Dangerous Shores

[Elle Joyner]

Ten days.


Ten days on the boat.


Ten miserable, stinking days on the rusted bucket of a ship. No land. No warmth of hearth and home. No bath. Surrounded by uncultured, uncivilized, dirty, drunken idiots. When Cressida’s father had first informed her of his plans to send her away for her own safety, she had hardly considered it would be in such disturbingly horrible conditions. And to top it all off, according to the ship’s navigator, a storm was brewing on the horizon, which meant they would be slowing their speed… again.


If it had not been unladylike or inappropriate, she might have screamed, even thrown something. Still, the news was hardly well received and she wasn’t remotely apprehensive to let the crew know her distaste. The trouble was, they had come to expect her pouting misery and had begun avoiding her, at all costs, and with no one to take her fury out on, Cressida was a loaded canon, ready to blow.


Eoin, nevertheless, couldn’t help himself. That morning, he had done a bit of fishing with the crewmen and pulled in more weed than food, but never one to miss a good opportunity, he’d found a use for the sea plants. Leaning against the bulwark, he listened intently as Cressida stormed across the deck, her slipper-shod feet making a slapping sound on the wet wood. He could hear the rustle of her skirts, two or three of them, swishing around her ankles, a ludicrous amount of clothing for someone who was meant to have been under cover.


“But we will be on the ship…” She had whined, when he’d addressed it before their departure, “I can start dressing like those common gutter spawn when we’ve reached land.”


Grinning to himself, Eoin listened intently as the door to Cressida’s cabin opened. She had demanded the largest on the ship and was offered the captain’s personal quarters to appease her wrath. It was for this and many other reason Eoin hardly felt guilty for his actions. He could hear the creak of the door, swollen from the salty sea air, hear those damnable slippers pattering onward and then, caught in the breeze, the tremendous scream of abject horror and she discovered the seaweed he had left, a loving gift, filling up what little space remained in her traveling trunk.


Doubling over, Eoin nearly burst with silent laughter.

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Ten Days.


TEN DAYS!


Ten days on a bloody wooden boat, with a bunch of disgusting men who'd no sooner piss over the side of the ship than take a.....Ten days. This thought infuriated the young woman in disguise, who stood on the boat right outside of the Captain's Quarters on her turn for Guard Duty. You know, it wouldn't have been so damned bad with the gross men, or the gout they seemed to get, or the rot of some of the wood. It would be sufferable if the ship was without one passenger.


That damned Cressida.


Geoff found herself uttering that phrase often. It was relieving, though she would never be able to utter the phrase towards the wench herself. How dare she walk around demanding things! How dare she act like the rest of the lot weren't equal to her. That spoiled woman. If she got just a few seconds to show her what she thought of her.....well.


She could only manage to sigh at the thought. Standing there next to her door, in mostly worn brown leather armor that seemed to tug her body more loose than it should. As if the tailor had made it a size too big, no doubt to cover up any effeminate features. Iron gauntlets covered her arms, and more iron, which seemed to be made in the form of a boot, covered her feet up her shin and over her knee. More worn leather pouches covered her body, and a cloak set over her shoulders. That brown hair short, stubbly, spiky, sitting on her head while those ice cold blue eyes stared out across the deck sans emotion.


The woman stood mostly still, well that was until she noticed her superior, Eoin, up to what seemed no good. He seemed to be a more of a fun loving bit than she was, but he was still more refreshing than the Lady who they were escorting.


She wasn't sure when he had planted his little prank, but when she heard the screams of Cressida she managed to crack a smile. She adjusted herself at the door, placing a gloved hand (yes you guessed it made of brown worn leather) on the hilt of her sword letting it rest. It was all she could do to maintain her composure while she stood on guard duty.


That storm? That storm? Well she hadn't noticed....but it was becoming more and more visible in the background. What an ominous sight.

 

[Elle Joyner]

Of course, what Eoin hadn't counted on was Cressida's mood at the time, which was considerably worse than usual. The door swung open as it had slammed closed and Cressida exited her room, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, hands tightly balled. Fury was a wicked thing in the young princess, and she was by no means the weak thing she appeared, when rage took over.


