.

"Where do you think you're going...?" Alistair asked, stepping out of his hiding place. The two pirates looked at each other, growled, and raised their cutlasses to attack.

Their swords got stuck in the roof. Alistair smiled and launched a blunderbuss shot that blasted them away bloodily, and leapt up the hatch - just in time to see a pirate behind him, waving his sword threateingly at a little huddled shape in the corner of the ship. Noticing the clothes of the Red Hand, he lunged the bayonet-musket at his back. The unsuspecting pirate gave a scream and fell over face first, and Alistair leapt on his body, picked out a pistol, and shot him swifly in the back of his head.

"All dead." he mumbled with a smile, and then laid his eyes on the cowering shape.
"Are you alright, boy?" he asked, looking around to make sure that no more Red Hand pirates were coming their way.

 

"I thankee, Sar," Matty said gratefully, scrambling to his feet and retrieving his bugle. The brief lull in fighting in his immediate vicinity gave him a moment to spare a glance at the Wave Hunter. The captain was just across from him separated by a few meters of churning water. Maybe his piper's lungs would be enough...

Matty traded his instruments for a different kind of pipe, one that he loaded with a sharp dart that was tipped with a glistening black substance. A deep breath in, then out... Matty watched the tiny barb cover the distance, only to be brushed aside from its mark in the man's neck when an inopportune movement turned that blasted armor into the wrong place. Even more unluckily, he spotted the dart and quickly traced its path back to where Matty and the stranger stood on the Pale Horse's forecastle deck.

 

Abbot stepped off of the bridge, onto the stairs that led to the deck as the Red Hands swarmed over his ship. A man charged the stairs Abbot stood on and Three Swords kicked him hard in the face, sending him sailing back into the mass of Red Hands. He stood on the stairs, deciding the narrow passageway would be easiest to defend.

Two men charged onto the stairs, Cutlass' in hand. Three Swords leapt up a step, stabbing out with his left hand sword. The blade caught one of the men in the throat, but the other lanced his blade for Three Swords chest. Three Swords right hand blade swung out to parry, catching the other blade on it's basket hilt fist guard.

Three Swords left hand blade tore itself from it's opponents throat to disembowel the other man. He went down screaming in agony but Three Swords had no time to finish the man off, as more men swarmed onto the stairs. Three Swords leapt back further, coming right up onto the bridge. He heard a pistol crack behind him and felt hot pain as it grazed his temple.

He cried out and spun, seeing Red Hands all across his Bridge. From behind more men had climbed the stairs but he only realised when a blade slashed across his back.

He felt the impact and stumbled forward, whipping around and slashing his sabre blindly. He felt it hit flesh and he heard a man scream. He was against the railing between the bridge and the main deck now and he had no time to see what he had hit as he knew men surrounded him, their blades ready to pierce his flesh.

Without thinking, he threw himself over the railing, down onto the main deck. He landed on his feet but he didn't have time to see what awaited him on the main deck, as he knocked back, through the doors of his cabin, breaking the flimsy doors off their hinges and shattering the glass panes by the body of a shoulder charging pirate. He felt hundreds of little glass pieces cut into his back as the pirate landed on top of him, Three Swords Cutlass in his belly.

Three Swords threw him off and inspected his back in the small respite he had inside his cabin. The cutlass that had slashed across his back had done surpirisingly little damage, as the iron scabbards for Three Swords blades had stopped the blow but the tiny glass pieces had gone deep and they hurt as bad as thirty lashes.

Abbot spotted the volley gun on the table and grabbed it. This weapon was like a miniature monkey - useful for putting down mutinies - and he had Alexa's explosives in a satchel by his side.

A plan came into his head - but he'd need an agile crewmembver to carry it out.

 

In the spare time between Matty's attack on the captain and killing the Red Hand pirate, Alistair had managed to wrap up his arm with some of the pirate's clothes and light another cigar. As he noticed Matty taking out the pipe and blowing a strange dart thing, he turned around to see where it was travelling to. And then he noticed LeBihan, and smiled, and slung his musket on the side of the ship for balance.

