The Pirate Writer: Part Two

     "Thanks Cap'n," I said breathlessly to the Eyrie that had saved me.

     "Just pay attention next time," Woodbeak said, turning his head away from me. "I say we need some grub before sleepin'." He quickly changed the subject. The Captain looked at Meridell. "But there ain't any good food down there."

     All of the pirates stopped at the word "food". "They 'ave somethin' in Brightvale, Cap'n," said a Mynci that was obviously paying attention when they were in Brightvale earlier that day.

     "'kay then," Woodbeak squawked happily. "In the morning I promise ya pirates a big feast."

     Excited murmurs sounded throughout the ship. That was good news to all of the hungry pirates. It was good for me too. Obviously we were going to rob Brightvale's food, but I had gotten over the bad feeling of stealing a long time ago.

     Captain Woodbeak began walking downstairs. "Sleep well, pirates. I 'ave a very important job for you in the morning."

     All of the pirates joyfully walked downstairs after Woodbeak to go to their hammocks. I followed after them, but not to go to my hammock.

     Sitting at my desk I continued writing in my journal, with only the moonlight from the window to guide my eyes.

      8:35 NST

     Sorry for the interruption. I don't believe I would have time to finish what had happened. This day was very eventful. To make a long story short, Kera was tossed overboard, and I'm sitting at the same desk I normally do. I got Woodbeak to go back to Meridell so I can find my missing fire sword and hopefully Kera. Did I mention I lost my fire sword? Anyway, I still believe Kera is out there. I just don't know why I'm still looking for her even though I can do nothing but put her in danger when I see her again.

     There's still hope.

     I scribbled the last three words when the moon had disappeared from view and it was pitch black. A few entries back, I had said that I had almost lost all hope in finding my way home. The thought that there was still hope for a happy ending made me feel better, but there was still not all that much hope in my body. After putting the journal away, I stumbled to my hammock. It was hard to sleep after all of the events that had happened today. The day played over in my head, and I eventually fell asleep.

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     The unpleasant sound of Captain Woodbeak's voice echoed into my ears. "Get up, ye pirates. There's a big day ahead of ya. Get a move on!"

     Falling out of my hammock, I groaned. A headache began giving me pain, and that just caused me to groan even more.

     Hearing me whine, Captain Woodbeak came thundering into the room where I slept. "Stop complainin', Firaga. You're the one who wants that fire sword of yours. I'm hungry, so let's get a movin'."

     I forced myself to crawl off of the floor, and go up into the morning sun. I noticed that the pirates were already crawling out of their ship and were heading for Brightvale for something to eat. With the pain of the headache going away, I quickly followed the other pirates.

     It wasn't long until I was at the front of the line of pirates. I was running around, searching for the first sword on the way. I didn't have much of a clue on where I dropped it. I was moving pretty fast at the time. All I knew was that it was on the trail and that I dropped it near a big tree. I searched near every tree and twig I could find, but there was no fire sword anywhere.

     "Aha!" the pirate Mynci cried after walking up the trail. He pointed at a building that had a lot of large fake fruit on the roof. "See, what did I tell ya Cap'n?"

     "Well, you certainly didn't lie, lad. There is food here. Follow my lead," Captain Woodbeak said, pushing his crew aside.

     The doors at the fruit store slammed open, causing the whole building to shake. With loud stomps, Woodbeak entered the room. Squawking in false fury, he approached the counter. "I'm hungry," he said nastily.

     A Techo's wooden leg from our crew clamped against the floor near Captain Woodbeak. "Ya know, I'm a bit hungry too."

     I quickly joined in with the act to get it over with, and to start with the search for the fire sword and Kera. I leaped onto one of the empty tables in the shop. "Is there any good service around here?" I said in my most nasty voice. "I'm starvin'."

     Captain Woodbeak looked at the crew behind him. "Ya know, this place has bad service. So ya know what I think? We should serve ourselves."

     The green Acara shopkeeper stood at the counter, shocked. He trembled, and you could just tell that he wasn't going to do or say anything. He was too scared.

     After a few silent seconds, all of the pirates' voices came together into a whole bunch of pirate gibberish. They grabbed all of the food they could find, and threw it onto the table or in their mouths. All of the pirates laid their grubby hands and paws on every scrap of food they could find. It wasn't long until the tables were stacked with all of the food in the shop.

     "Let's eat!" I said to the pirates so they would all dig into the food. Captain Woodbeak didn't mind that I said it for him. In fact, he couldn't have looked happier. It was kind of strange really, but who cares? Food was more important.

     All of the pirates stuffed their faces full with all of the food they could eat. We left the building as a mess, like usual.

     In front of the building Captain Woodbeak spoke up. "Attention, pirates. We are here to look for somethin' very important. Firaga 'ere lost 'er fire sword. Ye better find it today, because Firaga needs it for her fights. Now go!"

     The pirates scattered in all directions on his word. I decided to head back to the beach. You know, follow my footsteps. My footsteps weren't easy to follow, because I was riding on Woodbeak when I dropped my fire sword. I didn't think that it would be so hard to find the little sword. You would think the light from it would show you where it was, but I still couldn't find it.

     What if somebody picked it up already? If that was true, I would be out of luck with finding the sword, but that didn't mean I was out of luck finding Firaga. I pushed my way through a few trees to find the sandy shore of Meridell. A few hundred yards away was the pirate ship. I looked out into the lifeless ocean again.

     The thought of hope entered my mind once again. Was there any hope left? I felt useless standing here where there was nothing to please me or give me a sign that Kera was still even alive. It felt so hopeless. I felt dry of hope, even though there is probably more hope now than there was a couple months ago.

     I then heard something. Something is very specific, I know, but that was basically what I heard. It was a sound. I guess of some pet. It sounded like a mumble from where I was standing. It was coming from the other side of the tree.

     I turned to look on the other side of the tree out of curiosity, but instead of seeing anything, I felt a huge smack in the head. I fell over on my back, feeling the headache come back. "Ow!" I shouted in pain. "What was that for?" I said to whatever it was that hurt me. Opening my eyes, I found a green Draik on his back, rubbing his head just as I was rubbing mine. It was strange how it was so quiet one moment, and then you realize that you were standing right next to somebody.

     "I'm terribly sorry," the Draik began to speak. He looked up to see my pirate figure. His sorry face changed quickly to be shocked and scared. "You-you're a pirate!" the Draik screeched in fright of my appearance.

     "No, you don't understand-"

     "I understand that you're a pirate," the Draik interrupted, now sounding less scared, just rude. "You tried to steal from Brightvale along with your evil crew." The Draik was drawing conclusions already. He was on target, but he didn't get the bulls-eye. I was at the castle to steal Brightvale's neopoints, but I was just following my crew. "You were going to destroy Brightvale," the Draik yelled in fury at me.

     "No," I whispered to myself, but the Draik was too lost in his own beliefs to hear me.

     "One puny pirate's not going to hurt me," the green Draik shouted loudly, and pulled out a fire sword.

To be continued...