Raiya- Early Game

by Russell Wilbinski

  His mind raced as he adjusted course, over and over. When he relaxed and used his movements to attack the sea like he would during a fight, he found it was much easier to expect the action of each swell. With a wide grin, he let his thoughts fade into the background, sailing with his fighters instinct and marveled at the ease of which he could navigate the storm. The Typhoon swung from port to starboard, then back again as he piloted the ship. He drove the bow through several whitecaps creating eruptions of water that washed over the entire deck without damaging the ship.

  Just when he felt he could do this, disaster struck the Typhoon. Literally. A huge bolt of lightning struck the mainmast, blowing apart the topmost section. It cracked and snapped as the topmost section tumbled down toward the deck. Skree watched in horror as it began its fall, seeing that Mills was bracing against the base of the mast, holding an arm in front of his eyes, blinded by the lightning.

  “Shit!” Fenna yelled, running forward and leaping over the railing, landing easily on the deck below.

  Snapping ropes and the sound of breaking timbers cracked as the massive section of mast crashed to the deck below. With a horrifying awareness, he knew there was no way she would make it in time to save Mills. He watched in wonderment as she vanished and reappeared next to the man in the blink of an eye. She pushed him out of the way with a mighty shove and he slid across the deck, coming to a stop in a large coil of rope. The damaged mast became tangled in some rigging as it fell, swinging like a pendulum. It slammed into Fenna’s back, tossing her into the air like a rag doll and sending her careening overboard.

  Chapter 9

  “Captain!” Hawkins yelled, preparing to run to her aid. Skree yelled to stop him.

  “Hawkins stop! Take the wheel!” He shouted.

  “I have to help the Captain!” he said, nearly turning and jumping from the bridge. Skree reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, stopping him. Hawkins stared back at him with a fear so overwhelming that it hit Skree in the chest like a ton of bricks. Despite his gruff exterior and general detachment from the crew, Hawkins loved Fenna like a daughter, so when she went overboard, he forgot about everything except trying to save her.

  “No! You have pilot the ship. I don’t know how to adjust for a broken mast and you need to save everyone else!” Skree looked into his eyes with determination. “I will rescue the captain, you need to keep the Typhoon in one piece.”

  Hawkins hesitated for a moment then nodded, replacing him at the wheel. “Go get her!”

  Skree leapt from the bridge, rushing across the deck as fast as he dared. The ship rocked violently and the top half of the mast continued to swing back and forth, suspended a few feet above the deck by the rigging. He scrambled to where Mills was recovering in a tangle of ropes, hoisting him from the pile.

  “Mills, the captain went overboard.” Skree explained, quickly tying a rope around his midsection. “I am going in after her.”

  “You’re mad! You will never find her in this storm!” he yelled over the thunderous cacophony of the wind.

  “I have to find her.” He finished, tugging hard at the knots to make sure it was tight and secure. “I need you to anchor the other end of this rope to the Mizzen.” Without waiting for a response, he sprinted toward the railing, casting his water-breathing spell and diving into the deadly water below.

  Mills scrambled to gather up the rope, carrying it to the mizzenmast and securing it as quickly as possible. With the rope tightly secured to the mast, he ran over to the railing looking for Skree or the captain in the raging tempest.

  Skree swam hard in the direction he had watched Fenna sail overboard. The sea threw him around violently and even with his high strength and his ability to breathe water; he was losing stamina quickly. Frantically he whipped his head back and forth trying to catch even a glimpse of Fenna, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find her. Diving underwater, he swam great distances, breathing easily thanks to his newest spell. The sea was dark, and he struggled to see his hand in front of his face, let alone an unconscious woman. Arms burning with the effort, he continued swimming down, down, looking for any sign of her. Thankfully, deep underwater the sea was remarkably calm compared to the storm rampaging above.

