Arc 1~> On Board The Razor
"Are ya alright, boi?" He heard a female voice ask.
He looked to see a tall lady standing by his bed, grinding herbs on a high table by the bed where he lay. She had tattoos running down her arms, and her face was built perfectly, she had high cheekbones and sloped eyes, and her lips were full and red. She wore leather trousers that ran from her belly down into her knee-high boots and her linen button-down jacket was tucked into it which was hardly noticeable due to the corset holding her stomach from under her breast to her waist. She can't be that old, maybe twenty. That would make her three years older than me.
"I'm okay," He said then a slight headache hit him.
'I mean everyone there except you was dead lad, I'm sorry but there was nothing we could do to help, but board the alive lad' Bones words.
"Don't run the sails with me, boi." She said placing a wet rag on his forehead, it stinks of herds and rowan felt he recognised some of the smell. Seasnake for fever, texix worn to keep an unconscious patient alive. Those were some of the benefits of knowing mama shella, he knew a lot of medicines. He had helped Smith pick some for her back at the island. Smith. Rowan shook the thought away.
"Texix worn?" He asked himself in a hushed voice, his voice was raspy from the lack of use, which made his hushed voice not much of a hush "How long had I been unconscious?" Rowan asked the lady who was taking care of him.
"Oh, so ye know your herbs, eh? " she said with a slight smile on her face. "Ye've warmed me bed for four days now."
"What!? Four days." He asked with shock. The lady burst into a not-so-lady-like laugh after his reaction, she held her stomach and let out a laugh he would expect from someone like his father.
"With that reaction, you'd think someone cried havoc! (someone started a war)" She said still laughing then she held his gaze which he turned away for then she smiled a sad smile. "Ye remind me of me, Jonny. Good boi he was unlike his Da" sadness quickly overshadowed her laugh off before but only for so long.
"Bones and the cap'n would be happy to hear you're up from your slumber, what do ye think about joining the crew round the mess tonight boi? The food is quite good, our sharp knows his way around the kitchen" She asked. Which rowan quickly turned down.
"If you don't mind Could you please keep it from the others that I'm up at least until tomorrow, I've got things on my mind...I don't want to meet anyone." Rowan said looking at his clean hand, but he thought he still saw the blood of Smith on them.
"morrow, aye, I can do that much." She said walking towards the door. "Don't move around too much boi, and leave that rag on ya head, hear me? And you can call me Abara what about ye laddy?"
"Rowan." He replied smiling, a smile that didn't quite touch his eyes. He really just wanted to be alone.
"See ye on the morrow, rowan." She said, smiling a motherly smile at him. She closed the door behind her when she left.
Does she expect me to believe that she had a kid she can't be that much older than me, right? but god's she's beautiful.
Rowan smiled, he didn't think he would be able to have such thoughts, one thing was for sure that dream had helped him a little it opened his eyes to the life he had been living, he was still sad but not like he had felt on the deck. But God's they're all dead, dead. Father, dath, Smith, even mama shella.
He felt guilty for having survived but he also felt happy at being free from that God's forsaken island and that managed to put him in a cycle of guilt and blaming himself for it all.
'Son you want to travel the world you say,' his father said with a smile. ' Dreams like yours often come with a cost son' he remembered his father's words but it felt wrong. no this wasn't… yes he said something different.
'Son, you want to travel the world, you say again and again.' his father had said with a smile. "Dreams like yours often come with a cost, son. Your mother was having to leave you. What will yours come at?' Rowan remembered it as he had heard in the dream.
Rowan felt like his father was wrong but he couldn't bring himself to think of it in that way, would I be lying if I say it was wrong, would I just be trying to justify myself, maybe I had been wrong for having such a dream, maybe... no, I didn't do any of this...what happened back on sona?. The sadness of the deaths hit him again, this time with confusion.
God's, but this dream pulls at me... no... maybe I should even just die. What am I living for? No, no, no, I don't want to die. But would I be cursing the grave of my father if I climb onto the deck and smiled at the ocean, would I be? Rowan rolled himself into a ball on his bed and his mind played around in conflict his guilt for leaving trying to consume him, while his adventurous side tried to fight off his guilt but he felt lost above all, because at the end. In the end, I have no one anymore, maybe my mother but I don't even know if she still lives. He thought soft sobs escaping him.
He heard a soft knock on the door and then It cracked open and made a soft scratching sound when it made contact with the bed stand. The room was a small square-shaped room only containing the bed placed close to the door, then the table was placed at the other end of the room opposite the door and a chair sat at the table front near the bed.
"Lad, I know you're up and kicking." Bones' voice came into the room as he locked the door behind him. Walking toward the chair on the other side of the bed opposite the door. He sat down and looked at Rowan, who had closed his eyes.
"I'm no good at this lad, but I'll try," Bones said then paused to gulp down from a stein of Rum he had brought into the room. "Ago, when me still live up in the greys in abora, I always yearned to join the ranks of the paban, warrior people but me da didn't let me, locked me up he did for a whole winter, told me the farms where we start and where we end he did."
