Prelude
Hardy laughter erupted from under a large tent where a bunch of viking soldiers were gathered. The joyful bunch lounged about, toasting their mugs full of rum and chugging them down. Behind them was a great ship at port. It was black as night titled Raid Raven, which had a few soldiers loading the ship with lots of valuable goods and edibles.
The men continued to celebrate as they drunkenly boasted about their latest raid and a deal they had just negotiated with the Trade market. One of the men took a hard swig of his mug then slammed it down with a breath.
"Where are ladies?" He questioned aloud and a rowdy cheer sounded from the others.
Swiftly a cloaked man emerged from the side of the tent and stepped up towards the group. They watched him warily as he gave them a smile. He removed his hood to reveal his dark skin and bald head.
"Or we can have some fun playing some cards." The muscled man said, pulling up a chair. He reached under his cloak and pulled out a deck of golden cards. "How you doing fellas. You in?"
The boastful viking matched his smile. Two other men joined the table with the others gathering around them.
"Good." The man shuffled the deck. He was swift as he dealt the cards out then he picked up his hand giving his cards a look over.
"I hope you fellas brought your A game," The man stated in fluent viking tongue, surprising the group. "Cause I'm coming to kick some ass tonight."
The first game ended with the man winning the game with 10 books. The boastful viking was now glaring over at the man with a look of irritation.
"Me next, Toka." Another soldier spoke up, but the viking, Toka, hushed him with a hand. He clearly wasn't being entertained.
"Again."
The man just shrugged his shoulders as he collected the cards back up. "How about we make this game more interesting." He offered out, pausing, shuffling the cards to reach into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of gold coins and let it clatter on the tabletop. The soldiers gawked at the money.
"How much ya'll got in?" The man asked.
…
A few soldiers loaded the ship, coming and going in pairs along the plank. From the shadows of the boat two figures rushed on, being stealthily and quiet until they reached their target. The cloaked pair hid and waited before they spotted two soldiers totting a long case of goods up the wooden ramp that led to the deck.
The figures used this chance and snuck up behind the pair to sneakily trail them onto the ship. They were like shadows. There were some more soldiers along the deck yelling out orders and loading the goods down into the hatch. The two soldiers were heading to take their load to the hatch.
One of the figures gave the other a nod, and the other one pulled two daggers out, reaching up to stab them into the soldier's necks. The soldiers' gurgles were blocked off by the palms of hard hands. They both grabbed the bodies before they could hit the deck and slinked off into the shadows. The case landed with a loud thump.
The soldier barking orders turned to look around when he noticed the case laying by itself.
He peered around in anger. "Hey you. Do not throw things about." He growled aloud and stomped towards the case. When he bent to get it, something hard hit his temple rendering him unconscious. He too was pulled into the dark.
Inside the hatch, two soldiers were waiting for something else to be thrown down.
"What's taking so long?" One of them asked. "Maybe that was all."
"Hello!" The other one called out and got silence.
Suddenly the soldiers were pummeled to the ground when a body fell on top of them. One tried to get to his feet but was kicked across the face by the hooded person. The other soldier went for his sword, but it was useless. The person whipped his own sword first and embedded it through the soldier's chest. The other soldier roared out and ran for the stranger with his weapon out. The person didn't hesitate as it only took one step and two slashes, and the soldier was dead at his feet.
The other person landed down beside the other, wiping the blood from the daggers on the hem of their cloak. They removed their hood revealing a young lady with long vibrant strawberry blonde plaits and smooth brown skin.
Panky
"Do you think they heard you?" Panky asked her comrade who followed in her steps and removed his hood revealing a boy with a light creamy complexion. The candlelight flashed along his skin showing freckles dotting his face. He rolled his eyes; one of his irises was hazel and the other was green.
Ocean
"My noise? I was quiet as a mouse." Ocean grumbled as he looked around the stock. When he spotted all of the vikings loot, his mood turned to giddy. "Let's hurry. This is a lot to ration through." Ocean stated gaining a nod from Panky.
"Okay. You signal Onyx. I have a little extra errand to run really quick." Panky said with her deep accent rolling from her tongue and headed to climb back out the hatch.
"Don't do nothing stupid." Ocean whispered back to the girl with a smirk.
She paused to grin at him over her shoulder. "Never." Then she was gone.
The boy chuckled to himself as he spotted the nearest window. Pulling a stick out of his pocket, he bent it until it turned a bright yellow. Placing the stick in the window, he started to rummage through the loot until a sudden noise caused him to whirl around with his sword at his side. The noise was rattling from the other side of some hanging barrels.
He stalked readily towards the corner yet stopped short at the sight.
A young group of children sat huddled up together in chains. They were frightened as they tried to cower away from Ocean as much as the chains would allow.
