Raiya- Early Game Read online

  He looked around nervously, then bowed slightly at the waist.

  “Excellent, now you all know Mr. Skree. Who would like to teach him how to deck towel?” She asked, eyes searching the crew for a volunteer.

  “Aye, Captain.” Mills said, raising his hand. “I’ll show him the ropes.”

  “How selfless.”

  Mills walked over to a nearby pile of rags, picking one up and folding it into a small rectangle only six inches long and two inches wide. He placed the towel on the smooth wood of the deck, then assumed a position similar to a push up with both hands on the towel. With no further delay, he moved forward, legs pumping as he sprinted across the deck, using the towel as a sliding surface. When he reached the far side of the deck, he squatted like a frog, reset the towel and pushed back to the other side of the ship, hand never leaving the towel.

  Fenna gave a small smile. “Perfect form as always Mills. Mr. Skree, on my ship, we towel the deck to stay in shape and to remind everyone I do not allow brawling on my ship, unless I order it.”

  Hawkins took a step forward. “What is the penalty for touching your knees to the deck when deck toweling?”

  “Half-copper!” the crew called.

  “What’s the penalty for falling off the ship when deck toweling?”

  “Full copper!” they shouted.

  “What’s the penalty for quitting?” he yelled.

  “One whole silver!” they roared.

  “Questions?” Hawkins asked.

  “No, sir!” the crew yelled. Skree peered around, raising a hand. Everyone looked at him with agitation etched on their faces.

  “Yes, Mr. Skree?” Fenna asked, gesturing for him to continue.

  “How long do we have to deck towel for? Is it several passes or what?”

  “You really know how to ask the best questions.” She walked around behind the barrel she had been leaning on, then gave him a fierce smile. She kicked the barrel over and fifty-five gallons of water spilled out and spread across the deck. “Until I can place a piece of sailcloth on the deck and it comes away dry.”

  He swallowed, seeing that the water was not rushing over the edge of the deck. A small half inch piece of wood trimmed the entire edge of the ship, not letting the water escape overboard.

  “Any further questions, Mr. Skree?” she asked, sounding bored. He looked around again, the crew giving him a glare that said shut up while you can. “No, Captain.”

  She nodded at him. “Great. Now, take your positions.” Skree watched the crew members fan out along the port side of the ship, shoulder to shoulder. When he didn’t spring into motion, Mills grabbed his arm and tugged at him. “Come on, follow me.” He said, leading them to a clear section of the deck. Nodding for Skree to join him, he settled into the deck towel position. “Want to make this more interesting?” he asked.

  Struggling to find his footing, Skree glanced at Mills. “More interesting?”

  “How about a wager?” Mills asked.

  “What do you have in mind?” Skree said with a smile. Even though he was certain he was about to lose a lot of money to penalties, he really was a gambling man at heart.

  Mills smiled back at him. “It’s simple. If you win, I’ll give you my lucky coin.” He said. pulling at the chain around his neck. Dangling from the silver cord was a bright silver coin, embossed with a four-leaf clover.

  “And if I lose?” Skree asked, “Which I am almost positive I will because of my lack of experience.”

  “Oh? You don‘t think you can master mopping after just a few minutes?” Mills asked sarcastically.

  Quest received - A Friendly Wager

  You have been challenged by Mills to incur fewer penalties than him during the deck towel drill.

  Rewards - Miller Jefferies Lucky Coin

  Failure - lose 10 silver

  Do you accept? Yes or No?

  “What makes that coin so lucky?” Skree asked.

  “You’ll figure it out if you win.” He looked around the deck conspiratorially. “Trust me, its a good bet.”

  Skree nodded greedily. “You’re on.” He accepted the quest and dismissed the window.

  As if on queue, Hawkins blew a loud whistle, and the men scurried across the deck, pushing the shallow layer of water from one side to the other. Their momentum caused the water to slosh over the small rim, but it was a minuscule amount with each pass. The first ten minutes were touch and go as Skree struggled to keep his balance on the slick wood while the ship swayed back and forth in the open ocean.

