Sea Beasts

The skies grew dark, darker than anything I had seen before. The sun was completely hidden behind the black abyss above us, taking away it's rays of hope. The wind whipped against me, blowing strands of loose hair into my face, as the waves we sailed on grew in size. Everyone had come to a standstill as the darkness descended upon us.

"We're in for a capsizing storm!" Wiley's shout caused what appeared to be chaos.

Everyone ran, grabbing ropes that I hadn't paid attention to before. Some climbed up the rigging to take care of the sails. As I stood there, staring at the black sky, shoulders knocked into me.

"Thee Gods are angry!"

"Oie, stop being stupid and tie that rope!"

We had small storms in the weeks that I had been on the ship. But none that had brought this sort of chaos. None that made the sky look like an abyss.

I couldn't bring myself to move as I remembered the story that George had told me once about the sea. About how one would know just how dangerous a storm was by the color of the clouds.

It was an old story that I haven't thought about in a long time. For years.

He said that it was the founder of Redwater that came up with it, hundreds of years ago. Or, maybe it was one of the founders of a different island. Knowing who came up with it hadn't been important to me at that time.

George had said to watch the clouds. The light gray clouds we would normally see meant it was a small storm. Nothing that a ship out in the silver waters would need to worry about.

The dark gray ones were slightly more dangerous. The waves would grow to the point that it could capsize a ship. The smaller the ship, the higher the chance it would sink to the bottom of the sea, becoming Davy Jones' victim.

There were other colors, but the one that stood out the most was the black clouds. He said that when a vessel on the high seas saw a black sky, it meant only one thing. That it was Davy Jones himself making an appearance.

Come, he would, in his ghost ship, and with him, the sea beasts that he controlled. Out of the abyss in the sky. Geroge said that the black sky would act as some sort of portal. That whenever it happened, the dead would be allowed back and that the world would burn.

He continued on, saying that was how we had gotten the silver seas. That it was this reason why the water was the way it was. Claimed that it had come from Davy Jones' who was hoping that it would poison us.

But it was just a story. Something parents told their children. There was no such thing as ghosts. Davy Jones' couldn't come from the sky and it wasn't possible for the dead to come back to life.

The ship rocked suddenly, knocking me forward and almost over the railing. More hair fell into my face as my hands grabbed a hold of the railing. A wave splashed against the ship, causing the back to turn.

No, that wasn't right. The ship had turned, but a wave couldn't have caused that. None of them hitting the ship could have been that strong.

I didn't have time to wonder as the hollers around the ship continued. The sails came loose, flapping in the strong brush of wind that kept coming. Pushing myself from the railing, my eyes darted to the water below for a second, before back to what was happening on the deck. I crossed, to help with what I knew what to do.

Orders from different pirates were barked out.

The seconds felt long and the minutes felt like hours. My hands burned as the rope I grabbed slid between them, the wind pushing against the sail it was tied to. Water continued to hit the side of the ship, spraying us.

Rain fell from the abyss above. Light at first, the silver hue making it hard to see, but it was still doable. Slowly, the rain grew heavier the further into the storm we went.

The ship was knocked into again, causing it to almost tip over.

"Keep it steady!" The words sounded half-drowned under the heavy rain and howling wind. "Tie the ropes. Get the sail up! We can't use them unless you want to kill us all!"

It was Lorena shouting as she appeared next to me, grabbing the rope that was slipping through my fingers. She wore gloves, twisting the rope around her hand. She looked just as soaked as I was by that point.

This was the first time I saw the navigator down on the main deck and not at the helm. Though, it didn't surprise me that she was still barking out orders as she knew the ship and the sea better than most of those on board. At least, that's what I was told.

We pulled the rope together, our feet pushing against the slippery ground. Somehow we managed to get it tied back down. She didn't say anything as she took off. She made it look so easy to move around in the storm.

Making a mental note to learn where all ropes went, I grabbed the railing to walk towards the bow, or at least in the direction I thought the bow was. The number of times a wave knocked into us was unsettling and made it difficult to navigate in the heavy downpour.