Ocean let out a disgusted sigh and a 'damn' drifted passed his lips.
...
The sea was very calm yet suddenly waves rippled out as a wooden rowboat sailed along the waters.
A caramel toned woman rowed the boat as a tall, slender brown skinned boy with a huge curly afro stood alert watching as the black ship grew closer and closer. Loud laughter and conversion could still be heard from afar which meant that everything was going accordingly.
"I wonder if Blackstone is winning?" The boy randomly thought aloud.
The woman only rolled her eyes as she continued to steer. "If you have to ask that, then you don't know your crew as well as you thought." She huffed almost breathless. Her arms were burning with tired sweat glazing her skin under the moonlight.
Onyx
The boy let out a grunt, with a large smile spreading his face. "Now that my darling is one thing I don't have to wonder about." He started flashing his dimples at her. "I know you all too well."
Auggie
Onyx blew out an agitated huff, "Then wander your hands over here and help me row this damn thing."
"Awe, but you've made it so far." Auggie whined with a pouty face.
"Captain…" Onyx seethed out.
Auggie scratched the back of his head with a sheepish look as he surrendered. "Okay okay. Whatever you need." He said and was about to help her out when he spotted a light appear in a small window of the black ship.
"Check it out." Auggie motioned for Onyx to look over.
When she noticed the signal, she turned to look at Auggie with a confident look.
"It's time to get it." The captain said with a thrill.
They rowed the rest of the way until they were directly under the window. Auggie stood straight and faced the ship. He then reached out and gave the wood a few knocks.
It was quiet at first before Ocean's visage popped into view.
"Are we good to go?" Auggie asked the boy who wore a distressed look.
Ocean looked off to his side before giving the duo a conflicted face. "Everything's a go in here, captain, it's just…" He paused, slowly peeking back at the chained children.
Onyx and Auggie caught the hitch in the boy's voice.
"It's just what, Ocean?" Onyx called, trying to stay low enough to stay out of hearing range.
Ocean swallowed dryly. "They have children in here."
Onyx's face fell. Children weren't on the agenda.
"The way I see it is we have two choices. We can either take the goods like we had planned and leave the kids."
"Well, that's not an option." Onyx growled out while mentally trying to come up with some alternatives. They were wearing thin on time.
"The shitty part is this is the biggest haul we've seen. " Ocean said almost dejectedly.
"There'll be other ships to hit so let's make the right decision here." Onyx argued back.
"Yeah," Ocean breathed out. "I knew that'd be it, it's one other thing. If we try to get the children on the boat, there wouldn't be any time for us all to get out safely. Once we do this, the soldiers will come running."
Onyx gritted her teeth then looked up to their captain who just stood there silently with a perplexed expression. "Auggie, we're running close to the wire here. Those soldiers will be alerted faster than we can plan." She stated in a frenzy.
"So, what are we doing because I hear voices getting closer?" Ocean joined in, taking a few more rapid peeks over his shoulder.
Auggie's face remained still, and the silence continued to linger. "We take what we can."
"But captain," Onyx was about to disagree, but instantly hushed when Auggie raised his hand.
"Roger that. We're ready when you are. " Ocean saluted and disappeared from view.
Auggie side-eyed Onyx, who was eyeing him, with a chuckle. "Oh ye of little faith. We're not heartless, but we're not going to be stupid either. Weren't you just snarking about me underestimating my crew? No matter the obstacle, we're getting through this my way."
Even though she wanted to strategize, observing his determination she decided that he knew best. Despite being older, she trusted her captain and wouldn't doubt him now after everything he's done. She nodded and gripped onto the paddles to prepare herself.
Auggie relaxed his stance and sucked in a deep gulp of air, then suddenly punched out. He didn't touch the ship physically, however a big hole burst through the wood with a boom.
...
Panky quietly maneuvered along the deck until she finally reached the captain quarters. Arming herself with a dagger, she took a peek through an opening of the door and watched as a fat viking danced about storing away his personal goods.
She continued to watch for a second before a loud boom caused the ship to rock hard.
The now alert viking ducked down obviously out of reflex and frantically ran for the door. His run was cut short as he stumbled back with an armed Panky following him into the room, knife pressed against his chest. She closed the door shut.
The captain glared at her. "Who are you, wrench?"
Panky eyed the man in amusement when she glanced sharply at the goods he suddenly came into. "Looks like you hit the jackpot at the trading market. I wonder what sins you had to do to possess such findings to trade off." She muttered so casually.
The viking captain eyes roamed until they fell on his sword which was on a stand by the door. Panky caught this and stepped forward, putting a wedge in his only route.