Her eyes swung around, catching sight of the knight guarding her door and no amount of mercy entered her thoughts... no sense of fair judgment. Her anger swelled and with a voice that would terrify the sirens from their shoals, she hissed, "I have spent ten days on this God forsaken nightmare vessel, and I have done all I can to find some semblance of peace and comfort in these outrageous circumstances... I have bit my tongue at the disgusting way I have been treated, I have held myself with what I think is exemplary self control... and I have put up with the nonsense of these constant delays...."


Stepping back, she gestured to the open door of her room, scowling, her voice rising to a shrill shout, "So please explain to me, why in GOD'S NAME there is that disgusting... sludge... currently covering my beautiful, hand sewn, perfectly tailored gowns and shoes!? Don't stand there, gaping at my like you have no idea what I'm talking about! You fix this, and you fix it now!" This, she punctuated with a stomp of her foot, "Or I will have your head on a pike when I'm returned to Telmar!"

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

Geoff managed to step back when the door swung open, losing a bit of her footing, before catching her balance again. A slow sigh managed to escape her now separated lips, that looked on towards the Princess in a mixture of shock, and confusion. Her eyes gave way to a bit of sympathy, and she had almost felt bad for the poor lass. Well, up until she began berating her.


Her fingers found their way around the hilt of her sword, drumming across it as if anger had filled her up so much she was contemplating using it on the Princess. She managed to grip the the hilt tightly, with the grip of a bear on its prey, and even managed to release it from its sheath slightly before stopping herself.


Using a fragment of her strength, she pushed it back into his resting place with a click that was no doubt concealed by the sounds of the ocean. "My Grace, though I know naught of what you speak I do empathize. It is my duty to serve you, and I will correct what has been wrong. If you tell me what the issue is and order me to fix it I will oblige, but might I suggest you get one of the deck hands to take care of it?"


She even managed to force a smile, no matter how much of a faux smile it was. She just wanted to be apart and away from the woman who had become the bane of her existence.

 

[Elle Joyner]

"The deck hands!?" Cressida growled, her pretty face twisted in a glare, "I will not have those filthy scoundrels pawing at my things! I asked you to fix it, now go fix it! I want my things laundered... I don't care how to do it, and if anything is ruined you'll pay for it, personally!" Frowning, she gestured into the cabin, her hands shaking with anger, though something in her eyes... only for a moment may also have indicated embarrassment. As quickly as it was there, however, it was gone and spinning on her slippers, Cressida marched back across the deck, no doubt looking for someone else to berate.


With Cressida gone, Eoin approached, still grinning, though with a slightly more modest edge to it, now, an apologetic air to his expression as he laughed, softly, "...Sorry about that, friend. I should've warned ya', you were in the line of danger, there. Come on, I'll help you. It was worth it, just to knock that pretentious look of her face, even if it was only for a minute. I, for one, cannot wait for this damnable journey to be over with. I even the men back home... I'd take war over this, any day."


Stepping into the cabin he grinned at the sight of the seaweed, spilling out of the trunk, swollen with enormous, extravagant gowns... unbearably elegant and delicate. She would be laughably overdressed for a grand ball...


"Almost feel sorry for the poor child... What she's gonna do in a pair of breeches and a tunic, Heaven knows."

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

If she had been truly a male, she would have spit on to the wooden surface, but she was still a female at the end of the day. Though she did much of what the men did, fight, drink, party, she had still retained several feminine defining features. One was not doing things of the disgusting variety, much as spitting.


When Eoin had finally showed his face, she scoffed a bit the man who stood before her. He outranked her- that was all she could say about him. That's all she would say, and if she hadn't a respect for him, and an overall growing disdain for Cressida, she'd had tossed him under.


Instead she looked at him with a bright smile,"Ya' know Ser, it'd be might fine if ya' didn't toss me to the dogs as such, though I am glad that it'd happened to her. I long for the day I part ways with Our Princess." The final words in her sentence was filled with a bit of venom as if a cobra had bitten her words itself.


