Chapter One:
Not so Humble Beginnings
This is the account of Keith Reduza, the infamous Caribbean pirate captain. He fought the British Navy with everything he had. He robbed villages, burned political buildings, and killed any man that would stand in his way. He even did something most pirates never did, or even thought of doing, which was conquering cities. He killed the leaders, taking over the entire city and eventually took over nearly all of the Caribbean. He was thought to be the greatest pirate to ever live, greater than Blackbeard himself. Soon, he went missing and was never found. This is his story…
One morning in the British town of Port Royal, there was a small hospital, and in that hospital was a woman and a man. The woman went by the name of Elizabeth Reduza – the man was named George Reduza. The woman had just birthed a baby boy, whom she named George Keith Reduza II.
13 years later George Keith Reduza II had worn his name proudly, being named after his father, a famous general for the British Navy. However, one rather dull, cloudy morning would change the way he looked at his name.
He woke up, and changed out of his nightclothes and then put on brown cloth pants, a brown leather belt, and a white shirt. He strapped on his brown leather soled boots, and then went into the breakfast room for a bit of food before school.
His mother had just finished cooking and had set out 4 plates, one for his father, mother, him and his sister, Audrey, who was 8 at the time. On the plates were one egg each and a muffin, along with fresh milk. There were forks clattering against plates and slurping of milk, with nearly no talking, when his father started to speak, “I have to go to the Parliament offices today. I’m getting a new assignment.”
“Are you going to go to the colonies and kill all the traitors?” George Jr. said enthusiastically.
George Sr. laughed and said, “No, not today. It’s just going to be something in the town.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I don’t know, I guess I’ll find out when I get there.”
“George, it’s time for you to go to school.” Said his mother, Elizabeth.
“Okay, bye father, bye Audrey.” He hugged his father and sister and kissed his mother goodbye, going off to school.
He walked to school like he normally did, with his sack lunch in his right hand. Arriving, he met up with his best friend, Paul. They sat through the class and when it came time for lunch, they grabbed their lunches and started eating. It was quiet, when normally it was very loud.
“Why is everyone quiet today?” George asked Paul.
“There’s a search for a spy today. They say that somebody here is a spy for the colonists. They’ll kill everybody in town if nobody confesses.”
“Everybody?!”
“Yeah, I don’t know why they would do such a thing. Everybody is afraid the spy has already left, and since that happened, nobody’s going to confess, which means we’ll all die.”
“They wouldn’t really kill us all would they?”
“I sure hope not” After Paul had said that, neither of them said another word.
After lunch, they went back to class. After class, they walked out of the school and George said, “If anything happens go to ‘The spot’.”
“Right, we should be safe there.” The boys left toward their homes.
When George arrived he opened the door and saw his mother and father in the kitchen, a sword through his mother. He gasped at the sight, tears welling up in his eyes, and he ran to “The spot” hoping his little sister was okay.
He ran into a small forest just outside the town and into a little clearing with a couple logs and some cleanly cut tree stumps. On one of the stumps he saw Paul; tears were dripping from his eyes.
George sat down next to Paul. “My father murdered my mother, I don’t know if my sister is okay. I hope she is.” His voice started to break, tears rolling down his cheek. “I used to wear my father’s name with pride, but now, I can’t stand it anymore!” He was bawling now. “I hate his name! I hate him! I’m going to become a pirate and kill him! He’s not going to get away with murdering mom! I’m going to kill him!” He couldn’t control himself and fell flat on the swaying grass.
“The same happened to me…” Paul said, nearly crying.
Suddenly the two boys heard a small sniffling that wasn’t coming from either of them. George walked behind the stumps and found his sister Audrey behind, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Audrey!” He shouted, wrapping his arms around her.
“Daddy killed mommy…” She managed to spit out before more tears came.
“I know, but Paul and I are going to take care of you.” He sniffed a bit.
“Thank you George.”
“My name isn’t George anymore, its Keith now.” He patted her on the back, helped her up off the ground and sat her down on the stump. “We’re going to Tortuga.”
“How,” Paul asked. “There are no boats going out at the moment.”
“We’re going to build our own boat and sneak it out. We’ll start tomorrow. For now we’re going to our cave. We’ll sleep there for the night.” The other two nodded their heads and they all walked off into a far off cave. They got in and Keith started a fire. They made up beds with some loose straw they gathered up, which was slightly uncomfortable, but all they had at the time. Closing their eyes, they drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Two:
Escape the Dreaded Port Royal
For three weeks, the trio followed one schedule: Keith collected wood for a raft, which he would proceed to build; Paul would build a fire, keeping it fed throughout the day; Audrey cooked food that the boys had caught while on break from their usual jobs. After these three weeks of living rough, Keith had finally finished the raft, complete with a makeshift sail and five oars for when there was no wind.
Finished with his work for a day, Keith decided to explore a bit—see if he could find anything of particular interest. He ventured close to the city, where the stench of rotten flesh carried on the wind—which after a few days turned to smoke as they burned the bodies. The smell nearly caused him to vomit, but he was somehow able to hold it in. Turning around, he ran back to the camp.
