Shadows in the Trees: Book 1

Chapter 20

The former vestal scrubbed ferociously at the deck, scowling at a particularly dark stain in the wood.

"What did that stain ever do to you?" Ephraim laughed.

"I hate deck duty," she grumbled. She had gotten accustomed to using a deeper voice, and the crew had easily mistaken her for a pubescent boy.

"We all have to take our turn, Mikko," Cord said.

"Piss off," she said. They laughed.She had gotten better at communicating with these ruffians as well. 

"Cord!" the captain called from the half deck. Cord waddled away, complaining about his joints and the 'needy captain' under his breath.

"What does the captain want with Cord?" Mikko asked.

"Who knows. Probably some navigation question again. I don't know why the captain insisted on steering, most captains do paperwork below deck for most of the trip," Ephraim said. He scratched at his peeling nose and shrugged. "It's no matter to me, as long as he pays me." Shouting could be heard from the half deck, and Mikko, along with most of the crew, paused to see the cause of the commotion.

"I will throw you overboard!" the captain yelled, the force of his anger shaking his jowls and reddening his face.

"That would be a better fate than going through the Koios Strait! I will not do it!" Cord stormed away, shaking his hands and head, almost as if it were a dance. The men began to whisper. Few who passed through Koios Strait were seen again.

"Men!" the captain called, and activity on the deck stilled. "We are far behind schedule! If we do not take the shortcut through Koios, we profit nothing!" The crew began to call out, some even daring to call mutiny.

"Mutiny if you want!" the captain screamed, spittle flying. "Our employer won't pay for spoiled cargo, and that cargo spoils in a week's time. Even if you kill me, you won't get any money for your trouble." The men quieted, though the tension was still thick. "Koios is survivable if we keep our wits about us. So whaddaya say, men? You wanna get paid?" The crew cheered, although some cries were reluctant. "Jan! Set a course for Koios."

Activity resumed as before. The ocean would not wait for squabbles. Mikko went back to scrubbing, and Ephraim went back to polishing the rail.

"This is no good," Ephraim said, shaking his head. "I've never met anyone who's been through Koios."

"Hopefully it's just a legend," Mikko said. However, she was worried. She had read stories of Koios, of the monsters as big as islands that devoured passing ships, of the sirens lurking below the surface, of the fog that concealed all but the closest objects.

"Merchants pay us to take the long way for a reason," he said, shaking his head. "Better late cargo than lost cargo."

"Maybe if the captain hadn't insisted on steering we wouldn't be off schedule in the first place," she scoffed. Ephraim rolled his eyes and nodded, looking over his shoulder at the stout captain.

The next few days passed in a tense silence. The deck was eerily quiet except for the crew working; the stories and chatter that usually filled the air left a gaping absence. Stories and their usual 'mock trials' were no longer held. If the captain noticed the silence, he did not show it. He was stone-faced at the end of the third day when wisps of fog first appeared alongside the ship.

"Keep yer wits about ya!" he called from the helm. The men had stilled, scanning the fog that had now enveloped them. Mikko heard Ephraim quietly praying by her side.

"I see somethin' portside!" a man dangling off the mainmast called. Mikko didn't know his name, though she had heard some men refer to him as 'spider'. The captain adjusted course accordingly, and a dark rock jutting out of the water passed by the left side of the ship. Mikko watched it disappear back into the fog.