Writing

As a thank you for 2k on Instagram, here is the first chapter of a novella written last year, taking place in the same world as a high fantasy project currently being written. This started as an experiement to see how I wanted to write this unusual character, then ended up being a 20k word novella. It is an early draft so it is all subject to change and may contain errors.

Bow to the Ship

Chapter 1 - The Tempest

I could get used to this, Yuki thought looking over the shimmering ocean. The pale blue sky met the deeper blues of the ocean, both vanishing into an endless horizon. Yuki liked the colour blue but it was never her favourite, and yet this sight gazing over the ocean felt… triumphant.

They had long since lost sight of land. And really there was nothing to see out at sea, but if you looked closely there was everything to see. From her perch atop a sail, Yuki could see shadows of large fish dancing below the flowing surface. Occasionally some would crest the waves and break through with a satisfying splash, shattering the surface into single drops breaking away in every direction.

Inhaling, she tasted the salt of the sea on the cool breeze. Was the salt in the air? Surely it was in the sea. But then why could she taste it? Could you eat up here with the air acting as seasoning? Either way she loved it.

“HEY! GET DOWN FROM THERE!” called Captain Yellall.

With a sharp exhale, Yuki span around, kicking off the long wooden thing that held the sail, and slid down the rigging of the ship. It was amazing that, although the ship was arching with the sea, her balance never felt off. Yuki was meant for sea life. She knew it.

Gliding down then landing with a thump in front of the Captain, Yuki pulled a salute like she saw the other sailors do.

“Yes Captain Yellall sir!” Yuki said.

The Captain sighed. “It’s Captain Torall. Girl, you are testing my patience. You aren’t part of the crew just because you paid for voyage,” the Captain leaned in. “Hell, you shouldn’t even be above deck! An outlaw seeking escape from the country should be more conscious of who she reveals herself to,” the Captain said quietly, gesturing to the crew going about their daily tasks.

Yuki wasn’t actually an outlaw, she had just told him that because it sounded cool, and it meant he wouldn’t prod more as to why a girl of her age was travelling herself. In truth she had just ran off from the merchants that were looking after her.

“But you yell a lot sir,” Yuki responded still in salute.

“I.. what?” he asked.

“I think Captain Yellall is a more suited name that Captain Torall,” Yuki said.

The Captain leaned in even closer, eyeing her. Wow he had a big nose. Did having a bigger nose make you better at smelling? Or would it just mean you smell more, making it harder to tell smells apart? Is that a hair?! That thing was thicker than some curls on Yuki’s white haired head. That must impede his sense of smell. Yuki was about to ask him just that, when a crew mate shouted from the other side of the deck for the Captain.

“Watch yourself girl,” the Captain said pulling back with an attempt at a menacing glare, then wandered off towards the crew mate.

Rocking from heel to toe and trilling her lips together, Yuki looked around the ship. The light brown decking was kind of pretty, despite the grime and splintering of age. The outside of the ship was a dark wood, almost black, with the lighter wood as trimming, accenting it. Cannons lined the sides of the deck and Yuki had already seen the second layer of cannons pointing out on the floor below. A lot of cannons for a fishing ship, Yuki thought. I guess the sea is supposed to be dangerous.

Fish nets lay sprawled out over a corner just before the steps that led up to the helm of the ship. Strolling over, Yuki started whistling inconspicuously, then bent down to inspect the nets. Yes, it was as she thought. They look brand new. A stark contrast to the aging ship known as The Tempest. Named after the fact this crew were known for travelling into storms and catching fish-a-plenty even in the worst of weathers.

And yet the nets seemed unused.

They must be pirates. Duh.

Standing, she looked over the crew. Burly men with muscles and grim faces. The crew also had two thuns. Thuns were large blue humanoid creatures with small box shaped heads. They had a muscular physique and could lift more than several men with only one arm. The thun were of relatively low intelligence, but could be trained to complete basic tasks, so Captain Yellall had a couple on his crew to do some of the “heavy lifting” around the ship. But they would also be incredibly handy in a fight.

Yes, these were no fishermen. Having people think you caught fish in storms when no one else was out probably helped with the fact no one ever saw you fishing. Clever, Yuki thought. Well almost clever. They would be better to have wet the nets. Maybe weather them a little. They did have a couple barrels of fish they were planning on selling at the next port however. A nice touch.

