The Wraith of a Snowy Sea Part 2

Spencer stood at the edge of his ship with his cane at his side. He wore the navy blue and gold coat of Wellstone captains even though he hadn’t been in the navy in a lifetime. He was now the Pirate King of the seas and no longer a captain in the Royal Navy. His ship the Crimson Edge was known and feared by all on the waters, but he didn’t mind the fear.

It worked well in his line of work.

                He pulled out a pipe from his old life given to him by the admiral of the warships and chewed on its end. His fur was a golden red and unlike most squirrels on the sea perfectly clean while his eyes a deep gold as he stared out into the black waters. Dark clouds were rolling down from the North following the cold leading the march, but it wasn’t the cold that bothers him now. It was the show moving ship on the horizon in front of the storm. The ship was almost crawling across the water like a sick, dying squirrel, and he didn’t like it at all.

It was not a good sign.

                “Should we check on it,” Elizabeth asked climbing down from the crow’s nest. She stood beside her captain, a foot taller than him and fur much darker. She came from Thornwood the underground city and was the best shot on the seas. She crossed her arms waiting for him to give the order.

                “Or you could use Poseidon’s eyes,” she said.

                Spencer sighed and then asked, “Did Twiggy get wheat the last time we were in port?”

                “I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. “He got a few golden rings from a Lord.” They both knew what that means, and it was stolen by the chipmunk before the Lord knew any better.

                “I bet you they have some wheat,” Spencer said pointing at the ship with his pipe.

                “I think you might be right,” Elizabeth agreed.

                “We should find out.”

                The Crimson Edge sailed beside the icy ship. There on the deck laid a single body, dead, but with no blood pooled near it. The body looked as if it hadn’t moved in weeks and the snow on it had almost covered him like a white blanket.

                Spencer stood on the side of his ship with his paws over his cane. Twiggy asked from the crow’s nest, “Sickness?”

                The Captain looked up at his short friend with some wide cheeks and a red and black fur to say, “It doesn’t look like it.”

                The body did not have any sign of sickness from what Spencer could tell and most of all there was no green flag flying. No, something else was amiss here on this dead ship.

                “Orders?” Elizabeth asked.

                Spencer glanced over the ship once more noticing how the snow and ice had built over the weeks the ship was floating along. There were no signs of anyone moving on board, and they all seem dead from what the great Pirate King could see. He sighed and order, “We go aboard.”

                Twiggy tossed ropes across to the other ship as Elizabeth did the same. They jumped over the small gap tying the ships together. Spencer was about to step over when a cool voice stopped him.

                “Death walked this ship,” Franklin said in almost a soft whispered. The Captain turned to face the hidden black rat and smirked at him.

                “It wouldn’t be our luck if that weren’t the case,” Spencer said. “Is it a sickness?”

                The rat shook his head no.

                “Good,” and then he stepped on to the Snowy Sea. He walked over the deck leaving the fresh new boots prints in the deep snow. He stopped at the body bending down to examine the poor boy. The boy, very young, but looked as if he had been on the sea for sometimes, die quickly and most of all painless. Spencer sighed and said a small pray for the boy’s soul and turn to face Elizabeth.

                “Everyone is dead,” she said. “They seem to have died all at the same time.”

                “Right,” Spencer said staring down at the body. “What a shame.”

                “Very,” Elizabeth said with a deep sense of uncaring. Death was just a part of a Pirate’s life, and she had been a Pirate long before Spencer was born. “Should we sack the ship?”

                “Yes,” he ordered, “and then burn it.”

                “Aye, aye, Captain,” Elizabeth said rushing off to find all kind goods below deck.

                Spencer climbed down to the supplies room of the ship while the other two moves to the quarters to see what they could find. The door was unlocked or as the Captain saw broken into by someone who died last. He slowly opens the crying door to the room full of boxes and knapsacks which were open from someone who wasn’t dead. He stepped into the room holding his cane but not moving too much. He listened to everything in the area, the slow movement of the ship, the welcoming creaking the wood gave off, and his crewmates boots above. Elizabeth much louder than the thief, who footsteps were almost impossible to hear, but Spencer had been around him long enough to pick up the sound. And then he heard the heavy breathing coming from behind some of the barrels in front of him. The breathing wasn’t what made the Captain tense up, it was the slow pull of the black pistol hammer back in the discharge position.

                “No need to shoot me,” Spencer said calmly. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

                “Who are you?” A weak and cold voice asked.

                “I am the Captain of the Crimson Edge ---”

                “The Pirate King,” the voice interrupted before Spencer could give his name.

                “The very one,” Spencer said.

                The squirrel with the pink magic marking on the top of her head climb out of the shadows. She looked as if she had been in this room for weeks and wasn’t eating well. She tried to smile, but it was weak and tried.

                “My father was Captain Rayner Snowgun,” she said.

                “Was?”

                “He is de ---” Before Zendaya could say any more the weeks of fear, sleepless nights, and being locked in this room had taken over. The weighted of these weeks dropped on her body causing her to drop to the floor letting the sleep take her over.