“Which side is starboard again?” Jaunty asked.
“Damn it all! Look where I am pointing!”
Jaunty followed her arm and finger towards a spot in the sky that was indeed very dark. He didn’t notice it before.
“Do you see it?” Bevy asked.
“Yes, it seems small.”
“It is a massive storm and it’s only an hour away at its rate of approach. The lookout spotted it an hour ago and we have been tracking it. We are in a nightmare situation. We have no chance of moving out of the center of the storm or making landfall ahead of it because we are stuck here. The only thing we can do is prepare for the worst. I have ordered the crew to make safe the sails and to batten down the equipment on the decks. Everything that we can move below we will. My first mate and I will stay out here and man the ship, and hopefully will be able to steer out of major waves. Everyone else will stay below.”
“Should I move Winn?”
“No, he will be safe as can be in the cargo hold. I would be ready to cut his bonds in case we sink. He will likely be able to make it onto the launch if he is untied. If he remains tied, he will drown.”
“OK, what should I do?”
“Tell your team about the situation. Secure all your belongings. Find a place to ride out the storm. Most of all stay out of the way of the sailors and stay below decks. Do not come out until I give the all clear.”
Jaunty looked up at the dark spot and it looked like it grew bigger since he had been talking to Bevy. He nodded in acquiescence to Bevy and climbed down the ladder to the main deck. He found Vant and the men on the starboard side of the ship on the forecastle deck. He told them about the impending storm, and they set off immediately to their quarters to secure their weapons and gear. He found the ladies talking in the captain’s wardroom. He told them about the situation at hand and they also went to prepare for the storm.
“What about Winn?” Sarah asked. “We can’t leave him tied up during such a terrible storm.”
“Bevy said to leave him tied up but prepare to untie him,” Jaunty said. “I will ride out the storm with him in the hold.”
“Not without me you won’t,” Sarah said. “What if you get knocked out? Winn could die.”
“Fine, I’ll meet you on deck as soon as I tie my things down.”
Jaunty went to his quarters and secured his things and went back out on deck. He found that the wind had picked up again considerably and was blowing directly against the direction they wanted to go. Sarah joined him, and they went to cross the main deck, but Bevy had ordered that the sails be let out, so they can try to outrun the storm at a 120-degree angle headed north and west. The sailors were running around like crazy.
“All passengers below decks now and stay there for the duration of the storm!” Bevy yelled from her post at the wheel.
“What about Winn?” Sarah yelled up to Bevy.
“NOW! The storm is almost upon us!”
Jaunty took Sarah’s hand and led her back into the wardroom. The rest of the team was there.
“Jaunty what are we going to do about Winn?” Sarah asked.
“I’ll try to go back out there once the rain starts. Maybe Bevy won’t notice.”
“It’s not going to be just rain,” Svae said. “The ship will be bobbing up and down like a bouncing ball. Water will be pouring over the side of the ship. There is no way you will be able to get to the ships hold during the middle of the storm Jaunty.”
“I have got to try,” Jaunty said.
“I am going too as well,” Sarah added.
“You both are talking utter nonsense. Winn will be fine. I forbid you to go out during the storm.”
Jaunty scoffed and Sarah stood up and had an indignant look on her face.
“Did you forget who you are talking too?” Sarah asked harshly.
“Princess, I have not,” Svae said. “But I am within my rights to protect you from certain harm, even if I have to restrain you.”
“I would like to see you try,” Sarah said.
“Svae, I respect you, but I would never let anyone stop me from ensuring Winn’s safety,” Jaunty said. “Not you, Jik Coy, the King, no one.”
“Alana, men, restrain them both,” Svae said.
“I am sorry Svae,” Alana said. “I am not going to come between a husband and wife or a man and his best friend. Count me out.”
“Ma’am, I apologize as well,” Vant said. “I speak for the men and we won’t hinder Jaunty or Princess Sarah. We all volunteer to go instead.”
Svae threw up her hands. “I am the only one seeing reason here. Go ahead, throw yourselves to the mercy of the sea. You will see that I am right. Since the princess usurped my authority, I won’t charge you all with willful disobedience, but I am not happy with any of you. You are a bunch of fools. For the record I was going to go save Winn myself, once the princess and Jaunty were restrained.”