He fired a shot. It rebounded off the captain's breastplate, but it did cause him to stumble back a few steps. Alistair swore, ducked behind the wall, and starting reloading.

"What are you still doing here?!" he said to Matty as his hands flew automatically. "Go downstairs, get to somewhere safe." By now, he had finished with loading the musket, and he put it aside to take out a pistol from his coat, handing it to Matty.
"There's a shot in here...be careful with it. It's a good gun, too, should be accurate. Get a knife or something as well."

With that, he positioned the musket on the side again and took aim. However, the captain was nowhere to be seen. Swearing quietly, he instead fired a shot at another man who was walking around shouting orders. This man evidently didn't have a breastplate on as he fell neatly to the bullet. Alistair smiled as he reloaded again.
"Excellent work, Catherine." he said, glad of the barrels that placed him away from view from the rest of the deck - at least, they shouldn't notice him in this frantic battle.

 

Three Swords stepped out of his cabin, a volley gun in one hand and a blunder buss in the other. He needed to get across to the Forecastle and in his way were a mass of pirates. Bloody hell, but his had better work.

There were still many of The Pale Horse' crew fighting upon deck, but their dead outnumbered the Wave Hunter's. He had to get them off his ship! He glanced across to the Wave Hunter. A lot of her men were still aboard, firing pistols and muskets into the crowd.

He needed to seperate the ships to cut off any extra men coming to the Pale Horse. That would mean cutting the ropes that were attached to his ship, that would not be enough though - in order to get away they had to stop the Wave Hunter and that meant destrying their main mast or sail.

A job for Alexa's explosives - but it would be a cold day in hell if he was going to do it! He spotted Zheng, Alexa and Ricardo in a corner of the ship, fighting from behind cover.

They weren't far from him and he could make his way there - the Pale Horse men still held enough of the ship for him to do so. With a battle cry he ducked his head and charged across the deck to their position. He heard swords slash and bullets fly past him as he did so. He bowled into a man and rammed the blunderbuss stock into his face knocking him out cold.

He rolled to his feet, only to have a bullet fly into his leg, sending him falling onto his stomach. He rolled onto his back, fresh pain coming from his leg and the pieces of glass ramming into his back. A sword slashed down for his head, and he barely blocked it with the blunderbuss. A second sword came in, lancing for his stomach, only to be blocked by a chinese broadsword. Three Swords dropped the blunderbuss and pulled a pistol firing it into the man's groin.

Three Swords felt strong hands on his arms as he was pulled from the melee. Three Swords grabbed the blunder buss as they went.

Swiftly he was pulled into cover. Three Swords grunted as he pushed him self into a sitting position. "Thank you, Zheng." He said, grudgingly. Swiftly he handed his pistol to Ricardo "Reload this." he ordered. "Now listen close. I need you." he pointed to Ricardo "and you" indicating Alexa "to cut the ropes securing the two ships. "and I need you Zheng, to swing across to the other ship and plant these explosives on her main mast then get back here. I'll ignite them from here with a pistol shot. If I can hit the damn thing." Three Swords winced as he saw Alexa bind the wound on his leg. "I'll clear a path with these," he said, lifting the volley gun and blunderbuss "so you two can cut the ropes." He gritted his teeth. "By satan's red bollocks but this hurts. GO!" he shouted, lifting the volley gun to fire into the Red Hands. More than half a dozen fell to the huge spreadshot it caused and three more fell when he fired the blunderbuss.

Thank god they were in the crowd, he thought.

 

There was no way Matty was going below. He wasn't much good in a fight, but if nothing else he had to pay attention to the battle so he'd know who to sing about at mess tomorrow. Pirate egos were so easy to stroke, and doing so properly secured his place as their pet.

The forecastle deck was too exposed, even on the far side away from the Wave Hunter. Matty dropped to the main deck and scrambled to a spot against the hull and under the rail. He could see, he could be heard - and best of all, no one could come at him from behind.

