Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 133

A Quest For The Treasure St Stephen's College Preparatory School, Li, James - 11 I, Javk, Captain of the Eagle Queen of the Eagle Fleet, was sent on an important mission commanded by Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang. The mission was a second voyage of the kind. However, the mission this time was to send a picture of Emperor Yongle along with several ass-loads full of jewels and gold to his ally Guang Jiang. We packed our supplies and stashed the gifts in a strong and secure place for the long journey ahead of us and then stepped onto the lead boat. Our fleet had seven ships in a perfect arrow formation, with the lead vessel positioned at the front. This formation was strategic. In case we were ambushed by pirates, burglars or other enemy fleets, our fleet had the top-of-the-line arrangement to counter-attack. We had a dozen long ranged weapons on each deck, so I was pretty confident about this voyage. I stood on the main deck breathing into the cool and refreshing sea air as the salty breeze was swept over my face. I watched thousands of fish darting through the water in a synchronous manner. I gazed at the ocean, wondering how immeasurable and boundless the ocean was, when a giant shark started bumping against our ship. And now, it was bumping curiously at the lead ship, shaking it, and disrupting our formation. “Kill it!” “Kill it!” The guards said, their swords and harpoons pointing at it. However, they did not advance further and were looking expectantly at me. I realized that they were waiting for my command. We fired our cannons at it and it fled. We were still six days away from our destination, so we had to keep our eyes open and energy up. I decided to sleep till tomorrow morning and after thirty minutes of staring at the ceiling, I finally dozed off. CRACK! BOOM! A sudden sound startled me. I woke up, grabbed my sword, and rushed out of my cabin. Torrential rain fell around me, dark clouds enveloped the sky, lightning striked the water. Suddenly, something slammed into our ship. And the next thing I knew, it was boarding our ship. As they boarded I could not distinguish them as enemies or allies. They wore black clothes and had a kopesh hanging from their belt. I fought desperately, but the blackies (my nickname for them) soon overran us. Finally we were all tied up, with the rain still pouring onto my face, the leader of the blackies put his kopesh to one of my soldiers throats and demanded, ”Who is your leader?” I stood up, “Me.” I replied curtly, not submissive nor aggressive. “ I’m just going to take a stroll through your fleet and see what valuables I can take.“, he laughed to himself, and then he walked away. Suddenly, I heard arrows being fired, and the blackies’ ship sank. It turned out to be my friend Jwak. The next thing I knew, our whole legion was in Jwak’s fleet and had our ships towed behind us. ”Why aren’t we on our own ship again?” I asked. “Your rudder was damaged.” He explained I also learned he was admiral. “Great! We’re at one of our closest camps.” I followed Jawk off the ship with my legion following me, I saw a temporary camp, and our damaged rudder was already being worked on. At dinner, Jwak and I found out it was missing. “It had to be stolen by the people that attacked us” I said, worried. I described the blackies to Jwak and his face paled. “They are the Zerons, they love treasure, fortunately, I know where their stronghold is…”. An hour later, Jwak, a few handful of soldiers and I were at the island of the Zerons. Jwak and I had worked on a plan on the way here. A few soldiers would sneak off and create a diversion, while Jwak, I and a handful of soldiers would go to the treasury. Jwak, I and the soldiers were waiting behind a sand dune when suddenly, something exploded. “That is the diversion!” I whispered. The soldiers grabbed their weapons. As we sneaked in, we only encountered a few guards, apparently, our diversion worked. Finally, we reached the treasury, not surprisingly, it was locked, we barged against it until we realized it would not work. Suddenly, a guard charged at us with a mace. Suddenly, I got an idea, I pushed him back into the corridor and provoked him, I backed up against the door as he charged at me. At the last second, I dodged, just in time for me to avoid being a whack- a- mole victim. The mace shattered the door, and the door crumbled on him. I ran into the room, spotted the gifts, grabbed them, and hauled him out of the stronghold just as the last of the diversion ended and the explosives detonated. Half hopping and half hauling, I carried the gifts and Jwak out of the stronghold just as flames engulfed the hold. I glanced back, hoping to see the soldiers climb out of the wreckage. Feeling guilty, I wanted to stay for a while to grieve but I knew the Zerons would overcome their shock soon and come for me. Luckily, Jwak woke up on the way back to the ship and we half dragged, half carried each other to the boat. We immediately got into a boat and sailed away.