Swords, Sails + Scoundrels: Naming Names

When I decided to use alliteration for the individual titles of the episodes, I seriously did not think it would be hard at all. So far it hasn't been hard. But I can't say that the title 'Naming Names' isn't just a little weirder than I first planned. Buuut anyway, I tried.

Option three got the vast majority of the votes, which is rather amusing since that was the option that I was just like 'I dunno, but I've got to think of one more thing...oh, that sounds kinda cool, I'll put that one in.' And apparently it did sound cool, 'cause all you guys agreed! (Well, almost all, some of you wished to be independent with you own ideas, but that's cool too.)

I'd just like to say that if you don't know how to pronounce any of the place or people names in these stories, just ask in the comments, I'll be plenty happy to explain. :) Just so you know, Eirerandil is basically pronounced: 'eye-ran-dil.' (The 'eye' should technically sound about the same as the beginning of 'Ireland' but it is acceptable to just say 'eye.') Panalia is exactly how it looks: 'pan-a-lia.' And there's the name of the town which we get to today - Enisaema, pronounced: 'en-i-say-ma.' If there's anything else, please just ask. :)

And now, on to the story!

“Why, how pleasant. What a lovely group. Terribly sorry to interrupt,” a casual voice spoke from behind.

I spun around, my heart leaping within me.

A tall man lay along the edge rail of the ship, hands tucked carelessly behind his head, a pleasant smile on his lips. His jawline and upper lip shadowed by a neatly trimmed beard and a strand of damp brown hair hanging over his forehead, there was something strikingly handsome about the rascalish figure.

“What,” the captain gritted his teeth, “Are you doing on my ship?”

“Captain Wielder,” the man replied, waving one hand in the air. “Need I say more? Pleasure to meet you, by the way.”

“How did you get here? Where are the rest of you?” the first mate barked.

“Oh, I have my ways,” Captain Wielder smiled mysteriously. “And you needn’t worry in the slightest, there’s only one me.”

I blinked at the pirate captain in confusion.

“So,” he drew out the word, letting his gaze fall on Leonora. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”

“Oh no we don’t,” she replied hastily. “I’m quite finished with it.”

“Personally, I’m not,” Captain Wielder began to stand.

Leonora promptly stepped forward and shoved him hard. With a look of startled surprise he slid off the rail and would have landed ungracefully in the sea if he hadn’t managed to catch hold of the railing at the last moment.

“Well, if you’ll have it that way,” he shot an indignant look at Leonora.

She brushed her hands together, returning his gaze evenly. “Get off this ship right now, Wielder,” she commanded.

“I would,” the pirate captain replied. “Only I don’t fancy swimming all the way to the Rift at this distance.”

“Well, I don’t fancy you,” Leonora returned, her voice final.

Captain Wielder sighed heavily, and kicked open the porthole at his feet, releasing the rail and sliding into the cabin of the ship.

“Get into the cabin and secure that pirate!” the captain bellowed to the crew below, as the first mate ran down to the hatch.

“They won’t find him,” Eumin said flatly.

“Why not?” I asked, still trying to work out what had just happened.

“No one ever catches Captain Wielder,” he shook his head. “Leo, maybe you’d best throw your sword overboard, that way you can’t fight him.”

“No way, I like this sword,’ she replied. “Besides, there are other swords on this ship and Wielder would just say I could use one of them.”

“No,” Eumin interjected dryly. “He’d probably give you his own and he’d take a different one. Just so it wasn’t unfair on you.”

“Last I checked, pirates weren’t into being fair,” I pointed out.

“This particular captain isn’t your normal pirate,” Leonora said out of the corner of her mouth.

“Captain! He’s not in there,” one of the crewmen yelled from the deck.

“Keep searching,” the captain replied briskly, eyes fixed on the creeping mass of land edging ever closer. “If we can catch him on land…” he muttered, trailing off in thought.

