Crashing, thunder, and yells woke me up. Splinters from the ship sprayed across the deck and the flashes of pistols briefly lit up the black, foggy night. I looked down from my perch to see dark, gangly figures climbing onto our deck, and heard them yelling and cursing. The smell of gunpowder wafted up to the top of mast where I had been keeping watch. A voice I recognized yelled, "Pirates!"

My dereliction of duty filled me with dread like my stomach carried a lead anchor. I had been in the crow's nest charged with keeping watch. I froze to my spot and would have died right there had I not seen my father burst forth from below deck and with his pistol and rapier. He battled any scurvy pirate who came across his path. His bullets whistled and rapier sung as they found their marks and sent their enemies to Davy Jones Locker. His actions reawakened my courage and I clambered down as quickly as I could to join the brawl myself.

Just as I landed on the deck, a figure immediately came upon me. I swung my knife, aiming for the belly, but the figure's longer arm deflected mine before any damage was done. I looked up in horror, expecting my fate sealed, only to see the welcome sight of our ship's reverend.

Grabbing my arm he said, "Nathan, come with me," and he pulled me below deck, into the forecastle, out of the fray.
"What's going on?" I asked, resisting, wanting to stay and fight.
"The captain told me to get you to safety."
"I won't hide as the crew fights," I said, "I-I must make amends!"
The Reverend looked at me with compassion, knowing I wanted to atone. "It is not your decision," he said, "We have other orders."

Not knowing what he meant, I began to ask, but he quickly grabbed my arm and whisked me out of the forecastle to the captain's quarters. Shouts and crashes of cannon balls rang in my ears as the crew woke from deep slumber and hastily prepared the guns to fire back. We finally entered my father's quarters, a stately room which looked more like a classroom at Oxford rather than a disheveled stable like the rest of the ship. Candlelight reflected off of the maps and brass navigation tools and showed that my father had been hard at work mapping our journey. The Reverend told me to stand guard while he began his hurried search.

I only had my knife, so felt unequal to the challenge of defending the captain's quarters if a pirate with a rapier or pistol appeared. I set about looking for something more substantial than my wood carver. Despite the light from a few candles, darkness shrouded the cabin. My eyes and hands groped for anything that felt formidable, but I found nothing. Then my hand came across what I thought was a block of wood, only to find that it was just a leather-bound book. Before I could continue my search, the Reverend reported that he had found what he was looking for and bade us to join the rest of the crew. For some reason I still don't understand, I placed the small book into my jacket pocket.

My heart leapt at the chance to return to the fight, although I wondered what the Reverend's plan might be. My mind did not dwell much longer on the thought as we ran back through the forecastle, with hammocks swinging empty, and the din of shouts and cannon thunder sounding around us. The acrid smell of gunpowder wafted through the air.

Suddenly, I felt the Reverend collapse beside me. I whipped around and saw a small, emaciated man with a look of the Devil himself. He charged at me too and I jabbed at him with my knife, which he barely dodged. Then he punched me in the jaw which knocked me flat on my back. He swung his rapier across my chest then lunged at the Reverend who was still lying on the ground. The blade stunned me and after a second, I felt around for blood. I found none and discovered that the sword had caught the book in my chest, taking the brunt of the blow.
I looked over at the Reverend and saw the pirate slashing at him wildly. He would certainly have met his end right there had the pirate's eyes not been diverted by a piece of parchment which had fallen away from the Reverend. With the pirate's attention occupied, I took the opportunity to lunge at him myself and stab him with my knife. The sea criminal howled in pain, and I would have killed him had the Reverend not stopped me. The pirate crumpled to the deck in pain.

I would have left him there to die and rejoined the rest of the crew in fighting off these bloodthirsty savages, but the Reverend grabbed the parchment, stuffed it into his jacket, and asked me to help the pirate up. I looked at him in disbelief.

"You saved my life and that of another, so now we must save his."

These words puzzled me, but with the clashes and clangs of pistols and swords still raging around us I joined in dragging the dying man to the stern where the Surgeon worked. In the dragging, I saw that the pirate had very rough hands and several infected areas on his arms. He also had wooden dentures.
The Surgeon's table already had one of our crew on it with several more groaning souls waiting their turn. A single lantern swayed with the ship and lit the dark, foul-smelling room. It smelled like putrid bile from a dying cow. Our patient was the only pirate in the room, and some of our wounded crew wanted to finish the job that I had started. But the Reverend stopped them and assured the pirate he was protected from any retaliation. The Reverend did, however, take his sword and give it to me.

