Chapter 9 - Truth?

Audra fidgeted while she waited for Lurg in his room. She was nervous and excited at the same time. She couldn’t believe that Lurg was alive after all this time, but at the same time, she didn’t understand why he would be helping the royal navy. She could hear muffled voices coming from the hall just outside the door.

“…and make sure the prisoners are watched at all times, two guards. I don’t want any of them escaping and causing problems on my ship.”

“Yes sir. Should we prepare to disembark?”

“No we’ll stay here for the night. I want to check the village for survivors.”

“Aye Admiral.”

The door opened and Lurg walked in. He sat down in the chair across from Audra. Neither spoke for some time.

“It’s good to see you again,” said Lurg, breaking the silence.

“I can’t believe you’re still alive. We thought those bugs had killed you.”

“Why didn’t you wait for me? Why did Scully One-Eye leave?”

“You were surrounded by the bugs. If we had stayed, we all would have died. We wanted to, but Scully couldn’t put the whole crew at risk. It took me awhile to accept, but he made the decision that was best for the crew.”

“You’re wrong. There were no Mantaloids around me. I’d be dead if there had been. But I’m alive, so there couldn’t have been any Mantaloids around me. You’re wrong, Scully left me to die.”

“No Lurg, he didn’t. He never wanted to leave, he had to.”

“Had to? No he wanted to. He was jealous. The crew liked me better than him and he was jealous so he found a way to get rid of me. Did he ever tell the crew what the treasure was?”

“No.”

“It was a jar that summoned wenches. It was only for him. There was never any treasure for us. It was just for him.”

“How do you know?”

“…Because my father gave him the map. He knew Scully One-Eye wouldn’t be able to resist and he wanted to be reunited with me, and kill Scully. Now he will get his chance.”

“Your father?”

“Admiral Serathagar is my father.”

“But you never knew your father. How could you know he’s telling the truth?”

“He knew things about my mother. Things only I knew. I could just feel he was telling the truth.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Audra, you are not a prisoner on this ship. But I have to insist that you do not go to the brig at any time. You can’t have contact with the pirates. I’m going to make sure that all charges against you are dropped, but you can’t see the pirates, understand?”

“But….”

“No buts. You have to stay away from them. Now, tell me what happened to Kalmorni Island. Were you planning on attacking it?”

* * * * *

The pirates had all been placed in the brig. The ones deemed most dangerous had been chained to the wall by their arms. However, because he had only one arm, the royal soldiers decided it would be best to chain him by feet to he was hanging upside down. Many of the pirates had never been prisoners before and were terrified. Jacques Rumswiller was whimpering in the corner, not so much out of fear of the capture, but because he was stuck in an embrace from both Venom Kisser, and Bella Dizzy the Bitter. Hackin Eve Bones was crying because the soldiers had taken Maximo to the galley. Cannons McGee went over to her and tried to make out with Hackin Eve.

“What are you doing?” Hackin Eve demanded pushing Cannons away.

“Whenever I’m upset, I always make out with someone and it makes me feel better.”

“Oy, Cannons, I’m very upset,” said Scully One-Eye.

It looked like the only person who was not upset was Barron von Black. He had spent the entire time they were being escorted to the brig examining the ship the best he could. Once they were in the brig, he couldn’t stop talking about the ship.

“She’s amazing isn’t she?” he began, “Just the size of her. And that gun on the front. Dud you see what she did to the Judith Prosperous? And she’s fast, and maneuverable too. That turn she made to take out the rudder, oy, she’s magnificent.”

“Do ye really have to sit here and talk about the ship the whole time?” asked Scully One-Eye.

“Oy sorry mates. It’s just that I have never seen a ship such as this. All metal. And quad cannons! I wish the Blood Galleon had some of those. I wish Lurg would give us a tour. I bet she’s as amazing inside as out. And…”

“BARRON!” shouted several pirates in unison.

“Arg. Sorry,” he said, but continued to sit with a dreamy look on his face as he thought about the ship some more.

