A Christmas Storm Part 2

A Christmas Storm

Part 2

The next hour felt like an entire night to Fiona, unable to do anything but wait. As she had suspected, a trickle of water had found its way down one sleeve, and the dampness added to her discomfort at the situation.

She felt a weariness that had nothing to do with the late hour in the ship’s day. The darkness and ceaseless wind seemed to claw at her, numbing her mind. Her mind dwelt more than half in the past, on that dreadful day when her father had told her that her mother’s ship had been lost in a storm at sea, and that no one had survived. Twelve year old Fiona had wept, of course. She had been close to her mother, despite the latter's frequent absence at sea. That had been more than ten years ago. She had been through plenty more storms since then, both on land and at sea. But she had never felt like this.

Perhaps it was that she had never been in command before. Her fears in the past had been only for herself, and perhaps for her father. She had only had to worry about following orders and doing her job. Now, she was the one giving orders, responsible not just for herself but for the safety of her ship and crew. That responsibility gnawed at her tonight as it never had before. Had her mother sat on her bridge during that terrible storm, fear like a solid knot in her stomach, fighting to keep the tension out of her expression as the waves broke over the ship, the ship which yesterday had seemed so solid and now seemed so fragile?

It was of no use to tell herself that she had always dreamed of command, that she had worked for this goal since before her mother’s death. She knew the truth now. She hadn’t been ready for command. She had taken a risk on the basis of a hunch. The decision had been hers, and the responsibility hung heavily on her as she stared out at the darkness and tried not to think about how disappointed her mother would have been.

A crackle in her ear preceded Chief Rajan’s voice. “Captain, the creatures are turning hard to starboard. There seems to be a gap between two islands, or reefs. The light that we saw is almost abeam now- in fact I think there’s another light below it. Do we follow the creatures?”

Fiona swallowed. Taking the ship in amongst unknown islands in the dark, in a storm, was the definition of dangerous. It would be better to stand off and wait for the morning, and for the wind to die down. But by then the Seakin would be gone, and the mysterious lights too. With nothing to guide them they might get into even worse difficulty than if they went in now. And they would likely miss their opportunity to solve the riddle, to learn if the creatures were really Seakin, and what they were doing.

She could consult her senior officers, ask their advice. But there wasn’t time to argue, and anyway, in the end the decision would still be hers. Better to make it now, before she over-thought herself into indecision.

“Yes, chief,” she said, surprised at how calm her voice sounded. “We’ll follow, with extreme caution. Pass that on to the helm. I’ll come out and join you.”

Henry was not happy to hear her decision, but he gave the order to the helm. As she fastened her overalls and left the bridge Fiona saw him glance at Newton, the second officer, with something like a shrug. Despite her worries Fiona had to hide a smile. Normally her two senior officers took opposite positions on everything possible. If nothing else, at least she had finally given them something they agreed on.

Outside, cold rain pelted her face as she forced her way through the wind to the foredeck. She looked ahead as the ship completed the turn to follow the sea creatures. Two lights were clearly visible, flickering in the darkness. One, the smaller, seemed to be lower than the one they had seen first. Perhaps the first, bigger fire was on a clifftop, while the second was on the beach or suspended partway down. As they straightened on their new course she realised that from the new angle, the two lights were directly one above the other.

Chief Rajan had noticed as well. “Leading lights?” she said.

“It looks like it,” Fiona said. “If so, that hopefully means we’ve got a clear passage ahead of us. But keep a good lookout anyway.”

She touched her ear comm to change channel and make sure the lookouts on the bridge had spotted the lights. Lieutenant Henry still didn’t sound happy, but he did seem a little less worried.

Fiona looked over the rail at the sea, and gasped. Dozens of small black heads like the one she had seen before were surrounding them, half submerged in the storm-wrack. More were heading towards them, or were perhaps following the lights, just as they were. Soon they were surrounded. Fiona suppressed a shiver. She had no reason to believe the creatures were hostile, but if it turned out they were her crew could be in a very nasty situation, surrounded, among the rocks in the dark.

