The Blade of the Sea: Book 2
Jesse Nethermind
BLADE OF THE SEA: BOOK 2
by Jesse Nethermind
Copyright © 2016 Jesse Nethermind.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. No people known to the author have had to fight actual pirates or save the world. Please consider leaving a review, and tell your friends about Blade of the Sea.
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Chapter 1: The Invasion
The sun was approaching the hills, signaling the coming night and the accompanying skeletons, zombies, and more.
Patrick hefted his ax onto his shoulder and glanced back to the beacon at the village gate. He could make it, and if he had to take down a zombie on the way, wooptie-freaken-do. He wasn’t scared.
Most of the trees in this area had been cleared out, but he found a nice white one and started hacking at it. Each strike sent vibrations through his arm, but they were nothing compared to the days long ago when he’d had to use his fists to punch the trees for wood. “That’s how it’s done,” he remembered his friends telling him. He was the first of them to figure out that if you crafted two sticks with three blocks of cobblestone, you’d get an ax. Next, he figured out a sword, then armor… And then he left all that behind. Those were the old days, better forgotten.
Now he chopped wood, ate with the villagers, and did his best to forget.
A chicken clucked nearby, and Patricks’ stomach rumbled. He sat on a wood block and wiped his brow, his other hand going to the medallion around his neck. Often after a hard day’s work like this, he would touch that medallion and remember his old friends. But the days of roaming the seas with them were long gone.
He could definitely go for an egg or two, but another glance at the setting sun made up his mind for him – he’d better get back. The clouds were already turning red.
But wait a minute, that didn’t look right. The sun was still too high. How…? Then he saw the flames licking the trees near the beacon. A fire!
He ran, ax in hand, back toward the village.
This couldn’t be happening. He’d finally settled down, he was finally happy. Instead of making a straight line, he ran up a small hill and then climbed one of the trees. He was glad he hadn’t chopped this one down. He hopped up and up until he had a view.
Sure enough, the village was on fire! He couldn’t make sense of it, how they’d been so careless. How…The thought was interrupted by the sight of sails, past the village, just visible in the smoke. And at the top of those sails was a flag with the symbol of a guardian—a one-eyed square with orange spikes. He knew that symbol. He’d hoped he would never see it again. It was the symbol of the Pirates of Brotherhood and Justice, or PB&J, as they liked to call themselves. Their leader was the most ruthless pirate alive, Captain Blackheart.
The last thing Patrick wanted was to be anywhere near PB&J or Captain Blackheart, but he had to find Barg of the city guard, to help defend the village.
He leaped from the tree, not caring if he got hurt on the landing. He slammed into the ground, but he was up in a second, sprinting all out for the part of the village that hadn’t yet caught fire. One section of the village wall had been blown away, likely by pirate TNT—they loved the stuff. Patrick entered through that gap, and then quickly ducked behind a small house.
He peeked out, and his eyes widened at what he saw. Pirates were coming right for him! He gripped his ax tight, ready to pounce and defend himself.
They went on right past him. He relaxed, but only slightly.
“Psst!”
Patrick spun, ax held high, and saw his friend Barg cowering in the corner with the mayor, Ellena.
“You could’ve warned me!” Patrick hissed, lowering his ax.
“That’s what ‘psst’ means,” Barg replied as he peeked around the corner. “It’s not a battle cry.”
Patrick rolled his eyes and said, “What’s the plan?”
“Run,” Ellena said. “On the count of three. One, two—”
“Wait, wait. Where’s everyone else?”
Ellena couldn’t look him in the eyes. Barg shook his head slowly.
“You don’t mean…?”
“I’m afraid so,” Barg said. “We don’t know. Most of them were out hunting when the attack came.”
Patrick breathed in deep through his nostrils, his massive chest heaving with annoyance. “When you don’t look at me, and you shake your head like that, it means far worse things than you don’t know where they are! I thought they were dead!”
“You hear something?” a voice said nearby.
Patrick put his hand over his mouth. Oh no, he’d been getting so annoyed, he’d forgotten to keep his voice low!
“Yeah, I told you there’d be people here!” a second voice replied.
“Three!” Ellena hissed, and they all ran for it.
Patrick followed close behind the mayor. The first corner they turned brought them face-to-face with two scary-looking pirates, probably the ones they had just heard talking. One of them, a woman, held a sword at the ready and had a yellow bandana tied around her head. Patrick couldn’t tell if the other one was a man or a woman. His only clue was the bushy red beard.
“Stop!” the girl pirate said, and she lunged for them.
Patrick stepped forward and blocked her sword with his ax, but the ax must have been used one-too-many times, because it shattered when the sword hit it.
Barg used that moment to plow through the other one, but the female pirate swung her sword right at Patrick. He could do nothing but stare in horror, sure this was his last day on this world.
A hand pulled him back just in time, and the blade swooshed through the air inches from his nose.
“Hurry!” Ellena said as she pulled him.
Patrick’s legs were moving faster than a frightened horse without him even thinking about it. Pure instinct had taken over. Barg was at their side a moment later, shouting about how, if they could just find the others, they might stand a chance.