  A flash of light in the distance caught his eye. He immediately swam as hard as he could toward the flashing light. Every few seconds the dim light appeared and disappeared again, drawing him forward through the darkness. Each pulse of light appeared slightly brighter, he was just getting closer with each second. Finally, he reached the spot and found Fenna was floating unconscious with a small glass orb tied to her vest. Her arm was bent at an unnatural angle, white bone protruding from her wound. Blood flowed freely, giving the surrounding water an eerie red haze with each flash of the pulsing orb.

  Seeing her injury, he immediately cast Minor Restoration. When he spoke the word of power, a sharp pain bit into his mind. The spell had failed. He tried again, only to have it fail again. He understood immediately, he couldn’t speak the word of power required to activate the spell while underwater. Since he could not cast healing magic, he cast the only spell he knew would help - Water Breathing. His fingers made the correct gestures, and he released the energy not needing a word of power to activate. Thankfully, whoever had created the spell understood how useless it would be if you needed to speak the activation. He had no way of knowing whether it would help, but he felt it couldn’t hurt.

  He pulled her carefully to his chest, wrapping a length of the rope around her midsection, tying them together. Once he was sure she was secure, he grabbed the rope to the Typhoon. He heaved hard, pulling them toward the ship. Hand over hand, foot by excruciating foot, he pulled them through the currents, through the waves toward the ship. His stamina drained must faster than expected, hovering around fifteen percent when he felt something jerk hard around his waist. At first it startled him, wondering if he was under attack, but when the tug came again, he understood that Mills must have seen the rope go taught and had started pulling them in! He wrapped the rope around his forearm a few times and held on tightly as they sped through the water.

  He kicked his legs, doing everything he could to propel them faster, but he wasn’t confident it was helping. When they broke the surface, he gasped for air, remembering he didn’t need to. They had been underwater for at least two minutes already, and he would have blacked out long ago if he had not cast water breathing on himself. He peered up as they slowly ascended through the air, bouncing against the hull a few times as Mills hoisted them up to the deck. A pair of strong hands grabbed his shirt and pulled him over the edge and onto the deck with Fenna’s body laying limply atop his. He looked up and saw Jury and Mills pulling them to relative safety away from the edge.

  “You all right lad?” Jury asked.

  “I’m fine, Fenna’s hurt though.” He said, struggling to untie himself. Jury reached down and cut the rope, gently laying the captain beside him. Skree scrambled to his feet and began to cast his healing spell but Mills laid a hand over his waggling fingers. “Wait, we have to align the bone or it will never heal right.” Mills grabbed her forearm and with a grimace, twisted her arm until the bone was in a rough alignment. He nodded and Skree cast the spell.

  Golden light poured from his hands that enveloped her arm and chest. The punctured skin, and the broken bone mended almost instantly. No matter how many times he saw it, Skree was still blown away every time he watched healing magic in action. Skin, blood and bones stitched together strong and whole in a matter of seconds. He waited a few momentsbut Fenna didn’t wake. Skree realized she wasn’t breathing. He put an ear to her lips and listened. Definitely not breathing. He put his ear to her chest, listening for a heartbeat. Thump-thump. Silence. Thump-thump. Silence. Her heart was beating. She was alive, but her pulse was weak and sounded erratic.

  Memories of first aid lessons flooded his mind. He tilted her head back, opening the airway. He pinched her nose shut and blew into her mouth, filling her lun
gs with air. He repeated this process for nearly a minute before she snapped awake, coughing up a lungful of water and gasping for air. She rolled onto her side, breathing heavily, staring up at him. Bloodshot eyes met his, and she smiled weakly. “That’s a hell of a risk to take just to kiss me.” She said, coughing up more water. “That desperate are we?”

  Skree’s blushed a brilliant shade of red and his face became a rictus of embarrassment. “I… would never… um…” he began, glancing away from her smiling face. He turned his head to say something but Fenna grabbed his cheeks and pulled him in, kissing him long and hard. When she released her grasp, he stared at her, mouth hanging open.

