the place and never return. So too he swore, he would never bring his crew on another endeavour such as this again. Upon that evening which I feared might be my last alive I went to the captain’s quarters, stepping inside, I felt a slight disappointment at the sight of him sat in his chair sipping mead once more. Achilles rested beneath his seat taking deep powerful breaths.
“Cap’n” I nodded, taking a chair.
“‘arvey. What do you recon, lad? Should we turn about?”
“Aint mi call to make, cap’n, whatever your decision be you shall ‘ave your crew behind you, if there be treasure ‘ere, then it be ours.” Rike nodded for a few moments in silence.
“You shall make a fine capt’n some day, Sailor, you ‘ath grown to be a fine lad, your parents would’ve been proud.” ‘Twas a rare moment to catch the captain being sentimental though the words warmed me nonetheless.
“Thank you, cap’n,” I spoke quietly, “‘twould indeed be fine for mi parents to see me now, ‘tis possibly the only thing in life that I might have to complain about.” Rike shook his head at my words.
“The majority o’ people shall never know o’ the struggles you ‘ath seen, lad, people complain about near anythin’ that they ‘ath words to talk about.” At that moment Rike fell silent for some time swigging at his mead, I knew he wished to speak of something that was troubling him so I remained quiet whilst he thought. He released a heavy sigh before he spoke up once more. “Ever since we plundered the Martona, I keep ‘avin’ this dream, lad. I wake up in this chair, and the ship be ablaze, I can ‘ear the crew callin’ out to me, the dead, the prisoners o’ the Martona, though I can’t see them. I can’t get up from mi chair, the ship be bein’ torn apart by cannon fire and I’m ‘elpless to act.” Rike put his head in his hands, “I can’t shed the thought o’ those prisoners from mi mind, ‘arvey, I fear they’ll ‘aunt me to mi grave.”
“When we’re safely away from this place capt’n, may I suggest you take a decent amount of time away from sea? Aint there no one that you could wish to see again? Anyone you left behind?”
“I ‘ath never left anyone behind in mi life, lad,” he sighed once more, “‘ath only been left behind. You’re the closest thing I’ll ever ‘ave to a son, ‘as truly been a pleasure to watch you grow to the man you are today. Sollertis be the finest o’ friends a man could ask for, and this ship embodies the only woman I truly ever wished for in life. Being upon the ocean, upon this ship, with this crew is all I know and desire.” I could not refrain from welling with tears as Rike spoke, staring into oblivion. The thought of what interest he truly had in pursuing treasure maps after saying what he had filled my mind.
“Why are we ‘ere, capt’n?”
“Because life doesn’t stop, ‘arvey , when you’re old and feeble and ‘ave nothing but your memories to keep you company, would you not like to look back at these things and know you ‘ave seen and experienced them, or would you rather sit and listen to the next man who tells you things that you would not believe. We’re ‘ere because we’re ‘ere, matey. We’re ‘ere because we’re ‘ere.”
For many an hour into the night we sat speaking and with each passing jug of mead Rike’s speeches would lead from one subject to the next, ‘twas always a pleasure to hear the words he spoke.
As the night became late I bid farewell to the captain, he informed me that in the early hours of the following morning I was to gather the crew upon Roselyn’s gangways. He wished to determine who would be willing to venture back onto the isle hidden within the mist, and so with excited mind I made my way down beneath the orlop to rest for the final night of what our crew had come to know as existence.
9.
I erupted from the orlop hatchway onto the top deck of Roselyn woken by the screams and whimpering cries of my crew. The fog was so thick I could scarcely see a few feet in any direction on deck, blood washed across the gangway and suddenly Rike cried out to me.
“‘elp, ‘arvey!” I rushed to his voice as all about me shrieking deckhands moaned in pain.
Through the fog I noticed Rike slouched against his quarters, chained to him was Lupino and Sollertis. I suddenly fell to my knees and cowered as unseen beings lurched at me from the fog and gripping my limbs they dragged me back along the deck towards the orlop hatchway. The captain and Sollertis called out to me yet I could not hear their words. Dropping me through the hatchway I fell the twelve foot descent and crashed upon my back. Davey’s chained up door began to crash about as the metal locks flailed wildly. With one last mighty bang the door swung wildly open and I screamed out in terror as the fog gushed out from the open way.
