One Word Prompts 2020

Coral - A Tired Story

She stood with her back to the rolling sea, drenched to the bone in the endless rain. Her soft pink hair and pale orange skirts snapped in the gale winds blowing around the ship. Her fingers nervously rubbed the necklace around her neck as the mob of superstitious seamen glared down on her.

It was a tired story.

She was just a girl. Young and naive, thinking she could make it in the new world. Thinking a voyage on her own would be rife with adventure and romance. Thinking that a journey on her own was just what she needed to prove her Independence.

Her mother had warned her. She'd said that sailors were a suspicious lot. Warned her that they would be the first to turn on her if there was trouble. Warned her that too many of them still worshiped the Old Gods of the sea. That too many of them still believed that a maiden sacrifice could calm an angry sea.

She'd ignored her mother, of course. She was an adult now, after all. She knew right from wrong. She was a modern woman. She didn't fear the dark places. It was a new era, after all. Bright, shining, free.

So she'd ignored her mother.

She'd left with nothing more than the clothes on her back and her purse, loaded with her hard-earned savings.

Hard-earned savings she'd mostly traded for a one-way ticket on the Coral Maiden. Her captain claimed she was the fastest seafaring vessel this side of the continent. That she'd made hundreds of trips from Grey Harbor to the Moon Cove and back.

So her journey had begun in earnest.

It had been smooth sailing for weeks. The water splashing around the prow as the Coral Maiden's sails rode the winds. For weeks, it was easy sailing.

And she'd thought she'd been right. That her mother didn't know what she was talking about. That she'd been right to ignore the warnings which would have kept her safe in their old apartment.

But she didn't know the half of it.

The fifth week, the skies turned grey. The sea rolled. Every wave rode higher than the last, every trough dug lower. The winds whipped themselves into a fury, biting any who strayed on deck, tearing at the ropes, wearing at the sails. Rain poured down, falling in sheets thick enough to keep light out, pouring over the deck in volumes to sink a lesser vessel. The air itself sparked, crinkling with the dissatisfaction of spirits.

Old Gods? Angels? Demons? She didn't know what beings their presence had awoken, but it was clear, the Coral Maiden, her crew, and her passengers were not welcome.

The first day, she huddled below deck with the other passengers. Waited in a growing puddle around her ankles. Waited with terror creeping into her heart. Waited with no idea what would happen next. Waited with her mother's warnings whirling through her head, each worst case she imagined worse than the one before.

Days passed like that. Two, then three. Four. Five.

Five whole days passed, the Maiden's crew fiercely fighting to keep the ship afloat. Fiercely praying for the supernatural storm to end.

Five days passed before a sailor lumbered down to the passenger's cabins.

He was just a sailor. No different from any of the others she'd seen. No different than the few she'd chatted with on the voyage so far. A wide built man, strong and tan from years working under the sun and the wind.

No different, save the look in his eyes. The utter desperation. The complete loss and unflinching resolve. He grabbed her arm and pulled her from the puddle.

"You're traveling alone, aren't you?" he'd demanded.

She should have lied. She should have pointed to any of the nice families she'd met while onboard. Should have claimed to be anyone else.