Quest to Nowhere: Black Hat

Chapter 2: Captain Black

The crew scurried to lower the plank onto the beach so that they could disembark onto the island. They had anchored the ship only a few hundred feet from where Admiral Sokin had anchored his boat.

Admiral Smithstone looked out at the island from the deck of his ship. It was a relatively small sized island, mostly covered in jungle with a large inactive volcano at the center of it. He spotted a clearing in part of the nearby jungle, and thought he saw a person there before his attention was redirected to his crew which had become rowdy as they got off the ship.

As he got closer to the side of the ship, he saw that a large portion of Admiral Sorkin's men had disembarked from his ship and were preventing his men from getting off the ship with the help of some swords and spears.

"What's going on here?" The Admiral said as he made his way down the plank, his men clearing out of the way to let him pass.

"We were ordered to only let you off the ship sir," one of the lancers answered.

Smithstone turned around and shooed his men back up the ramp. "I won't be long, so get some work done while I'm away. I'll treat everyone to drinks next port we stop in."

There was a cheer from the crew as they seemed to forget the frustration they had not long before. The Admiral made his way down the plank and onto the beach.

"Admiral Sorkin said that he would meet you at a clearing in the jungle. He's already there waiting for you sir," One of Sorkin's men said.

Smithstone waved and followed the directions onto a path leading into the jungle. The jungle was very thick around the path, causing it to be surprisingly dark for such a clear sunny day. After about ten minutes he finally reached a clearing, and after his eyes adjusted to the light he saw Admiral Sorkin standing in the middle of the field looking at him.

Sorkin was the oldest active member of the Sibak military at age 61. Most military men his age were either retired or had taken up much less active roles in the government and military. Sorkin had stuck around because of his love for the sea, and his hatred of paper work. But he was by no means not capable of performing his duties. He was considered to be by many one of the Three Great Swordsmen of the Sea, and was easily the tallest and strongest of the three Sibak Admirals.

"Sorkey!" Smithstone yelled as he saw Sorkin.

Sorkin grimaced a little as his silver and gold ponytail blew in the wind. He had started stroking his beard once Smithstone came into view. His beard was messy, but in a clean way, making it seem as if it were purposely so.

"Not today Smithstone," he replied in a grizzly voice.

"So what's with dragging me all the way out here like this?" Smithstone asked as he walking over to Sorkin.

Sorkin closed his eyes as if to think, but he opened them again after Smithstone had gotten close enough to him and stopped moving.

"We are all the way out here because this is not something that we want your crew to be involved in," he said half dodging the question.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we are arresting you!" said a voice from trees to the far left of them.

Out of the trees stepped the owner of the voice, Admiral Iruz Sibak. As his name suggested he was a member of the Kingdom of Sibak's royal family. He was in fact the cousin of the King. He achieved his position not merely through his connections, but also because of his skills. It was only inevitable that he would become an Admiral but he was able to become one at age 35 because of his pedigree. Now at 45 he has become a very well respected member of military, as well as a key diplomat due to his position and family clout.

Even though he was the smallest of the three Admirals his posture as he walked towards them made him a bit of a commanding presence, or it would if he had had a different audience. His black hair was combed back, and didn't seem to move at all as he moved, as if it were somehow connected to his posture. The wind blew his Admiral's cloak/jacket, showing the six guns that circled his waist.

“Hey! All the Admirals are here! Must be a special occasion,” Smithstone said as if he hadn't heard what was said.

Iruz put a scowl on his face as he got closer, but Sorkin broke in before Iruz could say anything else. “We have received information stating that you are a pirate pretending to be a sailor.”

Smithstone started laughing until Iruz pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head. “I should kill you right now!”

“Put the gun down Iruz! We don't know if this information is real or not, that is why we are here to take you into custody until we can investigate this further,” Sorkin said trying to cool the situation.

Iruz lowered the gun slowly and re-holstered it. “I'm guessing you aren't going to let me sail back on my own, otherwise both of you wouldn't be here,” Smithstone noted.

“You'll be going with Admiral Sibak back to Seacroft, where they'll put you on house arrest until the investigation is finished. My ship will escort yours to Selvn where they will be assigned a new captain, until the investigation is over I assure you.” Sorkin stated.

“Well there's a bit of a problem,” Smithstone said, which make the other two defensive. “No no! Nothing like that, I mean that I was on my way to Seacroft as it was since I had captured the captain of a pirate ship. So I guess it'd be best for them to go on the ship to Seacroft rather then to Selvn.”

The two Admirals looked at each other, and seemed to nod.

“You bring up a good point. You and the prisoner will both be taken to Admiral Sibak's ship for transport. When I return to the ships I'll have some of my men bring them over, we don't want your men seeing you during this right now. Merely standard procedure I assure you.” Sorkin said.

“Put your hands out!” Iruz ordered, and as Smithstone did Iruz slapped some large shackles on his wrists.

“Now get moving!” he ordered pushing Smithstone in the direction he had entered the clearing.

Sorkin sighed before saying, “Don't worry, I'm sure we'll finish the investigation quickly and you'll be able to get on with your work.”

