Chapter 3

It was midday by the time that they managed to cast off. Varden was on deck hanging onto the rail waving goodbye to everyone that he had ever known. Not knowing if he would ever see them again. He could see his father standing there tightly holding his mother and they were both trying their best to hold back the tears.

Varden had never been aboard a ship before, so he spent some time looking over everything from the largest thing that was the main mast to the smallest tie pin. He had seen lots of ships from the dock, but he had never been allowed to get on one before. He had always been told that it was no place to play. The Windstruck was a large freighter it was long and fat and road-deep in the water which meant that it was fully loaded.

He could hardly believe that he was on his way to a real adventure that could really make a difference in other people's lives. While he was looking things over he was amazed at the size of the ship and its sails, they were humongous. They were far larger than they had looked from shore, and he had never seen them when he was on the dock they were always put away by then. As he counted them there was a total of 14 sails on this ship there were piles of ropes and cargo nets all over the ship.

Varden just stood there stunned by it all, he almost fell backward as he was trying to look up at the sails.

The captain yelled out to one of the crew "Drake take Varden below to the passenger chamber and get him out of the way for now."

Drake walked up to Varden and said "Hi My name is Drake. You need to follow me below now."

He replied, "Hi my name is Varden nice to meet you."

Drake replied "We don't usually take on passengers, especially when we are headed to dangerous locations. On this trip, there are only three places that we will be stopping at and none of them would be a good place to go." That started Drake thinking about just where this boy could be going. "Just what is your destination may I ask?" Drake asked.

Varden answered "Giant Island."

Shocked, Drake's mouth dropped open. Drake couldn't think of a worse place to go. Drake took another look at the boy and thought that there was no way that he would ever be able to live in such a dangerous place. So, he asked, "Why would you want to go to a place like that?"

Varden answered, "I have been told by the captain that the town is crying out for adventurers because they are being overrun by creatures lately, and he also said that there was a lot of treasure there as well. I am mostly in it to help people."

"You don't look like much of an adventurer to me. You are way too small to be much of a knight and you have no sword or armor, and you don't look cunning or shady enough to be a thief, or holy and sweet enough to be a cleric, and you definitely don't look smart or powerful enough to be a wizard. The fact I see no gear that would tell me you are anything other than a child playing. So just what are you supposed to be?" Drake said it sarcastically.

At first, Varden didn't know what to say, he was a little bigger than normal and he was pretty well developed, but he knew that there were lots bigger, but he found that he had brains and speed on his side when he faced the big guys that were all muscle Varden answered nervously, "I am a fighter." Then quickly asked, "Just what do you know about adventuring?"

Drake smiled and said "Just giving you a hard time kid. I have been on a few adventures before and if you are lucky, I will tell you about it sometime."

Just then they heard the captain yell down, "DRAKE get your ass up here NOW!" Drake took off running out of the room and up on deck.

Varden knew that he had to find out everything that he could about Drake. It was not everyone that had told him they had been on adventures before, and he desperately wanted to know what adventures he had been on. He stayed below deck for a few hours which gave him some time to get used to the rocking of the ship and the way the floor was not stable below his feet. He was able to put the things that he thought he would need for that trip in his room and stow the rest. To keep his room as neat and tidy as he could to keep it free from clutter.

Varden found that his room was far away from the captains and the crew it was tiny and located near the bow of the ship. He found a special place under a loose board to hide his little golden bowl. He had been told to watch out, that sailors were terrible thieves, and they would steal the shirt off your back if they were given a chance. He had not seen anything that would indicate that was how they were, but he didn't want to risk it.

As Varden when up the stairs he found that his legs were still shaky from the motion of the ship. Looking around he noticed the crew was scattered all over the ship, and they all were busy doing something. As he watched, he saw them doing a wide variety of things. There were five up doing things with the sails. It looked like they were rolling up some and unrolling others. But most of the crew was on the deck rolling up ropes. There were two that were standing near the captain, and one was steering the ship. All the rest were washing the deck. It seemed to be clean but as Varden watched it just looked like something to keep the crew busy with. To keep them out of trouble or since it was a ship he wondered if it was to help keep it from becoming slippery.

