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Post by ivory on Nov 18, 2009 18:44:09 GMT -5
Angel gritted her teeth at the impact of the two skiffs colliding, then swore beneath her breath as she felt pressure on the other side of their boat. Common sense told her Rick was pulling himself onboard, the survivior in her wished he wasn't. Rip didn't seem to have the same thoughts as she as he entered soon after, but then, the water was cold and the waves harsh, so maybe he was just getting out of the cold. She wondered briefly if she could count on him to back her up if she took the oppurtunity to leave Rick behind, assuring their own survival. But she quickly dismissed the idea, reminding herself that she had to get rid of him too before she was flogged to death by Dougal. Which probably wouldn't be the worse that could happen should he find out...
She eyed Rick's stretched out hand trecherously, half-thinking to pull him in. Of course, that'd only cause more harm than help, but there it was floating in the not-so-deep depths of her mind. Angel stomped that thought further under as another one breached the surface. What if she stayed behind and bargained her way off the island? Not only could she get a positive way of getting back to some country, but she'd lose Rip in the process, killing two birds with one stone. But then, there was always the possibility that they wouldn't take her offer, simply killing her on the spot.
She was used to fighting more than one opponent at a time, but their numbers far outweighed her usual and whereas they were only partially drunk, she was sore and about to drop. She doubted she'd last long, even if she could ignore the pain.
Gritting her teeth she released the edge of the skiff with one hand and grasped Rick's, using his counterweight to pull herself over the side. As she rose from the water she felt a bump on her leg and a chill raised throughout her body. There was no way for her to know if it'd actually been a shark, but then again, there was no way for her to know if it was not. She was simply grateful she was out of the water, despite the extra stinging as her wound met open air.
Gritting her teeth, she allowed her eyes to drift shut as she lay on the bottom of the skiff, but before she could feather off into a slight daze, Rip yelled over the sound of the water, "Are those rocks?" Muttering another curse, she twisted into a sitting position and quickly grabbed an oar, clenching her jaw as she began to row. Her muscles screamed as she did so, not wanting the additional, heavy workout, but she simply ground her teeth and carried on. She'd never rowed a boat before, thus she was ignorant to the fact that they had to be in tempo for the rowing to actually do any good. They slowly spun into a circle and only when they faced the shore once again, did she begin to think something was wrong - besides of course, the men now swimming toward their main ship after having gained the courage (or the fear) to follow. Of course that only made her row all the harder, still ignorant to that major detail of a needed tempo.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 21, 2009 23:43:40 GMT -5
"Ivory lay resting in the branches of a tree, having climbed up there shortly after coming back to camp. Within seconds, she’d fallen asleep, only to wake hungry as a growing boy. She knew she should’ve eaten before going to sleep, but she’d been so tired and her body had been screaming for a period of rest and she’d happily complied. A period that didn’t seem to have helped in the least as her body was still felt like whipped butter.
She tried to move to descend the tree and pick from the remains of the boar, but was too weak to do so. Hell, she was even too tired to panic at her stuck situation. Her eyes felt so heavy, but she was hungry...She tried moving again and after a few minutes, actually managed to succeed. Not wanting to stop in fear that she’d not be able to start again, she began to painstakingly make her way down the tree, only to slip the last few feet and land hard on her shoulder."
Barry got up carefully, watching the lynx while he tried to wake up Darcy who was sleeping very soundly. He gave up on Darcy waking and took a step toward the lynx and she moved away into the trees. Barry followed a short distance and then heard a clatter and crash off to his left. It sounded as if something had fallen out of a tree.
Kira froze, one paw in the air and listened intently, looking in the direction of the thump.
Barry decided to check it out and as quietly as he could he approached the sound until he came upon the form of someone at the base of a tree. It was dark and he couldn't make out who it was until he got closer, then he realized it was the woman who had helped him.
Barry ran over, "Lady, you OK?" He knelt down beside her, cradling his bad arm with the good one to keep from jarring his shoulder. Without touching her, he looked her over to determine how badly she was hurt. He couldn't see any obvious damage. "Lady?" he said a bit louder and gently reached out to touch her cheek. He couldn't help but think how pretty she was as he stroked her soft skin with his sea callused finger tip.
The lynx stepped up next to him and sniffed at the woman, then sat back on her haunches and watched Barry as if waiting for him to do something.
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Post by Brandwyn on Nov 21, 2009 23:57:52 GMT -5
Rick shook the spray out of his face as the skiff bucked against the force of the current pulling them toward the rocks. He saw Angel was having a hard time with the oar and he hollared at her to move to the back so she could take the rudder from him.
