Chapter 5: The Storm After The Calm
Over the next few hours, the storm grew, the clouds beginning to release all the pent up water inside them, the sea beating against the ship's hull like an angry prisoner trapped in his cell. Inside the cabin, a few bottles of rum and rolls of paper had been knocked from their places, rolling from wall to wall as the ship lurched more and more from the powerful waves. Beyond the sounds of the bottles rolling from one side of the room to the other, Elizabeth could hear yelling from outside the door. The rain fell hard on the porthole and she could see the lightning in the distance. She wanted to go outside and help, but what could she do?
Out on board, it wasn't quite so calm as it seemed in the cabin. The crew members were running about here and there, tightening ropes that wrapped around what barrels were left of supplies and held them to the masts and railings. The storm had come so quickly, some of the barrels holding gunpowder and tinder for the cannons had rolled away into the ocean. They'd even managed to lose a cannon, along with a ship mate who had been trying to tie it down. His foot was caught beneath the cannon's wheels. As the cannon rolled towards the edge, it took him with it. The sheer force and speed at which it went caused him to hit the railing, which cracked behind the sudden weight. It collapsed and he and the cannon fell to the depths, his foot still caught between the wheels. Afterwards, a few more crewmen jury rigged some railing by tying ropes from the railing on either side of the gap. It wasn't the best option, but it would have to do for the time being.
Kenyon stood at the helm, one hand holding her hat in place and the other turning the ship's wheel from left to right to battle against the waves swaying them from side to side. "Reef the sails, Mr. Feng!" She called out to the crew member as he worked on pulling and rolling the sails up into place at about half-mast to avoid them gathering too much of the wind whipping about. He wrapped and tied the rope to its post before climbing up the rope ladder to the crow's nest.
Lifting the spyglass to his face, Feng tried to find the end to the storm. "It don' look like it'll be givin' in for awhile, Cap'n!" The captain cursed, the heavy rain drops pelting her face and causing her eyes to squint to avoid her vision being blurred any farther. No one could see being a few feet from the edge of the ship, the storm turning the skies a deep grey colour and clouding them in a mist. "We can' keep fightin' it, lads! Scupper tha anchor, we're gonna have to wait it out!" The crewman she looked to ran to the edge of the ship, pulling the rope down to drop the anchor. The wind was strong, and the stone anchor swayed in the wind. Just as the anchor was few feet above the water, a swift wind came through, all the members aboard stumbling from the strength of it. A few even fell over, waves of water splashing on board. The stone anchor was too close to the ship to begin with, and the wind pushed it the little bit it needed to force one of the pointed edges in the hull of the ship.
Kenyon's head jerked in the direction of the sound of wood crumbling, her heart pounding in her chest. The man who had thrown the anchor looked back to her, his eyes wide as he looked back down to the anchor, pulling at the rope to try and loosen it. The wood creaked from the extra pressure, and Kenyon jerked her head in the direction of Mr. Fino. The first mate quickly saw her worry and ran to the side where the crewman was, yelling at him for a moment before giving him orders. "Ye're just gonna make it worse! Go check the damage!" The man nodded quickly, running straight for the crew's quarter's and into the hold, where the anchor had gone through. Fino tried to release the anchor, loosening it and pulling at it, but it was stuck. "It's not lookin' good, Cap'n!" He yelled.
Kenyon cursed again, louder this time. The crewman ran up on deck just as another heavy gust of wind forced the water onto deck. By now the deck was soaked, causing the crewman to slip from side to side. He fell onto the deck on his stomach, his hands catching him as he fell. He lifted himself up on his knees, looking towards the captain. He didn't bother taking the time to get up as he yelled over the raging wind and the now crackling lightning falling down around them, "It in't fillin' up too fast, Cap'n! Not s'long the anchor is pluggin' the hole!" The ship lurched again and again, pushing the ship across the sea into unknown waters. Just as another strike of lightning hit close by, causing the crew's ears to ring, she opened her mouth to speak, but instead a scream replaced her voice.
But it wasn't from her, but rather from up ahead near the crow's nest. Feng was just over halfway down the rope ladder, now dangling from one hand as the wooden beam holding the crow's nest was suddenly cracked, a burn mark on one side. The lightning had hit the beam, and the wood was cracking loudly, muffled by the sounds of more lightning and thunder. "Feng!" Fino yelled, "Hurry, man!"
The crew watched helplessly as Feng tried to get his grasp back, being whipped about by the wind. When he finally got his other hand on the rope, the beam snapped, pulling him with it as it fell to the deck with a smash. The boards of the deck beneath the beam were crushed beneath its weight, splintering around the massive post of wood. Two screams melded together, one of Feng as he fell to the deck, and the other of a crew member who had tried to run out of the way, but was caught beneath the beam. It only took a moment for the screams to die out, and all the members on board held onto whatever they could get a hold of as the waves violently shook the ship with another huge gust of wind.
Elizabeth held onto the bed post, thankful most of the furniture was nailed down into place, all save for the chair to the desk, which had been knocked over and slid across the room and gotten its leg stuck in a space between a drawer and the dresser it was attached to, the drawer having come loose despite how tightly installed it was. She could feel her stomach rolling angrily along with the waves, her face pale and her limbs shaking violently. The more the storm wore on, the sicker she felt, but the less she shook. If she wasn't holding onto the post, she would have fallen and stayed on the floor until it was all over. She felt terrible. Why wasn't she helping? Why did she feel bad for not helping? What could she do?
