Robin Hood | The Stormwhite Between Them

Chapter 5 (Ophelia)

Song: It's Golden Hour Somewhere by Lovejoy

A/N- this is a slightly longer chapter so enjoy :)

She sat down on one of the steps in the midst of a conversation with some of the rowers. Robin shivered, it was beginning to become rather cold and her clothes were still very wet. She had taken of her wet cloak and hung it in an attempt to dry but her clothes were damp and starting to get cold. She shivered again nodding at the Skandian. She stood up as their conversation finished and made her way to the tiller where Erak and Svengal were talking.

"We're almost there, soon we should see ourselves to the port." Erak told him as she approached.

Robin shivered as she stood next to them. "So who is it we're after?"

Svengal smiled at her eagerness to help them. "A crew of pirates that ransacked the Great Hall and Erak's private quarters. They killed some good men in the process." Robin scowled already feeling a burning hatred for these pirates. "One of the things they stole was Erak's axe."

"The one that's been handed down for generations." Robin stifled a smile, she was sure the handle had been replaced by his grandfather and the axe head had been replaced by his father, but anyway, she knew how much is meant to him.

Svengal nodded, "that's the one."

She shivered again as he told her and Erak begun to untie the leather cord that held his massive sheepskin vest to his body. Shrugging it off he placed it on her shoulders, she looked at him gratefully.

"Won't you get cold?" She asked him.

"I can get a spare."

"Thanks." She smiled as she wrapped it tighter around her. He said nothing his hand lingering for a few more seconds on her shoulder. "Y'know," she said after a minutes of silence, the absence of Erak's warm touch on her shoulder, "this explains the lump of metal you were using before."

Erak laughed, "it is very off balance." He agreed, pointedly ignoring the pointed look Svengal had been giving him since he gave her his vest.

Erak sensed that the wind had increased in force in the past half hour. White spray was being blown from the top of the waves. The storm had turned back on them. Leaving the two he ducked under the canvas screen into the small sheltered nook in the stern of the ship where they kept their navigation equipment. He looked up as Robin ducked under as well.

He studied the chart for the eastern coast of the Stormwhite Sea for some minutes before he found what he wanted. The majority of bays and coves along this coast faced south—almost directly into the wind and sea. But then he spotted a small, almost insignificant gap that cut into the coastline, with its entrance facing north and with high ground on the southwestern side to provide shelter from the wind and sea. "There," he muttered to Robin. "Looks like an ideal place to set up a camp until the weather improves."

Robin nodded as he carefully wrapped the charts in their waterproof oilcloth cover and followed her as she ducked out into the open again. A breaking wave drenched her and set her back, she got pushed back into his chest. He grabbed hold of her shoulders, steadying her. Robin gripped onto the backstay and climbed onto the stern bulwark, now balancing easily against the ship's plunging motion, studying the coastline a few kilometres away.

She pointed at a high headland, cliffs on either side, and denuded of trees. The dark granite rock was obvious against the grey-green of the pines that covered most of the coastline. "There!" He could make out that she was pointing to one of the landmarks noted on the chart.

He dropped lightly to the deck, tailed by Robin and they joined Svengal where he was managing the tiller.

"Thinking of putting in to shore?" he asked.

"There's a little sheltered bay about three kilometres southwest," Erak said. "We'll head for that."

Svengal nodded. Not that Erak, needed his approval in any way. But Erak was glad that Svemgal agreed. As his first mate and the ships skirl when Erak was being the OberJarl, Svengal was extremely skilled. It would be foolish to ignore his opinion.

In the event, they very nearly missed the entrance to the bay. Visibility was bad, with the air full of flying spray and rain, and the small gap between the headlands guarding the entrance had a high, timbered hill directly behind it, making it look as if the coastline was uninterrupted. At the last moment, Robin's keen eyesight noticed a flash of sandy beach in the gap as WolfWind rose on a wave. She was perched on the top of the rig, Erak had positioned her up there since she had the best sight out of all of them. The crew had watched with fascination as she clambered up the pole with an ease they had thought impossible. Now she threw out her left arm, pointing in the direction of the bay.

"There it is!" She shouted down to them.

Svengal and Erak exchanged a quick glance. There was no need to give Svengal orders. He scrambled forward, beckoning Horak and Axel to join him at the ropes holding the reefed sail taut against the wind. Robin swung out of the way of the sails landing on the deck with a silenced thump as she ducked and rolled. As Erak brought the ship round to port, so that the wind was coming from astern, the crew members eased the sail so that it stood out almost at right angles to the hull.

WolfWind, with the wind and sea now behind her, began to swoop over the rollers like a gull. It was an exhilarating sensation but Erak kept a watchful eye astern for rogue waves. If one came at them harder and faster than the others, the ship could easily be swamped from behind. There was no relaxing in this sort of weather.

After several minutes, they'd come close enough to the coast now to swing back to a course that would take them into the bay. As he heaved on the tiller and brought the bow round to starboard, Svengal and the others hauled in on the sail, setting it taut to the wind. The motion of the ship changed again, going from surging and swooping ahead of the wind back to the rolling, shuddering impacts of the waves coming from the beam. Erak glanced ahead and gauged his leeway—the amount the wind was setting the ship downwind and off course. He adjusted the ship's heading until he could see that he'd clear the entrance to the bay easily.

Following Robin's guidance, they glided into the bay. As the high surrounding cliffs masked the wind and waves, the WolfWind rode more upright, cutting smoothly through the calm waters. The men relaxed as the motion eased. They sprawled on the rowing benches, setting aside the buckets they had been using to bail the water out. Only now, looking at them, did Erak realize how close they had been to utter exhaustion. He'd decided to look for shelter not a minute too soon, he reflected.

At the bottom of the bay was a strip of sandy beach, with wooded hills rising behind it. Erak pointed the bow toward it and his beautiful ship responded, the bow wave chuckling down the hull, audible now that the noise of the storm had abated. He judged that the tide would be in when they were set to leave, so there would be no chance of being beached.

"Welcome to Shelter Bay," Erak said to the two.

"If it's called Shelter Bay, then I'm his old Auntie Ophelia." Svengal snorted at her joke, pretending to nod in agreement.

Erak gave them an exasperated look, "not you too."