Smithstone nodded and smiled back at Sorkin as he was led off by Sibak. It was a quiet walk through the jungle until they reached the edge of the trees. Then Sibak turned him around and said, “If I find out your a pirate, you won't live long enough to see your execution.”

“That's a comforting thought,” Smithstone replied as he reached up with his shackled hands and adjusted his hat.

After he adjusted it Sibak took it off his head, and handed him over to his crewmen. He ordered them to place him in the brig, and to prepare for another prisoner as well.

“I think I deserve better then a cell,” Smithstone said.

“Not on my ship,” Iruz replied.

As he was led into the ship, he saw Sibak toss his hat overboard into the water. After walking down many flights of stairs, he was finally placed in the last of the four cells in the brig. They were arranged along one side of a small hallway. The room smelled as if it hadn't been cleaned in ages. The crewmen that were escorting him apologized, stating they were merely following orders. They made sure to salute Smithstone before leaving.

Smithstone looked over his cell, which was furnished with a bucket and a pile of old straw with a old piece of cloth on it. He decided to stand, and wait for his brig mate to arrive. After standing for sometime, and trying to decide how strong the bars were, Robin was finally escorted into the brig. She was escorted by the same crewmen that had escorted the Admiral, and they placed her in the cell next to his. She was still in the form of the blond pirate captain.

The prisoners stayed quiet as the ship set off from the island. As the ship moved the Admiral swayed back and forth in time with the tapping of his foot. After what seemed like an hour the since was finally broken.

“Now?” Robin said looking over at the Admiral who continued to sway.

“Yeah... I guess now is alright.” he answered back.

Robin clenched something in her hand before slipping it into her pocket. She then morphed into a Gnome version of her true form, which allowed her to slip the shackles off her hands, as well as allow her to slip through the bars of the cell. After slipping through she returned to her normal size.

“I'll be back in a sec Captain,” she said as she walked down the hall towards the door to the brig.

He could hear some scuffling, and she soon returned to his cell door with keys. He dusted himself off as he stood up, and she opened up his cell door.

“How many were in there?” he asked her.

“Only two.”

He nodded. “Well I guess we should get started, we have about 30 minutes I'd estimate.”

She nodded and led the way down the hall. Once they reached the guard room, she shifted her body to look like one of the guards.

“I'll go slip into the crew while you make your escape. Give me a few minute head start,” she said to him as she headed upstairs to the deck.

He waited a little while before starting to wander the halls of the ship, looking for the armory. The halls were rather quiet since most of the crew were on the main deck, although the few crew he did run into he was easily able to knock unconscious.

Sometime later on the deck a crewman called down from the bird's nest, “There's a ship off the port bow!”

Admiral Sibak walked over to the port side of the shipped along with a number of the crew.

“It looks like a pirate ship sir!” yelled the bird's nest.

“I can see that!” He yelled back.

“I guess that's my ride,” a voice said coming from behind them.

The whipped around to see Admiral Smithstone with an unconscious sailor wrapped up in a chain from his right hand.

Sibak's eyes blazed, “I knew it! I'll get you...”

He stopped mid sentence as he reached for his guns only to find the holsters empty. On the back of his head he felt the barrels of two guns. Behind him stood a crewman with four arms, each one holding a gun. The top two pointed at Sibak's head the other two pointed out to the crew.

Robin maneuvered Sibak over near Smithstone while changing back to her normal appearance while still keeping the extra set of arms.

“Sorry to inconvenience you like this Sibak,” Smithstone said sarcastically.

The crew formed a circle around them, but kept there distance. Each pulled out a sword, and some tried to quietly plan a rescue attempt from inside the dense crowd. Sibak said nothing, but his face was very vocal about how angry he was.

Smithstone used the chain coming out of his wrist like a tentacle to toss the unconscious sailor he had wrapped up, into part of the crowd.

“I'll have your head for this Smithstone...” Sibak said, his face turning red.

“It's not Smithstone, it's Captain Amate Black. I doubt you'll forget it.” Amate said flashing a smug smile.

Robin had removed Sibak's holsters with his two remaining guns in them, and had thrown them over her shoulder. She removed the guns from Sibak's head, as Amate wrapped his chain around him. Binding any of his movements. Robin pointed the four guns out at different parts of the wall surrounding them.

“Now everyone put down your weapons and throw them overboard, or I crush him to death,” Amate ordered. The crew was reluctant but they all tossed there swords overboard, and backed off.

“You'll never get away with this. I'll make sure you never do, so you best kill me now,” Sibak said.

“That's rather cliché isn't it,” Amate said continuing to sound smug. “But I will tell you this, if you learn anything from this experience, let it be this. Don't throw away a man's hat.”

And with that he tossed Sibak overboard and into the sea using his chain. As the crew ran to the side of the ship Sibak was on, Amate shot his chain over to the nearby ship. Robin grabbed onto him with her four arms as they shot off towards the other ship.

“That went better then expected,” he said to her as they passed over the water.

She smiled at him and let out a cute chuckle.