Varden went over to the rail and looked overboard into the water. As he watched the ripples in the water that were caused by the ship's movement, he would occasionally see the reflection of the ship or a nearby fish jumping in the distance. The smell of the ocean was incredible, he had never known anything like this before.

Since Varden was a paying passenger, he was not expected to do any work, but it was known that he needed to keep his room clean and stay out of the way and keep out of trouble.

In a few hours, dinner was called. So Varden was shown the way to a large room called the mess hall. The sailors had explained to him it was the dining hall. The first thing that he noticed was that in the middle of the room was a long narrow table with a large border that ran around the whole thing. There were 8 sailors there sitting at one end of the table eating and drinking.

Titus looked up with a scowl on his face and said in a bitter voice. "This is the crew's mess you don't belong here. You are just a passenger; you belong at the captain's table. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE YOU LITTLE PISSER!"

Varden looked at the sailor more closely; he was the one that he had seen in the bar the other day. He was easily seven feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds. He looked as bitter as he acted, and his face was hard as stone. Anyone that looked at him could tell that he had a hard life, and you could tell that he was as mean as he was hard. So Varden turned and walked out of the room without saying a word.

Varden walked back up to the deck and saw Drake working. Varden approached Drake and asked "Where is the captain's table? I was told that I have to eat there."

Drake replied, "Go below, turn left just past the mess hall, then go down the small hall and the sign above the door will say Captain's Mess."

Varden nodded and thanked him and before Drake could turn, he asked "Who is that big sailor?"

Drake replied "Oh that is Titus, you better watch out for him he is as mean as he is large. You better hurry the captain doesn't like to be kept waiting on his food."

Varden nodded again and hurried downstairs, he followed the instructions and walked into the room it was larger than the mess hall and was furnished completely differently. There were several expensive hangings on the walls. Varden noticed plush chairs and a large expensive table that the captain was sitting at the head of. There were three other men sitting with the captain and they all looked annoyed as they watched Varden.

The captain spoke up and said, "From now on you must be on time or you will not be served food."

Varden bowed his head and spoke. "My apologies for being late."

The captain started by introducing himself. "My name is Sabol II am Captain of this fine ship the Windstruck. To my right is my first officer Crost to his rite is my second officer Preyond and finally the ship's cleric Drayden. And this is Young Varden the passenger I told you all about."

Varden took a good look at Captain Sabol, he was five foot eight inches tall and looked to be pushing around 350 pounds. He was dressed in brightly colored clothes with a large hat that had a bright red feather in it. Around his midsection, he had a bright red belt. Sabol appeared to be a very jolly person, but Varden could tell already that he was as strict as his father had been.

Varden turned and looked at Crost he was tall and very thin, and he was dressed in a very dark red almost purple outfit. At his side was a long thin blade it appeared to be lightning fast more of a stabbing weapon than a slashing one.

Next was Preyond there was nothing that really stood out about him. He was of average build and in lighter red clothes they were very well kept he could tell that they were not new, but they looked to be in new condition. You could tell that they were not as good of quality as the first mates were, and the sword at his side was not the best quality either.

Varden turned to Drayden he thought to himself that he thought that a woman aboard a ship was supposed to be bad luck. Then looking at her She was dressed in a heavy white robe. The robe was clean was not the word for it appeared to be glowing. She was beautiful with long flowing black hair that stood out against the bright white robe. It was like day and night, but the thing that he was drawn to above all else was her hauntingly emerald, green eyes. Which seemed to see rite threw him to his very soul and it was like she could see what he was thinking because she blushed a little and turned away.

Sable said, "Come Varden take your seat so that we can start to eat."

Varden sat down in the chair that was directly across from Drayden. He kept trying to look into her eyes, but she was careful to always be looking away and made sure to ignore him. Soon the food started coming and as they ate Varden couldn't keep his eyes off of her, he was hardly able to eat anything.

