Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Bearer of Bad News

Ava didn't know what to expect from the night but the events that unfolded couldn't even be imagined. Ava had no time to ask what was going on before Theo had ushered her off to go find Xyra. The last thing she had seen was a wave of Eloxian soldiers, a large portion of them with torches. Ava had heard about their razing technique but she never thought she would witness it. She had run off to find Xyra still not fully understanding the gravity of the situation.

Ava wouldn't have found Xyra if it weren't for her large hand reaching through the crowds and pulling Ava to her.

"Where is Theo?" Xyra asked with a tight grip on her. What was it with pirates and grabbing her that sun?

"She sent me to get you," Ava said, "she said you would need my help."

Xyra didn't say anything else. She just kept a tight grip on Ava's arm and led them out of the crowd. They began to walk away from the square and to the port when Xyra finally let go.

"What's happening?" Ava asked as she jogged to keep up with Xyra's quick pace.

"We are preparing for the worst," Xyra said, "I know you haven't been trained in this yet but I need you to save the questions for later. There is a possibility that no one here will have a home tonight so we need to prepare our ship for that."

"And you need my help with that?" Ava asked, a bit surprised.

"Aye," Xyra nodded and kept her quick pace, "I don't have a quartermaster and our replacement is busy leading the vanguard. I need someone to help with the flow of refugees if we need to take any on."

Ava nodded. She was getting a very important job with little to no instructions and expected not to ask questions. She would be fine, everything was fine. It wasn't like people depended on this or anything. A bell could be heard coming from the center of town, the alarm bells had rung. She looked back to see if she could spot anything happening in the square but she couldn't; they were too far. They arrived at the ship and some of the crew had rushed up to Xyra and shouted different questions.

She answered some, tabled others, and one of the questions she delegated to Ava.

"Xyra, what do we do about accommodations? How many are we expecting?" Xiomara asked.

"Ask Ava," Xyra said and then went on to the next question.

Ava blankly stared at Xyra with her mouth slightly agape. Xyra said Ava would help with the flow of refugees not create the system in which they flowed. Ava felt out of her depth but she figured this was as good a time as any to prove her worth on the ship. She began to walk further onto the ship's deck and Xiomara followed her.

"How many people can this ship hold besides the crew?" Ava asked.

"Probably another 200 people but it would be a tight squeeze," Xiomara said.

"Including the lower decks?"

"Aye, we can fit about 75 people in the cabins if they squish together and 150 or more down below."

"Alright, we are going to try and get as many people on here as possible. The lower decks need to be cleared out completely. That will be just for the refugees," Ava said and paused to ponder her next command.

Her time as a cabin girl made her familiar with how many crew members had cabins. 17. Even though they were all allotted a cabin, only 17 of the 34 crew members had one and the rest slept in the lower decks. The lower deck women would have to relocate and double up with those that already had cabins as they saw fit. The lower deck stuff could be gathered in Theo's room and when the women came to collect it, they could decide what room to sleep in. Whoever didn't want to share a bed could have a cot brought up from storage for them. She relayed those plans.