Sally Island 21

The alcohol had slowly worn off, it was to him like an anaesthetic shielding him from the pain inflicted by the stab wounds. Victoria stopped stitching him worrying about the pain. "Why did you stop?" He grunted with his croaky voice. It was obvious he spoke with all the energy he had left in him. He hadn't said a word since they brought him home, maybe because he had been mildly unconscious. Looking around the room, he was trying to take note of his environment. Victoria sensed he didn't feel safe, "you need to relax, let me get you some rum for the pain" trying to hold him back to the bed. "Nah, I'm good" he replied still with a croaky voice. "I can handle the pain". Looking at him surprised, but she didn't buy the macho talk. She walked out to get the rum. Mudshark wasn't comfortable with whatever was going on, he tried standing up from the bed but the pain all over his body couldn't let him move an inch. Sitting back, he wondered how come he was this wounded in a fight. His mind couldn't work properly either, in fact it left him with a strong headache whenever he tried to think. Victoria walked in with a bottle of rum, but he wasn't in the mood to get drunk again. He hated the fact that he couldn't think. He asked her to take the drink back and bring food instead, he was very hungry. She had to finish the stitches first. After which she stepped out for a while, walking in with a tray of food her mother made. 

"You know, you never told me what happened in that alley" looking at her inquisitive face, he shook his head. He definitely don't want to recall whatever he was supposed to recall. When he thinks, he hurts, and when he hurts, he gets angry, anger takes a lot of energy. And he didn't have much energy. He had picked up a book to read from the bedside to clear his head off much thinking. But he couldn't concentrate and veered off reading, lost in a wonder maze. Trying to figure how he ended up with a cheating wife and an ungrateful boss he had worked for all his life . This wasn't how he intended his story to go. But like his mom always told him, "nothing ever goes as planned". But he always thought it was a saying his mom derived from her various attempts to escape slavery. Each time she tried, something always goes wrong that she didn't plan for that leaves her stuck with her master. Since he planned and escaped himself, he discarded that saying. But as things unfolded now, it seems his mom's saying best defines whatever is happening to him. Reading couldn't help him at the end of the day, especially since it's was a romantic novel. It was causing more harm than good, reflecting on the incident with Catherine. He preferred the food and he ate it with concentration. 

Paying attention to the food. Concentrating on every bite, absorbing it's taste slowly to distract his mind from thinking out of proportion. At least Catherine didn't make good food, so he couldn't relate it to her. That was the first thing he came across he couldn't link back to her. He was happy that the food he was eating tasted so good, it made him forget about Catherine, in his mind Catherine couldn't make any good food. The thought of that made him smile unconsciously, Victoria was still in the room, watching him giggle softly, that was the first time he smiled since she met him. She wanted to know why, so she came closer. She had been impressed seeing how he took pain like it was nothing. Victoria loved strong men, she saw he was wearing a sailor's suit. She loved sailors too, now seeing him smile, all she wanted was to kiss those happy lips. But first she came closer inquiring on why he was smiling. This was one thing Mudshark was confused about, he felt the urge to talk about it but at the same time he didn't want to disclose his personal matters to Victoria. He still considered her a stranger and didn't trust her even a bit. He suspected John Bull sent her also, like he sent the pirates that attacked him. He didn't underestimate John Bull's schemes, he was capable of anything. Mudshark was very careful with Victoria, he only ate her food because he needed strength to heal. When Victoria inquired of what made him smile and got no answer. She leaned forward to kiss him, hoping that will do the magic. 

But he pushed her away gently, minding her chest and his wounds. Victoria was shocked at his reaction, she had never been rejected by a man before, she has a striking beauty that even an angel cannot resist. She tried to kiss him again, but Mudshark was a wounded man. Not physically, but emotionally, and he had developed at an early stage in life a certain distrust for ladies who displayed sexual gestures for a man first. He often saw it as a set up, so he strongly believed John bull was certainly behind whatever was going on. And it was  time to take a leave, calculating that by now, JohnBull must have sent another crew to come finish what they started. In order not to feel indebted to anyone, he left enough money to pay for his hospitality and a note and took his leave in the darkest night when his figure will be like a shadow to the lurking eyes. Victoria cried all night through, she was had developed love for Mudshark, but Mudshark wasn't having any of it, it really hurt her when he left. He was wasn't interested in emotional businesses anymore, he had no time for affection and the clings that comes with it, to him, it was time to become what he always dreamt to be; a liberator. He had his trusted men waiting for him already. Before he went home, they agreed on meeting at a spot where they usually meet to plan their future as Sea Lords. He gathered his men that same night with a wounded shoulder. Borrowed a new suit and sharpened his old sword. It was time to rebel. It was time to live his dreams, he told his crew of his plans and they all wanted to be part of it. Breaking away from Captain Blood's crew abandoning his pirate ship and becoming sailors of their own ship. But he needed more crew members and a new ship. 

Mudshark knew JohnBull's crew members had the dark mind of a definite pirates but he needed more able bodied men. A crew with the mind and the strength, able to withstand anything. That was when he remembered his roots, he remembered how hard his mother works in the farm and how much stronger the blacks are than the Caucasians in JohnBull's crew. Remembering his roots gave birth to a new idea. Breaking into a slave ship, who can be stronger than a bunch of slaves who sailed months from Africa without good food and medical attention? He highlighted it to his crew on the basis of all men being equal, against the ideology of slavery, his crew also wanted to see how it will work, although they had their doubts, they trusted Mudshark. They didn't have a ship to use. Attacking a slave ship needed a big ship also, and they didn't have one. Mudshark and his entire crew sat round the warmth of a camp fire that night, as sober as they have never been, to give their brains a chance to think. That night they came up with an only solution, they paddled in small boats into the middle of the ocean that same night awaiting the arrival of any slave ship. Sword sharpened, mind made up in desperation to start the strongest sailor crew anywhere around, they moved and laid ambush for a perfect ship to subdue. After waiting hours on the shark infested waters, a slave ship sailed towards them. Just as the ship got closer, they threw their ropes on and climbed hastily and charged the ship, targeting and breaking into the cells where the slaves where being held in chains. 

Story: Nnagoziem TheVyrus Udensi 

Illustrations: Chevilin Pierre