“Svae, I appreciate you trying to protect me, but it is my place to go. The only reason I am letting Jaunty go with me is that I wouldn’t be able to stop him, and he is the only one that Winn halfway trusts.”
“As you wish princess, but you should let me go with Jaunty,” Svae said.
“I know you care deeply for him, Svae. For some reason he seems to hate you more than anyone here. Since Allesca healed him from hating me so much anyway. I am deeply curious of why that is.”
“I have no idea princess.”
“Neither do I. Regardless, the matter is settled. Jaunty would you keep a watch on the deck and see when the sailors go below?”
“Of course, Sarah.” Jaunty went up to the door and cracked it so he could see out on the deck. The wind was howling. The rain had started, and it was blowing through the crack in the door. The ship started bobbing up and down in a more violent fashion. Jaunty looked back at Sarah and she was in a conversation with Alana. He opened the door wider and slipped out of the wardroom onto the deck. The rain was slicing through the air so fast, being propelled by the now fierce wind, that it hurt Jaunty when it hit him. He fought against the wind and slowly made his way across the main deck. The sailors had been sent below to their quarters. Jaunty could barely see Bevy at the wheel. She was furiously spinning the wheel back and forth, guiding the Lydia to dodge the waves. Jaunty had to climb up to the quarterdeck to get to the stern of the ship where the cargo hold hatch was located. He reached the steep, slippery stairs and slowly made his way up. When he was halfway up, the ship suddenly lurched and fell ten span and slammed on the bottom of a wave. Jaunty was knocked off the ladder and landed with a thud on the main deck. He landed on his foot wrong and twisted his ankle. He got up and started back up the ladder and went even slower, holding on for dear life and only moving one limb at a time as he climbed. He made it to the top and stood on the deck, and Bevy looked over at him for a moment and cursed at him for a good minute then tossed him a rope that was tied to the steering housing.
“Tie on or you are going to be swept over the side,” Bevy yelled over the wind. “This isn’t a natural storm. It is building to hurricane strength quickly. I see some rogue waves in the distance, and they are headed straight for us. We will probably sink if they get us. The waves aren’t our only problem. The wind and the currents are pulling us to shore. The shoreline in this area is known to be very rocky and shallow. I can’t fight this wind. I am just trying to buy us time. If we are lucky, we will avoid the rocks and end up beached. That is the best outcome. This wind will probably snap a mast as well.”
“I want to go get Winn,” Jaunty yelled.
“The hatches are battened down. It takes two men to open them back up. You won’t be able to do it, and like I said you will be swept over the side if you try. You must ride it out up here with me. You can’t go back to the wardroom, you likely won’t make it. Conditions have gotten worse since you climbed up here.”
Jaunty nodded and tied himself in with the rope. He watched in horror as the swell got deeper and deeper. It was like the ocean
was filled with rolling hills and valleys. Coming closer were mountainous waves. Jaunty looked toward the shore but the storm made it so dark he could not see but 100 span in the distance. Suddenly the ships bow was lifted so high that Jaunty’s feet slipped off the floor and he was suspended in air and hanging by the rope. Bevy was hanging on to the ship’s wheel and her body was hanging below the wheel, horizontal to the deck.
“Rogue wave!” Bevy yelled. “The fall comes next then we are going to be under the ocean so hold your breath. If the ship holds, we may come up. If it breaks apart, we are going to die.”
The ship crested the rogue wave and was righted for about ten seconds, then the bow dipped and kept dipping until it was the bottom most part of the ship and Jaunty fell forward and slammed into the railing surrounding the ship’s wheel. Bevy fell more gracefully and landed feet first on the ship’s wheel housing. It seemed like the ship was in free fall.
“Brace for impact,” Bevy said. “Take your breath now!”
