Former Captain David Shadowsail watches his ship, The Swiftbreeze, slowly be taken in by the sea. His tear stricken eyes stare fervently at the slowly vanishing ship. The same ship he bought twenty years ago, the start of his Captain career. Only eighteen years later and he finally paid the mortgage completely off--but never would he have guessed that the ship would be lost only two years later.
As the final feet of the mast slowly falls beneath the waves, David turns to his crew…..former crew, for you cannot be considered a captain without a ship. No longer will he be called David of the Swiftbreeze, but merely David Shadowsail, youngest son of Brigadier General Jason Shadowsail, his father…..and one of the people he greatly admires….the only one who has never mentioned the length of his beard…..the same father who cried when David first became a captain.
Tears continue to fall from David’s face, as memories resurface from his childhood, the insults, the trials and tribulation, and….the successes of his life. Looking around, David looks to the sailors, many of which came into his service twenty years ago, and those same ones mourn the fall of their home as he does. A dwarven ship is not merely a vessel, it is a living breathing family, that shares in each other hardships.
David stands upon a large raft, ripped from the hull of his ship, barely supporting the expensive cannons on top of it. Two dinghies connect to the raft with a rope, a couple of sailors holding paddles at the ready, their beards covered in tears. David looks back towards the empty water on last time, a piece of him left below the sea.
“The ocean be a nasty mistress,” murmurs David, his sadness clear like the stars in the sky, their twinkling light illuminating the ocean waves. Wiping the tears off his face, he faces his crew, they stare back, awaiting his words.
" We may have lost our home atop the waters,"David clenches his fist," but…..we still have our lives, and those cannot be replaced," he continues to stare, his sailors looking into his eyes, hope clenched in their beards.
Looking at their disheveled tear stricken beards,"I may no longer be a captain," he yells, strength returning to his voice," but this family of ours does not end with The Swiftbreeze.” His back straightens, eyes wide with hunger,” we will carve our way back into the sea!” he yells, a cheer eliciting from his sailors, their eyes blazing with hope.
"Now row, for I see the shore, and nothing will stop me from getting alcohol on my beard," Another cheer is heard as the raft lurches forward, his sailors rowing with newfound strength.
“I could really use a nice fucking beer right now,” Jessica interrupts from beside him, her succulent massive behind resting comfortably on top of one of the cannons.
David nods at her "once we get our supplies unloaded, I will personally make sure that every dwarf gets pissing drunk."
“You know captain, if we threw away these cannons when our ship was hit, we may have been light enough to get to port,” explains his carpenter, resting his back on another cannon, his beard much cleaner today.
David sighs, a frown on his face” The cannons are worth as much as the ship. You of all people should know this, and we were still not sure if we could make it even if we threw them overboard.”
"Aye brother," Alfred interrupts, his eyes still teary from the loss," as you said, the damage was extensive, and many of the tools and supplies poured out from that massive hole on the bottom hull,"
A silence permeates the group, the port, Sandstorm, coming into sight, the closest one for a good week. Slowly the sky brightens up, as the sun finally makes its presence known.
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This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Atop a solid rock, Valen sits in a lounge chair, a roaring fire in front of him. The sky slowly lights up as the first rays of sunlight strike the ground. Listening closely, he can hear the sandworms as they churn the sand around the rock, their massive bodies slamming into each other, coordination barely possible from the sheer number of them surrounding Valen and Lin.
On the other side of the Fire, Lin dances and sings to music, her head covered by a cat-eared headset. Her butt moves side to side as she jumps and moves, tail swishing elegantly through the air, a cute happy expression on her adorable face."♪I wanna try everything♪" Lin sings to a song she heard in the movie Zootopia, a movie she watched over three times. Valen watches as she continues to dance and sing. Her voice is clear, and the lyrics are on point, but slightly confusing to his ears. Concentrating on the song, realization finally strikes into Valen’s mind.”Holy crap Lin, your singing the song in common,” he says, Lin heeding him no mind, her ears covered by the headset, her dress spinning and moving with the shake of her hips.