There was a light breeze that carried a delightfully delicious scent. Keith walked to where the fire was, finding Audrey cooking a big fish and two rabbits that Paul had caught while Keith was finishing the raft.
“Smells good Audrey.” Keith said, excited to get to eat the nearly finished food.
“Thank you Keith.” She replied sliding the fish onto a large rock that was cleansed in the Caribbean Sea.
“Your welcome,” Keith patted her head and then asked, “By the way, where’s Paul?”
“He went to get some more firewood.” She answered sliding the rabbits off the large cooking rock.
“Oh I see.” Keith said when Paul came from behind him carrying wood. “Oh hey Paul, I finished the raft. Meaning this will be the last meal we have right here.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’m sure going to miss this place.” The other two nodded. “Is the raft going to be safe?”
“Yeah, I tried out about 3 feet deep; it floated with ease. And the sea is calm this time of year. Besides, we’re not going too far.” He pointed out to a far off island in the horizon. “It’s only about 200 miles. Well, let’s worry about it tomorrow before we leave and eat now.”
The trio followed on and started to eat their miniature feast. They went to bed that night expecting a smooth start in the morning, which turned out to be exactly that. There were a few islands in between them and the island of Tortuga.
They stopped on thirteen islands to spend the night on their journey, each one holding the same things: trees, sand, and animals. The trip was very dull and boring—hard at times even, with the malicious sun beating down on their heads and the lack of fresh water, save for the few springs on some of the islands.
On the fourteenth day they could finally see the port town of Tortuga, the town of pirates, right before their eyes; right in their grasp, less than a mile away. Paul had exaggerated that he could smell the rum from that far away. They all laughed about it, then, not ten minutes later, they had arrived in the port.
They received many glares from the stinky, dirty pirates, since they were just kids. Walking through the town, a normal, surprisingly sober man approached them.
“What are kids like you doing here?” He asked.
“We escaped from Port Royal, it was that or we died, and this was where we decided to go.” Keith told the man.
“Ah, the spy from the colonies. I heard about that, how they would kill everybody if they didn’t find the spy.” The man sighed. “What are your names?”
“I’m Keith Reduza. This is my sister Audrey, and my best friend Paul.”
The man had a surprised look on his face. “Keith Reduza? You are George Reduza’s son?”
“How do you know my father?” Keith interrogated.
“Come with me to my house, I’ll tell you the whole story.”
The three looked at each other and nodded, following the strange man.
They came to a small cabin on the outskirts of town. Entering the cabin, they sat down. The man lit a candle on the table and went into the minute kitchen getting four glasses down. He filled a kettle with water and put it over a lit stove. He went to the table and sat down across from Keith.
Before the man could speak, Keith asked, “So, what is your name?”
“My name is Keith Reduza, younger brother to General George Reduza.”
Keith’s jaw dropped. “My dead uncle?”
“So that’s what George told you. You see, I was always behind your father. We joined the army; he was still always ahead of me. After four years of service, they put me under his command. We fought in the French and Indian War, winning nearly every battle. One day, we lost a battle and had to come home. He blamed the loss on me; his power had gone to his head, and started swearing at me and attacking me. I was a coward—running off to this very spot and building this cabin. That was 23 years ago.
“I lived here for a very long time, sending a messenger to your father, he never sent anything back, but I told the messenger to bring back any news about my family. He told me that he had a son, which he named George Keith Reduza. I figured he wasn’t angry with me anymore. I sent a letter thanking him for the namesake. He replied by saying it wasn’t for me and that he hated me. I felt foolish, believing that he would have actually still loved me. Then I received information that he had a daughter, Audrey—I was overjoyed, though I still don’t know why.
“I eventually ran out of money and couldn’t pay the messenger, so I never knew what had been going on since five years ago. After I made some money, I was able to find the messenger again and pay him for one last delivery. That’s when he told me about the spy problem. I began to weep just thinking about you two. I wanted to help you, but I had no way to get to Port Royal; however, I would like to help you in anyway possible now.”
Audrey started to cry after the lengthy story. After a silence, Keith spoke out, “We are going to become pirates. And to do that we need your help, I want you to train us until my 21st birthday, that’s eleven years. When that time comes, I will avenge my mother. My father will die—that’s why I dropped his name—he killed mother and left. I can’t take the name of a murderer.”
“I see. Well, if that’s the case, I have no choice; I will do as you wish.”
“Thank you uncle.”
“Your welcome. Now let’s get some shut-eye.” He pointed to a room in the back. “You’ll have to sleep there for now. Part of your training in two years will be adding a room for Audrey, as she’ll need her own space then more than ever.”
“Yes sir.” Keith said. They walked into the room and laid out a few mats that Uncle Keith had given them. Keith lay in his mat; his eyes gradually closed. After a few minutes he drifted into a deep sleep, dreaming about the day his training would end.
Discord
Light Style