  “Thank you.” She said, dropping any hint of amusement. “I hate to say it, but you saved my life. Again.”

  “Yeah well, let’s not make it a habit.” He said weakly, thoughts of the kiss still running through his mind.

  She squinted up and saw Mills and Jury just standing there, peering everywhere but at them. “You two just going to stand there, or will you be helping a lady up?” She asked, thrusting her hands in the air. The two men moved quickly to her side and helped her to her feet. Skree took a few more seconds to recover his stamina before Mills pulled him upright. Fenna nodded to the two men. “You two, get back to your stations, we’re not through this storm yet. Skree, we have to go see Hawkins before he dies from worry.”

  The small group broke apart, and he walked with Fenna back onto the bridge where Hawkins was fighting the good fight. When he saw Fenna, he took a step away from the wheel, then thought better of it, returning his hands to the spokes. “Oh Fenna, thank the Archons you are all right. Mister Skree, you have my deepest thanks.”

  “It’s good to see you too Hawkins. Report?” she asked.

  Without preamble he explained the situation. “Captain, the mainmast broke apart as you might have guessed.” She grimaced and rubbed at her arm, remembering the pain from when the mast had nearly killed her. “Top speed is reduced, Ship hit points are at fifty-four percent. The storm is losing its bluster, and I imagine we will be clear in a few minutes, maybetwenty at most.”

  “Great news Mister Hawkins. Maintain your current course and bring us out of this storm. Once we’re clear, bring the ship to anchor and get the repairs started right away.” She said with the confidence of a woman who hadn’t just drowned. Skree had to smile, this woman was fearless and never looked back, not even to five minutes ago it seemed. No matter what happened, she always carried on with a love for life he had rarely known.

  She turned to face him. “Skree, please assist our fine First Mate in any way you can. I will change into some dry clothes and maybe sleep for a few years. It turns out drowning is exhausting, not to mention the fact my head feels like it has an axe stuck in it.”

  “Aye, aye sir.” Skree and Hawkins said in unison. She nodded and left the bridge.

  Hawkins had been right, a short twenty minutes later, the seas had calmed considerably, and the rain had ceased entirely. Now that the sky was lightening as they broke from the cloud cover, Skree could see the wreckage of the mainmast and the damage to top deck. Ropes and pulleys littered the area and dozens of ropes hung limply from the rigging. It was a real mess and one he felt he was mostly or at least partially responsible for. When the sun washed over the deck, he felt the stress and tension in his muscles drain away and the exhaustion of his deeds crashed into him with full force.

  He slowly eased himself to the deck, letting the sun warm him and burn away the moisture from his drenched clothing. Hawkins, to his credit, didn’t even seem tired at all. A small, curt smile crossed his face when he looked down at Skree.

  “I have to say, that was an impressive bit of sailing. Although I threw you in the deep end, you faced the challenge without killing everyone or destroying the ship.” He looked back at the mainmast and then at Skree. “Mostly. Regardless, I think you have completed your training.”

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest Learning the Ropes, Part 3: Wheel of Fortune. You have successfully learned the ways of a Helmsman, Navigating through treacherous waters and calm seas alike! Reward: 15,000 experience.

  Hawkins has offered you a quest! Learning the Ropes, Part 4: Steady as she goes.

  You have reached the final stretch! Satisfied with your knowledge of piloting, Hawkins is ready to continue your training.

  Rewards: Experience, Reputation with Hawkins, Profession Unlocked: Sailor

  Failure: Hawkins will end your training, and you will lose reputation with Hawkins

  Skree bolted upright, his head whirling with sudden dizziness. “That’s awesome! Thank you Hawkins, thank you so much. You are an amazing teacher!”

  “And you are a decent student.” Hawkins replied, giving Skree the biggest compliment he had ever received from the old sailor. “Also, I want you to know…” he trailed off, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “That is twice now you have saved Fenna’s life. I still don’t know what secrets you are hiding, but, everyone has secrets. You risked your life for Fenna without hesitating, when most of the crew wouldn’t have. That makes you one of the few men I trust.”