The pirates sat in the brig and discussed their situation. They spent hours trying to come up with an escape plan, but every suggestion seemed more suicidal than the last. Eventually they sunk into a deep sadness accepting their inevitable death by the hand of the Royal Navy. Shortly after they had stopped talking, several guards entered the brig, followed by the cook.

“Admiral said yer to be fed while yer aboard,” said the cook, “personally, I woulda let ye starve. Take a bowl, ye got the special tonight, rabbit stew.”

“Maximo!” screamed Hackin Eve, busting into tears.

The cook and the guards left, not bothering to hide their laughter. All the pirates held their bowls. No one could bring themselves to eat Maximo. Suddently, the clatter of an empty bowl being dropped broke the silence.

“BURP!” said Scully One-Eye, patting his stomach. He looked around the brig as everyone starred at him, “What?”

“How could ye?” demanded Hackin Eve.

“It was good,” said Scully, “Can I have yers if ye ain’t gonna eat it?”

* * * * *

Lurg was pacing around his room. He had not slept at all that night. Having heard from Audra what had happened the day of the Mantaloid attack and the events of yesterday’s attack on Kalmorni Island he was very disturbed. Audra’s version of events contradicted everything his father had told him. He didn’t know what was true and what was a lie. Lurg knew that there were two things he had to do. First, he needed to investigate the village on Kalmorni Island, perhaps there was something there that would help to shed some light on what was happening. He also needed to confront Barron von Black and Scully One-Eye. If their story matches up with Audra’s, and there was evidence on Kalmorni Island then maybe…he had to find out for himself. He woke up Audra and told her that he was going to Kalmorni Island and that he wanted her to stay in the room and keep the door locked until he returned.

Lurg stepped onto the Beach of Kalmorni Island. With him were Commander Darius, and Lt. Commander Edwin McDougal, chief medical officer on board the Hyperion. They had landed just down the beach from the palisade wall that surrounded the smoking ruins of Kalmorni Village. The damage looked far greater than it had the previous day. Initially Lurg thought that the twilight had made the damage look less severe, but as the group inspected the village, it looked more like the village had been raided, rather then bombarded by cannon balls. Broken spears littered the ground, and there was blood everywhere, but there weren’t any bodies.

“What the hell happened here?” questioned Darius.

“I would like to know,” said Lurg, “There is a lot of blood for no bodies.”

They continued through the village. Eventually they came to a structure that was larger than the rest, and better constructed. When they entered, the smell of blood and rotting bodies overwhelmed them. There were several corpses on the floor. Some were partially eaten, all were heavily decomposed.

“That’s odd,” said McDougal.

“What is?” asked Darius.

“These bodies appear to have been killed over a week ago, but the attack was yesterday.”

“Let’s keep moving,” said Lurg stepping over a corpse.

They searched the remainder of the first floor of the building, and found several more bodies, all in similar condition to the first ones, rotting and partially eaten. When they moved upstairs, they found more bodies. At the end of a long hallway, there were three corpses that all appeared to have been wearing armor when they died.

“None of the other bodies had armor,” said Commander Darius.

“Maybe they’re guards,” said McDougal.

“Well let’s see what they’re guarding,” said Lurg.

The door behind the guards had long, deep scratches all over its surface. Lurg reached over and tried to push it open, but it had been barred from the inside. Commander Darius threw his shoulder into the door several times, it rattled but held. Lurg drew his sword, and with one blow, cleaved the door in two and the men stepped through.

The room was in complete disarray. Chairs were strewn about, and there were several bookcases overturned in front of a door on the side of the room. There was a table that had been set on its side to face the open door and shield the occupants from whatever entered. Lt. Commander McDougal noticed a small arm and rushed over to the table, Lurg and Darius followed. Behind the table were three children and an old man. The children were dead but the old man was breathing raggedly. The old man held two of the dead children in his arms, and had a pistol in his lap.

“These children appear to have starved to death,” said McDougal, “And this man will die soon if we don’t get him treatment. He needs food and water and he could possibly be diseased with all the rot that is in this house.”

