Chapter 6:
"I hate sailing," Brynn said matter-of-factly as she struggled to keep her grip on a rain slicked rope. The raging storm to which she had addressed her comments made no reply, being an inanimate weather phenomenon, and continued to blast cold rain in her face. She braced herself as the deck tilted beneath her feet and a wave of epic proportions washed over her. The wave tried to drag her off the ship as it left, but she was stronger than it and managed to keep her footing.
"Come on, pull the mainsail down before it gets shredded in this wind!" Saemon shouted.
Easy for him to say, Brynn thought as she struggled to untie the rope in her hands he's got the easy job: hanging on and shouting orders. One hand clutching the rail for dear life she picked at the knotted rope until at last it came free. Half a dozen sailors made haste to tie the mainsail to the boom before it blew away. Meanwhile, Brynn made haste to get below decks where at least she wouldn't be in danger of being washed overboard.
Cries of irritation greeted her as the Blades who had been lucky enough to escape storm duty protested the rain and seawater that came down to flood their relatively dry haven.
"Yeah, yeah, love you guys too," Brynn muttered, closing the hatch. She wiped her face with one hand and held on the ladder with the other.
"How does it look up there?" Aerie asked, her blue eyes wide and frightened.
Brynn tried not to sound too irritable. "How d'you think?" she replied. "It's wet, it's dark, and it's not letting up any time soon."
"I'm sorry," Aerie said contritely.
"Don't be," Brynn told her, "I'm just grouchy because I'm soggy and I haven't eaten since… well I don't know, the point is I'm wet and cold and hungry."
Just then the hatch opened again and a wall of water and Minsc came down the ladder. "Never have I seen so much water!" Minsc exclaimed. "Boo is so wet that he looks like a drowned rat!"
"Close the hatch you dolt!" Jaheira shouted.
"Oh! I forgot!" Minsc closed the hatch again and the influx of water ceased. However, they were now ankle deep in the ocean, which wasn't good all things considered.
Anyone who could had taken refuge on a top bunk in the main cabin, but those who weren't fast enough were subjected to sitting and standing in puddles or on soggy barrels and crates. Brynn was sure there wasn't a square inch of dry wood in the cabin, but at least there wasn't more water coming down all the time and no one was in immediate danger of drowning. The main cabin also had acquired an unpleasant smell: that of vomit. Some of those below decks were suffering from acute seasickness, and Brynn had to admit that she wasn't feeling tip top herself.
"We're all going to drown!" Nalia moaned. She looked green, and Brynn attributed some of the puke smell to her. Anomen sat beside her looking someone off color himself and holding a bucket out for his sweetheart. Or was he holding it for himself?
"No we're not," Brynn told her. "If worse comes to worse we get in Jan's little subma-thingy and wait it out under water."
"Submarine," Jan corrected her. "It's a submarine."
"Whatever," Brynn said. "Point is that no one's going to drown. I don't think."
"Ah, such encouraging words, my raven," Haer'Dalis said. Of all the Blades he seemed to be the best off. Then again, Haer'Dalis rarely let on that he was anything but on top of things, and most of the time when did he seem miffed it was more for show than anything.
Imoen sloshed through the water and had Brynn sit down on a bunk. "You look tired," she explained.
"I feel tired little sister," Brynn said. She stretched out on the soggy bunk. "Where are Yoshimo and Master Touga? And Dynaheir?
"T…Touga and Yoshimo went up just after you," Khalid replied.
"And I am over here," Dynaheir spoke up from a dark bunk in the far corner. "Do look around more before you ask questions, dear."
"Sorry, I couldn't see you," Brynn apologized. "I guess I missed Master Touga and Yoshimo above deck. It's hard to see your hand in front of your face in that rain!"
"I saw them both," Minsc said. He sat down on the bunk below Dynaheir's, and Boo crawled out of his sleeve, looking very much like a drowned rat indeed. "They had fished a sailor out of the waves and were trying very much to make him not fall in again."
Jaheira mused aloud, "Miracle of miracles, the two of them working together. And they did not attempt to murder one another?"
"Master Touga wouldn't let a man drown just because Yoshimo was trying to help him first," Brynn said, a little irritated. "Neither would Yoshimo."
"I am glad that you are optimistic, Brynn," Jaheira said. "Hopefully we won't 'accidentally' loose either of them in the storm."
"You're not funny Jaheira, I hope you know that," Brynn growled. She rolled over on the soggy bunk and added. "I'm going to sleep, if either of them comes down smack me until I wake up."
