Beyond Tempest
Chapter one: Kagras
Far south of the warm waters of the Caribbean, in the chill of the Southern Atlantic, a ship slid silently through the glass like waters between the glaciers. Her carved prow broke the water with the slightest of ripples, so careful was her passage. Upon her side her name, Pheonix, was carved. Her Captain gently corrected her course, turning the wheel, worn smooth by use, to avoid the walls of ice on either side. The fifteen man crew was quiet, unnerved by the haunting silence that had fallen on the ship at daybreak. The silence was only broken by the creaking and moans of the ice in its sleep, and the crack of falling ice.
Below deck, one of the fifteen crew members was huddled in a corner, chest rising and falling evenly, breath plumes of mist. His mid length hair, or what could be seen of it from under his bandana, was dark brown and slightly sun bleached. Of all onboard, he was the only one, pardon the Captain, that had not been as deeply unnerved by the silence. He had stood the nights watch over the deck as they sailed into the craggy walls of ice, and was restoring his missed sleep. His wandering mind flitted over the night's events, every now and then he would seem to shift uncomfortably in his sleep, as though troubled. He was recalling the Captain's behaviour, as he had stood watch near the mainsail. He remembered the chill of the Captains gaze as it swept over him to survey the way ahead, though what the Captain could make out was unknown to him, for amongst the icy walls day was near as dark as night. As his mind ran over this, he was brought back to awareness by the tread of heavy boots overhead. Sitting up with a start, and shaking his head to clear it of sleep, the man, though barely old enough to be called one, stood and made his way to the stairs, blinking like an owl. As his head surfaced from below, he was forced to duck again to avoid being kicked square in the head by the dark leather boots of the Captain, who took no notice of him, instead stopping in the middle of the deck. A fierce grey gaze swept once around the deck.
"All right you mangy pack of dogs! Listen up!" the Captain's strong clear voice rang out into the silence, shattering it like a bullet through glass. The crew jerked, all gazes snapping to the figure in the middle of the deck. The young man hurried past the Captain, head low. Again the same chill fell on him as that harsh grey gaze followed him. "We are fast approaching the Kagras Eye. Stand to your stations and be on the ready!" The Captain barked. The crew scuttled about adjusting the rigging and standing at their stations, some staring ahead into the dark space between the walls of ice, others not able to stand still. The young man stood by the foremast, and ran a hand through his hair. The Captain returned to the wheel, spinning it to the left to clear a large bock of ice.
Pheonix glided around a bend in the seemingly endless tunnel of whitewashed walls, main mast clipping the top of a glacier causing chunks to fall and break the mirror surface of the water. The ice hit the water with loud, unnerving dull splash. After the noise passed, a strange eerie noise reached the ears of those aboard. The sharp ears of the young man picked up words mumbled in a strange language, but the more he listened the more the song formed words. Jade eyes widened in shock as the tune played from somewhere deep within his memories.
"It's the song." He said softly. "The song…"
Another member of the crew called Derby, a man in his late thirties with short dark blond hair and humorous brown eyes, heard his friends murmurings. He reached out and rested a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Jed?" he asked, and watched the dark waters ahead, afraid of what his friend might have seen. Jed blinked as if to clear his head, and turned it to face Derby.
"Yes?" he looked half dazed, Derby thought perhaps by the ice glare. His brow furrowed. "What did you see lad?"
"See? I didn't see anything. But can't you hear it?" he asked. Derby cocked his head. "What? Hear that unearthly whistle? If that's so then aye, I can, and I don't like it."
He removed his hand from Jed's shoulder as a cry from the wheel caught their attention. One of the crew, Joel, had spotted something ahead, and was pointing towards it.
"Man overboard! Man overboard!" he cried, and the crew lurched to the side of the deck to peer over the railings. There, draped over a piece of mast, was a sailor, one hand raised, waving weakly. A noose rope was thrown out to him, and he slipped it around his chest, letting the crew haul him aboard. Once free of the rope, he collapsed, supported on the arms of Jed and Derby. He was soon draped in blankets and huddled in a corner. Half the crew where there, the rest where at their stations, or fetching yet more blankets. Jed stood at the bow, on the bowsprit, one arm wrapped around the rigging to keep him there. His keen eyes searched the waters ahead for the tell tale signs of a wreck, floating debris and the creak of slowly sinking wood.
From the wheel, the Captains grey eyes narrowed as he felt a slight twitch from the rudder, a slight shift in the Pheonix's course. Eyebrows coming together, he saw what Jed could not, nor what he could feel. The Captain's mind raced, and his eyes widened in shock.
"All men to your stations now! Do as I say and do it fast you inbreeds, or you'll be overboard!" He bellowed, causing the crew to scramble to their posts, as the Captain reeled off orders faster then a tempest wind. Derby ran to his side, red faced.
"Capn', why have ye got as scurrying about like dogs over a bone when there is nought but our breath in the sails?" he puffed out. The Captain turned and grinned.
"Kagras has spotted us. We're at the mercy of the Eye now!" he seemed to caw the words. At that moment, the entire 65 feet of the Pheonix shuddered, and the wheel strained slightly against the Captain's grip. A soft, distant roaring reached the ears of the crew, and the man in the corner began to scream as they rounded the last corner to come upon the Kagras Eye.
A/N: yes i do realise its painfully short. who know what a few reviews might change though? coughhackHINTcoughhack
xD