I have since had recurring thoughts and dreams of those event that were those of my imagination whilst in deep sleep. I fell from my hammock upon that morning and the shock of the nightmare caused me to scream out not just in my dream but before each of my crewmates who were present within the resting chamber.
“Sailor? Are ye okay, sir?” Reid knelt by my side and rested a hand upon my shoulder.
“Aye, lad, ‘twas just a bleak dream.” He nodded at me and helped me up though the thoughts of the vision gripped me into an immediate state of shock.
Upon the morning of our forth day resting off the shores of the stranger’s island Rike called the crew meeting, with assistance I had our entire party gathered on the top deck of the captain’s beauty. In the absence of Rones I stood myself at Rike’s side upon his quarters with Achilles. Many of the crewmates looked mighty miserable, the fear and paranoia had caused many of them sleepless nights, and the constant thought of an assault had kept all of us on edge.
“This be the day lads! Today we’ll be returnin’ to the isle, if you do not wish to be amongst those who step back aboard our paddlin’ vessels I shall not say no word about it. Yet know that that which occurred upon our last excursion shall not be ‘appenin’ again. If any man upon that isle dare come at us, with no word said ‘e shall be cut down on the spot. Lupino ‘ath already promised us that silence be the way to walk upon its earth without trouble. Now come, lads, who of ye shall stand by your cap’n and walk to treasure and riches?”
“I’m with you, captain!” Aran Fox immediately called out, and the entire crew cheered, many of them stepped forward as though they were volunteering themselves to the captain. With no more doubt in his mind he knew that although his crew might fear the mist and the isle itself, they were willing to stand by his side and walk once more amongst its cursed jungle.
“Then let us prepare, lads!” The captain called out jumping down from his quarters, throughout the following hours we organized many materials and supplies for our journey for no man, not even Lupino, knew how long or perilous the journey would be, and though I did not say it, the simple thought of what we would encounter upon our trek made my insides wrack.
‘Twas a guess we took upon finally deciding ‘twas mid day, for ‘twas when the fogs were at their lightest, though the thickness of them never seemed to reside, and so we could never truly tell where the sun was in the sky. The captain had chosen to travel back to the isle when the sun was the highest in the sky because of the thickness of the jungle, what we had seen of it was barely accessible. Travelling at first light or dusk would have been truly foolish, though I knew not his plans for us as the light would fade throughout the day.
The moment the crew dispersed from Rike’s gathering Samuels began steering Roselyn back towards the isle, raising the anchor we set sail once more for the strange land. Once we were all prepared we waited with anxious anticipation for the light to reach its peak.
“Down you go, lads,” Rike walked up the deck already speaking in whispers to his men as we stepped down into the ship’s paddle boats. Before we did not know what to expect, but this time we already had fear within us. Although Aran Fox had been the first man to step forward amongst Rike’s crew and inadvertently spurred the crew’s courage, Rike asked him to remain upon deck and keep an eye out as best he could upon the vessel’s crow’s nest.
> The slow approach to the island’s land was as gripping as our previous venture, and with Lupino and a few deckhands in my boat we trawled the vessels up onto the island’s gleaming beach. As the fog resided this time I was stricken to see that the beasts which had lined the shore upon our previous endeavour were no more, completely gone without a trace. This alone put some strange thoughts into my mind for if the tide had failed to sweep them away before, what had Liner disturbed that had caused them each to vanish.
Ship after ship was dragged up the shore until nearly the entire crew stood looking about as confused as myself at the lack of animals on the island’s coast.
“Where’d they all go, bos’n?” Austin asked with confusion, Sollertis shook his head and shrugged.
“I could only assume the beasts were taken by the tide, Austin.”
“They were bein’ washed ‘pon before, bos’n, ‘nd the big bastards dint even move!” One of the deckhands confirmed to the boatswain my own beliefs.
“Well what do you suggest then, Arthur? What else could have possibly moved something of such weight and so many of them other than the sea?”
“What if it were the dead, bos’n?”
“Lupino says they be walkin’ all ‘pon the isle, don’t ‘e?”
“I’ll