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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 1, 2009 11:15:11 GMT -5
As they were loading the excess weapons on her pack pony, Shanna worried that there were more of these men nearby. She wanted to check out the woods where she had heard the rustling, but the beach farther up needed to be checked out too.
“Would you like to search on up the beach to see if there are any more of these men around and if they have a boat?” She asked Kainoa.
“I want to check out that rustling I heard over there,” she pointed to a spot in the tree line. “Plus I am wondering where those dogs got off to. I haven’t seen them in a bit.”
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Post by kainoa on Feb 4, 2009 11:27:45 GMT -5
Sorry it took so long to reply I was busy with school stuff. Kainoa wondered who would want to kill him and his mentor because if these weren't just plain thief's then they had to have been told to specifically kill someone.That's what worried Kainoa the most. Getting robbed by simple robbers was one thing but a group of organized attackers was another thing altogether. "Shanna if they weren't just regular thief's then they must have been after one person in particular right" Kainoa asked as he retrieved the weapons from the bodies. "Like an assassin"He added
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 4, 2009 18:54:02 GMT -5
Shanna looked at him intently. That particular thought had not entered her head yet, though she probably would have gotten to it eventually.
“That disturbing thought is certainly possible, but not the only explanation.” Shanna leaned on the pack pony, strumming her fingers on its neck.
“It is possible we were followed, though I should think we would have noticed anyone following behind us.” Then another thought occurred to her. “It is also possible they saw us leaving Seacliff and then road ahead on the road to let these men here know we were on the way.”
Why would someone want to kill or capture them? Who were these men that all wore the same pendants, much like the rangers wear their silver oak leaves. She was worried even more now. They needed to get off this beach, but they also need to know if there were any more of these men around.
“You know, it is possible that we just stumbled upon them and they are up to something that has nothing to do with us.”
Then another thought occurred to her that chilled her to the bone. Her face went white and she started to shake. “What if they are after horses? My father’s farm is the closest thing to this point. My family might be in danger!”
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 15, 2009 12:41:02 GMT -5
Shanna gave a low whistle to call Solo back, hoping he could hear it and if anyone else was around, they wouldn’t.
“Come on, let’s hide the horses and go scout out the beach.” Shanna grabbed the reins of the pack pony and her horse, and led them into the trees. She tied the pack pony to Kookie and tied the reins up so Kookie wouldn’t step on them. That way the horse could come to her if she called it. “Tie your horse to the pack pony.”
She turned and made her way down the tree line along the beach. “The next cove would be a perfect spot to hide a ship. You can’t see it from the sea unless you are directly straight out from it and you can’t see it from the beach in either direction because the trees jut out on both sides. The cove is “C” shaped and deep in the middle.” Shanna looked behind her to make sure Kainoa was following. She pulled her hood up on her ranger cloak and placed an arrow on her string, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.
“If they are after horses, or launching an invasion of some kind, then there will likely be a ship in that cove.” She slunk along the tree line, keeping to the shadows. “Stay in the shadows, and if someone seems to be looking at you, freeze. Your cloak will hide you.”
She continued carefully around promontory of the beach and sunk down into the shadows, viewing the cove. It was dark now, the sun having completely set, but there was no mistaking the silhouette of a foreign ship anchored in the cove. It was ominously quiet.
“This is not good.” She whispered. She crouched, unmoving, waiting to see if there were any of the men on the beach or on the ship. “There has to be someone left onboard.” She mused, “they wouldn’t leave it unattended.” She waited. Still no movement anywhere.
“We’re going to have to go check it out.” She turned to Kainoa, “Do you know how to swim?”
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Post by kainoa on Feb 20, 2009 0:56:59 GMT -5
"A little but, I really don't like deep water since the crash I have never gotten over that phobia."said Will his voice shaking slightly."But I guess if we stay in the shallows I could manage the swim."
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 22, 2009 9:04:26 GMT -5
“That is ok. I could use a lookout while I go check it out.” Shanna scanned the tree line again. She found it very peculiar that there wasn’t any activity around. Maybe the men they had just killed were the ones who were supposed to be guarding the ship.
“Why don’t you scout along the tree line and see if you can pick up a trail where they set off into the woods and what direction they headed?”
Shanna started peeling off her weapons and the outer layer of clothing down to her underclothes. “Sorry, don’t mean to embarrass you, but I am not about to go swimming in that cold water with all those clothes on. I will need them dry to get warmed back up again when I get back.” She bundled her clothes up and stuffed them in a bush, strapping the saxe knife and throwing knife back on over her chemise. She left the rest of her weapons with her clothes.
She waded out into the water. It was pretty cold, but not so bad that she would freeze. The water plastered her bloomers and chemise to her body, so she quickly sunk down up to her neck.
“If you see someone coming back, give some kind of signal – a wolf howl or something, ok?” She waded out deeper into the water, trying to get used to the cold before she plunged all the way under.
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 3, 2009 11:16:54 GMT -5
Shanna swam under the water most of the way to the ship. She came up to the anchor rope and silently climbed it up to the hole where it comes out of the ship at the brow. She grabbed one of the deck railing posts and peeked between them to survey the ship.
No one was in sight. 'Very strange' she thought as she swung up and over the railing, dropping to the deck in a crouch. She moved for cover, checking out the whole deck and the rigging. No one was there. she made her way to the forecabin door and listened intently for several moments. She thought she heard the sound of snoring. She eased the door open silently, just a crack and peeked in.
There was a sailor sprawled across one of the bunks in the small cabin, an empty jug of ale on the floor next to him. he was wearing a bear paw pendant that she could just see peeking out between the folds of his dirty shirt.
She surveyed the rest of the room, but couldn't see anything unusual. She reached in and quietly lifted the sailor's cutlass from the peg it was hanging on near the door and then went back out of the cabin, shutting the door and using the sword to bar the door so the sailor would not be able to get out without breaking the sword.
She made her way towards the aft of the ship and to the ladder leading to the two decks below...
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 10, 2009 18:57:08 GMT -5
Shanna crept down the ladder quietly, listening for any sounds below, but she didn't hear anything beyond the normal creaking of the ship.
There wasn't anyone in the hold, but the ship had spaces set aside to tie horses up and all the feed required for a long voyage. There were supplies at the near end and the tie rings and straw beddings for future horses ran down the center of the hold with the feed and hay at the far end of the ship. Shanna figured they could get about 20 horses in there easily. There was a sling on a pulley system to lower the horses into the hold from the main deck above.
Shanna climbed back up the ladder and opened the door on the middle deck a crack. This was the crew's sleeping quarters and the mess deck. She heard a low humming comeing from the far end of the deck. She slipped into the crew's quarters and into the corner in the shadows and listened again for a moment.
It was pretty dark in here, but she didn't think there was anyone in this area. The humming came from the galley. Apparently the cook was on board and hard at work.
Shanna worked her way between the hammocks and foot lockers to the galley door at the other end of the room.
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