They made it to the blown-up wall, where Patrick turned left before realizing Barg and Ellena had gone right. He spun to follow, but three more pirates appeared between them.
“Split up!” Patrick shouted, secretly hoping they wouldn’t listen. But they nodded and took off in the other direction, with two pirates following. The remaining pirate shouted for his comrades back in the village. He glared at Patrick with his good eye (the other was covered by an eye-patch) and pulled out a bow and arrow.
“Try it,” the pirate said, seeming to expect Patrick would charge him.
Patrick had no such intention, and instead spun on his heels and ran.
“Coward!” the pirate shouted after him. Soon he disappeared from site as Patrick crested the hill.
Patrick didn’t care. He was an alive coward, and at least Barg and the mayor were safe. He hoped.
The sun had already set by the time Patrick stopped running. The pond nearby looked inviting, and for a moment he considered wading in. The most annoying sound in the world pulled him to his senses—the groan of a zombie drawing near.
He didn’t have his ax, and he had been foolish enough leave the rest of his gear behind in his house, which had likely burned to the ground by now.
THWANG! An arrow landed in the grass next to him, and he looked up to see a skeleton approaching, its bow and arrow at the ready.
Another groan. The zombie was close now. Another g
roan, from the other direction. This was too much, and Patrick was too big of a target for the skeleton.
“Ahhh!” he yelled as he charged the skeleton. He had to dodge an arrow but was able to plow right into the creature knocking it into the pool of water.
He heard a splash behind him and he spun to see a zombie, arms out, it’s blue-green skin disgustingly close—he punched it on the nose and prepared to run.
The only sound nearly as horrible as the groans of zombies, in Patrick’s opinion, was the little “thwwwt” sound those darn spiders made when they leaped down beside you. And now he heard three “thwwwts.”
He stepped back, watching as the spiders inched closer. Zombies followed close behind them. The skeleton had recovered and was preparing another arrow. This was it, he realized—the end. Game over.
KABOOM!
An explosion destroyed the two zombies and sent the spiders skittering back up into the trees. But the skeleton’s arrow was flying true.
Patrick moved to dodge but was too slow. Or, he would have been if someone hadn’t kicked him aside at the last moment. The arrow dinged off of a shield, and a moment later the shield-wielding rescuer had slain the skeleton.
“Thank you,” Patrick said. He was on his hands and knees where he’d fallen, but picked himself back up. “You saved my….”
His mouth hung open. It was the female pirate, the one with the yellow bandana. She glared at him and said, “We’ve wasted enough time already. Take him.”
Five pirates stepped out from the shadows. Each of them looked eager to follow their captain’s commands. They tied his hands and feet. Before he knew what was happening, two of them lifted him onto their shoulders and carried him back toward the flaming village and their ships beyond.
Chapter 2: A Pirate’s Life
Patrick tried to fight the pirates, but they had too strong of a hold on him. He twisted and turned, hoping they would drop him and he could make a break for it. With his hands and feet tied…. Yeah, that wasn’t likely to happen.
Forcing himself to relax, he closed his eyes and focused on better times. What he wouldn’t give to be laughing with Barg, watching the sea, and sharing a nice meal of rabbit stew and pumpkin pie.
When he opened his eyes, he saw they’d passed the burning village and were heading toward the ships.
“Where’re you taking me?” he asked.
Instead of an answer, he got a thump on the head.
“Ow!” He tried to rub the spot, forgetting that his hands were tied. He squirmed around again, hoping to catch a glimpse of his friends, of Barg and Ellena, but they were nowhere in sight. He hoped that meant they had escaped. The alternative was too horrible.
Then the world was spinning and he hit the sandy shore with an “Oomph.” They’d tossed him to the ground, like garbage. He wanted to leap up and yell at them, but when he tried to stand, the ropes holding his feet caused him to trip. He fell face first into the sand.
Footsteps. Black boots.
He looked up, following those boots to a man dressed in a black petticoat, a full pirate hat with red feather and all. The man wore a grin, one Patrick had grown to hate over the years that they’d known each other.
“Captain Don Perignon.”
“Patrick the Sea Slayer,” the pirate, Don, said with a tip of his hat. “Your days of living at large are behind you. It’s time you join your mates in the federation.”
Patrick cleared his throat with a nod toward his bonds.
“Oh, you’ll not be free so easy as that,” Don said. “You’ve got some answering to do first. Got to see if you’re trustworthy…. Got to see if you can please the pirate king herself.”
“Blackheart….” The name scratched at his tongue and made his mouth dry. “I won’t help her. Take your PB&J and go to the Nether.”
“That’s how it is then?” He nodded to the pirate in yellow and said, “Selna, have your boys throw him in the brig. We’ll see what he has to say when old Blackheart’s got her sword to his throat.”
Patrick gulped. That was definitely not something he wanted. The legends of Captain Blackheart made two things very clear—she had a black heart, and she was unbeatable when it came to swordplay.
