Hey people. Once more, the relentless author known as Silverlocke980 lifts his mighty pen! (Well, technically it's a keyboard). What little skill I possess is now being channeled into my story.
Reviews are VERY WELCOME! Send them please!
One of my reviewers, XXX I think, asked when Sophitia was showing up and when Siegfried would turn into nightmare again. My answer: a LONG time from now. This is far bigger than Falling through Nightmare. I expect twenty chapters, if not more, from this.
Alright, it's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 6
Any Port in a Storm
Atlantic Ocean, coast of Portugal. Daylight.
Siegfried hung over the side of the ship, watching as the contents of his stomach floated off. He sighed and wiped his mouth. God, he hated ships. He was coming to discover he hated many things: cities, assassins, ships...
Kilik, leaning on the balcony to Siegfried's right, watched as Siegfried gathered his strength and rose up from the edge of the ship. As the seasick German turned around on weak and wobbly knees, Kilik produced a small box from within his jacket. It was simple wood, unadorned with anything. He opened it, and from inside pulled out a white cloth. A pleasant aroma floated from it. He put it in front of Siegfried, who simply stopped and stared dumbly at it.
" Here. Hold this to your nose and breath in. It helps."
Siegfried, who at this point was willing to try anything, held the white cloth to his nose and breathed in deeply. As he did, he felt his stomach, which had been performing acrobatic stunts ever since they were on the ship, slowly start to stop moving and settle down. Siegfried, feeling like a drowning man clinging to a log, breathed in again. His stomach slowed.... slowed... stopped. He moved the cloth and took a deep breath. Turning to Kilik, he said, " Thanks. Thought I was going to die."
Kilik nodded. " It's nothing. Keep the poultice. I can make more."
Siegfried, looking at the white cloth in his hand, asked, " What's on it? Smells like strawberries or something."
Kilik shrugged. " I don't know what Europeans call it. In the shrine where I grew up we called them, roughly translated, "sailor's friend". We take the leaves and mash them together, than we mix the pulp with hot water in a bowl. We put a strip of cloth in the bowl, and let it sit for a few days. It cures seasickness, but the effects are short-lived. Use it whenever your stomach starts moving."
Siegfried, pocketing the cloth where he could grab it in case his stomach decided on a emergency evacuation, said, " Allright. Thanks again. This is a big help."
Kilik nodded and walked off. Siegfried, finally able to walk around the ship without passing out, looked it over. It was a small passenger vessel, all they could afford on their budget. After handing Voldo's head to the authorities and receiving the bounty, they'd went ship hunting. Of those going to Portugal, only this one had a fee in their price range. After buying some supplies and getting onboard, the party had basically had a few days of relaxation (minus Siegfried's trips to the balcony, of course). They were only a few other passengers on board, and they mostly kept to themselves.
The ship wasn't large, and had only a single great mast with it's two small supports. It was named the Sea Edge, and it had a capable (if quiet) crew. They weren't much for conversation. Two were currently busy swabbing the decks of the bird crap that so plagues ships of all sizes.
Siegfried set off to find Ivy. The Englishwoman was perfectly fine at sea, suffering no seasickness. She'd said that the sea was normal for her, having lived in London all her life. Siegfried, walking the small deck, found her looking out over the sea at the coast of Portugal, visible as a brown line to their left. They would reach Navare in a few hours. Siegfried walked up beside her, not saying anything. She looked like a woman with a lot on her mind. After a few minutes passed, the dreamy look went out of her eyes and she noticed him. She turned her head to look at him.
" Oh. Hello, Siegfried. How's your stomach?" she asked politely. Siegfried could tell by her voice that she wasn't all there; it had a distracted sound to it, like part of her mind was elsewhere at the moment.
" Better. Kilik gave me something for it. What are you thinking about?" he said, looking at the coast with her. He could just barely make out a few docks where a small port town eked out it's existence on the shore. The ship continued past it. The cawing of gulls echoed around them, alongside the spray and splash of the sea.
" Nothing." She turned her head to gaze out over the coast again. For a minute she was silent, letting the ocean speak as it touched the ship. " I was just wondering... about my parents."
" Parents?" Siegfried said. He looked at her. " What do you mean?"
" I'm just wondering," she said, " what effect a parent has on their child. What," here she paused, searching for the right words to put to her thoughts and feelings, " carries over when a parent isn't... perfect." She looked at him. " It says in the Bible that the sins of the fathers are revisited on their children, right?"