"If you were a smart hore, you would move while you have chance. This isn't a place for pussy." The man growled.
Panky's face instantly fell. "An entire village. Gone. Because of the Raid raven. You destroyed people's homes and left them to struggle putting it back together for your selfish greed. You took everything that they had!" Panky accounted, with emotion heavy in her throat.
"And you will die for worthless flesh?" The viking questioned, letting out a deep gutted laugh as his crazed eyes lingered on the girl. "Do you not know who I am?"
A corner of Panky's lips curled up, "Matter fact I do." In a flash Panky darted out and with a flurry of stabs and slashes the captain fell brokenly to the ground. She lent down to wipe the blood off on his garments and leered at the corpse. "You're a dead piece of shit. Fucking coward."
She put away her knife and ran out of the room. In the distance she could hear loud commotion from the tent area. It didn't sound like friendly banter. It was go time. She cursed under her breath as she ran to prepare for battle.
...
"King me." Blackstone yelped out as he threw his hand of cards down on the table. Blackstone gave a snarky grin at the angry vikings who glared at him.
Toka grew angry as he watched the man.
"You are cheating." Toka spat out.
"Again." One of the standing soldiers huffed out tossing more coins to the table pile.
Blackstone could feel the energy around them shifting to something ugly. The vikings weren't taking too kindly to him taking their money.
"You know the night is getting old and I'm getting rather bored." Blackstone said to the angry men.
Just then a loud boom had every head turning towards their ship.
"We're under attack!" The soldiers yelled, drawing their weapons and heading toward the ship.
Blackstone took this opportunity to pocket the rest of the money and tried to slink away, only to have Toka step in his trail.
"Who are you?" Toka asked, now wielding two saber swords. The edges were rusty from aged dry blood.
Others flanked behind him with their weapons pointed at Blackstone.
"Whoa now brothers." The man cautiously said, raising his hands in surrender.
The soldiers growled as they stalked closer.
In an instance, Blackstone whipped off his cloak and blasted the extra soldiers in the chest with a sawed gun. Toka stood their eying Blackstone down.
He gripped his swords and Blackstone gripped his gun and the two were off, dashing for the other.
...
Ocean shushed the panicking children as he tried to unchain them. One by one, each child was loose and free from their prison. Finally getting them to calm down, the lot headed to the hole in the ship.
Onyx steered the boat as close to the ship as the waves would allow.
"Alright, toss them to me one at a time." Auggie commanded, holding out his long arms.
There were only six of them, so the job should be quick and easy.
"Rightio," Ocean acknowledged with a sloppy salute. He looked down at the children. They were shivering, huddled together so tight. "Okay. We're going to get you on that boat. Don't be scared and trust us." He spoke. He was pretty sure that they couldn't even understand him.
He reached for the smallest one who looked around five and picked her up then tossed her to Auggie with a weee. The captain caught her effortlessly.
Auggie sat the girl down and gave her a gentle smile as he wrapped a pelt around her shoulders. He turned back to Ocean.
"Alright. Another one."
…
Panky let out a grunt after she knifed down a soldier. He fell dead. She glared over at the few others that surrounded her.
"Just give up hore." One man gritted out with a sneer.
"A pretty girl like you should be hanging off of my sword instead." Another one jeered with a predatory smile.
"Tch," Panky gritted her teeth as her eyes locked in on the men. Her hold tightened on her knives and she readied herself. "Nah, I think ya'll dangling off of mine is more satisfying."
With that, she darted towards the men seemingly like lightning. The men retaliated. Panky flung the knives out and they landed in two of the soldiers skulls and down they went. Panky then slid between the other one legs and proceeded stabbing up his body, aiming for every vital point. He too crumbled down.
"4" Panky counted as she ran for the last two men, then fell into a split and slid them off their feet. When they were on their backs, she stabbed daggers in their chest with a twist. "6."
At this point, she was irritated. This was supposed to be an easy bust, and though she loves a good bloody fight, this was becoming quite repetitive. Shots firing and metal clanking threw Panky out of her thoughts.
She ran to the edge of the ship to see Blackstone taking eight guys on his own. Panky thought about jumping down to go and help the man, but the universe had different plans.
"There she is," She heard a soldier yell out as the vikings started rampaging up the ramp.
Panky gritted her teeth as her mind went into a frenzy. What was taking the others so long? She turned and then ran back towards the hatch.
Ocean was tossing the last child out to Auggie when Panky landed and joined them.
"Okay we have to hurry up, because Blacks.." She started talking before her gaze landed on the children in the boat and the loot still against the wall.
"What the fuck is this?" She asked.
"So, there's been a slight change of plans." Auggie stated, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.
"Slaves." Onyx just said and that was all she had to say to get Panky's blood boiling. She was more delighted than ever that she took out that sick bastard.
