Here at last are the final chapters of Kreen Aktin, the thrilling tale of pirate skulduggery, treachery, greed, and hilarity. The eleventh chapter opens with Kreen Aktin fighting British soldiers aboard an English ship...
Please Enjoy!
Chapter 11
“Aye, mate, I’ve never seen a man... uh, as good as...uh, you with a sword,” said Kreen Aktin to the soldier he was fighting. Then, the soldier whacked Kreen Aktin with his sword, but Kreen Aktin had a pistol in his belt. The sword sliced halfway through the wood, and Kreen Aktin fell over the side of the ship. He swam and swam to his ship, and scrambled on board. Then he turned the wheel, and set off as fast as he could go. Then suddenly, he heard a hinge creak. He looked around, but saw no one. Then he heard it again. He crept quietly in the direction of the squeak, and he saw a little cabin. He had never noticed it before. Quietly, he opened the door a crack and peeped in. Eight English soldiers were talking.
“I can’t wait to explore that cave. I bet it’s a pirate’s hideout,” said one.
“I think that it is the Jewel Isles,” said another.
“Ah, Smith, you know that that is just a made up tale. If’n there was Jewel Isles, the gold would be gone already.”
“Yeah?” said Smith. “I remember reading about three different people who had gone there before. Their names were John Huffle, Jerry Black, and Kreen Aktin.”
The last name hit Kreen Aktin like a sledge hammer. He had told no one a single thing about the Jewel Isles.
There must be an impostor, thought Kreen Aktin. But who would want to do such a thing?
Suddenly, it came to him. Roetoe Caulifinger! It had to be. But how had he gotten away from that ship? There were at least six soldiers to every one pirate.
I guess he got off in the same way I did, thought Kreen Aktin. But then he thought that he might have said that before he had started. He mused over it. That isn’t possible.
I was with him the whole time, he thought.
Then he stepped into the room.
“I am Kreen Aktin!” he boomed. “I don’t care what the impostor said. I have NEVER been to the Jewel Isles. I don’t even believe that they exist.”
All the soldiers were shocked. That gave Kreen Aktin enough time to draw his sword, and they were all so frightened, that he took their weapons and made them work for him.
“Wonder what the captain’s gonna say when we’re missing,” said Smith, as he climbed up a rope ladder to the crows nest. But he was not completely unarmed. Kreen Aktin had skipped over his throwing knife, something he was an expert with. He saw Kreen Aktin below on the deck, but knew it was not the time to throw it. he would have to be in better range.
Kreen Aktin was headed nowhere in particular. he was just sailing to find another ship to plunder. John Hustin did not know this. He didn’t even know that Kreen Aktin was alive. In fact, when he got back to England, he assured the king that he was certainly dead. This was not a lie, however, because he believed it himself. John Hustin was in his castle right then telling everyone of how valiant he was, and each time he told it, he was more and more valiant, being more daring. Finally, he exaggerated it to where he himself had killed the Famous Kreen Aktin.
But Kreen Aktin was missing the good days of having unloyal men at his side, men whom you could not trust, men undaunting in their will to get all the ship for themselves. That was an exciting life. As he thought on those things, he stared over the railing that lined the sides of the ship. Suddenly, the ship rocked violently, and Kreen Aktin fell down with a thud. A knife stuck in the rail where Kreen Aktin had just stood. He turned around, and saw Smith, anger in his eyes.
“Why did you throw that at me?” asked Kreen Aktin.
“Because we were sent to kill the murdering, plundering pirate by the name of Kreen Aktin. You happen to be that man.”
“A murderer, am I? I only kill men in a fair, hand to hand combat. Of course, it’s not always necessary, but it is fun. Now I am afraid I will have to lock you below so you don’t cause anymore trouble.”
Kreen Aktin pulled the knife out, threw it into the foamy water, and then led Smith to the hold.
When Kreen Aktin came back to the deck, everything was normal, except THE BOWSPRIT WAS GONE! He looked in the water. No bowsprit was floating there. That’s odd, thought Kreen Aktin. Then he saw why. There was a ship in the distance with a black skull and crossbones flag, cannons roaring!
Chapter 12
Kreen Aktin got the guns ready, and had to fire them himself. Roar! A cannon went off. Then he set off the other two. He had scored three good hits at the base of the ship. He watched as men went to work on the other ship, trying to pump out the water. Then he saw the lifeboats start coming- no, going. They were not coming to his ship. Within minutes, the other ship was underwater, gone forever. He watched the whirlpool suck in the two nearest life boats.
“Some people just have to learn the hard way,” Kreen Aktin said aloud.
Smith was beside him.
“Yippee!” he yelled. “The less pirates the better!”
Kreen Aktin gave him a stern look, and the other quickly calmed down. But the soldier was sad, because he knew that there was a large cargo of gold on the other ship, gold captured from an English ship. He was also thinking of how he would exact revenge on Kreen Aktin for this. He would, if he had the chance.
John Hustin’s horse pranced around as it’s master led him through Sherwood Forest. This was the place where Robin Hood had lived long ago. Hustin had come there to get away from the big city and all its noise. He whistled merrily as they plodded through the forest, watching an occasional deer dart away, or a bird fly to another tree, or a mouse dart along the forest floor. The sunlight glittered on the ground, seeming to dance when the trees swayed in the breeze. Suddenly, an arrow whizzed, and hit Hustin in the back. He dropped off the horse, dead. A man came up, and stuffed his pockets with the dead man’s money, and made his way to Nottingham.
