Intro

[grim137]

((Solo.))

“Keep 'er steady!” bellowed Captain Boris Stern as another icy arctic wave smashed into the side of his ship, the Battle Heart though his voice was largely drowned out by the wind.

The crew of the Battle Heart heaved and strained under their water proof pelt coats as they fought the keep the masts of the ship upright or to bail and ice off the deck to keep the boat from sinking. Meanwhile, at the ships helm was its navigator, Dmitri Slovak fought hard to keep the ship upright and on course.

Stern cursed himself as another smashed into the boat and he found himself fighting to keep one of his deck hand from being washed overboard. In his fathers day there would have been no reason for a ship to go out in this weather, not when even a novice sailor could have seen the storm coming. But the times when Pirates lived on their own schedules and made do raiding and plundering were gone. Now in these times it seemed if you wanted to make a living as a pirate your options were to starve or to become a glorified mercenary. Luckily it was war time, so even when your employers had strict and potentially life threatening time tables, if you survived the money was good.

“Dmitri how close are we!?” yelled Stern again, straining to be heard over the violent howls of the wind.

“Close!” yelled back Dmitri.

“I said how close!?”

“A few knots from shore where the storm seems to break!”

“If I can keep her on course that is,” he added in his head but decided it best not to say such things out loud. Besides it was hard enough keeping the ship on course and away from any dangerous looking chunks of ice, energy spent yelling over the wind and rain would just be wasted.

So for the next several he and the rest of the Battle Heart's fought to keep the ship from sinking. It wasn't there first storm and they'd all be damned if it would be their last. So they fought the waves, and wind and the rain and the ice. Until finally ship lurched out passed the edge of the storm and into the inlet of Salvar's biggest river and the sailing became smooth once again.

[grim137]

Like Boris and Dmitri had expected once the ship got off the high seas and into the inland waters of Salvar's main river the stormy weather became much less severe. The the rain and sleet still fell and the winds still blew hard, but compared to hurricane blowing just a few miles off shore, it was just another night in Salvar.

Most of the Battle Heart's crew had retired to their quarters in the lower part of the ship beneath the deck. Tired, cold, wet and in some cases, injured from their fight with the mighty storm most of the it seemed most of the crew had decided they'd rather sleep or eat away at the ships dwindling rations than be their usual rowdy selves above deck. It was one of those rare moments where the Battle Heart was actually save for the lap of the water and the occasional creak or groan of the wood.

Not that Dmitri really minded. It was dark night was making it hard to see, a fact that wasn't helped by the fact that most of the stars were blocked out by lingering clouds or the occasional large tree. This made navigating the river hard as he had be especially careful for sand traps, fallen trees and even the occasional sunken fishing or merchant vessel. Thankfully the heavy rain meant the tides were high and Dmitri knew the river well.

“How much longer till we make it to the Knife's Edge?”

Dmitri turned to see he large figure of Captain Stern standing behind him.

“Not much longer captain,” answered Dmitri turning his attention back to wheel and river “we should be their by sunrise.”

“Good.,” nodded Captain Stern.

“How's the damage to ship?”

“We're still floating ain't we? It ain't bad. This job will pay for the repairs and then some easily.”

“If ya don't mind me askin' Captain who is we're meeting? They must be pretty important for us to brave such a storm.”

There was a brief pause.

“I don't suppose I do given what I just put us through. We're meeting some aristocrats from Alerar. They're correspondence said the job was important and couldn't wait but wouldn't tell me what it was, some bullshit about wantin' to discuss it man to man. Promised the pay would be more than worth it though.”

“And if it ain't?”

“We gut 'em and use 'em for chum, fish love dark meat.”

The two meen laugh and then Captain Stern yawns. The old captain turns towards his quarters but issues one last order before he leaves.

“Wake me when we get to the Knife's Edge.”

“Aye aye captain.”