Ginouxe

Sails and Spells

Runa’s eyes squinted more as he worded his assumptions, though it wasn’t a strange thought to have of course. It made her aware that he could indeed do something against them and she grabbed her little dagger that she kept hidden in her boots, just in case. Her eyes followed his every move, hoping she would see it if he chose to make himself scarce. Yet she had never seen a mage cast magic before, let alone right in front of her. If anyone would ask she wouldn’t admit it, but she was getting mesmerized by it. Her eyes were wide in surprise as she saw the sparks jumping from his fingers and not much later, the coins floating around as honeybees.

The other maids were surprised as well and paused their hoarding to see what the mage was doing. Trish, of course, was full amazement and excitement, not yet clapping and jumping like a little child.

Runa came back to her senses as she heard his instructions and nodded slowly. Hadn’t he made that last comment, she might even considered him not too bad. But alas, he did. And the smug face didn’t make it any better.
Her hostile expression came back with a roll of her eyes. “More like arrogant and flaunting I would say.” She mumbled in return, which resulted in a poke and a scolding look from Trish, whispering: “He did what you asked him to, didn’t he? A little thank you won’t hurt.”
Runa gave her friend a dead stare, but she knew Trish made a point and answered with a hushed grunt: “Fine.” As she looked back at the mage she let out a small “thank you” begrudgingly and waited for him to jump in the water to follow him once more.

Hello Again

Always nice to put on a fresh skin. Welcome back!

Heya

Hi Angel! Welcome to this lovely bunch :)

Sails and Spells

Runa startled almost unnoticeable as Malcador appeared beside her. Her eyes narrowed by the sight of him, but it did return her to the present moment and she followed him out of the water, briefly shaking her head as she saw him struggle. The other maids followed easily and were just as in awe and cheerful as they saw the treasure, glad to know that the efforts had and would pay off.

Trish was one of the latest to come to the surface and took a few deep breaths before she was able to swim to the edge. Her eyes went to Malcador as he was tossing the coin around, not yet drooling by the sight of it. Runa followed her gaze, only to look back again with a look that clearly said ‘You really let yourself be fooled by some tricks?’ She grunted softly and lended her friend a hand, since she always had a little trouble with climbing for some reason.
“Don’t forget to focus.” She mumbled as she grabbed her friend by the arm.
“Oh I will.” Trish answered with her eyes still on the man as she scrambled onto the rocks.
“Ugh, you’re the worst.”

Runa and Trish came to their feet and upon hearing his voice, they all looked at him for a moment. First their expressions were rather blank, but it changed a little grimmer at the words “I’ll grab what I can”, though some eased again as he finished his sentence. Some nodded in agreement and started to collect pieces of treasure. A few even took out their shirts to use it as some kind of bag.

Runa observed it all for a moment. Then her voice sounded through the cave, cold and harsh. “Why don’t you use your magic?” A frown accompanied her serious expression, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Trish quietly pulled on her and said hushed: “Runa, come on, just start collecting.” But she waved her friend away. “No, he became part of our crew as a mage, then he better start acting like one.” Her eyes pierced through him. “Until now I’ve only seen a landlubber who got lucky..”

The others were getting all they could carry, but stopped for a moment as they heard Runa speak. Some maids made agreeing sounds, while others just shook their heads and sighed, whispering to each other: “There she goes..”

Sails and Spells

A few maids bursted into laughter by the sight of his enthusiasm, yet there were also those who shook their heads in disagreement and had a much less friendly expression on their face. Runa’s was one of those. Luckily her blouse didn’t reveal her breasts that easily, for she had wrapped them in soft linen strokes of fabric.

A shadowy smile appeared on the captain’s face. “Splendid.” She looked back at her crew and divided it into two parties, one to go with the mage and the other one to clean up the mess they had made. As she stood with her back to the man, the boatswain took her aside for a moment, whispering in her ear: “Are you sure about this? Even though the maids adore you, making a man part of the crew is stroking the cats against their hairs.” The captain locked eyes with the woman next to her and placed her hand reassuring on her shoulder as she nodded. “Don’t you worry, he’ll be as comfortable as we make it.”

