A bit later than I expected to get this done, but I finished! I ended up writing it from an outside perspective as opposed to your character's, so I hope that's okay? If you'd like any changes, or want me to redo anything, just let me know. ^-^
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Pirates. It was something Alfred never thought he’d have to deal with, especially since he lived on a washed up old island that not even the fishermen bothered with, let alone anyone with sense.
Having been here for years, he knew these lands forwards and backwards. Even so, he always thought there was something odd about this island. He’d find new objects and tools even though he knew he had scoured that exact same spot five times already; shortcuts and paths would seem to appear when he doubled back; and once, he mused that he missed the taste of peaches, and not two days later he found a shipwreck with a stock of pickled peaches.
It was bizarre.
And now, to top it all off, pirates. Now, Alfred had never had much experience with pirates, but he’d heard the stories. Everyone had. Horrible people, hook-handed, eye patches, and the works. They ravaged ships and navies, stole from everyone, and was just a general nuisance. Criminals with a ship. He wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with them, and certainly didn’t want to get in their way. Yet still he watched them—from a safe distance, of course—curious despite himself.
The group was… disappointing. They didn’t look like sea-hardened criminals, no gnarled grins or scarred faces. In fact, sopping wet after their dive into the ocean, they looked more like drowned kittens than seafaring men. Their ship looked no less damaged. If anything, it was as if they’d gotten caught in a storm. But that’d be crazy, there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky for weeks.
“What now, Captain?” asked one of the crew, a woman with stern looking eyes and a no nonsense stance.
Captain? Alfred scanned the group. None of them looked particularly…
Wait. That one in the back? The man—or boy, he was so young looking—stood with the confidence he’d expect of a captain, hand on his hips as he surveyed the land and eyes shaded with a broad-rimmed hat. “Scout the area,” he said, “and let’s find a place for camp.”
So they would be staying the night then. That was a bit worrisome. How would Alfred cook his meals without any of them noticing the telltale signs of fire and smoke? Well, there was nothing to be done about that. He was about to disappear back into the depths of the island’s forest when the captain suddenly halted, his proud voice ringing loud and clear, “On second thought… Yuqa you’re in charge. I’ll be right back.”
The woman crossed her arms, looking utterly unimpressed. “And where are you off to in such a rush?”
The boy grinned, just a quick flash of teeth, a quirk of his lips. “To search the island, of course. Never know what kinds of monsters lurk within its depths.”
“Never know what kind of idiocy you’ll find yourself in next,” she said, but she was smiling. Yuqa shook her head. “Have fun, Captain. Don’t let those savages keep you.”
Alfred was careful to keep his distance as he followed the captain deeper into the woods. Mostly because he was worried the boy would find his hut, and secondly, there weren’t any monsters or hostile creatures on this island, so what possibly could the captain be getting up to?
A lot, it seemed.
Not fifteen meters in and the captain stumbled across a cave that Alfred had never seen before, hidden beneath a curtain of ivy and its rock wall craggy, chipped, and weathered. It looked, in Alfred’s humble opinion, like a death trap. Yet still, the captain ventured in after only spending a few minutes surveying the outside, checking the integrity of the stone walls with a few sharp taps and seeming satisfied when only a few pebbles fell.
Well. If this lunatic wanted to risk his life exploring a crazy cave, then so be it.
Alfred left without a backwards glance, already putting the pirate out of his mind.
That night, he was just settling in front of the fire with a nice cup of tea when he heard a strange rumbling noise coming from beneath his house. Odd, he thought, but the island always made strange noises, so this wasn’t all that out of the ordinary. It was only when his favorite tea set began rattling that Alfred stood to take a gander out the window.
Nothing. Everything looked ordinary. Just the same trees that always stood outside his quaint little hut. If anything, it almost felt like…
Crash!
With an earth-shattering shake and a large plume of smoke, Alfred stared open-mouthed as his back wall collapsed in a pile of cinders and planks. There was a cough, a sputter, and the boy captain shoved his way through, pushing aside a piece of what had once been Alfred’s favorite painting.
“Um,” said Alfred, wondering if there was something in his tea.
“Is this another part of the test?” asked the pirate, covered in soot but otherwise fine. He was holding some strange glowing golden object in his hands, but that wasn’t what drew Alfred’s attention.
“Uh…” said Alfred, trying and failing not to stare at the strange creature on top of the pirate’s hat. Was that a… monkey? Holding a sword? It chattered at him, brandishing the sword angrily. Alfred blinked. “I… I think I’m going to bed,” he decided. There was definitely something wrong with his tea. Maybe his herb stash had gone bad or been contaminated somehow. “You just… go do your pirate things. Try not to break more stuff, yeah?”
And with that, Alfred resolutely shut his bedroom door and hoped that tomorrow would make more sense.
The next morning dawned with the pirates getting ready to set sail once more. The crew were loading supplies and boxes back onto the ship, and the captain lounged on the deck, leaning over the railing to watch their progress and occasionally call out useful tidbits.
“Where did you go?” asked the woman, Yuqa, as she stepped up beside him. “You gave the crew quite a scare coming out of the darkness like that.”
“Eh”—Kaiyoku waved a hand dismissively—”just a cave. It had a few trials and tribulations to supposedly test someone’s worth, but it was all a scam.”
Yuqa raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.
“Okay,” he admitted, “so I did get a weird orb out of the whole thing. But it’s not even that cool. Doesn’t even work. It’s supposed to show the way to the next big adventure, but watch.” He pulled out the orb from his pocket, and even in the daylight it shone with an unearthly glow. With a quick flick of his hand, he tossed it to the ground and they both watched as it spun idly a few times before rolling to a stop at their feet, its glow fading. Kaiyoku shrugged. “See? We can sell it in the next port. Someone’s bound to be interested.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you came back covered in soot.”
“So maybe the cave caught fire in the end. And I might have broken into someone’s house. But it’s fine. Everything’s cool. The guy didn’t even care.”
“You broke into someone’s house?”
“Hey!” he argued. “I almost died in that cave. Don’t you care any about that? Your poor ol’ Captain, left all alone to fend for himself.” Yuqa levelled him with a look, and Kaiyoku just grinned. “Aww, don’t be like that. You know you love me.”
“I’m liking you less and less with every second,” Yuqa said, but she was smiling too. “Where to next, Captain?” she threw over her shoulder, already walking towards the bow to help the other crew members.
“Ah. I was thinking Rama,” Kaiyoku said. “Heard there’s treasure there. Might be worth another look.”
In the distance, he could just make out the small wooden hut of the one inhabitant of this island. The man’s door was open, his dark figure standing solidly in the doorway. At his feet, a small, sandy colored blob sat, no doubt chittering irately and waving around a small blade.
Captain Kaiyoku smiled, and as the last of the supplies were loaded onto the ship, he turned away. “Ready to set sail,” he called as he strode across the deck, “and set a course to Rama.”
