Ambush at Sea

This work and all characters within are © Roland Guiscard, 2006. May not be reposted without permission. All questions/comments should be sent to rolandb@gmail.com

Captain Smithy breathed heavily, scanning the sea in front of him through his spyglass. The elegantly dressed red squirrel flicked his big bushy tail, sensing danger. The lookout had spotted sails far off the port bow, parked the harbor of a small, nameless island, and if his instincts were right it was the Sea Wolf. Already, the Sea Wolf and the H.M.S. Perseverance had exchanged several volleys, though thus far the Sea Wolf had always used its small size and large sails to flee from combat. The pirate captain Blackwolf was not foolish and knew better than to let himself get caught up in combat with one of Her Majesty’s finest warships, after all. Lightly gunned or unarmed merchant ships and fishermen were one thing, but massive warship with two decks of guns was another thing entirely. The Sea Wolf might have a reputation for being able to surprise merchants with a volley of gunfire that appeared to come from nowhere, but it would take more than that to take out the H.M.S. Perseverance.

“Sir! I can see it clearly now sir!” cried the otter in the crow’s nest. “Looks like the Sea Wolf sir! I…I can see her name…Definitely the Sea Wolf sir, and she looks to be injured!” Captain Smithy turned his spyglass to the port bow, and instantly spotted the small ship in the distance. It was travelling parallel to his own, the rear of the ship in plain view. Through his spyglass, he could clearly make out the name Sea Wolf on the rear of the ship, along with considerable damage to the sail. He chuckled.

“They must have pulled into that island to repair damage to their ship after fleeing a botched raid. They look pretty badly damaged…We’ve caught ‘em with our pants down, men, but still, keep a lookout for trouble! Captain Black Wolf is no fool, he’s no doubt got his men and guns at the ready, repair or no.”

As Captain Smithy marched around on deck, his men leapt to their duties. The sails were adjusted, the cannons made ready, and the men raced to their positions. The small detachment of marines he’d been equipped with ensured their guns and uniforms were in proper order, and he happily strutted over to their commander, saluting the tall, proud badger. He saluted back.

“Sir! Marines dressed and ready SIR! And might I add, its been much too long since we last boarded ship and laid waste to a bunch of filthy pirates! I just hope that your gunnery sergeant isn’t as good today as he’s been to those other pirates we put out of their misery...Otherwise there’ll be nothing left for my boys to shoot!” Captain Smithy chuckled and patted Sergeant Jacobs on the shoulder.

“No need to worry, m’boy…As you know, we were ordered to bring back pirate HEADS, not whole pirates. I hope your sabers are sharp, I’d certainly hate to have to leave some of those bastards chained up in the brig when we’re much too low on water to give them a drink…” responded Captain Smithy.

The H.M.S. Perseverance slowly began to approach the crippled vessel, starting off by firing warning shots, then by moving in slowly. The Sea Wolf showed no signs of movement, however, and this put Captain Smithy on edge. His first mate, an eager and intelligent young mouse, scurried up next to him, quietly looking at the ship as they approached it in its rocky harbor.

“I don’t like the looks of this, Captain.” Said the mouse. The entire crew of the Perseverance was standing at attention, and her guns were primed and pointed out her starboard bow. The marines, along with all spare hands, were armed and waiting, their guns primed and at the ready. The entire crew was silent and anxious, with the exception of one of the officers, who’d been given a megaphone and was in charge of getting the Sea Wolf’s attentions. Despite all his pleas, there was no response.

“Attention! You are under arrest for piracy on the high seas! If you do not stow your sails and raise a white flag, you shall be fired upon!” shouted the officer. Still, nothing happened. Captain Smithy gripped his sword firmly.

“They must be waiting for us, stowing themselves, waiting for us to board like fools, then pound on us when we think we’ve won. Well enough of that, whether they’re aboard or not we’ll have them…Fire a volley!” shouted Captain Smithy. On command, the ship rounded smartly and, her guns aimed at the crippled and silent vessel. There was a massive boom, then the sound of smashing glass and splintering wood as the cannons struck home. Captain Smithy could see that a few of the shots missed, but most had sunk home into parts of the wood in the ship. One had even struck the ship’s main mast, which now begun to totter dangerously. Still, there was no response from on board the Sea Wolf. Captain Smithy scratched his chin, turning to his first mate.

