The wave crashed up over the deck, dousing me again.

I huffed and brushed sea water out of my face, only to get splashed even harder as the boat lurched the other way.

“I swear,” I complained as I turned to look at the rest of the deck.

It was a mess. The ocean swells had already taken most of the stuff off the deck. The deck side cannons were gone, thanks to the left railing breaking off. Most of the loose rope, barrels and crates were either gone completely or stacked in a corner near the upper deck’s stairwell. Tied with haste to keep hold of them.

As the ship rolled again, I shifted my weight to keep myself stationary. I wasn’t tied down like the five other men on the deck. They all had three ropes each tied around their waists. One to the nearest mast to their station, one to a metal chain hook on the center of the deck, and a third and final one to tie them all together.

I had recommended them to not tie each other to themselves, but they hadn’t listened. To them it was a smart idea.

Smart ideas didn’t come when one panicked.

“Grab hold!” a man screamed as he lunged for the nearby iron mast. I turned to see what had spurred the instinct of survival.

A great wave, higher than our ship, was heading towards our port side.

The ship would be fine, I knew this… even the sailors knew this, but they weren’t as lucky.

Men were feeble. Weak. They were nothing in the force of nature.

So what did that make me?

The wave hit us, and the boat suddenly disappeared from beneath my feet.

For a tiny moment I was weightless… then I felt my feet land onto the smooth wood once again. I crouched as the whole world went dark, and I wasn’t able to see anything anymore.

The huge wave rolled over us, blocking out what little sun the clouds let thru, and once again I was in the ocean instead of above it.

As fast as the water came, it left. It swooshed loudly as it poured off the deck as fast as it could, as if the ocean waters didn’t want to be on the boat anymore than we wanted it here.

“Hoorah!” the five men loudly bellowed their survival, and I was half tempted to join them.

I didn’t though. It wasn’t fair if I did.

Slowly standing up from my crouch, I looked up at the giant masts and sails. A few had torn and ripped before we had been able to get them rolled up, but most were still fine. Even the smaller masts in the rear were still in one piece.

This was a well made ship, all things considered.

Something touched my foot, and I looked down and realized I had lost my shoes. A crab was walking upon it. The hairy legged thing was doing its best to escape.

I let it be, and wondered where my shoes had gone.

They were nowhere to be seen on the deck.

“Another, lads!” one of the sailors bellowed a warning.

Ignoring them, and the oncoming wave, I decided to head downstairs. If not to find another pair of shoes, but to at least check on the boy and the women.

As the wave came roaring towards us I headed for the doors to the lower levels.

I didn’t need to open the doors. They had been broken off hours ago from the waves. One was stuck half bent inward, as if something heavy had landed on it… maybe a cannon had done the deed.

The wave hit as I headed down stairs. The whole ship rocked, and for a few moments I had to put my foot on the right wall as to stand up straight.

Women screamed as the ship rolled with the wave, and then went back upright. It was interesting that in the roaring of the storm and waves, a woman’s cry could be so clearly heard yet nothing else.

Heading down the rest of the stairwell, I stepped into the ankle high water. It was murky, and there was a bunch of junk floating everywhere. I noticed a single shoe nearby, but wasn’t in the mood to chase its sibling down.

“Come on! Get out of there you idiot!” Ronalldo was clinging to one of the cage’s open doors, trying to pry out the last woman who hadn’t left it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I frowned at him and quickly looked around. The rest of the women were out, and were huddled near the front of the room, where it was the bow of the ship.

Seemed he had tied a bunch of ropes to the keel of the ship. They all clung to the ropes for dear life.

I counted their soaked heads, and was glad to find they were all still here and alive.

Or well… all but one.

“Vim she won’t get out!” Ronalldo noticed me and shouted at me over the roars of the storm.

“Then grab her,” I said as I approached.

“She keeps scratching me!” he whined.

“Don’t be such a virgin,” I stepped past him and into the cage.

The woman let loose a blood curling scream as I grabbed her by the waist. Hefting her, I pulled her out of the cage. Luckily the cage’s bars were soaked enough that I didn’t de-glove her fingers by pulling her away from the bars.