Varden hardly said a thing throughout the dinner. There were several times Sabol asked Varden a question to get his attention. It would work, but it wouldn't take long for him to go back to staring at Drayden.

As soon as dinner was completed Drayden disappeared somewhere below deck. Varden really wanted to talk to her, but he never got the chance. He was not that worried about it the ship was not that large he would get a chance sooner or later and he didn't want to be too pushy.

It was now dusk, and the moon was brightly shining on the water. It was a perfect summer's evening, just the right temperature and the breeze coming off the water just made him think of Drayden even more. He just couldn't get the picture of her out of his mind. Varden was just standing there looking out into the water thinking of her, looking at the waves slowly ripple in the water by the light of the moon. All of a sudden Drake walked up and said "Hi Varden"

Varden jumped he was not used to being so lost in thought he hadn't noticed someone approach. Now he took a good look at Drake. Drake was slightly shorter than he was. Drake stood 5 foot 7 inches and only weighed 130 pounds. Varden thought that there was no wonder that he never heard him approach. As Varden studied him he noticed that he was agile and fast on his feet. "Hi Drake" replied Varden

"Little jumpy there I see." Drake said with a smile "You wanted to know what I know of adventuring, didn't you? Well, Varden, I was an adventurer for three years and when the rest of my party was killed, I stopped adventuring."

Varden replied "I am so sorry to hear that. Just what happened?"

Drake said, "We went up against two large blue dragons they were fiercer than anything that I have ever seen in my life before. My party didn't have a chance once they started with their lightning attacks. I was blasted by a nearby explosion that knocked me out and they thought that I was dead. I woke after they had left, but it took me a whole year to heal. Once I healed, I stayed drunk for a long time until I met Sabol, he changed my life and gave me purpose again."

After a moment of silence. Varden told Drake about his first adventure and the run-in with the dragon.

Drake said, "You were a lot luckier than we were! I have heard of only one other that had managed to get away with something like that."

Varden asked, "Have you ever thought about adventuring again?"

Drake answered, "Once in a while, but I have never found anyone that I wanted to go with or that I could trust. You have to be pretty stupid to go on your own or with people that you don't trust."

Varden felt pretty stupid at this point thinking of all the times that he went out on his own and was almost killed and a few times he wound up hurt that could have been worse. He realized just how right he was.

Varden asked, "Would you like to go on an adventure with me?" He wanted to get some help for this one, it sounded a lot harder than anything that he had ever faced, and it was a lot more important.

Drake answered, " I will have to wait and see until we get to our destination, by then I should be able to tell if you are worth trusting enough to go with or not."

After talking for about an hour. Drake said, "I have to go get some sleep it is going to be a long day tomorrow."

As Drake started to leave Varden spoke up and asked, "Just what type of adventurer were you anyway?"

Drake stated with pride, "I was a thief." then turned and when below.

Varden thought of all the advantages of having a thief along with you because a good thief is able to disarm traps and unlock doors and chests and not to menschen that he had heard that they are experts in finding hidden doors that most couldn't even see. There had been times that he had come to a door that was locked and there was no way to get it open, so he never knew just what was behind them that were several chests that he was unable to open and just had to leave them behind.

After thinking a while, he went below deck and went to bed. He was exhausted by the day's events, and it didn't take him long to fall asleep and he started to dream of Drayden.

In the morning Varden awoke as he fell out of the hammock that he had as a bed. As soon as he made it to his feet he almost fell again because of the violent rocking of the ship.

Varden slowly was able to make his way to the deck. He quickly noticed that the ship was in the middle of a terrible storm that had blown in overnight. Then suddenly there was a lightning strike and instantly the booming sound of thunder and the pouring rain was everywhere. Varden saw several of the crew barely able to hang onto the ropes as they made their way up to tend to the sails. The deck was wet and slick and Varden almost fell several times until he finally made his way to the rail.

As he looked aft, he noticed a commotion going on. With the pouring rain, he couldn't see or hear just what it was. So, he started moving slowly toward it. As he got closer, he could see and hear there were six men surrounding Sabol and Drayden.