I wasn't the only one that was having problems moving around. Though the silver haze made it difficult to see who they were, it was still clear that the other pirates on the main deck were slipping and sliding around. What they were doing, checking things or enjoying the storm, I wasn't sure.

It was the final time that we were hit, the ship going sideways enough to cause anyone not hanging onto something to fall, that we discovered the storm was the least of our worries. I slammed into someone, the both of us nearly going over the railing and into the sea. It was a miracle that the ship didn't capsize and sink to the bottom of the sea at that very second.

A loud, mighty roar of a beast sounded above the howling wind.

Still dazed from the fall, I tilted my head back to make out a giant monstrous shape in the raging storm. It was difficult to tell the type of sea monster, but I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a nice one.

It wasn't often that we saw Sea monsters in Carlisle. Once in a dark moon, which was between roughly four and five years. And usually, it was already dead ones that were being brought in by ship. The ones they found when out fishing.

Sea Monsters weren't known to attack towns or cities, which was why we didn't deal with them often. They were mostly known to attack ships.

"We have to get below!" I heard Romeo right next to me.

It seemed he was the one I had fallen into.

It was difficult moving to my feet, the deck still slippery from the water rushing across it. My limbs felt numb from the cold water soaking my clothing.

A hand wrapped around my arm, dragging me along with me. A door opened before slamming shut behind us, the rain pounding against it. It was a dark room and we weren't the only ones in it.

"What did you see?" Velwyn asked.

I frowned at the sight of him. I thought he would've been at the helm and not hiding in this warm room. The clear dryness of his clothing showed that he hadn't stepped foot outside of these quarters.

Romeo panted heavily from beside me, raising a hand as he tried to catch his breath.

"It's a Basilisk." Romeo leaned against the door, his hands moving to his knees. "It reared its ugly head out of the sea but it was difficult to make out. However, I'll never forget what a Basilisk roar sounds like."

Velwyn nodded, looking towards a drenched Lorena. However, it wasn't him who talked.

"Have you ever dealt with a Basilisk before, Lorena?" Saul asked, tugging on what appeared to be an old green coat.

"Never a Basilisk. I heard those are rare. I've run into my fair share of baby Gryllus' and Leviathans to the far west." Lorena rubbed her hands on her arms. "We are by no means a small ship, so outrunning it won't do any good."

A sigh escaped from Saul.

"Romeo, go with Lorena and Masque to help with the helm. Send Wiley and Kipling to the deck below. Tell them to see if we can use cannons to fight this thing off. Rachel," I looked towards him as he said my name, "take the first three you come across and make sure everything below deck is secured. We can't risk getting holes in this storm."

Nodding, I turned for the door. My body was still shaking, the warmth spreading through me but not reaching my chilled bones. Nothing but coldness waited outside the doors.

"You stay put. We don't need you to try and pull the sails down and capsize us." His words seemed to be directed towards the real captain of the ship.

Which was odd. Why would the captain of the ship not be out there helping?

"I won't move an inch." I pulled the door open, the silver haze of the rain greeting me as Velwyn talked. "Pirate's honor."

I stared, not wanting to go back out into the storm.

"Unless you want this ship to sink, you four better hurry to do what I said."

Back into the silver rain, the deck hidden under darkness. My hand slid along the wooden wall as I made for the stairs to go underneath. It looked like we were going to have a long storm ahead of us.

At least, I wasn't going to continue getting rained on.

Torn sails flapped uselessly from the cool breeze that came over the ship. An arm rested over my eyes, blocking the bright sun from bothering me as I laid on the damaged deck. The ship bobbed as it drifted in the sea, in an aimless direction.

Captain Velwyn, as well as half the crew, had gotten sick from the storm and low supplies. The ship had been greatly damaged from the sea monster that had attacked days before. Or has it been weeks?

The days and nights have dragged on as the ship could do nothing but drift along. It was just a pile of useless wood, carrying a bunch of corpses.

