“C’mon Teo,” Pleaded Remy

She held her hands together in a begging motion.

“There’s just a few more jobs we gotta do.”

“No, I've had enough of these jobs. They're always, well, odd!”

“This one isn’t so odd, I promise. Please, please?”

Teo, who was Remy’s closest friend growing up, had always, rather reluctantly, been dragged around the small islands that surrounded Shell Harbour while she took on odd jobs. They were the ones that nobody else would take. So stupid and low paying that the only person who was willing to take them was the young girl with bigger dreams than purse.

He found the jobs funny in hindsight, but when he was in the moment, he typically hated their adventures. Simple jobs turned inexplicably difficult. More often than not they got into scraps, and they had even been robbed a handful of times but Remy would always persevere and complete each one.

She took these jobs not only to save up enough coin to purchase her own ship but to also hone in her abilities to captain a ship albeit small ones at the time.

“Alright, what is it then?” Muttered Teo, giving in to Remy’s pleads.

She jumped on the spot in delight and grabbed his shoulders.

“Aha! Knew I could count on you Teo. Meet you at the boat in ten minutes.”

Watching Remy run off his face turned concerned.

“Wait,” he shouted. Remembering that she didn’t actually tell him what they were going to do.

“You never told me what it was?”

Remy turned her head while slowing down to a jog, a smile beaming across her face.

“Kylie lost his eye. A monkey has it,” shouted Remy before she turned back around and continued on, not giving Teo a chance to respond.

“Of course. Here we go again,” muttered Teo as he let out a sigh of regret that he had just agreed to joining another one of Remy's adventures.

…

As Teo arrived at the dock, he saw Remy prepping the cutter. It was a small single mast boat, about 30 feet in length — only just manageable for the two of them to sail.

She borrowed it from Ned, who had a fleet of small merchant ships at their local port. He was old but not that old where he was a grump, so he gave Remy a deal on the promise that one day she’d bring him something exotic or valuable once she ventured out to the world beyond their own shores.

“Hop in Teo,” chimed Remy.

“Uhg let’s get it over with then shall we,” said Teo. “By the way is it a man or a woman?”

Remy let out a laugh at his question while she began checking the lines, making sure the ropes were free of tangles.

“What do you mean man or a woman!”

“Well you said their name was Kylie but you said he lost an eye?”

“Yes that’s what I said,” said Remy as she hopped across the deck and loosened the cleats on the main sail. “Are you going to help or just sit there all confused?”

“Strange name for a man. So how did the monkey get his eye?”

Teo grabbed the halyard and started heaving the main sail, the rope already burning his hands. He hardly ever sailed, or at least avoided the laborious side of it. He wasn’t posh by any means, he was better with his thinking rather than labour.

The flutter of the sail was always music to Remy’s ears as it caught the wind and slowly started to push them off the dock.

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“Secure the halyard,” shouted Remy.

“You can ask the monkey when we get there Teo.”

Remy ran to the bow to hoist the ships single Jib, while Teo struggled to tie off the halyard for the mainsail. The ship started to pick up speed, the small waves underneath slapping against the hull. It was pure bliss, and Remy cherished every moment of a new voyage.

She hung off the edge of the boat with one hand outreached and the other firmly gripped on the rope, taking in the salty sea air through her nose. Soon she’d be sailing across the oceans and could already picture it.

“Teo, get on that rudder and head East.”

“Aye aye Captain,” Shouted Teo drearily with a touch of sarcasm

The ship cut into the water, gracefully slicing through the rolling swell and whitecaps. The only sound were the splashes of waves against the hull, the flapping of the sails, and howls of the wind.

They spent the next couple of hours exchanging banter between themselves and reminiscing on some of the fun adventures they’ve had with one another.

Teo had curled over in laughter recounting the time Remy had mistaken a small man for a child on one of their previous jobs.

“Why was he dressed like that,” said Remy as she tried to hide her smile and contain her laughter at the embarrassment.

—

As the pair reached the halfway mark, Remy spotted a storm on the horizon, already kicking the ocean to a stir ahead of them.

“The open side of Crab Cay looks too wild, we’re going to have to go through the Narrows,” shouted Remy.

Teo groaned, “no way. ”You sure we can’t go around the open side?”

Neither of them enjoyed the Narrows. It was a stretch of water between two islands — Crab Cay and Fern Island. Between the two islands was a town built along the waters edge on either side with a deep channel that allowed ships safe passage from rough seas.

The townsfolk were a rough mix of fishermen and pirates, usually heckling any ships passing through and if you were unlucky enough, you’d get plundered as you passed through.