Jaunty breathed in deeply. The ship slammed into the valley of the wave, and Jaunty nearly had his breath knocked out of him. It was like falling off a peak on Mt. Edan. Water fell on the ship like the ocean was swallowing them up. The impact of the water knocked Jaunty off the rail and pressed him against the deck like he had a huge rock on top of him. The pressure abated after a moment. Jaunty looked around and saw that the ship was underwater. In the immediate area around him he couldn’t see any damage. He hoped the ship was still seaworthy. Suddenly the ship popped back onto the surface of the ocean.
“The air in the hold saved us,” Bevy yelled. “It made us more buoyant. I don’t see any other rogue waves nearby, but we have moved quite a bit closer to the shore. There is no way we were not damaged. I doubt we are seaworthy. It won’t be a problem for long though, we are about to be grounded one way or another.”
As soon as she said that there was a massive impact at the stern of the ship. The resounding boom knocked Jaunty and Bevy off their feet.
“Shit!” Bevy exclaimed. “We hit a sea stack. We are closer to the shore that I thought. We are either about to be split apart on a stack or grounded, that is if we don’t hit the reef and break apart on it.”
“I have got to go get Winn,” Jaunty yelled.
“I can help,” a bedraggled Sarah said as she crawled up onto the deck.
“I’ll try to keep us off the rocks if I can see them,” Bevy yelled. “Go ahead and try to get him. If we break apart on the stacks or the reef, then he won’t have a chance if he is tied up. I don’t see any more rogue waves. The rocks and the bottom are the dangers now.”
Sarah and Jaunty crossed the quarterdeck and carefully climbed down the steps to the main deck. They slowly walked across the main deck towards the hatch to the cargo hold, each of them slipping three or four times. The rain was falling hard and the ship was rocking and bobbing constantly. They finally made it to the hatch and each of them took a side and started undoing the ties and prying the catch off the spring-loaded arms that made the hatch easier to open once it was unlatched. It took a great deal of strength to unlatch the arms from the catches that were attached to the deck. Jaunty applied all the strength he had to unlatch his. Sarah was still straining, but to her credit, she didn’t give up even after three minutes of constant pulling and straining against the catch. After a while she positioned herself with her legs against the hatch and with the extra leg strength, she was able to work the catch free of the arm. As soon as she did the hatch sprang up and the way was opened to the cargo hold. Once the hatch opened Jaunty sunk to a knee and moaned. Sarah saw Jaunty’s reaction and looked down in horror. The hold was three fourths full of water, and Winn wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Jaunty and Sarah didn’t hesitate. They jumped down into the swirling water in the hold and started looking for Winn. First, they looked in the place where they left him tied up. He was not there. They swam in broad circles looking throughout the hold. After a long moment Sarah noticed air bubbles coming up from the far corner. She and Jaunty swam toward it and dove down. Winn was there, his eyes were open, but he was blue in the face. He was still bound, and his leg was trapped by a fallen deck support beam. Jaunty and Sarah immediately tried to move it, but they ran out of air before they could get Winn’s leg free. They surfaced and took deep breaths then swam back down and pulled with all their might on the beam. They managed to move it just enough for Winn to get free. He kicked hard and surfaced, but he blacked out as he emerged from the water. Sarah surfaced and instantly grabbed his face, sucked on his mouth to get him to expel any water in his lungs, and started breathing in his mouth. Jaunty watched in a heightened state feeling helpless. At last after a minute of Sarah attempting to resuscitate him Winn finally started coughing up water and breathing. Jaunty pulled his knife and started cutting Winn’s bonds when the ship slammed into the reef on the bottom of the ocean floor. The sound of wood splintering and water gushing into the hold was overwhelming. Deck beams started falling all around them. The hold was almost full of water and they had to get out of there before they were trapped inside. Jaunty finished cutting Winn’s bonds and they started swimming toward the hatch. At this point there was only a hand between the water and the top of the hold. It was hard for them to position their mouths to take a breath.
They reached the hold and Winn hoisted Sarah out onto the main deck first. Then Jaunty got into position to help Winn up to the main deck. Before he could lift Winn up another terrible crash reverberated throughout the ship. This time the hull split into and the ship broke in half. Water rushed into the hold and lifted Jaunty and Winn out onto the deck. Sarah was waiting for them and she pointed to the port side of the ship. Water was rushing over it. Winn looked over to the other half of the ship and saw it was suspended on a stack.
