Chapter 1: a fistful of Dollars
The bar was dimly lit by candles hanging from the walls, sitting in a cold iron bar stool, a lean built man with a blue and red poncho over his clothes, under it he wore a long sleeved lite brown shirt, he clasped a drink in his hand as the cold breeze from outside blasted through the door. The man who opened it walked through to the bar, standing right next to him, he wore a long cloak with a long blue shirt under it, his curly brown hair settling by his ear.
'I'll have a cuppa grog, the best ya got!' he boomed, the words bouncing off the bar walls,
'We don't serve grog here, we got rum, beer and cider.' the barkeeper said, setting down a glass he had just cleaned, 'fine, a glass of cider will do!' he exclaimed.
The barkeep poured his drink and slammed it on the counter, the man took the drink and gulped it all down in one gulp, he then looked at the man in the poncho, 'it took a while to find you, Mr Eastwood.'
The man in the poncho looked at him slowly, 'where did you find my name.' He stabbed his finger at the man, 'Baldwin Eastwood, you're not hard to find after your older brother starred in that western.' The man replied, Baldwin looked irritated, 'I don't wanna hear it from a stranger too, what ya lookin for?' he said, slightly irritated, 'I hear you run a jack of all trades sorta seafaring business.'
'And if I am?'
'I'm looking for someone to take me to these coordinates,' he put down an old wrinkled paper, with a coordinate written on it, Baldwin scanned the paper, 'this ain't too far from the coast, what about it?' he questioned, 'I'm in search for my father, he was last seen in this location.' the man said,
'I'm sorry, what's your name?' Baldwin asked, 'oh, right I forgot to introduce myself,' the man stepped back and stretched out his hand, 'I'm Fury Stormblade, son of Victor Stormblade.' Baldwin shook his hand as he heard the name, a shiver was sent down his spine, Fury's hand was ice cold, he could feel a presence around him, as if the sea itself was in front of him.
'You mean the Stormblade that fought for the allies in World war 2?' he asked releasing his grip,
'Yes, you know my father?'
'All who fought in the war do, my brother told stories of him.' Baldwin shuddered again,
'So are you in?' Fury asked, 'why are you looking for your father, he died in the battle of the red sea in 1946.'
'He didn't die, he was banished to the underworld. That's why I need your help.' Fury said, reaching into his back pocket pulling out a wad of cash, slamming it on the counter,
'Listen, I'm gonna help you, but it's gonna take more than a fistful of dollars to hire me.' Baldwin stood up and put down a $10 note on the counter, the Egyptian note was ripped and scrunched, but the barkeeper took it regardless, Baldwin looked at Fury with a serious stare, 'If you know what's best, you don't speak your name in public.' Fury shook his head, as they stepped into the cold breeze of the Cairo harbour.
The port was a dark place, drug deals, shady businesses, assassins and many other bad things happened to Cairo,
'Why don't I speak of my surname?' Fury asked scratching his head,
'The moonlord, a great monarch ruling over most of Europe and Africa, was the one who "killed" your father, he heard of you, his son, and now put a bounty on his surname. Where did you stay for so long that you didn't get caught?' Baldwin turned a corner, seeing a group of grey skinned kids playing with a dusty football,
'I was born in Greece, where this "moonlord" doesn't have much attention. My mother left after I turned 10.' Fury said as they reached the harbour, walking through a wired fence gate. The gate had many cuts and rusted joints on it, showing its age.
Docked next to the wooden pier, a tugboat bobbed idle, its bow was black as a night sky, its sides covered in rust, the paint, originally white, was covered in rust from flaking off.
'This is your ship?' Fury asked, looking uncomfortable, 'the Diamond pearl, it's the best you're gonna get with your money, all other ships are heavily reliant on the moon lord's backing, they'd sell you out in a heartbeat.' Baldwin said, putting down a plank for a walkway, the plank had mold growing from it. Fury reluctantly stepped aboard, the ships inside was nothing from its outside, a cozy cabin with candlelit rooms and well kept rooms, as he entered through another door, he was greeted with a grey skinned man sweeping the decks, he turned revealing he had an apron on,
'Hey Captain, is this a new contractor?' the man asked, 'Harper this is Fury, a new job for us has arisen!' Baldwin gestured for fury to sit on a chair that had been placed with 3 others around a round table in the corner of the cabin, 'Baldwin I didn't know that Africans here had a different skin tone?' Fury asked.
'You dope! That's an Atlantian!' Baldwin screamed, 'you're telling me you haven't seen an atlantean in Greece?'
'Never heard of them.' Fury shrugged, 'my mistake Harper.'
'I have had many black people belittle me, considering their past, it's crazy how they can go from belittled to belittling.' Harper outstretched his hand, Fury shook it gratefully.
The Diamond pearl soon set sail, floating idle out of the harbour, a group of figures in black trench coats stood on the dock watching the ship leave, they sat at a nearby bar, and ordered a round of drinks.
'The Moon lord sent us here, I don't need to further explain, do I?' a lead figure with a plague doctor mask said, the barkeeper shook his head and served them their tea, sitting down, another figure asked, 'when are we leaving?' The voice sounded female, the question echoed, directed at the masked man, 'at 11:30.' he snapped,
'What! It's not even 9!'
'That's what the boss ordered!' the masked man snapped again. 'Now quit whining and drink!'
The group of figures stood in the bar, their presence creating a dark sensation across the small room, 'where are they going, do you know, Heins?' one of the figures asked, the masked man nod his head, 'Mapwright, explain.' he said gesturing to another figure, the figure, revealing his bald head placed a map on the table, its parchment was old and withered with tears at the corners here and there, the map showed a blob of blue slowly moving up the page, in the bottom left corner the port of Cairo showed,
'Currently we're here in Cairo, the ship they took is here,' he pointed at the front of the blue blob moving up the map. 'Their currently headed for the Anna Marie wreck.' he said, dragging his finger to the upper side of the map where a small drawing of a shipwreck was found.
