Day 34: There’s an old saying among sailors: Red sky at night, sailors' delight. / Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Well, last night, when I dropped into my bunk, it was a beautiful evening with not a cloud in the sky. But, when I woke up this morning, it looked like we were sailing a sea of blood. The clouds were scarlet and crimson. And Murphy was swearing like a…well, like a sailor.

We spent the morning battening down the hatches, and stowing anything loose into something stable. The wind started whistling through the lines about noon. Murphy was bellowing orders over the rising scream of the incoming storm. I usually hid in my bunk if there was a storm, but this time I decided to tie myself to the mast and ride the storm out.

The rain started falling about three, but “falling” is a tame word for what came from the sky. It slashed like bullets of water, stinging painfully when they hit. Within seconds, my hair was plastered to my head, and I was very grateful not to have to wear my glasses any more.

The ship was pitching and tossing as if it were a bucking horse, or a runaway roller coaster. I was glad I had taken the precaution of tying myself down. I saw one crew member go over the side, and another was crushed by a barrel that broke loose from its moorings.

Everything was a confusion of noise and chaos, with the scene illuminated by pitching lanterns and jagged flashes of lightning. There was a great rending shriek of wood against stone, and I saw the mountain scraping by the side of the ship. Three more pirates were crushed between the two before the ship crashed into the rocks. Then there was silence…until the moaning began. I’ve never been so frightened in my life!

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I've managed to sneak a bit of pencil stub from the ship's doctor, and a few scraps of paper from the cook. I'm recording my thoughts with them so I can reveal Black Jack Murphy's infamy when I finally return to civilization.

There's a universal truth about pirates. They hunt treasure, and they don't care who they have to rob to get it.

There's a universal truth about dragons. They hoard treasure, and they really don't like for people to try and take it.

I was kidnapped by the infamous air pirate Black Jack Murphy and his crew of the airship The Lady Jean. They wanted me to chronicle their dragon hunts. Little did Murphy know where my sympathies lie! So, this journal — and the resulting CD, coming soon from Mage Records “Pirates vs. Dragons” — tell the true stories of Pirates vs. Dragons. The CD combines rousing sea shanties about pirates being pirates with songs about the majesty of dragons, and the journal details the privations I suffered. There's a little something for both sides here–and I bet you find a new favorite or two.

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