Varden heard Sabol tell them, "Look men we have been through a lot worse, and we always all survive just calm down. This isn't that bad of a storm. So, what is the trouble?"

Titus stepped forward and said, "You know what the trouble is. You bring a woman on board a ship. We must throw her overboard to appease the gods."

Varden saw that Sabol was outnumbered and way overmatched and the rest of the crew was tending to the ship. He didn't like the idea that they were thinking of throwing Draden overboard. So Varden grabbed the nearest tiepin and threw it as hard as he could. His aim was perfect, it found its target which was the back of Titus's head. Titus dropped like a stone to the deck with a loud thud.

Then Varden yelled, "IF YOU WANT TO THROW HER OVERBOARD THEN YOU WILL HAVE TO THROW ME OVER FIRST!"

Two of the men turned and started after Varden. The other three stayed near Sabol to keep them apart.

Drake saw what was going on dropped Varden his sword and yelled, "TAKE IT AND DEFEND YOURSELF!"

Varden yelled, "THANK YOU!" Then walked over and pulled it out of the deck and prepared to fight. He took a close look at the sword. It was well made, and it was very close to the size and weight that he was used to using.

Varden turned to face the two of them. When they got there Varden was ready for them, but he waited for them to make the first move.

The sailor on the right thought this would be easy looking at his size, so he took the first swing. Varden easily blocked it and turned his sword in a tight circle just the way his father had taught him, and the sailor's sword flew out of his hand and into the water.

Now the second sailor swung. Varden simply jumped back and swung hard downwardly, he caught the sword just right and it broke in two.

Varden quickly put his sword to the sailor's throat. The sailor quickly dropped what was left of his sword and surrendered. Seeing that the others gave up without a fight.

Sabol called to the crew, and they came and took them below. Then Sabol turned to Varden and said, "I will have to talk to you later right now I have to tend to my ship."

Sabol Started yelling orders and the men did their best to carry them out as fast as they possibly could.

As soon as Drake climbed down Varden returned his sword. Drake said, "I might have underestimated you."

Varden said, "Thanks I guess." He was not sure how to take that.

Drake asked. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Varden replied, "My father is captain of the royal guard, and he taught me a few tricks."

Drake said, "Pretty good tricks."

Drake then when back to helping tend to the ship.

It was not long after the ship had cleared the storm, that everything returned back to normal.

A sailor came running up to Varden and said, "The Captain wants to see you right away. He told me to find you and have you go to his quarters."

The sailor escorted Varden to the door and then quickly went about his duties. Varden looked at the door there was no mistaking it even if you couldn't read the etched fine crafted words that read captains chambers the design of the door made it stand out. Along with that, it had an etched pitcher of eight different ships that was surrounded by an elegant border.

Varden knocked on the door. He heard Sabol say, "Enter."

As Varden entered the room he was shocked by the furnishings. The first thing that he noticed was the tapestries on the walls and the beautiful paintings. There were all kinds of precious and expensive things scattered around the room.

Sabol said, "Come in and have a seat."

Varden walked over and sat down in front of his desk.

Sable was sitting behind the desk and in his hands was a small, jeweled dagger that he was playing with, and standing next to him was Drayden. He hadn't seen her since she was surrounded on deck.

"You wanted to see me, sir," Varden said nervously.

"Yes, I want to give you a reward for saving the life of my daughter. You see this is the first voyage that she has been on. Her mother has recently died so I had no choice to take her along on this trip. So, tell me what you would like as your reward." Said Sabol

Varden sat there stunned by what he had heard. He was shocked and it took him a few minutes to fully recover.

Then Drayden said, "Look father, he has been wounded." She went over to Varden and took a closer look at his arm. The cut just barely threw the skin. One of the sailors must have nicked him just enough to make him bleed.

Drayden said some strange words and traced some signs in the air then touched Varden's arm where he was cut.

As Varden watched it the spot the cut closed and shrank away to nothing it disappeared without a trace as if it had never been there in the first place. Varden looked at Drayden and smiled and said, "Thank you."

