Early morning, Aphmau and crew had woken to a slightly foggy morning. Aphmau herself had just gotten out of bed and walked up to ship's deck, giving a yawn and stretch as she reached the top. Katelyn leaned against one of the ship's mast, half nauseated.
"Uh..Morning Katelyn. You ok?"
"Uhg. Morning Aphmau. It's just a bit of morning seasickness. It'll pass. Just need a bit of ginger tea is all. How'd you sleep?" She asked as a wave of nausea caused her to gag a bit. Aphmau giggled a bit.
"I slept alright. How about you?"
"I managed. Took me a while to get to sleep, but the waves were soothing in a way so that helped."
"Good to hear Katelyn. So where's everyone else?"
"Laurence and Aaron should be at the bow of the ship practicing. Chad's steering. Travis and Lucinda are below deck trying to read more of the book. Isabell should still be in the crew compartments with Lilith Garnet, Vylad should be somewhere on the ship. Probably couldn't have gotten far to be honest cause you know…we're out at sea and all."
"Alright. Thanks Katelyn."
"No problem. Uhg…now if you excuse me. I'm going down to get some more tea." Aphmau giggled again as Katelyn headed below deck.
"I should probably check on Laurence and Aaron" She thought and headed towards the ship's bow, where the two men were in a heated spar, matching blow for blow as their sword clashed. Aphmau watched from a safe distance as the two fought. Laurence slashed at Aaron, who parried and kicked Laurence in side. Aaron went on the offensive as he thrusts his sword. Laurence returned Aaron's kick however when he dodges the blade, and punches Aaron square in the head, causing him to fall to the ground. Dazed, Aaron reached out to grab his sword and felt it's handle. Before he could grab it however, he felt Laurence's blade touch his chin.
"Yield." Said Laurence in a stern commanding tone.
"…It's your win Laurence." Said Aaron.
"Ha! Best 3 out of 5. Looks I'm the toughest guy on the ship." Laurence holds out a hand for Aaron.
"For today at least." Aaron takes the hand and stands up. The two gives each other a strong handshake before sheathing their swords.
"That was a good match guys, but playtime's over." Said Aphmau
"Ah Aphmau! How're you doing today?" Said Laurence.
"Doing fine. Thanks Laurence. So I see you two are doing a bit of training."
"It's best to train in the morning. The cold keeps a body strong and sharp." Said Aaron
"I'll take your word for that." Said Aphmau. Suddenly the entire crew went when they heard a scream coming from crew compartment.
"What was that?!" Said Laurence
"Isabell. She's below deck with-" Aaron stopped midsentence and the three's eyes widen when they realized what that meant. "Lilith Garnet!" Aaron made a rush towards below deck.
"The two might be in trouble we need to head down there now. Aphmau let's go." Said Laurence and Aphmau gave a nod and the two followed Arron closely behind. When they got to the crew's compartments they saw Isabelle standing on one of the beds holding a crying Lilith Garnet closly to her chest in order to protect her. Surrounding the bed is a horde of ravenous rats, each scampering and jumping up and down, trying to claw at Isabell's feet.
"Aphmau! Aaron! The rats! The rats! They're trying to take the baby!" She screamed. Aaron rushed in head long into the swarm. The rats turned their attention to Aaron as he began cutting them down one at a time.
Laurence we need to do something!" Said Aphmau.
"Couldn't agree more." He replied and the two joined Aaron. With their combined efforts the two to three dozen rats were quickly taken care of. When the last of the rats were slaughtered, Isabell took a step off the bed, cooing and shushing to calm down Lilith Garnet.
"Isabell what happened?" Asks Aaron.
"I-I don't know. I was just playing with Lilith Garnet then I saw a rat. At first I didn't think it was much, but then one became two, then two became ten. I had to grab her and run as they began to attack."
"Your feet…" Said Laurence, making notice that Isabell had some scratch marks and a one or two bites on her feet and lower leg.
"It-it's nothing. All that matters right now is that the baby's ok." Said Isabell as Lilith Garnet began to quiet.
"That's a relief. Still we should check the rest of the ship. There might be more rats aboard." Said Aphmau.
"Agreed." Said Laurence. "Aaron you stay here. Aphmau and I will gather the rest and try to clear this infestation."
"Understood." Replied Aarron as Travis and Lucinda rushed into the crew compartment from the ship's stores.
"Aphmau! Aphmau!" Said Travis as he ran in. He stops in his track when he saw the floor covered in rat corpses. "Whoa…so I see you found our little friends."
"Of course we did. They wanted Lilith Garnet!" Said Aaron with hints of hostility
"Aaron calm down." Said Aphmau and Aaron took a breath as he calms himself.
"The rats had entered the ship through a hole in the stores. It's amazing we weren't able to find any until now." Said Lucinda. "We've taken care of as many rats as we can where we came from. Katelyn's in there now trying to make sure there aren't any more."
"That's good." Said Aphmau "Hopefully we'll clean up the rats before-"
"Those little pests!" Shouted Katelyn prompting Katelyn, Laurence, Travis, Lucinda and Aphmau to head into the stores.
"Katelyn what's wrong?" Asks Travis
"The rats that's what's wrong! They ate all the food!" Said Katelyn, almost frothing at the mouth. "And what's more they ate ALL the ginger!"
"Oh no…" Commented Laurence
"That's bad right?" Asks Travis
"Very bad. Without food, we won't be able to stay at sea for much longer. And if we do we'll starve." Said Aphmau
"What!?" Said Katelyn "I mean we can still fish right? With the dead rats as bait? It's not like we'll starve all together right?"
"Maybe. But that's only a temporary solution. We even if we can fish, if the rats had also gotten into the water. With no water we'll die of dehydration long before we starve. And even if we're super lucky and live through the next eight to ten days without water..." Said Laurence
"Lilith Garnet…" Said Lucinda
"Exactly. We need to find a place to dock and fast. If we can dock at an island within 24 hours we can gather supplies and head back out without any risk to Lilith Garnet's health. Travis, Lucinda, go find Chad and help him find land."
"On it!" Said Travis and the two left.
"Laurence, Katelyn, we need to go around the ship and try to find as much uncontaminated food and water as possible. We'll ration it out and hopefully we'll have enough to keep the baby sated for a day at least." The two nods and began sifting through the store's barrels. "Lady Irene…please help us." She though as the cold morning began to warm.