the Boy in the Book

Chapter 7 ~Starry Eyed Voyagers~

Chapter 7

Stars seemed to glitter in Arisa's vision as she slowly came to consciousness. She realized Upon widening her opened eyes that the stars were not a figment of her imagination. She found herself still tied to the mast, but now limp on the ground with her head lolled back. She groaned slightly, as her arms and fingers were losing circulation and ached from the tight ropes that bound her in place. She barely felt it when someone's warm and callused hand grabbed on to hers and squeezed her fingers.

"How are you feeling?" Yakov asked her, craning his neck around the pillar to look at her, but the strain hurt his neck too much and he stopped trying.

"Tired and cold but very much alive." Arisa said, rather cheerfully, after a moment. Her already messy hair was in tangles and hanging around her head, her ribbons doing little to keep it out of her face.

The huge ship was drifting through space, and what seemed to be a huge bubble encompassed the whole ship, allowing them to breath. As far as Arisa's eyes could see were stars and planets so huge and seemingly close she thought she could touch them. Oddly enough, many of the planets seemed to be in pieces upon closer look. Huge chunks of them were floating aimlessly, orbiting around each planet in huge piles of debris. It was strange to see that not a single one of these planets were totally whole.

Huge meteors floated around them as well, many the size of large islands, and Arisa was thoroughly impressed by the Captain's ability to navigate through them all.

She blinked in surprise when suddenly her view of the skies was cut off by blackness. Upon her eyes readjusting to the sudden change, she realized it was the captain himself. She stared at him blatantly for a moment, still not used to his strange milky pupil-less eyes. She knew it was terrible manners, but she just couldn't help it.

A brief glance told her that another crew member stood at the helm, guiding them just as expertly through the meteors.

"Ahoy, lassy." The Captain said gruffly. He took a swig of something from a brown bottle, and Arisa doubted it was cow's milk. Up close, she could see his odd eyes swiveling around in their sockets as if he could actually see, even without pupils.

"A-ahoy, Cap'n." Arisa replied, tilting her head to the side. She found she wasn't quite so scared of this man anymore, and an overwhelming curiosity came over her.

"....Do you have ears too?" she asked suddenly. Even without seeing him she knew Yakov must have gone rigid with horror at her forwardness.

There was a long and horrible pause as the Captain seemed to ponder this question. Then, all of a sudden the silence was broken by a loud cackling laugh. Arisa flinched, staring at the Captain who was laughing like a baboon with a whooping cough. Again she was shocked into silence, though the crew bustling around them seemed rather lacking in concern.

"Yes." The captain said, still chuckling, though he had calmed down quite a bit. "You know what lassy, I like you." He grinned down at her with yellowing teeth, though despite how terrifying he must have looked to others with his pale and scared face and eyes, the grin seemed oddly good natured.

With an odd and unnatural lurching movement, the captain reached up and swept off his wide brimmed and feather hat to reveal a pair of scruffy orange fox ears sticking out of his mop of dark hair. Arisa couldn't help the giggle that escaped her mouth at the site of them.

Yakov again craned his neck to get a glimpse, but couldn't quite see. He was irritated as it was, and this lack of ability to see what was going on only made matters worse.

"So... you guys are all pirates then." Arisa said, looking around curiously. "What kinds of things do you smuggle?"

"Course I aint gonna tell you such things lassy." The Captain said, giving her a knowing look. "Hones'ly, if I told yee... I'd have to kill yee, wouldn't I? 'Sides, I like you. Wouldn't want to scewer you or your lover there."

Arisa suddenly went bright red. "L-lover? No no no!"

"Oy!" Yakov piped up. "Don't jump to conclusions! Of course we're not lovers!"

The captain let out another cackling laugh.

"Sure yee aint." He mutter, taking a swig from his bottle before lurching away to the helm.

Yakov bristled.

"Stupid old man..." He muttered.

"Well at least we know they aren't going to kill us." Arisa said cheerfully.

Yakov smiled a little at that.

"Yeah... at least...." He mumbled. Her cheerfulness seemed to be rather contagious.

A few minutes passed and minutes turned to hours. The Captain was merciful enough to allow their bonds to be untied for periods of time to keep their limbs from completely losing circulation, but he insisted they stay bound. He didn't trust them to wander around the ship without putting their noses in business that was not their own, and so they stayed bound. But they were unharmed and relatively happy. Arisa couldn't get enough of the sky...

Soon they approached a huge planet about three times the size of all the others they had passed thus far. The whole thing was completely covered in dark clouds like black whipped cream and sparking with strange blue electric charges. The huge ball in the sky look downright dangerous, and they were headed straight for it.

"MAINLAND HO!" called a squeaky voice from the crow's nest high above.

Arisa felt the bonds around her arms loosening and craned her neck to see the captain himself untying their bonds.

"We'll be a' landing on Lilica soon enough." He said gruffly.

"Lilica?" Arisa inquired, rubbing her soar wrists as the bonds dropped away. She paid no mind to Yakov who, immediately upon being freed, stepped pointedly in front of Arisa with his arms crossed over his chest, eyebrow raised incredulously at the captain as if he expected him to attack Arisa at any moment.

"Tis another name for that there planet. Mos' people simply call it the Main Land, being as it's the largest and most inhabited of planets." The Captain replied, not even noticing Yakov's presence to begin with.

Suddenly the ship jolted rather violently and Arisa was thrown forward. She was caught by bother the captain and Yakov who pulled her back to her feet, the Captain lurching oddly as he did so and Yakov glaring at the captain.

"That be the ship pulling into Lilica's gravitational pull." The Captain said nonchalantly, brushing some dust from Arisa's shoulder. Arisa swore she heard an odd squeaking noise come from his hand when he did so, like the sound of a not very well oiled machine, but in seconds it was forgotten as another jolt sent her crashing into Yakov, who in turn crashed into the mast. The Captain let out another roar of laughter.

"Yee might be wantin' to hold on ter something young lassy." He said, patting her messy hair good naturedly before returning to the helm of the ship and guiding the ship down into the sea of clouds.