Drayden said, "No thank you. If you had not stopped them, I would not be here now."

Sabol said, "Well Varden name your reward."

Varden said, "Well maybe a new shirt to replace this one."

Sabol said, "Surely there must be something else that you need or want."

Varden replied, "No that is all I really need."

Sabol stated, "I am forever in your debt. If ever you need something all you need to do is, ask and it is yours!"

Varden knew that Sabol meant every word he could see the love in his eyes for her. He would remember this a captain of a merchant ship was a wonderful thing to have them owing you a favor.

For the rest of the trip, there were no real problems, it was smooth sailing. Varden spent his time with Drayden and the days seemed short even though neither of them had anything to do and the evenings were very romantic watching the sun sink into the water. The warm summer nights were incredible, especially when you add the smell of that saltwater air and when the moon is reflecting on the water and all the stars are out it created the perfect mood to fall in love.

It was on the 14th day that land was spotted. It was Giant Island Varden's destination. Varden was with Drayden when land was sighted Varden looked into her eyes and said, "This is where I must get off. I wish we had more time together, but there just is no more time the people have been crying out for help and that is why I came."

Drayden turned without saying a word and went downstairs to her father's chambers. Sabol was sitting behind his desk working on the ship's log. He looked up at her and noticed that she was very distressed. He put down the quill and asked, "Yes daughter, what is wrong?"

She went over to him and started explaining why she could not stay on board because anytime anything would happen it would be blamed on her. She knew that if she did stay that sooner or later, they would try again to throw her overboard again.

Sabol knew what she was getting at, and he had been keeping an eye on them. He also knew that Varden had protected her and would do it again even if it would cost him his life. Thinking about it he could ask nothing more out of someone. He asked, "Just what do you want to do, and where do you want to go?" He already knew the answer, but he wanted her to have to say it.

Drayden said, "I love Varden, and I am sure he loves me. I plan to stay close to him and help him. I am sure that we are supposed to be together."

After some consideration, he gave in and said, "Very well, but just remember that I will always love you, and you will always have a place here with me."

As soon as Drayden left, Sabol sent for Drake. When Drake entered the room Sabol had been waiting for him, he said, "Come in and have a seat." Sabol was pacing back and forth as he looked out the windows that were behind his desk.

Drake quickly went over and sat down. Then said, "You wanted to see me Sir."

Sabol started by asking, "You know Varden don't you?"

Drake said, "Yes Sir."

"Just what do you know about him?" Sabol inquired.

"Not much, we only talked some," Drake answered.

"Have you talked about Exploring?" Asked Sabol

"Yes Sir, "said Drake.

"Just what was your answer," asked Sabol.

Drake said, "I told him that I would give him my answer when we got to the Island. I needed to see if I could trust him and if he was worth going with."

Sabol said, "I want you to join him."

Drake asked, "Why?"

Sabol explained about Drayden being his daughter, and how she wanted to go with Varden and he wanted her protected not only from the things on the island but from Varden if he did anything.

Drake reluctantly said, "I will do as you ask." Sabol could tell his heart was not in it, but he needed him to protect her.

Varden was just looking overboard watching the small fish jump in the small waves that were caused by the movement when Drayden walked up to him. They looked into each other's eyes when Drayden said that she would be getting off at this stop too.

In the heat of the moment, Varden took her in his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. After the tender embrace, Drayden took a step back and slapped his face. Then she went running and crying below deck. Varden just stood there wondering just what he did wrong. Deep down he knew that he shouldn't do that, but he couldn't stop himself and it just felt right at the time.

Drake walked up to Varden and asked, "What did you do to her? I just saw her go running and crying below deck."

Varden said, "All I did was kiss her I didn't think it was that bad or that wrong."

Drake gave a little chuckle.

"Well, what is it going to be Drake are you going with me or not?" asked Varden.

Drake said, "What is my share."

Varden replied, "We split everything evenly."

Drake said, "Well that sounds fare. When do we get started?"

"As soon as we dock, we can get started I will need to get a few things before we leave town. Let's get our things together so we can go." Varden replied.