Moonlight Waves

Cutler's Oasis

   Five days after my first victory over Captain Dax and I've only improved with the trident. Learning new tricks and moves I can do with it. I understand now what Roman meant when he said that his rapier was like an extension of his arm. I feel the same way about my trident now.
   Most of the crew is asleep right now, their snores erupting the quiet of the night. Ian was right when he said that'd I'd probably have trouble sleeping all the rest of the nights after the first night I slept so soundly. I've only been able to doze in and out of sleep and the more I try to force myself to sleep, the more I seem to wake up.
  I give up and swing my legs over my hammock, sliding my feet into my boots. I carefully tread my way in between swaying hammocks and slumbering sailors. All of them looking like small children being rocked to sleep by their mother—I quickly smother a laugh as the image of these rough, sea-faring men being rocked to sleep in a cradle forms itself in my mind.
  I make my way above deck and step into the stillness of the night. The soothing sound of the water parting as The Moonlighter speeds through the waves—headed for Captain Cutler's Oasis— enters my ears.
  We'll most likely arrive by tomorrow afternoon if the wind holds, and then we'll try to convince Captain Cutler to help us. If we can do that, the hard part will be over.
  I still have the six pounds in gold my father gave me to use as persuasion, but I'm hoping to appeal to Captain Cutler's moral first before mentioning my father's money. I'd like to be able to give it back to him, but having witnessed Captain Cutler's reputation first hand, I know there's a slim chance of that.
  I turn my eyes towards the sky and search out the stars. It's a little cloudy, but I can still see a few peeking out. I sit down on the steps leading up to the forecastle and bring my knees up to my chest, wrapping my dress around my legs to ward off the cold. I lean my head against the railing, counting the bright stars that fight to be seen through the hazy clouds.
   "I heard you get up." Si says, joining me on the steps.
   I turn my head toward her in acknowledgment before turning back towards the sky, only giving her a, "Mmmm." In response.
   "You sure you want to go through with this?" She asks me after a few moments of silence.
"Positive." I answer her without hesitating, but then wonder if she's having second thoughts about coming. "It's not too late for you to change your mind. There's a town between here and Captain Cutler's Oasis, a little out of the way, but we could drop you off and pick you back up when we head back to Crescent Island."
   "No," she shakes her head, "I'm not having second thoughts. I was just making sure you weren't."
  "Well," I answer her, "I'm not yet."
We sit there in silence for a while longer, listening to  the water and watching the clouds move across the sky. And then I remember I wanted to ask her something.
   "Si," I say, "that first day on the dock, you immediately knew who I was. How? I mean, sure, you probably had heard my name thrown around and what not, but you knew who I was without even having to ask."
  "Are you kidding?" She asks me, seemingly shocked. "I don't think Cal ever shut up about you long enough to breathe. He was really excited for me to meet you. Said you were the greatest friend anybody could have."
  I feel the heat rise to my ears, but I shrug off her words. "Roman over exaggerates a lot. I can assure you I'm not the best of friend at times, I've made plenty of mistakes in my relationships. Now, my sister—she's the greatest friend to have ever walked the earth."
  "Ah," Si says, "the lovely sister Robby loved to talk about when Cal wasn't talking about you."
  "Ugh," I groan, "don't even get me started on Robby and Ama, we've tried forever to get those two to admit they like each other for ages. But believe it or not, they're both too shy of each other."
  Si laughs, "That is hard to believe."
I turn my attention back to the sky just as the first signs of dawn start to appear on the horizon.
"So," Si says, "you call Cal by his middle name—Roman. And he calls you by your middle name—Sitara."
  "Yeah, we started doing that a long time ago." I explain, "There's something special about having a name reserved for only one person to call you. And that one person being the one you love with everything you are."
  "You two sure are passionate." Si remarks, "And romantic, and a tad bit cheesy."
  "I know." I tell her proudly.
The sun starts to slowly make its ascent into the sky and the crew starts to file out from below, ready to start their day's work. I rise to my feet and offer my hand to Si to help her stand.
"Just a few more hours and we'll know for sure if we can do this." I say.
"We can do this." Si responds, taking my hand and then brushing the backside of her dress out.  I give her a smile and walk away, anxious to be doing something.
I find Ian—the second mate recently promoted to first mate due to the absence of a very particular someone—and ask where I can be helpful. I'm given a large sail that's in need of mending and I sit at the forecastle threading the needle skillfully through the material. Grateful to have something to do with my hands.
By nine o'clock I've finished mending the tear and carefully fold up the sail to be put back in storage until it's needed. I hand it off to Mitz who takes it to where it needs to go and am about to seek out Charlie to see what I can do to bother him for a while when a cry from the crow's nest stops everyone in their tracks.