“Maybe they’re all ashore…Still, they must have heard that…We would be wise to be careful…You stay aboard with half the marines, and I’ll take the other half aboard ship. They may yet surprise us, though after that volley I’d be surprised to find any aboard ship. They’re too rowdy a bunch to ignore such an attack.”

Captain Smithy stood aboard the Sea Wolf, scratching his head as his men searched the vessel over. Sergeant Jacobs tapped him lightly on the shoulder, getting his attention before speaking. “Sir, we’ve searched the entire vessel. There’s not a drop of beer nor a grain of powder onboard, nor a single sword or cannon. She’s full of holes, and we’ve found a few dead pirates scattered about. They must’ve had a big fight on their hands, ‘n left the ship here to go on the island. The boats are all missin’, and the ship is certainly not seaworthy…Really its amazing she’s still afloat.” Said the Sergeant. Captain Smithy scowled and marched up and down the rotting, filthy planks of the abandoned ship. He kicked at the remains of a long-dead ferret, who’d been picked over well by the seagulls. As he looked at the stinking, rotting corpse, he noticed something, and bent down.

Pushing the corpse over, he noticed that in its pocket was a bruised brass pocketwatch. “Odd for a pirate to leave this behind, even if it’s not his.” Said Captain Smithy. Picking it up, he noticed an inscription on the back. He read it aloud quietly, his thumb rubbing up against the pocketwatch lightly. “To the First Mate of the H.M.S. Seaworthy…” Suddenly, Captain Smithy’s eyes went wide. He dashed to the main mast, looking for the ship’s nameplate.

“God DAMMIT!” shouted Captain Smithy. “A decoy! This goddamn boat is nothing more than a decoy to throw us off the trail. H.M.S. Seaworthy! Nothing more than a rotting old merchant vessel, crewed by the corpses of vagrants! Sergeant Jacobs, get your men off this boat! We’re going to leave this rotting pile of matchsticks to her fate while we go look for the REAL Sea Wolf!” Captain Smithy railed and screamed to Sergeant Jacobs, but the badger just stood staring off the port bow, out of the island’s bay and out to sea. Captain Smithy looked, and was struck with the same dumb look. At the island’s mouth was a two-sailed schooner, identical to the one on which they now stood, coming straight at them in full sail.

“RAISE THE SAILS, WE’VE BEEN TRICKED!” shouted Captain Smithy. The men scattered about the Persistence and the Seaworthy were in a panic, and as they dashed back to their battle stations and attempted to disentangle the two vessels, the Sea Wolf turned its port side to that of the Persistence and let loose a volley. The Sea Wolf’s gunners were all crack shots, and the cannonballs sunk home in the wood of the ship, causing confusion and death down in the darkness below. Men frantically worked to turn the large, heavy cannon to face port instead of starboard, but as they did their best round after round of shot poured out of the side of the Sea Wolf.

“To your stations men, to your stations!” shouted Captain Smithy, desperately trying to rally his men. It was almost entirely in vain, however, as his men were in a panic, unsure how exactly to return fire. They had been caught completely off guard, and by the time a cannon was able to turn for firing, its crew had generally been killed. Captain Smithy couldn’t see the port side of his ship, but the masses of smoke and splinters flying into view let him know that he was taking heavy losses.

“Turn about! Abandon the cannons for now lads, turn about!” shouted Captain Smithy as he leapt back aboard his ship. He couldn’t believe that his men were dropping so quickly, or that a ship as small as the Sea Wolf was managing to pour out so much fire so fast. He cursed his luck, then threw himself to the deck as the mast behind him exploded into splinters. Behind him he could hear sailors screaming in agony as their bodies were ripped to pieces by flying wood, or as the riggings they were standing on plummeted into the sea. He could also hear the stinging patter of musket shots as the pirates began to shoot blindly onto what was becoming a smoking and smoldering deck.

