The Beast and The Brain.

As soon as I was on the deck a large gust of wind hit my face and roused my hair. The captain was shouting orders and the sailors were scrambling to follow them. I went up to the captain, who was at the wheel.

“What is Captain?” I asked.

“Storms coming.” He said curtly before he yelled out another order.

“Serious?” I asked looking up at the sky. The sky was clear, a ways off there were some dark clouds. But they didn’t look serious to me.

“Maybe.” He said, “Out at sea I wouldn’t normally worry about it, but here in the straight it can get pretty bad.” He roared another insult at someone.

“What seems to be the problem Captain?” J came on deck, with her usual black attire. I noted though that she had strange boots on her feet.

“Ah, madam glad to see that you’re feeling better.” He dipped his head.

She waved her hand, “Thanks to Mr. A. You didn’t answer my question.” The captain dipped his head again.

“Sorry of course. There seems to be a storm coming, nothing to worry about though I assure you. My ship here is sturdy and her sides are higher than most ships, she was designed for high waves.” I was looking at J, trying to get a good look at her boots.
“What?” She asked when she saw me looking at her.

“Huh? Oh, nothing. I was just noting your boots.” I said to her. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. The wind was picking up with every passing minute, the clouds were nearly upon us. The sky, though it was only late afternoon, was darkening, and I noted the rain coming for us at a distance. The masts were tied down securely, but still the men ran around on the deck, securing ropes, and retying them.

“I would suggest you go below deck though.” The captain was saying, to us, “I don’t want to take the risk of you getting hurt.” He said turning the wheel, the ship turned much more slowly.

“I assure you, we will be quite alright.” She told him back. I sighed. When my father had taken me with him on shipments, I hated the storms. Growing up around the docks I knew a bit of the ship, I often even went up the mast when I was old enough to keep my footing at such a high height.

Everyone was silent when the rain hit us. It pounded down in great sheets and soaked everything within seconds. I noted that J pulled her hood over her head. The sky grew as dark as night, and the wind began to howl. Soon the ship rocked up and down violently as it climbed the waves that were growing larger and more aggressive. I found a place next to the mast and found a secure rope to hold onto. J was at the other mast holding on with one hand, she braced herself every time a new wave came. I was glad I had given her the tonic before the storm had come.

The storm grew worse, lighting flashed across the sky, and the thunder shook the ship. I nearly hugged the pole of the mast. The wind howled around, and my hair and clothes were soaked through. A lightning bolt crashed nearby; suddenly I wondered if the pole of the mast was such a good idea. If the lightning hit it would hit the tallest part of the ship. I let go and made for the ropes near the horse. He was tied securely enough that he wouldn’t pull free, but it was a knot that with one pull could be released, just in case the ship went down.

“Blasted storm!” I heard the captain shout as we lurched downward from a wave. A wave splashed lightly over the side of the ship.

“Are you ok?” I turned. J had come over. She gripped the rope as tightly as I did. I nodded weakly, her hood was pulled back she had given up trying to stay dry. The wind howled and more lighting streaked the sky. Suddenly the ship gave a horrible pull and there was a loud crack that shot out through the storm. I raised my head against the rain and wind. One of the masts had come free!

The captain was shouting orders, more lighting and the wind picked up even more. A large wave splashed aboard the ship. J’s hand came free and she bolted for the nets. “J NO!” I yelled out, but my voice was lost over the sound of the raging storm. She grabbed the netting and began to climb. The mast filled with wind and it was taking the ship dangerously fast over the waves. The captain was roaring about the storm, but my focus was on J.

“J!” I yelled. What was I supposed to do? Another wave came over the side, splashing over me. I coughed the water from my mouth, shook my head, and looked back up. She was already half way to the top.

“J!” I yelled again. It was pointless. I yelled out a curse, let go of the rope by the horse, and leapt for nettings. I held on as the ship shot off the top of the wave, the nose landed in the water, spraying us all with salt water. My feet slipped out from under me; luckily I held onto the nettings and pulled myself up slowly. I climbed the nettings then looked up when I was about half way. The rain ran down my skin and I squinted my eyes against it. J was like a blur in the night, why did she have to wear black?

