Songs of Reamere: A Ship To Sail With

Chapter 2: A Ship To Sail With

The waves beneath the shipโ€™s hull made her stomach churn.


The salty air clung to her quills and made her feathers crispy and textured.


The slippery wooden planks of the barque's deck she was standing on made every step a living nightmare. Her beak felt cracked and numb to the piercing winds. As the large ship rocked and balanced itself amongst the waves, Khione had taken to holding onto a short rope attached to the ship's edge. Indra had come up with the idea when she noticed the tyto was struggling to find purchase for her talons.


The ship's captain, Wayre, had even offered her a perch atop one of the three large masts. She almost lost her lunch at the idea. Sliding around the tumultuous waves on the deck was dizzying enough. She could barely stomach the idea of experiencing these swaying motions 200 hundred feet in the air. If she had the stamina for it, she would've gladly chosen to ride the salty currents instead of being blasted by them, but she would be flying right into the headwinds, making staying aloft that much harder.


The few times she and Indra had traversed along the shore, or made the short flight across a gulf, was nothing compared to this. She almost found herself hating the seaโ€ฆAlmost. The very sea that had glittered with jewels only a few hours earlier, had captivated her attention as the reef bloomed in a spectrum of colors; from reds and oranges to greens and purples, spanning a good few miles as they left the continental shelf.


Once they had crossed that threshold, and the sea shelf gave way to miles and miles of deep sea bed, it had still been pleasant enough. Wayre had taken to entertaining her rider as the crew scrambled about, pitching sails and throwing ropes. Khione was fine with warming herself in the midday sun near the bow of the ship, quietly trying to settle her stomach against the unnatural motion of the ship cresting and dipping back through the waters.


The nice weather felt like it had been eons ago as the nasty elements blew in quickly on a dime.


This journey already felt long. Much longer than if they had just been on the road, or in the skies.


She sighed, taking in the salty air that made her throat dry and her mouth water. Really, she wasnโ€™t meant to be on the open sea. Swimming, she didn't mind every once and a while; but hours and hours on the water was something that agitated her feathers and left her exhausted as she fought against the ship's throw yet again, her talons leaving marks, but never finding sure footing.


The prospect of travelling by ship had been exciting at first. Something to conqueror and add to the list of things she could proudly say she's done in her lifetime. But this...


Her gaze found the ravenette and the captain talking amicably across the deck. Indra threw her head back in a laugh and made a wild gesture with her hands. Wayre shook his head, the weathered lines on his face smoothened out.


She remembered when Indra had introduced him to her. The girl had gone into the first pub she saw for food, and had come back out towing a stranger. The man had looked as if the sea itself had taken root in him, his eyes restless and his face taut with untold worries. The deep tan was strewn with wrinkles sharp enough to cut steel, probably a development of the biting briny winds.


Currently he looked like any average male human who maybe had a little too much sun, the crevices on his face passing for someone who maybe laughed a lot. Khione decidedly thought that he looked a bit younger than the impoverished man they had first encountered. He was clearly far older than her 20-something rider, but he looked jovial.


Another roil of the ship and Indra never lost her laugh.


At least one of them wasn't bothered too badly by the circumstances. Khione would've never pegged herself as someone who got seasick, and it honestly surprised her to see Indra not falling into the same rut.


Khione refused to let the bile that had nested in her stomach move upwards. She leaned over the ship's upper deck, looking at the waves below her crashing against the large wooden hull. She could feel her insides in turmoil, her midsection cramping slightly. She refused to be sick. She looked around to make sure that she was alone before even dancing with the idea of throwing up overboard, subjecting the already perturbed ocean to make acquaintance with her lunch. She could handle this.


The hulking three-masted vessel she had boarded on from the port of My-yir was crushing the dark blue waves that came on its path, making the Nullarbor dance a long tango from left to right, the skies quickly turning darker by the minute above her as a sudden gust of wind forced her to squint. In response, her third eyelid clicked shut over her eyes, providing ample relief.


Another wave crashed against the ship, making Khione's legs wobble, her beak tightening onto the rope as she fought to keep her balance. She could feel the bile moving upwards, her mouth now drowning with the taste of acid.


One of the ship's crew emerged from inside the main covered deck, holding on to his service crew cap as the growling wind whipped his face. He threw Khione a glance before addressing Indra and the captain. "Aye Captain, the wayfinder has confirmed we be heading right into this nasty storm. It be extended out for quite a bit. Miss de Basequinโ€”"


"Please, just Indra is fine."