  After two straight hours of pushing water around, deck towling exhausted Skree to his core. The only thing that kept him going at full speed was that the deck was nearly dry. Hawkins blew a whistle, ordering them to stop. Skree knelt on the deck, breathing heavily from the effort. His shoulders were on fire and he was behind in his challenge with Mills. He was miserable.

  Hawkins shouted to the crew. “Get some water!” The men and women of the Typhoon shuffled into lines at the water barrels, each taking a few cups before moving out of the way. Skree followed suit, shuddering with joy as the cool water quenched his irritated throat. He moved away from the barrel, taking a moment to lean against the railing. Mills joined him, rolling his shoulders with a smile.

  “How do you like deck toweling so far?” he asked, still breathing hard.

  “Like it? That was awful. Looks like you won the bet.”

  Mills raised an eyebrow. “Won the bet? Wait… You think we’re done?” he asked with a chuckle.

  Skree’s whole body went rigid. “Yeah? Hawkins blew the whistle, the deck is almost dry.”

  “Oh Mister Skree, you have a lot to learn about deck toweling.” He said, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. “We aren’t even close. That was just the warmup!”

  Skree whirled on him, eyes wide. “That was just the warmup? I can barely hold myself up, I have bruises on my knees and thanks to you, I’m starving because I didn’t get to eat lunch!”

  “Yeah, sucks to be you.” He nodded toward Hawkins.

  A loud thud followed by water rushing over his feet caused Skree to peer up, seeing that Hawkins had tipped another barrel over, flooding the deck once again. He growled, moving toward their starting position, ready to get this over with when he heard another thud, and more rushing water. He stopped in place,, watching as the water rushed past his feet, now deeper than when they had first started.

  Dragging his feet, he moved again and almost made it to the starting point when the third thud and another rush of water greeted him. He nearly fell to his knees on the spot, ready to quit, but he would not give up now. He settled into position and Mills dropped beside him.

  “Now, are you going to let me win or what?” The cheeky bastard asked, corded shoulder muscles flexing as he took his position.

  The next five hours were a grueling test of endurance, willpower, and pride. He winced with nearly every step, every muscle in his body was begging for him to stop, but he knew he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Despite the fact that it was a punishment in its purest form, it was also great strength training. He knew he would be excruciatingly sore tomorrow, but forcing yourself to continue through the pain was better mental training than meditation or reading by a long shot. Beside him, Mills matched him step for step, jaw clenched in determination. The deck was nearly dry and Skree was ahead by only one half-copper at the moment.

  They came to the railing, each taking a moment to breathe but still keeping their knees away from the deck.

  “You… ready… to… quit?” Mills asked between his ragged gasps.

  “Not… at… all. Think we can get another barrel going?”

  “You are one sick puppy.” Mills said, pushing again. They raced across the deck like two obese turtles, each step a slow and plodding event. When they reached the other side, they saw Hawkins grabbing the piece of pure white sailcloth and moving toward the center of the deck.

  “Looks like you beat me.” Mills said, nodding toward Hawkins.
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br />   Skree watched with anticipation as Hawkins shook out the cloth, happy to know their torture was almost over. “Yeah, looks like I did.” He replied with a grin.

  Mills pinched his lucky coin between his fingers. “Not bad, not bad at all”. They watched as Hawkins tossed the white cloth toward the deck. Before it hit the ground, a large albatross type bird dived from the sky above, colliding with Skree’s face. He screamed as he fell, followed by a loud splash. Swimming for dear life, Skree burst through the surface and into the cool evening air. Staring up at the ship, he saw Mills waving down to him, rope in hand.

  “Looks like you fell overboard! That’s a full copper.” He shouted with glee.

  “Come on, that bird just attacked me so it doesn‘t count.” he shouted.

  “Oh it counts, which means I am the winner. Lucky that bird showed up when it did, don’t you think?” Mills shouted, Tossing the rope to Skree. Muscles burning with fatigue, they both struggled to make any progress up the side of the ship. Hawkins appeared at the rail.