 

Ricardo nodded grimly, sheathing his rapier. It would do no good when cutting the ropes, being a thrusting weapon. “Yes, Captain;” he told the man.

He quickly bent down with a pained hiss to pick a fallen man’s cutlass. The heavier blade would do for the task, he knew, as he hefted it in his uninjured hand. From the corner of his eye, he saw the surgeon hesitate.

“Señora, you heard the captain!” he growled. “We have a task to do. It is the best thing you can do for Daniel!”

He bent down again, picking up another discarded sword. His right shoulder burned with the added exertion, but his grip was firm when he held it out to her, handle first. “Take it, Señora!”

Her eyes flared as she snatched the sword, very nearly cutting his hand.

Ricardo smiled grimly. “Ready when you are, Señora.”

As the captain roared roar them to go, they both dashed forward.

 

"I'll get to Daniel" groaned Duece as he fell into a hip in the other midst. His arm was covered in blood, and his handsome face was mared by a bruise and swelling. With a dagger in his good hand and a pistol in his weakend left hand Duece ran through the crowd, throwing punched ands stabbing whenever he could. He was looking for the child that he had seen last night at the tavern. The child who was with Alexa. He wasn't sure, what to look for, but he knew that Daniel would be alot shorter than any other of the pirates.

[ August 05, 2005, 01:44: Message edited by: Benan ]

 

Abbot was in pure agony. His back felt as though he lay upon a bed of hot nails and the leg brought fresh agony through out his body every time he made the slightest movement. He was sitting, his back against a crate, two pistols in his lap, desperately trying to reload the volley gun.

He shifted so he could peek over the crate, the pain from his leg soaring him into a new kind of agony. His men were dying in their masses - he'd have no crew before long - and then he'd be dead, executed as he sat there unable to do a thing. He cursed under his breath. To hell with that!

His vision was growing hazy as his body threatened to fall into unconsciousness but he poured the powder and shot into the volley gun, spilling more of it on the deck than he put in the barrels.

He tucked the gun into his belt once he had it fully loaded. He'd save it to their most dire moment when it would be needed most.

Battle raged over the deck as Three Swords sat, immobile. "They're breaking through!" a crewman shouted.

Abbot saw the man take a cutlass through his stomach. Three Sword cocked the pistol and fired it into the killer. The smoke smelt of pig **** and he felt like vomiting across the deck.

Dammit, Zheng! he thought, destroy that mast!

 

Matty spotted Three Swords slumped on the deck. Something was obviously very wrong if he wasn't swinging those trademark blades! For a moment, he wondered what life would be like on a ship of the Red Hand.

Nae, you can't let that happen!

Da?

Didn't I raise you better than that, Matty? How can you sit there and let that man's ship be taken without lifting a finger?

'That man' has done nothing for me, Da, not like you!

He provides you a bed and a place to play your music. You'll be lucky to get as much from the Hand, and you'll never be able to collect your legacy.

And I can't collect it if I'm dead, either!

Do everything you can to leave yourself what chance you have, Matty.

The voice faded. Matty blinked away the shock and swallowed hard. He darted across the deck in random spurts, always waiting for a blow that never fell. Schrapnel and splinters showered him and he had to dodge falling bodies all the way. Once or twice pirates of the Hand fell to the venomed sting of Matty's darts.

The gap cleared by Three Swords' pistol blast filled quickly. A large pirate loomed over the captain, poised to run him through. Matty drew the gun the stranger had given him earlier and hoped that it would shoot straight enough to compensate for his poor aim.

The shot caught the Hander in the arse, making him roar and turn on Matty. The huge sword swung down quickly on the frozen piper, only to be followed by the rest of the pirate as well. Three Swords yanked his blade clear, which moved the body enough for Matty to wriggle free.

"Dunno if'n blood'll improove their soun', Cap'n, but I be willin' t' play a tune fer ye." He managed a shaky grin as he held up his battered pipes.