A Tale That Could Not Be

“Hard to starboard!” Jack shouted so loudly that his face turned red.

The naval battle was dwindling down and the Noyran navy was proving to be the victor. Captain Hook had sailed Marjeneh’s Grace on the fringes of the watery battlefield and only a few Sauradian warships clashed here. Many were sinking and several others had been boarded and claimed by Noyran sailors. The handful that remained to defend fought bravely but futilely. Hook deeply admired their loyalty and their willingness to sacrifice their lives for the good of their country. They were braver men than he.

The caravel glided through the water with all haste. Its crew scrambled about, ensuring all sails were full and quickly patching up any holes in the hull. The vessel had suffered a scant amount of glancing blows during its escape but was otherwise undamaged. That had been with many Sauradian warships around to distract the Noyran vessels. Now, however, few Sauradian warships remained and thus fewer distractions. Marjeneh’s Grace was no warship and if a handful of Noyran warships chose to engage it there would be little to nothing Captain Hook could do to stop them.

Immense vessels with few cannons but bulging hulls began to appear, sailing slowly but steadily. Aboard their decks, standing among the sailors, were men in armour and bearing shields and melee weapons. These were not warships, Hook noted. These were transports. As the Noyran warships cleared a path ahead to the river, the slower transports sailed behind them, ready to unload their soldiers into Sauradia once the naval opposition was dealt with.

Sinking a few of those would greatly aid Sauradia’s land army, Hook considered. Doing so, however, would immediately target Marjeneh’s Grace as a threat and the caravel was already hopelessly outnumbered. It didn’t need the transports to turn toward it as well. As much as Hook wanted to aid Sauradia, all he could do was to keep sailing further out to sea. If he offered the transports no resistance, perhaps they would do the same.

The Noyran warships were now few in number and scattered among the lumbering transports as protection. Hook glanced at the immense vessels sailing past him and felt puny under the grim stares shot his way by the soldiers aboard. He noticed a few pointing at the Sauradian flag flapping at the caravel’s stern but as of yet no ship engaged him. Though Marjeneh’s Grace was not a warship it could still easily outmanoeuver the transports and sink them with some well-placed cannon barrages. One sunken transport meant hundreds of drowned soldiers and Hook deduced that the captains sailing them would not risk it. In their minds, letting one enemy ship sail by unharmed was better than weakening the invasion army.

Captain Hook was perfectly content with their decision.

The massive vessels displaced vast amounts of water and made sailing in the other direction difficult. Their wakes tossed Marjeneh’s Grace from side to side and Hook was impressed by the lack of seasickness on his vessel. Red, Cindy, Bigbad, and Beast were not accustomed to sailing and yet they stood strong, clinging to the gunwales tightly but never vomiting once. Hook recalled Selvina’s seasickness and couldn’t help but smile fondly. Despite all the troubles she had endured she had never given up. He only hoped that she was yet alive so that he could rescue her from Pan. As much as he wanted to plunge his blade into the vile pirate, Hook had to admit that, surprisingly, he wished to see Selvina alive and well even more so. It was clear to him that she and Jack harbored deep feelings for one another and though he had warned Jack against it, Hook had always known it would be inevitable. It would be difficult for everyone to watch Selvina return to her home world but it would be doubly so for Jack.

Seeing her dead, however, would break him irreparably.

He glanced up at the young man watching another Noyran transport sail by from his perch in the crow’s nest. Hook had never been a father, having been robbed of that honour by Peter Pan, but with Jack he almost felt like one. He would never take the place of Jack’s real father and did not wish to. He only knew that he would do anything to ensure his survival. As Sinbad was much like a brother to Hook, Jack felt like a son and together the three were unstoppable. Each of them would do everything in their power to defend one another. They had faced terrible dangers before and sailing here and now, amidst thousands of Noyran soldiers and sailors, whatever happened, they would stand together until the end.

