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The Adventures of Captain Nathaniel Booth and The Crew of The Sloop, The Wrath of Hades

âDrop anchor, Mr. McAdams.â
âYes Captain. Right away captain. Iâm on it Captain. You can count on me Captain.â
âCalm down Jacob.â
âYes Captain. Sorry Captain. Never happen again Captain.â
âHop to it.â
Nathaniel Booth watched McAdams haul his overweight belly around the deck of his beloved sloop and sighed. Hopefully, if all went well, this would be his last voyage. He could take his savings and retire back in Caraco. Just one smooth, easy mission⦠Right? He heard the anchor fall. âLets round up the party Jacob,â Nathaniel hollered. He held the leather cylinder his employer had given him. âDo not open this until you reach you destination Nathan. Iâm counting on you,â the employer had instructed. Nathan always followed instructions. After the party selection, the group loaded into the landing boats. Just before Nathaniel could hop into the lead boat, an old, wrinkled had gripped his shoulder. He turned to see Julius. âI have a very bad feeling about this Captain. You must be careful,â he cautioned. Nathaniel just stared into his faded blue eyes with his stormy gray pair. They landed on the southwest coast of Hispaniola twenty minutes later. âOk, now I may open the cylinder,â Nathan announced to the landing party. A twist of the cap later, he held a scroll in the palm of his hand. It read: Captain Booth, journey into the forest and bring back the large metal capsule that the Occult of Eternity worship. Map enclosed. âOccult of Eternity? The hell is that Captain?â Popper asked in his nasally voice. âNot sure but we will find out pretty soon,â Nathaniel answered. He collected his thoughts and entered the forest, map in hand. The party followed.

Three hours later, they were lost. âMcAdams, help me with this,â Nathaniel whispered. The humid forest seemed to demand quiet. It held no animal life that they could see. Nightfall would be coming soon. âYes Captain. What do you need Captain. Iâm here to hel-â âShut it McAdams. I need you to take a look at this map and tell me where we are.â Nathaniel stroked his golden hair nervously while the rest of the party crouched to rest. âAny day now McAdamsâ¦â Nathaniel whispered sharply. âWell Captain, we passed this here boulder awhile back,â McAdams said, pointing at the map, âWe canât be more than 400 yards away.â Nathaniel nodded and stood. âCrew, we donât know what this Occult will do when we show up. Load weapons and draw swords.â As he said this, drums started pounding up ahead of the group. Everyone fell to the ground and drew weapons, ready to fight off any unwanted visitors. Minutes dragged on but no man or animal entered view. The drums rolled on. Nathaniel motioned for the group to stand and join him in a circle, him in the middle. âI want to sneak up and take a peak at what we are up against. If Iâm not back in ten minutes, attack,â he told the men. With this, he ran in a crouch towards the sound of the drums. When he was 100 yards away, he could see light. Fires, he guessed. Nathaniel reached the edge of a circular clearing and dropped to his stomach. He saw a massive egg shaped container that seemed to be made out of a gray metal. The door to the capsule was open, showing him images of people sitting down on a street. Not a normal street though. This street was inhabited by large metal wagons with wheels. No horses. People held startling white cups with steam coming from them. What struck Nathan most was how clean every person he saw was. Nothing like the people he knew. What is this place? He lay in a trance for thirty more seconds and finally pulled his eyes away to observe the surrounding area. Huge, blazing fires surrounded the capsule. Just past these fires, a large group of people in red and black robes kneeled, as if praying to this machine. Nathaniel counted forty. Rejoining his group, he counted how many men he had with him. He had twenty-three, including Nathaniel himself. Great. Explaining the scene that he had witnessed, the group devised a plan. Three groups of five would surround the worshippers, with a last group of eight on the Occultâs rear. Nathaniel would give the signal and all would rush the group, killing them. âLets get down to it men,â Nathaniel whispered. Each man went off to his assigned area quickly. Nathaniel joined the seven in the rear of the praying group. Suddenly, there came a loud SNAP of a twig. The drums ceased and the worshippers jumped to their feet. âAttack! Attack now lads!â Nathaniel roared. With a great cry, the group rushed in. The Occult pulled swords and fought back. Nathan charged, firing his pistols first. He saw his first shot connect with an Occultistâs turned back. Drawing another pistol, he quickly fired again. This connected with the side of a head, spraying brain and skull fragments. An Occultist saw him and attacked. Before he could pull his sword, Nathaniel was tackled and on the floor. Lashing out wildly with his right fist, he hit the Occultist stunning him. Shoving the man off, Nathaniel pulled a dagger and shoved it into the attackers chest. Now drawing his sword, he hacked and slashed any Occultist he saw. The battle was over within five minutes. âRoll call!â Nathaniel bellowed, ears still ringing from the fight. The men slowly lined up. He counted eight dead and two with mild wounds. âI need a runner! You, Mr. Sleighter, hurry to the ship and grab the doctor and more men. We need to haul this machine to the ship before the rest of this Occult is aware of the battle,â Nathaniel called. âYes Captain!â Sleighter answered. Nathaniel gathered ropes and the remaining group and started to wrap the capsule for transport. Half an hour later, thirty more men arrived and joined the group. âWe need to pull this to the shore and double time,â Nathaniel commanded. Ten men ran ahead clearing a path for the capsule to follow and the remaining pulled the capsule along. After what seemed like hours, the machine slid to sand. âLoad it up! Load it up!â Nathan commanded once more. A while later, the capsule was being loaded up onto the ship. As it was being put into the cargo hold, the rest of the Occult reached the edge of the forest. âBack to the ship! Retreat!â There was a flurry of activity as those remaining on the beach hopped into boats and rowed with a passion. The Occult fired muskets and pistols but failed to hit any men. The Wrath of Hades opened fire with its cannons, scattering some and killing others. The men collapsed onto the deck, breathing heavily. Nathaniel leaned against the rail and smiled. They still had to get home. But thatâs another storyâ¦

FIN