"Angel, come back here and steer the boat. I will row. Just turn it this way, " he demonstrated how to move the rudder, "and the nose of the boat will go the opposite direction." Once he was sure she knew what to do, he moved to the center of the boat and picked up an oar and dug it into the water. His shoulder was bleeding profusely and each stroke was agony. He felt himself getting weaker as they battled the current.
Over the roar of the water hitting the rocks, Rick heard the sound of smashing wood and saw one of the loose skiffs smash and splinter all over them. He rowed all the harder, fear of drowning overcoming the discomfort of his shoulder.
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Post by Tandar on Nov 23, 2009 13:28:19 GMT -5
Cannon grunted as he pulled himself over the side and into the skiff. He was exhausted from the fight in the cave, and the choppy sea seemed to be against them. Following Rick's direction, the assassin moved to one of the oars and mentally reviewed what he knew about rowing. It had been a while since he'd last rowed a boat. Gripping the oar tightly, he glanced at Angel, trying to match her tempo, but with no luck.
Finally, the Ranger took her place and Rip was able to find a steady pattern in Rick's rowing. The craft began to move forward at a constant speed, and the sea suddenly seemed less dangerous. As long as Angel steered the boat toward shore, the trio would be fine.
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Post by JezusBagels on Nov 26, 2009 17:35:12 GMT -5
Ulrich, doing his best to fend off the throbbing head ache that ailed him, stood from his place against the side of the deck and looked around. As he had expected, all hell had broken loose. He looked to sea and caught a glimpse of a skiff disappearing around the edge of the cave mouth, further out.
He smirked at the sight of it. "Guess they got out," he said to no one in particular. He composed himself, looking around the cave. No doubt someone had orders for him. Not particularly fun ones either. He jogged off the boat to the cave floor and searched for Tony... or anybody.
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Post by ivory on Nov 27, 2009 13:57:11 GMT -5
Barry got up carefully, watching the lynx while he tried to wake up Darcy who was sleeping very soundly. He gave up on Darcy waking and took a step toward the lynx and she moved away into the trees. Barry followed a short distance and then heard a clatter and crash off to his left. It sounded as if something had fallen out of a tree. Kira froze, one paw in the air and listened intently, looking in the direction of the thump. Barry decided to check it out and as quietly as he could he approached the sound until he came upon the form of someone at the base of a tree. It was dark and he couldn't make out who it was until he got closer, then he realized it was the woman who had helped him. Barry ran over, "Lady, you OK?" He knelt down beside her, cradling his bad arm with the good one to keep from jarring his shoulder. Without touching her, he looked her over to determine how badly she was hurt. He couldn't see any obvious damage. "Lady?" he said a bit louder and gently reached out to touch her cheek. He couldn't help but think how pretty she was as he stroked her soft skin with his sea callused finger tip. The lynx stepped up next to him and sniffed at the woman, then sat back on her haunches and watched Barry as if waiting for him to do something. Ivory gave a soft moan of protest as fingers touched her cheek and tried to turn the other way, but her body was too tired to move. Warning bells flashed off in her mind, having been honed from a life of constantly being on the move, but she still didn't stir and after a while they quieted as if seeing that the danger she faced wasn't actually any danger at all. She lay there for a moment before her stomach growled loud and painfully, propelling her to act, to move, to get something to eat. She gripped his hand and tried to rise.
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Post by ivory on Nov 30, 2009 15:38:14 GMT -5
At Rick's command, Angel was glad they hadn't actually left him behind as she moved to switch places with him, taking her seat at the rudder. The next chance she got, she was really going to have to learn how to steer a boat...and get over her fear of abandoned places. But not wanting to think about that now, she focused her attention on the former, studying the two men as they rowed in symphony. It took her a moment to figure out what they were doing different, but once she had that down, she turned her attention back to the shoreline, or rather, the water in front of it.
There were a few men already onboard, the rest following by way of rope, hand over hand as they pulled themselves higher. Being sailors, they had not only the strength, but the endurance to haul themselves up and over the rail and then continue to man the ship. She couldn't help her slight admiration of the crew, then frowned at the close proximity of the two ships.
It was true that they were currently out of reach of any archer on deck, but how long would that last once the pirates picked up speed? She knew close to nothing about boats, but doubted that this little skiff could outrun such a ship. Her eyes skirted to Rick and wondered if they'd have a better chance with less weight in the craft, but immediately gave a mental shake of the head. She doubted even without his added weight, they'd pick up enough speed to escape.
She began to slowly chew on her tongue as she turned her face to the heavens, staring at the brightly lit moon and surrounding stars. They really were quite beautiful. Dang it. She'd hoped that there'd be a few clouds that'd cover the moon, offering them an added layer of shadows to help shield them from prying eyes onboard, but alas, no such luck. The night sky was as clear as glass.
