THE DOCKYARD

The bright afternoon sun in the bare sky, kept its dazzling sunshine upon the coastal harbor of tropical Gold coast located in the land without cold, warming up the earth with its intense sunlight which inevitably fell on the clothed bodies of everyone roaming around on the riverside, both black and white, including a green capped man straightening some ropes on the right side of a decked ship, clad in a pale blue cloth and brown saggy pants that almost covered his leather boots.

Quite a good number of years at sea has instilled a lot of wrinkles on his face as well as his brows which bristled in the hot sunlight as he stretched the strings further down towards an iron loop with his tough sinews that built his strong arms and tied it before wiping off the hot sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

 Then he gasped profusely and looked at his busy crew, hustling on the ship behind him and took a bird eye view at the crowded harbor below the ship including the distant queue of black, half naked humans being auctioned by some mercenaries amongst a small crowd of merchants seeking to obtain some slaves for their own benefit.

"Roll down the anchor!", 

The loud voice of the coxswain resounded violently on the deck of an unstable ship at sea beside a dock yard flocked with affluent white merchants mixed-up with black aborigines settlers, who flocked around the bank of the river with their goods while two English soldiers stood watching the rowdy movement of the plebs tending to their wares on a wooden pier which narrowly ran out from the riverside into the ebbing waves of the sea especially two traders, along with few others, selling some good amount of life baits and fishes on the sandy banks near the end of the sea. 

Few smaller ships along with some crafted canoes were anchored beneath the gigantic ship and were undergoing some repairs from the local fishermen whose trade was highly dependent on the fishes swimming below the ocean.

"Aye Captain Moldovan!",

Came the sharp response of his crew, to his orders from his seamen who stuck to their tasks in pulling down some of the long ropes, one after the other, so as to lift up the sailcloth up to the top stake and was tied to it as soon as it reached the top of the mast by a dwarf with a parrot on his shoulder and two climbers as well. 

The anchor was immediately tossed into the ocean causing the ship to be stagnant on the ebbing tidal currents which kept swelling the ship to and fro in spite of the hefty chain that bound the ship to the bottom of the sea.

The five canons on both sides of the ship were quickly rolled inside by the two seamen along with four English soldiers in blue uniforms since they weren't needed for the time being until all other strenuous efforts to keep the ship buoyant on the sea was completely done by the seamen except for a respected human cargo whose presence had been confined inside a sizable cell in the cabin within the ship ever since they began the voyage from London.

 Four men immediately let down a wooden bridge from the ship which touched down on the pier and went back to the cabin to get their merchandise ready for imminent departure inside the ship. 

They walked past captain Moldovan who had gone to the quarter deck, and headed towards a stairway that led them below into the cabin and head straight to the store room where some stacks of brown sacks containing tradable valuables, were kept on the left side of the small room while three huge black chest that rested on the wall alongside twenty baggage, each belonging to the seamen including captain Moldovan except for their noble traveler and his four assigned bodyguards whose personal gears were kept inside the black box.

 They walked inside and stood in the center of the small room, trying to figure out what items they would carry out first even though the tight space in the room couldn't fully accommodate them.

"I'll take the sacks",

The youngest of them, muttered after a prolonged silence.

"Nay, you and Redruth will take that box", 

Another man who to seem to be much older than the others, coarsely responded

"But that's not fair",

"Hands don't go against him and let's simply do it",

Redruth strolled close to the black box and stood there awaiting Hands to join him but quick tempered Hands refused to comply since he felt the order from his superior crewmate was completely outrageous and intimidating. 

Hands knew that he would likely not succeed in refusing to carry out the order but his dogged nature compelled him to remain undaunted by the huge size of his opponent.

"Lad, do as I say or face the consequences",

"Come on, Hands. We don't have much time to waste here", 

The fourth man in the group remarked.

"The captain is the only one allowed to call the shots in the ship and you've been riding on us ever since we set sail from the shores of England",

"So?",

 "I'm not going to join Redruth", 

Hands said meekly and retreated backward to pick up some of the sacks but his opponent pushed him aside and stepped forward to block his way from taking two more sacks. Hands felt bewildered and stared dumbstruck at the others.

"Shut that gab of yours and drop them now", 

His opponent ordered, pointing to the floor with his right index finger. The compressed atmosphere suddenly became tense around them, which made it very hard for them to breathe the hot air inside the small, tight room.

"You can't make me", 

Hands replied daringly.

His opponent shook his head and chuckled awkwardly before fondling his brown goatee which stuck tenaciously to his white chin while the others peered at the underdog in utter disbelief since none of their other crewmates except Captain Moldovan had ever dared to challenge the experienced seaman because of his enormous body size whom they fear and dread apart from their fearless Captain.

"I admire your courage but you know that you are no match for me",

"Don't flatter yourself, Donald. I've seen the fear in your eyes whenever the presence of the Captain is felt in the ship"

"Moldovan may be fierce but he's still an old tiger",

"Let the crew be the judge of that"

"Enough of your gibberish, Hands. Drop the sacks and join Redruth",

"No can do, Donald",

Hands retorted preparing himself for the inevitable attack which he knew would occur as a result of his unwillingness to heed to the words of his opponent but his lean biceps was partially ready to withstand Donald if an intending fight might erupt between them and tossed the sack from his left palm to his right and then, back again.

"Both of you should calm down, will you Donald?

"Not this time, Adam",

"We don't want to see another ugly fight",

 "Well... If we have to fight, then fight we shall", 

 Donald rejoined and swiftly rushed at Hands in a way that caught the underdog off guard which gave him the avenue to haul the entangled fellow to the ground with his huge muscles. 

Then he began to punch the living daylights out of Hands whose feeble arms weren't strong enough to withstand Donald's fists and couldn't prevent his face from receiving ghastly blows from his powerful opponent. Hands struggled to break away from Donald's huge body which pinned him to the ground since the huge man sat on his abdomen unleashing painful punches on the bruised face of the underdog.

As Redruth and the other seaman who found it hard to rescue Hands from Donald, kept on watching utterly transfixed in despair and dread, four more ghastly punches from the hefty fellow landed on Hand's pitiable face and stomach even though he made some frail efforts to respond back against his opponent with his feeble hands which swerved in the air above his face.