Samson, Captain of the Seas: An Adventure into the Imagination of a Young Pirate
It is a day just like every other day in the town of Brummagem. The town’s people wake up with the morning light. Bright sun rays pierce the curtains of the innocent people’s homes. They go upon their routines and chores just as any other day. And just like every day, young Samson strolls off to his lessons for the day.
On his way to school he often gets very bored. Over the years Samson has created a game in his mind to help pass the time and provide entertainment. At first he occupied his time by creating mythical monsters and encounters in his head. In this sense all he did was daydream through his walks. Over time, though, his mind was able to develop these events to a higher extent. He also grew tired of living inside his head and wanted it all to be real. He started by setting up obstacles for his pleasure along the way. He had also put together a costume at home so he could look like a warrior of the seven seas.
This game he imagined and played seemed to be nothing more than a phase. That is until one day at school when he acted out in class. He attacked the teacher with his wooden sword. Luckily his eye patch hindered his depth perception and he only hit the chalkboard. He was sent home in tears shortly after. Being sent home wasn’t the cause of his tears, it was the fact that his sword cracked in half that made him cry.
This event took place just two weeks ago and Samson was still upset at the fate of his sword. In place of his wooden sword he cut one out of cardboard, but it just didn’t seem the same to him.
On his way to school today he did his best to fight off the buccaneers who were trying to overtake his ship. He did this to no avail. His ship was seized and he was forced to walk the plank.
It was as he hopped into the rough ocean waters that something glimmered in his eyes. There was a reflection from the sun in the forest, fifty yards away. Samson, not caring too much about school at the given moment, walked over to where the shine was in the forest to investigate. Once there he saw nothing. He could have sworn that this was the spot. Nothing could be seen. Disappointed he sat down on the stump of a freshly fallen tree. What he didn’t realize was that the fallen trunk which lay beside his seat wasn’t struck by an axe. It happened to be cut down by something much more unusual and dangerous.
Disappointed by his findings Samson grew bored. Moments later he caught himself nodding off to sleep and remembered that he should be getting off to school. He stood up and started walking, when all of a sudden he tripped. Samson stood up and muttered under his breath, cursing the root which caught his foot. But when he looked down he didn’t see an ordinary root from a tree. He saw the same sparkle from before, only this time it was much brighter and blinding. Shielding his eyes from the pain of the light, Samson reached down and touched something cold like metal. With both hands, struggling with all his might, Samson lifted the object up high in the air.
All of a sudden the winds increased and yelling could be heard. There was a scent of salt and sweat filling the air. Samson was swirled around with the strength of the winds and dizzily fell to the floor.
Samson was shaken awake by many strong and battered hands. The hands lifted him to his feet, a position from which he quickly collapsed back to the floor. The hands helped him to a barrel seat to recover.
“Cap’n! Cap’n! Are yeh alright?” said a voice.
“Cap’n, yeh had a great hit t’ the head, yeh did.” cried another.
Samson was still dizzy from the winds, as well as confused to the fullest extent of the word. Where am I? Where did the winds come from? What happened to me? He sat there dumbfounded, questioning inside his head. The men surrounding him clambered about.
“Cap’n we’d best be getting’ yeh to yer quarters t’ rest.” a voice from before advised. “Lift ‘em up an’ bring ‘em in t’ rest.”
“Aye!” some of the men grunted.
What’s going on? One minute I’m in the forest. The next thing I know I’m here. Where is here? Wait, I know what this is. It’s a dream. I’m dreaming up this whole thing. Those looked like pirates and this must be my dream ship.
Samson laid down on a crude bed thinking through his situation. Sometime later he was awoken by one of the men from before as he came creeping quietly through the door. This must be my first mate. Samson reasoned out, from the previous conversation, that he was the captain. He also figured this man to be his first mate, but he wasn’t too sure of himself.
“Cap’n, are yeh feelin’ any better?” the man asked in little more than a whisper.
“I feel weak sir. And I think I got hit hard.” Samson replied, “What happened? I don’t remember a thing.”
“Well, why yeh be callin me sir, sir? Yer the cap’n, notI. Yeh must ‘ave hit yer head hard, sir. An’ we had les luck winnin’ the battle, sir.”
“Battle, what battle?” questioned Samson. “I must have been out for awhile.”
“Sir, yeh were out fer awhile. Let me fill yeh in frem the beginin’”
The first mate filled Samson in on the happenings of the past hour, an hour of which the captain has no recollection. Once filled in Samson knew of the battle. It was an on going battle he and his crew have had for quite some time. It was with Latis, the sea goddess, with whom Samson had gotten on the bad side of one too many times. He often grew careless and claimed to be the ruler of the sea. This enraged the goddess more than anything else a sailor could do.
