The Unbidden: The First Tome (Side Stories 1) (Long Parts)

The Elf and Tragedy (Part 3)

The moment the sun rose, Arnnen was knocking on our door.

"Rise and shine, 'tis time to sail!" he exclaimed from the other side.

We took our time in actually waking up and getting ready. If we were this close, there was no reason to rush. He came back a few minutes later, banging even louder.

"The charter ship will not stay for long!"

"... Charter ship?" Raena asked, slightly confused.

I figured we had to get on a ship, and I assumed Raena had similar thoughts. It seemed I was wrong.

"Why are you chuckling?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

"You were unaware we had to go on the waters?" I smirked as though I knew all along.

She pouted some before huffing.

"Of course I did, I am simply tired still."

It was cute seeing her try to fool me so casually, I could not help but chuckle a little more which only drew more ire. We dressed a little faster now that we had someone waiting on us. Arnnen and Garin were waiting for us near the entrance.

"I got food for you on the ship," Garin pointed behind him.

As if on cue, my stomach growled. I thanked him and we made our way to the docks. It was just as busy in the morning as it was in the evening.

"They are like ants, they never stop," Arnnen sighed as he avoided being kicked by the various people.

The ship we came to was smaller than most of the other ships in the harbor, and there were only a handful of crewmen who were finishing up preparations.

"This all of you?" a soft-sounding man asked from my side as he passed us.

He was rather thin in stature and shorter than I, but he had a wide hat on that kept the sun off his head and shoulders from almost every angle. He wore a thin layer of colorful clothes that only showed the skin from his forearms down and his shins. It was a peculiar choice of attire, but probably a necessary one.

"Yes. Let us be on our way," Arnnen said, motioning for everyone to get on.

"I have never been on a ship before," Garin said, carefully stepping aboard.

"Me either ... I am a bit uneasy about it," Raena chuckled nervously.

I recall ever only being on a ship one other time, and that was on a lake. I guess it was more of a boat compared to even this ship.

"Thank you for allowing us," I nodded to the captain.

"Don't worry about it. I owe him a favor," he motioned to Arnnen.

I glanced to our little gnome companion who sat near the stern of the ship. I felt a little pitiful to the captain for owing a favor to Arnnen. He was probably bullied when Arnnen came to cash in on the favor.

Once we were all aboard, some of the crew hoisted the anchor and we slowly drifted out of the harbor. There was little rocking as we left the docks, and once we were clear, the captain turned to his crew.

"Drop sails, power east!" he shouted.

Within moments, two large sails dropped from their masts and the wind began pushing us to the south. Two crewmembers positioned themselves on small platforms and moved their arms about in a flowing fashion.

"Partum en ye'voli motus ul'trove ante mortra ventus," they chanted simultaneously.

Raena and I looked at one other in surprise.