“Forget the cannons, forget the sails! Prepare to repel boarders!” shouted Captain Smithy. His crew was running around wildly now, those who were not dead or dying desperately trying to find someplace to hide or fight back, and over the din of cannons and shot it was impossible for him to be heard. Still, Captain Smithy refused to give up, knowing that the ship was not lost until he was. Grabbing his pistol and rapier, he charged up to the port side, firing his weapon onto the Sea Wolf’s deck as its sailors began to hurl their grappling hooks onto the Perseverance. On the far side, a tall stoat screamed and fell forwards, letting Captain Smithy know that his shot had sunk home. Sergeant Jacobs dashed up next to him, shouting into his ear such that the captain could barely hear the badger over the din.

“I’ve got my men scattered about ship taking pot shots, but we’ve lost so many to musket fire and grape shot that we can barely return fire. I’ve just come up from below decks, and…Honest sir, you don’t want to see that, sir. I don’t know how long we can hold out, sir, but we’re gonna give ‘em hell!”

Captain Smithy surveyed the scene before him, even as he grabbed a pistol out of the hand of a fallen officer and fired it at the head of a nearby pirate, blowing the rat’s brains out with hardly a thought. The deck was in a state of bedlam, his surviving crewmen battling madly with what seemed like an endless stream of pirates piling off the Sea Wolf. Though the desperate crewmen of the Perseverance had put up a strong fight and the deck was strewn with the bodies of dead pirates, they were outnumbered and outgunned so badly at this point it hardly mattered. Still, the pirates seemed not to desire a surrender, and as such the desperate crew hacked, slashed and shot like madmen, desperately trying to kick the pirates back. A few of the marines had used swing ropes to leap back on to the Seaworthy, though their covering fire was minimal at best.

Captain Smithy charged forward into the densely packed crowd of pirates. Though there were no real battle lines, his men were largely grouped on the sides and higher decks of the ship while the pirates were mostly in the middle, streaming across on a series of ropes and planks. In the center was the massive Captain Blackwolf, shouting encouragement to his friends and taking the occasional shot towards his enemies. Dressed in a massive, tattered black cloak and hat, the wolf had fur black as night and numerous pistols shoved into two belts hung from his shoulders. As it was, he was handing several of them off to lackeys, who reloaded them as he took shot after shot into the fighting mass. He didn’t seem to be aiming to carefully, taking more delight in pure bloodshed than accuracy, and several of his rounds splattered the skulls of his own men. Suddenly Captain Blackwolf turned and locked eyes with Smithy, raising his pistol and aiming it squarely between the squirrel’s eyes.

Captain Smithy ducked down, thrusting his rapier forward into the throat of the sea otter pirate in front of him. The pirate collapsed slowly, surprised to have suddenly found his throat choked with blood, and to Captain Smithy’s delight he saw that there was a small corridor between him and Captain Blackwolf. He raised his pistol and fired, then cursed as a pirate in front of him screamed, grabbing his arm and collapsing. The shot had gone stray. Discarding his pistol, Captain Smithy charged forward through the gap, kicking, punching and stabbing with his rapier when necessary to make room. Though a mouse wielding a cutlass and a thin-looking dog had both leapt in his way, neither had been genuinely prepared to fight, and the captain found himself clambering over his dead bodies as he made his way forward.

Finally, captain Smithy made it through the orgy of blood and violence to the small circle surrounding Captain Blackwolf. The massive, angry canine grinned, setting aside his pistols and drawing out a large, bloody cutlass. He grinned, pointing the tip at Captain Smithy and dismissing his two attendants. All around him he could see pirates swinging swords, shooting guns, or otherwise doing violence, but not a single one approached him. Clearly, the Captain wanted this all to himself.

“So! This is the great Captain James Timothy Smithy, the pirate-killer and privateer sinker. For a man with such a grand reputation, I’d have thought you’d know better than ta fuck around shooting cannon at a vessel I left out as a decoy weeks ago. But to be honest, we were miles away after all…Had ye not fired yer cannons, we’d ‘ave never known ye were here…Quick and silent bastard, ye are...” said Captain Blackwolf. “But enough ‘o that. I’m here to do some killin, and you’re next.”