The transport fleet never seemed to end and Hook’s heartbeat never calmed throughout the ordeal. Any one of the ships could choose to engage his caravel and though he could possibly sink a few of the transports he would be hopelessly unable to stop them all. Hook guessed that, in a cruel twist, he had Rhiannon to thank for that. He doubted the dragon empress would be pleased to lose hundreds of soldiers for a single Sauradian vessel bearing a few dozen sailors, one wolf, one beast, and two women.

Two Noyran frigates swiftly appeared, sailing between several transports with their paths leading directly toward Marjeneh’s Grace. Losing valuable transports was one thing but if warships were sunk engaging the enemy they were simply casualties of war. One came from the starboard side and the other from port. Hook gave the wheel to Sinbad and produced his spyglass. He peered into it and scanned the port side frigate. Its sailors had all eyes on Marjeneh’s Grace and the captain was gazing at Hook through his own spyglass. Their intentions became clear when Hook witnessed men loading cannons and muskets as well as gathering arrows and javelins. He quickly scanned the deck of the starboard side frigate and saw much the same. Both frigates would flank the caravel, blast a fierce cannon barrage into its side, and then board it. If boarding proved too difficult they would just sink the vessel.

Beast and Bigbad suddenly ran to the bow and bent their legs, as if readying to leap overboard. Hook called out to them. “Beast! What are you and Bigbad doing? I need you to fight off the enemy!”

Beast turned his tusked head and narrowed his white eyes. “Keep sailing between them, captain!” he roared. “Get us out of this fleet!”

Has he gone mad? Hook wondered. They had fooled death once with Jack’s daring maneuver but both those ships had been focused on one another. These two vessels were intent on attacking Marjeneh’s Grace and nothing else. As soon as the caravel sailed between them they would fire their cannons. Sailing between both ships would only aid the enemy.

The bowsprits of both Noyran frigates pierced the air on either side of Marjeneh’s Grace as the warships closed in. There was nowhere else to go but straight between them and Hook hoped that Beast had a plan or everyone was doomed.

It turned out that Beast and Bigbad both had plans, simple as they were. As the frightening figureheads of both vessels began to flank the caravel Bigbad and Beast leapt off of it. Beast launched himself onto the deck of the port side warship and Bigbad leapt onto the deck of the one on the starboard side. They then immediately engaged the enemy fiercely and violently.

Beast bowled through the Noyran sailors with raging intensity. He tossed sailors overboard, threw others into the masts, slashed with his claws, pounded with his fists, and ripped off mouthfuls of flesh with his teeth. The sailors fought back but their weapons failed to pierce his flesh and it did not take long for men to begin abandoning the ship. The captain fired a shot from his musket into Beast’s face but it did nothing but enrage him.

Beast tore the captain in two pieces and threw both halves overboard, roaring in defiance.

Bigbad’s assault was just as vicious but the large wolf lacked Beast’s impenetrable hide. Musket balls and swords pierced his body and made Bigbad yelp in pain, halting his advance and forcing him back. The Noyran sailors, emboldened by the sight of the injured wolf, charged him and shouted war cries.

Swinging in from a hanging rope Red came, intent on saving her greatest of friends. She landed on the frigate’s deck in a roll and rose to her knees, simultaneously firing off two shots from her crossbows. Both bolts pierced the necks of two sailors and paralyzed them immediately. As she reloaded her weapons, Bigbad growled fiercely and leapt back into the fray. Clamping his jaws over one sailor, he then shook his head wildly and threw him overboard, the man already dead before hitting the water. Red fired off two more shots, downing two more sailors, and then threw herself into the battle, unsheathing her twin daggers. Sailors perched on platforms attached to the masts aimed their muskets down at the black wolf and the red woman, eager to swiftly put an end to their valiant effort.

