The wind snaps against the hull of the mighty ship spraying the icy cold water on my face. The tide continues to push against the ship threatening to break the hold at any moment but ahead lays our prize a twenty cannon merchant ship overflowing with gold and spices. It bears the flag of the Menruian Empire and aboard forty of his majesty’s redcoats ready their muskets carefully marking their aim on my ship the Black Reaper. Roar, erupts the cannons with a deafening explosion hitting the boardside of the enemy frigate,nearly flipping me overboard into the harsh unforgiving water. In a show of fire and sound, the mast of the merchant is knocked down; now they wouldn’t be able to escape our death grip.


“Forward!” I scream and dozens of pirates or privateers as we call ourselves armed to the teeth with swords and flintlocks invade the deck of the Menruian merchant. The redcoats open fire taking a good six men down. We had to get in close to render their muskets useless; I jumped out from behind a barrel and swiped my saber across the ship’s captain throwing his musket down onto the wooden floor. I attack with strength putting all my weight behind the parley throwing him off balance. ‘Sliishhh” I dig my saber through his heart and crimson red blood pours out. With their captain dead the others lose their vigor and surrender. The next hours are spent “liberating” the goods as we call it thereby relieving them of their heavy burden.


“Make sail it won’t be long before they send a search party so back to Port Royal.”


“Yes captain,” replies my first mate Three Handed Tom he got his nickname from his exceptionally uncanny ability to swipe coin. The men rush onboard the Black Reaper their hands laden with stolen loot. I look towards the ever-shrinking ship on the horizon which is now nothing but a small black dot.
“Today was a good day,” I muttered to myself. The men have satisfied their hunger for booty and tonight will be one of celebrations. The waves gently splash against the base, and the old wooden plank creak as the ship rocks back and forth. Hidden in these sharp rocks is Port Royal a rich French town and a haven for privateers against the English, a huge fort sits just outside of the bay guarding the town. The men give us a good look and let us pass when they see our privateer’s license. The port as usual is a hive of activity; trade ships, whalers and even the Ceruian military lay docked in the harbor. I make way to the Governor's Office; I have to pay the government take a portion of all our loot in return for our licenses.


“James, wait” a voice shouts behind I turn and spot my friend lieutenant Tim of the French Navy.
“James, I have a proposition for you” he said putting a hand on my shoulder as he struggled to catch his breath.
“What is it?”
“How would you like to be an admiral of the Ceruian Navy?”
“Are you crazy, I’m a pirate,” I reply puzzled.
“No, listen to me the king needs someone to do a certain job and you would be perfect for the job”
“Ok, what do I get other than the lofty position.”
“Loot and money chests full of them,” I smile money and loot my favorite two things in the world.
“You got me, I’ll do it,”
“Good, meet me tomorrow at the Governor’s office; tell you what I’ll even pay your license fee too.” He runs away the tropical sun reflecting off his polished scarlet uniform right into my eyes. Well off to the tavern. I open the whimsy old door of the Slugs Tavern and my eyes are greeted with the sight of men cheering and drinking. There was some sort of classical music playing, not exactly the right music for the setting. I walked up to the owner of the fine establishment Joe Earet.
“Ahoy there Joe, I need one your finest rooms.”

“So do a lot of people,” me and Joe weren't really on friendly terms, I used to be the first mate of his old ship The Queen Anne, before I left to make my own crew. I grabbed the heavy gold coin I picked up off the dead captain today, and placed it down on the dusty table. He grinned opening up his mouth revealing cracked and sort of golden teeth. Not a pleasant sight.
“Well now since I seen what you're offering, I guess you can have a room. “ he said greedily putting the coin into his pocket. I walked upstairs to my lodgings; tired from today's raid, I was eager to lay down on a bed and that's just what I did.

