The Legend of Captain Melville Part 1

   It was an unusually dark and misty night aboard the Blue Dragon, Captain Melville's greatest battleship. The soldiers and crew tensely awaited a sign of the dark phantom ship they hunted. Dark waves sloshing against the side of the ship seemed to be overwhelmingly loud. Suddenly out of the mist came a dark shape. Then, the eerie beaten flag o the Phantom ship appeared. The massive black ship used to raid the last free lands of Jamaa seemed to appear from nowhere.

   "Prepare to fire!" The experienced captain yelled. Archers lined the starboard side of the battleship. The black ship was quickly moving closer to the the Blue Dragon. "Release arrows!" He yelled. Hundreds of arrows flew through the sky. The white feathers tied to each arrow made it look like snow above the phantom ship. The phantoms aboard the deck flew back only to be replaced by a seemingly endless amount of phantom troops.

   The phantoms threw large hooks onto the side of the Blue Dragon, pulling their dark ship closer in order to to fight hand-to-hand. Captain Melville knew they had no chance if the phantoms got too close. He yelled down to the first officer bellow the deck, "Prepare the cannons!" The first officer passed the order on to the tigers in control of the seven powerful cannons facing the phantom ship. "Fire!" he yelled, though it could hardly be heard through all the confusion. The seven sparks seemed to light up the whole ship. Then, the deafening blast off the canons and the wood splitting on the side of the phantom ship. Everyone watched as the black ship filled with water and sunk to the depths of Kani Cove forever.

   The crew and soldiers cheered as the flag sank with a false sense of safety. As they stared at the water where the phantom ship once was, they did not notice the evil fleet approaching behind them. The lookout cried a warning but it was too late. The phantoms boarded the Blue Dragon and the tigers fought desperately for their freedom. Many tigers were killed by simply touching the evil creatures, others were carried off to one of the five ships. Captain Melville was held captive in the fleet's greatest ship, the Wandering Serpent.

   Captain Melville sat in the small dirty room, thinking. He remembered the beautiful beaches of Crystal Sands, his juice hut, a place of simple happiness, and of Sir Gilbert, his childhood mentor. He remembered the many hours he would sit and listen to stories of his adventures, wishing he could have an adventure himself. It had been months since he last saw his family, living in the comfortable cave at the top of the cliff at Crystal Sands, and wondered if he would ever see them again.

   It had been nearly a month since the captain had a good meal. Weak and tired, he did nothing when the phantom guards came to drag him off the ship. He landed on the cold wet ground and looked up and to his horror, realized they had brought him to their land, far from Jamaa. The ground was covered with sharp black rocks, tall mountains hid the horizon, and grey ash clouds covered the sky. And built into a cliff 1,000 feet above him, stood the massive Dark Tower.

*Part 2 will be written soon!*