On his help offer, that she had expected since he wasn't that of a foul breed, she managed to nod,"Mayhaps she be mistaken for a commonfolk, wouldn't that make her red even more? How delightful!" her steps were small, and she followed behind the man who ahd moved into the Cabin.

 

[Elle Joyner]

Eoin laughed again, shaking his head as he pulled clumps of seaweed off the Princess's finery, making a small pile on the floor beside the trunk, "It wasn't my intention. Though having been around her long enough, I should have guessed she might take things out on the first person she ran into. In the end, I wouldn't put it past her to scream at her own reflection if she were left alone long enough."


With the seaweed cleared away, he peeled away the first few layers of gowns, adding them to a second pile, "As much a pain as she is, though, we can't exactly blame her for it. You've seen how they spoil her. If I'm honest, glad as I'll be to be rid of her, I can't help but feel sorry for her. She's no idea how to exist in this world without everyone coddling her like a babe... If she's ever on her own, I can't imagine she'll make it very long, at all."


Gathering up half the clothing, he handed the pile to Geoff, before taking the rest in his arms, "Come on, we'll take these down and see if Cookie can't wash them for us in a soup pot or something." Chuckling at the last statement the fellow knight made, Eoin shrugged, "And I trust what might be more difficult than being mistaken for a commoner is not being permitted to correct anyone. Though we'll likely take the brunt of that frustration..."


Heading out onto the deck, he frowned at the drops of rain, making their way down from the heavens. The storm was breaking and it wouldn't be long before they were being tossed and thrown about by the angry sea, "...Best we get out little flower back in her cabin, before the storm falls. Can't have her falling overboard. We'd never hear the end of it. Leave those here" He said, gesturing to the gowns, "Go see if you can't find her?"

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

She wasn't all too happy about the suggestion..request..command....but, he was her commanding officer and she did what she was told. Using her smaller fingers, she placed the gowns in a spot appropriate. Those blue orbs were cold yet her face emotionless, she resembled a stone head. Yet she rose her hand and let her index point directly at her superior before letting a chuckle escape her lips as if it was a fugitive inmate. "Mayhaps it be somethin' good to the lass' if she knock 'er head roun' a bit. May knock a wee bit a sense into her, aye?"


With that, she turned on her heels and began to walk in a sorchestra of clanging metal to go search for the sweet ole princess. She made it clear she wasn't trying much too hard, but she did go...


The storm had encroached, it had made its way to the ship and the winds had begun picking up causing the sailors to scramble to grab hold of ropes and what not, trying to get control of the masts. The deck had gotten soaked from a mixture of the downpour that had begun to take over the deck and the ocean water that the wind had whipped over.


Her armor had actually been a benefit at this point, keeping her from being picked up from the wooden floor by the wind. "Princess!" she called out sliding a bit on the wet wood before she watched a bolt of lightning strike the deck.."By the Gods..."


She finally found the princess but did not reach out for her, but yet again call for,"M'lady! It isn't safe atop."


meanwhile...


Yosuke had been walking to a brothel in a pair of blue hakamas and a white yukata, a typical looking patron at these locations. He had slowly made his way up to the shoji to his room, sliding it open and falling onto the floor. He laughed a bit in a drunken stumor as he took a chuckle before letting out an intoxicated burp before hiccuping. Soon, a woman had made her way into the room and the door closed behind her. Yosuke moved to meet the girl, placing his hands on her neck before watching the woman fall to the ground.


He dusted himself off as she lie on the ground, the woman very provocative motions and noises. With a gentle smile he slid out of his room gazing down the hall and placing a hand on his head to feel for the ponytail, removing his needle. With a silent step he made his way through the halls searching for a particular door. He finally found it, and picked one of the women in the hall and had them open the door for him into their room. He threw the needle quickly into the man's throat with just the smallest space between the Shoji. With a gentle smile, he grabbed the woman around her waist and drug her back to his room, placing his hand on her neck she doing the same thing as the woman before.