She listened. She could hear the low, mournful cries she had heard before, but she could also hear another call, higher and faster paced, almost musical.

“Sounds eerie,” Chief Rajan said.

Fiona shook her head. The sound was strange, but something about it made her feel full of anticipation. Not the anxiety of the last few hours, but the feeling of excitement she remembered as a child, the night before her birthday or some special event.

“Strange, maybe,” she said to the chief. “But not threatening.”

The chief didn’t seem so sure but Benson turned his head to speak to her. “No, not threatening,” she said. “But there’s something they’re excited about. I…I can’t tell what.” He shrugged awkwardly as Fiona looked at him, then turned back to the rope in his hands.

Fiona shook out the water that had once again trickled down her sleeve, and listened to the soundings as Benson started to get the hang of the lead. The depth held steady for some time, then began to shallow gradually. The wind seemed to slacken a little as they moved in closer among the islands, careful to keep the lights directly above one another. Before long Fiona could see that the lights were two large bonfires, one on the clifftop. The other seemed to be near the base of the cliff, and Fiona could see several shadowy shapes moving around it. At the edge of its’ light she could just see a narrow stretch of beach, where more shapes were moving.

Lieutenant Henry’s voice crackled in her ear. “Captain, I recommend that we either turn back or anchor here until dawn. It’s relatively sheltered, but if we go much further it’s going to get tight quickly.”

“I agree, Lieutenant,” Fiona said. “Please prepare to anchor.” She turned to go back to the bridge, unsure of her next move.

“Captain,” Benson said suddenly. “It looks like some of them are coming out to us.”

Fiona swung round. A group of smaller lights was moving towards the water’s edge. As she watched they entered the sea and began to move out towards the ship.

“Captain?” This time Lieutenant Newton’s voice came again over her comm. “It looks like something is putting out towards us. Should I send the crew to action stations in case we need to repel boarders?”

Fiona hesitated. Part of her wanted to say yes, to take the obvious action to protect her crew. But another part of her wondered if that attitude risked leading to exactly the sort of confrontation they wanted to avoid.

“Put the crew on alert,” she said slowly. “But don’t take any action that could be seen as hostile. No weapons are to be trained on our visitors until I give the word. Is that clear?”

“Yes, captain.” Lieutenant Newton sounded disgruntled, but that was nothing new. Fiona sighed. It didn’t seem to be her night for making her officers happy.

She looked back down at the sea, where the tiny lights showed dark shapes approaching surprisingly fast.

“Chief, see if you can get a spotlight trained on them,” she said.

The bright white light lit up the water by the bow as the anchor disappeared into the depths. Fiona watched as the group of dark shapes entered the circle of light. One looked up directly at her. Once again she found herself meeting the creature’s eyes, a gaze so intense it seemed to bore right through her. She gripped the rail and forced herself not to flinch or look away.

She heard Chief Rajan mutter something uncomfortable. She could see in the corner of her eye that Benson, on the other hand, was gazing down at the creatures, his eyes full of wonder.

The creature Fiona had locked eyes with turned away and seemed to beckon another forward. This one held up something, almost like an old fashioned megaphone, in a limb that looked almost like a hand, and pointed it towards Fiona.

“Get down, captain,” Rajan said urgently. “It could be a weapon.”

But Fiona didn't move. For all there was something disquieting about the creatures, she knew, somehow, that what she had seen in it's face was not fear, not hostility. She couldn't say exactly what it was they wanted, but she did not feel threatened.

“It's not a weapon,” Benson said quietly. “I think they want to communicate, captain.”

Suddenly Fiona froze. A curious sensation crept over her. The nearest she could describe it was hearing a voice in her mind, a voice that was definitely not her own. As she looked down at the creature in the water below her, she knew that she was hearing the creature speaking to her.

“Greetings, humans. We welcome you, on this night of nights, to the Gathering of the Seakin. You are welcome to join us ashore as we celebrate the vigil of the Long Night.”