The second part of this story (you'll notice it when you get there) was inspired by "Gabriel" by Lamb.
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After picking up Tia’Zula, the shamaness troll, from Jaguero Isle, The Sly Whore sailed somewhere to the middle of the sea, away from prying eyes and traitorous ears. Cris stared out at the water, whose waves were crashing hard against the ship. Tia’Zula walked to him and placed her arms around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder to look out as well.
“The seas be restless, ya?”
“They’ve been like this for quite a while. Since the earthquakes began, I believe.”
“I wonda what ‘as ‘er angreh.”
Cris shrugged and chuckled. “She knows what I’m planning.” Tia chuckled and held him tight.
“Joo a bad boy, Cristianno,” she whispered into his ear before kissing over the scar on his neck. She grinned noticing his gasp and his eyes closing for a moment.
“Tia…”
She chuckled and let him go. “Da boys be waitin’ for joo below deck.” Cris nodded and took her hand, both of them walking to the stairs that lead to the room below. For the most part, the entire crew was there. Cris sat at a table with Ziggly. The oil lamps below were lit and each body cast a shadow against the walls.
“Where’s Laerchel?” Ziggly said, leaning back against his chair.
“She’ll be arriving to Booty Bay today. We’ll pick her up and commence the plan.”
“What is the plan?”
Tia sat at the table with both Ziggly and Cris while the rest of the men and women surrounded them, either standing or sitting on the floor nearby. “We’re taking a Horde airship.” There were gasps throughout the room and confused looks were being thrown at each other.
Ziggly looked around at the men and turned to Cris. “And why exactly?”
“Garrosh is taking over and the airships are filled with heavy ammunition, artillery, armor, provisions. This is a jackpot, Zig.”
“Er, Captain,” an orc said in his scratchy voice. Cris looked at him and nodded. “That would make us wanted men if we succeed.”
“When we succeed, you mangy coward,” Cris replied, his eyes narrowed. He glanced at Ziggly, who was watching him, slightly confused. “Ay, it will. When we succeed, yes, the Horde will want our heads for this. So if any of you want to run off with your fucking tail between your legs, go right ahead. Get off my ship right now.” He silently glared at each of the men and women. Ziggly shifted in his seat to look at everyone. The men and women shuffled in place, with a few of them muttering to each other, “…we’re in the middle of the sea…”
Cris slammed his hand on the table and stood. “Fuck yes we’re in the middle of the sea.” He stared toward the dark corner at two humans who were talking. “Is there a problem, dogs?” The two shook their heads. “Because if there is, we can easily fix it. Tia needs a few more shrunken heads, or I know Davy is hungry downstairs. Your call. Get off my ship, or stop being pussies.” The men nodded quickly before Cris slowly sat down again. “Alright then. We’re all in this together.”
Ziggly chuckled and turned to Cris. “Alright, boss, what’s going down?”
Cris leaned down and pulled a few parchments and his journal from the bag next to his chair. “The airship leaves from within Orgrimmar early in the morning or late in the evening, to avoid the passenger airship.” He unfolded a parchment and revealed a map of the world with markings. “Here’s Orgrimmar. Notice how it flies over land first before crossing the North Sea toward Northrend.” He took a red writing tool and marked a spot in the middle between Kalimdor and Northrend. “That’s where we need to capture the ship.” Cris stared at the map and smiled, nodding in approval of his own plan. Ziggly blinked silently, gazing at Tia, who also looked somewhat lost. The men and women around them were afraid to speak but shuffled uncomfortably.
Ziggly rolled his eyes, “Alright, I’ll bite. How the fuck are we going to capture an airship if we’re on the Whore?”
“Ah, I’m glad you asked, Zig.” Cris looked up and smiled at everyone. “We’re going to blast it out of the air and into our territory: the sea.”
“And ‘ow joo gonna do dat?” Tia asked curiously.
Cris patted Ziggly hard on the back, the goblin briefly gasping for air. “Bombs and rockets, my dear Tia. Along with Ziggly’s bomb making devices and Laerchel’s nimble explosives, we can strategically bring the ship down in the ocean, have the Whore ready nearby, load up whatever we can salvage onto the rowboats, and get away before anyone realizes what happened.”
“That’s easy enough,” Ziggly said, turning away from Cris.
“This is bloody madness!” shouted a dwarf who stood behind Ziggly, his hands extended upward and shaking his head. Everyone gasped, including him, when they heard a pistol’s hammer click. Ziggly stared down the barrel of Cris’ gun. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Didn’t I say that if there was anyone opposed to this plan to leave my ship?” Cris looked around, his eyes narrowed. “Ziggly, didn’t I say that? I could have sworn I did.”
“Yes, you said that, Wolf.” Ziggly sighed his response and shook his head.
“Everyone, did I make myself clear when I said that?” The crew nodded their heads rather quickly. Tia leaned back, looking at the crew with a smirk on her face. “So why is it that this fucker didn’t hear me?” Cris turned to look at Ziggly, saying, “Zig, duck.” As soon as the goblin lowered his head, the dwarf was in plain sight, his eyes widened as he desperately shook his head.
“No, I think…I think it’s a great plan! Captain!”
