Standing Stead in the Storms Ch. 4

I'm not sure who all is actually reading this.....but here's the next chapter. It's a twist. You may not be expecting what happens :DDD

A Proposal Gone Very Wrong

An hour or so later, the sun was finally setting. The warm rays of orange, pink, and red light streamed out of the sun and into the Dark Sea, coloring it every shade of the rainbow. Golden water splashed on deck and soddened the ship, pink and scarlet droplets showered the little party of four, and purple sprays of foam clung to Sara and Galya’s curls, holding fast and refusing to let go. 

“Oh, Kalmar,” Janner heard Galya exclaim from the stern. “This is beautiful. It’s the most glorious sunset I’ve ever seen!”

“Well then,” he heard his brother replying. “I suppose you should try sketching it.”

Galya’s gasp of surprise was enough to tell Janner that Kal knew exactly what he was doing the moment he had planned their course. Galya loved drawing as much as Kalmar did, and this was clearly the perfect date.

“I think he did it,” Sara whispered excitedly. 

Janner smiled. Kal had the perfect setup. Now, all he had to do was ask. 

And he almost did. Janner heard the beginning words, “Galya, there’s something I’ve been wanting—”

Suddenly a hush fell over the ocean, sky, and group. The breeze stopped unexpectedly and the sail dropped. The waves ceased their lapping against the hull, and the Shining Beauty sat unmoving in the water. It was as if all the ocean held its breath, waiting.

Then what it had been waiting for came. A ferocious, icy wind blew in from out of nowhere and sent the waves crashing into the sloop. As the wind became not wind but a furious gale, water poured in, as if the heavens had been slit open by a giant dagger. Lightning split the sky that was now covered in black-ish blue, ominous clouds and thunder accompanied it, like a dance partner, not missing a single step. 

Janner felt himself soaked instantly. He stared at the sky and water for a few terrified seconds before turning to look at Sara. Her eyes were filled with fear, and he could feel her trembling, and not just from the cold drenching. 

“Get below deck!” Janner shouted to Sara, whose soaked hair already clung to her face. He grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards the hatch leading to the hold. 

“No!” Sara yelled, wrenching her hand from his grasp, her blue eyes flashing fiercely in tempo with the lightning. “Do you really think I’m going to leave you up here?”

Behind her, Janner saw a soaking wet Galya rush for the hatch, struggling to get it open. Janner looked from her to Sara to Kal, who stood at the wheel, desperately trying to turn the ship around so they could get away from the storm. 

Janner placed his hands on his wife's shoulders. “Galya needs help! She’s terrified. She’s never been through anything like this before. You have. Please, Sara, go below and keep her safe. Keep our baby safe.”

Sara’s determined eyes stared deep into his for several seconds. Janner felt his stomach clench with fear at the though of another adamant refusal. 

Then Sara nodded, and Janner’s heart nearly melted in relief. He watched her run over to the hatch as best she could to show Galya how to open it. Galya stepped down and Sara took one more look at Janner. He saw her beautiful, diamond eyes, piercing through darkness, rain, and storm, and relished the peace he found there. Then she was gone, safe below deck. 

Just in time too, he thought wryly, as a ginormous wave leapt over the side of the deck and soaked him in cold sea water and nearly knocked him off-balance.

 Janner shook the water away without much success — he was drenched by the rain again in mere seconds — and took the steps to the stern two at a time. “Kal!” He shouted. “Do you want me to take over?”

Kal nodded, his mouth set in a grimace. His dark hair looked black from the rain or waves, Janner couldn’t tell, and his face was pale with terror. 

Janner moved to take the wheel, but at that moment another wave crashed into the hull, and sent the ship rocking back and forth as if it were a child’s toy in a bath. Janner fell to the deck at the motion and heard a snap and heavy slap of wet cloth against wet cloth.

It was the snap of the main mast. The part the mainsail was attached to. Janner looked at his brother and saw that Kalmar knew it too. If the sail came down, it would likely crash onto deck. They would die, if not from the impact then the waters they would be swept into.

“I’m going to fix it!” Janner shouted. Kal nodded blindly, still trying futilely to turn the ship around.

Janner ran-slipped over the ratlines and grabbed on tightly with both hands, praying that the Maker would see him — all of them — through the storm. 

Janner was soaked to the skin, and his hands burned when he gripped the rope, even as they clenched with cold. He set his jaw, telling himself to put one hand above the other, one foot above the other. Hand, foot, hand, foot, hand, foot. Don’t rest. I know it’s high. Don’t rest. Hand, foot, hand foot. 

The mast creaked above him and Janner looked up. The sail was barely held up by the rigging and slipped dangerously lower every second. Soon the ropes would snap of their own accord and the mast would splinter, sending the mainsail down to crush the deck below.