Siegfried looked at her. He didn't really know what this was about, but decided to answer her question. " Yes. Why?"
Ivy turned away to look at the coast. She had done a lot of thinking on the boat. She had been replaying the conversation with her mother, and thinking about her real father. Count Valentine had said that he "looked like a pirate". What if he really was? What if he'd given her to Count Valentine to avoid getting her slain by other pirates?
" It's just that," she said, still looking at the coast, " I'm wondering how much their sins count against you."
Siegfried looked at the coast too. He thought for a while. He was very religious, more so now that Inferno was gone from him (and he thanked God every day for that). He thought, and then said, " I don't think they count as much as you think."
She turned her gaze to him, cocking her head quizzically. " What?"
He looked at her and said, " You're worrying about it a lot, I think. But you shouldn't. The sins of our fathers do count against us... but like every sin, it can be washed away. No sin is permanent, except suicide. And that's only because you're dead by the time you're ready to ask for forgiveness."
Ivy half-smirked at him. " Yes, I believe you're correct. It's just that..." she stopped. " I don't know. It's hard to explain."
Before he even realized he'd done it, he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. " Just remember, I'm always here to talk to."
She reached up and squeezed his hand back. " Allright."
She dropped her hand and he moved his. But, nevertheless, both remembered the touch longer than it lasted.
Off to the side, leaning against a cabin wall, Kilik had been listening and now was thinking. He himself was a Buddhist, but believed that most religions were probably right. Listening to Siegfried, he reminded himself to ask about Christianity. He had always been interested by other religions. Besides, not like they had anything else to pass the time with. He watched Siegfried, who'd managed to walk off fine, suddenly turn green and grab at the cloth in his pocket. He jerked it out, fumbled with it a bit, and finally got it to his nose. He breathed a few times, and the sickly color left his face.
[ Well,] Kilik amended, as he watched the German sigh and put his away, [ at least I don't have anything else to do.]
************************************************************************
Two hours later. Navare, Portugal. Daylight.
The sun was just beginning to cross it's zenith for the day and head off to the western parts of the world. The Sea Edge was just starting to turn into harbor. Siegfried, happy as hell to be off the ship, was standing right next to where the boarding ramp would soon be placed. He was going to kiss the ground as soon as he stepped on it.
Ivy stood next to him, thinking about her real father. What kind of man was he? A pirate? Hopefully, he was simply a sailor with the Spanish Navy. But if he was a sailor, why would he be begging Count Valentine to take Ivy away? And how would he afford a mansion, much less the topaz-adorned key?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the enormous booming sound that came from behind her. She heard a whistling noise, and had time to hear Kilik say " What in the..." before the ship suddenly heaved forward violently. Water gushed upwards as the cannonball that should have sunk the ship struck the water not two inches beside it instead. Ivy and Kilik, both well-traveled on ships, knew enough to throw their weight onto their back feet. Standing with their legs apart, they moved their weight with the rocking of the boat and stayed upright. Siegfried, on the other hand, was thrown onto his face and slid forward into the balcony. Hitting it with a suppressed grunt, he struggled to hold onto the balcony and his guts, which had become very irritated at the sudden explosion. Screams rang out as the other passengers and sailors were thrown around the ship.
Kilik glanced back towards the direction of the booming sound. Kilik had been in several naval battles before, on the Journey, and knew the sound of cannon fire. He saw a ship, slightly bigger than their own, with it's starboard side turned towards them. It bore no standards, personal or national, but Kilik knew who it belonged to. After all, except for the Scarabs, no one else wanted them dead. Smoke rose from it's guns as it shot at them. Water splashed all around, and Kilik said a random prayer of thanks that cannons were so inaccurrate. That was all that was saving them at the moment.
Kilik turned to look at the port. It was still some distance away. The ship had no cannons of it's own. He desperately racked his brain for a way out. Even if the next few shots missed, one was bound to sink this ship...
He thought of Maxi then, and remembered a battle they'd had outside of India once. The ship was being attacked by three pirates, and Maxi had yelled for Xianghua and Kilik to come and help him. Maxi had been busy ripping the door off one of the cabins. Somewhat confused, Kilik and Xianghua helped him pull it off, and then Maxi had thrown it overboard. He'd told them to jump off the ship into the water, then grab on. They'd gotten off seconds before the ship was fatally hit.
