Waters of The Lost

Dragon Ship

Chapter 2
Anson
 
        I have always loved the thrill of imagining what it would be like to sail away from Black Water Isle and never turn back. Miriam, my sister, will look out for rocks, other boats, and land as I slowly become the captain of my own ship. It is finally happening, I creep and stealthily weave around the huts and the homes as I make my way to the dock. There are multiple boats there, but I have had my eye set on one in particular ever since it came into Black Water. It is a big black ship with red sails and the most beautiful cannons you'd ever set your eyes on. As I near the ship I see a symbol, a dragon. A rather large dragon at that, with red and orange scales, almost like fire.
        "You boy. Do you have any business with my ship?" A stranger. He is dressed in all black head to toe with a cape like jacket draped over his shoulder.
        "No sir. Just admiring her beauty. How did a man like you come across such a ship as this one?" I was not asking the question to be insolent, but the boat is in very healthy condition.
        "Made it myself. Took years too. I had a friend helping me with it to make the time go by faster, the waves took him. He was sailing with his wife to an island to pay off debt they owed, sadly, he never came back." He had a desolate look on his face as he encountered the memory of his friend. I may be a thief but stealing from this man would be more than just a petty grab and go.
        "Sir, I would like to borrow your boat. Seeing its condition one can tell you've never taken her out before. If you don't trust me with it on my own you can come along and serve as a shadow upon me." I don't want to steal the ship so I figured I'd see if I could more or less borrow it.
        "What would a young boy like you need a boat like this for? If I were to let you borrow it with my shadowing I'm not sure you could handle such a job.
        "To get out of this mundane island. I've been on this uneventful piece of rock since I was just a young lad and I'm ready to get my sister and I someplace that brings us interest. At the mention of my sister, curiosity grew in the man.
        "Sister? So there's a lasse you wish to bring adventure to." The man sighed. "I will let you use my boat and I will come along. But only if you help me on a mission of great importance to me." The man to my advantage gave in. He climbed up onto the ship and started getting everything ready. "Do we have a deal?"
        "Yes. Yes we have a deal. I will go collect my sister and our things, I won't be long give me just a moment." I ran away from the boat and back through the town in an obvious hurry. As I walk through the door of our hut my sister is sitting on the ground finishing what is left to do before we leave. "Miriam I found a ship, and it comes with a man!"
        "A man? Anson, did you kidnap a man?" She yells the question at me and stands up ever so quickly.
        "No Miriam, the man is letting us use his boat but he wants to be on the ship with us. He also needs our help with something." As I tell her what the man and I talked about she gathers the things and we walk out of our hut. We packed everything considering we knew we werent going to be coming back. We gave one last look at the house and we were on our way to the ship. As we approached the loading dock Miriam threw everything into the back of the ship. We climbed into the ship and the man greeted me again. He neared closer to Miriam and held out his hand.
        "Nice to meet you lasse." Miriam took his hand and shook it with a good firmness.
        "Likewise. So my brother explained to me that you need help with a mission of yours, what is this mission about?" Miriam has always been a skeptical woman, especially when it comes to strangers.
        "I need to uncover the truth about my friend's death and what led up to it. As I told your brother, he and his wife owed debt to the wrong person and I'm curious as to whether their death was really caused by the roughness of the waters. I used to believe that he drowned, but now I am not so sure that's the case. As the man finishes his story, we leave.