Captain Blackwolf swung his big sword down hard towards Captain Smithy’s head, but the squirrel dodged it as though it were nothing. Captain Smithy charged forward, his rapier out straight, and Blackwolf barely had time to parry before it would have sunk deep into his eye. The big wolf chuckled, then shoved his weight forward, tossing Smithy back a few steps. Before Blackwolf could swing again, though, Captain Smithy charged, determined to sink his rapier home before the big canine could put his superior size and strength to use.

Captain Smithy yelled as loud as he could, putting all his strength into his right arm as he felt it sink deep into Captain Blackwolf’s right arm and slide out the other side. Blackwolf just winced, as he was by now quite familiar with flesh wounds, and grinned at the squirrel as he pulled hard to remove his rapier. “First blood eh? Well ain’t you a furry little bastard…I may have underestimated ye, but we both know who will win this day…” Without warning, Captain Blackwolf’s left fist smashed hard into Captain Smithy’s face. The squirrel heard a deafening crunch of bone and could feel his muzzle telescope as the massive pirate’s fist sunk home. He wanted to scream, to cry out in pain, but his mouth and throat were choked with blood. He dropped to all fours, trying to get the red liquid out of him long enough to take a breath, but before he could do anything he felt the heel of Captain Blackwolf’s boot smash into his skull.

“Sleep well, squirrelly Captain, I’m gonna have a little fun with ye later…”

Captain Smithy groaned, his eyes opening slowly. His mouth was filled with blood, and a quick attempt to draw air through his nose let him know that his nose was still little more than a smashed mess. He tried to speak, but it was no use, the entire front of his face was a smash of dried blood and broken bone. He blinked, looking around. In front of him was Sergeant Jacobs, the big badger laid out flat with an expression of surprise on his face. A large, rusty cutlass was still embedded in his skull, and what must have been its owner was trying, with both hands, to free it from where it had become stuck. Someone out of vision kicked him off it, grunting.

“Away with ye, ye can getcher sword later. Ye should leave it anyway, rusty piece ‘o shit like that ain’t befittin’ a Sergeant killer. Why don’t you take his fancy sword and let the rusty one be, hmm? I got business with Captain Smashface over ‘ere…” It was obviously Captain Blackwolf. He felt a big, rough hand grab him from behind, and it was only then that he realized his arms were tied together firmly behind his back.

Someone behind him was lifting him up, but all he could see in front of him was the big, grinning wolf, who was so close to him he could smell the alcohol on his breath. “Well it looks like I won, pirate killer…I wanted to kill ye, but first I wanted ye to see what happens when you mess with Captain Blackwolf.”

The hands behind him turned him roughly, showing him the Seaworthy. The battered and broken ship had been set alight, and on board he could see numerous shrieking and burning figures. Though many had been tied up to keep them from jumping into the sea and extinguishing themselves, several were allowed to run free, and various pirates were taking turns shooting at them as they attempted to jump off. The poor souls were forced to choose between being shot or being burned alive, and even those who managed to make it overboard lasted but seconds before they were picked off by a good shot.

Captain Smithy was then turned and dragged around a bit more, allowing him to see the mass of bodies scattered about his ship, the vast majority of them former members of his crew. Pirates were running around, many of them sporting various new injuries, and checking the bodies over before tossing them over. Many of the bodies were nude by the time that they were thrown over, and already several fights had broken out over various personal effects of the dead. Before Captain smithy could get a good look, though, he was brought in close to Captain Blackwolf’s face.

“Now we know I coulda killed ye awhile ago, and that I soon to be killin’ ye now, but I just wanted ye to know before ye died that I rule this part of the sea, and no pirate-killin’ bastard son of a bitch gonna be changing it any time soon.” Captain Smithy tried to speak, or at least to spit, but with his smashed muzzle he could do little more than gurgle in pain. The captain in front of him grinned.

“Enough play, cap’n. Time to die.” The big wolf raised his cutlass, and suddenly, Captain Smithy saw his entire vision turn dark red. As he fell, feeling himself suddenly grow cold, he could hear Captain Blackwolf laughing madly, the large cutlass still swinging and retracting, swinging and retracting, as if he hoped to dice the squirrel before he even hit the deck.