" Siegfried! Ivy!" Kilik yelled. " Come quickly! I have an idea!"
Ivy ran over to him, and Siegfried (at a much slower pace) hobbled over as well, still clutching his stomach with his left hand.
" That door!" Kilik yelled over the frightened screams of the passengers and the booming of the cannons from the Scarab's ship. He pointed towards a cabin door. " Help me pull it off it's hinges!"
" What?" Ivy yelled to him.
" Trust me!" Kilik said. He ran over to the cabin and began to tug on the door. The hinges screamed in protest as he tried to wrench it off them. Ivy came and started to tug as well. With both of them pulling, the door began to come loose, bit by bit, but not fast enough. They needed more time...
Requiem's flat end hammered into the top hinge, right in the weak point at the middle. The hinges came apart under the blow, and when Siegfried struck the bottom hinge, it snapped loose as well. Kilik and Ivy, unprepared for the door to suddenly let go, fell back and tottered with the door in their hands for a moment.
Siegfried, trying to hold his stomach in and put Requiem back into it's scabard at the same time, managed both and then turned to Kilik. " What now?"
" Throw it overboard, then leap into the water and grab it!" Kilik yelled. He and Ivy pitched it overboard, and without a second look, Kilik leaped in as well. Ivy jumped too, her lithe form graceful as she leaped feet-first into the water. Siegfried, far too sick to bother with trying to leap, simply pitched off the ship without jumping and hit the water shoulder first. Turning about in the water, he looked up and saw the dark, rectangular shape of the door against the sky. He swam up towards it ( his armor didn't weigh him down as badly as one might think) and pulled himself onto it with a gasp. Kilik and Ivy were both on his right, swimming the door towards shore. Siegfried began pushing as well, hoping to get away from the doomed boat.
A cannonball suddenly struck the right side of the ship, and the crashing of wood was soon overwhelmed by the rushing sound of water. As the party watched, the entire boat tilted severly to one side and began to sink.
" Shit," Siegfried said, watching it go down. The Scarabs' ship, having done it's job, was already sailing off.
" Why are they after us?" Ivy said, watching the boat slowly sink downwards into a watery grave.
" Don't know," Siegfried said. " But I mean to find out. Let's get to shore."
He turned and began pushing.
- There you go. First chapter of 2004. See you guys later! (and leave a review, please!)
Reviews are VERY WELCOME! Send them please!
One of my reviewers, XXX I think, asked when Sophitia was showing up and when Siegfried would turn into nightmare again. My answer: a LONG time from now. This is far bigger than Falling through Nightmare. I expect twenty chapters, if not more, from this.
Alright, it's...
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 6
Any Port in a Storm
Atlantic Ocean, coast of Portugal. Daylight.
Siegfried hung over the side of the ship, watching as the contents of his stomach floated off. He sighed and wiped his mouth. God, he hated ships. He was coming to discover he hated many things: cities, assassins, ships...
Kilik, leaning on the balcony to Siegfried's right, watched as Siegfried gathered his strength and rose up from the edge of the ship. As the seasick German turned around on weak and wobbly knees, Kilik produced a small box from within his jacket. It was simple wood, unadorned with anything. He opened it, and from inside pulled out a white cloth. A pleasant aroma floated from it. He put it in front of Siegfried, who simply stopped and stared dumbly at it.
" Here. Hold this to your nose and breath in. It helps."
Siegfried, who at this point was willing to try anything, held the white cloth to his nose and breathed in deeply. As he did, he felt his stomach, which had been performing acrobatic stunts ever since they were on the ship, slowly start to stop moving and settle down. Siegfried, feeling like a drowning man clinging to a log, breathed in again. His stomach slowed.... slowed... stopped. He moved the cloth and took a deep breath. Turning to Kilik, he said, " Thanks. Thought I was going to die."
Kilik nodded. " It's nothing. Keep the poultice. I can make more."
Siegfried, looking at the white cloth in his hand, asked, " What's on it? Smells like strawberries or something."
Kilik shrugged. " I don't know what Europeans call it. In the shrine where I grew up we called them, roughly translated, "sailor's friend". We take the leaves and mash them together, than we mix the pulp with hot water in a bowl. We put a strip of cloth in the bowl, and let it sit for a few days. It cures seasickness, but the effects are short-lived. Use it whenever your stomach starts moving."
Siegfried, pocketing the cloth where he could grab it in case his stomach decided on a emergency evacuation, said, " Allright. Thanks again. This is a big help."