Hook glanced up to see Jack running along the foremast’s top yard with his dagger clamped between his teeth. He then leapt off the end of it and landed into the Noyran frigate’s rigging. Using his unsurpassed climbing skills, he scrambled through the rigging with amazing agility and dropped down on the platform. The shooters had yet to fire and, upon seeing Jack, hurriedly switched targets. With his dagger in hand, Jack slashed and stabbed at the sailors but they were formidable and deftly blocked and parried his attacks with their muskets. Though he was preventing them from shooting Red and Bigbad the battle appeared one-sided and Hook feared his efforts would be for naught.

“Take the wheel, captain!” Sinbad shouted before leaping down to the main deck and hurrying to the foremast. Hook clenched the wheel and watched as his quartermaster climbed the mast and ran along the same yard Jack had before leaping into the enemy ship’s rigging. Jack by now had suffered a few bruises from swinging muskets and was getting steadily pushed to the edge of the platform. Below, Bigbad and Red were both suffering wounds and fighting for their lives, outnumbered and overwhelmed. They needed help and they needed it now.

“Board the frigate!” Hook called out to his crew. He understood that they were not soldiers but his friends needed to be saved and he was their captain. As much as he didn’t want to render the crewmen’s families fatherless he would not do nothing.

To his surprise and admiration, every single of the crewmen armed themselves and tossed grappling hooks over the side. They pulled on the taught ropes and dragged the caravel closer toward the frigate and when it was near enough they leapt onto it. Crying loudly and fiercely, they engaged the Noyran sailors and fought, bled, and died.

Both ships, their sails still unfurled, circled each other, their rigging and masts caught in one another’s and preventing any escape. Hook was grateful the enemy ship’s cannons hadn’t fired yet and assumed it was because all men aboard were now fighting the caravel’s smaller but determined crew, leaving no one to man them.

Cindy watched the battle from the caravel’s deck with great interest and Hook knew she wished to join it. Instead, he called her over and she reluctantly obliged.

“Take the wheel,” he ordered her. “You are too young and inexperienced to fight, Cindy, but I need you to keep Marjeneh’s Grace alongside the frigate.”

“But—” she started to complain.

“—but nothing, Cindy. Do as your captain commands.” Without another word and a pout from Cindy, Captain Hook produced his pistol and cutlass and joined the battle.

Sinbad had saved Jack by quickly slaying the two shooters and were both now battling alongside Red. Sinbad’s motions were fluid and flowing, as if he was made of water or wind. Hook had always marvelled at his battle prowess and now was no exception. Focusing on the battle once more, the captain fired a shot from his pistol, blinding a Noyran sailor, and then parried an incoming axe chop with his sword.

Bigbad was limping badly and bleeding from many holes in his body. Though the wolf had ended many lives he had suffered greatly and Hook felt compelled to aid him. Charging into the quarrel, he slashed left, cut through a sailor’s thigh, punched out with his wooden hand and cracked the skull of another, and then slashed the throat of a third. Several arrows and javelins protruded from Bigbad’s side when he reached him but the wolf was as dangerous as ever.

“Get back to the ship and rest!” he ordered the wolf, hoping he understood what he meant. Hook was well aware that Bigbad only listened to Red but, gratefully, the wolf did as he was told and limped back to Marjeneh’s Grace where he dropped to the deck heavily.

As brave as Hook’s crew had been it was not long before their lack of experience in battle started to surface. Before too many lives were lost he swiftly ordered them back on the ship. With some reluctance, they obeyed.

“Untangle the rigging and break free!” he ordered the crew as he parried a slash. He then quickly added, “And save that wolf! Mend his wounds!”

Now outnumbered, Captain Hook, Sinbad, Jack, and Red were surrounded and prevented from fleeing back to Marjeneh’s Grace. They continued to fight but their energy wasn’t boundless and everyone was sporting a few cuts and bruises, even Sinbad. As they began to tire those cuts and bruises would soon become deep slashes and broken bones.

