Insistent Assistant 14 (Patreon)

Insistent Assistant

Chapter 14

-VB-

I waited patiently but with some anticipation as the pirate ship grew closer and closer.

Sure, they might have some actual flag that wasn’t a Jolly Roger, but I trusted Jack’s instinct and experience on this matter. If he said that they were pirates, then they were more likely to be pirates than not.

Besides, why raise a tattered flag when there was an island right there that they could dock and make quick fixes on? This island was supposed to be a decently sized and guarded island, too. I was just a little too far out for the regular patrols to see our two ships. Just my luck, right? First, it was a bandit attack on a kingdom, then it was political intrigue, and finally, a pirate just outside the patrol range.

… Was I unlucky?

Perhaps I needed some kind of lucky charm.

Well, thoughts about lucky charm later, approaching combat now.

I kept my axes at the ready. I still felt more comfortable with them than I did with swords of any kind.

(Now, if only I was buff, then I could go around calling all other men ‘boy.’)

I cut off my own train of thought when I saw how close the pirates had come to my ship; there was less than a football field between us.

“Hoy!” a man shouted from where he was hanging by one of the rigging lines near the bow of the ship. “Stop, stop, stop! There’s something funky going on on that island!”

… Or the tattered flag could be because they just escaped something pretty bad. I looked back up at Jack, who should be able to see the top of their ship’s deck.

Jack looked back down at me and shook his head.

I grinned as I looked back down. I stepped up.

“What’s up?!” I shouted, and the wind carried my sound just fine as their ship continued to come closer to us. “What the hell happened to your ship?”

It was a bit cheeky, because their ship looked as rough as their flag did, which I could finally see now. It was as tattered as Jack said it was; the ship looked no better with holes in the upper walls and sail. It had half a dozen cannons on the port beam (left).

I squinted my eyes as I caught sight of the sailors on the deck.

All of them looked scruffy and rough, but my own sailors looked scruffy and rough. At least I gave my men decent clothes? (“Uniform” for my ship was a pair of acceptable shoes, durable but rough pants, equally durable and rough shirt, and a single hat of their choice; they also got to keep everything once their service with me was over. It may be why I had a lot of sailor applicants before I took off.)

As I looked at the probably-pirates, I also realized that most of them had some kind of weapon on them.

Oh, and their ship looked like it had painted canvas made to look like the hull of the ship hanging on the side of the ship, which was covering a lot of somethings.

Yeah, they were probably pirates.

They got closer and closer…

One of the ropes holding the canvas was cut, revealing a dozen more cannons.

Without preamble and before they could make their demands as one of their sailors raised the jolly roger, I grabbed a small anchor.

Now, a normal man would not be able to lift it up like I was.

Even a strong man would not be able to do what I did next.

I pulled the anchor up and spun it around and around vertically before -!

“HA!”

I tossed it.

The anchor flew high up into the air and then came rushing down. Pirates that noticed it screamed and shouted at people to get away. So focused on the anchor that these pirates were, they didn’t realize that I had a chain attached to the anchor and I jumped off and grabbed the chain. The much heavier anchor’s momentum carried me forward, and I crossed the now half-football field in one-go. The anchor crashed into the deck and then a level below that and I came crashing down next to the hole made by the anchor with my axes in hand.

Then I began swinging.

My first swing saw someone’s neck get sliced and blood fly everywhere.

My second swing struck a fast reflex parry and then broke through with sheer weight.

My third strike carved a groove into a woman’s chest from left shoulder to right hip.

My fourth-.

I stopped advancing and crossed my axes together to block a strike I couldn’t dodge. My axes clanged and rang like a bell, sending tremors along my arms and deep into my bones, and made me skid back a feet.

I didn’t pause and simply moved in when the pirate that struck me grinned and tried to talk about something.

For his troubles, he earned an axe to the face, thrown by yours truly.

He fell down as his eyes rolled up, but even before he hit the deck, I stomped down on his chest, smashed him down, and pulled out my axe.

The pirates screamed as they saw that big guy die (didn’t realize it; I just swung and threw), and a few tried to throw down their weapons. Others, though, attacked, firing their pistols and swinging their swords. Some even had spears!

None of it mattered.

---

Jacobe winced when the last scream cut off from the pirate ship. He tried not to throw up at the utterly brutal attack their captain gave to the pirates, and it was very clear that none of them were alive anymore.

Good riddance, really, but it was still kind of gory. Their captain was … he was not like the usual people in the high seas. His attacks left more gore and blood splattered everywhere.

It wasn’t normal.

But pirates.

So Jacobe didn’t care too much, especially not after what his home had to go through last year.

Then the ship jerked and he nearly lost his footing when something pulled. He whirled around, trying to find the source of the disturbance and then -.

His eyes widened - he knew his eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets - because he saw the captain grab the anchor chain and pull their ship toward the pirate ship.

“Hurry up and put your back into it! I want this ship tied to ours before we hit the port!” the captain shouted.

“Aye, aye!” the First Mate acknowledged from atop the crow’s nest… but didn’t move. “Well, what are you lot doing?! Captain’s orders!”

“A-Aye!” Jacobe managed to utter out with the rest of the crew before they tossed their own ropes with hooks at the now closer ship and began pulling the ship in.

He cringed when he saw the bloodbath his captain left on the deck.

Gods be merciful because his captain wasn’t ever going to be, if this was the result for merely raising the jolly roger.