Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

 

Wade laid down on a table as the doctor of the ship, Dr. Morgan Towns, took his shirt off and began looking over the wounds he had gained from the battle. Dr. Franc stood in the corner listening as Mosi and Salina speak to Wade. Salina was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed sweating profusely, while Mosi sat on the table next to Wade.

“I think it’s fair to say that that was close Captain,” Mosi said as he looked down at Wade giving a disapproving look.

“You won’t be satisfied until all of us are at the bottom of the ocean, will you?”

“I feel plenty satisfied with this bullet hole in my shoulder my good friend. Besides those men would have beat you bloody if I hadn’t shown up,” Wade said as attempted to sit up but the doctor walked up and pushed him back down on the table and began unfolding a kit to treat Wade’s wounds.

“Captain you are going to have to sit as still as possible as I remove the bullet. I don’t have any anesthetic so this is going to hurt a lot,” the doctor said as he pulled out a pair of forceps and began cleaning the area around the wound. The doctor looked at Prof. Franc and motioned for him to come over.

“Oi you, help hold the good Captain down. He has always been a big squirmier,” Professor Franc walked over to the table and looked down at Wade. The bullet hadn’t gone too deep into his shoulder and was still visible from the entry wound. Blood oozed out of the wound and dripped onto the floor. The Professor grew silent as he listened to blood impact the floor. He was halted as his eyes were drawn into the barely visible bullet stuck in Wade’s shoulder. The little black ball stared back at him as he felt darkness over take him. He thought back to his jail cell and the complete darkness he sat in for days. The constant dripping of an unknown water source being his only stimuli.

“How long was I there?” Professor Franc asked himself. His mind raced as he thought back to the lecture hall, blood soaking into the carpet. A knife in his hand and blood falling from the heart it just pierced. The smile of a young student burned into his mind as blood dripped out of her mouth and landed on the carpet. Professor Franc looked at his hands and blood now covered them and his breathing became frantic. He closed his eyes and tried to regain control.

“Hey you still with us mate?” Wade said as he shook the Professor’s arm while looking up at him from the table. The room reformed around the Professor, he reopened his eyes to Wade and the Doctor.

“I’m fine,” the Professor said as he looked from Wade to the Doctor. “What is it you wish for me to do now?”

The Doctor took his hands and placed them on Wade’s chest.

“Just hold him down while I dig this b*****d out,” The doctor said as he adjusted his glasses and began working on removing the bullet.

As the doctor worked and Wade winced and whined at ever tog of a stitch the Professor noticed Wade was covered in many scars. Though he was no expert the professor guessed they were from blades mostly.

After the stitching was finished Wade sat up and the Doctor put his arm in a sling.

“I know this is mostly hopeless but try and not use this arm, ok Captain?”

“I make no promises,” Wade said as he stood up and patted the Professor on the back with his good arm. “Now Professor I believe I owe you an explanation or two.”

Wade and the Professor walked out of the room together as Mosi and Salina remained in the room. Salina was examining Mosi’s metal arm while Dr. Hopper looked over the wounds he gained. Wade led Prof Franc up a flight of stairs to the middle level of the ship where there were crew members running around completing their duties. They turned to Wade and greeted him with a “Good Day Captain” or a “Good to see ya Captain” as he and the Professor walked by. They eventually got to another flight of stairs and walked out above the Deck. Doctor Franc was taken aback at first by the strong gust of wind that hit him. His clothes flapped behind him while he stood on the deck looking up at the clear blue sky. The sun was shining bright and the air rose off the ocean waves with the smell of salt water thick in it. He looked out at the waves slamming against the side of the boat and took in a deep breath. Professor Franc didn’t realize it until just now but he had never been on a boat before. The very air he breathe in was a new experience and it took him this long to notice it.

“Follow me to my quarters,” said Wade as he led the Professor. They walked through a door that was underneath were the men were stirring the ship. Wade’s room shocked the professor at first glance. The most prominent feature of the room were three book shelves filled with books. In the middle of the room sat along desk with maps spread out on the top of it. Also on the desk sat a glob with pins pushed in all over it. Back behind the desk a simple unmade bed and two small chairs. The Professor walked over to the book shelves and began giving them a good look over. To his surprised about half of them were in a language he could not understand, the other half were in Candentian proper. The titles of the books he could read were mostly stories and tales, epic poetry past down from generation to generation. There were a book or two about navigation or geography, even the first few issues in an encyclopedia, but the vast majority of the books were stories.

