"Look at the sky lads. Do you see that beautiful red sunset?"
Drummen looked up wiping the sweat of his forehead and smiled at the sunset. "Yes… It's beautiful. What about it?"
"It means tomorrow is going to be a beautiful day for sailing. Excellent weather ahead."
Drummen nodded and continued to pull on the rope in his hand while waiting for Cliffhopper to tie it off.
"It's done. You can let go now."
Drummen relaxed and smiled at Cliffhopper. He stretched his arms. "Its only been a few days so far, but this is relaxing work."
"Relaxing work? Hmm. It seems I need to give you more work to do."
Drummen cursed and turned to look at the captain with a smile. "There's lots to learn about the princess. What do I need to do now?"
"Now? Well you can take the crows nest with your monkey brother here and keep an eye out for pirates and bandits for a start."
Drummen nodded and turned to Cliffhopper. ���Let's go." He looked at his grin. "I'll race you up there."
"You're going to lose brother…"
"We'll see. I've been walking without shoes longer then you."
"It's not about being barefoot. It's all about strength here." He watched Cliffhopper tense his bulging muscles. Drummen shook his head at him. "Idiot. I can still climb faster than you... Don't forget what I can do."
"Stop boasting and start climbing before I put my foot up both of your asses!"
Drummen looked at the captain and looked at his large foot, then started climbing as fast as he could while cursing. He pulled himself up on the first spar and sat on it looking around. He watched as Cliffhopper kept climbing up. "That isn't the crow's nest. You still need to climb."
Drummen waved his hand at him. "I'm aware of that… I was just waiting for your slowness to catch up." He stood up and continued to climb on the rigging towards the second spar. He stopped wrapping his arm in the rigging and looked around him. "This is beautiful. Even though we're not going far or into the ocean. It's still beautiful."
"Hurry up there… I can see you taking your time… I'll make you scrub the deck again if you're any slower!"
Drummen cursed and pulled himself up on the second spar. He held the rigging as he walked towards the small ladder that took him to the crow's nest. He pulled himself up the ladder and climbed onto the crow's nest. He sat on the edge admiring the sunset.
"It's peaceful up here… I like it. What about you brother?"
"Me… I prefer wings so I can see this every day, but my leaders never agreed to it. They'd always tell me. I'm destined to be a bear and walk the land, never soar above it."
"You're leaders? You've never spoken about them before… Are they bears too?"
"Hahaha… They are anything and everything." Drummen nodded and looked down at the deck smiling. "That mouse or rat whatever it was, spoke of you."
"Yeah? What did it say? Did it say I was some handsome intelligent looking bear?"
"Hahahaha… You don't need anyone telling you that… It actually told me that you're not really a bear, but you've been giving the ability to skin change from someone many years ago."
"Ohh? Like that was it? Did it say anything else?"
Drummen nodded as he looked around. "It also said I'm connected to her, just like you are."
He looked at Cliffhopper as he stared out at the horizon in silence. "You can hear her voice as well?"
Cliffhopper shook his head and Drummen frowned. "Only the leaders where I'm from can… It's how they know what's going on in the world."
Drummen nodded in thought and looked at the sunset. He sighed. "Here sitting watching the sunset, would be the perfect place for a drink."
"Drummen… you know."
Drummen cursed and nodded. "I know the deal… I won't be touching it for a while… I seem to be able to remember more when I'm not drinking."
"What about your drunken staff? To practice that you need to be drunk…"
Drummen wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead and nodded. "I'm sure there's more then one way to reach that state… I just have to practice that's all."
"Hearing you talk of practice… What's happened to you? Its as if your growing up in front of me."
Drummen waved his hand in front of Cliffhopper shaking his head. "No. I'm still the same, I've just remembered something that's all."
"What have you remembered?"
"I made a choice… That's all."
Drummen looked up at the horizon and pointed to a sail far in the distance. "Hey Cliffhopper. What's that?"
"It looks like some sort of sail… Is that another boat?"