Yuki shrugged to herself. What did she care? She had never been on a ship before, and was certainly enjoying herself.

Swinging her arms up above her, she wrung out a gasp which attracted the attention of some crew mates, before breaking into a sprint for the side of the ship.

“Miss!” they called as she made for the side.

Despite the damp, the deck had okay grip. The shouting expanded around her as others jumped out her way. I wonder if you could slide on it though, she wondered.

Yuki ducked under a crate that two men were carrying across the ship and sent her feet out, letting her slide across the surface. Yes good slide-ability, Yuki thought coming back into a run.

Finally, she lunged into the air and the screaming rose to a crescendo as she crested the side of the ship.

Men ran to the edge of the ship and peered down into the blue. However, sitting upon an opened canon hatch, Yuki gazed across the ocean. The sighs from above filled the gaps between the murmurs of her “being crazy” and “a wave washed fool”.

Yuki chuckled watching the perfect serene setting as two slimly finned fish arched and broke the surface.

Yes I could get used to this, Yuki thought.

“So which part is the hull?” Yuki asked, erratically swaying to the beat of the ship in her hammock below decks. The crew mate, named Foh, sighed audibly. Something like boats were complicated, so she couldn’t understand his impatience after just a couple questions. This was only her… thirty second question?

“The outside of the ship,” he muttered.

Light leaked in as beams through cracks in the hull. Night had brought the glare of the moon, which seemed particularly pronounced out at sea, Yuki thought. Maybe it was because there was less light from homes and such like. Foh rocked in his hammock claiming he was tired and off duty, but it was obvious he was here to keep an eye on her.

Wonder what they are doing that they don’t want me there for… Well best to find out, Yuki thought.

Jumping to her feet, Foh looked suddenly alert. Yuki started for the hatch leading onto the deck.

“Wait! Don’t you want to know about-” He was cut off as she slammed the hatch shut behind her. To her left some barrels sat unattended. Raising an eyebrow, Yuki walked over and pushed one atop the hatch. She clapped her hands together with a satisfied exhale just as Foh started pounding on the unmoving hatch.

The fresh sea air felt revitalizing after consuming the muggy air of the lower decks. A quick pan revealed no one on the deck, so Yuki sauntered slowly to the front of the ship.

Damn! I should have asked him what the pointy front of the ship is called… Yuki thought, stepping onto the long front pole thing. Hands outstretched for balance, she carefully made her way to the very edge of the ship, then bent down so a surprise gust wouldn’t send her sea bound.

The wind carried whispers.

Ears perked, Yuki turned. They were coming from the Captain’s room under the helm at the back of the ship. Dropping, Yuki swung on the pole that she was perched on, and threw herself forward. Landing on the side of the hull with a thump, Yuki felt grateful for the ornate carvings that created thin ledges to grip and stand on. Turning, she hopped onto the top of the first open cannon hatch. Looking down the ship, Yuki noted that the line of hatches created a path along the side. Yuki grinned.

Soon she was bounding across the hull until she reached the back of the ship, where the Captain’s room’s grand window covered a large panel of the back and sides.

It leaked an orange glow into the dark blue night. Yuki ducked and inched under it, finding the ornate decoration continued even onto the back of the ship. Why doesn’t everyone use this? Yuki wondered. Whispers formed words as she listened in.

“…same as last time. The two teams will remain the same,” Captain Yellall said.

“No, no, no, I’m not doing all that hard work again for you lot to sit about drinking ale and enjoy a big ol’ meal!” one of the crew mates, Yuki thought might be called Helt, shouted.

“Yeah! We should swap roles each time to make this fair eh,” another voice added.

“Well, as the Captain, I would have to be in the first team or they could get suspicious,” Captain Yellall said. A chorus of grunts came from around the room. Having spent a week with these men, Yuki could translate it as a mixed response. Some grunted in agreement, whereas others didn’t sound so sure. Such a diverse eloquent tongue these sailors had.

“Awfully convenient that,” another said.

This bickering was starting to bore Yuki. They were clearly planning something. Couldn’t they just talk juicy details and not who gets to sit about while the rest work?

Creak.

Yuki spun looking towards the front of the ship.

Wrapped around the deck a dark scaled thing slithered slowly tightening around the entire ship.

Uh oh.