"Land ahoy!" Dani cries, pointing towards the north west.
Everyone rushes to the railing to see what land we're coming upon and I lean so far forward over the railing to peer around the front of the ship, the only thing keeping me on the ship is my feet stuck between the pegs of the railing.
"Ladies and gentleman," Robby says beside me, "I give you Captain Cutler's Oasis."
   We're still a few hours out, but you can tell it's not a particularly big island. If you didn't know where it was, you would probably continue on without even knowing it was there.
   "Back to your stations men. We'll be there soon enough." Captain Dax orders, and then motions for Robby and I to follow him. We follow him into his cabin and he pulls open a drawer, pulling a folded piece of white material out. "Raise our white flag." He says, handing it to Robby.
  "Aye, Captain." He says, and we walk out to the main mast. We keep the flag of Crescent Island flying high and raise the white flag right under it, both of them flapping wildly in the wind.
  "You think he'll let me go ashore?" I ask Robby.
"You'll probably be the only one he'll let go with him," he answers, "and probably Ian."
   "Hey," Charlie jogs over to us, "I've got you something."
  I look at his extended hand to see a brown leather sheath with a belt and buckle attached to it. At first I think it's supposed to go around my waist, but the belt is far too small.
  "It's for your leg." Charlie explains, "the belt tightens around your thigh or calf and then you have a concealed knife. Or you could even detach the belt and slide it into your boot."
  He shows me how to unclip the belt from the sheath and clip it back on. He hands it to me and I pull the knife from the sheath, it's thin, but long. Definitely meant to be concealed as it's not too bulky. The handle is made of wood and sanded down to a fine softness, and small swirls—like waves—wrap around the handle. The handle just a tad thicker than the blade itself.
  "It's beautiful, Charlie." I tell him, "Thank you."
"Yeah," he shrugged, "I figured they probably won't let you take your trident ashore, so you needed to at least have something."
  "You didn't make one for me too?" Robby complains.
   "You already have one." Charlie says.
"Yeah, but mine's not as pretty." Robby pouts.
  Charlie rolls his eyes before disappearing below deck again to return to his duties as the cook's assistant.
  I help with little jobs every where I can as I wait for the distance to close between us and Captain Cutler's Oasis. I keep looking up every few minutes, somehow excepting us to be there even though I just checked a minute ago.
  By the time the sun is almost completely overhead, we're right upon the island and the crew begins to make preparations to go ashore.
  "Nereida!" Ian calls for me, and I rush up the stairs to the poop deck where Robby, Captain Dax and Ian are waiting for me.
   "The only ones going ashore will be myself, Robby, and you." Captain Dax tells me before turning to Ian. "Ian, if you see any harm come to us, you get my crew and ship out of here. Only come back if you've got an army with you, understand?"
   "Yes, sir." Ian nods, but I really doubt if Ian would be able to do that.
A whooshing in the air makes us all turn to look and just as my eyes track the cause of the sound, it splashes into the water just off of port side with tremendous force. A second later another hits off of starboard side.
  "They're firing at us, Captain!" Mitz hollers up at us.
  "They're just warning shots," Captain Dax says, "do not fire back!"
  Captain Dax turns to me and grabs me by the elbow, we go down the stairs and he grabs Si too. "I want you two to go to the front and flail your dresses around as much as possible, let them know there's women aboard."
  Si and I nod our understanding and rush up to the forecastle just as another canon ball hits the water on the starboard side again.
  I climb upon the railing, grasping the ropes with one hand and swinging the folds of my dress back and forth. Below me, the figurehead of The Moonlighter, with her flowing hair and a silvery moon cradled in her arms, looks unconcerned as a canon ball hits the water right in front of the bow of the ship.
  Captain Dax keeps the ship moving forward and Si and I keep swinging our dresses back and forth. This seems like a really ridiculous plan, but the firing does stop for a second. One more shot hits on the port side, before ceasing all together.
  "Lower the anchor." Captain Dax orders, "We'll row into shore from here."
  I hop off the railing and Si follows after me, both of us headed for the row boat. It splashes onto the surface of the water and Robby climbs on down into it, followed by Captain Dax. I grab hold of the rope ladder and look back at Si and Ian standing over me.
  "Wish me luck." I say and continue my climb down, Si's soft "Good Luck", barely making it's way down to me.
Robby takes one oar and I take the other and we began to make our way towards the shore, the eyes of the crew following us.
  I look towards the shore to see a massive ship anchored to the dock, the feared Hangman sitting silently alone. I can see a few shadows floating among the trees, but other than that, the island is disturbingly quite.