Biting back a curse, Angel turned her head first to the open sea, then to the shoreline in an attempt to gather ideas. She supposed if they could lose sight of the ship for a moment, two of them could swim toward shore while the other rowed the skiff for another few yards before joining, hopfully after he crashed it amongst some rocks. True, they'd lose the skiff, but it wasn't like they were actually going to get back to civilization in this thing.
Her eyes turned back to Rick, calculating his chance of surivival. It was clear he held the most knowledge about ships and could no doubt swim, but then, he was wounded in his chest and no doubt tired from their ordeal. Great, a two in one deal. That is, if it pulled true, an outcome that didn't look very high on her possibilities chart. But if it was the only idea she'd be willing to take it, especially with the possibility of getting rid of one threat. She hadn't forgotten that both men knew one of her weaknesses and for that alone, she felt the urge to eliminate them. She'd grown up in too harsh a setting to let something assumingly small, go.
But before she thought to propose her idea, best to double check something. "Is there any way the skiff can move faster than the ship?" And make sure there wasn't any other plans. "So any plans on how to actually succeed in this escape?"
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Post by Tandar on Dec 1, 2009 11:16:49 GMT -5
"Is there any way the skiff can move faster than the ship?"
"Maybe if we got to the shallows," Rip replied. He shrugged and looked to the Ranger. "We may have to abandon the skiff and take to land, but I don't know how we're getting out of this."
The assassin searched his mind for any possible plans of action and came up empty. "I've got nothing." He continued to row, making slight adjustments to his speed to stay synchronized with Rick. Risking a glance over his shoulder, he saw the looming pirate ship. The sails were unfurled and Rip could make out a man at the helm.
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Post by ivory on Dec 1, 2009 19:46:55 GMT -5
Angel's eyes narrowed at him, half in amusement, half in dry complaint, as he voiced her own plan. Well, at least she knew she'd be able to count on him should the tides take a turn for the worst, she thought dryly, then dismissed her 'ill' feelings with a small upturn of the lips. She'd always grasped on the humor to keep her sane and over time it'd whiddled into the fabric of her life.
She cast another look at the ship, frowning as it easily began to close the distance between them. Her mind quickly went through the possibilities, her eyes narrowing on the figure at the helm of the ship. She couldn't tell if he was armed with or not in the darkness and after a moment's hesitation, she stood for a better look, wanting to establish the boundaries of possible plans.
Unfortunately, having been on boats for only a short time in her life, she wasn't exactly used to the rocking of the ship, especially on smaller ones where the vibrations were more strongly felt. She teetered to the side and quickly fought to keep her balance, placing way too much pressure on her leg.
She dug her teeth into her bottom lip to combat the pain as her leg gave out, forcing her more or less onto Rick's lap. She flashed him an embrassed look and ss soon as she could, she shifted to rise, though not before snapping her leg straight up to fly over her shoulder and slam into his right temple, knocking him unconscious. She'd spent years discovering the weaknesses of the body and knew her aim hit true and hard enough to knock him out without any more damage than a swollen bruise. The headache after his recovery from 'slumber' was a given.
She quickly rolled to her feet and flashed another look toward the boat in an attempt to lock eyes with whoever was at the helm, silently offering the ranger as an exchange for their freedom. She didn't however, show her back to Rip, keeping one eye on him as well in case he didn't take too kindly to her recent actions.
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 1, 2009 22:34:44 GMT -5
"Is there any way the skiff can move faster than the ship?"
"Maybe if we got to the shallows," Rip replied. He shrugged and looked to the Ranger. "We may have to abandon the skiff and take to land, but I don't know how we're getting out of this."
Rick heard them and risked a glance back at the ship. He saw them moving around on deck, but didn't figure they would bring the Razor after the skiff.
"We are better off in the skiff if we can get out near the breakers." Rick said as he turned back and gritted his teeth in pain with each stroke of the oar as his shoulder wound tore open wider. "The current may carry us around to camp and help."
Of course that wouldn't stop the pirates if they were intent on pursuing.
As Rick contemplated their predicament to take his mind off the pain, Angel suddenly stood up and then fell into his lap. He barely had a chance to look at her in surprise when she flipped her leg into his head.
Just before everything went black, he had the notion pop into his head that she may have kicked him on purpose and then he was unconscious in the bottom of the skiff.
