Topside on the Courtesan
Clinging to the main mast, Leif gritted his teeth against the whipping winds mixed with ice, rain, and freezing snow. The storm that had descended upon them during the rescue operation at the College, continued on its path, progressing into a monstrosity, one that tested all of the
Courtesan's sailors to the extreme of their limits. The tumultuous waves bounced the ship from side to side in the waves, at some points the ship listed so far to the side, it sent anything not bolted down, tumbling into the frigid waters. Scaling the main mast, and foremast proved a daunting task for many of the sailors, forcing them to take extra precautions when even traversing across the deck. Without the grace of sleep, his nerves were strained to the max. Just then, a rolling wave crashed upon the already slippery deck, soaking Leif in icy water. The
Courtesan trailed behind the other ship, the
Steelhead keeping close to the shoreline to avoid the treacherous waters farther out to sea.
When he believed that the turn of events could not possibly get any worse, the
Courtesan rocked fiercely as it struck something. Were he not holding fast to the mast already, Leif would have surely met a grim fate of sliding across the deck and into the sea. He could
feel, that something was wrong with the ship, for it continued to list badly. They must have struck a reef, sandbar, or even an iceberg. A sailor ventured below to only return moments later, declaring bad news, they were taking on water, and fast. The call for abandon ship went up, and those below deck emerged in a panicked state. With the only way to get off the ship by the two dinghies, Leif knew instinctively that those that were able-bodied, would have to swim to the shore. His main concern arose when he did not see Sevine emerge with the others. Taking a chance, he let go of the main mast and slid into the wooden railing, inching his way along to the stairwell leading below deck.
Meanwhile, Captain Atgeir clung to the wheel, surveying the unfolding chaos with disbelief. Of all the years sailing on the Sea of Ghosts, he had never experienced a storm of this magnitude. The chilling sea spray that blew with each wind gust, drenched his clothes. It was then, one of the passengers that he had spotted in the voyage to the College, a Dunmer man missing an arm approached him, taking his own gamble just to reach him. He explained with haste, as each second wasted would be futile, his idea of plugging the punctured hole with the sails from the outside would give them a chance to sail in to the shore. While Atgeir remained concerned about the livelihood of the rescued mages, and the other passengers aboard the ship, he simply didn't want to abandon his life long companion to the clutches of this storm. He knew, from years of sailing, even before the time aboard the
Courtesan, a jammed rudder was difficult to maneuver around without knowing the full extent of the damage, or knowing the reason behind the jam. He had encountered this problem before, when dealing with jammed rudders, but not when there was a raging thunder-snowstorm threatening the safety of his passengers.
"We'll give it a shot mate! Leif!" Atgeir spotted the Nord inching his way along the railing. "Get Bjorn, and Halvar! We're cuttin' down the sails!"
Frozen in astonishment at the bizarre request from his captain, his heart plummeted into the pit of his stomach as he felt terrified, what of Sevine?! She still hadn't surfaced from below deck. The only thing that made him head back towards the main mast, was the simple fact, that his captain asked him to perform a task, and he would come through, no matter the stark situation. Already there, he found Bjorn and Halvar trying to keep the canvas sails from unfurling.
"Captain's orders! Cut the sails! We're going to staunch the flow below deck by covering up the hole from the outside." Leif shouted as he sprung to the main mast. The swarthy Nord sailors looked on at him in confusion before nodding, just like Leif, they would do anything Atgeir said.
"We'll need you to climb to the top, and cut the ropes." Bjorn returned, his nose bright red from the cold temperatures of the storm. Without needing to ask twice, began Leif inching his way up the mast, to the fighting top.
When he reached the top, he drew out a dagger from his belt, and began sawing through the ropes. Where iron blade met wet rope, it made for difficult going. Then, just when he thought this plan was lost, the rope snapped, and the top of the sail unfurled.
"Cut the bottom ropes, and get this to the Dunmer fellow!" Leif hollered from high above. He managed a glance down, and found that by being at the top of the fighting top, he dangled dangerously over the water, one slip and he would fall straight into the icy waters.
Below Deck
"Everyone up!" When the
Courtesan struck something, Sevine was tossed from her hammock and onto the floor. She felt a dampness on the seat of her pants, and thought she had pissed herself. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.
Unfortunately, the realization of the source for the liquid, was actually water pouring in from a decent sized hole in the wall of the ship. Chaos ensued as those below deck fought their way topside when the call came to abandon ship. In a stupefying case of shock, Sevine remained below deck, horrified at the notion that the ship was taking water. Immediately, she was overcome with immense fear. The idea of being trapped below deck and drowning immobilized her.
Were it not for a curious noise that broke her attention away from the imagined death she would suffer, Sevine would have remained frozen in place. The noise, as it were, came from none other than Asper. She whirled around on her feet at the realization that she had foolishly brought him along. With the rising water, now well above her ankles, she sloshed over to his stall, clinging to the wooden door. Whinnying in terror, and pawing against the stall door to free himself, Asper reflected the emotions she felt within, panic, terror, fear, the impending sense of death.
"Easy boy! I won't let you die! Sshh, easy now." Sevine tried to soothe her mount in vein, grabbing his lead rope in one hand, she wrestled the wooden latch free with the other. When the door swung open, Asper lurched forward, knocking her down into the water. Were it not for the coiled lead around her hand, Asper would have ended up in a frenzy. Now sopping wet with freezing water, Sevine pushed herself to her feet, sputtering the salty water she had swallowed, and fell into her horse as he danced nervously. Most of the passengers had made it above deck by now, leaving Sevine and two other sailors trying to nail other the hole down below.
With guidance like that of a patient mother nurturing her unruly child, Sevine led Asper up the stairwell and onto the main deck. As she broke to the top deck, she could tell the severity of the situation from the way the
Courtesan listed, the angle of the deck proved difficult to navigate, much less for Asper. Though for him, it was like standing on a wet, slippery hillside. Here, as the dinghies were being readied, the first group had assembled with those they had rescued from the college, she knew that there would not be enough room for all of them. More importantly, as tears began to fill her eyes, Sevine knew that she may be faced with two grave possibilities. One, Asper may die; as he would have to jump ship, and swim for land. Two, she may die, and she would not abandon her precious mount, leaving him to face his death alone.
"Sevine!" The shout sounded familiar over the howling wind, and she spotted Leif, Bjorn and Halvar carrying the sails.
"Are you okay?" He asked, struggling to keep his footing, and keep a firm hold on the wet canvas.
"Y-yes!" She managed to say through a tightening throat.
"We're going to try and plug the hole." Leif replied, as she stepped out of his way.
"Leif you can't! The water is rising far too fast! You'll drown within minutes if you're trapped." She tried to protest against the foolish idea but he merely bore a grin.
"Ain't going below, we're going on the outside. Should stop the intake of water enough for us to get the ship to the shore." Bjorn piped up, pointing to the coil of rope he held onto, its use would keep them from falling into the water, and would be secured around them, or the railing, depending on the distance and severity of the hole.
Spoopy Scary
Cyadical
ButtsnBalls
Damycles