face were a look of such rage, such disgust and bloodlust that I felt sorry for the bastards upon whom ‘e ‘ad come across.
One man were killed by mi self in the distraction, the other two by Rones, and in such a foul fashion I ‘ath tried not to rest thoughts upon it. ‘e dropped ‘is own rapier upon killin’ the first man, for the second ‘ad forced ‘is own weapon into ‘is upper arm. ‘e grabbed the man and with no remorse caved ‘is skull in upon the woodwork within the room, over and over again, crashin’ ‘is ‘ead into the wall o’ the room with the dead man’s rapier still in ‘is arm. ‘e be dead Davey I yelled, the cap’n must be ‘idin’ beneath, or ‘e ‘ath run to the beak o’ the vessel.
‘e picked ‘is rapier up and crashed through the doors o’ the quarter’s without sayin’ a word. In a daze I slowly made mi own way out o’ the room, as I near fell out o’ the door Achilles rushed upon me and ‘elped me up. We made our way to the ‘elm o’ the ship and ‘twas at this moment, as you must recall, two more cannons were fired, and the stern become ablaze. ‘Twas not long after this I saw Rones kneelin’ upon the beak with light all upon ‘im.”
We sat for some moments in silence, it seemed Rike was reflecting on his memories so I remained quiet whilst he reminisced. Without a word said Rike stood and signalled we leave the room to return to the upper deck of Roselyn. As we made our way towards the orlop hatchway a sudden eruption of shouting and calling sounded out above us and we rushed through the hatch towards the ship’s gangway. With Rike upon deck and me still climbing the ladder we looked over to the commotion as it came to its conclusion. Sollertis was running towards May and Collins as the primary mast came crashing down upon Roselyn’s top deck, her ropes and hinges had been incorrectly secured by the novice crewmen.
“Stand clear!” Sollertis yelled for the mast weighed more than enough to crush a man, in the chaos the mast came tumbling down, its dismantled beams would have torn a great hole into Roselyn’s upper deck had it collided with the woodwork however the impact was avoided as the folding beams collided instead with Lupino’s upper body. He yelled out as the mast crashed into him felling him to his knees, yet he cupped the parts of the enormous structures in his arms, clearly uninjured, and with a struggle lowered them to the deck. As surprised as I can recall being, ‘twas more surprising to see that the sight of this caused Rike to pull his rapier upon the man, and with steel drawn, almost immediately, every one of his crew too pulled their weapons pointing them at Lupino.
“What are you?” The captain encroached upon the man as he rested the enormous collapsed mast safely onto the deck’s woodwork and raised his arms.
“I be no different to you, cap’n, please, I don’t understand.” Lupino kneeled on the spot staring at Rike.
“You should be crushed, lad, and mi walls in the orlop, what’s your problem?”
“It be the nightmares, cap’n, I can’t control them, I ‘ave done no ‘arm to anyone, I ‘ave nothin’ but gratitude for you takin’ me in.” For some time Rike stood with his rapier held to the man whose face remained most calm looking, the captain was clearly thinking of a solution and after some moments he spoke.
“Sailor, take ‘im back to the orlop and lock ‘im away. Somethin’ aint right ‘ere, you’ve got some explainin’ to do, lad, if you do not wish to be cast back out into the seas.” With no more said, and with no objection from Lupino I escorted him back towards Davey’s room. He did not try to resist nor was it necessary for us to restrain him, despite the fact that Rike had as good as informed him he was now a prisoner. ‘Twas possibly the most unbelievable thing I have witnessed in my time, ‘twas simply not possible for a man to have survived Roselyn’s primary mast falling upon him from such a height.
I sat for some time with Lupino in Davey’s room, for despite the fact that the few words I had heard him speak could not have possibly been true, he had indeed done nobody any harm aboard the vessel, nor did I fear that he had any intention of doing me any.
“I cannot ‘elp ‘ow I be, Sailor, it were instinct to stop the mast from smashin’ ‘er woodwork. What ‘appened ‘appened.” Lupino rested his elbows upon his knees and looking down sounded most sorry for himself.
“Look around you, matey, what you ‘ave done be needin’ an explanation, ‘tis not natural. I shall inform the cap’n you wish to speak to ‘im.” Standing up I exchanged nods with the stray captain and made haste to speak to Rike. Entering his chamber he was already accompanied by Sollertis, I joined them as Rike questioned me about Lupino.
