Adventure Into The Unseen Part I

The hull sung low and deep as it breached the crest of another high wave, the thousandth that the trireme had barrelled through this morning alone and because of this the caulk had begun to be forced through the gaps in the wood, the sheer force of the waves pounding the very glue holding the hull together.

The men onboard had been sailing these waves for days now. mercenary sailors, a haggard mix of lost warriors, criminals and laymen all looking to make more money then what there actual professions provided. Before the water grew violent it had been easy sailing, that was through coastal waters they knew. now they had put the horizon in front of them, in a direction no one had sailed, for a land no one of their kind had seen, for riches and fame none of them were ever allowed to dream of before.

"will this break?" the bosun called to the captain

"likely will, all seas calm eventually , even a sea as such as this" the captain called back, his eyes still stuck to the horizon, he would not let them see his uncertainty.

"the men need something, a sign of prosperity, for weeks since we stowed oar and raised sail and our warm lands receded from sight there has been nothing but this retched blue waste, can we call up the navigator? see this chart of his?" the bosun asked

"he knows as much as you or I " the captain said stroking the hilt of his sword, also questioning the navigators methods in his mind.

"sir, the men talk of strange sounds from his chamber, weeping, chanting , calling out to all manner of strange things that I've never heard of before and I have been to every port in the empire and sung every manner of drunken song... let me bang on his door, get him out, at least the men will see that he isn't transforming into some ghoul."

"that is not your place" scowled the captain, flashing a glance back at the bosun, although they were all mercenaries and there was no rank here, it was the captains ship, and he did purchase the navigator and put together this voyage "you have some truth in your speech but it is not your place, he is a highly acclaimed man our navigator, and a hard man to talk to, lest you put him out of his work and doom us to more of this tempest, but yes, to put your fears to rest I will speak to him, get us a surer bearing"

the bosuns eyes grew dark, he was spoken to as a dog in the armies out on the fields by children portraying themselves as officers and that was why he left , but the captain had an air of competence that he wasn't used to, but still,, being told by a man that hadn't proved himself in his eyes yet was hard to swallow. "of course.....captain"

the captain walked down from the forecastle. heading for the navigators chambers. the trireme was larger then most in service, it had been fitted out with chambers for grain haulage but for this voyage they where repurposed as sleeping quarters for the 100 men brought on board. only the captain and the navigator had separate quarters, something that had caused upset in the rank and file. the ship pitched and groaned as it barrelled on through the storm, the men slunk down against the rails or huddled together, a few talked , not of anything nice but of curses and the level of doom the voyage had incurred. all onboard had made sacrifices to the gods as they left. all except the navigator. when the ship was making preparations to leave its last home port, the navigator was seen rushing into his cabin, bloody footsteps behind him, he hadn't left his cabin since.

the captain steadied himself on a shield outside the navigators cabin, thinking over the coming conversation. it had been a full year since he heard of the foreign lands, abundant in riches and never before seen wonders. He heard tell of huge monuments to strange gods made out of gold, lands ripe for farming and all manner of beautiful open spaces to start a new empire. these tales where heard here and there, mostly by old sailors who heard it from older sailors, who, back when the empire split over 200 years ago fought numerous battles and several men had been strew across lands and seas unknown, it was then that the captain met the navigator. a dark and quiet man, covered in strange markings and held in stranger regard by others in his profession. he claimed to have been given a heading, but from where he would not say, just one bearing from a certain point in a land on the edges of the known map, they were on that bearing now, for days, the captain had been in open sea before, but not like this, he wanted answers and as much as he would hate to admit it, the bosun was right. he banged on the navigators door, a groan of admittance came from inside, he drew the door open and entered.

the navigators room was dark, not just in the lighting sense but in the feel as well, the whole ship felt dark but this room felt like a pit, that reeked of dread and foreboding. the normally clean walls and floor had papers strewn about, with scrawled pictures on them, the walls themselves covered in writing the captain had never seen, and in the corner, shrouded in a hood and blackness, the navigator sat, his breath rattling in the cold air.

"how may I serve you sir" he spoke as if his voice had been split into 3 pieces

"I give you the largest cabin on this ship and you turn it into some sort of god forsaken hole, you haven't left this room for days, the men are asking questions, they believe you either mad or dead"

"dead perhaps...but of far sounder mind then you would think my dear captain" the navigators voice almost ethereal in its tone

"tell me then, how much farther , how much longer? our provisions will last another week, I need something tangible, I need a sign" the captain almost pleading with the navigator

"you have had plenty since we left captain, we are on the right path" as he spoke the navigator stood up and walked in a circle around the room, the light from his oil lamp illuminating the walls, "you see here?" he pointed to a drawing in red of two large points, " through the mouth of two great mountains, we shall see these two mountains first, then between them, salvation will be granted"

"how can you be sure, when you told me of this bearing you where of much sounder mind, you where a man In high regard, now I see a wraith draped in what was once a officers tunic, gliding about amidst rumours of curses and false offerings" as he finished speaking the captains voice trailed off, the navigator swayed into the middle of the room where the light was better, allowing the captain to see the gauntness of his face, his eyes red and his fingernails completely removed.

