“Captain...?” Hmm.mmm..I'm being shaken...What a weird movement when floating out on the sea. “Captain, can you hear me?” Hmmm....I'm hearing things now...I wonder how far I drifted... “Little Miss, please say something.” I wonder who is talking to me...
“Captain! Snap out of it.” My body is suddenly jerked upward, my eyes snap open, and whatever was on me just fell off. Also, my ears pick up a sloshing sound. My feet are in a bucket of hot water. I try to focus my eyes on whatever is talking to me, but with my vision blurry, I can't quite make out what I'm seeing. It appears to be orange and green.
“Come on Kuron, say something. You're starting to scare me.” My vision is still blurry, but I can make out who it is.
“Corshawl...”
“You gonna be okay?” he asks. When I don't answer, Corshawl begins to lightly slap my face. “Hey! Don't go back to sleep. Your temperature needs to be taken.”
“Corshawl, it's alright if she sleeps.” I hear my navigator say.
“No it's not.” I don't know why my lieutenant is making a fuss about keeping me awake. My body wants to sleep. “I know exactly how to getdeerto come to.” I can feel myself being dragged. Lord knows what he's up to. My feet bounce up and down as they touch each of the stairs' steps. Why is he taking me up on the deck? “Hey look” I'm then shaken. At first it doesn't do me any good, but within a moment or two my vision becomes crystal clear causing my eyesight to view the destruction around me. I'm stricken speechless. “Wha-wha-what?”
“I don't think it's a good idea for you to be sleeping right now.” says my lieutenant. He's right, I can't; not with the Star in tatters. I straighten myself as best as I can then begin to really examine the damage.
“Get us to the nearest port. We need to make repairs.” Blowing my whistle, I signal my crew upward. “The Star needs to be mended. I also want a status report on our cargo. If we lost pieces of our ship, I'm going to assume we lost pieces of our cargo as well. Giggs where's the nearest port?” My question causes him to pull out a compass all the while studying over a sea chart.
“It looks to be Swanson is going to be our best bet which appears to be fifteen leagues from here. There is also Codnamer, but I do not recommend using their ports.” he says still having his eyes on the map. I nod taking in his advice.
“Alright, go ahead and set a course for Swanson. The wind seems to be somewhat fair. We should reach our destination around dusk. Am I right about that Giggs?” I want to be sure. Even a captain isn't sure about everything. Ooooh, I feel really dizzy.
“It all depends on how this wind keeps up Little Miss. If it picks up, we'll be there sooner. If it chooses to falter, we'll be there around nightfall.” Great, more time wasted at the ports. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good and rare items to purchase there. It's just finding a place to stay for a few nights which we'll have to do due to the severe damage to the Star. It still floats, but not with the same speed. Some of the sails are torn, one mass is toppled over, and I have yet to find out about the cargo. With the Inns around there, they're usually crowded and I don't much like staying at the pubs. There's always some drunks wondering around and causing trouble. No I don't need that right now. Unfortunately, if that's all there is then it's what I'll take. Putting my hand on my head, I hold out an arm to balance myself before asking “How are we doing as far as the cargo? In other words how much of it did we lose?” Sir John, youngest of the Three Gunns brings forth a small book which is used to keep track of our purchases and how much was purchased as well as price. His fingers are between a couple of pages. My body does not want to stay still.
“We're missing two barrels of gunpowder, three crates of apples,...” I listen becoming more and more worried as the list grows longer. It's not that we're completely run dry I'm thinking. It's the cost of which we're going to have to replace it. “...and our entire supply of drinking water is gone.” I'm giving him a wide-eyed look.
“We don't have anything aboard that's drinkable? Not even in the galley?” Sir John shakes his head. I'm starting to get light headed.
“No, the only thing I can think of is mashing up the rest of the apples we do have to form some sort of a juice. I think we have enough for that.” That's not a bad idea, but I don't like the fact of us not having anything to quench our thirst with.
“Shibba” I call.
“What is it Captain?” he says making his way towards us.
“Would you be able to turn the apples into a liquid? Our entire water supply went overboard.” I say. A worried expression comes over his face.