“Appreciating my collection Professor?” Wade said giving off his now signature smirk.

“Yes I have to say I didn’t take you for a learned man Wade,” The professor said as Wade sat in one of the chairs behind his desk.

“Useful books and maps normally end up in my quarters most of the time anyway, Mosi spends most of his time charting our course in here also.”

“Mosi is the big fellow with the metal arm correct?” the professor said taking the chair across from Wade. Flipping through pages of the book he picked off the shelf.

“That he is Professor, he is a genius when it comes to maps. Though most of the men, including myself, can navigate decently enough. Mosi is the one that calls the shots on how we are getting to where we are going.” Wade said as he shifted in his chair a little. “Other than that most of those books are mine. You can tell I fancy myself a good tale or two”.

“I can see, a pirate captain envious of epic heroes. You are an interesting one at that Wade Hawkins.” The professor closed the book and laid it on Wade’s desk. He looked up at Wade with a look of curiosity on his face. “Why am I here Captain? Why did you free me from my prison?”

“I don’t know.” Wade said as he leaned back in his chair. “The short answer is I don’t know, long answer is I was hired to break you out of prison. But as for why I broke you out, I don’t know.” Wade said the Professor looked at him in confusion.

“So you don’t know why you broke me out of prison?” Said the professor.

“Not the slightest.” replied Wade.

“But you broke me out anyway?” said Professor Franc

“That I did.” Wade replied.

“Wasn’t that a huge risk for the son of a notorious pirate?” the Professor asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Eh, Semi-notorious” Wade said with a chuckle. “My dad wasn’t the most influential pirate in the world. That’s where he and I will differ.” The Professor chuckled with him.

“You don’t lack for confidence Captain,” The Professor said growing a stern face “But enough banter, do you not know anything else, like who hired you perhaps?”

“Don’t know that either. Clients that don’t want to be known, aren’t known. All I know is that I was to break you out of prison and to bring you back with us,” Wade stood and search through the papers on the desk for a couple of seconds using his good arm. Eventually he lifted an opened letter from the pile and handed to the Professor.

“This is where the information for the job begins and ends,” Wade said as the Professor took the letter:

To Cleave:

In the city of Everport a man named Professor Ulysses Franc has been taken into custody for the murder of one of his students. Break him out of prison and bring him back.

Professor Franc was astonished by how little detail was included in the letter. He placed it on the table and looked at Wade.

“Why is the letter both addressed to ‘Cleave’,” said the Professor.

“Because that is the name of the place we pirates do business. Cleave is kind of a sanctuary for us you could say,” Wade said as he smirked at the Professor.

“Pirates have a place of business? Doesn’t that go against the whole being ‘free’ part of a Pirate,” said the Professor as he returned to leaning back in his chair.

“Common knowledge would have you believe that but the last generation of pirates, my father’s generation, created a system to keep us semi-organized”

“So even pirates need to be organized now a day?”

“It’s more like the last generation realized unlimited freedom is nice, but ultimately unsustainable. It’s a tradeoff really, give away some freedom to have more than anyone else in the world,” said Wade.

“So what is this organization of pirates like?”

“Wow you are filled with questions aren’t you professor? Just know that there is a main Island called Cleave that gives out jobs and we complete those jobs or ignore them if we wish. Not much else to it than that.”

“Well what about who is in charge, who organizes everything?” said the professor growing ever more curious. Wade gained an annoyed look on his face and murmured

“Malick the Cleaver runs it. See where the place gets its name from now don’t yah?” Wade said growing silent. “That’s enough questions about Cleave for now.”

The Professor’s eyes grew wide and sparks of curiosity were firing in his head.

“The same Malick that’s slaughtered, some say, hundreds of men during his time as a pirate? I thought he passed 20 years ago. How does he run a pirate operation that apparently spans several crews? Wade you mustn’t leave me wondering after revealing details like this? I will happily pry if I have to. Don’t just drop,” In his excitement the Professor hadn’t noticed Wade’s normally carefree demeanor had grown hard and stern. Wade was glaring at him with surprising intensity and the professor was taken aback by this.