As punishment on the captain and his crew she sends out some of the most deadly and dangerous creatures know to seafaring men. Sometimes they are sharks, sometimes swordfish, and even at times octopi. In all they are much larger than most normal of their kind, especially the octopi. She makes more elephant like than anything else. These creatures spare no man from their wrath. There seems to be no end to the annihilation that can be brought on by one of these creatures, let alone a group of, at times, five.
The only way to quell the harm to the men, as well as the ship, is to retreat as quickly as they can. This proves to be difficult, but the goddess allows them a retreat quite often. They feel she is just toying with them. Each time could be their last at sea, but each time they are allowed to get away. This sends a quickly growing fear through the men of what will happen if she doesn’t let them go.
Samson also learns that he has been captain of this ship for many years. Some say ten, others say sixteen or more. Either way this means he is not merely a youth of ten anymore. He discovers that he now has the strength of five men and the growing odor of fifty. He is a man. This lone fact is what cheers him up the most. He was just in the woods on his way to school. Now he’s on a ship with a pirate crew of his own and being ever pursued by a sea-goddess of immense power. He is exhilarated by his predicament and terrified, but his excitement outweighs the need for concern in his mind.
“Aye, I must really be arrogant. Is there a way we can get back on the good side of this goddess lady?” asked Samson to his mate.
“We’ve been lookin’, sir. We ‘aven’t got a clue among us.”
“Aye,” said Samson, taking advantage of using broken English, since he was not in school. “I guess we best be startin’ to search for answers.” He slowly made his way to his feet as he began to feel stronger. “What be yer name mate?”
“Sir, my name?” questioned the crewman. “Yeh must ‘ave hit yer head mighty hard.” He muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” Samson growled testing out his newly found deep voice.
“Nothing, sir. My name……my name is Bill, Bill Bryant. But yeh and all the others o’board call me Bones. I, sir, am yer first mate.”
“Good, yeh look like a strong, good man for the job.” Samson smiled, but quickly hid it. In his experience pirates don’t smile unless battle is in the air. “Let’s set off with a heading for land.”
“Land, sir? Yeh hate land as much as yeh hate those creatures.”
“Yes, Bones, land. We must be getting out of this ocean and reconsider our situation.” Samson was surprised by what he was saying. He sounded even to himself completely mature. This was a drastic change from just an hour before. “I think our answers are best sought after outside of this goddess’s kingdom.”
“I see, sir. I be off to rally up the men. We’ll be on land before yeh know it.”
At that Samson laid back down on the bed to rest. His brain was swirling with images of his playful walks to school. But each time he thought of these past events, he was brought back to the present. Or was he brought to the future? And would that make this the past? Why would I think about those childish things? I’m living them now and it is all the more better living it than just imagining it. This is where he is wrong. Just because it seems like this is what he has always dreamed of, it doesn’t mean that it is as good as it looks.
As he lays down thinking things through the sea goddess, Latis, was planning her next attack. With each passing moment a giant squid was making headway on the ship. The first mate, Bones, set sail for the nearest port. This port was called Yarmouth. It was a little settlement at the edge of the water where cliffs dominated most of the landscape. There was a small stretch of shoreline on which the docks were set up. Pirates didn’t make port here often due to its lack of wealth, but it didn’t matter to this crew, not on this day.
“Land ho! Land ho! Get the Cap’n, Mr. Bones.” Someone cried from the crow’s nest.
Bones ran to the cabin to get his master. After shaking him out of his daze, they both were thrown to the floor by a large impact on the starboard side of the ship.
“What was that?” yelled Samson.
“Sir, it must be another monster!” Bones answered.
They both scrambled to their feet and ran for the main deck. They stumbled many times and were pushed around by the waves of continued hits from the squid. The rest of the crew ran around disorderly. They didn’t know what to do. Some of the men took their swords and attempted to attack the creature. Others used harpoons and barrel-bombs. These attacks had little effect on the squid. The captain stood, with all his might, astonished at the scene before him. There was nothing he could do but stare.
“What is our best plan, mate?
“Cap’n sir, I ‘aven’t a clue. We’ll just keep losin’ man after man if we allow ‘em to attack that ting.”
After a moments thought Captain Samson sounded, “All men to the other side of the ship! Aim those canons toward the monster and fire on my count. ONE…TWO…THREE!”
The canons fired all at once on the monster. This volley of shot sent him flying far out to sea. To Samson’s dismay it also destroyed nearly half of the ship. This wasn’t a good thing to have happen. On one hand the monster was defeated. While on the other hand the ship was nearing its defeat. There was a great need for repair.
It took a few moments for the men onboard to take in what had just happened. This was their first winning battle against one of the goddess’s monsters. But with a large chunk of the ship gone the men quickly clambered to their sailing positions and awaited orders.
“Cap’n what shall we do?” cried a chorus of battle weary men.