“What did the bastard say, ‘arvey?” For the first time in a long time the captain did not seem distanced from reality, he had great focus in his eye nor had I seen him consuming mead since we had left Port Royal, our stay must have done him a great good.
“‘e said only that which ‘e already said to yourself, cap’n. ‘e be ‘ow ‘e be, ‘an ‘e cannot ‘elp it otherwise.” As I sat Rike’s gaze moved from my eyes to Sollertis’ who spoke himself.
“A man who is pert enough to come aboard a vessel and tell ridiculous tales to a crew of strangers is either a scheming bastard, or a natural entertainer unable to help himself. I have heard similar stories to the one he told, though I have never heard anyone stupid enough to tell it as though it were truth, nor, until this day, anyone stupid enough to believe it as a truth.” His face lightened up and Rike quietly laughed at the boatswain.
“‘e wishes to speak to you, cap’n.” I interrupted, and with a nod from the captain I made my way with haste between Davey’s room and back to the captain’s quarters escorting our guest. Within the room, with Sollertis still present, Rike had us both sit and we began an effort to discover what we could about the strange male.
“So you don’t know what your problem be, matey? This is the truth?” Rike fixed his glare upon Lupino, not a moment passed throughout our duration within the chamber that his eyes rested anywhere else.
“I ‘ave been this way since I ‘ave ‘ad memory, cap’n, I cannot apologise for it, for I cannot change it. If you wish to cast me out of your crew then I accept your decision without quarrel.”
“What of the mast, lad? You should be a dead man, but look at you, not a trouble.”
“I know not, cap’n, ‘twas not as ‘eavy as you make it out to be.” Rike rested his broad chin in his hand addressing Sollertis without breaking eye contact with Lupino.
“What do you make of it, bos’n?”
“I am quite stuck for words as to how you are not dead. My only explanation is that some of the men still had a grip upon the ropes supporting the mast, though I have since spoken to them and they insist the woodwork fell upon you on its own weight. As for your fables, captain, it would be more favourable for the crew if you were not so persistent in filling their minds with that most ridiculous imagery.”
“Sollertis, be that jealousy I feel in the air?” Rike laughed quietly once more.
“I have my own imagination at least, reciting a seafarer’s version of Beowulf, though excluding the part where you die after your heroic feat, is hardly impressive.”
“Per’aps, but catchin’ a fallin’ mast be indeed. Lupino lad, if you take us to our island, you say be your ‘omeland, we will not abandon you at sea, and you can go your own way once we ‘ath anchored. Wat do you say, cap’n?” Without hesitance the young male nodded repeatedly at Rike. “Take ‘im back to ‘is room and lock ‘im up, Sailor.”
“Cap’n?” I hastily retorted, somewhat confused by Rikes words.
“The crew be sayin’ ‘e be a demon, lad, we’ll ‘ave to make it seem as though you’re a prisoner for what they ‘ath seen. Sailor be sure ‘e be kept fed and well, and any more sounds that come upon the night, be sure to give a good explanation. We shall meet within mi quarters upon noon of each day to see ‘ow far we ‘ath come, and ‘ow far we must go.”
Over the following weeks and days I would escort Lupino to and from the captain’s chamber. He remained locked within Rones’ quarters for the times he was not withi
n Rike’s, a bleak existence for any man to endure. The doors to his chamber were secured each night and no man was allowed within the cannon quarters of the vessel during those hours. The majority of the nights that past there was nothing but silence, though others the stray captain’s night terrors would haunt him and cause the crew to whisper his name amongst the gangways of the vessel. ‘Twas the strangest of times I can ever recall.
Despite being treated as a prisoner, the thought of freedom upon reaching his home appeared to keep Lupino focused upon reaching our goal: Finding the isle of Davey Jones and discovering untold wealth in its mysterious treasures, though what we would come across on its mysterious land was to be far more unexplainable than the treasures we were promised we would uncover.
8.
As the time passed us by doubts of the existence of the captain’s hidden isle grew greater. We had been at a constant sailing south at a western bearing, keeping as accurately on course as the poorly illustrated map allowed us. It was with great fortune that we had not been pursued by further Spanish vessels upon our voyage for what was left of Sollertis’ inventions he had insisted were useless to us without the use of a bamboo cannon shaft. With such a great focus upon our destination and with such grief