“Too late.” Cris fired a shot, hitting him right between the dwarf’s eyes. The dwarf slumped down and Cris stood from his seat. “Now, is there anyone else here who thinks this is ridiculous or is planning on opening their fucking trap?” He walked toward the dwarf, watching the faint glow of the soul rising up toward the shark tooth. Tia grinned, being able to see it too, but no one else know what was going on. After giving a soft gasp, Cris closed his eyes briefly and opened them up once more. “Now, have I made myself absolutely clear, or do I have to give you another example?” They all shook their heads silently. “Good. Now, let’s see how we’re going to coordin-“ His words were cut short as the ship swayed from one side to another, causing many of them to lose their balance.
Ziggy turned to look at the crew and he stood on his chair. “Johnson, Kickface, Gup, go see what’s going on.”
“And stabilize my fucking ship!” Cris added as the human and elves ran up to the deck. He walked back to his seat. “Everyone involved will get a decent percentage and I will arm you well with what we get.” He looked around, “Assuming you remain loyal to me.” He placed the pistol on the table. “Understood?”
Ziggly took the charts and turned them to take a better look. “So this could be a suicide mission for you. Is that what you’re saying?”
Cris laughed, “Suicide is for those who want to die, my friend. I not only intend to live, but bring back enough merchandise to make us a fortune. We’ll have to get rid of the goods as soon as possible before they start tracking their things.” Ziggly nodded, pulling out some sort of mechanical device and he started working calculations. “Well?”
Ziggly scratched his black tuft of hair. “It’s possible, but you better make sure that the airship lands at a distance from the Whore or you’re going to have the waves hit us and we’ll tilt over.”
“We’ll figure it out. That’s why we have you and Laer, right?” He smiled. “Men, we can do this!” The room was filled with cheers and Cris laughed. He turned to Tia, who was sitting straight, frozen with her eyes widened. Cris’ reaction quickly faded. “Tia, what’s wrong? Tia…”
The troll turned to look at Cris, whispering, “Someting not right, Cristianno.”
The ship shook violently right before an elf called out from above deck. “Captain! You better come up here quick!”
Cris stared at Tia for a few seconds before flying out of his seat, rushing up the steps. Ziggly, the crew, and Tia followed him. The sky above the ship was suddenly dark, as if an ashy plume of smoke covered the blue dome above.
“What the fuck?” Cris asked, his eyes still fixated toward the sky. He noticed the crew gazing in the opposite direction and Tia was mumbling something inaudible. “What is it, Tia?”
“Captain! Look!” Cris turned around and noticed an abnormally huge rolling wave heading in their direction. His body frozen in place, Cris simply gasped.
“Get the rest of the crew out from under there!” Ziggly shouted. Cris turned to see the stairs to the room below and ran down. “Fuck, Cris, where are you going? You have seconds before this thing hits us!”
Cris ran to the cargo holding area, hearing the shrill sounds of his devilsaur. He pulled the keys from his pants and quickly unlocked the cage. Davy barged out and looked threatened. Cris approached him and the devilsaur lowered its head. “Shh, Davy, listen. You survive this, alright. Survive this and I’ll go find you. I promise I’ll find you. But you need to live.” He kissed the large creature’s snout before running back up toward the deck. He looked up and saw the wave coming closer, towering over them.
“Captain! What do we do?” shrieked the men.
Cristianno stared at the dark waters approaching the ship. His ship. “Grab on to something…and live.” The men scuttled about, finding something steady to hold on to. Cris ran up to his steering wheel and held on tightly. Ziggly, Tia, and Gerty followed him, finding something to hold on to as well.
“Cris!” Ziggly shouted, but Cris continued to stare. He took a deep breath and the water cascaded over them, carrying the ship up with them and tilting it over, burying it as the water fell back onto the earth. The force of the water was too strong, and almost instantly, everyone had let go of their anchors.
Cris opened his eyes in the violent twirling under the water. He saw his crew, parts of his ship, and everything else swept up by the watery mass. For a moment, he felt he was simply floating in nothingness. There was no up, there was no down. There was simply water and he feared that he would not be able to hold his breath much longer. His auburn hair swirled around him and he managed to see a twinkle of light coming from one direction in between the web of hair. He pushed himself in that direction.
He had to live. He knew he had to and he knew he had to find the others. Ziggly, Tia, Gerty…Laerchel. Cris didn’t understand what was going on, but he worried about two others who were not with him. He wondered how Rain was doing, but most importantly, he worried about Davina. No, not Davina. Niela. All those thoughts helped him push himself toward that sparkle of light, until a heavy undercurrent swept him back down, making him lose sight of where he was going. Tired of holding his breath, he simply stopped, resigned to the fact that death was around the corner.
But he didn’t need to breathe. He wasn’t suffocating and he wasn’t drowning either. Tia. Once again, he tried to push himself to what he felt was upward. Each time he pushed himself, he thought he saw someone up above reaching down for him.
At first it was the strawberry blonde smiling down at him from above the water. Cris tried to reach for her hand but she was soon gone. He pushed himself again, only to see a hand once again. This time, it was a raven-haired female reaching for him. This caused him to push himself harder, trying to reach her hand, but soon she was gone as well. Once more he continued to swim upward, against currents that were trying to stop him. The hand reached down to him yet again and this time, he was determined to reach it. Looking up, he saw a woman with long auburn hair.
Momma…
He pushed harder and just when he believed he was going to reach her hand, he felt something pushing him from below. He sped through the water and touched the hand, however, he actually touched a blue hand, grabbing and pulling him upward. He flew up into the air and landed back onto land. Almost instantly, he felt his body heal.
“Tank joo, Davy. ‘ee be fine nao.”
Cris heard the voice, but being too exhausted, he simply blacked out.
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