After a couple of days of sailing without seeing any other ships, Captain Porter decided it was time to return to port to restock and check in. He said that usually they would get word from other ships with news or instructions from his leadership. With all of the ships attacking, he had already been thinking that something had changed.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of running and yelling on deck. I got up and quickly moved up top to check in with the captain.

"By all that is great and good, there be a pirate lord coming to stop aboard," he looked both surprised and scared. There was no way that my little trick would work against this ship. I thought it would be better to get the higher-ranking pirate lord on board and try to get information out of his conversations with Captain Porter.

The ship pulled alongside us and a gangway was put out for the noble-looking pirate lord to cross. He had a matching blue fluffy suit on with an equally fluffy blue hat. The hat had to have been about double the size of the one that the captain wore.

He spoke with a similar speech pattern as the other pirates but he was attempting to sound superior to everyone around him. It almost reminded me of that smug dragon from way back when.

"Thank ye for the kindness, Captain Porter. I met with the vessel that carried yer first mate and had a long discussion about the particulars of the attack. It matched another account of your vessel destroying a fellow captain's and sending it to the depths. Be this true?" The pirate lord seemed to be investigating. I hadn't meant to get the captain in trouble, but I understood that my actions would have consequences for someone.

Captain Porter was sweating bullets by this time. "The other vessels were the first to threaten attack. They yelled out their intentions each time. I swear it by my deathless soul." At this, the pirate lord waves his left hand in a very particular pattern. That's when I realized that the opposing vessel had had all of its gun ports that faced us open with all cannons ready to fire. At the signal, the cannons moved back and the gun ports closed.

I guess we had just avoided a nasty fight that we would've had a difficult time winning much less surviving.

"My charge be to stay onboard your vessel and get to the bottom of the charges against ye," said the pompous man. Captain Porter was aghast at the accusation as he hadn't thought he had done anything wrong. I felt a little bad for what I had done to him.

The captain snapped back to reality and welcomed the man aboard. They went to the captain's quarters and the other ship started to pull away after retrieving the gangway. I followed behind the captain as per usual but the pirate lord kept me from entering.

"Who be this wooden-headed lubber?" He asked incredulously.

"He be my cabin boy. He's got no words but knows how to clean and obey," the captain said in my defense.

"If yer trust be misplaced, ye'll be swinging from the yardarm alongside 'im," the pirate lord stated coldly.

"I swear by the blood in me heart, I ain't told any untruths," the captain said doubling down on his honor. I really hated that I had been playing him this whole time. He was actually a pretty good man, for a pirate, that is.

I made myself busy doing my regular chores and tried to make it look like I wasn't listening in on their conversation. It was mostly the captain speaking as he explained everything that had happened in the last few weeks. He would stop to answer the grandiose man's questions, but other than that it was just the story as he knew it.

I felt the pirate lord staring at me a few times and hoped that he didn't see any connection between me and the attacks. The attacks had started shortly after I boarded so that didn't look great or help my case.

They sat there across from each other at the table in the captain's quarters and Captain Porter finished telling his side of the story. The pirate lord who I now knew was named Erik, took in the whole story and pondered the information.

"So explain t' me why all o' these vessels seem t' only be attackin' yer ship," said Erik.

"I dunno why they all threatened t' attack us, but bein' cap'n, I had t' take action t' keep me crew 'n ship safe. surely ye can nah fault me fer that," said Captain Porter defending his actions. The powerful pirate across from him nodded slightly and relaxed slightly.

"Tis true that I can nah lay t' blame on ye. But I 'ave t' get t' the bottom o' the attacks 'n the losses that we be sustainin'." The pirate lord rose from his seat. "There be something going on 'ere though and I'll not be leavin' until I find out." I tried to not make eye contact with him as he spoke but I felt his eyes boring through me. It may have just been me feeling paranoid but something in my gut was telling me I was his prime suspect.

After the pirate lord left to continue his investigation with the rest of the crew. I asked Captain Porter if I could take my leave with the excuse of not feeling well. He said fine dismissively. I don't think he was feeling too well after the intense back and forth with someone who he was clearly afraid of. I headed below decks to speak with Hubert. He didn't seem to like daylight too much so that is where he was normally found. I didn't think it hurt him or anything, but I had also never asked him about it. Did sunlight hurt him? I thought back and realized that he did tend to be in the shade whenever possible.

I found him on the bottom deck and told him about the pirate lord. I was hoping to get more information on pirate hierarchy but he was less than helpful.

"In my day, we didn't be having no leader septin' the cap'n. Ye followed his orders or ye came t' the plank's end," he said gruffly. He sounded like he really respected his captain back then.

As I spoke to him I heard some tiny squeaks behind him. "Come on out guys," I said to the rodents.

A few rats came out I pulled a piece of hardtack out of my inventory and broke it into a few pieces for them to munch on while I asked them to help me out.

"If a snooty-looking pirate with a big hat comes down here could you guys chase him back up the stairs?" I was worried about him talking to Hubert too much as that was just one more way for me to get caught. Barry was up in the sails almost constantly so I hoped that would make him less likely to be grilled for information. I don't think he knew I was causing the other ships to attack us though so I'd probably be fine either way.

Over the next few days, I didn't do anything to stand out. I quietly did what the captain asked and didn't make eye contact with Erik so as not to attract suspicion. Everything seemed to be going pretty well and I hoped that I could gather some more information from him as he chatted with the captain more than anyone. I was usually hanging around the captain so being the captain's cabin boy was the perfect job for snooping.

It was in one of these chats that I almost blew my cover.

"Cap'n Porter yer lower decks are infested with demonic rats that chase me up the stairs while trying t' bite at me. I sent a few other crewmen down t' scuttle 'em 'n they didn' get the same treatment. Why would the rats be targetin' me?" The pirate lord seemed offended at the mistreatment.

"Maybe the rats don't like the smell o' yer fancy soap or hair oil," responded the captain.

I tried to hold in my laugh but started coughing instead. "Somethin' funny, boy?" Erik asked unamused at my fit.

I shook my head no and bowed low to try and show some respect to placate him. Captain Porter told him that it was probably just an ill-timed coughing fit and that there was nothing funny about being attacked by rats just for smelling better than the other pirates. I still thought it was pretty funny and I was glad my plan worked to keep him away from Hubert.

A couple more empty days passed as we traveled back towards port. The next time I talked to Barry with some privacy I asked him if he had been interviewed by the pirate lord yet.

"Yes, he came and asked me about my time on board, about the attacks, and even asked me some questions about you," he said. "Don't worry. I just played dumb and acted as if we had just recently met and that we just happened to start traveling together."

I wondered if the intelligent investigator would've been able to see through Barry's deception. I tried getting more information about what he had told Erik about me and was worried that maybe one of his answers may have given the man all of the ammunition he needed to send me to the briny deep after a short walk.

"Barry, this is very important. Did you tell him anything specific about me that he could use to figure out that I caused the other ships to attack?" I asked looking as serious as possible.

"You caused those other ships to attack us?" Barry answered. It made me feel a little better and it also gave me hope that the conversation the pirate lord had with Barry wasn't fruitful.