Chapter Eight
Sapphire was silent. Water lapped against her hull as the anchor kept her steadily in place beside the ominous Barracuda. The pirates gathered loose pieces of wood and other flammable objects and began to make a rather large size pile in the middle of the ship, grunting with irritation at the misfortune of finding nothing but three shipmates and some apples and stale bread. "Hurry up and finish it off, lads. We'll be shovin' off just as soon as we light her." Ma'sud called out briskly, walking the plank between the two ships towards his own. Once he was steadily aboard, he watched his men top off the pile and begin to make their way back to the Barracuda.
"Mus' we leave her, Cap'n?" Adham subtly pleaded, looking towards the quarters where Samirah had been locked away in her cabin. "It jus' seems like a waste." The sheer thought of a woman; the beautiful smells and soft skin was sending him into an irrational state that cared very little of his captain's orders. Mu'sad merely looked at his first mate scurrilously in reply, causing the scrubby man to shrink away in defeat and drop the subject.
"Adham." Mu'sad sharply called before he had retreated more than ten feet. When he turned and waited tentatively, Mu'sad smiled. "Give the order to light."
As Adham scurried across the ship and rounded up a few men to go back aboard Sapphire to spark the fire, another crew member dashed across the deck wielding his periscope and calling for the captain. "Sir! Sir!" He panted breathlessly as he reached Mu'sad. Pulling air freverently into his lungs as he began to speak, "There's a transport ship, not more than a few miles away." He huffed, watching a pleased glow overcome his captain's face. "She's a big one." He smiled wickedly, handing the periscope to Mu'sad, who quickly clutched the instrument and sought out the ship in the direction his crew member pointed. Sure enough there was the ship he promised. Clicking the scope shut and tossing it back to his man, he rapidly walked towards the wheel.
"Pull up anchor men!" He shouted, causing a frenzy of feet across the deck. "Ready the mast and let loose the riggin'," Over his shoulder, he motioned towards the man with the periscope. "You." He pointed. "Keep an eye on that ship."
"Aye sir." He nodded and nimbly climbed up the support mast towards the crow's nest. Once at the top, he kept a steady eye on the distant payday. Small crew, but plenty of possibilities. "Sir!" He shouted down suddenly. "They've got ahold of a strong current. If we ain't leavin' soon, we lose 'em for good!"
"Adham!" Mu'sad shouted with sheer exasperation. "What are you doin' over there, boy?" He called towards Adham and three other men who were eagerly trying to ignite the kindling of their fire. "Dammit, get on the ship or we be leavin' without ya." Just as he spoke, a spark shot out from Adham's flint and set a section of their kindling ablaze. It didn't take them long to scurry back onto the Barracuda and secure the ship before leaving Sapphire to steadily succumb to the fire that was quickly beginning to flare aboard the ship.
Aladdin slammed his shoulder in to the door for the fourth time, feeling very little purchase within his endeavors. Grunting, he fell back a few steps, rubbing his raw skin and wincing at the steady dull pain that began to throb along his right arm. Taking a deep breath, he winced inwardly as he took a running start and threw himself in to the entry once again, falling back after having no effect on the locked door. Groaning in pain, he glanced back at Samirah who was trying desperately to wake Hamal. "I could really use the help here, Samirah." Aladdin grumbled between clenched teeth, preparing himself for another run at the door.
"Well, I'm doing all I can to wake him." She replied with annoyance lining her words. As if the pirates weren't bad enough, now she had to deal with a passenger going through a temper tantrum. "Just relax, Aladdin. I can't help you, I'm not strong enough to break down a door." She kept rocking and shaking Hamal, muttering words of encouragement to wake him.
"Well, try and wake him a little bit faster." Again he rammed himself into the door and once he found no change in the wood and no avail after his attempts, he scowled and sat on the floor. "It's useless, I can't do this on my own." Aladdin rotated his shoulder and winced in pain as his shoulder blade stung and scorched with hurt.
"They drugged him very heavily." Samirah stated, more so to herself in amazement than to Aladdin as she tenderly lifted his eyelid and studied his pupils. She shook him once more before giving up hopes of awakening him anytime soon and sat near Aladdin against the door. Looking at him, she sighed. "This is the part where you tell me you've been in worse instances and had no problem getting out."
