It had been seven months since the night that Elizabeth Parker saved Nile from her brother and brought him to the church; Nile had been working there, cleaning whatever needed cleaning or whatever to monks had in mind for him to do in exchange for his room and board. Working in such a holy place would bring most people peace, but not Nile, he never forgot his vendetta against Lestat: the man who ruined his life those fifteen years ago. He clung to his hatred like a starving man clings to the bread wagon as it drags him through the town.
One day while Nile was cleaning the floors with the poor excuse for a broom that he had, a monk walked by with a grungy sailor who described his captain in detail as a most unusual man; Nile’s grip tightened on the broom and almost broke the handle when he heard the sailor talk about how his captain’s hair was dark purple like the shade of royalty. He started sweeping again quickly when the Monk looked to him to see why he stopped in the first place, though for the rest of the day he would just cultivate that little pile of dirt and dust as his mind moved on to grand plans for his revenge. That night, Nile returned to his cell and slept better than he had since Lestat came into his life when he was but three years old. He slept well that night, for he would be one step closer to revenge in the morning.
The morning came, and it was a new step for Nile as he watched the sun rise in the east from the steps of the church; the church was built to face the east as a toss back from an older time when the Pagans of yore worshipped the rising sun. He left the church behind him and saw for the first time the streets of London from a perspective other than a vagrant; Nile looked back to the church one more time and saw Father Thomas looking back at him contently, the father provided him with food and clothes, hoping God would lead Nile back to the church instead of the path of hatred that Nile intended to follow, ‘fool’ Nile thought as he turned around one more time and left the church for good. He walked the streets of London admiring the women, the sounds, the mint smell that was just enough distinguishable from the smog that told him that rain would be coming, the women, the architecture, the women. Nile made his way to the port of London, it was the largest port that Nile had ever seen, even though he hadn’t seen many at all, and its size suited his needs perfectly. Big ports always had more security but there was always an alley no law man in his right mind would set foot inside, the kind that harbored the smugglers and all of the filth that washed in from the Northern Sea. Nile saw where the alley was since the law men went out of their way to avoid that particular part; see no evil, hear no evil.
Nile slipped into the Alley, no one attempted to stop him. The alley, known as South Alley to the locals, operated in a state of vigilante justice: if someone wronged you then you just had to wrong them back. Nile made his way down the alley to a figure huddled against the wall in a semblance of sleep, it wore tattered clothes that looked to once have been nice but that was before they were liberated from their former owner’s dead body. “Nicki,” Nile gave the figure a kick with his foot, Nicki looked up to Nile with eyes that were tired of life; which made him seem much older than he was even though he was a year younger than Nile. He had a mousy appearance with two buck teeth and wide eyes that darted around, never making contact with another person’s eyes. He had a patch cap on which a red tuft of hair stuck out from under, his eyes moved all over Nile except for his face.
“Chris’ Nile,” he said in an Irish accent that had been diluted for the sake of survival in London, “I thought the Bobbies foun’ you and put a hole in yer head, bless you.” ‘Bless you’ was something he said whenever he said anything negative to cancel it out, at least in his mind and it was almost a force of habit. An empty bottle that contained rum a few hours ago laid beside Nicki as he adjusted himself.
Nile knelt down to be on something, something which made Nicki visibly uncomfortable, and said, “I need you to get me to a pirate ship, Nicki.” He hated asking for things, especially from Nicki of all people; it was a matter of pride that he didn’t ask much from other people but revenge would come before his own pride.
“Well, considerin’ the cos’s an risks, I could arrang’ somthin’ for a hundred pounds,” Nicki yawned but didn’t get the chance to finish that yawn before Nile grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall, Nile pressed his body’s weight against Nicki to hamper his breathing.
“I saved your life, Nicki,” Nile growled, “I could just as easily take it!” He slammed Nicki against the wall again to shake him out of his shock “Surely you can make me a better deal than that.” He moved his arm up to Nicki’s throat to pin him there and speed things up. Nickie panicked, equal parts from looking into Nile’s eyes and being choked all of the sudden.
He choked out a hurried, “right.” And Nile threw him down on the ground “I’ll set you up wit’ Rufus, jus’ as long as I dun’t see yer mug ‘gain.” He scurried off into the darkness after finishing the sentence in case Nile had any other demands who would like to impose.
Nile got a ride with a scruffy man named Rufus who didn’t say much to him the whole trip, they went to a port where pirates harbored and there he went to find a pirate who would take him on. After a day of searching he came upon an man who looked like a government official standing at a pier near a large looking man who had the tell tale signs of piratry, a beard and a parrot with an eye patch, who were discussing something “I’m looking for a ship to be crew on,” Nile said bluntly to the two of them.
