Commander Lopez stood upon the fort wall that faced the ocean. The San Hernandez had been destroyed, and the fort had taken some heavy hits, yet the walls still held. The frigate had taken quite a bit of a beating as well, yet still it sailed.
After some time, however, it sailed away and out of the range of their fort's cannons. It soon became stationary and the lights upon it went out. "What are they doing?" Lopez asked himself, reaching up to stroke his chin in thought.
Commander Lopez was tall and strikingly handsome, with sharp and chiseled features. He had light olive skin, and chocolate eyes. His long dark hair was tied back, and he had an anchor beard, shortly trimmed. He wore the trappings of an officer of the Spanish Navy, and he was proud to serve.
"Commander!" One of his Officers rushed up, saluting Lopez as he turned to face him. "What is it?" He inquired, raising a brow. "One of the soldiers who went to reinforce the docks has returned… you'll want to hear what he has to say."
Commander Lopez stood there for a moment, thoughtfully, wondering what it was the man had to say. "Take me to him." He finally said, and the Officer nodded and led him to the barracks. The man they came upon was more pale than the sheet of a ghost, and his eyes were wide. He was shivering, as though he had been out in the cold of winter for hours, and he turned his head slowly, shakily, towards the Commander as he entered.
"C-Commander L-Lopez…" He began, stuttering. "What is it, soldier?" Lopez asked, moving to kneel down and put his hands on his shoulders. The man was huddled in the corner. "These pirates, they're not natural… We fired shot after shot, and not a single bullet phased them." He paused, for but a moment, to swallow his breath, before continuing. "Captain… when they got closer, that's when we realized why they would not die… It's because…" He paused again, as though finding it difficult to say.
"What is it, Soldier? Out with it!" Commander Lopez commanded, and the man spoke up again, "They are already dead… not but decaying skin and bones, and their stench… they must have been rotting for days, if not a week or more." Lopez furrowed his brows at this. "Is that your excuse for abandoning your post?!" He got up and turned to face the other Officer in the room. "Escort him to the cells, we'll see his court-martialed." Lopez commanded, just before another soldier stormed in. "Commander! It's the pirates! They managed to scale the walls and get into the fort!" He said, panicking.
"How?" Lopez immediately asked, then the Soldier spoke again. "Sir… cutlass, musket, they're all useless! They're like dead men, we can't kill them!" At those words, Commander Lopez's eyes showed the first sign of fear that his men had ever seen.
He turned to the Officer. "Belay that order, it seems this poor man was telling the truth. Come on, we need to get out there!" The Commander said, his voice carrying fierce charisma. He did not yet know how they were possibly going to kill the dead, but he was determined to find out a way, if there was one.
The screams of soldiers became more evident the closer they got to the wall facing the sea. The screams were of pure horror, terror unimaginable. They reached the top of the wall, and the Commander saw as many men with a heart to sacrifice their lives fighting boldly against the pirates, even though corpses of their fellow countrymen littered the area.
Then, just reaching the top of the wall, he was their Captain, the man called Barabas Blackheart. Their gaze met, and they stared each other down. "What in God's green earth are you?" Lopez demanded to know. Blackheart let out a wicked laugh, then aimed his pistol and shot the Officer next to Lopez right between his eyes, and he fell dead. "That's a good question now, isn't it? Too bad you won't be living to hear it answered."
Lopez immediately jumped and rolled to the right as the Captain fired, missing. "Stand still, blast it! You're only delaying the inevitable!" Blackheart barked, and the other soldier that had come with the Commander rushed him, plunging a sword through his chest.
Blackheart turned his head to the man, then aimed his pistol at his head. "Are you daft, lad?" He asked the soldier, who was frozen stiff with fear. "I'll take that as a yes." Blackheart said, about to pull the trigger, when a barrel suddenly rolled towards him and knocked him off the wall, and into the court of the fort. He hit a flame on the way down, and screamed in agony as he was set ablaze and started running around like a chicken with his head cut off, searching for water, or any way to put the fire out.
"Of course!" Lopez exclaimed, looking down with a smirk, then he called out to his men, raising his blade high, "Soldiers! We must use fire against these abominations! Take up the torches!" Upon hearing his words, all the men who were near a torch moved to grab them, and swung them like swords to set the pirates ablaze.
The pirates were screaming, running and falling off the wall in pain, rushing to fall into the sea where they might escape the flames. Fortunately for Lopez, there his soldiers outnumbered the pirates, even after losing so many to them, before they realized their weakness. "Good job, men! We've got them on the run!" Lopez called out, victorious.
The fort was soon completely free of any pirate presence, but the Commander knew that there were others in the town, from the schooner that had already docked. "Now that we've taken care of the pirates in the fort, and that frigate is stationary, start firing at the frigate!" He said to the men at the cannon, before turning to a group of soldiers nearby. "The other pirates will surely be headed for the Governor's Mansion. You are to make your way there with due haste, and make sure that the Governor and his family are safe. He said to the men.
They saluted him, and the leader of the group spoke up. "Yes sir!" They marched down the steps, into the court and towards the gate, which opened to let them out, as Commander Lopez returned his gaze to the frigate. "What's your next play, Blackheart?" He asked himself, wondering what the pirates would do now that they'd been driven from the fort.
He turned his head and watched as the schooner was soon reduced to not but a pile of planks, and cargo. "Now we've just got the Devil's Maw left." He said, forming a faint smirk, then returned his gaze to the frigate, still stationary.
"It will likely take some time for them to return to their ship." Lopez said, turning to one of his Officers, who'd just walked up. He stood at attention, waiting for his Commander's orders. "It's out of our cannon's range, but perhaps there is another way we can deal with it. Take some men to the docks, with torches of course. We should have a few dinghies. Load them each up with gunpowder and a single man. Make sure a fuse is in each barrel." He turned away and looked upon the frigate once more.
"Have the men sail the dinghies towards the Frigate and light the fuses, make sure they are long enough so that the men will have plenty of time to jump out of the boats and swim to safety, as well as to allow the dinghies to reach the ship." He said, before turning to the Officer again. "We'll blast the Devil's Maw back to Hell, where it belongs!" The Commander said confidently.
The Officer saluted him and answered, "Yes sir!" Then, he turned to set off and fulfill the Commander's orders. Lopez turned and watched the Devil's Maw again. He and his men were so close to victory, now. "After this day, I shall be remembered as the Commander who destroyed the Devil's Maw and defeated Captain Barabas Blackheart. People far and wide will praise my name, heralding me as a hero, and I'll surely be promoted." He formed a pleased smile upon his face.
He'd set his goals high in his youth, but things had been slow up until now. There were few, if any, brave enough to attack this port, with Castillo de San Marcos there. Its walls stood tall and proud, and at least a hundred men were stationed to defend it. Now, however, with this sudden event, he'd had a real chance to prove himself to his superiors. Surely they would see what a skilled officer he was, and perhaps even make him the Captain of his own ship, if not an Admiral. The possibilities were endless, but for now, he still had a battle to win.