Fall of the Redcloaks

Chapter 3

     Rhea sat at a table hunched over a map in her small room. Stellan, a tall red-haired man, stood behind her. He was watching her as she added tiny details to the already complicated map, making sure she didn't get anything wrong. She had messed up plenty of times before, and each time Stellan swooped down and grabbed the map. He then proceeded to calmly crumple it up and stuff it into his pocket. Half the time she had no idea about where her error had been, and she most often stomped out of the room.

     She was taking a test, known between the crew as the Seafarer's Assessment. It signified that the taker of the test was ready to join the crew as a full member. Rhea thought that it sounded easy when she learned about it. Except that it was also timed. She was even required to show the crew's regular stops, and the regular stops of about ten other ships they were friendly with. Rhea, being the youngest sailor on the ship, had been trying for what felt like forever to painstakingly complete the map. She hadn't been having much luck, and it was harder than it seemed. As far as Rhea knew, this crew was the only one who had ridiculous idea like this. The objective was that nobody would know the land - and sea - like the crew aboard The Flying Grace. The crew would be able to understand where to go in a heartbeat, in case of trouble. She absentmindedly added the dots and labels, displaying that The Flying Grace regularly traded in Xin Kao Dai.

     She paused and frowned, thinking. Was Concorba on the edge of the landmass where she thought it was, or was it a little farther down? She stared at the map, her mind going blank. This should be easy, she told herself. But it's not! A grumpy voice in her mind shot back. She glanced nervously up at Stellan, then decided to come back to it. She hurriedly penciled in a few small towns and cities.

     She jumped as Stellan snapped his fingers, letting her know how little time she had left. Her hand flew across the paper as she scratched out the words Concorba, Regular trading port of The Flying Grace, The Talisman, and Suka's Majesty alongside a dot where she guessed Concorba was located. She had just added the last word when Stellan smacked his hand down on the table, signaling her time was up. She scowled at the table as Stellan picked up her map. He held at arm's length, holding it up to light as if he was trying to understand if it was a map or some kind of ancient code. It's a map of Erdas, you idiot! She thought fiercely. He looked at the map, then down at Rhea. Then he did it again. He took a deep breath and spread the map on the table. He looked at her as if getting ready to explain some bad news to a four-year-old.

      "I'm sorry, but-" He began, but Rhea cut him off.

     "That I forgot a trading route? That I was too messy? That I ran out of time?! If you want me to finish soon enough, then don't time me!" She spat sourly. Stellan shook his head, then pointed to a splash of ink off to the right of Nilo.

     "There shouldn't be an island there. It seems like you decided there was." He commented coolly, then rolled up the map . It disappeared into his seemingly bottomless pocket of maps-Rhea-messed-up-on. She looked at him in disbelief.

     "That was an ink smudge! An ink smudge isn't going to mess me up when I'm going on a trading mission to Zhong, or if I want to visit Stetriol, so why does it matter?" She stood up angrily. She knew she was overreacting. Am I really?! She she glared at Stellan and stalked out the door. She stopped when she realized Stellan was following her. "What do you want?" She hissed acidly.

     "I am merely heading back to my room, Miss," he replied casually, as if there was no reason in the world Rhea would be mad at him. After all, he was a perfectly reasonable and important member of the crew. Nobody could ever hate him, as far as he was concerned. Rhea rolled her eyes and blew her hair out of her face. She headed down the hall and into her room, slamming the door behind her. She glowered at the wall, then let out a breath of air.