Kilik nodded and walked off. Siegfried, finally able to walk around the ship without passing out, looked it over. It was a small passenger vessel, all they could afford on their budget. After handing Voldo's head to the authorities and receiving the bounty, they'd went ship hunting. Of those going to Portugal, only this one had a fee in their price range. After buying some supplies and getting onboard, the party had basically had a few days of relaxation (minus Siegfried's trips to the balcony, of course). They were only a few other passengers on board, and they mostly kept to themselves.
The ship wasn't large, and had only a single great mast with it's two small supports. It was named the Sea Edge, and it had a capable (if quiet) crew. They weren't much for conversation. Two were currently busy swabbing the decks of the bird crap that so plagues ships of all sizes.
Siegfried set off to find Ivy. The Englishwoman was perfectly fine at sea, suffering no seasickness. She'd said that the sea was normal for her, having lived in London all her life. Siegfried, walking the small deck, found her looking out over the sea at the coast of Portugal, visible as a brown line to their left. They would reach Navare in a few hours. Siegfried walked up beside her, not saying anything. She looked like a woman with a lot on her mind. After a few minutes passed, the dreamy look went out of her eyes and she noticed him. She turned her head to look at him.
" Oh. Hello, Siegfried. How's your stomach?" she asked politely. Siegfried could tell by her voice that she wasn't all there; it had a distracted sound to it, like part of her mind was elsewhere at the moment.
" Better. Kilik gave me something for it. What are you thinking about?" he said, looking at the coast with her. He could just barely make out a few docks where a small port town eked out it's existence on the shore. The ship continued past it. The cawing of gulls echoed around them, alongside the spray and splash of the sea.
" Nothing." She turned her head to gaze out over the coast again. For a minute she was silent, letting the ocean speak as it touched the ship. " I was just wondering... about my parents."
" Parents?" Siegfried said. He looked at her. " What do you mean?"
" I'm just wondering," she said, " what effect a parent has on their child. What," here she paused, searching for the right words to put to her thoughts and feelings, " carries over when a parent isn't... perfect." She looked at him. " It says in the Bible that the sins of the fathers are revisited on their children, right?"
Siegfried looked at her. He didn't really know what this was about, but decided to answer her question. " Yes. Why?"
Ivy turned away to look at the coast. She had done a lot of thinking on the boat. She had been replaying the conversation with her mother, and thinking about her real father. Count Valentine had said that he "looked like a pirate". What if he really was? What if he'd given her to Count Valentine to avoid getting her slain by other pirates?
" It's just that," she said, still looking at the coast, " I'm wondering how much their sins count against you."
Siegfried looked at the coast too. He thought for a while. He was very religious, more so now that Inferno was gone from him (and he thanked God every day for that). He thought, and then said, " I don't think they count as much as you think."
She turned her gaze to him, cocking her head quizzically. " What?"
He looked at her and said, " You're worrying about it a lot, I think. But you shouldn't. The sins of our fathers do count against us... but like every sin, it can be washed away. No sin is permanent, except suicide. And that's only because you're dead by the time you're ready to ask for forgiveness."
Ivy half-smirked at him. " Yes, I believe you're correct. It's just that..." she stopped. " I don't know. It's hard to explain."
Before he even realized he'd done it, he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. " Just remember, I'm always here to talk to."
She reached up and squeezed his hand back. " Allright."
She dropped her hand and he moved his. But, nevertheless, both remembered the touch longer than it lasted.
Off to the side, leaning against a cabin wall, Kilik had been listening and now was thinking. He himself was a Buddhist, but believed that most religions were probably right. Listening to Siegfried, he reminded himself to ask about Christianity. He had always been interested by other religions. Besides, not like they had anything else to pass the time with. He watched Siegfried, who'd managed to walk off fine, suddenly turn green and grab at the cloth in his pocket. He jerked it out, fumbled with it a bit, and finally got it to his nose. He breathed a few times, and the sickly color left his face.
[ Well,] Kilik amended, as he watched the German sigh and put his away, [ at least I don't have anything else to do.]
************************************************************************
Two hours later. Navare, Portugal. Daylight.
The sun was just beginning to cross it's zenith for the day and head off to the western parts of the world. The Sea Edge was just starting to turn into harbor. Siegfried, happy as hell to be off the ship, was standing right next to where the boarding ramp would soon be placed. He was going to kiss the ground as soon as he stepped on it.
