Toby Neighbors - Fierce Loyalty

Zollin was so surprised that the captain was out of the cabin before Zollin realized it. He hurried after the man.

“Captain, I don’t think you have the whole story,” Zollin said, hurrying up behind the officer.

“No, I’m sure I don’t. But I will very soon. Please don’t continue to worry about that sailor. He’s my responsibility, and I’ll see to it that he’s dealt with in a fashion that befits the dignity of this ship.”

“I’d like to go with you if you’re going to question him,” Zollin said.

“Absolutely not. Now excuse me,” the captain said gruffly.

Zollin started to push a magical suggestion toward the man when a voice spoke up from behind him.

“Let the captain deal with his men as he see’s fit,” said the icy voice. “And be so kind as to remove yourself from the passageway.”

Zollin turned and found the woman he’d seen the day they’d set sail. She was tall and fine featured, but her face was pinched in a look of complete disdain. Her narrow nose was held high and there were two brutish looking armed men behind her.

“Excuse me?” Zollin said.

“Stand aside, if you please,” the woman said angrily. “It seems you are always in the passageway. I wish to go on deck.”

Zollin glanced back toward the captain, but he had already ascended the stairs to the main deck. Zollin turned back to Eustice, who was waiting in the doorway to their cabin.

“Come on, Eustice, this isn’t over.”

They hurried out of the passageway and came out on deck. The sky was dark with heavy, gray clouds hanging low overhead. In the rigging the sailors were busy taking in the sails. The captain and his lieutenant were walking quickly back up to the command deck.

“Ahem!” came the woman’s voice from below them. “Once again you are blocking the way.”

Zollin realized he was standing at the top of the stairwell. He took Eustice by the arm and they stepped aside. The woman walked briskly past and went straight to the command deck, followed by her bodyguards and then Zollin.

The woman ascended the stairs and then went immediately to the ship rail. Zollin watched her go and then turned to the captain.

“Sir, I must protest-”

“No, sir, you must not,” said the captain angrily. “There is a storm coming, in case you hadn’t noticed. We have perhaps half an hour before we’re in the thick of it. I suggest you go back to your cabin, make sure your belongings are stowed away safely, and latch the shutters on your porthole.”

“I’m not going to stand aside-” Zollin started, but once again he was cut off.

“You shall stand aside,” shouted the captain angrily. “You will not interfere with this ship in any way. Nor shall you continue to plague me with your questions. Now go below, or I’ll have you locked in chains and taken below. Is that clear?”

Zollin felt his magic raging and he wanted more than anything to set it loose on the captain, but he knew better than to push his luck. He could fight the captain and the sailors on board the ship, but he couldn’t sail the vessel in calm waters, much less through a storm.

As he turned to leave the deck he wondered exactly what kind of mess Mansel had gotten himself into this time.

Rain began to fall before Zollin got back down to the passenger deck. He turned to look at the woman on the command deck, expecting to see her hurrying after him, but she was still by the ship rail. Her hair was expertly combed and held in place by expensive ivory combs. She wore a beautiful silk dress and dainty shoes that Zollin had only seen on the wealthiest nobles in Orrock, yet she stood with her face pointing up toward the sky, a look of rapture on her face.

“What the hell is she doing?” Zollin asked.

Eustice merely shrugged his shoulders and hurried down the stairs to the passenger deck. The raindrops were fat and cold. Zollin looked up and saw that all the sails had been taken in except the smaller sails at the top of the masts. The sailors were hurrying down from the rigging as the lieutenant began barking out orders. Zollin was getting soaked, but he continued to watch the activity on the ship. Any loose materials were quickly carried down to the ’tween decks areas, and trapdoors were being closed and latched.

A sailor hurried up to where Zollin stood at the top of the stairs and shouted to him. “Best go below sir, this looks to be a bad ’un,” the sailor cried.

Zollin glanced back up at the command deck and saw the woman still at the rail. He made a quick decision then and stepped away from the stairs. “No, I want to stay out here.”

“It’s not safe, sir.”

“I’ll chance it,” Zollin said, heading back toward the command deck.

The rain was falling in heavy sheets now and the wind was starting to pick up. Zollin was cold, and it was difficult to climb the stairs to the command deck as the ship started to lurch in the heavy waves.

The captain shot Zollin a dirty look, but Zollin sent peaceful thoughts toward the officer with his magic as he circled around the helm and went to the ship rail not far from the woman. He thought she was arrogant and rude, but she was also very attractive. As much as he didn’t want to be, he found himself hoping that she might be attracted to him. He didn’t know what to think of that, but the storm soon made it too rough on the ship to think about anything other than survival.

Zollin held onto the rail with a tight grip and did his best to keep his balance as the ship rose and fell on the waves. It was only a few more minutes before the wind began to howl, blowing the rain so that it fell at such an odd angle that Zollin thought it was falling sideways. He was beginning to wonder what crazy thought had prompted him to stay out of his cabin when he heard the woman laughing.

It was hard to see in the rain, but Zollin held his hands up to block the rain and he could see the woman gripping the rail with one hand and laughing like a child. He’d seen similar looks from children riding a horse for the first time. It was as if she was experiencing something thrilling and wonderful, but Zollin was just cold, wet, and frightened. The sea had turned so dark it was almost black, and the water on the crests of the waves was white, highlighting the towering walls of water. The ship rose and fell so steeply that it was hard for Zollin to keep from falling over.

Like the woman, the captain and the lieutenant were standing easily, with just one hand each on the post in front of the helmsmen’s large wooden ship’s wheel. They seemed unfazed by the wind and rain whipping into their faces. The woman’s two guards were struggling as much as Zollin was. They quickly had both hands on the railing, and one even knelt down on the deck to escape the worst of the raging wind.

Zollin’s magic was churning inside him. Strong emotions seemed to stoke the magical fires that burned in him. He had been angry before, but now he was scared. The ship, which had seemed massive at first, now seemed tiny and weak before the anger of the sea. Zollin looked east for the coast, but he could just barely make out the Walheta Mountains. He thought briefly about the fact that he was leaving Yelsia for the first time in his life. The thought was both frightening and exciting, but the storm made it seem more monumental somehow.

Soon the waves towered over the ship and more often than not crashed onto the main deck. Zollin was fascinated to watch the seawater slosh across the deck and drain out of the scuppers along the ship railing. Luckily the waves normally broke over the front of the ship, and since the command deck was at the rear of the vessel, Zollin only had to worry about simply staying on his feet and not being rocked overboard.