Houdini (Part 2)

Three months had passed and the crew of the Sea Breeze hadn’t even seen a whisper of another ship. Morale was desperately low. The increasing boredom and lack of action, made one long day merge into the next. It was an endless monotony.

Sternglass was at a lost; they had never travelled so long and so far without a conquest. It was as if all the ships on the sea had vanished.

She tried to raise the spirits of the crew by holding impromptu sword fighting competitions, which were an excellent temporary boost, but there were only so many times you could pretend to splice someone up before that too became monotonous.

But concerns of boredom were soon replaced by concern for the rapidly dwindling supplies. A visit to the dank, musty storeroom soon brought home the realisation that if they didn’t acquire provisions in the next two days they would starve for sure. It was almost empty except for two cases of beer, 1 small bag of rice, two salted hams and a sack of oranges.

When she returned to deck the sea of hopeful faces, desperate for her to come up with the answers to their woes, brought tears to her eyes. She simply didn’t know what to do.

Only one member of the crew seemed happy in lonely starvation, Leon. Sternglass had come to notice that he was somewhat of a loner. Most of his time was spent in solitude, either in the crew’s quarters or sat on the forecastle deck reading.

Leon emerged quietly from the forecastle and approached her from behind.
“Have faith Captain, all is not lost…you have the greatest weapon of all” he whispered.
The words did little to comfort her; they actually incensed her. Faith was giving her little assistance. How could she have faith when things were so desperate? What she needed was a miracle. She turned in frustration, and was about to give him a piece of her mind when she stopped. The frown across her face became an inquisitive smile as she watched him walk away from her. He sat back down on the forecastle deck and plunged his nose into his book.

There was something strangely soothing about Leon. It was as if his mere presence made even the most complex and hopeless of situations transparent.

Intrigued and anxious to know more about this strange lad she followed and knelt beside him.
“What’s that you’re reading?” she enquired
Leon closed the book and showed her the front cover. Sternglass squinted to read the title; its gold lettering had faded slightly with age.
“Mysteries…of…the…deep”
She chuckled to herself.
“My brother was always interested in the unexplained,” she added nostalgically “anything that defied rational explanation totally mesmerised him. He would spend hours reading and researching to get to the truth or attempt to find his own interpretation of why things were the way they were. Not that he was a sceptic. He wanted to believe, by golly he did, but to believe he had to explore every other possibility first.”
Leon listened intently.
“He was about to go to University to study under the tutelage of Professor Scheldhorn, the eminent Parapsychologist when he succumb to smallpox.”
“He died?” Leon asked softly, a tear forming in his eye.
“Yes,” she sighed “10 years ago today”
“You suffered greatly for it” he added “He never meant to do that to you”
Sternglass looked at Leon quizzically, not quite sure why he had said that, but assumed he meant well and put it down to the fact that perhaps he didn’t quite know what to say, or how to say it.

As she rose to join the rest of the crew a chill wind blew across the deck.
“A STORM’S BREWING FROM THE NORTH CAPTAIN,” the Quartermaster shouted.
“LOWER THE MAINSAIL AND BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES” he ordered to the crew as they scampered round the deck securing the ship.

A thick band of clouds began to quickly draw across the pale blue sky like a cloak, devouring all the light. As the storm gathered pace the dirty grey sea began to swell and churn, buffeting against the Sea Breeze; the heavens opened and rain lashed the crew and turned the deck into a skating rink; the angry clouds crashed into one another emitting an explosive crack; a lone bolt of lightning struck right in front of the bow, so close you could smell the electric charge. The colossal noise of the storm grew louder and louder as the sea roared and the wind howled, wave after wave swept over the deck taking with it anything that wasn’t tied down, including two of the crew.
“MEN OVER BOARD” one of them screeched
“THROW THE ROPES OUT” Sternglass ordered as she ran down to help haul the stricken seamen back on board.
Leon stood watching the chaos unfold around him. He seemed entirely unaffected by the whole event. He didn’t even flinch when another bolt of lightening hit the bowsprit of the ship sending shards of wood flying through the air as it shattered.

The lightening caught the attention of Sternglass. She could see Leon silhouetted in the white light.
“Leon, watch out” she screamed as she ran towards him to shield him from the splintering wood.
His face was rigid and expressionless. His eyes glanced down to the stone pendant swinging ferociously from her neck.
“He’s coming,” he said, his voice monotone, his eyes fixed on her necklace.
“Who, who’s coming?” Sternglass asked, a little perturbed.
“He wants it”
Her eyes were drawn over Leon’s shoulder and she could see a ship on the horizon. Its sails ballooned in the wind, powering it through the swell.
“Blackfoot” she said darkly.
“Well if he wants a fight he’s found one,” she added as she looked down at her dishevelled and exhausted crew. It was apparent they had little fight left in them as they slumped over barrels and coils of rope, the two that had fallen overboard were now flat out on the deck, those that had hauled them from the deep knelt as they fought to catch their breath. They were weak. Weak from hunger, weak from exhaustion. She feared this was going to be an easy victory for Blackfoot.

With barely enough time to shout her orders The Destructor had pulled up alongside them. Its size dwarfed The Sea Breeze and its polished wood and intricate hand carvings were testament to the fact that no expense had been spared on it. The storm, that had ravaged The Sea Breeze and her crew, had subsided as quickly as it arrived and pockets of blue sky began to appear in the clouds. Her crew were thankful that that ordeal was over, though their relief was short lived when they realised they were about to face their toughest battle. But not one of them had the energy even to fear it.