" some journeys, require different offerings, our lands where tamed by benevolent gods, theses seas, the farther lands are unknowable by your or our kind, we must call out to things that hide in between spaces, we are on the right path dear captain, stray not an hair from it, for inside this bearing the path to salvation lies, the bearing is the tangible to accompany the intangible, the thing I have that cannot be seen or given to the men, you must trust me, my sacrifices are different yes, but they will yield results far more accurately then your homeland ones will" as he spoke the navigator seemed to phase in and out of consciousness, his eyes glazed over and seemingly hanging from a invisible thread holding just his head, the captain inched closer

"how, much, farther" the captain growled, growing tired of this religious sounding nonsense

"soon, but not too soon, now, leave me, do not return until you see the peaks through the mist, then you will need me.

that night the captains dreams where invaded by monsters, a blood red face screaming words of halting. strange drumming and clouded faces. where they even going to make it through this? or was this the end for 100 souls that the rest of the world had already forgotten.

stools, chairs, tables. all things that belong upright and safely on the ground, where now hurtling through the air. 3 days after the captains interrogation of the navigator, the sea had become violent. the captain had come rushing up from below decks to see a wave crash over the deck taking 12 men into the sea. the deck awash with the blood of 2 more men crushed by the falling sail. this was the third day of this, the men now lashed themselves to the deck, the lower decks all semi submerged after the nails had been blown from the panels as the waves grew more violent and water came rushing in.

the bosun now stood drunk at the helm, steering into the storm. the night before he barged into the navigators cabin with the aim of either getting some sense or killing him, he returned at dawn, bald and blabbering about sunken eyes and river as green as fertile hills, now he fought with every muscle he had to keep the ship on the bearing. the captain, aware of what the men were not, that there was almost no fresh water, and their food now all washed out to sea, begged indifferent gods for land of any sort, or even just a calm wave.

"on the horizon!" called the lookout "two large waves, yet to break, we are headed straight for them, turn bosun you fool!"

"if I change course we die, this is the bearing, this is the path!" cried the bosun over the din of thrashing rain

"you'll kill us all!" cried the men "somebody take the helm, captain do something!"

the captain weary from responsibility, and almost wanting this journey to end one way or another, looked up to the bosun, who returned the glance, eyes red and wild, and the captain strapped himself to the deck and held fast.

the first wave, 90 meters high carried the ship to its peak, it had yet to break, then falling more then sailing down the other side at speeds no one could measure and gravity seemingly disappearing the ship slammed into the valley between the waves, men hurtling into the air and slamming onto the deck, breaking bone and impaling on broken woodwork and strewn weapons. the ship now lay at the base of a second 60 meter wave, like a fallen fighter, his foe standing above him waiting to strike a killing blow, the wave loomed menacingly. the captain looked up, thinking of everything that brought him here. failed marriage, zero job prospect, greed, fame, and he closed his eyes. as a mountain of water fell onto his ship.

"rise captain"

the navigators voice causing him to stir.

"you are not dead yet"

the captain opened his eyes, he felt the cold deck beneath him. the sounds of men in agony filed his ears, he sat up the ship now listing toward the rear, the mast completely gone, a huge gash in the upper deck that allowed on to view the lower deck and water slowly flowing in from beneath the lower hull planks.

"the rain stopped, how are the men?" asked the captain

"21 have left us dear captain, but a sight is to be seen" said the navigator

"blast!, what of the provisions? the bearing? I need the bosun to do a check of the men"

"the bosun has gone my captain," spoke the navigator in a low rattle. the captain now faced him, the navigator had removed his hood and in the daylight he could see that the navigator had scared his bald head, the strange twin mountain markings that where on the wall of his cabin now scared into his temples, his eyes drawn back into his skull and red markings coming down the crown of his head to the tip of his nose

"wha..what is this? what happened to the bosun?" asked the captain, his voice shaking

"a sacrifice was needed, he unknowingly volunteered, he got us through the gate that was put before us, and he played his part well, now he lies in 9 pieces, shredded by the anchor chain that looped around him and drug him into the sea, he will be rewarded where he is going" rattle the navigator

"rewarded? what? what is happening?" stammered the captain

"I need you to stand up, and look to the direction I point now" said the navigator raising his forefinger to the horizon

the captain slowly go up, he saw the men around him all looking and gasping at the direction the navigator pointed, their faces a mix of surprise, wonder and joy.

the sea had calmed, almost like glass, and ahead, maybe 20 miles, through the mist. two tall mountain peaks broke through.

"our journey, is just beginning dear captain" said the navigator

the captain rubbed his beard, his mind now awash with hope of the riches and fame he lusted after when he first gathered the supplies for this voyage. shouting orders of preparing to make land and gather the weapons the captain moved about with new haste, oars had been run out as the remaining men moved with the same fire that drew them to this strange contract in the first place, and as the ship burst into life again around him, the navigators head sunk low, and he smirked at what the future could bring.

Continued in Part II