Ch.5 Sea Dragon
After leaving the inn they did not go directly to the port's seafarers guild hall. Instead they went to buy clothes and a traveler's trunk. Sam had explain to Ciara that the garb of the common low class that was used as a disguise from the time they escaped the castile til now would cause suspicion when asking about sea travel. This was because the common folk would have little want of such services, nor the coin to afford such travel. For them however money was of little issue. As they had the foresight to take the funds keeped in Ciara's chambers for her "casual" spending. Being that she was the queen of a rather sizeable kingdom this was an amount of wealth that even most nobles could live well on for months. In total she had about 400 gold coins and 75 in silver at the time they left. Sam also had around 15 gold 12 silver and 5 copper coins on him. After spending close to two hours going from shop to shop Ciara managed to buy herself Twenty dresses and a dozen outfits for Elric for around 1.5 gold coins. The shop keep even had a mild panic attack as he had to scramble to come up with the 500 silver coins to make change. Taking advantage of the shops fitting room Ciara changed into a long flowing blue dress fitting for a young miss of a noble house. Elric was now dressed in something that might strike us as a little sailors outfit, and looked rather cute on him. Sam had stopped by a blacksmith and bought a rapier with a silver rose shaped hand guard. He was now dressed in black leather pants, knee high boots, white frilled shirt, and slim leather vest. This gave him the appearance of a dashing young master, and would be the perfect complement to Ciara's new attire giving them the look of a young noble couple and their child. Now properly dressed they arranged for their other purchases to be sent back to the inn and headed for the port.
** DawnStar Port District**
The guild hall acted as a go-between for people seeking passage onboard a ship, and the captains willing to take on passengers for a fee or so the blacksmith Sam bought the rapier told him. Knowing this tip; it was their first stop upon reaching the port district. Walking inside the guild hall Ciara was taken aback, as she had expected it to be more of a tavern filled with half drunk sailor, the grand and mostly quite main entrance surprised her greatly. At the end of a short passage was a large room with counters at one end. Behind each was a well dressed and somewhat attractive female attendant. This sight reminded Sam and Ciara of the reception area of a upscale auction house. Where one would talk to a representative of the auction house to make arrangements to sell items in the upcoming auction and receive an access token to the V.I.P. rooms.
Sam whom Ciara had given some gold coins to prior to walking into the guild hall, as it was the common societal practice for men and not women to conduct business deals, approached the center most attendant. When he got three steps form the counter the attendant greated him saying. "Hello, Young Master. What can I have the pleasure of assisting you with this fine day?" Sam replied " I want to book passage for myself,and the young Miss of my household along with her small son if possible."
"Yes, My Lord, where to?"
"To Fargo, as her Husband and Head of the family have already gone there to establish a new branch of the family's business there." "He sent word a few weeks back requesting that I accompany his wife and child ensuring their safety, and bring them to his side." He had said this to build a cover story for why a woman with a very young child would possibly want to make such a long and highly dangerous trip across the vast Arashi Ocean.
"Humm, let me check to see...... Ah here we go the "Golden Crow" is set to sail to Port Nass at first light." "Let me send a runner to see if Captain Jack Crow is willing to take you on a passengers. It should only take a few minutes as he was seen going up stairs to settle docking fees with the port master just before you came in." "Fear not, while a tad bit eccentric he is a good man and one of the best captains to ever make sail." After six minutes the small lad that acted as a runner for the guild came down the stairs with a tall lanky man with long braids in his jet black hair behind him. It was none other than Capt. Jack. The captain was dressed head to toe in tight black leather that made him look more like a pirate than a respectable guild sanction captain.
"Owie, This is the lot wantin' ta go to Fargo. Far nuff, I'll take em on. They seem like they won't be cause'n me much trouble unlike that last bloke for down south." "Ya know my set price lass, so long as they can pay up make sure to treat em good and that they are on board before i shove off." "I don't who ya are nor care but the, tide and winds wait for no man."
