The Archman

Chapter 16 - An Irksome Return, Part 2

A dense silence sits in the air as the Archman's ship cuts across the water towards the small island, which is growing larger with every second they approach it.

Without her mop and bucket to preoccupy her, Eira is left in an obscure state, standing a few feet from the Archman as he keeps both hands on the wheel. There is a rigid tension in his muscles which spreads to all parts of his body, especially his face. He must have been frowning for the past five minutes without the slightest change in expression. Eira is almost impressed with his ability to remain so consistently perturbed.

After a few more minutes of solemn quietude, the Archman's ship arrives at its destination. The island is little more than a large rock structure protruding out of the waves. There is hardly any vegetation, and the only wildlife which could feasibly reside on it would be some birds stopping by and a few indifferent mollusks.

What the piece of land lacks in verdant beauty it makes up for in its fascinating architecture, however. A large portion of the rocky cliffside is hollowed out by millennia of erosion, creating a vast open cavern. The cavern is large enough to hold a single ship, evidently because there is already a ship within it. It isn't a massive vessel, or maybe it simply paled in comparison to the Archman's.

The Archman pulls a lever at his side, causing the ship's anchor to drop into the water below. The ship slows its pace until it comes to a halt in front of the mouth of the cove, effectively blocking the unwelcome ship's path of exit.

From their vantage point, Eira could see into the cove. It is quite well shadowed from the sunlight, which Eira deduced to be appealing to the Archman.

The water in the cove is deep enough to accommodate a deep-hulled ship, though it quickly becomes shallow as it stretched to a bank of sand on the opposite end of the single opening. Upon the bank of sand are several dozen people, mingling among themselves in what seems to be a drunken state, given the amount of off-pitch singing, revelrous laughter, and skewed walking.

"Stay here." The Archman pulls another lever on his right, locking the wheel in place.

"Okay." Eira nods. She is glad to distance herself from the Archman for a little while, until he's returned to his usual stoic demeanour.

The Archman walks down the upper deck, then slips under the hatch to go below decks. After about a minute of silence, the sound of pulleys squeaking is heard from beneath Eira. It goes on for a few minutes, then stops suddenly.

Eira looks over the edge of the banister curiously. The Archman is in a small dinghy, rowing it away from the ship, into the cove.

Eira turns her attention back towards the beachy area in the cove. Some of the unwelcome guests who are more sober are starting to take note of the Archman's ship, though they haven't quite figured out that they'd been cornered just yet. They exchange confused glances and monosyllabic comments among themselves.

Eira doesn't want to assume, but it is pretty clear from their ragged appearance and slovenly behaviour that they are pirates. Technically speaking they had to be pirates, since they arrived on someone else's land uninvited. On second thought, however, that made them have much in common with the English navy.

To them, however, this was probably just some unimportant isle out in the middle of nowhere. If they had known this was a sanctuary of the dreaded Archman, they would surely have stayed clear.

The Archman rows his dinghy across the water of the cove, approaching the beach at a modest pace. A few of the intoxicated pirates walk towards him with a mixture of curiosity and caution, waiting on the beach for him to arrive. As more of the pirates gather together in that area, the rest of them start to join the congregation, moving like a flock of sheep.