A Message in a Bottle

     The salt water rushed against my feet. Pulling my arm back I hurled the amber colored bottle into the salty spray. The soft plunk of it hitting the water echoed back to my ears. It reassured me that I didn’t throw like a girl, or so the saying goes. I stood there until the sun set. Every day after I returned, and waited.

     Such a small bottle it was, but it drifted for days. The tides of the world pulled it out to sea only to push it towards another chunk of land. The tiny object was at Poseidon’s mercy. However, it wasn’t the only thing adrift on the tide. “All hands on deck, we sail towards port!” The captain roared over the waves that crashed against the hull of a ship. She was different. Her boots clopped against the deck and she walked across the wooden timbers. Her eyes scanned the open water looking for any hint of land.

     “Aye Cap’n.” Loki growled as he pitched the wheel towards the now visible land mass. The rest of the crew scattered and tended their posts. The ship groaned and creaked as it pitched. The ship was tired and so was the crew. A good rest and a payday was just a few knots a head. “Hey Cap’en,” He roared over the boat to get her attention. “what’s that just off starboard?” The hulking cat took one hand off the wheel and pointed at something that was shimmering off the waters surface.

     Bella turned to see whatever he hand pointed at. She watched it flicker in the sunlight for a few moments before she could make out the shape to him. She huffed and turned back to her first mate. “That be trash Loki.” A scowl crossed her face and she walked away from the side of the ship.

     One of the younger crew members heaved himself over the ship. “There’s a paper in it Captain.” He called out.

     Bella snarled at the comment but she was too tired to care. The ocean took a toll on you while you were out and this group of men did nothing to ease it for her. “Fine, grab it, but I’ll not be sending anyone after ya if ye fall in the foam.” She meant every word. The lad would have to swim himself to shore if he lost his footing.

     The lad that spotted it took no time to shimmy himself down the side of this ship. With nimble fingers he snatched up the bottle and the message inside and hauled himself back up topside. As much as he wanted to open it, he kept the cork stuff in and handed the entire bottle over to the Captain.

     Bella took the bottle and instead of just pulling out the cork, she smashed the neck of it against the ships rail. The glass shattered and she dug out the slip of paper. It was odd. The writing was too nice to be a child’s, and the paper had such weight and texture. A heavy scent of earth and flowers, accented with a musk wafted up towards her nose. Something was odd about this. She unrolled the scrap and her eyes fell upon the short message and she smiled.

     I want to have an adventure. ~S

Silver Mane Part 11

Oh dear gods it's been over a month sense I've posted on of these. I am so sorry everyone! If you need to start over, all chapters are linked and shouldn't take long to read through. 
Start Here


     Ana glanced at her travel companion as she walked out, food in her hand. It was such a small glance, no more than if she was looking over to see what was on his plate. There of course would be a time gap from when she left and Kavos decided to leave as well, but again, it was safer that way. The girl took this opportunity to explore the town a bit more. They would be living here now and it wouldn’t hurt to get to know it a bit better. She wandered from one stall to the next looking at what each had to offer. One was filled to the brim with dried flowers. Some had been pressed into glass, others just hung in bunches. Her hand traced the one that was in the glass. It was smooth and perfectly preserved. Ana’s nimble fingers picked it up and brought it closer to her face to get a better look.

The stand keeper was less than kind. The man was massive and built like an ox. His muscles arm muscles bulged as did the veins around his neck. There was a look of anger on his face. He reached over the small wooden stand without even having to get up from his seat. His sausage like fingers wrapped around her arm, all the way around. His hand made her arm look like a twig. He pulled her into the tent and his foul breath assaulted her, even through the heavy scent of flowers. “Ye weren’t try’n ter pilfer ‘dat were ye?” His words were garbled with his heavy accent.

Ana’s blue eyes widened as she realized what this man was. He was no normal merchant, he had to have been a pirate. His face was covered with stubble and scars, his hands were well worn and his skin was as tan as Tucker’s fur was. Fear flooded her and she pulled away from him. It was no use his grip was too strong. “Let me go! I was only looking.” She tried to pull away again and it still was of no use.

“Ya look w’th yer eyes naught yer han’s.” He snarled and started to stand up.

“She’s with me.” There was a cool voice that while low, seemed to dance right around the crowd. “I would let go of her, if you know what’s good for you.” A woman walked up to the small booth. Each step was graceful and she seemed to have a power behind her.

The pirate looked up from Ana, ready to challenge whoever threatened him but as his eyes met this woman they widened and his grip relaxed at once. “Sorry Miss, didn’t know she was yer’s.”

Ana looked back at her savior and her jaw hit the floor. The woman who had defended her was beautiful. Her hair was long and jet black and her skin was flawless. It took her only a few moments though to remember what was going on around her. She went right back into slave mode. She bowed low and kissed the woman’s hand. “I’m sorry Mistress, I just thought these would look lovely in the drawing room but I wanted to make sure they were real and not some cheep fake.”

“Fake!” The man behind the stand started to rage again and when he stood his head smacked against the top of the small stand. He seemed to have more to say but it was interrupted by the pain.

Again the strange woman took control of the situation. “And she did right to me by that.” Her eyes narrowed at the pirate. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was dangerous. Again he took on a calming demeanor and sat down. “She was also correct that they would look nice in my drawing room, however, you sir have left a bitter taste in my mouth. Come girl.” She commanded and just started walking back towards the center of town. Ana could only follow her.

The vendor seemed to have calmed himself and called out to her as the women started to move. “Wait miss! I’ll ha’ve the price. What’dya say?”

The elegant woman froze and smiled. She turned on her heel and walked back to the small table and picked up the small glass plated flower. She too turned it over in her hand and looked intently at it. “Deal.” Her tone was still unamused, but at least the man had made the sale. She tossed a few coppers down onto the wood and walked away without another word. 

Fan Art

Some cute art I got from a friend of Myself and one of my characters.