“Yes, let’s move on to a different topic,” the professor said as he broke eye contact with Wade. Wade stood up, and walked to the door. As he was reaching for the door it opened abruptly. Salina walked in with a stern look on her face. She turned to Wade looking him over for a minute then looked to the professor.

“So how is our new passenger? Mozi asked me to check on how his info dump, or lack thereof, is going.” said Salina while she leaned against the wall. “Also Captain we have to get you some more chairs, walls are not a proper substitute.”

The professor jump to his feet and motioned for Salina to take his chair.

“Forgive me for not offering you my seat sooner my dear, I was unaware there wasn’t any other free seats,” said the professor standing there waiting.

Salina and Wade stared at him for a minute as he stood there properly holding the chair for her to take almost bewildered by the jester. The both started laughing after the long pause and a rather confused look came across the professor’s face. Salina sat down in the professor’s chair still laughing.

“We don’t get to much chivalry around here professor, me and the Captain didn’t see that coming. Thanks for the seat though,” said Salina. The professor was thrown off his guard for a moment by the remarks but recovered quickly. He placed his hand on the back of Salina’s chair and made eye contact with her.

“Madame I am not mistaken in believing you are the one that created the portal we escaped through am I?” said the professor with an intense look on his face. Salina looked back at Wade with a look of bewilderment.

“This guy is something else isn’t he captain?” says Salina as she shifts in her chair.

“Madame please focus, I must know how you conjured such a portal. I have witnessed many demonstrations of the magical arts in my tenure at Fredrick Masters University however I’ve never seen anything as powerful as that. Simply opening a portal that sized would have killed the caster from my limited understanding,” says the professor as his eyes dance with intensity.

“And you!” he says to Wade as he stands up straight and points at him. “I’ve never seen anything like what you did today. Instantaneous teleportation is something that only mad men would attempt to do,” says the professor as Wade takes a step back attempting to hold back a chuckle.

“Calm yourself professor, we were told you were an archeologist not someone with knowledge of the arcane,” Says Salina as she stands to her feet putting her hands together.

“Allow me to give you an explanation,” as she says this the staff that she wielded earlier appeared from her hands and slammed the bottom of it on the floor.

“Tell me professor do you know how we cast spells?” asked Salina with a look of confidence on her face.

“Well, first I believe you need the ability to harness ether, the energy that lets us cast magic. Next you need a conduit, something to channel the ether. I assume that’s what your staff is correct?” The professor asked with confidence in his voice.

“Yes it is professor. And the last thing you need is-,” Salina retorted.

“To speak the spells name in the ancient language,” The professor exclaimed right before Salina finish. “Yes I know how magic is done, what I want to know is how you preformed your magic with extraordinary features to it.

“Do you see this symbols on my staff,” Salina proclaimed pointing to her staff.

“Spells are more than just names in the ancient language. These writings on my staff are known as ‘Script’ they are sentences written in the ancient language to magnify the spells effectiveness. Though you could also say the whole sentence having it written on your conduit decreases the amount of ether needed to cast a spell,” said Salina as she handed her staff over to the professor. The professor ran his fingers over the script, smiling with excitement as he looked at them.

“Yes looking over your staff thoroughly now I can read a number of different spells escribed in it. I am surprised by how complex they are,” the professor handed the staff back to Salina.

“It is truly a remarkable work, I would really like to meet the person that escribed it,” the professor leaned against the desk as Wade and Salina looked on confused.

“Wait, wait. You can read scripted?” Wade asked with folding his arms.

“Of course I can. I have my doctorate in the study of the ancient language and the precursor race. It’s why I was so interested in your abilities to begin with. You see I myself can’t cast magic, absolutely dreadful at it actually, but I am fascinated by those that can,” said the professor with excitement in his voice. “However my good sir that still doesn’t explain the teleportation you did to break me out of prison. Please could you explain it to me?” The professor seemed as though he was about to bounce across the room. Wade looked at him smiling as he pulled off the belt that he wear around his chest and threw it to the professor.

“Take a closer look at my belt,” said Wade as the professor caught it. The professor was in awe as soon as he touched the belt. His fingers ran over the script engraved in it as he mouthed what was written. His hand stopped on the buckle and circled around the silver oval in it.

