THE BETRAYAL
It was a rocky, wavy night on The Captain's great wooden ship. The light inside the cabin was lit by only two candles among the five crewmen. At this time The Captain had been sleeping in his quarters.
The men spoke in whispers. Wulfric, The Captain's right hand man led the discussion.
"He's holding our on us!" Wulfric said, trying hard not to raise his voice. He's gonna take the treasure for himself and when he's done with our little adventure he'll dump us, giving us only a few gold pieces."
"How do ya know? He's holding out on us? He's been right about everything so far..." replied William.
"I'll be damned if I just get a few coins after this. Bullocks!”
Edward punctuated after propping himself off the wall.
Wulfric re-established his argument, “He was a pirate, he sailed with
The Frederic’s, we can't trust him in matters of gold and payment. He also intends to take the king's daughter for his own. Maybe make her his wife." Said Wulfric.
"Heh, I would too!" Replied Edward. “The king's daughter is fair indeed!”
William shot Edward a slight scowl."The king hired him, he trusted him." Said Edward.
"The king's a fool. He hired him because he knows the seas in this part of the world, from his days as a pirate." Said Wulfric. "He also hired him because he used to be a thug."
"He knew he was a Ranger though," William countered.
"A sneaky thug," Wulfric re-countered. "I say we take the ship now while
we're very close to our treasure."
* * *
The winds picked up severely at the ending of Wulfric's plan.
The boat rocked and rocked as thunder and lightning rumbled and flashed over the dark wavy sea.
The Captain suddenly woke from his slumber and was impressed to find his men at their positions trying to manage
control of the boat under the violent dark storm. Wulfric moved the steering wheel left to right.
"Wulf, give me the wheel," said The Captain starting to approach Wulfric. He slowly turned around and looked
at him from across the deck. "...no..." replied Wulfic, smiling.
The Captain could feel the vibe shift against him. He looked at their faces. The men stared back. The Captain put his hand besides his dagger which resided on his hip. "Fellas, you picked a hell of a night for a mutiny..."
The Captain then fought his way through the flying fists, on his wobbly ship, making his way to the captain's
quarters. He head-butted a crew member and kicked another one in the gut.
At this point the whole ship was fighting with itself during the wild storm. A couple men were
thrown overboard as the boat swayed up and down. The Captain dodged a dagger as it sunk into
the rim of the wooden doorway. He didn't even have time to realize the proximity of the projectile. He quickly
spotted his silver hand axe on the wall, it seemed to call out to him. He immediately grabbed it. The
ship shifted up and dropped him backwards. He knocked his head hard against the cabin wall almost blacking out.
He was incredibly dizzy as he slowly got to his feet. Only five of the crewmen were left now.
The Captain witnessed the steering wheel spinning, in front of it Wulfric stood facing The Captain. They shot hard stares at each other from across the deck. The Wulf stood with his dagger ready and The Captain stood with his axe in his right hand.
They stared at each other for what seemed several minutes but in reality was only a few grains of
sand, falling down the bottom of an hourglass. Suddenly, the wind knocked the whole crew to their feet.
The Captain was knocked to the side of the boat. This time he blacked out quickly once or twice amid the
chaos. He had to find the strength to get to his feet. His arms pulled his body up by the railing and looked down at the small row boat on the side of the mother ship. It was securely held in place by a few ropes.
The large boat rocked and swayed as one of the crewmen grabbed The Captain, but the momentum of the boat's swaying threw both of them overboard. The Captain fell and hooked his axe onto the ledge
of the ship which held the small one-person vessel.
One crewman splashed into the dark turbulent sea below.
He hooked his right arm around the ledge of the small boat. He used the rest of his limited strength to hook his right leg onto the ledge, then the rest of his body.
He couldn't rest yet though, the cold water at the bottom of the vessel kept him from taking possibly his last nap. He managed to pry his axe from the wooden ledge.
Would he ride out the storm, hiding in the attached boat and then make his stealthy return to the top? Taking bloody revenge on the crew that betrayed him?
Would he reclaim his ship and mission? Or would he brave the seas alone? A wanderer on the open sea, therefore cutting his losses.
As he pondered this he quickly thought of his mentor's advice on revenge.
Although revenge had been a common attitude and way of life among his fellow pirates, Leto had taught him a new way, a better way.
"To revenge is easy but to forgive is hard and forgiving oneself even harder! However,this forgiveness benefits yourself for the greater good. To give back to the greater good is to give back to the forests, the trees and the entire world.” These were Leto's words which he must now live by, The Ranger’s code. His decision was made. The boat was probably doomed anyway.
She had taken on too much water.
He decided to cut the rope in the rear of the rocking row boat.
This meant he had to time the rocking perfectly with the release of the front rope that held it in place.
He waited and on the upswing he snapped the front rope with the sharp weapon,then on the second downswing he forcefully jerked the boat halfway off the main vessel’s platform, careful not to go
all the way and immediately capsize. One the next downswing he jerked again successfully shoving the boat onto the top of the violent waves. He had done it! The rowboat had separated itself from the
mothership.
The Captain put his head down for a moments rest. However, as soon as he did a crewman, burst out of the water with a dagger in his mouth. His hand was on the railing of the one man rowboat. His face showed
that he had no intention of sharing the ride.
The last of The Captain's adrenaline gave its final burst as his deadly hand axe descended onto the man's hand, causing blood to squirt out in all directions. Echo's of the yell could still be heard in
The Ranger's head.
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