FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

You know how a stereotypical pirate has a peg leg and an eye patch and a hook? I'm not sure why that's a stereotype. There were only a few pirates with even one of those features. Let alone two or more. How do I know? Well. I'm the Infamous Captain Cyne, the most feared pirate on the sea. Oh you don't know me? Well, I don't know how. The stories tell how I made a deal with the devil himself to live forever. How no one has ever seen my true face and lived. But those of course are just stories. The True tale of captain Cyne is more than just one story. All I can really tell you are the chapters that I happen to be in. So let's skip to chapter 7. Before my name was Cyne, the unremarkable. Back then, my name was Trael, the unnoticed.

I was just a kid then. 17 years under my belt and on my own. Me against the world. Or at least that's how I thought it was. No parents no home yadda yadda, you get the picture? Just a lonely orphan on the streets of Grat. And really. The name sums up the town. Dirty, grimy, and nasty. With a pinch of pungency for texture. It is a port town, if you hadn't guessed by the pirate introduction. And that is what kept it going. The whole town was on a dock type structure. It was connected to the mainland of course but there wasn't a part of Grat actually ON the land (the farms don't count). Even so, it was small. No big ships came through. Just a few crop ships. Maybe a lost merchant or two. Every few weeks a ship would come by needing to be rebuilt due to a pirate attack. And that is where all this started. A pirate attack on another pirate ship. The ship was in port the same day I was. It had been a bad year, I was nearly starving and being chased by guards that particular day.... It was probably the most fruitful chase I ever ran in my life. After all. It changed my life.

Chapter 7: the appearance of Tael.

"Stop right there you fuckin mutt!" the guard shouted, I felt like the insult was unneeded. I mean, I may have thrown a frozen fish at him but come on. Leave my heritage alone right? The insult aside, I turned a corner, nearly skidding on the slick salt water slimed surface of wood. There had been a flood not too long ago and the wood hadn't quite recovered. There was word that they were going to have to rebuild the whole dock. Anyways, I turned the corner and pushed my way through the hubbub of a normal dock day, creating more of a slightly more aggravated hubbub along the way, but I figured my freedom was a little more important than the contentness of my fellow dock mates. Or their dryness in the case of those who fell over the side. It was winter so I kind of felt bad, but certainly not enough to turn and apologize.

"I swear when I get my paws on you, I'm gonna skin you alive and then make you sleep on a mattress of your own fur!" the guard screamed hauling himself back on the dock surface. Oops I thought as a rounded another corner, hoping I had ditched him. Which I did. Or I would have if another guard hadn't been waiting.

"Well hi there." he said with the feline smug smile that cats always seem to have.

"Shit" I said doing a 180 and running the other way. The first guard, a bear, slipped back into the water trying to get me on my way passed him. I pumped my legs and ran face down struggling not to laugh. I was lucky the city was so.... Grat. Otherwise the guards might actually be capable. There was only a couple of them who weren't morons. When I got away from the guards I slumped against a wall panting hard, my tongue was lolling out as far as it would. In my head I knew I would get sick later, but I counted my blessings. But I counted them before they hatched, guess who strolled up next. If you guessed one of the not moron guards then you were right. I slid down the wall and hid my face between my knees, trying to look like I was somewhere else. And at first it worked. But I saw the double take and knew it was time to get gone. I scrambled to my feet and ran again. My breath was actually starting to hurt, my pants coming out as whines. Then I saw an opening. My opening. So I dove through it. Literally, it was a hole in a ship. The hole was above water so the ship was sailing without fixing it.

I hadn't even noticed that I was on the outer ring of the town. I was more focused on the not getting caught part. I peeked out and the panther was yelling up at the ship, trying to get them to halt. I prayed to every deity that I had heard of that he wasn't heard. Minutes later I was thanking them. Whichever one had decided to help me was a fickle one. With a quick scan of the store room, I gleaned it was a pirate ship. The biggest give away was the pirate who met my eyes. I gulped and ducked behind a barrel. Pointlessly. He coughed and said

"git yer ass up whelp. Don't make meh come an git ya." I sighed and stood back up. the guy was well fed, and I mean really well fed. His shirt was straining to constrain him. I'm glad his shorts were better fitting. He was a black bear, not unfriendly looking. But of course looks CAN be deceiving. After all, I apparently look like mutt. "c'mere." He demanded. I didn't see any weapons on him, but I still didn't really want to go near him. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a choice in the matter. The rocking of a ship was rather unfamiliar to me so the short walk to him was made into a treacherous Teetering trek. When I did eventually get to him, his arm shot out like a snake, surprising me with his swiftness and grip strength.