   We pass The Hangman and the dock and our rowboat scrapes against the soft sand. Captain Dax hops out of the boat and I follow suit, followed by Robby. Robby and I pull the rowboat further ashore so the tide doesn't take it out again and Captain Dax steps slowly towards the well worn path leading from the dock into the trees.
"They know we're here, so where are they?" Robby asks quietly.
"Captain Cutler!" Captain Dax hollers towards the trees and as soon as the words leave his mouth, Robby falls onto his side beside me and a second later I feel a rope wrap around my feet and my legs are jerked out from under me. Leaving me gasping for air and my back screaming in pain.
   Captain Dax is the only one left standing and he looks hardly surprised to see Robby and I sprawled on our backs. Out from the trees comes the crew of The Hangman and leading them is Captain Cutler.
  She's much the same from when I saw her last during her failed kidnap attempt. Straight blonde hair falling over one shoulder in a thick braid, and a large captain's hat with a big red feather stuck in it's brim setting atop her head—the only thing different of her appearance is a pink scar trailing from her jawline and down her neck before disappearing beneath her collar. A rapier is belted to her waist and a cutlass strapped to her back and as she approaches Captain Dax she pulls the rapier from it's sheath.
"Boys, Look who it is!" She calls to her men before sauntering up to Captain Dax with her sword extended towards him. "I never thought you'd set foot on this island again in a million years."
"Neither did I." Captain Dax replies calmly.
"So what brought you back?" She asks him, running her blade against the side of his neck tauntingly. "You miss me?"
"Not in the least." Captain Dax says.
"You sure know how to make a girl feel special." She retorts, stepping away from him and taking in Robby and I.
"Ha!" She lets out a laugh, "If it isn't little miss princess and one of her many protecters." She steps toward me and waves her rapier around, "Though I notice you're missing a certain knight in shining armor. He get tired of rescuing his Bonnie lass all the time?"
"No," I answer her, "He thought he'd change things up a bit and I do the rescuing this time."
"You're right, that does shake things up a bit." She replies. She walks backwards toward the line of her crew standing on the beach and addresses Captain Dax again. "As lovely as this reunion has been I regret to inform you that you are trespassing and as governor of this little oasis, I doubly regret to tell you that the penalty for trespassing is death. My men may have reserves about killing a woman, but I know just how much a girl is capable of, so I on the other hand have no reserves. And I'll be taking the lovely Moonlighter as a souvenir."
  She motions with her hand and her crew begins to advance on us. I immediately want to reach down and pull the knife from the sheath tied to my calf, but I don't, I wait for Captain Dax to give us direction.
   "We need your help." Captain Dax tells her.
"With what?" She asks, but doesn't call off her men.
   "With rescuing before mentioned 'knight in shining armor'." I tell her.
   She holds up her hand and her men stop in their tracks. "Now this could be interesting. Continue."
  "He was taken by pirates," I tell her, "in the Northern seas. We need you and your crew's skills with the sword in order to get him back."
  "If my memory serves me correctly," Captain Cutler says, "your crew was pretty good with a sword, Charles. You drove us off your island."
Charles? I share a look with Robby before looking back at Captain Cutler.
   "They're not as good as they need to be." Captain Dax answers her.
   "As much as I'm flattered," she says, "I'm going to need a little more motivation to help you sad lot."
   I was really hoping my father's money would be a last resort, but it seems I'm going to have to offer it to her now. We've already come to our last resort with her.
   "How about six pounds of gold?" I ask her, "I'll give you three now and three when your job is done."
   Captain Cutler laughs, a dry and scratchy laugh that sounds like what I'd imagine a dried up well sounding like. "Sweetheart," she says, "six pounds of gold is a slow week for us."
  The rest of the crew laughs along with her and I straighten my spine at their laughs and take a step forward. They immediately raise their swords again, but I don't step back.
   "What about your reputation?" I ask her, "Roman knows all the trade routes from here to Borinn, and the pirates will get that information from him and they'll soon be attacking the same trade routes you attack. They probably won't be as smart as you have been about your plundering and they'll force every merchant to find new routes far from here. Then you'll have to pack up and leave to find a new place to call home, and there will be a new ship and new Captain that holds the reputation you once had in the Southern seas. But you take out these pirates now, than you could have both his and your reputation."
   She narrows her eyes at me and seems to scrutinize me for a second before sheathing her rapier.
"You make a good point." She tells me, "And I'll accept your job offer. And I'll also accept all six pounds of gold now."
Figures she still wants the gold, but she can't have it all now—we need some sort of insurance.
"You'll get three pounds now and the other three after your job is done and I know you haven't betrayed us." I say.