Ivy stood next to him, thinking about her real father. What kind of man was he? A pirate? Hopefully, he was simply a sailor with the Spanish Navy. But if he was a sailor, why would he be begging Count Valentine to take Ivy away? And how would he afford a mansion, much less the topaz-adorned key?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the enormous booming sound that came from behind her. She heard a whistling noise, and had time to hear Kilik say " What in the..." before the ship suddenly heaved forward violently. Water gushed upwards as the cannonball that should have sunk the ship struck the water not two inches beside it instead. Ivy and Kilik, both well-traveled on ships, knew enough to throw their weight onto their back feet. Standing with their legs apart, they moved their weight with the rocking of the boat and stayed upright. Siegfried, on the other hand, was thrown onto his face and slid forward into the balcony. Hitting it with a suppressed grunt, he struggled to hold onto the balcony and his guts, which had become very irritated at the sudden explosion. Screams rang out as the other passengers and sailors were thrown around the ship.
Kilik glanced back towards the direction of the booming sound. Kilik had been in several naval battles before, on the Journey, and knew the sound of cannon fire. He saw a ship, slightly bigger than their own, with it's starboard side turned towards them. It bore no standards, personal or national, but Kilik knew who it belonged to. After all, except for the Scarabs, no one else wanted them dead. Smoke rose from it's guns as it shot at them. Water splashed all around, and Kilik said a random prayer of thanks that cannons were so inaccurrate. That was all that was saving them at the moment.
Kilik turned to look at the port. It was still some distance away. The ship had no cannons of it's own. He desperately racked his brain for a way out. Even if the next few shots missed, one was bound to sink this ship...
He thought of Maxi then, and remembered a battle they'd had outside of India once. The ship was being attacked by three pirates, and Maxi had yelled for Xianghua and Kilik to come and help him. Maxi had been busy ripping the door off one of the cabins. Somewhat confused, Kilik and Xianghua helped him pull it off, and then Maxi had thrown it overboard. He'd told them to jump off the ship into the water, then grab on. They'd gotten off seconds before the ship was fatally hit.
" Siegfried! Ivy!" Kilik yelled. " Come quickly! I have an idea!"
Ivy ran over to him, and Siegfried (at a much slower pace) hobbled over as well, still clutching his stomach with his left hand.
" That door!" Kilik yelled over the frightened screams of the passengers and the booming of the cannons from the Scarab's ship. He pointed towards a cabin door. " Help me pull it off it's hinges!"
" What?" Ivy yelled to him.
" Trust me!" Kilik said. He ran over to the cabin and began to tug on the door. The hinges screamed in protest as he tried to wrench it off them. Ivy came and started to tug as well. With both of them pulling, the door began to come loose, bit by bit, but not fast enough. They needed more time...
Requiem's flat end hammered into the top hinge, right in the weak point at the middle. The hinges came apart under the blow, and when Siegfried struck the bottom hinge, it snapped loose as well. Kilik and Ivy, unprepared for the door to suddenly let go, fell back and tottered with the door in their hands for a moment.
Siegfried, trying to hold his stomach in and put Requiem back into it's scabard at the same time, managed both and then turned to Kilik. " What now?"
" Throw it overboard, then leap into the water and grab it!" Kilik yelled. He and Ivy pitched it overboard, and without a second look, Kilik leaped in as well. Ivy jumped too, her lithe form graceful as she leaped feet-first into the water. Siegfried, far too sick to bother with trying to leap, simply pitched off the ship without jumping and hit the water shoulder first. Turning about in the water, he looked up and saw the dark, rectangular shape of the door against the sky. He swam up towards it ( his armor didn't weigh him down as badly as one might think) and pulled himself onto it with a gasp. Kilik and Ivy were both on his right, swimming the door towards shore. Siegfried began pushing as well, hoping to get away from the doomed boat.
A cannonball suddenly struck the right side of the ship, and the crashing of wood was soon overwhelmed by the rushing sound of water. As the party watched, the entire boat tilted severly to one side and began to sink.
" Shit," Siegfried said, watching it go down. The Scarabs' ship, having done it's job, was already sailing off.
" Why are they after us?" Ivy said, watching the boat slowly sink downwards into a watery grave.
" Don't know," Siegfried said. " But I mean to find out. Let's get to shore."
He turned and began pushing.
- There you go. First chapter of 2004. See you guys later! (and leave a review, please!)