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 2, 2009 13:06:33 GMT -5
(OOC: sorry this is long! Actually, no I am not! You all deserve it for knocking Rick out! Not to mention doing 6 posts without me while I was in TN! pout! So there! ;D )
Tony saw the skiff pulling away, out of bow shot even for the crossbow and scowled. The tide was taking the skiff out of the cave and toward the breakers swiftly. For a moment or two it foundered as they shifted rowers, then the two men managed to get it moving and although it came dangerously near the rocks that had just claimed one of his skiffs, they managed to clear the rocks and move out of the cave, rowing hard.
Tony noted with satisfaction that the ranger was having a hard time keeping a strong, steady stroke on the oar with a knife wound in his shoulder. But it was only a tiny bit of comfort as he noticed his men that had been in the water suddenly start climbing the mooring ropes onto the deck. Two men in the water were swimming madly for the remaining skiff foundering in a jetty dangerously close to some rocks on the far side of the cave.
“What is it?” Tony asked one of the men as he climbed on board and others streamed up the gangway.
“Joe said he felt a shark bump his leg, Cap’n.” Arty panted, edging away from Tony. “Someone was saying to go back to the ship, so we did.”
Tony nodded, scanning the dark waters for shapes of sharks. “Get ready to make way and cast off.” He said to Arty just as Mort came up behind him. Mort hollered the order for all hands and the men started scrambling all over the deck, the last ones that had been on shore pulled in the gangplank behind them and climbed up the mooring ropes after they had untied them.
Mort looked over the railing next to Tony, half keeping a watch on the men as they prepared to sail. He saw some men start to unfurl the sails and yelled at them after they had gotten them most of the way up, “What’re ya doing? Ther’s no wind in this cave, ye scabberous dogs! Leave them sails furled till we get into open water.” He turned back to the water shaking his head. “Tha fools’ll have us smashed on tha rocks.”
Tony was still searching the water and watching the progress of the last two of his men that weren’t on the ship swimming for the skiff. One of them reached it and hauled himself in; just as the other one screamed out in pain and was pulled under the surface. “There!” Tony pointed, gripping Longarrow’s shoulder. “Shoot that thing!”
“I might hit our man there.” Longarrow followed the shark’s movement with the arrow point as the ship began to move.
“Shoot! You can’t hurt him worse than that shark is doing.” Tony growled. “Mort, get the men on the oars and furl those sails!”
Mort had been watching the drama in the water and realized that another set of men had seen the foresails go up and they were now unfurling the main sail. “Hoy there! Furl that sail!” He yelled and stepped into the middle of the foredeck. “To the oars! To the oars! All hands make ready to row!” He put his full attention on the crew as a gust of wind from the cave mouth whipped the half furled mainsail and filled it. The ship began to move to the right, toward the rocks as the oars were dropped into the water. Mort raced across the deck to the wheel and began shouting orders to the rudder man and the oarsmen. “Ship the starboard side oars!” He yelled, leaning over the railing as the ship slowly began to move forward instead of sideways. He could see rocks looming up along side the right side of the ship and feared they would break off the oars. “Ship the starboard oars now!” He screamed. “Rudder hard to port!”
The oars were pulled back into the ship just in time as the rocks slid by dangerously close to the starboard bow. The ship’s deck pitched down to the left as the rudder turned the ship back to port away from the rocks. Then the ship shuddered and Mort heard a terrible grinding noise under the belly of the ship. She was running aground on some rocks below the surface. As soon as there was space he yelled, “Drop the starboard oars! Starboard oars hard reverse!” He yelled down the well at the helm so the men manning the oars below could hear him. The ship only had 8 oars on each side, an addition Tony had designed when he took over as Captain, and they were used normally in tight situations like this or to give an extra burst of speed when the pirates needed to capture or evade another ship. Mort hoped he could use them now to keep them from getting a hole punched in the belly of the ship. He was hoping to spin the ship off the rocks. “Rudder hard to starboard! Port oars hard forward! Starboard oars hard reverse!”
Tony felt the ship shudder and ground his teeth as she the rocks scraped down her hull and she slowed, but he was watching his man in the water as Longarrow fired a bolt at the shark. His aim was true and the shark released the man and dove down deep, out of site. The other pirate hauled the wounded one into the skiff and they lay there for a moment watching the water around them as two more fins broke the surface of the water. “There!”
Longarrow was ahead of him though and sent another bolt into the side of a different shark. Suddenly there was thrashing in the water as other sharks tore into the wounded one, probably attracted more by the blood of the man than the shark. The two men in the skiff were stranded though, at the mercy of the tide as they were pulled out of the cave behind the escaping prisoners. There were no oars in the boat. They had been used to carry the pig to shore along with a bunch of fruit and coconuts that the pirates had foraged. No one had bothered to reship the oars when they had finished.