A loud crash rocked the ship, and a wave pushed the rowboat away.
"Whoa," the children yelled out as the boat rode the wave out into the sea.
"Come on O. Blackstone won't last long on his own." Panky stressed out.
"Yeah," Ocean agreed and the two climbed out of the hatch.
Auggie stood tall with his stern gaze locked on the ship.
"Onyx, I want you to take the children away and flag Edge down." The captain stated in a serious tone. "No matter what, don't turn back."
"Yes captain." Onyx responded.
Hearing that, Auggie grinned then leapt into the air and seemed to soar over to the ship.
…
Every shot Blackstone let off was matched with the Toka's swords. He shot a few of the others down then turned back to the leader. His bulky build and double sword dance gave him an advantage, but that only meant that Blackstone had to pull out the boxing gloves and fight man to man. He holstered his weapon and placed bulky metal rings along his fingers.
"Now we fight like men," Toka boasted.
They fought with an array of sparks from their strikes. The viking put up a good fight, but Blackstone managed to knock him out without a sweat.
He started for the ship, blasting away vikings in his way.
Panky sliced through some soldiers as Ocean killed, switching between his sword and revolver.
"9… 10" Panky counted, cutting down another soldier. She glared as she saw more bodies flanking up the ramp.
Ocean shot one in the face. Noticing the crowd, his shoulders dramatically sagged down. "Damn, how many are there?"
Panky shook her head, "They just keep running up to die. It's sad."
They could hear shots ranging closely and watched as a bunch of soldiers were blasted onto the deck. Blackstone stalked the floor, shooting anything that jumped.
Suddenly, one of the soldiers pulled out a huge canon and pointed it at the three.
When the soldier started to light the string, Auggie slammed down on the deck slicing his sword down through the air. A sharp force flew from him and sliced through the giant metal machine. The weapon fell in pieces.
Auggie side eyed the mob as he stood tall.
There were a few soldiers standing, but this fight had gone on long enough. Auggie stomped his feet sliding into a stance.
The vikings were in for a surprise when they found themselves floating off the ground and into the air. They began screaming as they levitated around.
"Sweet!" Ocean cheered in relief.
"About fucking time," Blackstone grumbled out to the crew. "I thought I was going to have to take the whole army out."
"You wish you could." Panky taunted the older man.
Swoosh
The sound of thumping against the water sounded off from the distance from out on the ocean. Soon a small ship bounced across the water and headed towards the raven. It was all white with the word Jellybean painted in pink on the sides. The jolly roger flowed with the wind.
Auggie let off a giggle, "Well men, it was fun, but our ride has finally arrived." He released his hold on the vikings and left them to land wherever. He grabbed onto the other three and jumped from the raven to fly over and crash along the Jellybean's deck floor.
The crew let out proud cheers as they watch the crew of the Raven angrily screaming and running around like headless chickens.
"Ahoy ass wipes." A voice called out from behind the steer before a dark-skinned boy with long dreads slouched over the wheel.
Edge
Auggie gave his first-hand a sly grin. "Took you long enough."
"Meh, not long enough." Edge said with a shrug and a cocky grin of his own.
The captain fixed himself up but stilled when his eyes crossed the scared children.
"Change of course, Edge." Auggie stated boldly, giving his mate a determined look. "We're going back."
...
After nearly a day's time, the crew finally spotted land. Smoke from the fires still continued to fill the sky. The island was on the small side, but it was something someone called home. When they grew closer to the island, the children's faces started to glow. They were excited to be back home, or what was left of it. With the sun being high in the sky, it shone bright on the ravaged remains of what once was a loving community. The ship came to a stop once it hit land and the group and children stepped off.
The kids were off in a sprint as they ran to their village and the crew cautiously trailed behind them. It was horrible. Tents and huts were burned to the ground and ransacked. The survivors were scattered out doing various things and many sick and injured sat huddled in the middle as the few healers they had tended to them. A pile of their dead sat off to the side closer to the ocean.
The children yelled as they ran out to the villagers who ran to hug them with grateful tears. When the crew came into view the villagers watched them until the children started vouching to the older people. They then turned to the crew with tears of gratitude. Though the damage was already done, the least the Jellybean crew could do was try to give back any little way they could. They helped around as much as they could, but eventually they would have to leave. Auggie even managed to snag a few items from the Raid raven and presented them with some food and supplies.
Before the crew was ready to sail off, the villager thanked them again with a loving and inspiring show and small feast. The crew loaded up and took their leave back onto the waters.
Edge looked to Auggie as he steered the ship. "So, where's the next destination since now we don't have any food or money?"
The captain just smiled. "Wherever the water takes us."