• The Preludes:
    Nathaniel Wolf

    Location: The Antarctic Ocean.
    Time: December 10 1834

    “Ignorant like your father,” he told me with that cold voice of his. “How expected.”
    “Uncle Bridge, stop this madness!” I yelled loudly, trying to grab the attention of those who were outside the small cabin.
    He acted like as if he didn’t even hear a word that I’ve said. He gave me a sudden smile, then begun wiping the knife he held with the edge of his shirt.
    “It will be quick Nate, quicker than how pain can travel through your nerves,” he said excitedly, starring at me like how lionesses stare at their prey underneath their claws. “Just relax, be like your father, the man who took it all without even resisting, not once did he resist me! Not even that harlot of a mother you have!” Each word he threw at me helped build an evil, frightening laugh that was then released at the end of his sentence.
    Finally, he stopped wiping his knife, grabbed it firmly and faced its sharp point at me.
    “Goodbye Natey,” he chuckled, being perfectly still, in a crouching position.
    Suddenly, I found the knife sliding on the side of my waist, making me bleed and start to the feel the pain.
    He certainly lied about this being quick, I could tell he was going to extend this, and turn it into torture.
    “Get away from me!” I yelled, forcing myself to remove my skin away from his knife. It was a difficult pain to endure, and a horrid feeling, since the knife has sunk in deep into my skin.
    “Whatever happened to the boy who boasted about unarming a man with a sword?” he teased at me, looking at me with those crazy eyes. “Was that all a lie?”
    I ignored the question, and tried to scan the room for something to defend myself with. But all I could see was patches of sand on the floor, pieces of bark laid around, and sealed up boxes of food supplies.
    “There’s nothing here sonny! Just me and you, alone in this tiny cabin!” he yelled louder, thrusting the knife towards me, as I dodged all of them.
    It was very strange how no one was hearing the man yell at me in the cabin. Obviously it sounded quite wrong, and not even adults would ignore his sentences. How could nobody be possibly hearing this?
    Quickly, he swished his knife up to where my face was before I dodged it, and again he swished it further and further, making me dodge it and go backwards after every dodge, until finally he got me where he needed me to be – the corner.
    “Any last words sonny?” he said with that triumphant, crazy grin on his face.
    I really had nothing to say, even if I was going to die on the spot.
    “Hm? Sonny? Got any more words to blubber out before I slice your face in half and feed you to the dogs?” he threatened, making the edge of his knife touch my neck slowly.
    I felt my foot shake a bit, but I didn’t hear its soles thump against the wooden floor, but heard it thump against something softer. It was sand, a whole lot of it around Uncle Bridge and me.
    I made a quick decision between life or death, and opened my mouth and pretended to speak my last words, but instead I quickly pushed my head to the right, rubbing against the edge of the knife and the wall, and grabbed a handful of sand and aimed at his eyes and threw it at him with as much concentration I could conjure up during the short period.
    He was down, dropping the knife right next to my feet.
    Before he could regain strength and attempt to kill me again, I grabbed the knife he dropped, and jumped above the boxes to reach the door. It may have been locked from the outside, but the knobs in this ship were quite weak, it could be damaged very quickly with steel.
    I jammed his knife into the gap between the door and it’s frame, damaging the knob to make it unlock, or even cut through the thing. Success, the door was open. I kicked it open, and ran to the deck as fast as I could, outrunning Uncle Bridge’s henchmen, and losing them when I got over the wooden bridge on the boat. I took a long look back while running, and saw his henchmen stop nearby the corner, scratching their heads looking around for me. I slowed down my pace to watch the scene a bit longer, and saw Uncle Bridge start yelling at the fools and hitting their heads for letting me go. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene, unfortunately catching their attention. As they started to run, the bridge that I went across started to lift itself up vertically.
    “Wait-“ I said turning around, hitting against the chest of a tall, muscular man who glowered at me.
    Others behind him bared their teeth at me and started to tease me. Their swords were drawn to me, so were their pistols and weaponry.
    “You’re on the wrong ship boy,” the tall man said, towering over me.
    I looked at him fearfully, knowing that this really may be the end for me. To comfort myself, I said to myself that there may still be an escape, somehow. But that hope died within minutes when I glanced behind the man to see a Jolly Roger, a skull with bones crossed behind it on a black flag, dancing wildly in the sea wind.