Christopher Robinson
Stories
7
Chapters
2,452
Words
578.5 K
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Reading
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As it seemed like everything I’d tried to cobble together was falling apart, I wasn’t surprised when I heard Burdette saying just loud enough for me to hear him, “This is what happens when you listen to an elf!” I didn’t have time for him. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to run south. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe heading east would have been better, or even not bothered with the feint to the west and just ran in that direction like there was a chance to save our souls there. Or maybe we’d be…-
71 •
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Our pursuit caused a stir among the crew, a stir that I quickly turned into preparations for battle. There were three ships behind us and at least one on either side, hidden by landmass. It looked like the three behind were supposed to be the anvil on which we’d be crushed: the The The two ships flanking us were likely the fastest ships that they thought could delay the I shouted orders to Burdette to take the helm and chart our course for best speed through the reefs. I could hope that the The…
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71 •
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I’d seen men with more alcohol in their bodies than blood turn cold sober when faced with something that scared them. I didn’t have anything to scare me that badly – nor did I The bartender glared at me when I motioned him closer. People had various initial reactions to my imbalance. While my crew seemed to be getting more or less used to me, everyone else either turned up their noses or glared. “Whattaya want?” he demanded. He’d made me pay up front, so he didn’t even have the promise of…
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71 •
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After pillaging the schooner and setting course for a new island, I spent a quarter hour fuming in my cabin before admitting that I needed to be visible to my crew. I’d given them the order to kill innocents – I couldn’t just do that and shut myself away! Yet on deck a black air hung around me like a dark cloak, and I was no comfort to my crew. Many were distraught, but I wasn’t the one to help them. Unable to return to my cabin and feeling like the ship was a prison closing in around me – or a…
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71 •
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I found three other survivors from the cutter. None of them knew anything useful, none of them were willing to join my crew. Their XP wasn’t welcome. Phillip found the body of the wind mage with his legs squished into a boneless mass. At a guess, he’d had a mast fall on him and drowned. While I pitied the survivors I’d killed, I didn’t pity the wind mage at all. He’d gotten exactly what he’d deserved. Four of my crew had died, all of them due to the lightning spells. Each of them had been a…
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71 •
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My crew was somber as I collected the ones I’d sent on errands, no doubt sensing my black mood. Those I’d tasked with going into town had returned with mixed success. Some supplies and loads of spices for the food were gathered, but we weren’t in the port long enough to stock up and smuggling the goods into the bay where the ship waited had taken the crew time. The ship had enough hardtack and water supplied with it to deny any starvation, but good food was going to be rationed. The two I’d sent…
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71 •
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“Take us around her again.” Burdette looked at me askance, but did as I ordered, despite it being our third time circumnavigating the whaling ship. I’d made an excuse about cowing them into submission – a valid one, it seemed, as the frenetic motion on deck had died down into quiet, fearful stares at our ship – but my real goal was time. Time to think. There was one option I could think of that I thought I could pull off to complete Jones mission and avoid killing my old crewmates. It all…
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71 •
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I took over at the helm that evening. Since there was a stiff wind blowing along the water in our direction of travel, we surfaced to take advantage of it. Working the sails with real wind created some confusion. Those who had learned beneath the waves and adapted most quickly found that they couldn’t swim directly from point A to point B in the open air, and had to make the adjustment. My crew really did have to learn different methods of sailing. Their skill levels showed it. I’d demanded that…
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71 •
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I came to slowly, drifting out of my haze like a ship slipping free of a thick fog. The turbulent motion that had been the last movements the ship was making were gone. I felt like I was suspended in the deep, which made the cabin furnishings surrounding me confusing. I realized there were two eyes peering at me intently, and my brain stuttered and flashed into cognition as a response. Sadeo nodded from his perch on the chair by my bedside. “’Bout time you came around.” I swallowed. It seemed the…
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71 •
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The next 24 hours had all the struggles of a new crew mixed with the trials of sailing a storm. For all my years at sea, there were times that I didn’t help matters either. I knew conceptually that many of my duties as Captain would depend upon delegation to complete effectively. I lacked the applicable experience to stay ahead of the problems as they developed, however, and found myself taking control of situations. The first problem was food. We’d had fresh stores, but most of those had gotten a…
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