Merrinia

Four long days. The stranger aboard the ship, or Eva as she was called, spent her days with Tessa, or talking with James in the brig. Each and every time Rudy saw her, he made a point to huff and look away. He'd spent his hours either helping Vera in the kitchen, or talking to Jules, Bill, or Rosia when things were calm. Mostly though, Rudy had played his games whenever his cleaning duties were resolved. Well, mostly resolved. Cleaning a ship from top to bottom was hard, especially with naught but a scrub-brush. Phillip hadn't even let Rudy steer the ship since that first launching from the ports. Something or other about the importance of keepin track of the waves and the stars. Mostly, he was met with drunken banter and excuses that seemed as shakey as a landowner's sea legs. On the good nights, he slept above deck, but on the rougher ones, it was within the battery. The bitter, smell of gunpowder and cannon polish, mixed with the latent brass, wood, and sea of the world around him became his comfort smells. The most eventful thing to happen, from Rudy's perspective at least, was his attempt to swindle some of the more potent drinks from the ship's stores.

It was only when they had approached thier next destination did the monotony change. Jules, the rest of the gunner crew, and the whole ship seemed to come to life in and of itself. Hustle and bustle, commands being barked from the top to the bottom, each and every available hand bringing the crew to come to rest just beyond thier target. Again, Rudy was left with the very important task of lookout. What exactly he was to lookout for had been left unclear, as there hadn't been any sign of King's men for quite some time. At first he was thinking to lookout for strangers, but the last time they found one, they'd recruited her. And so, Rudy sat in the crow's nest, a beautiful brass and copper spyglass resting in his hands. He'd been scanning the island shores and culverts for any sign of... anything but pretty much found what he'd expected to see. Dusty sandbanks, tropical trees and half-marshes of submerged jungle. It was a beautiful untamed locale. If only those bastard teachers could see him now. Who needs to read books when you got views like this?

Finally he turned his attention down towards the ship. Vera was down there somewhere. He knew Meg had wanted her aboard, keeping an eye on the new girl. Rudy wasn't sure why it mattered someone kept an eye on her or not, the girl had that air of lightness, dreaminess, of far-fetched dreams. The kind of girl who could be thrown anywhere, crack a smile and reach towards her skybound dreams. Rudy knew her kind well. Back on the mainland, amid the endless readings from scripture and the time spent cleaning the nooks and crannies of the church, a single other girl always seemed to drift in and out. The nuns had said she was homeless, and that it was only her faith in the Almighty that kept a smile on her face, food in her stomach, and coin in her hand. Rudy had always suspected thievery or even that her dumb smiles got pity from seabound men, and in their infinite shortsightedness, gave chunks of their wages to help keep her aloft. At least, that's what the other owl-faced acolyte kept saying. So in the end, it didn't matter who kept on eye on her, she’d manage to find trouble one way or the other. Almost as if on cue, Meg burst out from the lower decks of the ship. She seemed angry. If Rudy knew anything from living on this ship, it was that Hellfire earned her name. She was steaming. Announcements were made, but only the most prominent was heard.

“Tessa is to hang by her ankles from the mast while we are gone.”

Rudy was surprised. He'd been waiting for the upstart, but not for Tessa to be involved. She was strong, firm, quiet, and grouchy for sure, but also didn't seem like the kind who would take the bait often left by those like Eva’s kind. He sighed. He needed to let them cool down first, before he stepped down to figure out what was going on. He pulled out his grubby, misshapen cards. The 8th of spades’ corner was completely torn now, but Rudy shuffled them as good as he could anyway, and set up a game of Patience. Halfway through, the Captain disembarked. Rudy didn't bother looking up. The sound of ropes and knots being toyed with pinged a long discordant tune, as if the strings of a massive instrument had been plucked. It was only when Rudy reached again for that 8 of Spades did a sharp, throaty Kaw interrupt his train of thought.

Rudy snapped to attention. A large, black-beaked, bird sat at the edge of the nest, watching Rudy with a single glossy, midnight eye and the remaining crew with the other. It was a Raven. A bird of vile connotations sent from the pits of the underworld to plague the world of the living with terror and misfortune. It was a creature of infinite bad luck, and a premonition of terrible things to come. A living bad omen. Still, Rudy watched the creature. There's no way it was here for them, right? No nobody else could see the bird, But that would mean… This bird is for me..

A chill ran down Rudy's spine. He looked for something to toss at the bird, and dug through his pockets when he didn't find anything. Finally his fingers grabbed something hard and smooth. In one fluid motion he pulled out a dark brassy something and threw it straight at the fiendish bird. The brass rivet scrap sailed off the edge of the nest, and the raven took to the sky with another menacing Kaw. Rudy couldn't bring himself to move for a few seconds. He needed a minute to calm and collect himself. Finally, looking around the edge of the nest for any sign of Meg, he swung his legs over onto the ladder and began his descent. He needed to be near people now, damned if he was disobeying the Captain's orders, everyone else was doing it, why shouldn't he?