“Run for the other half of the ship before we sink,” Winn said.
All three of them took off running. They reached the place where the ship broke apart and their end of the broken ship was five span below the other part that was stuck on the stack. Winn grabbed Sarah around the waist and flew up to the deck on the other side of the ship and deposited her on that deck. Then he flew down and grabbed Jaunty and flew him up to the other deck. As soon as they landed Bevy ran up to them.
“We have to board the launch and get out of here,” she said. “I lost all the sailors because the forecastle broke up in the impact and they all were washed away. All your men but Vant were lost too. Svae and Alana had tied their selves in inside the wardroom and that is what saved them. The ceiling to the wardroom is gone. The ladies and Vant are waiting by the launch. Come on and I will lead you to it.”
They followed Bevy to the launch. Like she said Vant, Svae, and Alana were there. As soon as Bevy saw them she motioned them to get into the launch. She told Winn, Sarah, and Jaunty to get in as well. She worked a crane like device that lifted the launch off the deck and started to lower it onto the water. She jumped in before it went too far down to jump into. Once the boat hit the water, Bevy cut the ropes that attached it to the ship.
“Pick up an oar and row,” Bevy yelled. “We will capsize before we make it to shore, but the closer we are, the more likely it is you can swim to shore and won’t drown.”
Everyone picked up an oar and started rowing toward shore. It was hard to tell if they were making any progress in the still huge waves that bandied them about. After about ten minutes Winn looked up and he thought he could see the shore. Right after that a wave lifted the boat and sent it tumbling down, flipping everyone out into the sea. Winn started swimming toward where he thought the shore was. He saw Sarah swim past him, and despite his complete mistrust of her, he hoped that she and Jaunty would make it. Winn didn’t know if he would make it, his limbs were still numb from being tied up and they were not working like he wanted them to. Despite that, he decided that he was going to make it, or die trying.
Chapter 18: Kishoda
August 25, 850 A.A.
Winn woke up with the sunrise and found
himself on the beach. He was surprised he was still alive after the nightmarish swim to the shore. He remembered his feet hitting the sand when he got to the shallow waters and climbing to the beach, then passing out from shear exhaustion. After a moment he realized he was dying of thirst, so he sat up. He saw Jaunty, Sarah, Svae, Alana, and Bevy strung out in various parts of the beach. They were still out. He decided to let them sleep and try to find a source of fresh water. He got up and headed toward the wood that sprang up beyond the beach. He found a game trail and followed it for a while, and he lucked out because it led to a small spring. He was about to rush to the stream and take a long drink but then he heard a horse snort. He stopped short and listened for a moment. His caution was rewarded because soon he heard Vestuan voices. Winn thought they were in Xi En territory, so he was surprised to hear Vestuan. As he listened to the Vestuans talk, the mystery was cleared up. There were three Vestuans and they were scouting in Xi En for Xi En troop movements. They had been instructed to raid anything they could.
Winn thought he would do a service for Jaunty’s home country and take care of the scouts. Winn stretched out and limbered up. After a moment he was ready to fight. He judged where the voices were coming from and launched his attack with precision and speed. The Vestuans were taken by surprise as Winn threw himself at the closest one and launched a devastating punch at his throat, crushing the Vestuan’s windpipe. As that one fell over dead the other two pulled out their swords. These were Vestuan poison swords that killed at a touch. Winn was aware of the danger of their swords and ducked under the second Vestuan’s attack and threw a round kick that crushed the Vestuan’s nose. The Vestuan fell to the ground in agony and Winn focused on the last Vestuan. This one swung four times at Winn in a controlled attack that made it hard for Winn to penetrate. The Vestuan became inpatient with his fifth stroke and swung overhanded. Winn stepped aside and punched the Vestuan three times and then he struck the Vestuan in the heart so hard his heart burst and he died instantly. Winn then went to the Vestuan still on the ground and twisted his head so that his neck broke. With all the Vestuans dead, Winn looked over their weapons and took two short swords the Vestuans called stigs. They weren’t very good weapons, but they were better than nothing.
Trials of a Champion Page 22
