Chapter 7: Sailing with Pirates
It turned out Lily was a natural sailor. In the two hours before they left Pravoka she had mastered all the basics of running their new skiff. Nate had found the maps and navigation equipment and had it all figured out before anyone else could even hold it right. Between the two, they were sure they could get anywhere.
Problems come unbidden however, and the first appeared only twenty minutes into sailing.
"Sami, are you okay?" Tom asked.
Sami was leaning over the side railing. She looked up at Tom, her face green, then suddenly leaned over again and retched.
Nate stepped out of the cabin. "Everything alright up here? I thought I heard someone retching." He caught sight of Sami and said, "Oh dear." He paused, looked thoughtful (well, his eyes seemed to look up and to the left) then ran off to the store room.
A few minutes later he returned with a glass of somewhat brownish liquid, which he offered to Sami. "Ginger water." Nate explained, "It helps with upset stomachs." Sami dank some, made a face of disgust, then finished it.
"It burns." she said.
Nate handed her a canteen of water. "I know. But it was either that or chewing the root itself."
"Fine." she said, accepting the canteen.
A few minutes later the green tinge left Sami's face. "Thanks." she said, "Not as good as being on land, but better than without." Then she looked at him suspiciously. "How did you know that?"
"I don't know. It just came to me. So I went to the storeroom to get some, and found the recipe for ginger water. Since the ginger and water were the only ingredients, I figured it was safe."
"Ginger water. Duh. Why didn't I think of that?" Sami said, smacking herself on the head.
"Probably because you were too busy heaving your guts out." Tom said.
Sami shot him a glance, then left for the cabins.
Nate turned to Tom. "Why is she like that?"
Tom looked slightly confused. "Like what?"
"I mean, why is she always so...hard to get along with?" Nate replied.
"Ah." Tom looked the black mage over. "I'm not the one to tell you, that's something she's got to do. But I can say this: her life has been really difficult, starting at a very young age. That's all I can tell you."
"Must have been bad." Nate said, looking thoughtful.
"It was. But if she hasn't told you, I'm not going to. Neither will Lily, so don't ask."
"Alright." Nate answered, "I won't delve any deeper."
"Well, I'd better get back to work. Captain Lily wants me to swab the deck." Then, in a lower voice, "Don't know who made her captain, but..."
"I heard that!" Lilly's voice trailed from the helm.
Tom winked at Nate, then left for the cleaning closet. Nate just looked around for a few seconds, then clambered up to the crow's nest.
The sun had long set, and Nate was still up in the crow's nest. The sea looked almost the exact same as when he had started: empty. Just that now, it was dark too. He looked around one more time, and was about to see if someone would take over for him when he thought he saw something on the horizon. He peered through the telescope and his fears were confirmed.
A pirate ship was there, and it was heading straight towards them.
"Nate!" Nate almost had a heart attack and nearly fell from the crow's nest.
"Hey!" Sami called, Don't kill yourself!"
"Pirates! Nate called, "Thirty degrees to starboard!"
"Oh crap." Sami said, pulling out her hammer.
"You said it again!" exclaimed Lily as she hurried from the cabin. "You always saw that when you don't see something first!"
"Well, get used to it." Sami replied as Tom rushed from the cabin, sword unsheathed.
"Where's the pirates?" he asked.
Nate, now precariously hanging upside down by his feet, called, "Thirty degrees to starboard, closing fast!"
Lily was at the helm. "I'm taking evasive maneuvers!" she said, "Let's see if this thing is as good as Bikke claimed!"
The sudden change in course jerked Nate's boot from its hold on the rope. He fell, grabbed another rope, slid down it, fell, hit the deck, and rolled into the storeroom and the bin that held the ash from the galley.
Meanwhile, on deck, it was obvious the maneuvers weren't going to work. The pirates managed to pull alongside and were boarding. This time Nate wasn't there to blind them, and the three were being kept busy. Sami's hammer swung back and forth, knocking the occasional pirate into the water. Tom was dueling three more, and Lily's rapier sang as she battled the lead pirate.
Two more pirates charged into the storeroom, intent on grabbing anything they could find. What they found, however, was not what they expected.
Two glowing, yellow eyes appeared from the back. The two froze, unsure what it was. Then two fireballs appeared.
There was nothing else to it. They ran.
"Well." came Nate's voice as the fireballs went out, "I didn't think that would work." there was the 'thump thump' of footsteps, and then figure of a very sooty black mage slipping out the door.
Back up on deck, things weren't looking great. While only half the pirates remained on the skiff, the half remaining were the strongest. Sami was wearing down, and Tom and Lily were slowing the speed of their attacks.
Sami lost the grip on her hammer, and it fell to the deck with a thump! Two pirates, grinning evilly, started to bare down on her.
Nate, now back in the crow's nest and as sooty as ever, saw this. He had just finished tying a rope around his waist, and was standing on the railing.
"I can't believe I'm about to do this." he muttered. He braced himself, then jumped.
He went pretty far to the side, like he had planned. Then, like a pendulum, he started swinging back. He howled, igniting two fireballs in his hands, and slammed into the two pirates who were assaulting Sami.
The force of his attack sent them flying back onto the pirate ship. Nate's rope ran out, and he swung back. He knocked two more pirates off this round, then on the return he blasted the pirate leader. But instead of swinging back, the rope snapped.
Nate sailed through the air, landing in the pirates' sails. He still had his hands ignited, and this set off the sails.
Nate, for the second time that night, went flying down ropes and into a storeroom.