“Let’s take him to the Hyperion then,” said Lurg.

Back on board the Hyperion, Lt. Commander McDougal was working on the old man while Lurg and Commander Darius looked on. The Lt. Commander had poured several liquids down the old man’s throat before walking over to the men.

“What are his chances?” asked Lurg.

“He has a small infection in a wound on his chest, and he was very dehydrated. I cleaned the wound and gave him some diluted orange juice. He should be fine in a few days, I’ll keep an eye on him and let you know when he wakes up.”

* * * * *

The old man woke up two days later. The Hyperion was still anchored off the Coast of Kalmorni Island. Lurg and Commander Darius went down to the sick bay to speak with him.

“How are you feeling?” questioned Lurg.

“Royal scum,” said the old man, spitting at the two men.

“I would show the Admiral some respect if I were you,” said Darius, “he saved your life, I would have left you to die with the rest of the pirate lovers.”

“Why would ye save me after ye destroyed my village?”

“We didn’t destroy it, we were sent to prevent its destruction, we just arrived too late,” said Darius.

“Horse manure,” said the old man, “Ye Royals attacked us eight days ago with ye war beasts and then with ye ships yesterday.”

“You’ve been unconscious for several days,” said Lt. Commander McDougal as he entered the room.

“Don’t matter, ye all still killed everyone in my village.”

“Not us,” said Darius.

“What can you tell me about these war beasts?” asked Lurg.

“They were vicious bug creatures with giant blades on their arms. They killed everyone, would have killed me too if I hadn’t taken the children into the room. Where are they?”

"We have to leave now," shouted Skully. "If we don't we're all gonna end up like Lurg. He gave us a chance, let's not waste it."

"We can't leave him," shouted Audra, Bella and Hackin' Eve in unison.

"We don't have time to argue, I'm the captain, this is my ship, we're leaving NOW."

“They’re dead,” said Lurg.

“They appeared to have starved to death,” said McDougal.

“Tell me more of the attack,” said Lurg.

“Them bugs came outta the forest in the middle of the night. Half me village was dead before we knew what was happening. The bugs dragged off everyone they killed, and some just started to eat them. Their attack was so well planned. They attacked both guard shacks and the barracks first.”

“How could they coordinate an attack like that?” wondered Darius.

“Twas the dark man,” said the old man.

“Dark man?” inquired Lurg looking up.

“Aye, a dark skinned man was ordering them where to attack. I’ll never forget his voice or his accent.”

Lurg sat in the captain’s quarters with Commander Darius and Lt. Commander McDougal. They were discussing the recent turn of events and the two conflicting stories they had heard. They did not like the way things were looking. The facts as well as everything they had seen seemed to back up the pirate’s story.

“This is most disturbing,” said McDougal, “I cannot believe that the Royal Navy would launch an attack on Kalmorni Island for no reason; let alone kill everyone, even women and children.”

“The insects the old man described were the same ones that nearly killed me when I was a member of Scully One-Eye’s crew. And the dark skinned man seems like the witch doctor that saved my life. It doesn’t make sense,” said Lurg.

“You said that your father knew the witch doctor that saved your life?” asked Darius.

“Yes, he came in a few times while I was recovering. But now it seems like the whole thing was an intricate plan to get me to join the Royal Navy.”

“It seems that Admiral Serathagar deceived all of us,” said Lt. Commander McDougal.

“I think I should speak with Barron von Black,” said Lurg, “bring him to me. Bring Scully One-Eye as well. Don’t speak of any of this to the crew.”

* * * * *

Lurg sat in his chair looking out one of the port holes when the guardsman brought Barron von Black and Scully One-Eye in. Lurg sat with his back to them for a long time before finally turning around.

“Welcome on board the Hyperion gentlemen,” he said.

“This vessel is amazing Lurg, she may be the greatest thing I have ever seen,” said Barron von Black.

“Enough about how great this ship is Barron,” said Scully, “What do ye want ye bastard?”