"hey cap'n! guess what I found in the store room!!" the bear shouted, in no particular direction. we passed a number of other buccaneers on the forceful march, some leered and jeered, some just frowned. One winked, which kind of disappointed me. I thought I was worth more than one wink.

"whaddya want ya ball o blubber!?" a man, who I correctly assumed was the captain snapped. He was a Rat, long pointy snout and slim pink tail. His fur a matted grungy grey. His clothes, like his crew's were ripped, dirty and well used beyond the point they were made for.

"foun a stow away" the black bear said proffering me proudly. I felt like a prize won at the fair.

"well throw it away, we got enough dead weight aroun here." he said shortly and turned his back, going back to the ship preparations.

"no wait please!" I said pulling against the bear's grip as he pulled me towards the side of the ship. "I'll do anything but please don't throw me back!" I begged. This was the first time I had ever begged for anything, and I was not happy about it. but now that I was out of Grat, I did not want to go back. ever. The Captain turned back to me frowning. I looked back, pleading, as the bear hoisted me up.

"wait." He said striding over to me until his face was an inch from my upside down one. "anything you say? Ok. You will do anything and ever thing myself or my second mate asks of ya. The moment ya whine or complain, I will throw ya over board and let the sharks have ya." I nodded my head with all my might. "good. now go an clean the deck. Bunt'll show ya the mop an bucket. Drop im bunt." The rat said, and "Bunt" did. I hit the deck on my back, knocking the wind from me. "welcome to the Shoalblade." He said gesturing the area around him.

The next few days were spent scrubbing. Days and nights I scrubbed. I slept while I scrubbed and I ate while I scrubbed. I scrubbed so much that the fur on my knees was starting to get torn out. My shoulders ached and my back was sore. I Scrubbed that ship from head to toe. If it had toes. But I did scrub the Head. Let me tell you, that was a whole new level of disgusting that I didn't know existed. The ship was not very large compared to other ships, but the coat of grime was deep, and hard to get through. It took me a year to get though it all the way, but I'm getting ahead of myself. so, small dirty ship. I was put out when I discovered that a pirate's life was not at all what I had heard. There was sickness and food shortage a lot. The crew weren't even nice to each other. it amazed me that there wasn't a great throat slitting party at the end of each day. After the first few days I was given a bed, but I spent a year and a half on the ship. if it seems like I'm blowing over this, I am. This was like my intro to piracy. Kindergarten. That grade of school that no one ever talks about passed "yea we drew pictures...." Well. I cleaned a lot. I polished my fist fighting skills, because some nights that was the only way I got food. It was a lot better than my life in Grat at least.

There were no guards for me to worry about out in the ocean. Except for the navy. There were a few run ins with them but Captain Scritty never flew the colors unless they were attacking someone so the navy never stopped us. (do you see it coming?)

Until one day. We were mid attack and a navy ship caught us in their spyglass. The chase was short, our ship wasn't that fast. The navy attack was also quick. The surviving pirates were but in the brig, including me. on the way to port, the navy ship was attacked. And that is where this story finally starts to get interesting. In the brig, all I could hear was gunfire and shouting. There was a giant crash and the entire ship shook with the force of something happening followed by more shouting and gunfire. The brig keepers ran up the stairs and I didn't see them again. the next boots down the stairs were those of a Cheetah. She had on tight pants and an even tighter shirt; I thought she was about to pop out of her shirt. She had a pistol in one paw and a rapier in the other. she crept down the stairs silently, peering around. After deciding there were no threats she sheathed and holstered her weapons.