I rushed towards the
Governor’s office, but it was more like a mansion with over thirty rooms along with a luxurious estate I think it fit the bill. I had gotten up early today to beat the morning rush, right now the streets were deserted with only the occasional soldiers patrolling. I walked up towards the gigantic metal gates of the house there were two men dozing off just sleeping on the ground, supposedly guarding the estate. I decided to wake them up.
“Attention,” I shouted at the top of my lungs surprising the two sleepers.
“You, what do you think you're doing,” said one of the men sounding very annoyed shoving his musket in my direction.
Yes me, Captain Jake Jamrez perhaps lieutenant Tim mentioned me?” trying my best to sounded commanding.
“Sorry captain, we were. . . huh. . . just sleeping, let us open the gate for you.”
I walked inside into the courtyard, beautiful extoic plants surrounded the courtyard giving it life. I knocked on the front door and the maid showed me the way to the Governor's study.
“Yes Captain Jamrez, we were expecting you,” said Tim sounding overly joyed to see me. The governor stood behind him looking down at a map on a oakwood table.
“Captain you see we have a problem and we need you to fix it.”

“Governor, just tell me your problem,” I replied a grin breaking on to my face.
“As you know Port Royal is part of the Amacan Islands, and since we control the islands we practically also control all trade coming and from the continent. Every trader has to pass through these islands, now Menru doesn't like that one bit, and they have began building a base on one of the islands that's also part of the Amacan chain. The king wants that base destroyed. We only have twenty galleons, we need someone who knows these waters to lead them,” he explains quietly taking a seat on a small wooden chair.
“I will lead your men to victory, have no doubt about it.”

I waited along with twenty other ships in the darkly light cave peering into the flaming inferno with my spyglass. Where were they? The plan had been simple enough they had more cannons and men then us so I devised a clever plan to outsmart them. Take one of their merchant ships and set it on fire, the Menruians would come towards the smoke, and then we would ambush them. Billows of smoke continued to rise higher into the clear blue sky staining it. The only thing missing was the Menruians.
“Ship,” shouted one of my men aloft from the crow's nest. I pointed my spyglass directly at the fire— there through the smoke a fleet of ships were coming.
“Unfurl the sails,” our ship raced into action. The merchant was placed near a formation of rocks shaped like a mouth; once we blocked it their escape route would be cut off.
“ Ready, aim, fire,” screamed lieutenant Tim over the explosions ripping apart the Menruian vessels disassembling it plank by plank. One by each one each of them submitted to the undying flames, devouring their wooden seventy-fours (Named that because of it’s seventy four cannons) whole.
“Forward to the town,” I whispered to Tom and he began steering the ship away from the devastated Menruian fleet.
Houses littered the sandy beaches of the town. People screamed and ran for shelter as we sailed towards the now defenseless harbor. To be honest it was beginning to more like a peaceful village then a military base. My men rushed out into the streets setting houses on fire, forcing people out of their houses. I gathered some fifty men and advanced directly to the biggest house in town, probably the governor’s residence. I pushed open the gates and tried the front door, they were closed.

“Knock that door down,” I ordered. They banged on the door breaking the hinges inch by inch. Inside three soldiers stood gathering a large group of people some servants others richly dressed. When they saw us they immediately threw down their weapons and surrendered. I walked up in front of my men.
“Who’s the highest ranking person in here?” I said looking at each of them with a interrogating look.
“I am,” a pretty voice announced it belonged to a striking black haired women with long black bangs in a colorful dress. She looked young.
“And who might you be?”
“Katy, Katy Herir the king George Menru’s niece,” the king's niece? This day just kept getting better and better.
“Take her and put her in my ship, lock the others up in here,” I paused and thought for a moment, “Make you treat with care we don't want to harm the king’s own niece.” I joked. While they did the work I introduced myself to some of the fine valuables in the house. Priceless vases, gold necklaces and jewels all mine now. I gathered my personal loot in a large bag and stuffed everything of value in it. I looked on to the horizon black clouds circled the ships like vultures getting ready to eat, a storm was brewing. We needed to leave now, we would leave behind a substantial garrison here and the rest of the men were to come back with us.
“Get back into the ship,” men rushed out the gates their hands full of treasure. The ship rocked and turned, it was being pushed around. We tried to navigate the storm like a fly through a marketplace full of people.
“Captain, the storm pushed us off course it will take us an extra two days to get to Port Royal.”
“Thats ok; gives the men more time to enjoy their new prizes.”
“We also have a another problem, the prisoner keeps throwing up, she can’t eat anything without it coming back up.”
“She’s a very valuable hostage,hmmm bring her to me,” I commanded. She was brought up in metal chains,held tight by two brutes.
“Please let her go I am sure she won’t be escaping,” I told them. They unchained leaving her alone in the room with me.
“Please sit down and have some dinner” I said digging my knife into the roasted chicken. She nervously took a the seat eying the knifes on the table. “Don’t try to get the knife please, I could stop you in a instant.”
“Not before I kill you, the men that brought me here are outside right now” she said peering into my eyes. Her green eyes staring down at me, assessing me.
“You think I need them before I became a pirate I trained under the Sage of New Hills, in fact I was his star pupil.”
“Really, the sage prove it.” I moved in a flash, throwing my knives at her cutting her long black bangs off and sticking them into the wall. Silence followed. She looked shocked with a certain amount of fear in her eyes.
“What are you planning to do with me?” she said her voice stuttering.
“You know the usual sell you back to the king for a outrageous ransom,” I said. “Now eat, there is less shaking up here so you won’t throw up.” She slowly started to chew the food.
“You will be sleeping in the room across from me, I will have two men posted there all day please don’t try to escape. I don’t want you to get hurt after all I have to sell you.”