  “Stop playing around down there!” The angry first mate yell as he hoisted the nearly drowned man back aboard the ship. Skree lay there for a moment, gasping for air and more exhausted than he had ever been in his entire life.

  Mills held out a hand, and hesitantly, Skree took it letting the pirate pull him to his feet. “I will expect my winnings by the time we reach Theseldora.” He said gleefully.

  “You’re a real bastard Mills.” Skree replied. He couldn’t be sure, but he had a real good feeling that lucky coin was responsible for the bird attack. Now he wanted the coin even more.

  Chapter 6

  The next week passed in an uneventful blur. Skree finally named, described, and showed a basic knowledge of the countless components of a ship and thanked his lucky stars when he received the quest completion prompt, and the next part of his profession quest.

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest Learning the Ropes, Part 1: Rigmarole. You have successfully learned the components of a ship, their uses and special functions. Reward: 15,000 experience.

  Hawkins has offered you a quest! Learning the Ropes, Part 2: Three-hundred Sixty Degrees of Separation

  Satisfied with your knowledge of ship components, Hawkins is ready to continue your training.

  Rewards: Experience, Reputation with Hawkins

  Failure: Hawkins will end your training, and you will lose reputation with Hawkins

  Hawkins moved on to the finer points of navigation at sea. They spent hours pouring over different charts, maps and the assorted mathematics used to calculate distances, travel speed and so much more.

  To Skree’s surprise, his high school education in subjects like algebra and calculus had real applications in a world without Google Maps and twenty-four seven GPS access. There were so many things to learn that it hurt his brain every time he tried to remember it all. Skree spent hours comparing wind maps against ocean currents. Matching star charts for different hemispheres, sextants for sea level changes, and so much more. The variety of charts was nearly endless. Hawkins was merciless in his dedication to accuracy and the completeness of his education. Every single time he made a mistake in his use of different formulas, Hawkins made him start over from the beginning, rewriting every equation, redrawing every charted course.

  “No, no, no!” Hawkins scolded him yet again after he forgot to correlate the change of major currents when his charted course would have taken him perilously close to a large whirlpool that shifted the currents by forty-two degrees in the surrounding waters.

  Skree slammed his hand on the table, frustration quickly turning into anger. “It’s too much information. I can never learn all of it, not in a few days!” he yelled, glaring at his unforgiving instructor. Hawkins returned his stare without concern.

  “You wanted to learn to sail, and I am teaching you everything you need to know. It isn’t my fault your head is too thick to absorb the information in the time we have available.” He said with a growl. “Learn the material or give up now. There is no in between.”

  “I am trying Hawkins, but there are just so many variables.”

  Hawkins nodded in agreement. “This is the absolute truth Skree, there are hundreds of variables at play every time a ship leaves safe harbor. Once you’re in the open water, these charts are the only thing that will keep you and any unlucky bastard sailing with you from dying.” He leaned over the table and tapped a point on the chart. “Here is your ship.” He traced a finger along the plotted route. “Here is where the Southern Maw causes the prevailing currents to change by forty-two degrees south by southwest.” He pointed at the enormous whirlpool depicted on the map, drawing an invisible line to intersect his plotted course.

  “If you did not take the change in current into account when you sailed past the 23rd latitude, you would sail quickly past the point of no return. Your ship would continue to pick up speed until you couldn’t escape. Within hours, it would pull your ship and all the souls aboard into the depths to meet Hakora.” He stood, crossing his arms and glaring down at Skree. “You will never be a sailor until you can plot a course through the most dangerous waters and know how to pilot the ship through to the other side safely.”

  Skree exhaled slowly, letting go of his anger. Hawkins was right, and he knew it. If he couldn’t learn it all, he wouldn’t be a good sailor. If he had missed that calculation when navigating, he would have killed everyone on the ship. “I know Hawkins. I don’t know if I will ever get it all memorized.”