The dark green body continued its way around the ship. Some sort of sea serpent, Yuki thought as she searched for its head but couldn’t locate it. Having never seen one, Yuki watched in awe. But she knew where this was going. Much like land serpents, it would wrap around its prey before striking and, from the size of it, it would probably snap the boat in half before even being spotted.

Two jumps and Yuki landed upon the deck. Running over, she shoved the barrel off the hatch to the lower decks and threw it open.

“Are you just gonna sit down there or are you gonna tell your men a giant sea thing is trying to crush the ship?” Yuki bellowed into the darkness. A head popped out of the black and into the light of the moon. Face scrunched, Foh peered past her. His eyes widened as he jumped to attention, running up the steps and towards the Captain’s room.

A slow lot this bunch, Yuki thought.

Stepping towards the creature, voices were raised behind her. The volume increase seemed to startle the creature as it sped up coiling itself, and then, from the dark seaweed coloured body, the head rose.

Yuki always thought monsters like this would have glowing yellow eyes like in all the tales, but no, this thing had pitch black eyes, barely visible in the dark of night. She could only tell they were eyes by the indentation of skin… or scales. It was hard to tell.

Its head was the size and shape of some small hills in Yuki’s homeland. Rising slowly, Yuki noted the ridge lining across the top of its skull. A quiet hiss came from the two slits on either side of its face. It didn’t have a mouth or nose but the slits let out the angry whistling noise.

The rattling hiss seemed too high pitched for such a large creature. As Yuki stood pondering if it would be less or more scary if it had a low growl, the head shot towards her.

Diving to the side, Yuki just made it out the way before the head snapped through the decking she had been standing on.

“You silly thing. You don’t have a mouth so why attack me with your head,” Yuki stifled a laugh as she sat in a crouch, watching the creature pull back slowly.

A hole was torn into the deck and splinters of wood showered the decking around it. Despite having no irises or any way to indicate what it was looking at, Yuki swore it was staring at her as it inhaled. The slits widened and pulled the shattered wood into the gaps, then crunched the flaps shut.

Ah, Yuki thought imagining the thing sucking up her mangled body and crunching her bones in a similar way. I see. That’s not good.

The head snapped towards her again with renewed vigour. With the newly created hole in front, and its body at the side, Yuki was forced to hop over the side of the ship and onto her hatch highway.

Got to move quick, Yuki thought. She shot towards the front of the ship, jumping from hatch to hatch while the creature, Yuki now named Gillcrusher, tore through the side of the boat from the inside, obliterating where she had been just seconds before. Arching its head, it hissed at her again as she made for the front pole.

Head darting, the beast lurched towards her along the side of the ship. It moved with unnatural speed and reached her in less than a second, but Yuki had already leapt from the last hatch. Swinging on the pole, Yuki landed atop its curling body back on the deck just as Gillcrusher’s head cracked on the side of the hull trying to follow her.

As soon as Yuki landed on its back, her feet betrayed her shooting outward on the slippery scales. Yuki squealed catching herself. She slipped about in circles trying to find her footing like a child on an iced lake, as the Captain and crew came out of their room. Finally.

Finding her footing she stood tall, waved, and smiled at the crew. “Hey! You seem to have a sea monster on board! Can we keep it?” Yuki shouted.

Their pale faces paled further to a ghostly white. “It’s right behind me isn’t it?” Yuki asked.

The crew nodded furiously. Yuki craned her neck round slowly. Gillcrusher hissed its high pitched screech and dove at her. In doing so, it’s body juddered under her feet, causing Yuki to slip again on the ice like scales, sending her tumbling towards the crew.

Crumpling with a thunk, Yuki sat up dazed. Gillcrusher behind shrieked a terrible cry of pain. Turning, Yuki saw the poor thing bit into its own flesh where she had just fallen from.

“Dawww, it’s okay buddy,” Yuki said. Facing the crew she said, “So can I keep it?”

They stood incredulous, passing their eyes between Yuki and Gillcrusher. Brushing herself off, Yuki stood up. Gillcrusher roared at the group then dove again into its signature head bash move right towards them. The crew screamed. The beast hissed. Yuki laughed.

Cowering, hands up and trembling, the crew hesitated before looking up. Gillcrusher had stopped a couple inches away, equally perplexed. It pushed towards them but couldn’t get any closer after having weaved itself in and around the ship so many times in a messed tangle.

“I already named him so we have to keep him,” Yuki smiled.