A smile forms on Valen’s lips as he waits for Lin to finish her song, slowly sending his mana out to pack up the supplies, plans forming into his mind.
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Zeran watches from the beachhead of port Sandstrom. An easy job, especially at times like these, where raiding orc ships are scaring all but the most powerful of captains from coming nearby. Slowly Zerans massive tail glides out from his backside, delicately grabbing a hold a cup of beer, and slowly moving it to his clawed hand.
The scorpion-kin, one of the most dangerous beast-kin around, and most numerous in port Sandstorm are a race of scorpion-like humanoids, who have massive armored claws for hands, and a smaller clawed tail. Many would think the claws are their most dangerous weapon, but the stinger hidden in the tail’s claw has some of the most dangerous poison known to the world.
A unique poison whose venom will make the target leak mana, and eventually kill them if they run out. The venom is one of the main commodities of Sandstorm, the other being beast parts and cores from Geralyn, transported by the snake-kin, the only beast-kin who can sense the dreaded sandworms.
Like any other day, Zeran sits and watches the sea, a job that is rarely interesting…..until today.
"What in the sand is that," he remarks, as he his eyes stare into the sea. Confusion emanates from his carapace as he watches two boats and a raft come slowly towards the port. Immediately getting on his eight legs, he skittles towards town to warn the guards, and possibly the dockmaster.
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Diva watches as a scorpion-kin runs past her, the same one who is in charge of watching the docks. Hope slowly sprouts in her mind as the idea of a ship finally making port arrives. Slowly she heads towards the sea, her red skin clear in the sun, while her small black stumps of horns reflect the sunlight, a sword glinting menacingly on her back.
As she finally gets to the port, her neutral expression quickly turns into a frown, as her mana enhanced sight gets a clear view in the distance. Two small boats pull a large raft, fit with cannons and a large number of dwarfs, confused expression's present on their hardened faces. Diva glares menacingly at the dwarfs, their lack of a ship putting her mood into turmoil.
Huffing angrily, she turns away from the incoming sailors and walks back to town. She crosses the empty streets and turns towards the only Inn in available, the same one she is currently staying at.
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"Are you ready?" Valen asks Lin, as she sits next to him in the recently summoned car, its engine currently off. The vehicle sits at the edge of the stone, sand only a few yards in front.
Looking forward, the sand churns with the presence of worms underneath, waiting for the opportunity to find prey, incapable of traveling through hardened rock. With a smile, Valen forms a controller in his hand, a black metal box with many buttons on the top. Flipping the controller switch on, a green light shows up on the top right." Here it comes Lin," Valen says as he presses a button on the controller. Immediately an extremely loud explosion goes off on the other side of the rock, its blasting sound only muffled by the insulation of the hummer. The remote-controlled mine exploded, sending a massive shockwave through the ground, attracting all of the sandworms in the area to the location. Looking forward, the sand starts to churn quickly, and the sandworms move towards the explosion.
Valen quickly turns the Vehicle on and floors it, the wheels striking sand and accelerating, no worms to block his path.
As Valen leaves the stone structure, he turns to look at Lin, a smile on her lips as she removes sand from the fur on her sandal-covered feet.
“Sorry Lin, if you didn’t have such long claws on your feet, I would be able to give you some real shoes,” he says, Lins eyes turning to Valen, her head tilting to the side. Turning her eyes to her feet, Valen watches as the claws slowly retract into her foot, the length much shorter than before.”
A pleased smile turns to Valen as his eyes widen at the realization.”Lin, why didn’t you tell me you can do that?” he asks, a confused look on his face.”I could have been giving you some real shoes.”
Lin only answers with a shrug of her shoulder.
Putting one hand on his face, Valen sighs with annoyance.” I have the entire inventory of multiple stores, and the girl next to me could care less.” he says, Lin continuing to remove sand from her foot, giving Valen no mind.
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