Page 27 of Potions & Pints
It got worse very fast. There was no time for thought. Tan steered by instinct. When he needed help, he threw up his right or left arm. It was immediately obvious the crew’s superior strength was an asset. Tan had never seen storm sails rise so quickly. Even though they were smaller, doing anything in the roiling sea was difficult.
Pili watched for Tan’s signals and conveyed them to the crew. Tan could tell Pili was watching the waves as well. Several times he felt the ship respond quicker than he would have thought possible. He assumed Pili had anticipated what Tan would order and had the crew loosening the ropes and ready to go.
All through the night—the long, horrible night—Tan kept his eyes forward. He longed to look back and check that Vir was still there. He didn’t dare. He consoled himself with the thought that if Vir had gone overboard, he wouldn’t have gone silently.
At long last the winds began to subside. The rain went from torrential, to heavy and settled into a steady drizzle. Best of all, the seas were calming down. Tan chanced a look behind him.
Vir had the halyard wrapped around his wrists. His feet were braced against the deck and he leaned back. He was looking off to the side. Tan looked back at the sea and steered into a low patch. It was probably unnecessary at this point, but it was automatic now.
He looked back at Vir again. This time he saw Tan and waved. Tan smiled and waved back. It was the first time he had taken his hand off the wheel in hours. His hand shook as his brain began to process the enormity of what they had been through.
A crew member emerged from below with a large tray of food.
“Tell the others to come over here,” Tan said.
The man obeyed without the slightest hesitation.
When they were all gathered Tan let the others take their food and drink first. Then he helped himself.
“To our captain,” Vir said, raising his glass. As the other’s raised their drinks he added, “To our brave, brave captain.”
“Here, here,” Sori said and even Pili nodded and smiled.
They all clicked their glasses together. The food was eaten quickly and afterwards everyone went back to their positions. Tan was sure they were exhausted—he certainly was—but there was also a new sense of connection between them.
They had been through something, together, and by counting on each other they had come out the other side alive. He just wished he was as brave as Vir thought he was. Truth was, he had been terrified.
And the Heaving Sea was yet to come.
13
“The Heaving Sea will be coming up soon,” said Pili the next day as the group stood by the ship’s helm. The captain and first mate were still recovering below deck, and aside from a couple of stray crew-mates, Tan and his group were the only people manning the ship.
The sun was shining warmly after the passing of the storm, but there was a new chill in the air. It was a chill that backed up Pili’s words.
It occurred to Tan that he might be able to steer the ship to safer waters — if he could convince Pili and the three orcs to change course. He’d have better luck teaching a fish how to fly.
Once again Tan felt something twinge in his chest. He wished he could reason it was because of what Pili had said, but the reality was, it was because Pili had said it. He cast a glance at Vir, who was standing nearby listening with the other orcs, but then looked away again just as quickly.
Whatever that twinge in his chest was, it wasn’t worth thinking about. Especially not now. He brushed the feeling aside and tried to find a little humility. Even if he was more or less captaining the ship at this point, the sea would always be more Pili’s area of expertise than his. Unless Tan spontaneously grew a pair of gills, that was likely to remain the case.
“You’re right,” he managed to say, resisting the urge to vie for attention.
They did, after all, have to figure out their next move and they probably couldn’t do that if Tan continued sulking. Besides, the previous night’s happenings had put him in a better mood than he’d been in for days.
“The winds point to it being that way,” Tan continued, pointing to a spot before them on the horizon that held a darkening sky. The gust behind them was blowing to the North, and Tan knew that unless they intentionally steered away from it, the tailwinds would bring them right to their deaths.
For now they were steering more or less directly towards it but soon they’d need to readjust the sails and set the rudders and hope that would be enough to get them through.
Pili nodded. It seemed the water elf realized the same thing.
“We’ll have to navigate a crosswind to get around it but it’s not going to be easy. We’ll have to set sail for East or preferably South-East if we can manage it and come back up right under the Manisles to make it to Gamlin Ait. Right now it’s far enough north that we should be able to do that, but that can be deceiving. It does have the tendency to move…”
Tan felt himself and the three orcs who were standing nearby stiffen at the news. Even the ever-optimistic Vir seemed to suddenly understand the risk that posed.
Tan sighed. “And we don’t have a single human on board this ship. This whole section of the ocean is enchanted — I don’t really know how we’re going to get through it, even if we do make it around the Having Sea. It doesn’t just shift randomly, it chases down boats who try to outrun it. I’ve seen it happen before.”
The reality of the situation was perhaps just starting to dawn on him too and he cast another look at Vir. This time, he didn’t look away.