The next day just as the sun rose, we neared Port Royal, but the flag on top of the fort was burning. At first I thought it was just an illusion of the morning sun, but no there was a real fire and real smoke. Who could have done this the Menruians, no that was impossible we destroyed their entire fleet.
“Long live King Benjamin” yelled some men as entered the harbor. Who was that, the current king was Henry. A man was arguing with a squadron of soldiers. More men flocked to him like bees to pollen, this was trouble. Men crowded the streets ready to riot and soldiers lined up to stop them muskets in hand.
“Back off or you will be shot” said the man in command of the troops. The men pushed on, shoving the neatly arranged soldiers out of formation. “Open fire” shouted the commander and hundreds men unloaded their weapons on the mob. They fell and chaos ensued. This was civil war. . .



My men got to land and faced with thousands of more armed reinforcements the mob quickly dispersed, but I knew there would be more unrest. My personal crew of the Black Reaper stayed onboard for repairs as I rode to the Governor’s. There were extra guards at the gate, real highly trained ones alert and ready for any disaster. The governor as usual was holed up in his study.

“Governor, what’s with all the commotion?” I said entering the room uninvited.

“Well king Henry is dead, and as you know he left behind no male heirs.”

“Well then who ascended the throne?”

“His daughter, Queen Mary is new ruler of Ceru,” he told me.

“But then whats with all the cries of king Benjamin”

“The king’s bastard son, he’s nearly fifty now and stirring unrest. Great numbers of men and even some nobles are siding with him in his bid for power.”

“Well surely he wouldn’t be able stand against the Royal Army,” I said.
“He won’t be able to and there are rumors that he’s fled to the Amacan Islands,” he said panicking. “My men are looking for him.”

“It can’t be that hard to find him, I mean there has to be a whole fleet with him.”

“That’s why we need you as of tomorrow you are leading the search party for him.”

“Ok, well I better get some sleep.”

“Wait,” he cried putting his hand on my shoulder. “Here’s your official letter of promotion, now your authority is second only to me on his island.” handing me envelope. “It also comes with a nice house in town, here's the keys.” With that I set off to my newly acquired house. I thought about Katy, she was probably suffering in a cold and rodent infested cell. Well I didn't want her to tell a tale of how she was terrorized by savage pirate, and come after me for revenge.

“You there,” I called out to a soldier standing guard outside my house. “Take someone else and go to the large black ship moored at the dock and bring back a Katy Herir, she’s a prisoner aboard the ship” I instructed. Half an hour later she arrived this time she wasn't in chains.

“You’ll be sleeping in the top bedroom, I will be in the bottom one. Don’t try to escape and you will be fine.”

“Why are you even doing this?” she asked her eyes sticking daggers into me.

“I am not a savage and don’t want to remembered as one.” I said simply.