"Welcome aboard Cassion's Ear. " - A Ship To Warmer Waters Part 2
107 Vhalar 719
Lurch spend two breaks showing Balthazar the proper- or at least what Lurch thought was proper- method of trimming your sail. Lurch explained to Balthazar what the wind did in the sails in order to push their ship forward and Balthazar's mind was set alight with different ideas about ways he might be able to help speed up their journey. He didn't try any of them though because Balthazar didn't want to risk ripping the sail off or damaging the ship for a few breaks- maybe a trial, faster of a journey. So rather than test his theories, Balthazar tried to pay the most attention he could to Lurch as he explained why it was important to make sure the luff of the sail was pointed towards the wind.
Apparently by having the leading edge of the sail pointed into the wind you created lower pressure on one side of the sail than the other and because the sail was a curved cloth rather than a straight cloth, the wind on the higher pressure side would lift it and push the boat forward... or at least that was the simple summary Balthazar burned into his head that night.
Some number of trials into the voyage Balthazar found himself trapped in a trial that felt as if it would never end. It wasn't that Balthazar had lost count of the real time he'd been aboard Cassion's Ear, he doubted he'd ever lose count of how many times he watched the sun rise and fall over the great expanse of sea before his eyes, but when Balthazar came out from below deck in the middle of the 107th day of Vhalar, and the cold winds bit at his otherwise hot flesh creating a perfectly cool sensation, Balthazar felt like the ship hadn't budged an inch from where it had been the night before.
What's more, now it seemed they had a friend on their tail.
Not all the crew, but those who weren't sleeping off booze or navigating the ship had gone to the starboard side with their various spyglasses to take a look at the galleon that had appeared on the horizon. Balthazar heard a few murmurs but it was mostly crew mates arguing over wanting to look through the spyglass, not about what they saw. Yet there was one word whispered that filled Balthazar with a perplexing dread and excitement. Dread at the danger but excitement at the prospect of doing something other than scrubbing the deck of a ship and slightly adjusting the furl of the sails.
The word on the wind, and in the water, was pirates.
Black sails could have meant any variety of things but the crew of Cassion's Ear had a bad record with being attacked by pirates and no one could really figure out why, not that it was Balthazar's concern yet. When Balthazar saw Captain Ronson at the helm, seemingly unbothered by the galleon with black sails on the horizon, he jogged up to talk with him.
"Whats going on?" Balthazar asked, leaving it up to the Captain to really decide what to address first.
"Winds lower than normal, give it a bit to pick back up and we'll be moving again." Ronson said in a single, whiskey soaked breath.
"What about the ship on the horizon?" Balthazar prodded uncomfortably. It spoke volumes that the guest on the ship had come to the captain with concerns that they might be attacked by pirates rather than any of the crew but that was because while they were a loyal bunch, they weren't much for brains beyond how to move a ship and how to enjoy carnal desires.
"It's a big ocean, if you stay above deck long enough you'll see more like it. " Ronson replied absent minded before turning his head in the direction of the ship with black sails. He narrowed his eyes as if it would allow him to zoom in on the ship. Ronson seemed to notice something that caused him to shift and then he said "So long as t'ey stay on the 'orizon, t'ey ain't our problem. You scrubbed the deck yet? I remember seeing you scrub the deck but I don't remember if it was totrial or yestertrial."
"Already did the deck."
"And laundry?" Ronson added with a arched brow.
"I'm waiting for the last of Gregory's shirts before I start so I can do it all at once." Balthazar replied, his eyes locked on the ship with black sails on the horizon. Ronson just gave Balthazar a nod and turned the wheel slightly. Balthazar could feel the change in the water than indicated the ship shifting slightly to the right, away from the ship on the horizon. "I could fly over and see who they are?" Balthazar offered Ronson, trying to bring them back to the topic of the ship.
"I don't t'ink t'ey'd take too kindly to t'at idea." Captain Ronson replied. Balthazar sighed a nodded before walking down the helm steps back to the deck where the crew had more or less gone back to their usual tasks... but Balthazar was not content. He went to the starboard side of the ship and watched the small bobbing figure in the distance. It was hard to really tell, but Balthazar had a horrible feeling that the ship with dark sails was gaining on them. Balthazar crossed the deck to Lurch who was working with the sails.
"I feel a stiff breeze coming from the back of the ship. You should gt the sails ready for it." Balthazar said, knowing it would be no natural breeze but rather the wind he could defy.
Lurch repeated his words in a slightly higher tone as if mocking him then said "I think I'm a bit of a better judge than you." and so Balthazar left Lurch with the warning he'd given before moving towards the center of the deck. Balthazar stood, spreading his legs shoulder width apart and drawing both of his hand to his center. Bathazar took a deep breath in through his nose. He could feel the wind, stagnant as it was, around the ship. He reached out to his kin with his spark and his ether. We need to move. I need to get to Scalvoris. Help me. Balthazar repeated the three sentences in his head, over and over before breathing out and driving his hands forwards slowly.
At once a breeze could be detected. The crew perked up, realizing the winds had changed for some reason or another and quickly leaping to action to facilitate the changes. Balthazar took another breath in and drew his hands back towards his center. He repeated the line in his head and slowly pushed his hands forward.
The breeze grew stronger.
Only this time Balthazar felt the strain beginning in his body. His arms and legs began to feel sore and he knew that to be the first step before numbness... with numbness the step before paralysis. But the ship was not moving yet. The crew was frantic, running about and trying to unfurl the sails as best they could. Lurch was working too now, trying to angle the sail so that it would catch the most of the wind Balthazar was generating.
Balthazar breathed in again and this time he stepped back with his left leg, aimed his hands up towards the sail, and when he drove them forwards this time a stiff gust of wind propelled itself from his palms into the sails causing them to fill with air so suddenly that a member of the crew recoiled and fell overboard. Balthazar left one hand forward, blowing wind into the sail as well as conjuring a larger wind around the ship to push it forward and reached out towards the water where the crew member had fallen. He could feel his spark surge when he reached out with his ether to the water and suddenly the crew member in the sea was shot back onto the deck by the water.
The ship was moving now. The crew just managing to catch enough of the wind Balthazar generated with the sails. Yet Balthazar did not stop. He kept breathing in and blowing out and with every breath he tried to keep the wind going but it began to burn and after roughly a break of steadily forcing the wind to move Cassion's Ear Balthazar went below deck to rest.
