Crusaders Part 12

Present

"We beaten them back...." The sailors are cheering but soon it was to die down when they saw the new threat. Its a pair of sea serpents but this ones are as big as the Galleon.

"Armed the cannons!" The Captain shout his order and the muttered to himself; "Never would I sailed with priest on my ship again. They bring in the curses and the damned onto my ship."

"Micheal, the culverin. Load them well and I be there to help you soon enough." I ran to the Officer's quarter and asked the priest.

"Do you have any holy water with you?" He nodded and point to the bag he carries. I grabbed it and ran back to the deck. I grabbed the First Mate and asked for what I need. "Do you have a harpoon?"

"Sir, this is a galleon and not a whaling trawler." He felt insulted that we equate his ship to that of the minions. I pulled the man by the collar and repeat my question. "In the armory. We use it to spear the sharks."

"Well, get it for me and a long chain please." The First Mate ran for the armory and I went forth to join Micheal.

"Micheal, I hope our prayers would be answered a second time. If not, its been nice to know you. But you still owe me two guineas from the last poker game." Micheal's reply was not in my ears as I looked at the pair of angry mates who are now examining their lost nest of young ones.

"Next time, they asked you to fight, reply to them to send theirs' so you would not feel so much pain." I had to mock at the serpents on their losses. But its sure got their attention. But then my First Mate has arrived with a pair of harpoons. They come attached with a long rope which was what I was expecting. I told the First mate to tie the harpoon rope to the wine bottles. I then took out the holy water and noticed its only a bottle content. Nevertheless I split the content into the two bottles of wine and took the harpoon to Micheal.

"Micheal, we got one shot each. You need to aimed at the top of their head and made sure the wine bottles broke at their eyes. It our only hope. But before that let us do a prayer for another miracle." Both of us got down to our knees and prayed to God.

"God, we are your loyal servant but of late we are in need of your help. Th holy water we have is small in volume but we hoped you can add your punch to it. And before you leave, can you steady so that we do not missed." I looked at Micheal who is staring at me. "More so for me, as firing a bigger gun ain't my best of skills. Amen."

I looked up to see the First Mate attaching the harpoon to the culverin. He has set one up and is doing the second. The bottle of wine and holy water is now hanging onto the the harpoon by the rope it was tied to. Micheal step up to his gun while I walked up to mine.

"Make way, First Mate." but the man would not moved.

"This is my ship and I been shooting this harpoon since I was a scrub boy. So stand aside and see how a man do it." I looked at the First Mate and have to admit he is a bigger man than me. I stepped aside and smiled at him,.

"I would tell that to the barmaid when we reached port. She need not grope us to compare on our arsenal." We both laugh but soon the splash of the sea tells us we are needed to be serious on the forth coming task.

The serpents were smarter or we are stupid as they came together on the right side. They intend to slammed into the stern and damaged the rudders so we can't steer the ship. But we had the best marksman on the culverin.

"Fire at will!" I looked at the Captain who was giving the command. "Its my ship and only the Captain can give his command."

I bowed to the Captain and looked at the oncoming serpents. Its like facing an oncoming raging bull but this one has a mouthful of fangs on it. Micheal was first to fire and the harpoon went sailing up and then rear downwards to the serpent head. But it struck at the left jaw of the serpent which caused the serpent to shake its head. When the serpent did that, the dangling bottle of wine and holy water hit against just below its left eye and the bottle broke to splatter its contents. 

But nothing happened.

Not then but later as the serpent rear back its head in pain from the searing contents as it spread down the neck of the serpent. Where the contents comes into contact, its can be seen raging streaks of fire that burns into the scales and flesh of the demon. It plunged into the salt water to quell the fire but the fire still rages on despite the cold water. As the water is of salt content, its add to the burning sensation and the serpent reel its head up again to avoid the burning feel. By then we saw the raging fire ahs engulfed the serpent head and neck.

Its mate was not better off as the First Mate demonstrated his skill at the harpoon. His aim was true but he did not listen to my instruction. His harpoon pierced the serpent in the left eye and the bottle was thrown into the serpents' open jaw. The serpent on instinct closed it jaw and biting into the bottle. The contents was spilled into the throat of the serpent and flowed into its innards. The raging fire was inside the serpent body and it can be seen spurting out in streaks of fire from within the scales of the coiled body. The two dying serpents coiled in a final embrace before it let the fire cover their scales and caused it to sink beneath the ocean depths.

"Thank you, God. Amen." The words that thanked the Almighty came from the First Mate as he lowered the culverin barrel. Some of the sailors who has a hold on the faith fell down on their knees to pray for forgiveness and giving thanks for having saving their life. We lost fifty good men and another forty was injured in the attack. But we saved the ship now sailing again towards our destination.

"Father Rudy, what you just saw in the fight must never be spoken or written. My squire here is part of us who are the warriors of Light. He may be .... endowed with special powers but he uses them on the evil and never on the innocent. I want you to swear on the Holy Oath of you preserving this secret." The four of us now faced the ailing priest who has cower in the bedding and refusing to look at us.

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