A Storm In Bound

The water was still, unmoving, unlike the boat we were in. The others were silent as a song wrapped around us, but we didn't fall to the pull as we rowed. Arms moved up and down, only visible because of the lantern in the boat.

It was a fight in itself to ignore the wanting to go to the silverness and find the voice that called out. I couldn't muster the energy to talk, though I didn't know how the others were doing themselves.

Soon, more lights appeared, but this was different. They didn't cover the base or around the ship, but the docks. I couldn't tell until we were closer, if it was our ship or another.

The ladder we used before was still over the edge, as well as the ropes that had once been tied to the boat. Captain Velwyn was the first to go up as I helped tie a rope to the boat. With a tap on the arm by Meldmldoc, I followed between, someone else grabbing the lantern.

As I reached the top and got over the railing, I looked in the direction that Hope Coove was. Twenty minutes it took us to row there the first time. Our trip back had taken much more time.

"You're back early, Captain!" Juliet called out.

"Wake Wiley and get Saul."

I couldn't see the rocks or the lights, but I could hear the singing. Here, so far away from it, the songs didn't have the effects. Something had changed how it felt as I stepped on the ship.

As the last person came, I worked on bringing the ladder up as others grabbed the ropes for the boat. It didn't sound like the Captain planned on sticking around for a while.

Finished, I watched just as Wiley came uptop. He ruffled his hair up, a yawn escaping him. It seemed that he was more asleep than awake as he stumbled over the last step.

Saul appeared steps behind him, more alert and awake than I expected. It almost seemed like he hadn't even tried to get a wink of sleep. Knowing him, that could have very well been the case.

Following the lead of the others, I went to see what the plan was.

"What do you need, Cap'?" Wiley asked, covering his yawn as he leaned against the wheel.

"Wake up Gramp Gian and see if they added anything that could get the ship moving without wind, Bondi."

Not seeing Bondi before, I watched as the pirate took off, his boots echoing against the ground.

"Wiley, figure out how soon the storm will arrive before it hits us," Captain Velwyn ordered as he stood before us.

"What storm?" Wiley asked, pushing himself straight before rubbing his head. "I can try if there is one. Wish we still had Lorena."

"There is. And we don't want to get swept into this. I rather keep this ship for more than a few weeks before we destroy it."

Our navigator nodded, slowly moving out from the group. I looked to Saul, finding him just watching. He must have found this just as odd that Captain Velwyn wasn't leaving it to him to make sure everything happened.

We waited until Bondi returned with the one who built our ship.

"For the Love of Jones, what do you want?"

Captain Velwny stood over her as she strutted up to him. It seemed she was far from being intimidated by his appearance and didn't care if someone was twice her height.

"To avoid meeting Jones' so soon. What do we have to use on windless nights?"

Her cane tapped the ground, though it had done nothing. No secret weapon appeared for him to use.

"Clearly not your brains seeing as you don't have any. How you're the captain of this ship or even won the game in my own shop, it still confuses me." She didn't back down from him but she did turn eventually. "You have paddles in the bottom of the ship. Leo added them because he thought a ship couldn't really be a ship if it couldn't move, even on windless days. It'll take at least fifteen of the crew for it to move. The more the fast you can go."

"Saul, go with her to the place and see how many we need to send down."

Saul moved. "Whatever has you spooked, it must be bad. Otherwise you would have handed the reins of the crew to me by now. We're in danger, aren't we?"

Captain Velwyn didn't answer.

"Very well. Let's go Gian. I'll need to see the area before we toss anyone down in the hole and leave them."

I had a feeling he was considering just that with his words. Hopefully I didn't end up as one of those stuck down there.

"Meldmldoc go wake everyone one. Everyone else, make sure everything is fastened."

Listening everyone got to work. Those who were already awake helped check the deck with me. Making sure the boat was fastened with the others and wouldn't disappear. The sails were up and the room to the bar was locked.

I checked the cannons, feeling bitter about the last time I had been around them. We didn't have anything that would keep them in place, but I could make sure that the balls didn't roll on the ground. The windows were letched.

As other pirates, more asleep than awake and grumbling, appeared the check went faster. Hanh gave me a final hand in making sure the loose Ant Bear didn't go around, trying to eat anyone else's leg, before we went back to the deck. Saul had returned at some point, calling out names.

Pirates joined his group until more than half of us was on his side. With a wave at his end, they went back under, no doubt to work on the paddles.

"What now?" Bondi called out.

Captain Velwyn stood above us on the deck, with Wiley next to him. It was the navigator that spoke.

"The currents are changing, but the water on the surface isn't moving. Lorena would have known what that meant, but I can only guess that something is going to happen. Maybe a whirlpool or waterspout. The sky isn't clear enough for me to get a read on the weather and with how bleak it is, I can only guess a storm is approaching. We've faced storms before and this one doesn't feel as strong as half of the ones we went up against."

In his pause, another question was thrown out. "How can a storm be coming without wind?"

"I don't know. These are waters that I'm unfamiliar with. Only Captain Velwyn and Saul have been in these waters close to Hope Coove and it is their words that I have to go off of. Even without wind, something can still happen."

"What do you need us to do?"

Wiley looked at Captain Velwyn, letting him be the one to answer. "Blow out all the lanterns and find a place to stand. When we do get away from here, that's when we need the sails down and bodies put to use."

We separated at those words and as the last lantern went out, there was nothing else for us to do but to wait. We waited to see what else these seas would throw at us and what else we would have to face in the future.

My eyes searched the darkness, as I knew the boys were on the deck somewhere. That they were helping in whatever ways that they could. I might not have been able to see them I knew that they too waited.

Waited to see what their futures would bring and how mine would continue to be entangled in theirs.

We could do nothing but wait to see what came at us next.

What adventure would follow with a pirate king being named and what wars have we started by being part of this? What adventure waited for us after we got away from the mysterious ship and the so-called ghost and songs that tugged at me to follow them?

As the ship jerked forward, a new path in this long twisted life started to form right before our eyes. We were all heading there together and there would be more challenges along the way, but no one would be alone.

I would watch the boys and that alone, would be what would make it feel less like I was missing a part of me.

Thunder echoed, like tons of cannons being fired. Lightning flashed, lighting up the abyss and brightening the dark waters below.

We moved to the future and away from the past. 

[WORD COUNT: 121,875]