Lacey took the spear Silvia handed her. "Who the @#$% are you rats?!" A man shouted at them, and soon the other men were shouting too.
Ray placed himself in front of Lacey as Silvia's eyebrows deepened. Lacey clenched her hand around the handle of her spear as the men continued to shout.
Suddenly there was a bigger commotion at one side of the crowd as someone came pushing their way through the angry crowd. "What are you cowardly bunch of dingdongs doing!?"
Came a shout as a very tall gangly man came pushing his way to the center of the crowd to where the children were standing. "Can't you #%$& bunch of buffoons see these!" He suddenly stopped as he noticed that it was children standing there.
He quickly caught himself as he stammered in his sentence and continued "Er, Children are the ones that saved us from that @#$%^& sea creature!?"
The men stopped slowly lowering their weapons as the man walked to stand in front of Ray, he extended his hand to Ray. "I'm Captain Luker, from Tekarin on the isle Latallia." Ray stared at his hand. "Uhh. Hmm." Ray hesitated, Lacy pushed past him clasping the Captain's hand and shaking it firmly. "Nice to meet you, Captain Luker. I'm Lacey Walela Toughton, and this is Ray, Tim and Silvia." She pointed to the others. The Captain's eyes widened. "Oh. Well thank you for saving my ship and crew, join me for a meal, we can talk then."
They followed the Captain into the cabin of the ship, the captain continued to send strange looks at the small group. When they entered, he looked around then stopped to look at them and at their wet and ruffled appearance.
"On second thought. DUSTIN!" 'A man that looked a lot like the Captain but with a different hair color'. Come from another door in the cabin. "Yes!"
The Captain pointed at them. "Take them to cabins so they can change, then come back we need to talk." Dustin nodded and motioned for them to follow.
When they reached the long hall that held all the ships cabins, Dustin motioned to two cabins side by side. "We don't have proper dresses for you girls, but we should have pants and shirts that will fit." Lacey nodded.
"Thank you." Dustin turned and left without another word. Lacey followed Silvia into a cabin as Ray and Tim disappeared into the other.
There were two hammocks hanging from the ceiling, on a chair were two sets of pants and shirts neatly folded, they slipped out of their wet clothes and donned the clean clothing. Lacey hung her dress from the top hammock to dry before they left the room.
Tim and Ray already awaited them in the hall with a man, when they came out the man led them back up to the Captain's cabin. When they entered there was a table filled with food.
The Captain was sitting at the head waiting for them. "Come sit." He greeted them. The group filed into the room and sat around the table. "I hope you found what you needed to make yourselves comfortable." He continued as they sat. "Yes, thank you." Replied Lacey sitting to his right along the table.
Ray sat across from her at the Captain's left side. Silvia sat next to Lacey and Tim beside Ray. "Again, I must express my thanks for your timely interference in our fight with that creature.
I have never seen the likes in all my days upon the sea." The captain said as he picked up a tray of meat and served himself some and then passed it on to Ray. "Lacey, are you by any chance the late king's daughter?" Lacey choked on her swallow of juice she had just taken and stared at the Captain. "What… He died?? When. How?"
The Captain nodded slowly. "Yes. You did not know?? Sorry to have to be the one to tell you." Lacey set down her fork, her appetite was gone. "I have been stranded on an island after a storm hit my family's ship, and just found a way off today."
"So, you are headed home?"
"Yes…"
"Okay, you are tired and your bird. That I guess you guys were flying on is out cold on the deck, so let me take you the rest of the way on my ship. We will be there in a matter of hours." He said before standing up and bowing low to her.
She nodded and went back to her food but she could not eat much. Captain Luker sat back down and turned his attention to Silvia.
"And you must be from Silinthia, your hair is a dead giveaway." Silvia looked up in surprise, her mouth full. "Well, I don't know I have never known where I come from. But I would like to go there just to maybe…" she stopped, looking down at her food.
The Captain smiled. "Well I could take you if you like, my next trip will be going past there." Silvia smiled. "Thanks, I would like that." She said before stuffing her mouth full. "Could I come with you? If you are going towards Silinthia then you should pass Almaraei." Tim looked desperate. The Captain nodded.
"Sure, thing kid. Now you all should get some sleep. When you awake, we will be in Latallia." The Captain smiled, dipping his head to Lacey before standing and walking out of the room.
Lacey left the table soon after the Captain, telling the others good night, she made it down to the cabin's easy enough. She got into the bottom hammock and hugged her blue dress to her as the tears began to flow. Moments later Lacey was asleep clutching a midnight black dress, it was almost as if the blackness was writhing.