Price Of Greed
“Excuse me, sir.” The wheat-colored hair man says to the gruff sailor.
The pirate guffawed. “What you want?”
The young man motioned to the seat directly in front of the captain. “Is it all right if I sit here?”
The sailor made a grunting noise. After pausing a moment, the young man slipped onto the chair. The captain eyed him expectedly.
So, the young man got right to the point. “My name is Rayford Ainsworth. I am an explorer, and I heard you have travelled to Blue Skull Island.”
The captain’s glare shifted to a look of horror. “Blue Skull Island? Am I hearin’ ye?”
“I’m aware of its… unique reputation.”
The captain spat on the ground. “Reputation is one word ta name that place. Damn near took me sanity.”
Rayford took this conversation in this direction. “So, you were a captain?”
The sailor moved his chest-length beard to one side, covering them up. “I don’t go nosin on things that ain’t me business. You need to learn the same.” The captain sighed, closed both his eyes.
Rayford kept quiet. What was going through the captain’s head?
Finally, the captain spoke. “Aye, I was captain of the finest pirate ship there is. I had a good crew; the ship be in good condition… if I knew what lied before us in Blue Skull, I’d’ve turned back.” The barmaid came by right at that moment. The captain snatched his beer, chugged his beverage and tossed that drink to the side.
“Why don’t I tell ye what happened back there? One where all our lives changed?”
Rayford sipped his drink. At least the captain agreed to speak. “I’m listening, captain.”
“It all started on a clear day. Not many clouds, the sea be calm. Everythin was clear. Me crew and I had gone into town the night ‘fore, so we all be hung low, but the spirits be high.” The captain coughed hard. Then he began.
“We knew we sailed a long while. The sky turned colors, from the blue to a gray. Me first mate kept us navigated with that damn compass. We stole that thing a while back. It be a symbol of our first pillage. We ain’t got nothing to navigate with otherwise, so that compass saved our hides many times. Runnin way from the law.”
“Legend has it that this compass did not point you in the north, south, things like that. It led ye where ye needed to go. An’ that thing took us to Blue Skull Island.”
“We arrived on that island. We hoisted that rowboat, paddled there. This land be deserted. Me crew be happy to see that.”
“Why is that, sir? That is a perfect bit of land to scavenge.”
The captain scoffed. “Says, who?”
“I’ve mentioned before, sir. I am an explorer. It sounds as though Blue Skull Island is a land worth exploring, being abandoned and all.”
“Lad, this land be as far from abandoned as I am the captain. Now, if I took kindly ta interruptions, you’d be interrupting me all the time.”
Rayford kept quiet, motioning with his palm for the captain to continue.
The captain went on. “I heard from the bartender who’d heard bout this place. That pirate, paler than a spectra. He kept lookin all over the place, as though the spirits haunted him even now. ‘Wherever he came from is no place for any sailor to go to.”
“So, I slammed me fist to his counter. ‘Not everyone be fit for sailor’s life. This man that came is a landlubber. Tell me bout this place.”
“He gave the location, a vague one but it be nough to give us a lead. He ha’ that look in his eyes, the crazed one that reminds ye of a scarred dog. Me crew gave ‘im hell.”
“Back to the island. The island be eerily quiet. No signs of anybody, no animals. There were plenty of seashells though.”
“We didn’t think much of it. The thought of treasure made us throw our caution out the window. Navigating the island, it seemed just like any island we’ve been to. I had a feeling that the spectras, like that ghost pirate watched me crew. Watched our steps in th’ sand. Uneasy feeling, but we kept walkin’.”
“That island had caverns scattered throughout. Most of them small, but we found one that made the others look like wee ants. ‘Tha’ must be the one with the treasure init.’ Proclaimed one of my crew.”
“I spoke. ‘Treasure lurks in every corner. We need to look in all spots’. Ta make this search quicker, we spilt up.”
“Fore we did that, we marked an x on the sand. We planned ta meet right at that spot soon as they done scouring. Out of the 16 members, four of them never came back.”
“Th’ crew all searched for th’ others, meself included. Then Stinky shouted, ‘Cap’ain, they be dead.”