“I need to see your union card,” the first man said but was cut off by the pirate.
“Oh shut it, Stacy,” the pirate said, “no one belongs to that damned union of yours!”
“The pirate union is a very strong organization, thank you very much captain,” Stacy said defensively and shoved some paper work towards Nile which was quickly knocked away by the captain.
“You know most all of these assholes can’t read,” the captain said then told Nile,” boy, shoot this pansy and ye can come aboard.” He pointed to Nile’s gun, with the one bullet he had been saving for Lestat.
******
A man named Tim left the house that morning to do make another attempt at piracy. He had a black eye and several bruises from where he was attacked on previous days. He put his four leaf clover into his pocket and adjusted his pirating pants and shirt “Well,” he said in a cheerful and upbeat tone, “here’s to hoping I don’t get attacked again, knock on wood.” He laughed good naturedly and knocked on a piece of lumber.
His wife came out after him carrying a baby, “Have a good day, Timothy!” she called and blew him a kiss.
Tim caught the kiss and put it in his pocket along with the clover “Next time you see me, I’ll be a real pirate!” he told her and walked off, determined to have a good day.
*****
Nile looked at his gun, it only had one shot and now he was torn between the symbolism of that one bullet and getting to be crew on a pirate ship. Just then he saw Tim with a flintlock pistol walk by and ended up smashing Tim over the head “The clover, it does nothing!” Tim cried and went down. Nile picked up Tim’s flintlock and shot stacy in the throat. Stacy crumpled to the ground holding his throat and died. Nile placed the gun back in Tim’s hand and made it looked like Tim fired.
“Well,” the captain said, stunned actually at what Nile had done, “that certainly a creative way to do it, get on board land lover, we set sail.” He walked about while his parrot attempted to fly, but ended up smacking straight into the mast since it had no depth perception. So Nile was taken in on the crew of the lesser known pirate, Captain Fluffy Beard and his parrot, Wobbles.
For twenty months, Nile sailed with Captain Fluffy Beard as they looted and plundered, unbeknownst to Nile but beknownst to us, Nicki was approached by an admiral looking to make a name for himself as a pirate hunter. He dropped the hundred pounds into Nicki’s palms that Nile had not and gave Nicki the promise of land in the new world if his lead paid off and it would pay off. Tim was sent to jail for the murder of Stacy where all of the inmates feared him after hearing about how he blacked out and apparently killed someone which made them think he was insane. He earned their respect as a hardened killer though the biggest thing he ever killed was a joke.
One day Fluffy Beard was making port at a town near London when they were captured by the navy in a swift raid. Wobbles tried to warn the rest of the crew but died when it flew straight into the side of the ship “Wobbles!” Fluffy Beard sobbed as he saw the parrot, who had gotten a peg leg in the last twenty months of its life, float in the water next to his ship “oh the hubris!”
They took Nile and the rest of the crew to London where they would be hung. He stood on the gallows he looked to see Fluffy Beard next to him, who looked like he had given up on life after Wobbles’ untimely death; on the other side was a man he didn’t recognize but was actually Tim who was deemed a ruthless killer and sentenced to be hung. The platform dropped out from beneath Nile and he fell, he could hear the roaring of the crowd.
The fall had snapped Fluffy Beard’s neck and knocked Tim out so he would suffocate silently, but Nile was conscious as he struggled against the rope and suffocation. He had the fortitude to struggle longer than most people and was alive as the crowd dispersed. He was struggling weakly, his body tossing in fits, by the time only a woman with golden hair and in an elegant dress looked on, she was carrying a parasol to shield her from the sun.
Elizabeth watched Nile in his last moments and when the struggling stopped, she turned and left.
“What do you want?” was the next voice Nile heard, he found himself standing in a sea of whiteness. It was a Dragon made of light that had pulled Nile to his realm after death since he could sense a great will in the young man.
“Revenge,” Nile said without a pause of hesitation, not life but the chance to kill Lestat. The dragon sighed, sending a burst of air the enveloped Nile and actually knocked him over.
“
Very well, but your revenge will change nothing, I can only hope you understand that in time,” The dragon expressed and an orb of icy blue light shot into Nile’s chest, followed by one that was a fire red and lightning yellow. The Dragon told him of three Draconian spirits and now their power was his now. “I give you the name Silver, and you shall take my name, Ark, as yours. Inside you is Snowpaya of the thunder and Dragoon of the flame. If you best them before they consume you then you will be worthy of claiming the title: Ark Dragon. Now go for,” Ark Dragon told Silver and he did so, to find and destroy Lestat Denoire.
Wobbles Paragraph 19-paragraph 21
A companion, A friend, A parrot
