“Kent, that storm will be on us in about 15-20 minutes, our sails are wrecked, and there’s no way our rowers can fight these currents, got any bright ideas?” Darius and Kent were in the navigation hall, a portion of the ship Kent kept reserved for himself and his tools.
“Of course, I have bright ideas. However, in execution, I feel that the crew will be unable to carry out my plan.”
“Kent has got nothing. I can see him shifting through his notes; Looks like he’s going to need a few words of encouragement.” Kent tended to crumple under pressure, so Darius needed to push him out of his rut. “Okay Kent, listen to me… you are the worst.”
His sour demeanor started to let up for a second as he gave a small chuckle, “Was that seriously the best your feeble mind could come up with for moral support? I honestly shouldn’t be that surprised.”
Darius slapped him lightly on the head, “Well, with you freaking out like that, I felt that you needed to hear some truth to bring you back to reality.”
Tired, Kent went to grab one a bottle of wine from his personal collection, “You talk big words for a man about to drown, do you have any bright ideas?”
“Currently no. I should probably think of one,” Darius took the moment to look outside to gauge the situation.
“Horrible storm? Check. Functioning crew?”
“We’re all going to die, this is awesome!” one of them yelled.
“Um half check. Working sails?” The wind and debris put massive holes in the sails effectively putting them at the mercy of the seas.
“Not check. Giant 50-foot tidal waves only about 10 minutes away, double check, things are looking good. Killian that idiot, why can’t he just use the staff to get us out of this? He’s going to get us killed, but I honestly think most of his crew don’t care. They’re just moving everywhere, port to starboard making sure everything is in order. They were moving so much, that I could feel the ship moving… ship moving.”
“Kent!” Darius ran back into the navigation hall where Kent was. The sudden yelling of his name was what probably caused him to choke on the wine he was drinking and left him coughing on the ground.
“What, you simpleton?! What is it?”
“Ship move!”
Kent stared at Darius confused and asked, “Has you brain finally understood the severity of the situation and has gone into a regressive state in order to protect your feeble mind? For if you were to-”
Kent was about to go into something that Darius liked to call a genius rant, so he slapped him and better articulated his thoughts. “I think I have a way for us to steer the ship, so I need you to shut up and listen.”
Kent held onto his face and balled his fist while looking incredibly angry, “Continue.”
“Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, push the boat, we go!”
“Well, this may not have been what I originally wanted, but as long as it works, whatever,” Darius reluctantly thought. “Ricardo, buddy, are you sure this is the best way to organize the crew?”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Kent, without any better ideas of his own, decided to just go along with Darius’s. Better that than nothing he reasoned, so they brought it up with the person the most knowledgeable about steering. In simple terms, Darius explained is plan to Ricardo. Use the weight of the crew and heavy items on the ship to manually steer the ship port or starboard.
As soon as Darius gave him the idea, Ricardo left him and Kent. Because of this, Darius reasoned that Ricardo thought the idea wasn’t going to work. Then, while trying to come up with another bright idea, Darius heard the impact of something very loud through the wind. At the head of the ship, Ricardo was playing on a pair of very large kettledrums. It didn’t take long for most of the crew to come at attention where Ricardo was standing.
One he had gathered all the attention, Ricardo beckoned for Darius to address the crew, “Alright, listen guys! If we can’t steer past those waves, we’re all going to die, simple as that. I’m mostly guessing here, but if we could shift our weight on either ends of the boat, that may be enough to get us turning.”
A lot of the crew did not look convinced, with death around the corner, leaving their lives to a stranger would be a hard sell. “Listen nitwits, that storm will be on us any second now, and I hate to say it but… I do not have a better plan, so at least for now, let’s follow with what the simpleton says.”
Anyone could see that saying those words truly hurt Kent, this must be serious. “Did you all hear that? If even Navigator Kent says we should do it, then we shall.” In classic Killian fashion, he appeared out of nowhere and stole the show, “Are you ready crew?”
Cheers were heard all around, as the crew finally had some direction and a way to avoid death. “Looks like we got them,” Darius commented. “Ricardo, you handle the steering while Kent and I guide you through.” He gave Darius a resolute thumbs up, and they set out to take down the Contusis.
“Hard to starboard! Okay, good! Now slight adjustment to port” Ricardo was beating hard on the drums, a red torn headband placed on his head, in order to make it look more “authentic”.
“Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, push the boat, we go!” He also kept singing that annoying song, even got a bunch of the crew to join him.
“Well, these guys are enjoying themselves. Kent, how’s it looking out there!”
Kent had put Darius on direction duty, while he set out to make sure there was no significant changes in the weather. “Nothing abnormal yet, ignoramus, but the waves aren’t letting up at all, in fact, they’re getting larger!”
“I guess they call it the Contusis for a reason,” Darius thought. “Ricardo, we need to-”
The entirety of the ship began to rumble, and Kent shouted out, “Simpleton, we have a problem!”
“Yeah, I noticed!” Darius retorted. “It’s always just one thing after the next.”
A wave reaching over 100 ft over them, effectively dwarfing all the previous waves was coming straight at the ship. “Kent, where did that come from?!”
Kent had a look of pure astonishment on his face, “But what, how the clouds… it- it shouldn’t have, no but it can’t.”
Even through his unintelligible speech, Darius could tell that he was suggesting that the tidal wave came out of nowhere, but how was that possible? “Killian get the damned staff out here, something isn’t right, these waves are literally appearing out of nowhere!”
Killian was at the head of the ship, arms spread wide like he was going to give the wave a huge wave, “Just look at it Darius, it’s so beautiful and so close, this is it, the big one, once we beat it we would have tamed the Contusis, we’ll be the first, the greatest!” Darius couldn’t handle this anymore, so he ran to grab Killian by the shoulders. Without speaking a word, Darius pulled his head as far back as possible and gave Killian a huge headbutt.
Killian fell to the floor, his nose leaking blood, but he’s still laughing like a madman, “Pull yourself together man, we are going to die here. I need you to come back to me and save your crew, just look.”
Looking to where Darius pointed, Killian’s laughter slowly dwindled. Crew running to and fro to steer the ship, members collapsing with exhaustion, Kent huddled in a ball destroyed by the impossibility of the situation we’re in, even Ricardo was slowing down from his usual fast pace. His laughter fully stopped when he took one more long look at the tidal wave that faced him. One that looked like it grew another 20 feet.
“What was I thinking?” Darius lifting him back to his feet. “I’m so sorry, Gordon has it, he’s probably still in the hold making sure all the cargo stays safe. Come on Darius, let’s go!”