'We should hide in wait till then.' he said, but he was interrupted by a female voice
'Screw that, I say we board their ship and kill them on the spot!' The female voice revealed herself from the shadows, her hair was a scaly mass with snake heads at the tips, wearing sunglasses her skin was pale. 'That wouldn't be smart, one of them is a mariner, and the other 2 have been living here for years they should know how to fight.' Heins said through his mask, he took a cup of tea set down on a nearby table, he placed it in front of him, dipping the beak of the mask into the drink, the tea slowly drained into the mask, most likely being drank by Heins.
The small tugboat cut through the waves, a flock of flamingos flying above them, Baldwin scanned the horizon and shouted into the cabin, 'what am I looking for again?' Fury replied, 'a shipwreck, it shouldn't be too far now.' Baldwin returned his attention to the sea, and there, northwest of them the shipwreck stood out of the blue sky with its rusted bow, the rocks under it were violently sharp as if designed to pierce hulls. 'Harper, steer northwest from here!' he boomed over the waves, 'aye sir!' Harper shouted back, the ship's sudden turn made Baldwin grip the railing slightly, he heard a thud inside he rushed in to find Fury on the floor, 'you're still growing your sea legs aren't ya?' he laughed, 'we'll be on the wreck soon,'
'No, don't go too close to the wreck, the rocks will tear this ship it shreds.' Baldwin laughed again as he stepped outside, he looked to the skies and found the flamboyance still above the ship, that's strange, often flamingos always catch fish here but never flock to ships like this. He thought to himself as he raised a revolver into the sky, 'this is probably a bad idea, but when i get back i could sell it for some cash.' He pulled the hammer back and lined up a shot, he squeezed the trigger, the shot rang out into the cold sea, one of the flamingos fell to the deck, its head having been pierced with the bullet.
Fury stepped out of the cabin and stepped up to the bird, he stared at it, and then picked it up, 'hey what are you doing, that's my bird!' Baldwin stepped in front of him blocking his path, 'this bird is one of the enemy's!' Fury said, 'it has to go.'
'Oh, and how would you know that!' Baldwin said, grabbing the bird, he felt its feathers. It was ice cold, it felt full of life even with its wound, it felt colder than even the most dead animal he's ever touched, he pulled his hand away.
'What is going on, why is it so cold?' Baldwin looked confused.
'It's made from the sea, it isn't real, this is the work of an enemy mariner.'
'Enemy Mariner? Made from the sea? You're not making any sense.'
'I'll explain everything inside, call Harper as well.' Inside the ship with a cup of coffee in his hand he still felt it, the coldness. 'There are people in this world that harness the sea's power into themselves, these people are called mariners.' Fury said raising his hand, a sudden burst of air befell the room, 'that was an example of what i can do, but i aint even close to perfecting this art yet, i like to call this power "Squall".'
Both Baldwin and Harper were shocked, mouth agape.
'The people coming after us are all well trained mariners, and I believe those flamingos are a creation of one of them. They're watching us, our every movement.' he said, 'which is why i brought you 2 inside.' as he said it, a pecking could be heard at the door, Baldwin stood up to investigate, he looked down at his watch, it was 10:34 AM. he drew his revolver and pulled the hammer back and lined up a shot, he put the gun to the door where the flamingo stood, he slowly looked through the window on the door, the flamingo thrust forward smashing through the glass, its beak breaking Baldwin's nose, he fell backwards landing on the deck, Harper leapt to his aid, and dashed to a cupboard, he pulled out an ancient looking bident, its steel made of a crimson alloy. He swung it once, the flamingo's head fell onto the deck, its body falling on the other side of the door. 'Harper gets to the control room, we have to stop the ship before it crashes.' Harper leapt up the ladder, and only a few seconds later a loud crash as heard both Baldwin and Fury were sent flying forward, crashing into the steel bulkhead.
Baldwin woke with a jolt, he stood on smashed tables and chairs, he looked around Fury nowhere to be found, he opened the door to see his ship smashed into the rock outcrop, the front was indented but looked seaworthy, he looked around the splintered decks, scanning for Fury or Harper, he looked over the bow to see the rocky outcrop with the other ship perched on top.
The Anna Marie was a massive steamliner, almost 300 metres long and constructed in the 1930s, Baldwin never knew why she crashed, nor how, but he was to find out soon.
Fury, after the crash had run out to investigate what happened, he ran up to the bridge where he found a pane of glass shattered with blood marks on the edges. He deduced the worst outcome possible, he saw Baldwin run up to the deck scanning for something, he stepped outside and shouted, 'I'm here, but Harper seems to have flown out of the cabin onto the rocks.' He walked down to join Baldwin, 'judging by the angle of the ship hitting the rock and the height of-' he was cut short, 'I know he's up there, the question is how to get there!' Baldwin said looking at the rocks next, he walked up to the bow, and leapt from it using jagged rocks to pull himself up onto the top of the rock, he scanned the area stepping back to let Fury climb up after him, 'I don't see him anywhere, he might've gone into the wreck already.' Baldwin said walking towards the rusted bow of the ship, 'step back I'll try to break it down.' Fury stepped towards the bow and pulled back his fist, a weird cold energy flowed through his body, it seemed, to Baldwin, that it took the shape of a wave flowing from his chest to his fist.
Fury swung the fist into the rusted bow, the weathered metal splintered into thousands of pieces as they stepped inside.