“We all came o’er. The striped shirt, torn to shreds. Pale, cheeks shrunken in. That was me first mate.”
“I ordered them to search for anything round here that could’ve killed him. ‘Find them,’ I shouted. ‘We not alone here.”
“The more we stayed on that island, the more members went missing. We were vexed by what we see. The crew huddled like a pack of sardines. Whatever’s there be killin us like flies.”
“We’ve already checked the caverns, so th’ next thin’ we did is go into the bigger cavern. Dark corners. Cobwebs. Sharp rocks. We had our swords out, guns loaded. We be ready for a fight. Now if only someone whatever’s there would come out and face us.”
“Then I sawed a terrible sight. Skeletons all-round the place. Hung up chained to their wrists. All over the place. The most disturbing part be… They looked fresh.”
“Fresh?” gasped Rayford.
“Aye,” replied the captain. “Fresh as though they’ve been killed recently. Chilled me to me bones. The crew be chilled, shivered. Then one skeleton jumped for Stinky.”
“He opened fired at that skeleton. Tha’ be a mistake cause that gave the skeletons the chance to awake. And awake, they did.”
“Couldn’t count all of them. But the only thing I saw was blue. Looking back on it now I’d think somebody dyed them that color. But that don’t make much sense. All around echoes of gunfire, swashbuckling, those things leaping from the wall to the ground.”
“There be all sorts of skeletons, some o’ them in uniforms. Soldiers uniforms from Spain, England, France. They struck no blows on me, but I suffered flashbacks. Every strike I inflicted I felt it. The sudden pain of a gunshot, a sword wound.”
“Me crew felt it as well. They dropped to th’ ground. Me crew fell fore me eyes. I shouted them to stop, but no one did. They kept fighting. And dying.”
“I knocked a skeleton back, and some invisible force pushed back at me. I lunged for one of me crew. I pushed him outta the way. His eyes sunken back, he be in a trance. I slugged him in the face. He woke from a nightmare.”
“He had questions, but I order him to get as many men to safety as he could. Get them to stop fighting. We need ta get out of here. So, he tried. Alas a skeleton cut His head off. He fell over, bled away his life.”
“I ran out, slicing through those sacks of bones. I had to; they blocked the lone way out. Every blow cut deep inside my insides. I knew I’d be gettin’ weaker. Those things overcame me.”
“I knew there was one thing left ta do. I chopped me hand off. The skeletons that surrounded me lost their one hands, some of those hands had their weapons. I pushed them towards me, fell towards the door.”
“They wouldn’t quit. They ran after me. So, I ran, got on that rowboat and got to the ship quick as I could. As I left that forsake place, me stomach ached. I saw meself bleeding. Me white shirt stained red. I had several deep cuts. It hurt like hell.”
“I set the sails meself, used that compass to get me outta there and after several days of bleedin, bandagin with bits of that sail and more bleedin, I found a port. By then me vision were fading. My legs couldn’t keep me upright. I passed out right there on the bridge.”
“When I waked, I saw bars. Prison. I found from a dimwitted guard I was to be hanged for me crimes. But I escaped thanks to the compass, which lead me to a trapdoor some prisoner set up.”
“I laid low for a while. I decided that enough be enough and that pirating life ain’t for me. So, I became a merchant. Been doing that ever since.”
Rayford was silent.
The captain stared down at the table, two fists at his side. Deep in thought. “Terrible experience. Tis why I’m tellin ye never ta go to that place. No, unless ye want to die for yer sins.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m an explorer. I never hurt anyone for any reason.”
The former captain sighed. “I plunged towns, stole from other pirates, killed so many people. I called myself an explorer. And now, I paid the price for my most evil action.” The captain opened his mouth, then stopped.
“What did you want to say?”
The captain shook his head. Rayford implored the captain to tell him. He asked that question again and again. But that captain kept quiet, eyes glazed straight ahead. Then the captain, underneath the dimming torch lights, the chattering of the drunks, the cheerful music, disappeared in the dust. The ashes scattered in the tavern.
Only the horror-stricken explorer, Rayford Ainsworth, noticed.
