Scealai's Tales

eye of a storm

Once again I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Was this how our journey was to end? At the hand of some malevolent freak of nature? Far away from our home and surely never to be found.

I turned to Liam. "Thank you," I whispered.

He did not hear my words, but he could see me mouth them. He put his hand on his heart. "My pleasure, Captain."

I took Liam's hand in mine and closed my eyes, waiting for the end.

A sudden silence overtook us. I could feel the ship's wheel go slack in my hand. There was no pressure at all. The seas were calm.

I opened my eyes and looked around. The seas still towered above us, but they were now docile and silent. It was as though we had arrived in the eye of a storm.

"What is this?" Liam wondered aloud.

I could hear the question repeated over and over, as my crew slowly made their way back on deck and observed the spectacle that surrounded them.

Frahley joined us at the wheel. She immediately hugged me and kissed me gently. "It is so good to see you well, Scealai." She smiled at Liam. "You as well, my friend."

"What is this , Captain?"

I looked at Machelle. "I know not what this is. Perhaps the calm before the storm."

"Or peace before our demise," Frahley offered.

"I wish I knew," I sighed. I was shocked as my breath came out much like the steam from boiling water. "What is this?"

Frahley suddenly shivered. "It grows cold, Scealai." 

I could see that the others in my crew were also responding to the cold. "Light the tar pots," I ordered, "and hand out the furs and blankets."

Quickly the large tar pots on deck were lit, as several of the crew handed out fur coats and thick blankets. 

Shannon passed me my jacket. "You must retain your body heat, Captain."

"The water hardens," a voice yelled from below us.

I watched in total amazement as the waters that towered above, and covered us, were changing from sea blue to pure white.

"They are freezing," I said aloud. "The cold is turning the waters to ice."

The amazing transformation continued, until all the seas around us were a solid mass of pure white. The temperature continued to fall and a new fear overtook us all. Were we to meet our ends by freezing to death?

A loud sound shattered the silence. It was as if a thousand classes had been smashed at the same moment. I turned to see a crack forming in the ice wall closest to the ship. Water was seeping through. The crack grew wider and more water began filling the ice chamber we were now trapped in.

I could feel the Dochas starting to move.

"We are rising," Frahley gasped. 

Assuredly, we were. As the crack in the ice wall continued to grow, more and more water was rushing in and the Dochas was rising higher.

"We are going to hit the top," someone yelled from the deck.

First drowning, then freezing. Now our greatest threat came from being crushed by the ice ceiling that was fast approaching us.

The cracks were now echoing quickly through our icy enclosure, to the point where most of the crew were covering their ears to protect them from the sharp, high pitched sounds.

The ice ceiling was getting closer and closer.

I took both Liam's and Frahley's hands. Surely this was the end.

Suddenly there was a deafening roar and a screech, like the strongest winds. I stared in disbelief, as the ice walls at the bow and the stern of the ice chamber gave way, falling outward from the Dochas.

Just feet from the ceiling of the ice chamber, we were suddenly pushed forward by a gush of water and seconds later bright sunlight welcomed us as we were released from our icy coffin and once again found ourselves on the open sea.

A loud cheer erupted from the crew as we floated away from the ice chamber, escaping certain death.

Shannon hugged me. "Thank you, Captain."

I looked around at the ice filled waters. "Do not thank me yet."