The Chaplain of the Black Diamond #2
The Raid on the Crimson Covenant
Storm and Steel
The Black Diamond cut through the surf like a blade.
Wind howled in the rigging, and the sails—black with silver trim—snapped taut against the dawn breeze. Salt stung Elias’ lips as he braced against the quarterdeck rail, eyes on the merchant vessel ahead.
“Saints below,” muttered Rygar beside him. “She’s fat as a bishop’s purse.”
“Take only what’s needed,” Elias called down to the deck. “No blood. No fire. No cruelty.”
The crew groaned, but moved to stations. They were weatherworn men and women—ex-privateers, smugglers, and reformed wreckers, most more loyal to coin than creed. But they followed Elias. For now.
The Black Diamond pulled alongside the merchant ship with practiced grace. Grappling hooks flew. Boots hit deck. Elias led the charge, coat billowing behind him like a makeshift cassock.
“Stand down!” the merchant captain shrieked, sword raised. “We’ve got families—”
“We’re not here for blood,” Elias said calmly, disarming him with a flick of the wrist. “We’ll take your coin. You’ll keep your food, your water, and your vessel.”
“Why?” the man gasped. “What kind of pirate are you?”
“The kind trying to sleep at night.”
The raid was swift. A dozen crates of spices and coin. No deaths. No cruelty. The crew sang as they returned to the Diamond, flushed with success. Elias didn’t join them.
He stood at the stern, staring at the black horizon, unease curling in his gut.
Something was coming.
The Crimson Covenant
It appeared like a wound on the sea.
A crimson-sailed galleon, three decks tall, drifting silent as a ghost across open waters. No lights. No flag. No crew on deck.
“Abandoned?” someone muttered.
Elias knew better. “No ship that size drifts. Not unless it’s summoned.”
The crew muttered prayers under their breath. But greed was louder than fear.
“She’s heavy with treasure,” said Josk, their quartermaster, peering through the spyglass. “Decks stacked with gold. Rubies the size of fists. No guards. No cannon at the ready.”
“She’s bait,” Rygar warned. “Oldest trick in the book.”
Josk grinned. “Oldest. And still best.”
They boarded at dusk.
The deck of the Crimson Covenant gleamed like a cathedral vault. Candelabras of polished bone. Chests cracked open with silks spilling like blood. The air smelled of myrrh, rot, and something older.
No sound. No crew.
Only a single figure at the far end of the captain’s deck.
Tall. Coated in dark velvet, lined with crimson. Hands gloved in black lace. Face calm, eyes impossible.
“Welcome,” he said, smiling. “I’ve been expecting you.”
The Choice
Malphas.
Elias stepped forward, heart pounding, sword still sheathed. “This ship’s cursed. We’re leaving.”
The crew didn’t move.
Malphas spread his arms like a preacher at the altar. “You’ve worked so hard. Fought so clean. And what have you earned? Scraps. A sermon. Regret.”
He gestured to the treasure. “I offer more. All of it. Every chest. Every gem. Every pleasure you’ve ever craved.”
Josk stepped forward, trembling. “What’s the price?”
“Only your souls,” Malphas said pleasantly. “You weren’t using them.”
The crew laughed. Uneasy. Nervous. But they didn’t step away.
“Don’t,” Elias warned. “He’s lying. He always lies.”
“I never lie,” Malphas said. “I deal in truth. You, Elias, are the one who lied to them. Told them piracy could be holy. That a thief could be a saint.”
He turned to the crew. “You want to be rich. Free. Powerful. Follow me. I ask nothing you haven’t already sold.”
They hesitated—but not for long.
One by one, they knelt.
Josk. Mira. Thad. All of them. Even young Bram, barely sixteen.
Only Rygar remained, standing still as a mast beside Elias.
Malphas smiled wider. “Farewell, shepherd.”
And with a gust of wind, a wall of red mist rose around the Crimson Covenant.
Elias and Rygar stumbled back across the gangplank as it vanished behind them. The galleon melted into the mist like a waking nightmare, its crew now part of something else.
The sea swallowed the last note of their song.
The Empty Deck
The Black Diamond drifted in silence.
Empty but for Elias and Rygar. Two men and a holy fire between them.
Rygar knelt at the helm. “We need a new crew.”
Elias didn’t answer at first. He stared at the spot where the Covenant had vanished.
“No,” he whispered. “We need a miracle.”
The wind shifted.
And far to the east, a lantern glimmered atop a fishing boat—too small to matter, too stubborn to sink.
Elias stood.
“We find the misfits,” he said. “The ones no one wants. The ones the Devil can’t tempt.”
Rygar looked up. “Think they’ll follow a priest?”
Elias drew his sword.
“No,” he said. “But they’ll follow a pirate.”
Come back tomorrow for part 3!
The devil can tempt anyone, for he knows the hearts of men.
This is awesome! I’m loving it.