He weathered a small smile. "Miss Indra, we got a holding deck below big enough for you and yer stryx. It might be best to take cover lest these waters throw you for a spin."


Khione threw her gaze back towards the waters, trying to quiet her pulse at the thought of being underwater while still aboard this rolling death trap. That had her feathers fluffing up and she was quick to send an image to Indra displaying her averseness to the whole idea.


She didn't get a chance to catch what the ravenette had responded with. Her attention was instead drawn to the ripples and curls of the waves as the dark water swirled up and eddied back down below. She cocked her head to the side. Having nothing to look at but the open sea for hours on end had led her to taking notice of the imperceptible shift beneath the waves.


Where dark waters surged upwards and ebbed through the lighter surface, she could've sworn there was patch of frothy sea foam. She blinked and it was gone. No, not gone. Instead the frothiness bubbled up once more, along with a sizeable swell in the water as something rose up before diving back down before the surface tension could break. From the larger watery hill that swelled up further out, a miniscule amount of water was flipped upwards.


Something was in the water and it definitely wasn't a school of fish. She racked her brain, scanning the sea again as she fought to think of what it was. Sharks didn't act like that, and there were no dorsal fins breaking the water to suggest of any other known creature.


"Khi?"


The dragon gave a start to the silent appearance of her rider at her side. She must've been trying to get her attention.


"I know you don't like the idea, but down below would be better. We need to stay healthy for whatever it is we're facing."


Whatever it was they came here to face might already be here.


Indra fell silent at the weighty grimace on her partner's face. The tightening of lines around her beak, the furrow of her brow and tension around her eyes.


Whatever Indra was going to say next was lost on her as the boat gave a rather sharp shove against an oncoming wave. Or rather, something had shoved the boat.


Indra stumbled and caught herself on the handrail. Her eyes were alight with concern. "Khi, you shouldโ€”"


Khione was already on it, spitting out the rope and spreading her wings as Indra gave her berth. Given how tall the ship was, she dove over the edge, curling her wings up and close to her body, slotting her primaries before she half-extended her wings and alulas and was swept up into the air. The battering wind made her ascent unsteady, but she battled it with fierce thrusts as she scanned the too-dark waters.


There.


She conveyed the image of what she just saw and could see Indra jogging across the deck back towards the captain.


There beneath the dark and frothing waters was a hulking shadow. It was bulky, and it was long, spanning at least twice the size of the boat with a sizeable width to boot. The creature swam underneath the Nullarbor, creating a sizeable wave that rocked and tottered the vessel. Multiple shouts reached her from below.


This had to be the creature that frightened all the fish in the Reamere. Only something that big could've eaten all those shoals, upheaved those boats, and left shredded nets in its wake.


Parting her beak, Khione let loose a piercing shriek, a rumbling roar of a sound not quite bird or dragon, but uniquely stryx. She loosed another, making sure the beast knew it had a challenger. It had most likely snuck over hoping to plunder another ship's haul, or to consume whatever it was the humans sought after.


The shadow slipped away beneath the rolling waters, leaving Khione uneasy. She hated not being able to see what was below the dark waves.


Then all at once, the biggest swell of water started heaving upwards, a huge mound of foamy water as the creature threatened to rear itself out of the water.


She had far underestimated its size, and now there was a ship full of people who were caught in all of this, had been from the beginning she supposed, her rider among them. She was torn between swooping down to retrieve her friend or to keep the beast's rising attention on herself, sparing the others from an attack.


As its body rose from the sea, sinuous and serpentine, Khione fought to keep herself level in the air as the charged winds fought to uproot her from the skies. She locked her wings, the air snagging at her feathers before catching and buoying her as it swept her sideways. She angled her body in contrast of the direction and maintained her shaky hover.


The swell of its body broke through the surface, water cascading off slippery skin like fog. There was no thunder storm that could've matched the rumbling roar that tore out of its throat, its head still snaking below the watery depths.


The tyto bit back all her worries, steeling herself, and loosed yet another piercing cry.

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  • May 9, 2022, 3:52:26 AM UTC
    Oh poor Khione, I do love how you wrote her like scrambling along the deck. It was lowkey a funny thing to imagine lol
    • May 9, 2022, 8:52:46 PM UTC
      Haha, yes! Meanwhile Indra's all like "blue skies and butterflies--" *looks at Khione* "--and I oop"