I pulled myself up further until I finally reached the top this was the tricky part. I had to maneuver onto the log above me that held the mast. I waited as we reached the bottom of a wave then reached out and grabbed the ropes of the pole and swung myself up. I hugged the log for a moment then pushed myself up. J was holding on with her legs and feet as she struggled the gather the mast. I made my way towards her. Keeping my balance was more difficult in the storm, and I hadn’t been on a ship in years.

“J!” I yelled once I was close enough. She turned, “What are you doing up here?” She yelled. The lighting lit the sky for a moment; the other sailors were up here with us on the other side, they were struggling to gather the mast also.

“I came to help you!” I yelled looking up. There should have been a rope attached to a pulley system somewhere, I spotted it. Only the rope was gone, “We need to get this mast up or we’ll all die!” I yelled at her.

She glared at me, “What does it look like I’m trying to do?” She demanded. I ignored her comment as the little bit of mast that J did have in her hand ripped free, taking her with it. “J!” I yelled grabbing her shirt, but she hadn’t moved very far.

“I’m fine!” She yelled straightening herself. It was then I noticed her boots, the bottoms of them had some sort of steel grips on them. Perfect for keeping footing in tough places, “What’s the plan?” I asked her. She shook her head and looked around.

“We need to get rope back into that pulley there is no way we are going to be able to pull this up with our hands!” She yelled, I nodded my head, “How do you want to do that? It will take too long if we have to climb back down and back up again, not to mention dangerous.” I understood now why the captain had such a good voice; it was tiring my voice trying to yell over the storm.

She thought for a moment, “OY!” She yelled just as loud as the captain did. One of the sailors on the other side looked up, “We need rope over here!” She yelled. The sailor paused a moment then, with great balance he stood on the rounded log and untying a rope of some unimportance, he pulled it through and tossed it over to us J and I both reach out and caught a piece of it.

She looked at the pulley, “I’ll feed it through.” She told me as she took an end of and stood on her feet and hands and slowly gained her balance, I held one end of the rope and held my hands out to catch her if she fell. But the grips on her boots seemed to work better than I imagined. She stood up and reached for the pulley and held onto it as the ship ducked down another wave, I watched as the front dipped underwater again. I didn’t know how long the ship could last under this pressure. She pushed the rope through the pulley and inched it down as I fed her more. She held onto the other end and sat back down.

“Ok.” She said wiping the rain from her face, “Now one of us has to go down and attached it to the mast!” She told me. I nodded, I already knew this, I looked down, the mast was too far off the ground for someone to reach from the deck. “You’ll have to lower me! Get one of the men over here, and I’ll attach it!” I told her. She nodded and yelled over at the men, a sailor came over. She told him the plan he nodded. The men on the other side were slowly gathering up that side of the mast. Soon they would have that side secure. I watched as the sailor and J pulled on their end as mine became tighter. Then I held onto the rope for dear life as they began to lower me down quickly. I swung back and forth in the wind and with the rocking of the ship, and hit the mast more than once.

As I reached the bottom, I let go of the rope and held on with one hand and reach out for one of the rings that was attached to the small log under the mast. One hand was wrapped around the rope and with the other I held onto the end of the rope and tried to push it through a loop, as I pushed it through, I grabbed the end again and swung myself sideways to try and reach the next loop. I got the rope through three loops then with one hand tied the best knot as I could. Then I realized how stupid I had been, how was I supposed to get down?

I let out another curse, then lowered myself as low as I could go and dropped myself to the deck, rolling as I hit. I stood up as the ship heaved again then I found my footing. I gave them thumbs up. They had one side of the mast already secure and now they began to haul the mast up slowly with everyone helping. I could hear the captain better now that I was on the deck; he was encouraging the men while his first mate and he were battling with the wheel.

They got the mast secured and the men gave a cheer, even though the storm still ragged around us, but the main threat was now over. The sailors climbed down the netting on either side, J was the last to come. She was half way down when the ship was hit by a wave from the side, everyone was thrown off balance, I fell to me knees, and looked up just in time to see J go flying off the ship, and into the sea.