No one knows why, but it seems to be that the greatest misfortunes always strike right before the end of a journey. That’s why I intend to never stop sailing until the day I drop dead on the mast.

-Quoted from Admiral Fenn, of Blackshire

Skill up!

Reading 8 > 9

Skill up!

Writing 2 > 3

Rose wasn’t sure if reading had been close to levelling up already, or if the difficulty of interpreting the captain’s scrawls gave her a huge boost in levelling speed.

Once she’d copied down a few paragraphs of the log, in a measured and swirling font that eclipsed the logbook in beauty and legibility, Captain Bradshawe pulled out one of the drawers of his desk and took out a brand new book.

It was wrapped in a soft and furry material rather than the leather that the other books in the office were, and dyed a dark pink. He handed it to her and she accepted it, running a finger along the cover and quivering as goosebumps appeared on her skin. Fluffy.

Riffing through the pages, she saw it was empty, except for evenly spaced lines on each one—it was a book meant for writing.

“Is it for me?” she asked.

“A gift, of sorts. Though I already had a purpose in mind. The current logbook is full, and as you can see it’s a rather difficult and uninteresting read. I’d like to propose that you copy it out, and edit it to be a little more of a thrilling tale. That won’t go in that little pink book, however, it’s just a side project for us to work on. As for your gift, I’d like for you to take over the daily ship’s log. What we saw while sailing, any notable events that happened or just small details that drew your curiosity that day are all things you could jot down. Your handwriting is much prettier than mine, and I have a feeling you’d have a way with words I couldn’t hope to match. Are you amenable to the idea?”

She liked the sound of it, even though she wasn’t quite sure what possessed the captain to give such a large responsibility to her when she had only been a member of the crew for a week.

It was a rather fabulous way to improve her writing skill though. “I think so. I’ll do it. If it’s not good enough then feel free to hand it to someone else.”

“Don’t be silly. If I wanted someone else to do it I would’ve asked someone else. You’ve got what it takes. Keep the quill. You’ll have to borrow my ink jar for now, but when we get to Highbream we’ll try to find one that suits you.”

“That’s very generous of you. I don’t know what to say.”

"Just give me your best work and I’ll be satisfied. Now, let me walk you to the mess. It’s too dangerous to be out on deck alone right now,” said the captain, picking up his coat once more and opening the door for her to leave.

After tucking the pink book into her jacket along with the scarlet quill, Rose walked out into the corridor with Captain Bradshawe hot on her heels.

As they approached the door to the poop deck, there was another rumbling clap of thunder and a flash of lightning lit up the world in bright white, half blinding them.

When they recovered from the shock, ears still ringing just a little and stars dancing in their eyes, the captain threw open the door and rushed onto the deck, with Rose trailing just a little bit behind and curious to know why he was in such a panic.

Even amidst the pouring rain and the blustering winds, Rose noticed the whiff of burning wood straight away as acrid black smoke wafted from the lower decks. That last flash had been rather close. Too close.

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The captain yelled something, but she couldn’t make it out as the wind carried his voice away too fast. He started to sprint, crashing down the stairs two at a time and almost tumbling down the last few when he misplaced his foot, but Jade was there to catch him.

When Rose reached the top of the stairs down from the poop deck, taking them at a more sedate pace so as not to have an accident, she realised why everyone was in such a hurry.

The lightning strike had blown part of the ship away, and though it hadn’t burnt for long thanks to the rain, there was now a gaping hole in the Unrequited Love and a large part of the railings were missing along with the rigging that secured the main mast to the starboard side of the ship.

Rose’s eyes widened even further when she noticed a dark hand holding onto the edge of the destroyed planks, and as she neared the deck more of the tragic scene came into view.

Jordan was clinging on for dear life, his vice-like grip the only thing keeping him from flying off into the churning seas. He had been on the main deck, keeping watch for an incident just like this, but it seemed luck was not on his side today.

Rose wanted to help him out. Jordan was a gentle giant, and he had even given her that fabulous piece of advice about skills. Yet, she was wholly unprepared to face the challenge.

Even with the railings intact she wouldn’t have risked her life on the decks, but the prospect of trying to pull him back from the edge with nothing between her and the cold abyss but a few charred planks was terrifying.

Standing there, unable to do anything but watch, she felt pathetic. Saltbeard, or one of her other heroes would have leapt into the mouth of danger and performed a heroic rescue. A pirate wasn’t supposed to be scared of the sea, but Rose was no pirate. Not yet.

While she remained frozen in place, she heard the crew shouting to each other and sprinting around the deck, tying down ropes that needed to be secured, grabbing anything loose and making sure it wasn’t flying off the ship through the hole in the side.

She figured it would be a better use of her time to make her way below deck and help out there, rather than stand around getting in people’s way. And she would feel less crap about her inability to act if she wasn’t facing the problem head on.

As she turned to walk back inside, Felix flew past her, not even wearing shoes and with just half the buttons on his shirt done up, exposing a toned chest with a smattering of chestnut hair that matched his tousled mop.

He reached down to the deck, grabbing a length of rope which had escaped her notice and in just a few seconds tied the end into a looped knot. With a flick of his wrist he began to swing the rope around, gathering speed until it was whipping through the air.

When the rope was just a blur he let it fly. and it shot toward Jordan, who was able to grab hold of the loop with his trailing hand thanks to the pinpoint accuracy of Felix’s throw.

The youth had dashed to the main mast while this was happening and tied off the other end of the rope, then began to heave on it, bringing Jordan back up the side of the ship and stumbling onto the sodden deck.

“Shit, that was close. I owe you one, Felix. You’re a lifesaver man, literally. I think I need to avoid rigging for the next year of my life,” yelled Jordan through desperate breaths, hands on knees as he recovered from his ordeal.

“Just give me your breakfast for the next few days and we’ll call it even. And I don’t think avoiding sailing is an option for a sailor. Maybe you can ask the captain if you can take over navigation. You’d look great behind the wheel,” Felix joked back.

Rose stood there in silent admiration of Felix’s bravery. He hadn’t hesitated to throw himself in harm’s way to save his crewmate.

What made it worse was that he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. He’d taught her how to tie that same knot two days prior. She knew how to throw a lasso from her time working with the doori back home.

She could’ve saved Jordan—if she wasn’t such a coward.

The storm passed a few hours after the unfortunate lightning strike. With the remaining light of day, they were able to patch the hole in the ship. Not well enough to last, but it was sufficient for the last leg of the journey.

As the sun set, the cliffs of Derridas appeared on the distant horizon. Covering them, as far as the eye could see, was a sprawling forest of evergreen trees that towered into the sky.

Rose had never seen anything like it. Emerlan Isle had forests, but the trees were small, fluffy things that lost all their leaves in the winter. She only knew these were evergreens, and what an evergreen was, because Bellamy had told her about them on the journey.

Leroy cooked a special meal that evening, to celebrate their victory over the storm. Even the captain joined them, which was real cause for celebration.

While the crew laughed and cheered, made more boisterous by inebriation after a few bottles of aetherbrew had been added to the mix, Rose opened the pink fur-bound notebook and began to write her first ship’s log.