Drummen stood up and pointed in the direction of the sail. He waved down to the crew below. "Captain… There's a sail over there…"
He stopped waving when he saw the captain pull out a device and look at the sail in the distance. "That's a bandit sail. Men get ready… Good spotting up there!"
Drummen smiled and stretched his arms. "It looks light a fight is about to begin."
"You both up there. Keep an eye on the sail. When they get close you can join in on the fight!"
"Yes captain!" Drummen stood up in the crow's nest and started stretching his arms with Cliffhopper smiling at him doing the same thing. "Never thought we'd be fighting on the princess." Drummen looked at Cliffhopper. "Do you think that the bandit vessel will have some metal on them?"
"They probably do… Are you sure you want to do that here?"
Drummen shrugged. "It'll save the lives of the people below us. Might earn some favor with the captain as well."
"We won't know until they get closer… At least if they fire something we'll know then."
Drummen looked down at the crew running around the deck. "Men… Get the batterys ready… They'll probably attack in the dead of night. No light batterys tonight!"
"They're busy down there brother… It seems he put us up here to get out of the way."
Drummen nodded. "I'd do the same thing. He doesn't know our abilities and we don't know what to do on a ship. All we can do is keep an eye on the sail."
"Brother… I've been wondering why they don't use batterys to move this ship faster… A few wind batterys aimed at the sails, and the princess would be flying through the water."
Drummen nodded. "I'm sure the captain has his reasons. Let's just watch and learn how they run."
He looked at Cliffhopper and watched him nod. "Good. We better keep an eye on the sails of the bandits."
Drummen looked up at where he saw the sails and saw a dark cloud in the distance hiding the sail. He cursed.
"Captain… They've made a cloud to hide themselves. Can't see the sail anymore!"
"If that's the case. You're not much useful up there… Get down here and man a battle station!"
Drummen nodded and turned to Cliffhopper. "Time to get our hands dirty."
They started to climb down the rigging when Drummen stopped and looked in the distance. He looked at his hand and felt the wind blowing against it.
"Captain!"
"What is it? I'm a little busy here!"
"They're using wind batterys to slow us down! I can feel the wind up here. They'll be on us soon!"
He heard the captain curse. "Men! Get ready!"
"YAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Drummen heard the crew start cheering and smiled join in with them.
"Yeeeeeahhhh!"
He jumped down and landed on the deck from the rigging and walked up to the captain. "If they're firing metal objects. I might be able to stop them. Also, if there's metal on the ship I'll be able to find them in this mess around us."
"Are you some metal finder or something?"
Drummen shook his head and smiled. "I'm just connected to the earth, and can feel anything being used from the earth, such as metal."
"Good. Use those senses of yours and find them. They'll cover us in fog and cloud soon."
Drummen nodded and looked as a wall of cloud was racing towards them. He looked at Cliffhopper and frowned. "There're in there somewhere. We need to find them before they attack."
Cliffhopper nodded. "I could skin change into a bird and fly around for a bit?"
Drummen shook his head. "If you did that. I don't think the crew would like that, and think you are some evil being or something. Better we keep that to ourselves for now."
"Men when the cloud hits us. Silence! I don't want to hear anyone!"
Drummen walked to the back of the Princess and leaned on the railing. He closed his eyes and tried to sense the earth and metal around him. He cursed and opened his eyes. "I can feel the metal on the Princess, but not any further…"
"Yes. You can… You just need to learn how to do it."
Drummen turned as he heard Cliffhopper's whisper in his ear. "Fine I'll try again."
He closed his eyes again muttering. "The mouse rat thing said I need to empty my heart… How to do that?"
Drummen opened his eyes and look around him. He took a step back and pulled out the metal bar he carried with him and used it to form a staff. He looked at Cliffhopper. "When I did my training with the staff, my mind and heart was empty… This'll help."
