And nothing I did indeed do. Until a knock resounded through the room, and a man stepped through.
He wore intricately designed black and red clothing, layers upon layers of it. Belts, sash, coat, and vest over a simple white shirt, with black pants and boots. Numerous weapons could be spotted on his person-a sword, a knife, a rifle. His dark hair was tied back, and wrinkles lined his face. The most striking thing about him was the scar across one slightly narrowed brown eye. I knew who this was, but...The look on his face softened.
"How do you feel?" He offered the smallest of smiles. Yes, that was the right voice.
"Well enough, I guess." I sat up straighter cleared my throat. How was this happening?
"You look better than you did, for what it's worth." His eyes scanned me, settled on my hand. He frowned, cleared it from his face when he looked back up. "Think you'd be up for a little walk and chat?"
I tried to contain my emotions. The last few days-how long was I out?-had been rough, and now I should be worried about getting home. Right now I should be worried about what's going to happen. Instead, I'm trying to remain calm because I'm talking to who appears to be one of my favorite characters.
"Doctor Damcott said I should get some rest…" I trailed off. How was I supposed to word this? Spirits, if this is who I think it is, then I'm on a vessel belonging to…
He chuckled. "Captain's orders outrank the doctor's." He reached out a hand. "Shay Cormac, captain of the Morrigan."
Numbly, I took hold of his hand. He pulled me up, and led me out. The first thing I noticed was that I was significantly shorter than him-and smaller. It made sense, but it still made me uneasy. I had no idea what he was thinking right then. But he was a good person, so I could trust him, right?
His feet thudded heavily on the floor, leading me down the hall. Men looked at me, and I did my best to brush it off. Only a few were leering, and some were casting suspicious looks-right, sailors were superstitious-the rest just seemed curious.
I was led into a room to the left, and handed my clothing. My clean clothing. I looked up at Shay and was about to say something, then he nodded and turned around. I rushed to pull off the flimsy shirt, and more so to pull on my own garments. As I pulled on my combat boots over the thin pants, I wondered where all my possessions I'd had in my surprisingly large pockets were: pocket knives, wallet and chain, another chain-for decoration-, a pocket watch, keys, phone. A few other things, but those were the ones that came to mind.
I cleared my throat. Shay turned around, gestured for me to follow him again. I felt sick, and couldn't tell if it was my physical condition or my nervousness. He led me up, onto the deck.
I couldn't see due to sunlight at first. Some squinting and eye-rubbing later, I jogged to catch up to Shay, focusing on him and not the water. He opened the door to his cabin, and for a second, I hesitated. He turned and rose an eyebrow, nodded towards the inside of it. I walked in first.
The door shut behind me and I felt another wave of nervousness come over me.
"I'd offer you a seat, but I'm afraid there's only one here." He said, crossing the room and taking the seat behind the desk.
"It's fine. I prefer standing anyway." I managed a smile, trying to look reassured.
He looked like he was about to comment on my condition, but he didn't. "Works out well, then. Now, I have a few questions for you…"
"Courtney."
"Courtney." He clasped his hands in front of him. "Let's start with 'Where did you get that mark on your hand from?'"
As I said, the new version is going to deviate wildly from the old one. You'll all understand why I decided to have Shay save Courtney-it'll just take some time. On another note, I'm considering trying out beta-reading, approximately after chapter 5 or 6, when the story should start to pick up a little more. If you'd be interested, please send me a PM. Thank you!