Runa, Trish and a few other, more stout women joined the man in the water. Once Runa was in the water, she immediately took a deep breath and went underwater, ensuring that the murk wouldn’t get to much in her clothes and hair. She quickly passed the mage, and couldn’t help to “accidentally” kick her foot against his crotch as she swam on, giving him the message that the captains wishes wouldn’t also mean that he was accepted by the crew. She couldn’t wrap her head around it, they were in no need of a mage. This flimsy tunnel was easily reached without one too, all be it that not everyone would find it so. Still with some effort there was no need for magic. It annoyed her beyond measure.

But that annoyance had to make place for some sheer wonder as she came to the surface and saw the shimmering shine of gold and gemstones. Her eyes reflected it for a moment. She loved the first site of a well hidden mystery. It gave her the chills and it always took her a while to recover from the beauty. Though it often was a far more immaterial feeling that took hold of her, as the raw essence beyond the glimmering surface was what lured her the most and let her forget everything around her.

Sails and Spells

“Ah, a mage. It’s been a while since the last time I met one.” Captain Rose grinned at the sight of him being disgusted by the blood of his fellow men. “We didn’t had the time really, to get acquainted. You see, It would have lacked the surprise of their.. heroic ending.” Her voice was almost as sweet as honey, the words came out as if spoken by a lady. Not quite the pirate slang that would be expected.

Hushed laughter could be heard from the maids, knowing all too well that this man was a cat’s toy to be played with. His charms didn’t make it any better. Though it seemed all fun and games, Runa was still on her guard. She didn’t know much about mages, but she could imagine that they probably kept a trick up their sleeve in cases like this.

The captain raised her hand to her mouth as she thought on his proposition, tapping it lightly with the tips of her fingers. “Hmm.. escort us to the treasure and spare your life.. I feel like I’m granting you two wishes there..” She slowly walked along the edge of the pool, eyeing him every so often. At one point she stopped and bended down towards him. “Only on one condition. You’ll serve as our ship mage for as long as needed.”

Runa was taken aback by this idea. She had been member of the ‘Dreadful Lady’ for a few years now, but never ever had a man be part of the crew. Other sounds of protest were to be heard as well. The boatswain frowned and mumbled something incomprehensible. But all were hushed by a plain raise of the captain’s hand, which after that, summoned Runa and Trish to step forward as the captain stood up again.

“These girls would be in need of.. escorting, if you’d agree to my condition. Food and lodging aboard included of course.” The captain gave only a faint smile as she placed her hands on the back of both girls, pinching them a bit which they both knew to be a sign to act accordingly. Runa sighted hardly noticeable, but her annoyance as she rolled her eyes was something different. She hated this part and had rather stayed behind. Trish on the other hand, was very obedient and loved to play along, as she showed by shyly blinking with her long eyelashes at the mage. Runa was less motivated to play along, but did what was expected of her and slowly started to unbutton her blouse.

The captain awaited his reply. "So, what do you say, Mudskipper?"

Sails and Spells

Ripples in the water had caught Runa’s attention as she eyed over the shoulder of the man she had just pierced her knife in. She looked back at her captain and pointed towards the water with a gesture of her head.
Just as her captain wanted to take a look, a man came out, coughing up water and seemingly surprised by how he found, what she could only assume, his crew. Some maids started to whistle as the man raised his hands above the surface, while others just smirked at his situation.

Runa pushed the dead man in front of her out of her way, eyeing the other warily and ready to act if necessary. He was definitely different from the other men that lay dead at their feet. She could tell by the looks of him that he wasn’t used to the seafaring life, his appearance was far too refined for that even with all the murk covering him, which made the man look rather silly.

“Why would we need you for that, mudskipper?” Captain Rose’s voice was calm and reserved as she walked up to the man, looking down on him as she stood near the edge, but making sure she was out of reach. The boatswain stood right behind her, playing with her knife, keeping an eye on every movement he made.