As she talked herself in and out of going on deck to help, she heard a cracking sound, one that was different than the lightning she'd been hearing. Only a short second after, she heard a scream. Her fear was quickly swallowed and she ran for the door on a shaky balance. When the latch was pulled, the door flung open, slamming against the wall behind it. Her face was suddenly being pelted by rain, and she was soaking wet within a few moments. She looked around, and then up, seeing the beam just as it fell and Feng still attached to the rope ladder. She tried to yell at the crew member who was running out of the way, trying to get him to move faster, but he couldn't hear through the storm and was crushed beneath the beam. As he was crushed and Feng fell down, she screamed, covering her mouth.
Kenyon's head jerked around to the feminine scream, seeing now that Elizabeth had come out from the cabin. "Wha' tha bloody hell, woman? Get back in tha cabin!" She yelled, concerned that Elizabeth would roll right off the side of the deck and into the waters as the ship hurled.
The blonde's head shook quickly, "No, I'm here to help!" She stumbled towards the captain, grabbing onto the post that held the wheel to balance herself and adjust some more to the ship's movements.
"Ye're gonna get yerself killed!" Kenyon replied, the hand on her hat coming down to help Elizabeth balance. A gust of wind flew through again, pulling her hat with it and causing it to fly somewhere across the decks. The captain grunted in frustration as she watched it fly away. Elizabeth stood her ground, refusing to move until she was given something to do. In the meantime, Fino and two other crew members were accessing the damage to the ship and more importantly to Feng. "You've lost men, you need someone to help! Let me be that person! Just tell me what to do!"
For a moment, everything felt like it had stopped, and Kenyon grinned slightly at the woman, nodding her head curtly. Fino ran up as she was about to speak, "Cap'n! It's Feng! He's hurt, but he's alive! By Jack, he's alive!" The man was clearly happy, but worried for his friend's well being.
Kenyon looked back to Elizabeth, "Do ye know anythin' about takin' care of wounded?" Elizabeth looked over to where the two crew members were lifting Feng up and bringing him towards the crew quarters. The captain stopped them by yelling in their direction, "Into me cabin with 'im!" They quickly obeyed orders and pulled him into the cabin to set him on the bed.
"I know a bit! I've been hiding and reading some books just in case I had to help Jack or Will!" She yelled over the storm, watching as they set Feng down on the bed, another rocking of the ship causing him to fall onto it roughly. He groaned in agony, barely conscious while Fino smacked at his cheek and talked to him to keep him awake. He sent the crew members away to continue working on keeping the ship held up through the storm. The captain nodded to the cabin, silently giving Elizabeth her job. Elizabeth smiled gratefully for a moment before her face became serious again. She turned towards the captain and quickly made her way to help care for Feng. In the meantime, Kenyon turned her focus back to the wheel, eyes shifting about to see if her hat was still on board. Nothing. "And I really liked tha' one." She mumbled, jerking at the wheel against another strong wave.
Inside the cabin, Fino and Elizabeth worked quickly together to see what all had happened to Feng, and what they needed to do. His left arm had been beneath him when he fell, so it was clearly in the worst shape. Skin had burst from the impact and his arm was covered in blood. Elizabeth rushed to the other side of the room to grab one of the bottles of rum that had rolled off and fought to uncork it. After a few moments, she pursed her lips in annoyance and simply slammed the neck of the bottle against the desk next to her. Her eyes searched for fabric somewhere, but not seeing in she opted to reach to the bottom of her shirt and pull at it, trying to get it to rip.
Fino would have laughed at her attempts if he wasn't so worried about shipmate. He ripped the sleeve off of his own shirt and handed it to her, looking over Feng for any other injuries. Meanwhile, Elizabeth held the cloth beneath Feng's arm and poured the rum over it. He groaned again, a good sign that he was at least still awake. She used the cloth to wipe his arm down, spreading the rum and wiping away the blood. He had clearly hit a nail at some point when he fell, a large squared hole in his arm. When she tried to lift his arm to wipe the bottom of it, he yelled out. It was definitely broken.
He continued to yell as she rubbed it down, "Come now, Mr. Feng! You're a pirate! Strengthen up!" She called over his screams. It seemed to work, as he instead yelled through his teeth. Fino removed his belt and folded it over, allowing Feng to bite down on it. "He hit a nail. It looks like the head is still in there.. Bite down, Mr. Feng. This is going to hurt." Elizabeth knew from her books that if there was a bullet still inside someone, it should be removed. A nail head should have the same application, right? There was no time to weigh the pros and cons, so she opened a drawer in the nightstand where she had found that Kenyon kept a dagger. The pirate eyed it with a grunt and a sneer, looking away and closing his eyes tightly. Elizabeth pushed the tip of the dagger into the hole where the nail head was, causing Feng to breathe heavily and roll his eyes. Fino smacked at his face, "Stay awake, ye bloody picaroon!" Feng glared at him, his nostrils flaring as a screamed escaped his throat, muffled by the belt and his clenched jaw.
Elizabeth continued to work at the wound, her head tilting to the side as she focused. The nail head was almost out, the dagger scraping against the exposed muscle as it reached the skin. The nail head fell to the floor with a gentle 'ping' and Feng's head fell back on the pillows in relief now that the dagger wasn't in his arm. She felt a sense of pride, though short lived as she went back to cleaning the wound. Fino ripped his other sleeve into a long strip and she wrapped Feng's arm up in the cloth, tying it tightly to stop the blood from flowing and to keep the arm straight until they could come up with some sort of a splint. Elizabeth smiled again, "There, all-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the ship jerked suddenly and roughly, tilting on its side. Fino's back hit the wall, and Elizabeth was flung across the room, her head hitting the side of the dresser as she fell back. The last thing she could see was Feng falling onto the boards and rolling towards the wall, wailing in pain as his arm was jerked around. Her vision blurred and as Feng hit the wall, the darkness took over her...