The Surgeon, a determined and able-bodied man with blood splattered across his clothes, made no qualms about the pirate and immediately started giving the Reverend and myself tasks to assist him. I started for the door to rejoin my father and the fighting, but the Reverend grabbed my shoulder and swung me around.

"These are our orders Nathan," he said, "set about giving the men something to eat and drink."

I wanted to protest, but the Reverend's look barred any thought of disobedience. His countenance softened and he squeezed my shoulder in a warm embrace. I did not like this situation, but I acquiesced to his request.

"Thanks for the help gentlemen," the Surgeon said, coolly.

After administering the meager food and drink, I sat about fetching the Surgeon's tools and aiding the Reverend with lifting, adjusting, and consoling the dying men. These heroes all grabbed my shirt, soaking it in blood, pleading that I not think of them as cowards. They did their duty, they said, and they pleaded for me to understand that pirates came out of nowhere like phantoms. My heart ached at these words. Whether or not they knew their plight was due to my incompetence, I did not know, but their thoughts and focus were solely on themselves and their shipmates. They also spoke about a tall, dark figure shrouded in smoke and surrounded by fire. It sounded like a demon.

While I still desired to jump into the fray, we fought our own war with death as the din of gunshots and screams surrounded us. I admired the Surgeon's deftness with which he worked, especially considering the noise, motion, and lack of skilled support.

Prior to this night, when things were calm and I had finished my cabin boy tasks, I would sneak away to the infirmary and asked for him to instruct me. I saw that the Surgeon's table required the same amount of skill as traversing the open water. Some of my dreams had started to shift from commanding a ship to healing patients and I didn't yet know how to feel about that.

But at this moment, ours was a ghastly business that challenged the limits of my resolve, and I began to think that fighting the enemy was an easier charge. The quantity of blood that I smelled, saw, and felt coming from my shipmates made my stomach churn and my heart break. However, the Surgeon and his steady hand kept us on sure footing. I admired the sailors for enduring such agony, and the pirate we had dragged admirably withstood the Surgeon's stitches. The fact that my father fought overhead also put me at ease.

Then, out of nowhere, a blade flashed, and a pirate's cutlass pierced the heart of the sailor on the table. I whipped around to see a dark figure - the Angel of Death I thought - silhouetted against the lamp light with smoke coming off of him. He proceeded to cut down the other sailors waiting for care. I looked for the Reverend, who I found lying on top of an injured man to defend him. I grabbed a scalpel from the operating table and prepared to fight off death all by myself.
He slashed at my hands with his cutlass, but the Surgeon grabbed me by the collar and ripped me away just in time. The pirate came towards us again, but the Surgeon threw my scalpel at him, which gave us time to grab the Reverend and make haste out of the forecastle.

I heard the Reverend say a short prayer as we left the room to run across the ship. The Surgeon suggested we barricade ourselves in the captain's quarters, but a shot rang out and the Reverend slumped to the floor. I looked back to see the red-bearded pirate holding up his smoking pistol and charging towards us. I saw our empty brig with the door open and I bade the Surgeon to help pull the Reverend into it.

We then closed the gated, iron door, locking ourselves in. The foolishness of the action then dawned on me as the pirate sauntered up and pointed his pistol right at us. I thought that we had fought for nothing other than to give him an easy shot and I chastised myself again for making such an incompetent blunder. I slowly reached for my knife, planning to charge him in hopes of injuring him before the end. He aimed his pistol at us but, right before I could charge, he lowered it. He scratched a shoulder tattoo which had an anchor and rope and looked half finished. He wiped some blood off his face while carefully observing us and our sea jail. Convinced that we were locked in and posed no threat, he shot us a haughty grin and ran to find a new victim.

The doctor immediately set about caring for the Reverend. Not having his tools, all he could do was use the Reverend's belt to stop the bleeding and finger around for the bullet. The Surgeon's dexterity and the Reverend's endurance proved up to the task for dislodging the object. The Reverend was not destined to die, yet.