Tony felt the ship shudder and then slide free of the rocks and they began to move forward again, gaining on the two skiffs. “Make ready! Men overboard!” He yelled and gestured for some of the men to throw down a rope to the two men in the skiff as they drew closer to it. The ship didn’t feel right as she moved in the water though. “Damn it! They put a hole in my ship!” Tony growled, only loud enough for Longarrow to hear him.
“Cap'n! Look out yonder at the prisoners!” Longarrow exclaimed.
Tony looked up and noticed the woman standing up gesturing to a dark lump in the boat. Then he realized he could only see one of the men rowing. Not the ranger. ‘Interesting,’ he thought. ‘How very interesting indeed.’ He quickly assessed the situation, sizing up the distance to the skiff and determining by the movement of the ship that the hole in her belly was not a crippling one, he yelled, “run up the white colors! Patch that hole below!”
Men scrambled and the Jolly Roger flag came down and up went a solid white flag, the universal sign of truce or parlay. Tony noted that the two men in the skiff were on board and the skiff had been tied off to the ship, though it was still in the water. At least they had retrieved one of them. They were moving out of the cave mouth now, the oarsmen in a good steady rhythm. “Drop anchor!”
Mort repeated the command, calling for the oarsmen to cease rowing and the ship slowed as it neared the skiff with the prisoners in it.
When The Razor was close enough to be within ear shot, Tony hollered, “What deal you want to make?”
They were still far enough away that they couldn’t grapple the skiff, but close enough now that the prisoners were within bow range. The bad thing was that Longarrow only had four more bolts left in his quiver. “You better hang onto to those. Keep one aimed on that woman and take her out first. She was more trouble than the man and won’t bring as good a price anyway.” He said softly to Longarrow who nodded in acknowledgement.
The ship slowed, but it was still drifting closer to the skiff which was now being carried solely by the current since the two men were not rowing in unison any longer. Tony could now make out the form of the ranger lying in the boat unconscious. A shark swam past between the slowing Razor and the skiff as Tony crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at the two in the skiff, waiting for an answer.
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Post by Tandar on Dec 11, 2009 10:18:19 GMT -5
Rip froze for a moment after Angel knocked out the Ranger. He was unsure what her intentions were and his muscles automatically tensed in case she decided to knock him out too. He dropped the oar. It was useless now that Rick was no longer rowing.
"What are you doing?" he asked Angel.
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Post by JezusBagels on Dec 12, 2009 20:47:37 GMT -5
Malphorius opened his eyes. The pseudo-darkness of early morning cast an eerie calm over the beach that morning. He yawned and sat up, looking around. A few people were awake, but most still slept, huddled together in hopes of surviving the cold of night. He frowned at the sight. They wouldn't have that problem tonight. Today would be a productive day. It had to be, lest the risk another night in the cold.
He stood groggily, shaking off the last vestiges of tiredness from his body, and awoke the nearest people, telling them to wake everyone else up as well while he planned for the day. They had to divide into groups if they wanted to get all of the work done in one day. Then he remembered their missing persons. They would need search parties as well. Damn.
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 13, 2009 17:36:04 GMT -5
Ivory lay there for a moment before her stomach growled loud and painfully, propelling her to act, to move, to get something to eat. She gripped his hand and tried to rise.
Barry helped her up with his good arm, noting that her stomach was growling and wondered if she had eaten the food he had given her the night before.
He half carried her back to camp where he noticed others stirring now. He sat her down on a log by the fire and pulled some meat off the spit that had been hanging high over the fire all night. It was a bit dried out, but warm and edible.
"Eat!" He ordered her, hoping she wouldn't be in any shope to question why he was giving her orders. He sat down next to her and procured a piece of meat for his own breakfast.
He watched the old doctor making plans for the day and groaned silently. It seemed they were in for another day of hard labor. He really wanted to get off this island - and soon.
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Mri
Apprentice Scribe
:)
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Post by Mri on Dec 20, 2009 20:50:23 GMT -5
"Trying to ensure us a way off the island," Angel replied, eying him warily before feeling the cloth beneath her left armpit. It took her a moment before she could navigate the knotted ball of ribbon through the smaller hook sewn into the seam, but once she did, she moved to the cuff of her wrist, pulling the bow on the outer side of the garment free. Then she gave a tug on the homemade ribbon (she’d twisted multiple strings together to make it stronger), sliding it out through the cuff. It was only ten inches longer than her arm, but would do well enough until they could hand him off to the captain. Moving slowly, for still unsure of Rip’s motives, she inched her way to binding up Rick’s wrists.
“So,” she asked Rip, “interested?”
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