Silent Eden

Chapter Fourteen

Days and weeks passed. The days blurred together, almost seamlessly. The only thing Eden could be grateful for with the constant time in such a small area, was that she and Zanthius had begun to learn a mutual sign language that they could use for communication. It was far from perfect and there were still times when things were confusing, but Eden could now communicate her basic needs. It was small, but it was something.

Zanthius found learning a language that involved nothing but gestures and body language to be more difficult to figure out than he had initially thought In fact, it irritated him to no end that there were a few crew members who seemed to understand Eden’s gesturing and signs better than he did. They would laugh and tell him that he merely needed to be less close minded to the signs. Zanthius didn’t believe he was close minded in the least. Were Islanders not supposed to be the most open minded folk on the planet?

Pulling hard on a rope that had slipped, he looked up at the dreary skies, and then turned his attention to the sails that were tightly folded against the mast. Sails from the rest of the ships were folded down as well. A storm was brewing.

The woman called Skiel pointed her finger upward. Her husband would sail them through the weather just fine, she said. Ruthless was nothing, if not a fine and competent captain. Hundreds of years prior, they would have tried to find haven in the cove of Prison Islands. Now, it was too dangerous. Even more dangerous than waiting out the storm at sea. There were too many people looking for easy opportunities. The Prison Islands were full these days, so hiding from the storm was out of the question entirely.  The best thing for them to do would be to give the other ships in the fleet room to maneuver and pray to the Gods of the Seas that they would make it through another storm unharmed.

Zanthius grunted a reply, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand once the rope was secure. He glanced back to the Captain’s wife. Was Eden still in the kitchens below deck? He was finished with securing the mast and sails. He wanted to make sure that they didn’t need help below.

Strong arms were best above decks until the storm, Skiel replied shortly. Eden was fine and he didn’t need to worry about her. Skiel liked Zanthius fine enough, but sometimes it seemed as though she didn’t think much of his ability to reason. Shouting over Zanthius’ shoulder at a man who was assisting in rolling water barrels below deck, she moved on about her business, giving orders to anyone within earshot.

Zanthius looked up as Fren came swinging down from above. His familiar skin tone made Zanthius less uncomfortable, but his odd looking, short webs and lighter eyes made him feel even more alien among the humans on board. Fren secured his rope. He would be in the crows’ nest during the storm, he said sullenly. It wasn’t going to be a fun place, but because the waters they were in had only been charted on their maps as they came out of them previously, it was better to have someone able to keep a look out for the other ships and any unknown patches of land or coral reefs.

Impressed by the bravery of his comrade, Zanthius looked up at the nest. It was secured tightly in place with more metal than he cared to think about. What if the mast fell? And did the crows’ nest flood? Wasn’t that really dangerous?

Fren shrugged his shoulders. It was dangerous, he conceded. But the crow’s nest didn’t flood and the mast had never fallen. It had been standing for generations of storms and hurricanes. They would be fine. Of course it was scary, but what was life without a little bit of excitement? Besides that, he didn’t have a problem seeing in the rain. He could blame it on his Islander heritage, he supposed.

And Skiel didn’t have a problem with that? Or his wife, Dinee?  Zanthius caught a glimpse of dark skin and red hair heading back below decks. The pregnant woman was running food to the men working to prepare the ship for the storm.