While the hull wasn't damaged to leak enough water in to make it sink, the stern still needed fixing. It's where the rudder was and without that small flat piece of wood, we wouldn't be able to direct the ship in any direction. That's what Masque said when he went to check the damages that had occurred.

Master of Irons he called himself but Masque was barely the master of staying awake. He might've been able to dress my wound when I got shot but I wouldn't trust him with my next wound. I still doubted he was trying to help fix me.

I felt like some experiment with those rags he used.

Yet everyone called him the ship's doctor. He was the one who they went to when they got too large cuts from something or when a fish stung them. Which happened way more than it should. He was also the only one on board that could really fix the ship enough to make it stay afloat.

He's the one looking after the ill captain and the sick crew. He took the crew quarters—kicking everyone who wasn't sick out—and then told us we weren't allowed down there. From the coughing, groans of pain, and sometimes holler of curses I was glad to remain from it. Even if it meant sleeping on the deck.

A foot kicking the side of my leg had me moving my arm to see who wanted my attention. Saul stood looking as pale as the ghosts that were said to haunt the seas after a storm and like he was in a foul mood. Beside him was Bondi, looking just as foul.

"You're on lookout."

I managed to raise a thumb, feeling no energy. "Aye." My limbs felt stiff as I moved into a sitting position while trying to ignore the pain behind my eyes.

My fingers brushed the burnt wood, feeling the rough texture under me. For a moment I just stared in front of me before slowly getting to my feet. I had to tilt my head back to stare at Saul.

"Anything else?" I asked, wishing for land or a city or anything.

Even if it meant another ship.

"No, just get to your post."

If I hadn't felt so tired and out of energy I would've mocked saluted him. Hobbling with a slight limp—which came from falling against a number of canons and almost getting crushed between two—I reached the rope ladder that someone had found below some time ago.

A yawn escaped me, my stomach twisting in pain at the lack of food, as I began up the rope. Taking longer than it normally would to reach the crow's nest, I stared with half-closed eyes at the sea before me. Even if I wished for something, I doubted that it would be another ship and if it was, we were just a rundown group of pirates who were stranded and fightless.

Nothing out of the ordinary came at first.

Moving to a sitting position, I peered over the top of the wood, laying an arm on it to help my head comfortable as I kept an eye out. The time slowly ticked for me and I couldn't wait for someone else to take over.

Then I wouldn't have to waste the energy I did have.

It was the sight of the water being darker and looking as if it was covered in something that caught my attention. It was slightly like the usual silver we were always surrounded by, only it was darker. Moving sluggishly to my feet, I stared at the water before in the direction we were roughly drifting towards.

There was no city from what I could see. No ships. Nothing out in the distance.

Slowly, I made my way down from the crows' nest, catching the eye of the few crew members that weren't sick. Juliet watched me as I passed her, her face slightly sunken. She was the first to look like that but the rest of us weren't far behind.

Gregor was sitting next to the water bucket that I planned to grab. I didn't know what was in the water but I wanted to find it. If it was bad then we were heading towards danger, not that we could do anything to stop that.

Dropping it over the edge, I watched as the layer on top of the silver mixed into it. Waiting only a few seconds to let the water fill it, I started pulling on the rope that was tied to the bucket. Pulling it back onto the railing, the side of the bucket looked different and like it was coated in something.

Touching it, I drew my hand back to see the tip of my fingers turned gray. Bringing my fingers close to my nose, the gray faintly smelled of spoiled eggs.

The gray, how it felt, and the smell. I knew what the water was covered in.

Ash.

It reminded me of that one time I had been asked to find ash, but not the type of ash one could easily get from wood. Something else, and so I did. It took some talking to and research, but I found the ash she had wanted. It wasn't until the ash had been delivered that I knew it had such a foul smell to it.

Looking away from my fingers my eyes searched the direction that we were drifting. I didn't know what the ash meant. If it was bad or if we were going to danger.

Untying the bucket, I turned to find Saul. I spotted him next to the helm, his head resting on his hand. I was sure he would know the meaning of the ash if he didn't pass out before I reached him.