Book 1: Chapter 1 - A First Step

[Preston]

“Oy, de’ deck o’ de’ ol Nestor ai’n a ‘otel bed, mate”, a less than cordial means of morning greeting was accompanied by a boot-tip into the side of the ribcage. It met with the unsuspecting, sleep-deprived, and very uncomfortable body of a late twenty-year-old human man. He grunted and rolled from his shoulder to his stomach, one hand releasing from a subconscious lock on the ships railing to cover his eyelids from the light of the new day. His other hand remained tightly gripped on the railing as if holding on was the only thing keeping him anchored to the deck itself. “You don’ wi’ yer sic’?”

Preston, with eyes still closed, just shot back a quick, “Yeah, fuck off…”.

He didn’t dare open his eyes though, as he could still feel the sloshing of his ale addled mind not recovered or ready to challenge the morning quite yet. His head bobbed a bit with the waves as the ship creaked and moaned, mocking his own groaning muscles and sore joints. The liquor from the night before was either still doing its unholy work, or his body was fitfully and mightily expressing its disdain at the amount he had ingested. It was hard to tell. The young man knew that, either way, he was sure to feel the bile that was lying in wait somewhere halfway between his mouth and stomach come up quick as a whip if he was not careful.

He lifted his head a little, felt it sway, even with his eyes closed, and decided just to let it rest for a little longer on the deck of the ship. The smell of the salt water, both on the air and on the deck was refreshing. He pulled it in through his nose and exhaled through is mouth trying to calm to urge to vomit. Every so often he would feel the gentle, warm spray of a fresh wave splash across his face and his soft, long fingers would wipe the lingering sea foam from his cheeks. Laying like this for some time, it was easy for him to regain his peace and comfort, despite the hangover from whatever it was he was drinking – and he had no clue what it was the crew had him drinking while playing cards the night before…

“Oh shit, cards,” Preston said under his breath, with a bile-laced hiccup.

He suddenly remembered that he had bet a significant amount of his purse on a hand of cards the night before, after drinking several rounds of the grog from the crew. While fun, he had definitively lost from what he could remember.

He slowly sat up while trying to check his pockets as quickly as he could. He located his coin purse, very much worse for wear with only a handful of coins left in it, as well as his long knife at his side. He slowly pulled himself up along the railing and straightened his vest. After mismatching a couple of the buttons twice, it was straightened out, the sleeves of his blouse were buttoned at the cuff, and Preston was once again looking at least half decent. The boy pulled on the sleeve of the crewmate that had woken him. “Mate, how far are we out from Scara Brae?”

The man just laughed and planted a big, calloused hand on the slim boy’s shoulder and turned him around in the process. He pointed a fat finger out with his other hand and said, “Yer already ‘ere’.”

With a bit of excitement, anxiety, and surprise, Preston’s overwhelming emotions took hold. The quick spin, a flash of sunlight, sudden wave, any number of factors could have been at play… whatever the case he leaned over the side of the ship and began throwing up. The deckhand rapped him on the back rather hard and grunted as Preston straightened up, trying to clean himself up as best he could. “I’m going to wash up and grab my stuff from my cabin. We’ll be at port soon?”

“Aye, ‘roun ‘bouts shortly,” the portly man responded curtly and walked off.

Preston started walking below deck, towards one of the few private cabins available on the small ship to where he would gather the rest of his things before departing. Meanwhile, the ship, Nestor, slowly began making its way into the harbor of Scara Brae where the new adventurer would see what this new world could offer him and what new adventures he could find.

Open to anyone, no plot just see what happens and I’m good to go with whatever…