“What is this?” the professor asked looking up at Wade. Wade walked over and took back the belt.

“That is the secret of how it works,” Wade said as he pushed a button and the silver cover popped off and a green light shot out. The professor’s eyes grew large as he looked down and a small green cube with green energy surging around it.

“Is that what I think it is?” Said the professor looking back at Wade.

“Yep, its condensed ether. It powers the belt and my teleportation ability at the same time. Like you good professor I don’t know how to harness my own ether either but I can use this to power my belt. We call it a Cell,” said Wade as he closed the cover back on the Cell and put his belt back across his chest.

“I have to say you have the most unusual crew Captain Hawkins, I absolutely look forward to meeting the rest of them,” said the professor as he adjusted his glasses.

“However, I believe this is one of the most stressfully days I’ve had in my left and would like to catch a bit of sleep if that is fine with you lot.”

Wade rubbed the back of his head with his good hand, running his fingers through his deadlocks.

“Well I think you can room with Vincent, he has a free bunk. Though fair warning, he is a bit of an odd fellow,” Wade opened the door and pointed to a hatch on the deck of the ship.

“Go below deck and go straight down the hallway behind the stairs. Go down the hallway on your right and his room is the third door down. You will know him when you see him, he wears all black,” the professor walked out of the room with a confused look on his face.

“Can’t you just show me the way Captain?” said the professor as Wade started to close the door.

“Sorry but me and Salina have something we need to talk about,” Wade closed the door before for the professor could reply. He walked out onto the deck of the ship and looked out at the sky. It had become late afternoon and he could feel the events of the day weighing him down. He let out a yawn as he walked towards the hatch and climbed below deck. Though there had been men above deck doing duties and the like there were still quite a few below. Many were sitting around makeshift table’s playing cards. Others were sleeping in the corners or rolling dice on the floor. The professor was not familiar with gambling and did not wish to partake. He quickly located the hallway behind the stairs before anyone could noticed that was there. He took the right and went down three doors and knocked on the one that was supposed to belong to Vincent. The professor waited a couple of minutes with no reply from anyone on the other side. After waiting a two minutes the professor knocked again.

“I’m Coming!” a loud and deep voice proclaimed as the professor was surprised. The door opened and a very tall and slender man stepped forward. He both black pants and boots, a white shirt with a black vest over it, a pair of black gloves on his hands, but most surprisingly of a black mask. The mask was nearly jet black and covered his while face. The mask itself was wooden but had black cloth stretching out of it the concealing the person’s neck. It had two tiny slits in it for eyes and no other features. The professor stared at the man for what seemed to be an eternity.

“What is it you need?” the man said with his deep voice.

“Oh! Yes forgive me, would you happen to be Vincent? The Captain sent me here,” the professor said attempting to regain some composer.

“Yes, what is it you need?” Vincent repeated.

“Oh, forgive me. I was told that I could rest with you for the night? I believe you have a vacant bunk? I will be occupying if that seems in order to you good sir.” Vincent stood there looking at the professor, not saying anything until he stepped to the side and let him in.

“Thank you man good man,” the professor said as he looked around the small room. The room had a set of bunk beds in the corner and a small dresser in the corner. Other than this the only think to occupy the room was dust.

“You sure aren’t the one for decoration or you Mr. Vincent,” said the professor as Vincent looked at him. Vincent continued look at the professor not answering his question.

“So can you tell me about yourself sir?” said the professor but as soon as he got the words out Vincent left the room and closed the door. The professor wasn’t sure if Vincent was angry or not and did not wish to get involved. He began getting ready to take his nap as he looked at the bottom bunk and noticed a book resting on it. The cover read “Anna” and looked worn from being read over and over again. The professor didn’t wish to pry into Vincent’s business so he climbed onto the top bunk. He laid down and looked out into the room. He laid there wondering if he would spend the rest of his life on the seas now, he was a wanted man and could not return to the university no matter how much he wished to. He thought back to the lector hall one last time, to the knife dripping with blood as the last beat from a student’s heart radiated through it. A single tear rolled from the professor’s eye and landed on the pillow as he wished to himself.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” and rolled fast to sleep.

Author's Note

I changed my mind alot while writing this chapter. If sudden names change I apologize.