Sails and Spells

The commands were as follow: about three maids would investigate the ship and if needed distract those aboard, so the rest could go ashore unnoticed. A few would stay behind to guard the ship. Runa joined the crew in their expedition, as navigator she wanted to practice the art of map making too and thought this island to be a good project for a first try. The mountain, as Runa observed, was a nice anchor point to estimate distances.

“There’s a good chance those guys are after the same as us.” One of the maids commented as they stepped ashore. Runa only nodded, having her attention more on the surroundings than on the group.

The group consisted of a few maids, the captain and the boatswain, all armed to their teeth with their own signature weapons. Captain Eris Rose was an impressive woman, who could give comments with only a look. She didn’t intervene much with the maids, but there were these rare occasions when the crew would celebrate a good year or the succession of a hard victory and Captain Rose would chime in, showing a side that could only be described as exuberant. No one knew much about their captain though, which was probably one of the reasons Runa liked her so much.

The captain locked eyes with one of the maids, and gestured for her to scout ahead. Trish, not really a girl anymore, but still a bit too young to be seen as a woman, walked ahead through the light sand and was mostly trying to find tracks of the people that went before them. It didn’t took her long to find something of a cleared out path that went into the tropical forest and waved back at her party. The captain gave a slight nod.

“Alright ladies, let’s find ourselves some diamonds and pearls.” The boatswain bellowed, only to add more casual: “Oh and in case we encounter our beloved explorers, make sure we give them a smashing surprise.” The maids chuckled, Runa rolled her eyes, but they all moved through the cleared path carefully. This way it would take more time, but the captain wanted to exploit the advantage they had to its fullest. Runa was walking behind Trish, she figured it was the best place to see where they were heading and hoped she could memorize their way enough to make some use out of it. Although the path was cleared for the most part, bugs made no difference between one party or the other and the occasional suppressed yelp or ‘ieks’ was to be heard, followed by a hushed “sssh”.

The crew must have walked a few hours before they started to hear voices up ahead. Trish and Runa paused for a moment to look back and wait for a command. It was time to split up the party and sneakily start surrounding the bastards that stood between a pirate crew and their riches.

Sails and Spells

The view was magnificent as the sea stretched far and wide, with the sun starting to find its way under the horizon. It was Runa’s most favorite time of the day, when the sea and sky would play with rich colours, gifted by the sun and the stars. And since a few weeks she was lucky enough to see it from the best spot: The crow’s nest. The captain had made her Able bodied seaman, or ‘abs’ as she preferred to call it.

But it was time to get to work, because the ’Dreadful Lady’ was heading a different way. The boatswain had given orders to go east, to an island that apparently had been forgotten for a long, long time. The crew of young women liked to creep each other out by telling stories about all the horrors that were still left there. Though Runa never really bought any of that, she was rather intrigued by the mystery that surrounded their destination. And it was finally getting in sight.

Within the few years she had lived aboard, her agility and confidence had grown rapidly, making it easy for Runa to jump out of the crow’s nest, unto the yardarm and swing herself down as she grabbed a hanging piece of robe, landing softly on her feet at the deck, right in front of the boatswain.

“The island is in sight.” The boatswain, a dark colored and somewhat muscled woman, closed her eyes for a moment and sighed: “Can’t you yell before you appear out of nowhere?” With a frown she looked at Runa, who just shrugged it off. “We’ll talk about this later. The island, how far off is it?” Runa walked to the forecastle deck with her and replied: “I think about 16 kilometres.” The woman took out her spyglass, mumbling: “You think? About? Shame on you Runa, navigating is in the details. Look again.” Runa received the spyglass and did as she was told. “Hmm.. that’s.. 4.17.. you’re right.” She handed the spyglass back. “It’s 16,6 kilometres.” Runa only received a agreeing nod as the boatswain turned around to bring the news to the captain.

A few moments later it was all hands on deck, preparing to anchor right to the side of the bay. Runa had spotted another ship, it seemed to be a rather wealthy one by the looks of it. Her captain, who stood next to the quartermaster, had a calm posture with a slim smile on her lips. It looked like they’d get a bonus with this island.

Hello I'm Deia

Hey Deia, welcome!

Fellow Dutchy here, wishing you a nice time in the guild and in writing :).