"Well, I actually have, but in those cases I had a genie to help. That always tilts the odds in your favor." He said blandly, staring across the room and wracking his brain frantically to try and think of some simple solution to escaping the predicament.
Samirah looked the door over, feeling wave after wave of anxiety begin to overwhelm her, each stronger than the last. "You did try turning the door knob, right?" She quipped at attempted humor in the face of peril to try and ease some of her growing dread. When Aladdin didn't respond, but only looked away in deep thought, Samirah let her head fall back and rest against the door. After a few suspended moments, she licked her lips and swallowed dryly. "Go figure the irony. A prisoner aboard my own ship."
Aladdin smiled slightly at the thought. "Try the irony of being a prisoner in your own dungeon." He thought back fondly. Oh, what he wouldn't give to trade this adventure for that one. 'Then again...' He thought whimsically as he watched Samirah.
Looking around the small and dimly lit room, she frowned. "I didn't really ever expect to die like this." She muttered lowly.
Aladdin snapped out of his trance and turned towards her. Gripping her shoulders, his eyes bore into her's with a look of warning and strong will. "You are not going to die. None of us are. Whatever you tell yourself will happen, it will happen. We are going to get out of this. We are going to live." He declared with deep bravado and complete certainty. Taking advantage of the moment, Aladdin pulled Samirah towards him suddenly in a rough and passionate kiss that awoke every sense within her and sent every feeling of fear and concern flying far away. The kiss depended, as did the feral need within them both. Whether or not it was because of the danger and threat of death that loomed over both of them was no matter. The sheer and utter fact was that they both wanted nothing more than that primitive moment between them, they wanted each other in ways other than lust. They needed each other for more than just passion and longing. The unbridled love that was spreading throughout them knew no boundaries and had no limits to what it could cause them to do.
When the kiss was broken, they pulled apart reluctantly, panting with eyes half closed and bodies flushed and half aroused. "Aladdin..." Samirah murmured, her lips still vibrating from the kiss, her fingertips tingling and heart pounding. Before she could finish, Aladdin pulled her in once again for a long and powerful kiss, wild and full of need as opposed to his previous moments with her which were doubtful and unsure. This was simply lust, he wanted and needed her, she felt the same. Yet, neither were sure of just how far that moment of passion could have taken them, but neither would have the chance to discover the limits of that instant.
Smoke began to fill in from underneath the door, between the gap from the floor. Although it started off timidly, the black fumes began to quickly billow into the room after only a few seconds, causing Aladdin and Samirah to quickly break apart and move away from the door. Breaking in to a fit of cursing at the sudden threat of danger, Samirah watched the dark clouds fill the room and felt the waves of fear quickly replace the warm tenderness she had felt only minutes before. Aladdin briefly saw Samirah began to pale before feeling the full fledge pang of anger return throughout his body.
"All right, I need you to work with me on this." He took her shoulders again, talking briskly and sharply. "I can't break the door alone and we don't have much time before this room fills with smoke." Already Samirah was beginning to cough, causing Aladdin to feel the first few threads of panic weave within his body. 'Panic causes mistakes.' He warned himself. 'Stay calm and don't do anything stupid, for both your sakes!' Samirah merely nodded before lining up next to Aladdin and aiming at the door. "Hit the door with the top of your shoulder and put all of your weight in to it." He said quickly, preparing not only her but himself as well. His previous attempts had left him with a sore and throbbing arm. "I won't lie ... it will hurt. So we have to do it right the first time and just break through. I don't think we'll be able to hit it with the same amount of force if we had to do it again." Suddenly he was caught in an attack of coughing, causing his eyes to water and his throat to burn for water. "Ready?" He said hoarsely. When she nodded, he counted to three and they both took off and slammed into the door with as much force as they could possible pull from within themselves.
With some resistance, the door reluctantly gave away under the pressure of their bodies and spit off of at the hinges. Falling into the hallway and onto the floor, they immediately couldn't see anything but a black haze that had filled the hall. The smell of burning wood seared Samirah's nose and watered her eyes. "What about Hamal?" Samirah gasped, keeping low as they stumbled.
"He'll be all right for now, smoke rises, so he should be okay on the floor." He managed while struggling for air and attempting to blindly discover the way up top. He took her hand in his and frantically lead the way up the stairs.