“I want all able men t’ sail this ship t’ shore. We need t’ make land soon, or else all ‘ill be lost.”
The men did what they could to control the ship. Through the confusion and determination they ship and crew made it to the port. They were received with great hospitality from the town. The people knew little about pirates. The pirates noticed this and didn’t to want to change the attitudes of the town. They decided to stay in the town and live comfortably while the ship was being repaired. Samson also wanted to stay in fear of the evils of the sea, at least until they found a way to appease Latis.
During this time, the squid had made his way back to his keeper to tell her of kis misfortunes. When the sea goddess heard what had happened she grew enraged. At the same time she was slightly intrigued by Samson’s new found cunningness. He didn’t seem to let his bravery go to his head this time around. He showed slight cowardice instead. At this discovery, Latis grew less harsh and more wondrous toward Samson.
On the outskirts of town Captain Samson rounded up a few of his best men for a meeting. He wished to discuss any knowledge they possessed on how to fix their problems with the goddess. But no one spoke up with an answer. All of a sudden, while they were in deep though, a cloaked figure walked down the path they are on. He stops near the men and begins to talk with a mysterious tone.
“You are Captain Samson, the one who angers the great and powerful goddess of the sea, Latis.”
“Yes I be him.” answered Samson with an unsteady voice.
“That wasn’t a question you fool.” The figure commanded, “You need a way to fix your relationship with the goddess, don’t you? Well, I think I know just the way.”
“Sir, kind sir, please tell me all yeh know. I’ll do anything, just name it.”
“I wish for nothing in return for this knowledge. I just ask that you heed my warnings and obey every direction I give.”
“Aye sir, I shall do as you command.”
The cloaked man told the men everything he knew. They would need to get back to sea when their ship was ready. Once there they would need to call upon the goddess, Latis, herself. An offering was the way of appeasement for Samson’s sin. The catch was that it wasn’t a material item she wished. I was to be a confession and denouncement of power from Captain Samson.
This enraged the captain greatly. But he also knew deep down inside that what he did was wrong. He rightly decided that he would do as he was told and relinquish his throne as self-proclaimed master of the sea.
“Your majesty, I have told of my tale to the captain.” It was the cloaked figure. He stood in front of the great golden throne where Latis sat.
“Very well, this shall all be over soon. Your services are over for now. Be gone with you from my sight.” The goddess dismissed.
Later that week the ship was fully repaired and the crew set sail for the open sea. Their course was to be miles and miles from any body of land. Once there the captain called out in a loud voice to the goddess.
“LATIS! LATIS! I wish to fix our problems. Please show yourself, I beseech you.”
After a few suspended moments, the water started to grow rougher. Then from a great column of water, Latis formed. The sight of Latis upon the eyes of anyone would instantly send that person into a trance. But the sight of Latis on this day was accompanied by a face of rage and evil. The men cowered as far away from her as was possible. She all of a sudden shrank to a human illusion of herself and stood upon the deck of the ship.
“Your majesty, I bow down at your feet for redemption. I take back all I’ve claimed in the past.
You are the mightiest of all in these waters. I am a mere mortal man. I am not worthy of the life you have spared me in numerous events.”
“Stand up coward. I thought the mighty Samson, captain of all the seas, would put up more of a fight than this.”
“But…but I am not the mightiest. I am merely disillusioned.”
“You have a chance of getting on my good side. Only one chance and not, never, a second chance.”
“What ever it takes your majesty.”
“I wish to have your sword. Hand it over and I will be gone. You will have no more trouble from me, well, for as long as you don’t discover a way to become a pest to me again.”
“I would like to hand over my sword, but I don’t think I have one.”
“Cap’n are yeh still not all there in yeh head? Yeh always keep yer sword by yer side. I ‘ave never sen yeh without it.” Bones chimed in, seeing that their fates lay in the hand of their sword bearing leader.
“Aye, there it be. I can always get another sword.” Samson sadly began to hand over the sword.
As he handed it toward her, he remembered the feeling of the metal. This is the sword I found in the woods. Is this the cause of all this. When Latis’s hands grasped the hilt of the sword from Samson, something strange happened again. The winds picked up and the smell of pine and grass could be taken in. Samson began to get twirled around in the swirling winds. Dizzily he crashed to the ground.
He awoke moments later on his back. The sun was shining in his eyes and birds were chirping in the trees. I’m back. How? Why? What’s going on?
“Hey, Samson, where have you been all day. I didn’t see you in school today. I’ve been worried.” A voice said. It was a voice that seemed so distant to Samson’s ear that he barely heard it.
Looking over to where the voice was, he caught sight of a friend. He was probably the only real kid he knew that he could call a friend. When he got to his feet and looking around Samson dreamily replied, “I just had the strangest dream. At least I think it was a dream. I was a pirate captain.
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