The smell of blood hung heavy in the air as Hook took a moment to gather his breath. The Noyran sailors, heavily depleted in number, were also tiring and did the same. As both parties paused to recover, Captain Hook hurriedly thought of a way to escape certain death.

“It was an honour to fight at your side, captain,” Sinbad said as blood leaked down his face from a cut on his forehead.

“Keep that to yourself, quartermaster,” Hook barked back. “It’s not over yet.”

Sinbad grinned and nodded. “Aye, captain.”

The frigate’s captain approached, smiling proudly. “You put up a heroic effort, I must admit,” he said to them, displaying perfectly white teeth. His black and red uniform was trim and clean and the saber he held in one hand gleamed as if recently polished. It was clear to all that the captain had not partaken in the battle and had most likely hidden away in his cabin. “Surrender now, Sauradian scum, and bear witness to which nation deserves to rule these seas. Our mighty empress will usher in an age of unparalleled—”

A large, silver and grey form suddenly barreled into the captain and crushed him beneath its weight, effectively silencing him. It stood up and fixed its pearly eyes on the rest of the crew.

“Glad you could join us, Beast,” Sinbad said with a wink. “Perhaps you’d care to show these men exactly how you defeated an entire ship on your own without suffering a single injury.”

Beast roared powerfully and the Noyran sailors immediately dropped their weapons and scrambled to the other side of the ship where they launched themselves into the water. Beast turned to his companions, gave them a nod, and then looked up at the tangled masts.

“I’ll take care of this,” he said in his deep, growling voice before leaping up to the tangle of ropes and sails.

Hook and the others then hurried back to Marjeneh’s Grace and helped tend to the wounded crewmen. The javelins and arrows stuck in Bigbad had been removed and his wounds were mostly patched up. Red took over the duties of tending to him and Jack sat down nearby, bandaging his own injuries. Cindy returned the ship’s wheel to Captain Hook and joined Red and Jack. Sinbad stayed at his captain’s side. It did not take long for Beast to free the caravel and Captain Hook wasted no time sailing it ahead. He was keenly aware that the soldiers upon the transport ships were now closely watching the vessel and its injured crew. Their victory against the Noyran warships would only entice the soldiers upon the transports to seek revenge for their fallen countrymen and Hook did not doubt that battle would once again soon be upon them.

To pour salt on the wound, Captain Hook could now see open ocean just beyond the last remaining transports. It was within reach but the transports were closing in, narrowing the gap and threatening to pin Marjeneh’s Grace in place. On top of that, four warships sailed in from the west and east, their broadsides aimed at the caravel. The two pairs joined together and formed a wall of hulls and cannons. With transports forming an ever-narrowing barrier on both sides and the warships blocking the way ahead, the end seemed near for Marjeneh’s Grace. If the transports didn’t pin it in place the warships would blow it to the bottom of the sea.

Archers on one of the transports were seen setting fire to their arrows and aiming at the caravel’s sails, intent on slowing it down. Several of the fitter crewmen aboard Marjeneh’s Grace fired at them with their muskets and their own bows, downing a few but hardly making an impact. Powerless to stop them, Captain Hook could only watch grimly as dozens of arrows streaked through the air and showered over his ship’s sails. Fire soon caught and began to burn holes into the canvas. The holes were small at first but they were creeping outward steadily.

“So close,” Hook muttered sadly. The transports had failed to pin his ship between them in time and were now harmlessly sailing away but the damage was done. The sails were burning and there floated a wall of warships ahead.

“The fire!” Jack called out, pointing up. “Captain, look!”

Furrowing his brow in confusion, Captain Hook gazed upward at his sails and suddenly widened his eyes. Most of the fires were completely out and the few that remained were rapidly shrinking in size. Within moments, the fires vanished, leaving behind only a few small holes that would barely affect the caravel’s performance.

“It actually worked!” Cindy shouted as she fell to her knees, appearing exhausted yet overjoyed. “I put them out!”

