Author's Note:
And now we get to finally update!
Chapter 4: Mast Races
It seemed that Ariah Clarke had a strange sense of prediction, because the next two days on the RLS Legacy were completely eventless.
The solar winds travelling the Etherium -that fuelled the ship- weren't abnormal and no other ships could be seen throughout the entire galaxy.
Captain Amelia stated that these types of days were better for sailing. Ariah said they were boring, although knew that the female captain was indeed right. The sailor girl then spent most of her time observing her fellow crewmembers as well as mapping out a new series of inventions.
Although Jim was working for Silver as a cabin boy, Ariah couldn't help but see a connection growing between the two men. As if they were actually getting along with each other.
One particularly uneventful afternoon, Ariah had fallen asleep –again- in her harness while leaning against the mast, because she had absolutely nothing better to do.
She breathed peacefully in and out, her suspended body swung gently from side to side in the soft solar breezes. Today, she was wearing her regular red vest over a loose ivory-coloured peasant top and a pair of tawny trousers.
From what she knew, Jim had been ordered to swab the deck and that was about it.
Suddenly there was a loud THUMP as something grasped her forearm and stretched her bungee chord so she was nearly touching to the main deck.
Ariah lazily opened her copper-brown eyes, already knowing the distinct grip on her forearm, and seen a long red face with a pair of big golden eyes.
"What do you want now, Scroop?" Ariah growled; she despised when people interrupted her slumber.
"You owe me a favour." The arachnid alien hissed.
"For what?" Ariah snapped.
Without warning, Scroop pulled Ariah fully out of her harness and she inelegantly landed onto the main deck with a surprised yelp.
"For preventing me from crushing that little whelp's bones to dust…" Scroop side-glanced in Jim's direction; the oblivious cabin boy was still swabbing the main deck.
Ariah glared back into Scroop's golden eyes. "I owe you nothing…" She tugged her forearm out of Scroop's grip.
"Well then…" Scroop backed away from Ariah; his voice was sickly-sweet. "Why don't we have a little challenge?" He narrowed his eyes and smirked coldly.
"How so?" Ariah raised an eyebrow in interest as she pulled herself onto her feet.
Scroop glanced at the mast momentarily and sneered. "First one up to the crow's nest and back owes the other a day of slavery."
"What kind of slavery?" Ariah carefully suppressed her temper.
Scroop snickered. "Any kind the other wishes…"
"And what if I refuse?" Ariah stated, folding her arms over her chest.
"Then you owe the entire crew a week's worth of slavery." Scroop stated plainly.
"Hey, that doesn't make sense!" Ariah shouted.
"What does in this crew?" Scroop asked bluntly.
Ariah paused and smirked slightly. "True."
The female sailor paced away from the exigent alien. She pressed one hand against the mainmast's gleaming finish and rubbed the bridge of her nose. A long exasperated sigh exited her lips.
"Fine." Ariah turned to face the alien; her arms were crossed over her waist.
A substantial amount of the crew was waiting at Scroop's side. They had formed a crowd, curious about the change to the day's monotonous events.
"The first one to the crow's nest and back." Ariah glowered.
Jim then walked up to the crowd of alien sailors. "Um… What's going on?" He asked, glancing at Ariah and Scroop.
"You'll see, Cabin Boy…" Scroop glared at the two teenagers before clicking towards the mainmast. The scarlet alien turned to Ariah. "Ready?"
"Yeah." Ariah stated curtly.
She quickly stretched her arms and rolled the long sleeves of her ivory blouse back to her elbows. The teenaged sailor tightened her black ponytail, rolled her shoulders and breathed in deeply.
"The rules?" Ariah glanced at Scroop.
"There are no rules." Scroop responded flatly. "Just get to the crow's nest and back…"
"How 'bout 'no killing each other'?" Ariah retorted.
Scroop rolled his golden eyes. "That's a given." He mumbled.
The two challengers faced the mainmast. Onus skittered down from his crow's nest position; a telescope was under one of his short peach-coloured tentacles and he gripped his navy-blue hat against his many-eyed head.
"I'll count!" The Optoc alien squeaked. He passed the competing sailors and hopped up onto the railing beside his fellow crewmen.
"Sheesh. No need to make this so official." Ariah rolled her copper-brown eyes, waiting to get this competition over and done with.
"One…" The alien squeaked, wrapping his legs around the railing of the ship.
Both of the competitors touched the sleek mast. Ariah concentrated her sailing instincts on beating Scroop.
"Two…"
Ariah paused and glanced back at Jim, who was looking more confused than ever. Ariah smiled smugly at this and returned her sight to the mast's glowing finish.
"Three!"
They were off. Ariah immediately snatched her bungee chord and began climbing as fast as her leather boots could muster.
Just behind her, Scroop agilely skittered up the mast, the tips of his tri-jointed legs made tiny impressions into the beautiful mast. Scroop's claws were free as he charged behind the female sailor.
With a couple of lunges, Scroop nearly snatched Ariah's ankles. The teenager continued climbing, dodging Scroop's attacks and bouncing off of the variety of riggings.
The two sailors were nearing the crow's nest and the intensity of their competition was increasing with every yard they climbed.
With one last leap Ariah grasped the crow's nest, kicked off its bottom and then dropped towards the deck. She held the end of her bungee chord in her hands as she continued falling towards the large crowd of sailors.
Using the heels of her leather boots against the mainmast, Ariah steadied her descent. But there were still plenty of riggings and the occasional swing of a solar sail boom to dodge.
The polished deck was approaching faster with all of the riggings Ariah bounced off of.
She then looked up momentarily and spotted Scroop. He was diving towards Ariah, his claws opened dangerously. His legs moved so quickly that she doubted they touched the mainmast's wood deeply.
Ariah then realized that this wasn't just some silly competition to Scroop. He was desperate to humiliate Ariah while they were on this voyage… but why?
The female sailor tucked her arms and legs closer to her body and somersaulted most of her descent to the deck. Once she could see her fellow sailors' jeering expressions she unrolled the sleeves to her blouse so that they caught the wind. Her ponytail whipped behind her and the floorboards drew nearer.
With a hasty tug of her bungee chord Ariah swung around one of the solar sails' booms, wrapping the rope around it a few times. Now slowed down adequately, Ariah released her grip from the bungee chord and landed lightly on the main deck in front of the crew of sailors.
Scroop spotted Ariah's change in direction, but it was too late. He had diverted his course and crashed forcefully into the wood of the boom.
Ariah winced slightly at the intensity of the sound made by Scroop's crash into the wooden boom. She looked up momentarily at the boom with Scroop on it.
The young woman had a feeling that Scroop's tough exoskeleton had done more damage to the boom than the boom had done to him. If the crimson arachnid had any possible injuries from the challenge, they were more likely to his pride rather than physical injuries.
Ariah glanced up at her fellow crewmembers innocently.
"I guess I win then, don't I?" She smirked.
The crew burst into cheers when suddenly…
"Well then…" A paced voice interjected. "Would anyone care to explain this clearly to me? Or should I just start pulling rank?"
It was Captain Amelia, and she wasn't at all please about her damaged mast…
Author's Note:
And there you have it, a nice original scene that I made up on the spot… and it was so much fun to write!
Thanks to Whisperwings for editing this…
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MG#6