As they approached the narrows they reefed the main sails and dropped the jib to slow down and to control the ship.

Remy and Teo could feel the daggered stares as soon as they entered the Narrows, the town was bustling and had a charm to it that often tricked any passing ships into thinking it was perfectly pleasant.

Traders and shopkeepers stepped out of their huts on the boardwalks and started to tout their wares until the less-than-ideal characters started appearing.

Remy unsheathed her sword as a couple of rough looking men started walking along the boardwalks that flanked either side of the ship as it cruised along the channel.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Or what? What’s a little thing like you gonna do ‘bout it?”

Remy's sword was old and she was in dire need of an upgrade but that kind of spend had to wait. Wait until she had enough coins to buy herself a ship that was bigger, faster, and capable of taking bigger jobs.

“Why don’t you try me,” said Remy.

The sides of his mouth tweaked up into a menacing smile as the wind started to pick up. The edge of storm Remy spotted earlier started to scrape by landfall and she was sure this was her preferred situation rather than battling the stormy seas on the open side of Crab Cay.

“Oh this will be easy.“

The men looked at each other with menacing laughs before jumping onto the ship. The overly confident one ran straight for Remy while the other was left to handle Teo. They both seemed sure it would be a quick and easy fit taking on two young adults by themselves.

Remy positioned herself, ready to fight as the man unsheathed his sword, swinging it around his hand before lunging forward.

As their swords clashed, a dull thud of metal against metal rang out. It wasn’t the usual cling of a sword fight, no, it was far from it.

Another thud drew both their eyes to the deck. It was Remy’s blade. It had finally had enough and the blade snapped perfectly at the hilt.

The man bellowed with laughter. He raised his arm, the glint from what little left of the sun behind the clouds caught the blade before it came crashing down.

Still holding tightly to the hilt she raised her hand, the guard the only thing protecting her from the force of an otherwise deadly strike. Remy rolled to the side to escape another blow before getting back up to her feet.

“Some help would be nice,” she called out to Teo.

But he was preoccupied with the other man who luckily for him, was a little less coordinated than the one she was fighting.

Teo was jumping side to side, evading sword strikes from the growingly puffed out delinquent.

Knowing that Teo’s knot of the halyard wouldn’t be as secure as her own, she made a break for it. Using the hilt, she threw an unexpected jab at the man’s nose making him bend over in shock.

Remy used his back as a stepping stone to launch over to the halyard and with the lightest touch it unravelled, dropping the main sail.

The storm wind suddenly captured by the sail gave the cutter a massive increase in speed. It knocked Teo’s attacker overboard as they reached up to take another swing, throwing them off balance and over into the channel.

With no one at the helm of the ship it started to scrap and bounce off the boardwalks that lined the channel between the town. The commotion and weather forced onlookers and any potential help back inside their shacks, and luckily for Remy and Teo it hadn’t caught on any jagged timber yet. So far it had been guiding them on a speedy passage and toward a quick exit of the Narrows.

Remy tumbled along the deck stopped only by the large man who had now regained his composure though blood was leaking from his nose down his face to his shirt, helped by the heavy rain that started to fall.

He yelled in frustration, ready to launch another attack as he steadied his footing until another gust of howling wind caught the sails along with a sharp clash against the Portside hull.

Teo went bottoms up and started rolling like a cannon ball on the loose down the deck striking Remy, still balled up herself, and he flew through the air collecting Remy’s attacker for the ride.

Teo spilled over the side of the ship, grabbing the rail for life as the man fell down into the channel.

The rain on the slick wood lessened Teo’s grip, he was certain he would drop into the channel and stuck to deal with the aftermath in the Narrows while the ship continued on without him.

A hand quickly grabbed his own just as his grip slipped. Then another. It was Remy. Both her feet against the railing and leaning backwards while she held onto his slippery wet hand. Using her momentum she heaved him back aboard and started to laugh.

Trying to mask his own laughter from Remy’s contagious giggles he asked what she found so amusing.

“We’re so terrible at fighting,” she laughed.

“Uh Remy,” said Teo, pointing ahead of them.

“Crap.”

The exit out of the Narrows ahead had a slight turn to it, used to dampen any swell from entering, and they were headed right for a head-on collision.

Remy jumped back to her feet and ran back to the helm. The ship was still catching the bursts of wind from the storm. She managed to get her hand close enough to the wheel to slap it into a spin, pitching the boat to its side as it just clipped the curved boardwalk and the narrows now at the stern of the cutter.