Goodbye Carlisle

Waves crashed against the side of the ship as I stared at Carlisle. Birds sang songs in the clear sky above, as fish jumped out of the water before diving back in. I thought back to the conversation that I had with George before I left.

"You're leaving?" George asked in complete disbelief.

He knew that I would have to. That it wasn't possible for me to stay.

"I'll be wanted soon enough. Posters will be all over the place." William and Jacob stood behind me, watching as they were ready to go. "Plus, with what happened, it's safer on a pirate ship with these two."

I had to believe that at least.

"Safer? How is it safer!" He became angry. "Why are you leaving?" Sad. "You don't need to run. We can figure this out." Now he was just pleading.

Only once before had I ever seen so many emotions on his face. It had been when his grandmother had only a few days left to live, and he didn't want her to go.

"You can't leave."

I shook my head at him. Goodbyes were never something I was good at. I hated them because someone always ended up crying. Maybe not out loud but their souls cried.

"George," I said grabbing his hand. "You remind me of that young man who I met when I was fifteen. Passionate. Happy. Full of life and no regrets. You've matured and became handsome right before my eyes. You don't need me anymore."

He would be fine. He would be able to continue living his life with no bumps. No one knew that he had helped break me out. No one but Peace.

"You can't leave me." He sounded broken.

I grinned, releasing his hand to rub the back of my neck. "I'm not staying and it's fine if you don't want to see me off. Just do me one last favor. Find someone who loves you like you love them."

I turned, giving Jacob and William a push to the door. A few of the pirates had agreed to wait to take us to the ship. The rest of them had planned to finish getting the supplies they needed.

Sighing, I looked away from the water city and tried to stop thinking about the painful goodbye. He would be fine, right? I had to believe that.

The sun seemed to reflect off of the smooth white wood the ship was built out of. It looked almost like a new ship. In fact, I couldn't believe the ship could be more than a few months old.

Which was surprising, considering it was supposed to be a pirate ship.

Jacob and William were staring up at the mainmast as if they had never seen a white sail up close before, or a sail that had a skull with bones in the middle of it. I couldn't help but wonder once again, just who these two boys were.

They should have seen a sail before, even if it wasn't a pirate one. At least, if William's older brother was really a saylor like they told me.

It wasn't only the three of us on the ship, as other members of the crew littered around. Mumbling and gloomy as they weren't allowed to roam the city with Captain Velwyn and the others that stayed with him. One of them stood out the most from the others on the ship.

A scar ran across his cheek, old and think. His brown shaggy hair was sticking slightly out from underneath the red bandana. He wore a compass clock on his wrist, which surprised me.

I've seen them before, but they were a new item created by an inventor in the far North. It would have taken a long time to reach the place he was, or that's what I've been told. I would think that would be true as the sea could be unpredictable and there were few means of transportation.

Include that with how expensive ordering one was, there was only a limited number sold in Carlisle. Even most of the saylors I saw didn't have them. Though, I've seen the travelers from the North who do.

"There's another storm coming," he called out as he turned, spotting me.

He approached me as others called out something to him. Two others walked lazily from the place they had been sitting after he shouted that. I wasn't sure what it meant or what they were doing.

"Don't worry about them. They're making sure that the helm is still locked because the currents will get stronger soon." He wore a grin as he stopped before me. "It won't be big like the one that seemed to have hit this place but it can still cause trouble," he explained. "Call me, Wiley. I'm the main navigator for this crew."

"Main navigator?"

That was odd. Usually, there would be only one navigator in a crew and that was if they were lucky. So, why did it sound like they had a lot?

"Ya, there's two of us but most everyone on the ship can do it. Well, at least they can tell the difference between North and south. So it's something." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his tanned neck. "You've met Lorena, or at least she spoke up to Captain Velwyn. She's the other navigator. We picked her up at Lost Island but she doesn't plan to stick around."

I nodded, having no idea who Lorena. At least, not until I see her again.

"Why?" I asked.

He stepped around me, moving to the white railing to look at the water-city. "Why what?" He asked.

"Why have so many people who can navigate? Don't pirates' usually only have one?" I asked, joining him back at the railing. "It's odd."

"Well, maybe, but that's what the Captain wanted. Saul does whatever the captain wants," Wiley stated. "But there's a lot to navigating so they are usually only taught the basics. Most of the time we're lucky if they learn something."

I never thought it could be taught, and so easily.

"I wouldn't worry about it," He continued before I could say anything. "Unless the Captain says too, you won't need to be worried about it."

Water splashed against the white ship. I wasn't worried about it. I couldn't be a navigator even if I wanted to. It just wasn't in my blood.

"Who's this Saul person?" I asked. "You said that he does whatever Velwyn wants, right?"

"He's our quartermaster." I looked towards him, seeing a dimple appear as he spoke. "Which is like, the person who's right below the captain. He takes charge and figures out all the important stuff."

I nodded, turning to watch the boys. They were pulling against a rope. It looked almost like they were trying to untie it.

"Why did you come back to the ship?"

"Well," he said, turning his body slightly to face me. "I figured that I could show you around. Plus, there's only five of us, well counting you and those two boys, eight of us on the ship. That's a rare thing to happen."

I grinned slightly. It felt more like he was trying to babysit me and the two boys. Pirates sure didn't know how to trust people.

Not that I blamed them.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't know how to sail this even if I wanted to. A brigantine ship is out of my league," I said, sliding my hands into my pants pockets. "I wouldn't play with that, you two!" I called out to the boys.

Jacob looked towards my shout. "What is it?" He asked.

Pushing myself from the railing, I walked forward, my eyes following the rope. It didn't look like it connected to any of the sails above but whatever it was, I was sure it wasn't safe.

"Wouldn't know." I shrugged at them. "Ask the pirate following me."

Jacob nodded, doing just that. I felt a feeling of relief that I could so easily pawn Wiley off onto Jacob. I was sure that nothing bad would happen with the pair of them.

It also meant I could go back to staring at Carlisle without feeling eyes burn into me. I would miss the city. It was my home.

Instead of walking back to the railing, I had been, I walked up a set of stairs, finding it led to the ship's steering. I had assumed that it would be up there, but it was different from what steering I had seen on other ships. Where was the wheel?

How could they steer a ship without a wheel? There was no way they could control a ship with just the wood sticking out of the ground, right?

Hearing a maew cry out, I looked up. It was a good size bird, its wings twice the length of its body, but the maew meant bad news. A person who heard the cry of a maew was said to die shortly after.

It chased the small nightingale away. Taking away the songs that they sang. It was a sight to behold.

Looking down, I spotted a small rowboat getting closer. A frown formed as I knew that it meant trouble.

Turning, I trudged back to the boys, finding Jacob asking Wiley different questions about how the ship worked. Clearing my throat, I caught their attention and stopped the conversation. I knew that it could wait until we were safely away.

"Mind showing us where we'll be sleeping?" I asked.

He nodded. "Follow me. It's nothing fancy," he said leading us to a door that was next to the stairs I walked up before. "Anot not much room. Won't have privacy either, but it'll be a good place to rest during the night."

I waved for Jacob and William to follow after us. We walked past the white door that pushed in and came to a set of old stairs that creaked as we went down them. In front of us was a while, but behind us, cannons lined the wall. Sunlight poured in from above and onto them.

Looking up to find the source of light, I found a hatch I hadn't noticed before. I should've looked at the ground better when I was above. Instead of just giving a quick once over.

[to be cont.]