“The Rift’s gaining,” Eumin observed quietly, looking back over his shoulder.

“We’ll still make it to the harbour in time,” the captain replied.

“With Wielder on board?” Leonora asked.

“That would be ideal. Do you have any idea how much the king would pay to get his hands on that pirate?”

“A lot?” I suggested.

“A lot,” he agreed, glancing my way. “I don’t see how he can get off this ship without being caught. Boarding this ship alone was not a good move on his part.”

Eumin still looked sceptical. “Don’t count on catching him,” he warned. “If you take my word, you won’t.”

“We’ll at least get to Panalia harbour before the Rift catches up,” the captain pressed his lips together.

“I guess we’d better help your men look then,” Eumin shrugged, turning toward the deck.

I followed him, going into the cabin and glancing around. “So, where do we look?”

“Anywhere,” Eumin sighed. “We won’t find him.”

“He’s not in here,” I scanned the room. “There’s absolutely nowhere to hide.”

“Which is why he might be here,” Eumin replied.

“You know,” I mused, pushing a stray chair under the table. “This Captain Wielder is sounding quite strange to me. But I’m not sure that he’s all that bad.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’d be a bad type really,” Eumin said running his hand through his brown hair. “It’s just not very handy to have a pirate chasing you around the place.”

“But if Leonora just fights him, won’t he be happy and leave?”

“I doubt it,” Eumin frowned slightly. “Just between us, I think he’s grown rather attached to Leo.”

“Huh?” I scrunched my eyebrows. “Why?”

“Who knows?” Eumin opened the door to his sleeping quarters. “I’ll take a quick look in here and then go down to the hold below. If you find him, give a holler and we’ll come running.”

I sat down carefully on the edge of the hammock I’d slept in for the last few days, wondering how long it would take to get into the harbour. A sound from behind me made me spin around, the hammock almost flipping over backwards.

A hand clamped over my mouth, catching my fall.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you,” the quick voice made me freeze to the spot. “I just need to get up onto the deck without being seen.”

“What makes you think I’d help a pirate?” I jerked away from his hand.

“No really,” Captain Wielder said. “I don’t want to hurt any of you, but if that captain tries to catch me I can’t just stand around and let them do it. Things could get messy even though I don’t want them to.”

I drew a breath to yell for Eumin but stopped, looking at the honest face of the supposed pirate captain, recalling Eumin’s words just moments before. “Alright then,” I said, pressing my lips together. “You can go.”

“Thank you,” he bowed politely. “I think we shall meet again one day soon.” Captain Wielder stepped to the door, bowing low again.

“Wait!” I stopped him just before he left.

“Yes?” he turned back.

“My name’s Louise. Louise Conwell,” I stammered, not quite sure why I had wanted to tell him that.

“My pleasure,” he smiled. “Mine is Warin. Warin Wielder.” Slipping through the door, he disappeared.

I blinked. Well, introducing yourself to a pirate. That’s something you don’t do every day.

The door opened again and the pirate captain stuck his head back in. “Only don’t tell anyone about the Warin,” he said. “You’re basically the only one aside from my crew who knows that.” Then he closed the door again.

After waiting a few minutes, I stood, still thinking about my exchange with the pirate. Walking out onto the deck, I ran up the steps to the steering platform where Leonora was still standing.

Eumin joined us moments later, shaking his head. “No luck, as I predicted. Did you find anything?” he directed the question to me.

“Er…” I began, “Well…”

Looking upwards, Eumin noticed how close the Rift had come in the last half hour. “Oh my,” he groaned. “So much for ‘we’ll at least get to the harbour before they catch up.’”

I closed my eyes for a moment, glad to have gotten out of explaining that I’d let the pirate go. 

The Rift was drawing ever nearer, the distance separating us lessening rapidly. But the harbour mouth lay only seconds away, gaping wide before us.