Drummen closed his eyes. "One with the staff… One with the Creator…"
He started to spin and move the staff around him with his eyes closed, letting the movements and positions of the staff to fill his heart and mind. He saw images of the red-haired captain, Daikish and the dark-haired woman fill his mind. He shook his head. "Not here… Let them go…" He let out a deep breath as they faded from his mind.
He spun and jumped with the staff in his hand. "Finally…"
Drummen stopped and opened his eyes. "Who said that?"
"Why did you stop? Did you find them?"
Drummen looked at Cliffhopper and shook his head. "I thought I heard a voice… Did you say something?"
He saw Cliffhopper shake his head and frown. "Wasn't me. I was just watching some idiot jumping and moving with a thin staff…"
Drummen sighed and held the staff close to him. "Back to it then."
He took a deep breath and started again. Letting his heart and mind go into the staff. He twisted and spun the staff around him. He smiled as he moved with the staff. "I forgot how amazing this feels."
"Are you going to listen to me now?"
Drummen frowned. "Who are you?"
"Finally… You can hear me… I've been waiting for you to respond to me for a while now… You know how to make a lady wait, and it never ends well if you make a lady wait."
Drummen frowned and kept moving with the staff. "I'm sorry… I've had a lot on my mind…"
"Yeah. Women and wine… You made a choice back then. I gave you something special, and you let a woman control you… That's not the person I met back then."
"Yes… You're right…" He frowned. "I'm sorry… It seems I forgot a lot about what happened."
"It's fine... If you don't forget again... If you do... Lets just say I will have to pay you a visit and beat you until you never forget. Keep your heart empty of those things then you can hear me."
Drummen nodded as he moved with the staff. "How do I sense metallic objects while on water?"
"Just like you did when you were underground in the desert. The water is filled with salt, you can use that to find where the bandits are."
He smiled. "How do you know they're bandits?"
"I'm connected to you Drummen. I know all you know and a bit more."
Drummen nodded and stopped moving with the staff. He opened his eyes and looked at the confused looking Cliffhopper in front of him. "Did you find it?"
He shook his head. "No. But I know how to find them."
"How?"
Drummen leaned over the side of the Princess. "I need to be near the water." He frowned at the water and cursed. He looked at the flooring on the deck and smiled.
"Where's the captain?"
"He's at the helm… Where are we going?"
"I'm going below deck the wood is touching the water. If I get to the waterline, I can find them."
He turned and walked towards the helm where he saw the captain holding the large wheel.
"Captain… I need to get to the waterline below deck. I'll be able to find them and let you know where they'll attack from."
"Go… The closest point to the water would be the top side of the keel. Take your brother with you to let me know as soon as you find them."
Drummen nodded and waved at Cliffhopper to follow him below deck. They climbed down the stairs until they reached the top side of the keel. Drummen looked at the keel. He took a deep breath. "This is the place… He looked at the skeleton of the Princess and placed his hands on the keel closing his eyes.
"One with the keel… Nothing else except for me and the keel."
He felt energy in his body being pushed into the keel. He bit his lower lip. "Where are you?"
He felt a pulse of energy come out from the keel and smiled as he felt himself flying with the energy in the water. He stopped flying with the energy as he felt traces of metal. He smiled and headed in that direction stopping in front of the bandit vessel. "There you are…"
He smiled and opened his eyes. "Found them… They are looking to broadside us and use hooks to tie us together. They're also covered in batterys. It seems they know what they're doing."
"I'll let the captain know." Drummen nodded as he watched Cliffhopper climb the stairs. He took a step and felt weak in the knees and sat on the keel. "Tired…"
"When you're stronger that'll be easy for you. Let your body feed on your metal staff."
Drummen nodded and looked at the staff putting it on the ground and standing on it with his feet. He smiled. "It still tickles…" He looked down and watched as the metal staff became smaller as it was eaten by the mouths on his feet.
He stood up and took a step towards the ladder feeling the energy fill his body.
"Why don't you feed on the metal of the bandit ship?"
Drummen stopped walking. "How do I do that?"
"Easy…"