  He frowned. “Really, you don’t think the crew would have jumped in after her? They seem to love their Captain.”

  “These men and women are pirates first, family second. While I do not doubt they would have jumped in after her eventually, they wouldn’t have done it without serious consideration. Few people will risk their own life to save someone else even if it is their beloved captain.” Hawkins said earnestly. “I served with her father, the Admiral of Theseldora for many years and when she took over the captain’s role, I stayed on with her, both as a favor to her father and because I wanted to keep her safe. I would gladly sacrifice myself, or anyone, if she gets to keep breathing.”

  He could hear how much love Hawkins felt for the young woman but he couldn’t tell if it was purely platonic or if he had romantic feelings for her. He guessed it didn’t really matter. “I would have dived in after you too, you know?” Skree asked glibly.

  Hawkins nodded. “Strangely enough, I believe you. Now, shall we see to the repairs?”

  Chapter 10

  Over the next week, life on the Typhoon settled into a comfortable routine. Skree continued his training under Hawkins watchful gaze, meeting the ships’ First Mate every morning just after sunrise and piloting the ship for at least eight hours a day. He never left the wheel, not even to have lunch, so he ate a large breakfast every day with the Priestess and the Kobolds. They too had settled into a routine, continuing their lessons with language, followed by games and exercise. Occasionally he had time to teach them basic hand to hand combat. Priestess told him Jury often came to speak with her, helping to teach her the language for stories about Kobold history and culture.

  “A man of many questions.” She had called him. He knew Jury was a decent man, and he was glad someone had spent more time with Priestess than he had. Occasionally, she brought the younglings to the top deck in small groups, along with one of the adult Kobolds so they could get fresh air, warm themselves in the sun and see the beautiful ocean views. He had asked her why the younglings didn’t spend more time outside and she explained what he already knew; Kobolds were at home in small spaces, preferring to be underground or inside as often as possible. Not that they couldn’t be on the deck, they just didn’t feel comfortable there.

  After someone relieved him from the helm each day, he would wash himself with the cool sea water and eat lunch with Mills. Because of his amnesia, Skree could ask lots of questions about Theseldora, the crew and the Central Kingdom. When he asked why it was called the Central Kingdom, Mills had laughed at him. “Because it’s the kingdom at the center of the world!” Mills had delightedly explained. When Skree still didn’t understand, Mills brought a map to lunch the next day and showed exactly what he meant. The Central Kingdom was just that, the kingdom at the center of the world. It was the largest landmass in all of Raiya and surrounded by a series of spira
l arms extending in eight directions. It looked like the milky way, but instead of a massive black hole at the center, it was the central landmass appropriately named the Central Kingdom.

  From everything he knew about plate tectonics and planetary formation, which wasn’t much, he knew the land formation was not possible. Well, anywhere but Raiya he supposed. Everything about this world screamed “intelligent designer” instead of naturally occurring. Mills had explained howthe eight great housesruled the Central Kingdom and how they controlled a majority of the islands in each spoke. Drawing lines with his fingers, he showed the expanse of the Central Kingdom’s reach. He also explained that everyone called it The CK. Skree found everything about the map fascinating. Each arm was almost equal in land mass and length. It was far too symmetrical to be natural.

  Theseldora and other free cities like it existed beyond their spheres of influence in an ever expanding ocean known as the outer reaches. Filled with countless islands, any person could buy the deeds from the [Cartographers guild name], a group of explorers and adventurers that worked to find and gain the deeds for every island that was worth owning. Without a settlement, the deeds did not expand the influence of the CK. Only with a settlement and a military presence would an island become part of the CK and its power base. Eventually, they moved onto other, less interesting topics and Skree found the more they talked, the more he liked Mills. He had paid the man his money even though he had somehow cheated in the contest. It was all in good fun though, and he was glad to have another friend aboard the Typhoon.