“Have you tried to scavenge what we can? The lost cargo may still be floating around.” I didn't think of that. I walk over the side of the Star and peer over. Ah! I don't want to fall off again. I let my body lean against the side and prop myself up against so I can still see downward without toppling over. Nothing is to be seen here except for the sea foam. There's not even a piece of our cargo. This is only one side of the ship though. The other sides should be checked. “Gimp, Sly, and Corshawl! Go to the other sides of the ship and see if you can spot any of our lost cargo. Anything we can save would be a plus!” exclaim I. That would be less money out of our pockets. Ugh, I really need to lie down.
“Trying to save the gunpowder and the water would be a waste if seawater got in the barrels.” Sir John remarks.
“I know that. I think recovering the fruit wouldn't be a good thing either.” I add causing Shibba to shake his head.
“Not quite, the fruit would just have to be really well washed. Though if any of it got smashed then it would be pointless. I'll to get work on mashing those apples.” And with that, my cook disappears below. The wind seems to be picking back up a little bit. It's not the strength where I need it to be, but it'll have to do.
“Captain, I can't see anything on my side” calls out the second oldest of the Three Gunns. “There's nothing here either.” his older brother says. Perfect...I stand here for a little bit longer before Corshawl responds.
“I see something, but we have another problem.” he says at last. What else is wrong? “I spotted one of our barrels.”
“And? The problem?” I question somewhat anxiously. Do we have a hole in the side or near the bottom of the Star that’s taking in water? My lieutenant sighs as he replies.
“Our lifeboat is gone. We have no way of reaching it unless we turn the entire ship around.” “What?!” I thought everything was tied down; especially the life boat. Blast it! As if losing an effective portion of our cargo wasn't bad enough. Not only do I have to replace that, but now I have to replace the lifeboat as well. The one we had would have fitted our entire crew; all eight of us.
“I highly doubt that survived the storm.” comments Sir John. “If we find the right carpenter, we should be able to get a sturdy one at a low cost.”
“That may be, but I don't think we'll find one big enough to hold all of us at a low cost. I wonder if it would be better to get two smaller ones this time. They’re much easier to tie down as well as get in the water.” Corshawl says in response. Would it be better? If one got destroyed and one left, there would be no room for extra passengers.
“We'll just have to see what we find. For now, my main focus is getting back to the standard condition where we once were. Although, I'm not so sure I agree with two small life boats instead of one big one. The bigger ones are sturdier not to mention stronger in wood.” I manage to say. Why am I so exhausted? Last night wasn't too bad. Of course, it could be from nearly drowning myself while at the same time rescuing my lieutenant.
“What about the barrel? Should we still try to get it?” questions Sir John.
“No leave it. It's not worth going off course for one lousy barrel that could be soaked all the way through.” I reply.
“Kuron, are you alright?” I'm then asked. My dizziness has forced me to sit down. My vision is starting to blur again. “You're still tired from the storm? I thought you would have recovered from that by now. I did.” Corshawl says smiling. I give him a lousy kick aiming for the bottom part of his leg. “What was that?”
“Don't give me grief boy.” I grumble while raising a stern eyebrow at him. “While you were passed out last night, I'm the one who saved both of our lives and signaled for help.” This causes my companion to laugh.
“Doesn't sound all that difficult to me.” he says. I shoot up getting ready to throw a punch at him when my vision blackens. And instead of my hitting Corshawl with my fist, I hit the deck with my face.
“Oofh!” That didn't help...more pain. Laughter can now be heard. Corshawl along with Sir John are having a jolly old time with this. They don't appear to be the only ones. I lift up my head slightly to find my navigator, gunman, and the other two of the Three Gunns laughing as well. “You're all getting keelhauled.” grumble I helplessly. Then carefully is my body lifted up.
“Take the Captain todeerquarters to rest.” Commands my lieutenant causing me to protest “Hey, who said anything about you giving orders?”
“The lieutenant is allowed to take over when the captain is unable to lead.” he replies while Sir John and Sly who have just walked over, put me in their arms. Giving my companion a dirty look, I snap
“I can lead this ship and its crew just fine thank you.” Corshawl only gazes at me. With no more said, I'm escorted downstairs to my cabin and laid gently on my bed. “Wake me when we reach Swanson!” I manage to bark out before my door is closed. Hmph! No response. Well, I might as well try to sleep. It'll be a little while before we get there or longer depending how the wind holds up. Closing my eyes, my body relaxes while the dizziness in my head decreases. That's somewhat better.