I glanced up, not really knowing why I did so. A long form standing easily on the crossbeam above the lowest sail caught a flying rope tossed from the top of the main mast of the Rift.

“Look!” I cried, grabbing Leonora’s arm and pointing.

Everyone looked up as Captain Wielder saluted cheerfully and jumped. Swinging on the rope, he slid down it neatly, landing on the deck of his vessel with only a slight stumble.

“Wow,” I breathed. “That was cool.”

The pirate captain strode to the back of the ship, taking the helm. Small longboats were gliding out from the harbour, slicing through the water rapidly. Coming to release us of our notorious escort.

Our ship surged forward as the crew tightened the sails, sliding smoothly into Panalia Harbour. I watched as the Rift swung around in a circle, heading out to the open sea once more. Three longboats came toward us, leaving the rest to chase after the pirates.

“Hoy there!” a man stood up in one of the longboats. “We’ll escort you into the harbour.”

“My thanks!” the captain shouted back.

The green land spread out on either side of us, only shining blue water separating the bright land from me. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the rolling shores. Trees lined the horizon and quaint, neat houses were scattered across the wide landscape.

Eumin stepped to my side and pointed at a distant shape on the horizon. “That’s the Royal Castle there. You’ll see it much closer up tomorrow when we go report to the king.”

Squinting my eyes, I could make out the tall turrets and towers of a grand castle. My fingers tingled with excitement, staring at the strikingly foreign design of the castle. 

The ship moved much too slowly for my liking, the shore seemed to be creeping up at the slowest speed. I gripped the rail, barely able to contain my anticipation.

Forget about pirate captains and assassins, the moment would be perfect.

It had to be.

Finally the ship drew up to the dock with a flurry of movement. Two sailors jumped onto the stone wharf, lashing ropes to thick stumps of wood to secure the ship.

Turning to me the captain smiled at my flushed face. “Ladies first.”

My breath struggled to come steadily, and I could feel the rapid pulse of my heart quickening. Yet another shiver of delight ran up my body. Moving to the middle of the ship, I looked at the dock, took a deep breath, and stepped up onto it.

Loose stones crunched beneath my shoes and I looked down at the ground, a strange feeling welling up. Turning, I beamed at Eumin and Leonora. “I’m here,” I whispered.

All the sailors cheered and clapped, beginning the task of unloading the ship and securing the sails and oars.

Eumin drew in a deep breath. “Oh, it’s good to be back,” he sighed happily.

“Aw yeah,” Leonora agreed, closing her eyes and absorbing the feel of land beneath her feet.

“What next?” I asked finally, moving out of the way of a grinning sailor lugging a heavy crate of something.

“Now we go home,” a soft edge came into Eumin’s voice. “Boy, I didn’t realise how much I’d missed ‘em.”

“Where’s ‘home?’” I glanced around.

“Not close enough,” Eumin replied, setting off along the dockside with long strides.

He led the way through the streets of the town – Enisaema – and I lagged behind, staring around at the amazing differentness of everything. Everyone spoke with strange accents and dialects, completely mangling the correct pronunciation of their words.

“Come on, Louise,” Leonora called. “We’re almost there.”

The houses had thinned out a little, each neat cottage with a little garden and painted fence out the front.

“Okay,” I replied, half running to catch up.

Eumin had increased his pace, eyes fixed on a small cottage with a white picket fence, smiling yellow flowers spilling over the panels.

With a strange cry, a flashing figure leaped clean over the fence and collided with Eumin, sending him stumbling back a pace.

҉

1. “Susana!” Eumin gasped, his arms tightening around her in return.

2. “Help! Gypsies!” a wailing voice shrieked.

3. The figure snarled, drawing back a fist and punching Eumin hard in the face.

҉

Hmm, odd options this time. And they're all rather different too. The last one was just random. I'm seriously going to laugh if it gets voted in. Seriously. I will. And it'll be funny.

But aside from that, I don't think I've got anything else to say...so

Fair Winds!