The pirates, however, were abandoning ship. Both of them.
Lily, now free from the fight, took the helm and steered them away from the burning pirate ship.
"What are you doing?" Sami cried, seeing their course change, "Nate's still on that thing!"
"That ship has gunpowder on it!" Lily replied, "When that fire hits it, the ship's going to blow apart! And if we're too close, we'll go with it!" Then, quieter, Lily counted down. "Three...two...one..."
The pirate ship exploded in a ball of fire, sending shrapnel everywhere. Lily barely managed to get the skiff away before the shrapnel began raining down.
"Oh...no..." Sami said softly as the pirate ship blazed and burned.
"Rest in peace." Tom said, looking toward the burning wreck.
For two hours they watched the burning ship as it sunk, then vanished. The sun had started to rise before they reluctantly started to turn back to the task of running the ship.
Sami was in the crow's nest, looking back at the spot where Nate had met his fiery death. 'Why did you do that?' she thought, as if talking to Nate, 'Why did you go off and kill yourself?'
'Oh, this is stupid. He was a black mage. He deserved what he got, right? Well, he had saved their lives. But he always messed up those spells. He was so clueless.' Unbidden, a slight grin appeared on her face. 'Uh, why am I smiling?' she asked herself, 'His cluelessness was annoying...wasn't it?' Or was it, really deep down, funny? She shook her head, clearing her mind of such thoughts, and focused of searching the seas.
She was looking to their rear when something caught her eye. A small craft, barely larger that a rowboat but with a small sail, was racing towards them.
"Small craft approaching from the rear!" Sami called down to Lily. "Small, slightly larger than a rowboat, with a sail."
"Oh great." Lily replied, "More trouble."
Sami clambered down from the crow's nest and Tom emerged from the cabins.
Strangely, the tiny ship made no attempt to contact them. It simply got closer.
The design was unusual. The sail was attached directly to the hull in several strategic places. There was no real way to see around it to see who or what was on board.
The small craft pulled alongside, and there was a collective gasp from the three Light Warriors.
"Hi guys!" Nate called from the boat, "Mind if we come aboard?"
"We?" Tom asked, "You and who else?"
"You can come out, Maron." Nate said, looking into the sail.
A young girl, no more than thirteen, appeared. She wore sandals, with baggy pants going from her ankles to her waist. A buttoned-up vest was the only thing she wore over her torso, exposing her toned arms. A bandana tied around her head kept her long brown hair from getting into her large brown eyes.
"Alright." Lily called, "But she'd better not cause any trouble, or she walks the plank." Maron smiled slightly from the threat, but didn't say anything.
A line was thrown to Nate, who secured it after taking down the sail. A rope ladder was sent next, and the two clambered up onto the Maiden Voyage's deck.
"So," Tom said once everyone was on deck, "Tell us how you survived it."
"Well," Nate replied, "The first thing appears to be that I'm fire-proof. At least, that's the only way I can think of that explains why I'm not dead.
"After I hit the sails, I fell down and snagged on a bunch of ropes. I rolled, fell, and eventually flew into the pirates' storeroom. I got back on deck right as the powder exploded. I landed in the ocean. Several minutes later, Maron fished me out. She escaped during the chaos, taking the captain's personal boat. I told her about you, and we spotted you, then we took off to catch up. And now, here we are."
"And what's your story?" Sami asked Maron.
Maron's voice was surprisingly melodic. "I was born in a small fishing village on the west edge of the Eastern Continent. When I was eleven, pirates attacked my village. They kidnapped me, plundered what little we had, and killed the rest." The tiniest glimpse of a tear appeared in the corner of her eye, but she blinked it away. "I was taught how to run the ship by the pirates. Two years of hard work, scrubbing decks and steering the ship. Fixing sails, cooking, stopping up leaks, those were just a few of my duties. If I didn't do them, I was whipped.
"I wanted to escape. No chance ever appeared. None, until last night. Nobody put up such a fight since I was abducted, and I took advantage of it. I got on the captain's dingy and shoved off while the pirates were busy with you. After the ship exploded, I searched the wreckage for anything valuable. I pulled him out." She finished by pointing at Nate. "Best thing I ever found." A smile covered her face, reflecting her (most likely) impish nature.
"Speaking of valuable, I was able to grab something from the pirate ship before I left it." Nate said, reaching into his bag, "I felt like it was important, though I don't know why." In his hand was an ornately carved box. An engraving of a rose covered the center of the lid, its branches reaching across the sides.
Sami looked shocked. "That...that can't be...can I see it?"
Nate handed her the box. Fingers trembling, Sami opened it and took out what was inside.
In her hand lay a bracelet, silvery and covered in engraved vines. A rose was detailed on the top, similar to the one on the box.
"It...it is." Sami said breathlessly, "It's my family's heirloom." She grabbed it as if to bend it, but it wouldn't. "Made of pure mythril, it was supposed to represent the family strength. A strength that lies with me alone. But how would pirates get this? They weren't the ones..."
She didn't say any more. The rest kept their silence, until Lily broke it.
"So...Nate did something right?" she asked.
To everyone's surprise, Sami hugged Nate. Then, also to their surprise, she punched his arm.
"The hug was for bringing this back." she said, "The punch is for making us think you were dead."
"Can't argue." Nate said, rubbing his arm, "But I do have a question."
"What's that?" Tom asked.
Nate's eyes seemed to be smirking. "When's breakfast? Those sweet rolls in Pravoka were a long time ago."
