"Catch."
In a moment's notice, a long, sharp piece of metal was lunged at Astryd. Out of instinct, she dodged it by side stepping out of its path and pulling her arms close to her chest.
Kincade, the one who threw the sword at her, lightly chuckled and shook his head.
"You need to work on those reflexes to start."
They were standing on the main deck in an area that was clear of any objects or crewman. A layer of clouds covered the sun today, and there was a light breeze, which Astryd was very thankful for.
With a small pout, Astryd marched over to where the sword landed and picked it up by its hilt. She found it to be surprisingly light. It felt like a thin stick in her small hands. The blade of the sword was only two finger's wide.
"Spadroons are good practice swords. They're also good for close combat in small spaces. But because they are so light, they do little damage. One hard blow by a cutlass to one of these and your spadroon can be cut in half. Once you get your bearings with these, I'll move you up to a cutlass. Now," Kincade moved into a fighting stance, "try to hit me. I know you want to."
"Fine by me." Astryd took two long strides across the deck and raised her sword high before swiftly bringing it down onto Kincade. If only he hadn't blocked the attempt, that is.
Kincade raised his sword to meet with Astryd's, and where she expected her ears to sting with a loud clanging of metal, there was a light clink.
Is that it? she thought.
She tried again, this time swinging her sword low. Kincade blocked the move, and the impact of Kincade's block caused her blade to bend and wobble. She side stepped around Kincade and spun her blade around with all her might, trying to hit him in the back. He blocked that strike too, and it only made Astryd's blade tremble even more.
Astryd tried one last time, charging with the tip of her sword aimed at Kincade. With one swift movement, he used the wide end of his blade to force Astryd's sword off course.
She stepped back, lightly panting and glaring at Kincade's smug grin.
"How do you expect me to fight with this? It's like swinging around a feather!"
"Really? Judging by how much you were struggling, I assumed the blade was too heavy for you," Kincade replied in a mocking tone.
"Morgan!" Astryd yelled over her shoulder. The tall, dark skinned man turned around with eyebrows raised. "Get me a cutlass," Astryd ordered. Morgan nodded, turned around, and walked away.
"I see you're making good use of your new rank," Kincade joked.
Morgan returned with two cutlasses and handed one to each opponent. This time, Astryd took a fighting stance with one foot in front of the other and her weight evenly balanced. She took a moment to feel the weight of the new sword in her hand. After only a few moments of holding it, her arm was already getting tired.
"Too heavy for you? Because it's not too late to change back to your feather sword," Kincade mocked, still standing in a casual position.
With a battle cry, Astryd charged at Kincade with even more force and power. By the glimpse Astryd got of Kincade's expression, he seemed slightly caught of guard as he faced out the wide end of his blade to block the blow. Their swords met with a loud clang.
Now Kincade took the offensive position and made a move to swing low. Astryd caught it in time by swinging her sword around to meet his. While Kincade's position was compromised, Astryd swung her leg out to knock Kincade off his feet, but Kincade caught her foot in his hand.
"You're not that fast, princess," he remarked with a grin.
With a frustrated grunt, Astryd yanked and pulled, but Kincade would not loosen his grip. Astryd swung her sword at Kincade's face, a move that required Kincade to use both of his hands to hold his sword to block. He released Astryd's foot and brought his blade up to meet hers. Their swords screeched as they scraped against each other.
"You would dare try to ruin my handsome face? I'm a little hurt, Astryd."
"Kick his butt, Astryd!"
Astryd looked up to see Carmen hovering over them in the tangles of the ropes attached to the mast. Astryd grinned a little and decided to take Carmen's advice to heart.
With a swift move, Astryd broke the tension of the two swords pressing against each other, and in a few long strides, she faced Kincade's back. With one forceful kick to the rear, Kincade was knocked to the ground and landed on his stomach. Quickly, Astryd placed one foot on Kincade's back and pointed her cutlass at the back of Kincade's head. She could hear faint applause from above, and when Astryd looked up, she saw Carmen grinning from ear to ear.
"Woo! Go, Astryd!" Carmen called.
"Shut up, Carmen!" Kincade shouted. Astryd could tell his ego was hurt.
"You were right," said Astryd, leaning down to Kincade. "I would dare ruin your pretty face."
"Did you just admit that I have a pretty face?" Kincade remarked with a laugh in his voice and his face still pressed to the floorboards.
"Do you ever stop being irritating?" Astryd asked.
"No, he doesn't!" Carmen called from the mast.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that!" Kincade shouted as he got back up on his feet. He turned back to Astryd. "I will admit that I underestimated you. But I will also admit I could tell lighting a fire under you was what you needed."
"Are you saying you insulted me so I would be a better fighter?"
Kincade slowly nodded.
