Avast! We was at sail when Voodoo Jack come tell me that he had
business to do with a Wizard we happ'd to be near, one Wizard of
Omala. "A dread follow he is", says Jack. "Doesn't plunder hisself,
he doesn't. Instead he casts spells on regular pirates and they
gather the plunder and hide it for him to find. A reg'lr lord of
his realm he be, with the power to addle men's minds somethin'
fierce.
"What'll be the problem", Jack continues, "is that he won't want
treasure from us, not rightly. Instead, he'll be wantin' crew to
add to his hoards do the hidin'. Now, I'll be needin' you an' the
First Mate along or you'll not be seein' me again, that's sure.
You'll be protected well enough as I knows his ways."
So's we sail North and we meet with this Wizard. Jack and him
hunker down right off and gets to mutterin' about their business.
Seemed like a forever of their back and forth but soon enough they
had done of it with a few talismans changin' hands, and Jack comes
back to us makin' as if we should go.
"Not so fast, my good fellows", says the Wizard. "I can't just
have ships of riff-raff visiting here without my knowing who is
aboard. I'll have to ask your First Mate to hand over the ship's
manifest to me so I may see a list of the crew."
Now I sees right away what he's about. With them names it would
be nothin' for a Wizard like him to have them all in the palm of
his hand, and us adrift without a crew. But it's not like I'm not
seeing this comin' either. The crew list was with the first mate
all right, but in a capsule with some of Jack's magic around it
that I was told the Wizard couldn't touch. "You heard the man", I
says to the First Mate, "hand it over."
The First Mate is puzzled but he follows orders and we turns and
goes. Not a few paces down the trail we hear an angry shout from
the Wizard who sees what he's been tricked. "Run!" yells Jack and
we make haste for the ship. Jack knew what was comin' so he's like
the wind, and I'm not so's old as can't make good account myself,
but that First Mate is nothin' but lard and blubber and falls
behind right off. We can't drag him with us, and he wasn't keepin'
up, and when we gets to the ship it was aboard and away without
'im.
The trip towards home was a bit somber it could be said. That
First Mate had been with us for as long as most could remember, and
even though some days he could barely find his way out'n his berth
we still missed him a bit if only for wantin' a good target for a
jape or such. We reached some islands for water and I had to order
a party ashore, a duty they would have normally have fought
for.
Soon enough though, the suprise came, somethin' I hardly believe
now even though I saw it all happen. A buzzin' come out of the sky
behind us and we looks and blast but it ain't the Wizard again,
bent on revenge and flyin' thorough the sky like a bird in some
sort of wild contraption what might only be found as a vision at
the bottom of a rum barrel, and our First Mate in there too
besides. The Wizard aimed right at us he did and it was only a
tricky bit of wind that made him miss and crash aboard a bluff
alongside us.
The Wizard hops out he does and casts all about for the crew
list, but it seems from where we be that he must have lost it in
the crash. Meanwhile, the First Mate sees his chance here and jumps
to the deck, and as the water party just returned we're trimmed and
off in a blink. With no list and no hostage and no contraption that
Wizard sees hes had the worst of it. He shook his fists and cursed
a streak our way but finally disappeared, most likely back to check
them's what are still in his clutches.
Now Jack says strong he does that the First Mate was protected
again' the Wizards befuddlements, but he ain't actin' right in the
head since he's back with us. He seems odder than we recall,
peerin' into little places where nothing could be, and reachin'
under everythin' in the the strangest way, all the time with some
vacant look on his face and he can't be explainin' rightly why he's
doing these sorts of things.
We're thinkin' a good drunk will set him right.
Stay away, sez we. That list don't matter now, as we have another,
and there's no tellin' but that contraption might call the Wizard
back there again, and you'ld not want to be there then, that's for
sure.