“Excellent work, Cindy!” Hook cheered. He had no idea how Cindy managed to do what she did but he was grateful all the same. Though he put on a proud expression, he felt utterly hopeless on the inside. Cindy had saved the sails but for what? Though Marjeneh’s Grace retained her speed and agility she could not withstand four cannon barrages. Nevertheless, Captain Hook would not give up and surrender. “Brace yourselves, everyone! Hold strong!”

Captain Hook could see the warships’ crews readying their cannons and preparing to fire their volleys. If the caravel somehow survived the barrages it would ram into the warship directly ahead, a finely crafted frigate. He, as well as everyone else, would then fight until the end.

Beast stood at the bow, muscles bulging and claws out. He roared in defiance as the caravel skimmed through the waves in a straight path toward utter destruction. Hook raised a fist and shouted as well, matching Beast’s volume. Sinbad did the same and before long so did every man and woman aboard. Bigbad threw his head back and howled just as the roaring caravel was hit by a sudden gust of wind, greatly increasing its speed. Toward certain death it sailed.

Beyond the warships, something moved, causing Hook to cease his shouting. He saw a hull, tattered gold-coloured sails, and the sun glinting off a massive metallic object.

“It can’t be,” he breathed in utter disbelief.

A moment later the warship directly to the caravel’s port side burst open in a shower of bodies, wooden planks, and debris. Split in two, the ship was shoved aside as a brig sailed directly through it, its gleaming steel ram leading the way.

There, aboard the newly arrived brig, stood Captain Long John Silver, cannon crutch under one arm, bickering crow on one shoulder, and tricorn hat raised high in one hand. He met Hook’s gaze and gave him a great grin. “Can’t be lettin’ you have all the fun, eh!”

Hook, adrenaline pumping madly through his veins, let go of the wheel and ran to the side of his ship as he watched The Hispaniola sail by. “John! What are you doing here?”

“Oi’, you’d have to be blind as a dead bat to miss a fleet this size sail by,” Silver called back. “I thought to meself I may as well follow it, considerin’ you were in the area. Turns out I was bein’ right in doin’ so. Now go, Jimbo! Sail away! Get outta’ this blasted place!”

“John!” Hook shouted back, unable to find the right words to say. A piercing coldness gripped the captain as he watched his old friend turn his ship around for another attack. The Noyran warships were completely ignoring Marjeneh’s Grace at this point and were all shifting their attention this newer and much greater threat, altering their positions and opening a gap for the caravel to sail through. There was no way Captain Silver could stand against three warships on his own. Hook’s heart weighed heavily when he realized that Captain Silver had no intention of surviving the battle. As his final act in life he would prove himself wrong by being the good man Hook always knew he had been.

Moments before The Hispaniola rammed into a second warship, Captain Silver gave Captain Hook a wave of his hat and shouted, “Ye’ always were the best of us, Jimbo! Ye’ made me old heart proud, ye’ did!”

And then the warships fired their cannons.

Captain Hook dropped to his knees and bowed his head as tears filled his eyes and dripped to the ground. They trickled to the wooden planks and formed a small pool, reflecting Hook’s face in them. He eyed himself, red in the eyes and wet on the cheeks, and sniffed back any more tears. He couldn’t let Captain Silver’s sacrifice be in vain. He had to survive. Hook then wiped his eyes and stood, composing himself as well as he could. He then walked back to the wheel and Sinbad, who had taken control of it, let him have it.

“What are your orders, captain?” Sinbad asked quietly.

“We keep sailing,” was his reply. “We get away from this godsforsaken place…”

Sinbad nodded and said nothing.

The wind picked up and propelled Marjeneh’s Grace ahead at great speed, outdistancing any would-be pursuers. Captain Hook left the remaining warships far behind, as well as the bodies of a captain and his men who were once considered pirates, but were now nothing less than heroes.

Be at peace, old friend, Hook thought as a rogue tear rolled down his cheek.