Chapter 2 Part 7

They started back, but they soon found the reason for the calm. The next storm was really nasty.
The crew was below deck again with Ultrecht watching over them, when the ship jerked amidst a huge crash. The hull reverberated with the sounds of wood rending and splintering, and the Reckless Lady lurched sickeningly to the right. A scream rang out from the cargo hold.
Avery leaped for the door but Ultrecht hollered, “No! Don’t open it!” His mage sight had already shown him what had happened. “We’ve been hit! The hold is flooding.” He began casting a spell based on the elements of water and air.
Armegon invoked a mage sight of his own. He quickly looked around and started swearing. “I’ve got the logs!” he shouted at Ultrecht.
“Logs? What the hell are you talking about logs?” demanded Tusk
Avery grabbed the captain’s arm. “Let them work. Our lives may depend on it.”
The crewmen in the room watched in silent terror as the two mages worked their spells. Ultrecht’s voice rang out. It came from everywhere and sounded huge, “I have us protected, but work quickly.”
Immediately Avery opened the heavy door to the cargo hold. Water flooded in, cold and full of debris. Wading in, Avery cast a spell of his own and a ball of bright light appeared and floated above his head. The cargo hold was a disaster; the starboard hull had a large hole in it, extending well below the waterline. A crewman was desperately clinging to a beam, blood coloring the water around him. Avery went straight to the injured man.
Captain Tusk, followed closely by Armegon, rushed into the hold and began swearing. While the mage started working his spells to repair the wall Tusk went to help Avery with the injured crewman. It was one of the new crewmembers that signed on in Keron. The panic-stricken man was struggling and fighting as Avery tried to help, so the large half-orc grabbed him in a headlock and pinned him against the wall.
“Thanks,” said Avery as he inspected the man’s injuries. His left leg was twisted and shattered, with pieces of sharp protruding bone sticking out in half-a-dozen places. The right leg was also broken, but it was a simple fracture. “Let’s get him out of here” Avery shouted. Together they hauled him into the commons.
Tusk had stopped the man from struggling, by simply choking him unconscious, and now he looked over Avery’s shoulder. “Damn! That’ll have ta come off. ”
Avery shook his head. “No. I can save it.”
“It’s broken so bad it’ll fester and kill him!”
Avery didn’t reply. He was already deep in his magics. Tusk and the others around stared in wonder as a golden light enveloped the leg and it began to straighten. The awful wounds closed and disappeared as if they’d never been. The light gradually faded and Avery stood slowly, as if he were exhausted. “He’ll sleep for a while, and wake very hungry,” the healer said with a tired voice.
Tusk shook his head. “By the gods, who are you people?” he asked quietly. Then louder, “You two see to him. You three come with me. ” And he headed for the hold again.
In the hold, Armegon had two men hauling pieces of wood and just about anything they could grab over to the hole, where he magically fused it into a growing patch. With shouted orders to help, Tusk pitched in.
It took nearly an hour to make a temporary repair and remove the water. Armegon, Avery and Captain Tusk stood around the worktable in Tusk’s quarters.
“Ultrecht can hold his spell for a couple of days if we keep him fed and undisturbed,” said Armegon.
“I’ll assign Kip to run and fetch for him,” Tusk said worriedly. “Tell me though, how bad off is the Lady?”
“We were hit by a bunch of floating logs. The damage is bad.” Armegon rubbed his chin. “If we can get out of this storm and find some materials, we can fix her up again just like at Keron, but I can’t do much in this storm. Our next problem after that is the loss of all of our supplies.”
Avery looked off to the northeast as if he we somehow staring right through the bulkhead. “It’ll last two more days before it blows past us.”
“Damn. Of all the empty miles of ocean to be in, I have to find one full of logs.”
Armegon grinned, “Luck of the dice, captain. You should probably not take up a career as a gambler.”
With an insincere smile, Tusk said, “Why thank you Master Mage. That’s just the kinda thing I really needed to hear.”
The mage chuckled lightly. “Ok, enough of the small talk. You were going to show us what the charts could tell us.”
Tusk unrolled a couple of sea charts and made some calculations. “We are right about here,” he said pointing to a spot on the map marked ‘Lands End Islands’. “There’s a small group of islands about a days sail south of us. They aren’t inhabited, but they do have trees and water.”
“Why are they marked ‘No Port’?” asked Avery as he looked over Tusk’s charts.
“They’re far out of the normal trade routes and there’s no harbors.” The captain replied with a shrug. “I know about the trees and water from my first trip to sea, when the captain I was under needed a place to hide.”
“Why was that?” Avery inquired.
“It seems he’d decided to do some raiding along the coast, and the king’s navy took offense at it.”
“Understandable.”
“Yeah, well it meant he needed to move his operations south, so I parted company with him as soon as I could and came back north.”
“Why did he have to move south?”
“They’re a lot more indifferent as to who owns what cargo down around Khotain. It makes for quick riches and short lives, but I sorta like the long life idea better.”
“I see,” Avery frowned.
“Well then Captain, let’s make for these islands,” Armegon said as he tapped on the map.
“Sure, but we’d best be ridin’ out this storm out here. That is if yer partner can keep us afloat that long.”

After the storm had passed, the Reckless Lady limped into view of the islands. Armegon changed forms to that of a seagull and went to scout. He returned after only a few hours.
“Not much of any size,” the half-elven mage said after he regained his own form. “The biggest is only about two and a half miles across.”
“Interesting,” posed Avery as he looked out at the steep, rocky islands.
“They are the tops of an old volcanic range. If you look from above you can see several craters.”
“Did you see any place to land a boat?” Tusk asked as he strolled up.
“Yeah, there’s a beach about five miles from here on the large island, and it’s covered with driftwood.”
“Oh good.” Tusk turned and shouted orders to the crew, then asked, “How about food and water?”
“We’re in luck. The islands have lots of vegetation and they are teeming with birds.”

Two of the Reckless Lady’s boats pulled up on the rocky beach. Avery, Armegon, and Tusk jumped out of the lead boat and surveyed the area.
Tusk pointed at a nearby log pile. “Some of that driftwood looks to be usable.”
“I think you’re right,” agreed Armegon. And they started to work.
Two days later they’d finished work on the Lady, and had taken on new supplies.
“Set Sail!” Tusk shouted, and they were off.

Once again in Keron, Captain Tusk stood on the pier and looked at his ship. “This has been both the bloody oddest, and the bloody best sail of my life.” He turned to face his disembarking passengers standing behind him. “If you ever find yerselves needin’ a ship again, the Reckless Lady’ll be right pleased ta oblige.” He shook hands with all three of them. “Ye’ve given me a fresh start and I just want ya ta know ye can always find a friend in Captain Tusk.”
Ultrecht handed him a heavy purse. “Here’s your money Captain. Find yourself a good cargo and some more crewmen.”
As the half-orc took the purse he said, “Good luck to ya on yer project Master Mage.”
The trio retrieved their horses and started back for Allentown. They rode determinedly and finished the trip just before winter settled in.