He forced himself up several more feet, and gasped as his foot slipped. Janner dangled in mid-air, grasping the rope in his hands. The fibers dug into his palm and he held back a cry of pain. Janner forced his legs to find purchase and panted in relief when his feet were planted firmly on the ratlines again. Up we go again. 

Finally, he clung to the ratlines parallel to the mast’s splintered beam. Janner blinked furiously, desperately trying to clear his eyes of the rain that poured into them. As he looked at the mast and the sail, his stomach sank with dread. There was no way to lash the mast together so it would hold the mainsail until they got back to Anniera. Unless the mainmast broke in just the right manner so he could cut the rigging that held it up and manage to send it plummeting harmlessly into the waters below, they would all drown. 

Janner clung to the ratlines, feeling the sting of the driving rain and the lash of hail on his body and prayed that the Maker would save them. Without His intervenation, all was lost. 

When Janner looked out into the sea again, he saw a huge wave coming toward them faster than he thought the sea could send water. It was angry and frothing violently. He held tightly, thanking the Maker that Sara and Galya were below deck and that only he and Kal could see the destruction that was about to take place. 

Then it hit. The ship jerked violently and nearly flung Janner off of the ropes onto the deck many feet below. He felt himself lifted from the ratlines, and he clung to it even more tightly than before. Janner felt his palms burning and knew they would hurt later. If there is a later.

The mast cracked again. It cracked directly above him. Janner looked up at the mast with pure terror in his eyes and on his face. He knew that if he died, that was the look that would be plastered there. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the end. 

But it didn’t come. The mast creaked and groaned and then screamed a wild, loud, CRACK!!!!!!

Janner felt the entire ship shake with the jarring, but when he opened his eyes, he was still alive, still clinging to the ratlines as if ropes could save him from his impending doom. 

When he looked closer, Janner saw what had happened. The mast had broken and was resting on the ratlines perfectly, so perfectly that a simple slash of his sword could cut through the rigging  and send it crashing into the sea below. 

Janner fumbled, clinging to the ratlines with his right hand even harder than he had before and desperately trying to snatch his sword out of his sheath with his left. He finally got it loose and leaned over, struggling to keep the blade steady on the rope as he cut it. 

It worked. The rope frayed and then snapped, flying off into the sky. The mast and sail above him fell directly into the water, where it sent up a spray so huge that Janner found himself coated in icy sea water again. 

He whooped joyously and praised the Maker for His goodness. Janner maneuvered his sword back into its sheath and began the arduous, painful cimb down. It was time to help Kal turn the ship around. 

He had not gone four feet when his ears picked up a violent roaring. Janner whipped his head around and stared in terror at what he saw. 

There was a wave, a gargantuan wave, a wave so colossal that Janner couldn’t even believe that such a wave existed. It was heading straight for them. Janner was frozen in shock. He felt as though he heard his name being called faintly, but it was from so far away that it might as well have been from a different world. 

Then it hit. Janner felt himself being yanked by the wave and pulled from the ratlines. He gripped the ropes for as long and as tightly as he could, until his hands were torn away painfully and he was jerked away, waiting for the end as the wave filled his mouth with ice-cold, salty water. 

The wave thrust him into the sea, and Janner struggled underwater in the blackness of the bottomless abyss. He had no idea which way was up and felt his lungs burning for air by the time he finally broke through, gasping for breath. Janner felt himself dragged down immediately afterwards and forced himself back to the air-filled world for another lungful of air, but ended up nearly choking on sea water as he was dragged below.

The same thing happened again and again and again, until Janner's arms, legs, and lungs burned with exhaustion and abuse. He was too tired to fight the waves, too tired to gasp for air, too tired to do anything but stop moving and close his eyes and let the sea do what it willed with him.

Janner was about to. He was about to stop. He let his arms and legs go limp and did not fight back as another wave pulled his head under the water. Janner was about to give in to his burning lungs that craved to be filled with something, anything, even sea water. 

Then his Annieran blood stirred up strength within him. Janner knew he could not die, not unless he was protecting Kal in the process. Kalmar was out there somewhere, terrified, trying to get Sara and Galya back to shore. 

He struggled to the surface one last time and penetrated the icy waters, choking in air. 

Janner stayed above for several seconds before he felt himself grabbed again by the icy waves and thrust violently in one direction. He had just a second to see the dark shape rushing toward him. Janner had no idea what it was, but he knew he would die if his head took the blow. He fought against the waters and kicked, desperately trying to turn away from the object. They held fast to him though and clung wickedly. 

Suddenly, white, hot pain coursed through his head, taking over his mind and senses. Lights exploded in his vision, then abruptly disappeared into blackness, and ringing silence crashed over the world.

Notes: And on that happy note....