"That's kind of how he likes to do things," Carmen remarked, still lingering above them.
"Ship ahoy!" a boy called out from the crow's nest. He was pointing south, the opposite direction from where the Crescent was headed.
Astryd ran to the stern of the ship and leaned over the railing. Sure enough, there was the faintest sign of a ship heading in their direction. Soon, Kincade was standing beside her.
"Is that..." Kincade mumbled to himself. "No...it can't be." He turned to his crew and raised his voice so that everyone could hear him. "Keep a weather eye on the horizon, lads! That ship may not be friendly."
The crew acknowledged Kincade with a variety of grunts and shouts then returned to work.
"Now," Kincade turned to Astryd, "I believe it's time for you to start fulfilling your new role. You are already familiar with the duties of the boatswain, aren't you?"
Astryd nodded, thinking about all the times she had her unfortunate encounters with the former boatswain.
"Well then, you best be getting to work, boatswain."
Astryd made it her first task to gather all the swabs together. Once they were gathered, Astryd climbed on top of a chicken crate even though she didn't need a better view of the five swabs in front of her. She just didn't want to feel small in comparison to the tall young boys around her.
"Right." Astryd clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "As I'm sure you've all noticed, the former boatswain has been turned in for ransom for the sniveling mutineer he is." Astryd received several claps and cheers from this. "And as it turns out, our captain has chosen me to replace him."
Silence followed.
The small cluster of boys in front of her had unreadable expressions. Astryd could feel her hands trembling ever so slightly as she waited for a response.
After a moment, the boys finally nodded in agreement.
"Well, no point in me wasting time on speeches. Jim," Astryd addressed a strawberry blond boy at the back of the group who was one of the older swabs. Sixteen, if Astryd could remember correctly. "Go and see to it that all the produce is stored properly and that anything spoiled is thrown out, will you?" she ordered in a stern yet kind voice.
The boy nodded and ran off towards the stairs that led below deck.
One boy listened to her. That's a start.
"David," she called out to another boy with a little more authority. He had light brown hair and was about the same age as Tom. She had noticed the two boys playing games together often. "Make sure the chickens are well fed. Including this one." She stepped down from the crate she was standing on, and the chicken inside clucked lightly, irritated by the sudden movement. "And put it with the others."
"Yes, ma'am," said the boy as he picked up the crate and scurried away.
Astryd gave chores to the three remaining boys, who obediently followed as ordered. Once all the swabs were gone, a weight Astryd didn't realize was there lifted off of her. She realized then how worried she was that the swabs wouldn't listen to her, being only a few years older than them herself.
It was then Astryd noticed she was still holding onto the cutlass Morgan gave her, and she decided it was time to return it.
It didn't take long for Astryd to find him. Morgan was one of the few crewmen with dark skin, not to mention he was by far the tallest and strongest man aboard. He always wore a shirt without sleeves, and Astryd couldn't help but wonder if there was even a shirt on the ship that would fit him.
"Morgan!" she called out in a much kinder tone than before.
Morgan looked up at his name being called and saw Astryd walking toward him. He acknowledged her with a nod.
"I've been meaning to get this back to you." She extended the sword out to him.
Morgan peered down at it for a moment. "Keep it," he replied.
Astryd was caught off guard by hearing Morgan speak. She rarely heard him speak, and it was never directed at her. His voice was deep and thick with a foreign accent Astryd had not heard before. She could not help but wonder where his home was.
"Anyone that can fight like that and has never picked up a cutlass before should keep the cutlass," he added.
Astryd felt her heart swell. She had never been given a gift before.
"You really mean that?" she asked.
Morgan nodded, returning back to his reserved self.
Astryd was so overwhelmed that she couldn't seem to find the words to thank him, but Morgan seemed to receive the appreciation anyway. Morgan turned and walked off.
"Besides," Morgan called over his shoulder, "you might need it." He nodded south.
Astryd followed his line of vision to the ship that was slowly growing bigger on the horizon, and she couldn't help but wonder...
What is everyone so worried about?
AN:
I would just like to say, the last time I updated this story had 2.6K views, and now it was over 4K! I continue to be blown away!
I was explaining to a reader a while back that the reason I update so infrequently is because I don't have this story written up ahead of time and I didn't expect that many people to read this story. I figured if just one or two people read this story it would motivate me to finish it. Honestly all of you people are this reason I'm still writing this story and following through!
Also you'll all be happy to know the next chapter is already half written, so hopefully you won't be on a cliffhanger for long haha. I'm really excited to share a little bit about Kincade's past next!
What do you guys think about Morgan? I feel like he hasn't been in the story enough. He may be really big and intimidating, but really he's just a big teddy bear XD.
Don't forget to vote and let me know what you thought about the chapter!