After paying the fee of fifty gold coins for each of the three of them, They went back to the inn to arrange for their luggage to be taken to the "Golden Crow". Sam decided to give Ciara a bit of a break and took care of baby Elric while to took the opportunity to take a proper bath. Now dressed in a green dress after her bath Ciara took Elric to a corner of the room and sat in one of the chairs to nurse him. Sam took it upon himself to down down stairs and fetch some dinner for himself to give her some privacy. As he felt it to be highly improper for him to perchance catch a glimpse of his queen's breast while she feed Elric. Once he was done eating he went back up to the room taking along a plate of meat that he intended to give to Ciara. She quickly tanked him for his kind offering of food. After she was done eating the went down to the inn's front desk to pay their tab and head for the "Golden Crow" in the port. Once on board a cabin boy showed them to the cabin that was to be their quarters for the journey. He quickly went to report to Captain Crow that the three of them had made it on board and where now in cabin two before returning to his normal duties of prepping the charts the captain would need for the voyage.
** Somewhere in the middle of the Arashi Ocean**
The "Golden Crow" had been underway for 13 days and close to a quarter of the way to Port Nass on the continent of Fargo. It had been smooth sailing up to this point. Suddenly the sailor in the crow's nest called out alerting the crew of something breaking the surface causing a large wave to head in their direction. The wave broke over the deck causing the ship to rock slightly. At this time the crew was able to catch sight of what caused the wave when it broke the water's surface. It was a sea monster, a red gilled sea dragon to be precise. Quickly the helmsman changed course to try and avoid it. Sadly it seemed as if their luck in smooth sailing had finally ran out as the sea dragon gave chase.
It quickly caught up to the "Golden Crow" who was laden with cargo for trade. The crew sounded the alarm for all hand on deck. Realizing something was wrong Sam grabbed his rapier and ran towards the deck. By the time he arrived on deck the sea dragon had claimed its first victim. It had grabbed one of the deckhands in its razor sharp teeth filled mouth. Currently it was trying to wrap itself around the ship. Sam joined the ongoing battle where scales and the limbs of a few of the sailors could be seen on the now bloodied deck of the ship. Sounds of steel hitting rock hard scales rang out among the cries of the sea dragon and crew. The sea dragon was lashing at them with its tail that had a trident tip causing many to be injured. Sam was no exception he and got hit from the back piercing his left shoulder deeply. The noise of the battle and the rocking of the ship caused by the sea dragon's grasp on it had awoken Elric who was with his mother Ciara. She was doing her best to try and keep him calm and from crying possibly alerting the attackers of their presence. Being in a cabin located in the sterncastle of the ship she was unaware that it was a sea dragon attacking them and not pirates. Try as she might Elric was getting rather fussy squirming in her arms and starting to cry. Elric started crying louder and louder, fearing the worst Ciara started to rock him him in her arms. With that not working she began to try an nurse him as a last ditch attempt to soothe him.
** Back on deck**
The sea dragon lifted its head and let out a low roar, and started to slowly sink back into the ocean. Just like that the attack was over, however the lives of sixteen of the ship's crew were lost the sea dragon's jaws and tail. That night everyone on board attended a burial at sea for the men that died. Captain Jack gave a heartfelt eulogy listing off the many accomplishments of those sixteen men. After saying that the men bravely gave their lives defending the ship; he reminded the crew that the ship was safe and that still had a job to do. It was still going to take weeks to reach Port Nass and as he said the ship won't sail itself.
The rest of the voyage was mostly uneventful with only a minor storm they had to sail through. During this time Sam told Ciara about the sea dragon's attack and how it had suddenly stopped after it roared to the sky as if in response to something or another of its kinds call. Ciara could not help but think if it was Elric's cries that the sea dragon responded to but she kept that thought to herself. She and Sam worked on gathering their things and cleaning up the cabin as the ship would be making port at Nass within a few hours.