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Blue Sails

The Hunter

Sugar Rush

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Sebastián Iturralde
June 9, 2021
5 minute read
Dark Light
Taking a journey to the edge of the world because sometimes hearing a legend is not enough to believe it.

Very few know the edge of the Earth… beyond the maps that are shown to the crowds; beyond the idea of ​​a floating sphere in the void. At the true end of the known world, saling the dark and turbulent icy waters, doing everything possible to maintain their ship afloat━Ivan and his crew struggled to survive.

“Captain…” Tledine exclaimed before throwing himself to the ground and dodging a loose rope.

Ivan maneuvered the steering wheel as the ship passed next to giant icebergs. Enventuraly, the currents carried them towards a thin layer of ice. Aren’t they going to lower the sails?

The Land Lover broke the ice with its keel, almost going over it. The pirates managed to hold on until a sudden force sent the forward; the captain held on tight to the wheel until the ship came to a stop.

Ivan looked up… moving carefully—listening to the squealing of wood. “Is everyone okay?” he asked.

“Aye Aye…”

“I think we are in trouble.” Ivan said as he walked down the ladder.

“What are we going to do captain?” Jostas asked. “We’re trapped.”

“There will be time for that…” said the captain. “For now, I need to cool my throat.”

“But…”

Ivan covered Jostas’s face with one hand. Then, he reached for a wooden cup and filled it with liquor from a keg. The rest of the pirates approached, watching their captain drink. “We are alive… right?”

“It’s going to be very difficult to get out of this place,” Grimoul said with her arms folded in front of her chest. She was clearly the taller of all the pirates.

“We could wait for the ice to thaw…” Jostas said before receiving a blow to the head.

“Any other ideas?” Ivan asked before continuing to drink.

“I think…” said Apolinios, “we could reverse the boat with ropes.”

“The Land Lover is not a boat,” said the captain. “But it’s a good idea, you’ll be in charge. In the meantime I need a team for an expedition.”

“He must be crazy,” Jostas whispered to his side.

“We have a volunteer,” Ivan said, putting his hand on Jostas head. “Someone else?”

Some of the pirates around the captain raised their arms, but Ivan knew exactly who he was going to take. He chose his team and they got ready for an expedition into the icy lands at the edge of the world.

“Something tells me this is going to be boring,” Sherina said, “but I’d rather come with you than drag the ship out of this mess.”

“You better bring your weapons,” said the captain.

Sherina spun… showing two pistols and a knife on her back. “For you captain… I’m always ready.”

Ivan looked from side to side. “Well… the plan is simple. The legend tells of a treasure two hours from here—it will be an easy trip. We get there, find something to bring back and return. We have to be back by sundown.”

Jostas looked at the captain suspiciously… until Grimoul pushed him. “Look where you’re going,” he demanded.

“Sorry… you are not in my sight range.”

“Easy,” said the captain. “Let’s save this for later… Tledine, ready to run?”

Tledine nodded and they all ran after him.

Running for two hours wasn’t difficult—at an expert pace, of course. The pirates ignored the cold of the snow. Tledine knew the terrain and avoided the soft snow. They crossed through the icy breeze, certain that they would be the only ones crazy enough to travel the forbidden lands—eventually captain Ivan Three Eyes’ men caught a glimpse of a shadow in the distance.

“Impossible,” said the captain, stopping the group.

“There are no clouds in the sky,” Tledine said.

Grimoul looked up, not understanding what was happening.

“It’s not a shadow,” Sherina said.

“She’s right,” said the captain, looking through a telescope. “It’s a black structure.”

“I want to see…” Jostas said, lifting his arms.

Ivan held the telescope out of Jostas’s reach—he watched him jump a couple of times before tucking it into his backpack. “We found our goal.”

Tledine couldn’t believe what they’d found, even worse that the captain guided them to perfection.

“Take us to the crystal cube,” Ivan said.

Tledine ran in front of the group again.

