This choice: The survivor is a member of the ships crew, badly hurt. • Go Back...Chapter #7The survivor is a member of the ships crew by: Aurthor   Eianna put down the quill she was writing with and rubbed her temples, trying to find relief from the headache she was developing. The cabin was silent except for the soft hiss of the naphtha lamp burning over the desk that illuminated the logbook she had been writing in.
Mark had brought back the ship’s log from the wreck, which allowed them to identify her as the Kestrel, a merchant sloop out of Westpoint Airie, 5 days sail south along the coast . The sight of the book reminded Eianna that the port authority had given her one of her own to fill out.
Every ship had a logbook that provided a written record of the ship. Written in it were the ship’s name (which Eianna still had to fill out), who made up her crew, her home port, where she went, what she saw there, and what she did about it. One of the duties of the captain was to make sure the log was filled out every day. Magyar had taught her the basics of what should be in there, and she had the wreck’s log to follow for the format. Even though writing legibly wasn’t a strong skill set for the former street urchin, she set about the long and arduous task of transcribing the day’s events with a determination that kept her going long after darkness had settled over the jungle around her.
There was a soft knock on the door, and Mark came in. “Finished?” he asked.
Eianna nodded. “Pretty much. I’ve written down everything I can think of. I didn’t realize how long it would take to describe finding a wreck.”
“Probably because it was no ordinary wreck.” He too rubbed his temples, as if he was extremely tired, which he probably was. “I don’t relish the nightmares I’ll have over this.”
Eianna nodded in agreement. “How’s the boy?” she asked.
The sole survivor on the wreck had been the cabin boy Mark had found unconscious inside a jammed tool locker in the aft engine room. A boy who had stayed unconscious all the way back to the ship, then woken up screaming when Tina had put him to rest in her hammock. After they had calmed the kid down they managed to convince him to describe what happened. Not that he could tell them much. A ship came out of nowhere and attacked them. He had been knocked unconscious and woken up in the hammock with no memory of the locker and idea of why he’d be in one. Eianna’s best guess was that someone had hidden him for safe keeping.
“He’s as okay as he can be,” Mark replied, “All things considered. Still doesn’t remember any more about the attack.”
“That’s probably for the best.” Eianna said, running her hand through her hair and rubbing her eyes.
“He hasn’t asked about the rest of the crew.” Mark continued. “I think he suspects, but doesn’t want to ask because he's afraid of what we’ll tell him.”
“If he asks, all we just say that they are dead.” Eianna said flatly “The pirates killed them. Nothing more. He doesn’t need to know the details." she paused, then said quietly "Not all of them.” Eianna wished she had that need to know option, but she didn’t. And she knew that when they got back she would be recounting what she'd been told to the magistrate. Detailed reports were also something that those in charge liked to see on a semi-regular basis.
The wreck had been attacked by pirates. There was no other description for them. Murdering blood thirsty pirates. The wreck had only been a sloop, lightly armed at best. Best suited for zipping around the safe harbors where there was nothing more threatening than a port official who wanted a bit of extra graft to clear the cargo. Why the captain had tried to cut through the Illum Badlands was anybody’s guess. Whatever the reason, it had cost them everything. The defenses had probably lasted less than a minute. Even then most of the crew had probably survived the initial attack, judging from what Mark had found on deck hidden under the sight obscuring gas bag. And when the pirates boarded they had no problem rounding up the rest of the survivors, holding them captive while they helped themselves to the cargo and anything else of value that they wanted. Then the pirates had cut the main feed line and opened the valve on the gas bag that held the ship buoyant in the air, allowing the Helium2 to escape and the ship to sink towards the ocean below.
According to the log, the ship had 11 souls on board when she set sail. 12 if you include the cook’s soon to be born child. Mark had found 8 of them lashed helplessly to the port rail. Apparently not satisfied with simply scuttling her, they had circled the slowly descending ship and repeatedly raked the helpless captives with an assortment of machine gun fire. The only one they had spared from this butchery had been the ships cook, and that was because at the time of this atrocity she had been lying naked on the Kestrel’s galley table, pinned there by over a dozen meat skewers.
Eianna sanded and blotted the last page, preserving the tale of pirate horror in within the horror of her not so neat handwriting, all for the benefit of future readers. Then she closed the log book with a heavy sigh. “I’m not good at funerals,” she said. “I don’t know if I can officiate at one, let alone 10 of them.”
“So don’t” Mark said. “Let the temple priests do it when we get back. That’s their job anyhow.”
“That would mean transporting the Kestrel’s crew back to Papua, and I’m not bringing those bodies on board this ship to ferry them back to Papua.” Eianna said firmly. “Even to bring what peace it will to those poor souls. I just can’t!”
“So you don’t.”
Eianna looked at Mark. To her surprise he was smiling. “I think you’re really going to like this plan I have.” He said, pulling a notebook out of his pocket.
 indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 Aurthor (UN: aurthor at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Undbitr has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author