“Let me go! No! Cartha, help me!” the woman screamed wildly as she tried to struggle herself free, but it was useless.

I was going to toss her at the boy, but decided against it. He was clinging to the cage for dear life too.

Sighing, I stepped around the cages and headed for the group of women near the end of the room.

By the time I reached them, the woman I carried realized what I was doing. She stopped screaming and fighting, and let me hand her off to her fellows. They went quickly to tying a rope around her waist once she was in their grasp.

“Thank you,” one of them said to me.

“Is anyone hurt?” I asked.

“Jezzia has a broken arm, we think,” one said. Several of them pointed to one of the smaller girls, who was huddled in the center of them all. She was holding her arm.

It did look broken.

“The storm will pass in a few hours,” I told them, and then turned to the boy. He was still clinging to the cage. “Ronalldo! Get something to make a splint!” I yelled at him.

“What?” he shouted back.

“A splint! For an arm! Get some wood and cloth!” I yelled at him.

Although the boy was as scared as the rest, he must have noticed my tone. He immediately let go of the cage… right as the ship rolled with another massive wave.

He fell back, and probably only didn’t get too hurt thanks to landing in the foot or so of water. He rolled upward, alongside the ship as it rocked, and found his feet.

The lad had sea legs at least.

“We’re going to die,” one of the women sobbed.

“You’ll all be fine. Anyone else hurt?” I asked as I looked at them all. They all being pretty much naked made it easy to check on them. It was hard to tell though; since most had already been bruised up rather badly before the storm had even begun.

“He’s speaking in that weird tongue again,” one of them said.

Ah shoot. “Anyone other than her hurt?” I asked them again, this time in their language.

“I don’t think so,” the scarred one said. She was standing at the edge of the group, where it was the most dangerous.

She had a spine.

“Have him help you splint that arm. He’ll not harm you, but if you harm him I’ll kill every last one of you,” I told them.

They all stared at me as I turned away and headed back towards the boy.

He had a bundle of broken wood and leather in his arms, and trying to pick up a floating pair of pants. Once I reached him he got it all together and started my way.

“One of them has got a broken arm. Splint it then tie yourself to them and stay with them,” I told him.

“But!” he started to complain, but I ignored him.

“Stay with them!” I ordered.

“Storms,” he cursed and hurried away to obey.

Heading back up to the main deck, I wasn’t too surprised to find no one else here.

I sighed as I stared at the empty deck, and then hurried across the soaked deck to get to the upper one. Where the wheel was.

Reaching the helm, I shook my head at the lack of anyone. There wasn’t even a piece of rope left to let me know what had happened.

They were gone.

Going to the helm, I grabbed hold and for the smallest moment… was at peace.

“Good thing Renn hadn’t come,” I said as I spun the wheel, to put us back on course.

Grilly and the rest of her men had stayed on the Barque; they had likely been fast enough to outpace the storm. They might not be in Lumen yet, but they should be fine.

As I turned the ship, I looked out to the east. To the vast sea, in all its dark and brooding glory.

Not a lisp of sunlight reached out there, even though it was midday.

The six men that Grilly had given us to sail were gone. Only I, Ronalldo and those women remained.

And they were all huddled beneath deck, tied to one another. Useless.

As the wheel spun, I noticed something in the darkness. Something… shifted in the sky. It didn’t take long for me to realize it was a massive wave. Maybe thrice as high as the one earlier.

That was probably why the sailors were gone. They had taken the chance at being lost to sea over being hit by that while on the ship. Abandoning the rest of us in the process.

Cowards.

Stopping the wheel from spinning, I firmed my grip and glanced down at my feet when I noticed that they were a little cold.

No shoes, right.

Looking back up to face down the wave… I directed the ship to the left a little. The wave was eerily quiet as it approached, and I went to finding the best path to keep the boat from being completely eaten by it.

As I turned the wheel, I realized how big this ship really was. I could see it now thanks to being up here at the helm, and feel it through the wheel.

Was a little odd to be so alone on such a big ship. At least up on deck.

“A man and the sea,” I said as I smiled.

Then the wave hit.