"captain it's all clear down here. Just the brig." She said stepping out of the way. Then the captain stepped down and I may have came my pants a little. only a little. he was a magnificent black timber wolf. He stood tall and proud in his deep purple trench coat. His pants were the same shade as his fur; his shirt was a pearl white. There was an eye patch over his left eye and gold rings hung from both of his ears.

"any of you happen to know what's passed here?" he asked us non chalantly. We all shook our heads. when of the other prisoners stuttered out the question

"a-are y-you Cap-captain Cyne?"

"why yes I am. Who are you?" the wolf replied smoothly. I thought it was smooth. Like his fur. I wanted to pet him to see if it was smooth as is voice. The prisoner who made the inquiry Swore. I knew why. I had heard the stories of the fearsome Captain Cyne. No one ever survives.

"I am Captain Scitty and this is the crew of the Shoalblade" Scritty said sharply "and I demand you release us immediately."

"hmm. Demand? You demand? You don't look much in the position to demand things. Does he Shara?" the woman shook her head. "yea... I'd work towards a deal or something. Like... try this. 'if you release us you can take all the treasure on this ship and we'll take this ship and be on our merry way' go ahead and try that." Captain Scritty glared for a moment

"If ya release us, ya can take all the treasure on th' ship and we'll take th' ship an be on our merry way" he said with bared teeth.

"oh no." Captain Cyne said frowning "I find you distasteful and rude. Always have. You can go down with your ship. and everyone who chooses to follow you" he said his eye's ghosting over the rest of us prisoners, and finally lighting on me. I met his eyes with a mixture of fear, want, and anger.

"except you." He said walking to the bars, his eyes trained on me. "how would you like to join me?" he said

"why?" I asked with narrowed eyes. I don't care how pretty he was, I didn't want to be saved simply because I was good looking. I have some self respect. (and a lot of pride)

"you don't look like one of them. you look like you could make a good pirate one day." I guess I just had that look about me. I had made an effort to bathe every now and then. I don't know. But I certainly didn't want to die. So I nodded

"sure I wouldn't mind joining you."

And then the real fun began.

"so why did you actually spare me?" I asked, watching my ex crew mates sink along with the navy ship from Captain Cyne's quarters.

"I wasn't lying. You didn't look like you belonged with them. I am going to turn you into a real pirate. " he said

"but you're supposed to be ruthless" I said, he still hadn't answered the question. he sighed and drew his sword, it was battle worn but still very sharp

"I can still kill you now." He pointed out. There was something about his expression that told me that he wasn't serious.

"you aren't going to though. You are going to tell me what you aren't telling me" I said, a little irritated. Yes, he was terrifying and gorgeous but he was starting to get on my nerves. He chuckled and put the sword down.

"you're going to be my heir." He said turning his back to me and walking to a wardrobe. I had been expecting many answers. That wasn't one of them.

"what?" I said blinking dumbly as he rummaged through some clothes

"well, captain Cyne is immortal; I need to find the next one. I won't last forever you know." He tossed some garments to me. I caught them out of reflex but I didn't really look at them.

"what about your first mate?" I asked confused.

"she's great but the first mate takes over when the captain dies. Cyne doesn't die. " he said "put those on. no member of my crew is going to wear clothes that ratty."

"what made you choose me?" I asked hesitating before I started to strip. Living on a pirate ship, you get over any insecurities about your body. Cyne wasn't' looking at me anyways.

"well you're young. Good looking. No one really knows your face. if you don't cut it then I'll just kill you later." He said shrugging. The fake death threats were getting old real fast. "that's much better" he said now that I was dressed. They were probably the nicest clothes I'd ever worn. the shirt was a black v-neck with long sleeves; it was a little big on me. the pants were also black with a sliver line going down the outside of both legs.

"where did you get these?" I asked

"pirate" he said winking. "so welcome to the crew. You'll be working with the cook."

"wait, I don't know how to shoot or anything." I said

"you'll learn" he said waving me away.

And that's how it started. I went on quite a few adventures with Captain Cyne. Then I went on many more as Captain Cyne. I have plenty of time here, Want to hear them?