“Tell me what you want,” he said, defeated.
Selna and another pirate hefted him up so that he now stood a few inches taller than Don.
“A welcome attitude change.” Don’s smile revealed blackened teeth. “But orders are we tell you nothing until we reach base. So prepare yourself, we’ve got a journey ahead of us.”
“Forward,” Selna commanded, as she led him to the ship.
He glanced back at the burning village. “All this, it was for me?”
“Hardly.” She gave him an annoyed glare. “But in part.”
“If you harmed a single one of them—”
“Relax, buddy. We take what we want, including you. But that doesn’t include lives, not when we can help it.”
“Honor among pirates now?”
“Let’s call it a respect for life and leave it at that.”
He considered her, wondering where they’d found her hiding out. She didn’t seem to like his staring, because she bonked him on the head and pushed him forward.
“Okay, I’m going, I’m going.”
They boarded the closest ship, while pirates nearby filled the remaining three. True to the captain’s word, Patrick soon found himself locked behind the bars of the brig—a small cell, almost long enough for him to lie down in, but not quite. Not that he’d want to anyway, judging by the stench of fish and worse in here.
Selna locked the door and went back to the stairs, where she paused. A curious glance over her shoulder.
“Forget something?” Patrick said, bitterly.
“I just… until he said it, didn’t realize it was you. The Sea Slayer, huh?”
“Not anymore.”
“Did you really take down a guardian with just one punch?”
“If I had, would that impress you enough to let me out of here?”
She scoffed.
“That’s what I thought,” he said, then turned back to the barred window to watch the final flames begin to dwindle.
The ship took sail, and soon all he could see of the village he’d come to know as home was a small fire in the distance, like the beacon he’d always known would lead him back there.
Only, this time, he wasn’t sure he’d ever return.
“… the Sea Slayer?” a voice sounded, muffled and distant. “… you … kidding me? That guy?”
“That’s him alright. We … sailed together. That was before he …”
Patrick looked around for the source of the sound, moving about his cell to try to get a better listen. They were talking about him, and his days from before, back when he’d sailed the open sea. Back when he’d earned that nickname – Patrick the Sea Slayer.
Had he taken down a guardian with one punch? Of course not, that was crazy-talk. But one strike from his enchanted diamond sword? Sure.
Had he been a pirate worth building legends about? That was more complicated. He preferred to block that part of his life out of his mind, to bury it in a treasure chest and throw it to the bottom of the sea.
“Think he really knows where the Fortress of Kunesh is?” a voice asked, loud and clear. Selna.
“If he doesn’t, he’d better at least … a clue to the whereabouts of the Blade of the Sea. We’ll need it if we hope to access the fortress’s treasure, or so the rumors go.”
“It’s all legend, says I,” said a third voice, raspy and grumpy. “If the fortress existed, we’d have found it by now.”
“Well PB&J doesn’t agree, or we wouldn’t be burning all these villages to the ground in search of this one and the Blade of the Sea, would we?”
“I do it for the fun of it all.” The raspy-voiced man laughed, but it was a cold, angry laugh.
“Yes, well I’ll be in my quarters, should you need me,” Selna said before walking o
ff.
When she was gone, a raspy voice said, “You trust her?”
“I trust her to get us what we want, then….”
Patrick leaned in closer, hoping to hear more. What did they mean to do to her? But he pulled back. Why did he care? It wasn’t like she cared about him.
The door opened and Selna entered, carrying a plate of fish. She held the tray in one hand and motioned with the other for him to be silent.
“I didn’t want you to go hungry,” she said with a smile.
He cocked his head. Was this some trick?
“I’ll just leave it here, then.” She stepped forward and slid it under the bars, but lingered long enough to look him over. “You’re on the big side, sure. But Patrick the Sea Slayer? I have a hard time buying it.”
He frowned, not knowing if it was worth arguing over. He’d fought the last couple of years to be done with that title. But for some reason, around her, he cared.
“Red cheeks, left speechless….” She shrugged. “Either you really are him, or you are just terrible when it comes to lying.”
“Both, actually,” he said.
“Yes, well…Hard as it may be, try to keep your head.” She gave him a doubtful look, then turned and left.
Chapter 3: Captivity
The ship sailed along smoothly, giving Patrick plenty of time to think about what he’d heard. If they were really looking for this Fortress of Kunesh, how did that involve him? He’d heard legends of it, sure, everyone had. But he was just as clueless as they were about its whereabouts.
And then there was the fact that they didn’t trust Selna. Would there be some sort of mutiny, and if that was a possibility, should he say something? The hard part was, he didn’t really know if he had a side he should be rooting for here. Sure, Selna had brought him food, but she’d also helped capture him.
He leaned against the wall, arms folded, eyes closed. The pirate sailing songs that drifted down from above were almost peaceful—if he could get over the fact that those were ruthless pirates up there singing them. He’d always loved a good sailing song, it was the ruthless part he’d never come to grips with.
Blade of the Sea Book 2: A Children's Survival Unofficial Minecraft Book Page 1