"And if you die before I can get my other three? No, I'll take six now." She responds.
"If I am so unlucky as to die before you can get the rest of your payment, Robby," I gesture behind me, "will make sure you get the other three."
"Fine, fair enough." She sighs and extends her hand, I walk forward and shake it—sealing our deal.
"Now, who's the unlucky fella who will be getting his butt kicked?" She asks.
  "Captain Nico and the Widower." Captain Dax answers her.
  Captain Cutler's face seems to harden over and she raises a finger to the pink scar on her jawline and taps it slowly. "You should have said that first." She says, her voice tight. "He came into my seas acting like he owned them. He took us by surprise and The Hangman was taking too much damage, we had to flee."
  "They're here?" I ask her, "This far south?"
"A few hundred miles east from here, but yeah, they're here." She answers me.
   "You saw the Widower?" I ask her, and quickly keep talking when she raises an eyebrow at my stupid question. "Did you happen to see anybody.....tied up or something?"
  She raises her eyes to the sky in thought before meeting my expectant gaze again. "I do remember a blonde boy seeming to be tied to the mast."
  I suck in a breath. That has to be Roman—what other blonde boy is going to be tied to the mast of the
Widower?
   "He's alive." I hear Robby say behind me.
Captain Cutler looks between me and Robby before holding up a hand, "Hold up. You were planning a rescue for a boy you didn't even know was still alive?"
   "I knew he was still alive." I tell her.
She rolls her eyes and pats me on the head. "Of course you did."
She walks over to stand in front of Captain Dax and crosses her arms. "So what's the plan, Charles?"
  "How long ago did you see the Widower?" Captain Dax asks her instead of answering her question.  
  "About six to seven weeks ago." She answers.
"They're probably not anywhere close to there now." Captain Dax says more to himself than us and then clears his throat. "Nereida had the idea to go to Layshmen and see if we can't get their whereabouts from some of the drunken pirates there."
  "Honey," Captain Cutler responds, "the minute you step foot on Layshmen everyone is going to know you're ex-military and no one will breathe a word to you. No, you definitely can't go. The Hangman has docked there several times, she won't bring up suspicion like the Moonlighter will, so little miss missy here, will come aboard with us and we'll dock at Layshmen while the Moonlighter waits anchored at sea."
  "One of my men will go with Nereida and your crew." Captain Dax tells her.
  "Fine, fine." She waves her hand in the air, "Just make sure it's not too painfully obvious that he doesn't belong among marauders."
  She turns on me and takes in my dress that's now covered in sand. "You got any trousers?" She asks me, "You wear such a pretty frock into Layshmen and I can guarantee that you won't be coming back out."
   "Yes," I tell her, trying not to think about what she might be implying. "I have trousers."
  "Good," she claps her hands together, seemingly happy with our arrangements. "We'll leave tomorrow morning when the sun comes up. Invite your crew down to shore, Charles, and we'll have us some lunch."
   Captain Dax nods at Robby and Robby pushes the rowboat back into the water and starts rowing towards the Moonlighter.
  "Come on," Captain Cutler says, walking down the dirt path. Leaving Captain Dax and I no choice but to follow. "I'll show you where we live. Not much has changed since you were here last, Charles. We have added a few more rooms though."
  We step into a clearing and a long table stretches across the middle, cluttered with plates, cups, and silverware. But the most impressive part is the tree houses curving around the clearing with spiraling staircases leading up to them. All of them made from wood and the roofs covered with sheaths.
  Captain Cutler and Captain Dax sit down on a bench and I sit down too, not sure what else to do at the moment. Captain Cutler starts talking a mile a minute and Captain Dax silently listens to her, adding his input only every now and then.
  I turn around to see Si hurrying down the path towards me and I jump up and jog over to meet her. I grasp her arms in my hands and stop her in her tracks.
  "They've seen Roman." I tell her.
"What?" She asks me in disbelief, "When? They saw the Widower?"
  "Yes," I nod my head, "about seven weeks ago. They saw him tied to the mast. They had to flee though, the Hangman had taken too much damage."
  "What about the Widower did they cause any damage to it?" She asks me, her words seeming to rush out. "Or Captain Nico, was he injured?"
  "I—I don't know." I answer her, "Captain Cutler didn't say."
  "Oh." She says disappointed.
"But they saw Roman." I say again, "And even if Captain Nico and the Widower aren't damaged we can still sink them to the depths."
  "Yeah," she says quietly, "yeah, you're right."
I step away from her and lead her over to the long table where food is beginning to be laid out.
  "We're leaving for Layshmen in the morning." I tell her and she nods her head.
  "Robby told us all."
"Okay," I say, "then let's eat. I'm starving."