When they reached the deck, a blinding inferno of fire slashed before them, making a hazardous attempt to reach the bridge seem nearly impossible. "They're gone!" Samirah shouted, referring to the pirates. Aladdin had nearly almost forgotten about them. Spurts of fire grew in to a wild and frenzied clash of flames and smoke that dimmed their sight and disoriented their senses. Overhead, a crackling sound split throughout the ship like a blast of thunder at the main mast began to collapse. The wood snapped in two at the base and took little else to bring the massive rigging and sail crashing down on to Sapphire and the unsuspecting Samirah below.
"Samirah!" Aladdin screamed as she stood beneath the mast. Immediately he dove for her, grabbing her by the waist and sending them both crashing down onto the deck floor. In fear she screamed, calling out his name as the timber wood barreled down onto Sapphire. In awe they watched the mast collapsed; in one long sweep it fell crashing onto the deck and in its wake it snapped the railing off at that junction. Sweat creased Aladdin's brow, a mixture of anxiety and heat from the fire, his blood was pumping throughout him in a frantic pace of delirium. "Are you all right?" He panted, quickly checking her over for injuries.
"I'm fine." She replied absentmindedly as she stared at the remains of her support mast. A sense of hopelessness began to overwhelm her. She couldn't put into words the utter taste and feeling of loss that surrounded her mind and constricted her heart. The main mast was gone, broken beyond repair, and they were stuck in the middle of the ocean with nothing to help them continue their journey. It was over.
Samirah snapped from her reverie and initiated a searched among the tattered remains of what was left by Mu'sad and his men and what wasn't being destroyed in the fire. After a crazed and seemingly futile hunt, she pulled out three sturdy baskets and threw two more to Aladdin. "It's our only chance!" She called out through the crackling wood and roaring fire. "We don't have much time before the fire burns a hole through her and sinks us!" Wasting no time, they both began to fill the baskets with water and dump them over the dancing flames that ate away at Sapphire. One after another, the groups of flames were extinguished, a smoldering sizzle of smoke was the only sound heard aboard the ship.
Clearing her throat, Samirah coughed and cleared her lungs of the remaining residual smoke that blocked her airway. Once all the fires had been put out, she immediately began to survey the damage. Wood was burned, warped and twisted in ways that defied gravity. Her hull was blackened with soot and ash and the bridge beyond recognition; save for the distinguishing wheel that stood steady throughout the blaze and had very few marks on it. The middle of the deck was burnt through and the lower decks were visible, yet remarkably untouched by the flames.
Sighing in relief, Samirah sat on the deck, wiping the ash and soot off her body, 'At least you don't have to worry about springing a leak... that's all you'd need right now.' Her face was blackened by the billows of smoke that wrapped around her skin during the blaze, and her mouth was dry and tasted of ash. Aladdin sat beside her, watching the remaining ambers slowly extinguish as Sapphire sat still in the placid waters. "The wind ..." Samirah commented in astonishment as she gazed around. "The wind is gone." The remaining sails were still, drooping along their masts. The water was as smooth as glass and the sun beat down onto the ship with relentless heat. "Without wind and the main mast, we're sitting ducks." Samirah murmured.
"We'll be fine." Aladdin turned and looked over the damage, feeling the falseness of his words. Most of the damage was irrevocable and what could be saved was of little use to them. "I'll start cleaning this up, maybe we can salvage something. Why don't you go check on Hamal?" She nodded and briskly wiped away the tears that began to sting at her eyes. Her baby, her father's ship was destroyed ... and it was all her fault. She let a silly thing like infatuation cloud her attention and let them fall right into a trap. In guilt, she hung her head and somberly went to check on her first mate.
Once she disappeared below deck, Aladdin let his head fall back and he squinted at the sun. Already the heat began to burn his skin and cause damp perspiration to sheen over his body. His throat and mouth were dry and his shoulder still burned from the impacts he assaulted with at the door. Samirah had been right, the wind was completely gone, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the only mode of transportation they had left, the main mast, was laying in pieces surrounding him. Aladdin sighed deeply, his own guilt began to overtake him once again. "If this is my punishment or penalty for what I did ..." Aladdin muttered toward the sky. "It's duly noted."
To Be Continued ...
Please R/R!!