***
Meanwhile, above deck…
"Get out of my way you stupid son of a peasant whore!" Touga snapped at Yoshimo. The two of them faced one another along a thin and slippery stretch of decking near the bow of the ship.
"I was born Samurai just like you, and of a higher rank unless my memory fails me!" Yoshimo retorted over the raging storm. "You get out of my way!"
"Your rank when you had honor, if you ever had any honor, does not matter anymore. You are nothing but a ronin and a thief. Stand aside and let me pass!"
"Unless I am mistaken, oh wise and honorable one, you are a ronin as well, so do not preach honor to me! I find it laughable that you still cling so tightly to every precept of a culture that exiled you. That is not honor, it is pathetic!"
If he hadn't been forced to keep both hands on a safety line to keep his feet on the decking, Touga would have drawn his katana. "Watch whom you mock, boy," he growled ominously. "You will not find yourself lucky enough to escape me a second time, even with Brynn hovering near by to protect you. If she would protect you. I am her Master after all. She is bound by duty to me more than to you!"
Yoshimo laughed. "You, old man, are no more Brynn's Master than I. She surpassed you in skill long ago."
"You are mistaken, boy. I defeated her when last we sparred, or did you miss that?" Touga replied confidently.
"No, but apparently you missed the fact that she let you win!"
Touga's dark eyes widened. "What?" he demanded.
Yoshimo smiled coldly. "Don't be so surprised. Brynn could have been a goddess, and you think you, a wrinkled old man past his prime, could have beaten her? Old age must be getting to your mind as well as your body. She let you win to spare your pride." He pushed past the stunned Kensai and went below deck to wait out the storm.
Touga clung to the safety line and sank to the deck. Brynn wouldn't have… she would never let him win, not even to save his honor. She was better than that. She was honest. The thief was just lying to him, right? Yes, that had to be it. It had to be.
"Hey there, up you go!" said someone from behind him.
Touga got unsteadily to his feet and turned to look at the man who had spoken to him. It was the captain something or other Havarian. "Ah, Havarian-san," Touga said.
"Better to rest below decks, my friend. Up here a wave could wash you right out to sea," Havarian said. Under his breath he added, "And if I lost you overboard Brynn would send me to go retrieve you myself. I dare say I wouldn't fancy that."
"Ah, yes, I believe I will go below. Thank you, Havarian-san."
And so Touga, his mind struggling to figure out whether or not Yoshimo had told him the truth, found his way below deck. Without a word he retreated to one of the bunks, lay down on his back and closed his eyes. To all the others gathered below it looked as if he was asleep, but the truth was that Touga Kurai did not sleep a wink that whole night.
***
The Blades worked in shifts all night and all the next day helping Saemon and his crew keep the ship afloat. Despite everyone's best effort two sailors were swept away in the storm. They were seen bobbing up and down in the waves for a few moments, desperately trying to get back to the ship, but then they were never seen again.
But that was life of a seaman. One could never be sure that the next wave wasn't the one that would spell doom.
On the third day the storm's fury waned, and by the fourth day the ship was sailing under fair skies, the wind pleasant and filling the sails nicely. Thankfully none of the three masts had snapped during the storm, and all the sails had been saved. However, that did not mean that there weren't any repairs that needed to be made. If nothing else the hold and cabins had to be pumped, scrubbed, and dried out before they rotted along with all the supplies and foodstuffs they contained. Clothes, bedding and other items that had been subjected to the below-deck deluge were brought up on deck to dry out in the sun, and Aerie and Anomen used magic to create fresh water for rinsing the salt out of things.
Brynn nearly had a heart attack when she discovered that one of her precious katanas, her 'babies' as she lovingly referred to them on occasion, had rust on the blade, and she immediately set to work cleaning it with a vengeance, cursing the salt air all the while.
"I hate sailing!" she growled for the umpteenth time as she put a final polish and a coat of protective oil on the blade to keep it from rusting again. "It's bad for steel."
Opposite her on the deck, Khalid chuckled. "W..w..which is w..why I use a magical blade."
"Oh sure, laugh it up," Brynn replied indignantly. "Some skill it takes to rely on magic in a fight. That's cheating. A true swordsman relies only on his own abilities."
"You may have to rely on those abilities right quick, m'lady," called Saemon as he trotted up. "There's a ship approaching us, and she's flying pirate colors."
Brynn stood up from the deck, grinning. "Well that's lucky," she said, "I got the boys oiled and sharp just in time for the party. Lucky for us that is," she added, "unlucky for the pirates that picked this ship to attack."
***
To Be Continued
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I know what you're thinking, "The Blades can handle a dumb bunch of pirate!"
Or can they?