“You have been warned…” the words sounded inside Ivan’s mind. “These lands are off-limits to his kind.”

“What’s that?” Tledine asked as he stopped and noticed the rest of the group passing by.

“Continuing will cost your lives,” the voices spoke again inside the pirates’ minds.

“Focus on the objective,” said the captain.

Before long, they got close enough to see the immense crystal structure. A perfect cube with six hundred foot high walls. The pirates descended a snowy hill before the cube was within reach. The smooth walls appeared to be made from a single piece of marble. Although its color was too perfect.

“You two over there,” Ivan said and pulled Jostas to join him.

Tledine watched the pirates disappear to the opposite sides of the cube and he froze. Where did this come from? he wondered.

Ivan continued running. Looking carefully at everything around him. There must be something we can take. When he reached the corner of the cube, turned and stopped abruptly.

“What happened?” Jostas asked after crashing into the captain.

“Look,” Ivan whispered.

A door opened on the fourth face of the cube. Ivan, like the others, saw two humanoid-looking beings come out. They did not seem ready for the cold, their naked bodies exposed their blue skin.

“This place is beyond the limits of your land,” said one of the beings. His voice was heard in the minds of everyone present.

“TO THEM,” the captain yelled and the four pirates charged.

Sherina took a shotgun from her back and was the first to fire. Then, she threw it to the side and reached for her pistols.

Grimoul was ready to shoot what appeared to be a small bazooka. The explosion forced her to stop, as Sherina ran past her.

One of the blue-skinned beings began to spin a black warstaff in front of him and deflected the projectile. The other humanoid turned to face the captain.

Ivan shot.

Jostas paused, aiming a shotgun for an instant before firing. Then he ran after the captain.

“Your efforts are futile,” the pirates heard inside their heads, and continued running towards the blue-skinned beings—watching them defend themselves with their warstaffs.

Then, the metal net shot by Sherina fell on top of the humanoids… the spinning warstaffs got entangled, causing the beings to lose their balance and fall. Another metal net fell on them, just in time for the pirates to secure the corners with metal stakes.

“Make sure they can’t move,” Ivan said, driving a stake into his corner of the net.

The blue skinned beings looked surprised.

“Speak in my mind now,” Ivan said before grabbing a warstaff from the ground. The captain was surprised to see it shrink in his palm, then he took the other one and easily placed them in his backpack. “We’ve got what we came for. We’d better get out of here.”

The pirates runned towards Tledine and back to the ship with their treasures.

Author

Sebastián Iturralde

Writer of enigmatic tales, weaving captivating narratives that provoke thought and stir the imagination. Unveiling the depths of human experience through words.
201 comments

  4. Good story. Being ex-navy, I must mention that ships don’t have stairs, they’re called ladders. LOLGB+

          1. You didn’t have to, but my comment did get several replies and likes. Hope it wasn’t under pressure. Ha! Just posted today’s message. OH! Starting to get the hang of this blogging thing! LOLGB+

      1. I can see how he wasn’t meant to be good or bad. He is just only focused on his main goal in mind, regardless of the risks. Not that he is malicious in how he cares about his crew, he just only cares about getting the money. Which doesn’t necessarily make him evil, but it’s still not a good quality in a captain.

  10. You have a beautiful blog. I really enjoyed reading your work so far. It’s like seeing your transcendental meditation catch a large fish you’re sharing with the world. Love the art too. Very inspiring stuff.

  16. “speaking in mind now,” permit me to quote Ivan, Seb, you are great in fictions. Keep them coming,. Thank you for your likes in all my published posts.

  18. Your first paragraph was especially good to read. I like the idea of ‘knowing the edge of the Earth’ and putting your characters in an unheard of and isolated setting in a poetic way.