  Hawkins leaned with one leg on the table, half sitting half standing. He stroked his beard thoughtfully for a few moments. “Skree, I want you to know this isn’t just me trying to be difficult. Twelve years ago, I was the helmsman on a ship. I had been doing it for a few years at that point so I felt like I knew the sea, knew the waters we sailed in. One night, we came across a strong storm which had blown us off course.” His words drifted away, the old sailor reliving those memories. “When the storm broke, I checked the sky and saw the Silverin constellation, and I made a calculation in my head without consulting my charts. I was so certain I knew how to get back on course, that I did not notice that we had drifted further north than I could have guessed, at least, not without consulting the charts like a wiser man might have.”

  He shook his head wearily. “We sailed for hours before I had realized my mistake, but by then it was too late. We had crossed into Orcish waters. I brought the ship about and made all haste south, trying to make it back to safer seas but it was too late. When the spotter called out that a ship was approaching, my blood ran cold. I raised the looking glass to my eye and shuddered when I saw a plume of black smoke coming from the Orcish Galley blowing full steam toward us.”

  Skree listened intently, watching as the normally quiet man told his story. He had heard nothing about Orc’s up to this point and it sounded like they were using some kind of powered engines, but he didn’t want to interrupt so he kept his questions to himself.

  “The wind was not at our backs and the damned Orc’s and their burning engines were closing the distance fast. The Captain called for all hands and relieved me from my station. He took the wheel, and we met the Orc’s head on. A great battle ensued and as you might guess, we survived, but suffered heavy losses. The Captain had me whipped at the mast and never let me sail his ship again.” His heavy eyes met Skree’s. “Thanks to my hubris, thirty-eight brave men and women lost their lives that night, all because I didn’t consult the damn chart.”

  “Hawkins, I am so sorry, that’s terrible.” Skree said.

  “Don’t be sorry, be better. Always read the charts, check your routes then do it again. Understand?” Hawkins said, tapping his finger on the charts for emphasis.

  “Yes sir. I understand.”

  With a curt nod, Hawkins stood and motioned to the charts. “Leaving from Breakers Bay, chart a course for the Central Kingdom city of Malbec. You have a full load of previous cargo so account for the reduced clearance. I will r
eturn in thirty minutes. Get it right.” Without waiting for his agreement, Hawkins left the small room.

  Skree got to work immediately, pulling the charts he needed for his plotting. This was one of the hardest courses that Hawkins could have asked for, so he knew he had to take his time. With a tentative stroke of his quill, he carefully began the work.

  ~~~

  “How are you boys getting along?” Fenna asked, looking him over carefully. “No black eyes or broken noses so it can’t be that bad.” She smiled up at him from her comfortable chair, feet kicked up on her desk.

  Hawkins scowled at her. “He is learning quickly. Faster than I could have expected. He seemed to know a lot of the advanced concepts of mathematics, which makes me wonder about his story. How could he forget how money works but remember algebra?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I doubt he has amnesia. A selective memory? Perhaps, but amnesia? Definitely not.”

  “And yet, you allowed him onboard and now you have me teaching him to captain a ship?” he asked suspiciously. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Absolutely nothing.” She said, setting her feet back on the floor. Sauntering around the desk, she stopped in front of Hawkins, leaning back on the large piece of furniture. “I just have a good feeling about him. I think someone wanted us to find him on that island.”

  His eyebrows furrowed accusingly. “Please don’t tell me you have feelings for him.”

  She rolled her eyes, waving his question away. “Oh god, no. Have you seen him? That hideously attractive face, rippling muscles, and innocent as the day he was born eyes? Please.” She stepped closer, staring up into his eyes. Her hands rested on his chest and she fluttered her eyelashes like a woman of ill repute. “You know I like my men older. More gruff and gray.”

  This time it was Hawkins who rolled his eyes. “Fenna I’m serious. If you are risking the safety of our crew on a man, you have the shivers for, I won’t continue teaching him.” He grasped her by the shoulders, pushing her away and holding her at arm’s length.