He paused for some time drinking. " One day when the second sun be setting me began my plan, I dug at the ground of the barn, for three day me dig until... until I broke free." When he reached the last part he said with the voice of someone who was finally free. " then me ran, ran without looking back, me ran and ran until I could see the spearhead, the fortress of saber. It stood tall like the tower of them witches. There I joined the line of people who wanted to join the paban. Years passed and I had risen to great heights in the navy and I received a message, the gray had been wiped out. It said only a few survivors and my father wasn't part of them. Me father was dead it said." He paused and drank long gulps this time, Doesn't his drink run out? Rowan thought, still grateful for the part of him that could still think about such things.
"Day after day I'll cry and cry, feeling like I could have died with em, feeling like me had done things wrong and maybe I could have fixed em. Then me teacher talked to me one day and that was the day I started living for meself." He paused and was silent for a very long time, Rowan opened his eyes a little to check if he was still awake and then both men's eyes met. Rowan shut his eyes so tight on might think his act might make Bones forget what he had seen. Bones on the other hand went on with his story after another gulp as if he never saw anything. "He asked me questions, he did. Wise questions they were opening my eyes to the bullocks thought me had been having. Ha, wise man, he was, wise man. He asked me. ' How did your father die lad?' The first question that was, I thought it stupid at first then he made me answer, me answer was, 'he died of the golden plague because,' then he stopped me, he said 'I had asked you only one question, and you have given me the answer, the golden plague, you're not a witch now are ya?' He asked me, I had to say I was puzzled then he said 'lad, don't blame yourself for what nature's doing for what even power can not stop when you start blaming yourself for such you might as well be a dead man.' Those were the words that brought me out of me stupor lad Now, I'll ask you some questions and you answer me honestly. I might not be as wise as me master but I know a thing or two. This is a way to say sorry too lad."
Rowan finally sat up at hearing Bones story, it had made him feel better, feel understood, and had made his mind a little bit free. He even had his own questions for the man. How can I keep living with a dream that has caused so much trouble?
"What's ye name lad?" He asked, eyeing Rowan with eyes that held guilt.
"My names is Rowan, Rowan Darkcrest and night born," Rowan said
"Rowan, I can see your nightborne, your skin says it all, but you're not that dark-skinned, not like the others on your island at least. Okay first question rowan, could ye have saved em?" Bones asked playing with the remaining Rum in his stein.
"Could ye have saved em?" He repeated slowly.
"No, no I couldn't have saved them," Rowan said, his eyes rushing out tears. What could I have done, when I don't even know what happened, what could I have done? He knew that he could have done nothing but his mind still kept searching for ways to damn him.
"Square answer, lad. Last question, would ye let their death drag ye to your grave or will ye live to carry on their names and remembering them? Would ye carry your father's surname darkcrest to far places or would ye die of guilt of a sin ye did not commit?" Bones said his voice carrying a huge weight and managing to build Rowan's resolve.
"I will live, yes I will live." Rowa. Said like the gods were giving him a chance to live, a chance to forgive himself "I will carry the name of Darkcrest far and wide and I will never forget those who died on the island. Smith, Dath, mama shella, and my father." Rowan said tears falling from his eyes.
"Good lad," he said comfortingly. "One last thing. A saying that has helped me through me dark times. Yesterday is the poison and the lesson, today is the grave brother or the day you use the lesson to create the antidote while tomorrow is the result, death or life."
"Bones can... can I ask you one question?"
"Aye. lad"
"How can I keep living with a dream that has caused so much trouble?" Rowan asked quietly.
"Ye think your dream is the cause of all this?" Bones asked with a little surprise in his eyes.
"My father always talked about how dreams have cost and how mine had too big a cause"
"Really now, what don't I know? Tell me, lad"
"My dream is to travel the whole world," Rowan said his voice showing happiness for the first time, but a bit of shame, he felt like he could trust Bones but he hadn't talked to anyone about this kind of thing except his friends and mother. Being able to talk like this was strange to rowan.
"We share a dream then lad, this ship the razor, she was made to sail through the whole wide world," he said with a big gesture and also with a hint of happiness. "And lad from what I can see your father didn't want ye living the Island I say. I'll tell you this lad, whatever happened to your island isn't the cost to your drama, the cost of a dream. The cost of a dream is what you're willing to give up to achieve it, or the things that your dreams may cause you to lose when ye embark on it, that's about it lad"
"Thank you Bones," Rowan said thinking his mind felt lighter now like he was thinking clearly but the sadness still held only letting go a little.
Father, brother. I shall carry on our surname far and wide while I achieve my dreams, everyone else I shall carry the name of our island on my back and find out what happened. I shall live with a smile on my face and hold my dreams at heart and I shall find my mother. Medy and most of all I shall live with my own interest in heart too.
Rowan still felt sad but he felt better, and this man Bones had made him question his father's behaviour but he tried not to think about it. But above all, this man had gained Rowan's trust and this ship too.