  20. Many Sailer’s stories are relied to death, it is quite sad it did not stop even in front of some nude blue humanoid on earth. – Lack’s and missals of own projects should not drive any discoverer to neglet the eventuallity of scientific – variable rich data collection and recollection, that’s where a Pirat’s recovery only covers some sporadic and ponctual gains of warstaffs and humanoid prisoners. I thought I might want to denounce the Pirats and cry in reason of theire lack of delicacy, or let’s say precarious policy of secure distance to be maintainen towards foreign Natures, as to unhook a shelling security-recovery in opposition to the steady natural rejection, by wild Nature they have to endure, and that subdues them – even when having made a trofy of some surrounded blue Prisoner.

  30. Great read. I love stories of pirates and the sea. Oh… and by the way, I appreciate you like on my blog. I am new to blogging and currently started if for a college class. Either way, your my first like… and now I am your new fan. Buy you coffee soon.

    1. Do you have any links to other pirate stories? I am working on one with modern day pirates (it is not on or relevant to my blog, for now), and I am looking for references, inspiration, and maybe some knowledge.

  40. Awesome writeup, interesting one. Thanks buddy for liking for recent poetry post. New at blogging world, really boosts energies when someone appreciates and like your work. Thanks again

        1. Sebastian is too kind. He liked my post too. Sebastian,i like your stories so much.
          I am Arka bhattacharya, a 13 year old boy from India. I have changed my site to a more meaningful but long name : https://bit.ly/2TQ8XRY . Here I am providing free lessons in physics chemistry mathematics, coding for grades 5 -8. Please do visit the site and like it. The site is going to run actively from Mid of July. Please do support to my initiative.

          1. Sure dear it would be my pleasure to follow and like a young champ, more power to you boy. Would highly appreciate if you can follow mine and share where relevant.

          2. Of course! Good posts are required to follow and share! It is our earnest duty to do so as a proper citizen(N.B:I am too little to be a citizen till now😅)

  42. The street child is the story of a florist

    The boy had no dreams. I know, maybe there was! But I never saw the light of dreams in his eyes. Every moment I look at the thin and black boy, I see only some suffering, drowning in hunger and deprivation. Whose appearance was never sad, there was a smile.

  43. God tells us to take every thought captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5) That means that I have a chance to do something about all thoughts that are not well-pleasing to God, before they enter my heart and become a part of me! “As a man thinks, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. What we think about is crucial to who we are.
    (This came to mind as I finished reading your intriguing story)

  44. I always love good writing and yours, sir, is good. Thank you for your creativity and and passion for what you do.

      2. My posts are the stories made by me. They are based on relationship and experiences that I went through or experiences of friends or relatives in the form of stories

  49. This is the most I have been able to concentrate to read. I love the beautiful imagery you use and I really heard, saw, felt a lot of the descriptive wording. Thank you for a great read! You are talented!

  52. Dear Sebastian Your writing is very poetic
    with vivid images! I haven’t finished it
    because it is late and I’m tired. You see I’m a good deal older than you!
    Judy a top notch nurse

  55. Engaging, I didn’t want this reading to stop. You really have a way with words, marrying this story and presenting it with such candor is really admirable.

    Thank you for keeping me busy.

  60. Fun read enjoyed it. Jostas reminded of one of my brothers growing up and Dad taking us deer hunting.

  68. Hello Sebastian ,

    Scanning through your work , you seem to be a gifted writer with a creative imagination . You look to be a person with a depth of emotions . Keep up the good work !

  72. I really enjoy reading your stories, and I wanted to say thank you for reading my work! I think your website is beautiful, and I would love the chance to talk with you about any advice you may have for a new blogger just starting out. Thank you in advance!

  78. Thank you for reading my blogs and commenting .Yours is good like to know how you have so many readers commenting. I have blogged for 3 years and have just 12 readers. I tell every one about my work and seems that my members grow at about 5 a month but never comment so have no way of knowing. Not blogged before retirement but did write a published book in mid 1980s that sold well for 4 years. Any thoughts will be looked and well and used

  87. Pingback: Format C: | Short Story | RelatoCorto

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