Kreen Aktin had been at sea for a year and a half, and had seen nothing. So he turned the ship toward Africa, to the shore he had been on when he came from the Jewel Isles. He considered going to find some men first, but he changed his mind. He was about to be the richest man in the world. He would carry away the treasure from the Jewel Isles, and stash it away at his home. He would buy a mansion, get many soldiers to work for him, and then buy the whole world. The countries that refused would be conquered by his mighty army. He would fare sumptuously every day on the finest foods, would ride horses all over the country, would do many other things. But he would have to pay his soldiers well- very well, or they might turn on him for lack of money.
So Kreen Aktin turned the tiller south to Africa, and sailed as quickly as he could. But as they sailed, a great storm began. The wind howled, and great waves crashed against the side of the ship, rocking it to and fro. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared. He turned the wheel, but it was of no effect. He kept being thrown to the floor, and the man in the hold was being knocked against the sides of the ship, and the others were pumping out the water that was quickly flooding the great ship. Kreen Aktin went to the hold, and got Smith out so he could help. Kreen Aktin had never seen such a storm in his life, and he had seen a lot of them. The wind howled on, the rain kept descending, and the waves kept crashing on the sides of the ship. So it went for fifty hours. They worked and worked, with hardly any food, until finally the great storm had abated.
Chapter 13
The storm had knocked them way off course, and they were miles away from Africa. There was a small island. There was a little straw house, which they knocked on the door of. The door fell in. A little smiling man came to the front.
"Hello, sailors," he said. "Welcome."
"Hello," said Kreen Aktin. "Have you been marooned?"
"Yes," said the little man. "Would you take me on your humble vessel?"
"Ah, wait a minute little man. Our vessel is a proud Pirate ship, not a humble English ship," said Kreen Aktin. "But we will take you all the same. We are off to the Jewel Isles to become rich men- I mean, I am. These are my slaves."
"I see," said the little man. "But we will eat first. And we will have my specialty -- Alligator tail pot pie."
When they had finished eating, the little man packed his few belongings -- a sword, a pistol, some powder, and some food. Then they all went off to hunt so they could keep a good stock of food on the JOLLY AFRICAN. The little man was happy to be off to the Jewel Isles, for Kreen Aktin had promised him that he would get a good share if he worked for him.
They were nearing Africa when they saw a huge head appear above the water. Kreen Aktin gulped. It was the same monster that had carried him away two years earlier. They had to kill it.
"I know," said the little man. "We will ignite gunpowder kegs, and throw them on the monster, and then it will be blown to pieces!"
"Good idea!" said Kreen Aktin.
He threw a gunpowder keg on the monster after he had ignited it. The monster's head fell off, and sunk to the bottom. Kreen Aktin was so relieved that he fell over on the floor.
Chapter 14
They rowed to the land in the rowboats. When they got out, Kreen Aktin went to Roetoe Caulifinger's house, and knocked on the door. Roetoe's servant came out.
"I would like to see Roetoe Caulifinger, the great pirate."
"Very well. I will fetch him," said the servant.
A moment later, Roetoe stepped out the door, sword drawn.
“So, Kreen Aktin, it’s you again. I figured you would come soon. On guard!”
Kreen Aktin drew his sword, and slashed at Roetoe’s neck. Roetoe lunged forward with his sword, and Kreen Aktin parried, then stepped up swinging. The fight lasted for about ten minutes, then Kreen Aktin faked a slash to the head and quickly lunged his sword forward. The sword went through Roetoe, and Roetoe glared at him for a few seconds, then fell over dead. When they went into the cottage, they saw the servant happily putting on the golden necklaces.
“Let him keep them,” said Kreen Aktin. “Se shall soon have far more treasures than these.”
He swung his pickaxe over his shoulder, and started for the Jewel Isles entrance.
Chapter 15
Kreen Aktin and his men walked the rest of the way to the Jewel Isles until they came to a cave entrance for it.
They walked inside. After walking a few miles, they saw the beautiful Jewel Isles. Kreen Aktin was awed as much as he was the first time. Trillions and trillions of Jewels imaginable, Jewels so bright it was almost too hard to look at them. Some shot beams much brighter than the sun, lighting up the cavern with such brilliance, that it seemed like something out of this world. There were purple beams, green beams, blue beams, pink beams, even brown beams of radiant light. They were all quite awe stricken at the breath taking sight. Kreen Aktin remembered suddenly what they were there for. He swung his pickaxe, and started to pick away at a blue Jewel, one that had a more radiant light than many others. The rest of the men set to work on the other wall. They picked up the Jewels as carefully as they could, so that they would not be burnt.
Soon, Kreen Aktin’s bag was filled with beautiful Jewels. And also, every time a Jewel was taken, another would come in it’s place. Soon, they were carrying barrels of them to the ship, and coming back for more. Bang! Bang! Bang! the pickaxes kept chipping, ‘til they had so many, that the ship sank a few inches deeper than it had. So they boarded the ship, and set off.
After a while, the men started breaking open the barrels. They still shined brightly, though it was night time. When the first sun rays broke out in the sky, the Jewels shot out millions of times brighter than they had before. One certain one shot a ray at the wheel. The wheel was fried like a sausage. Suddenly, a ray hit Kreen Aktin. The great pirate fell over dead. Soon, the rays became more powerful; they started splintering the wood, (the other men were also dead) and the huge ship sank. The Jewels hit the bottom with the ship, making fried fish all over the place.
Over time, the Jewels were all buried under the water, all except one. It sat on the mast, casting long, red rays in every direction for miles. The ship was gone forever from human eyes, and so was Kreen Aktin. He had many tales made up about him over the years, and they were rarely true. But once in a while some old sailor will claim to have seen a red beam, much brighter than the sun, far, far below him, in the depths of the deep, deep ocean.
THE END