He lie next to them for a few moments, waiting for their spasms to cease before they would fall asleep. This would be the time his smile would stop, his "drunkenness" would end, and he would get to his feet brushing his yukata off. He exit the brothel, discarding the clothes he wore to reveal what most would know as the "traditional" shinobi garb, but it was merely to help his escape to the darkness.


He tied his navy blue obi over the bottom of his face, it helping the rest of his navy blue attire look more complete, before running off into the darkness.....

 

[Elle Joyner]

It had come with an unexpected swiftness, the storm. Crackling thunder, loud as cannon fire shattered overheard, lightning flashing bright as the sun. Tempest winds blew, raged against the ship, rocking her to and fro in a violent motion, and the waves washed up over the balustrade. Cressida stood below deck, clutching a support post with something of an expression of frustration, mingled with what may have been, but would never be admitted as fear.


She heard Geoff calling and turned in his direction, without relinquishing her hold on the beam, "Really...?" She shouted back, her eyes narrowing to slits as she glared at the knight, "I hadn't noticed!"


A particularly powerful wave crashed into the side of the ship and Cressida squeezed her eyes shut with a small cry, gripping the post tighter, "Oh... I'm going to die, aren't I. I'm going to die on this horrible, awful boat... with these awful men. I'm never getting home... I'm never going to my home again, I'm never gonna see..."


A tear slipped down her pale cheek and she brushed it away, shaking her head, her eyes locked on Geoff, "What are you still standing there for! Don't you have something to... bail... or tie up or something?!"

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

"Oy!" Geoff exclaimed. The frustration of a farmer dealing with a stubborn mule boiling deep beneath her pale epidermis. The words of fury floated about her mind in the form of jolts electricity that represented brain activity. No doubt her temperature was rising despite the cool humid air and water that was being tossed around like it was being handled by a child on a tantrum.


She knew better then to let those words leave her throat. The punishment may as well had been death if word was returned to the King that his lovely child had been berated. It was a bit of serendipity in earnest, that sedated the raging serpents in her mind. The brat shed a tear and though she knew she really didn't deserve any sympathy, empathy had dominated her emotions.


Releasing the fist she had clutched in attempt to calm her anger, she let air flow from her lungs and out the cavity known as her mouth, in a bit of sigh,"I'm workin' on it my grace." No sooner than she spoke, the sky seemed to open a bit and Zeus himself seemed to poke his head out and throw a bolt of lightning from the dark skies. The lightning struck the wooden surface of the ship causing a bit a small shower of splinters, and leaving a charred hole where it has contacted.


This had caught Geoff by surprise a bit, and the ship seemed to be losing itself. Caught in awe at everything that was developing around her, her feet became stone as seemed planted in her location. A sound louder than the thunder the sky made came from the ship, as if a storm had been brewing on the inside of the hull. Like an egg, the ship began cracking in the middle and a rope, whipping around like a cobra found itself around Geoff's leg who soon found herself flying through the air.


The rope drug her in a vicious manner, and she flopped around like the fish on the end of a fishing line. The large gusts weren't helpful either, forcing her to blow around as if she were a ragdoll. It had disoriented her a bit, but once she got her composure she was able to grab the knife from her side, lift herself up despite swinging back and forward before cutting the rope that held her hostage.


When the rope had been cut, she was actually in the middle of being swung towards the edge of the ship and if it wasn't for the fact the ship was splitting in half down the middle, she would have missed the rope that was on side. Serendipity. She reached behind her as she began falling towards the sea, her body jerking and smacking against the ship. She winced. She could hear her shoulder tearing a bit and wasn't sure how long she'd be able to hold on.

 

[Elle Joyner]

Time seemed to stand still as the storm dropped her fury upon the ship, a torrent of rain and lightning, winds and power, terrorizing the vessel as if she were made of little more than parchment. Eoin had done what he could to prevent damage, but in mere seconds his efforts were made void. They were as good as sunk, with that last bolt of lightning...


Still, he would not give up... even if his aide were beyond rational thinking... even if his accomplishments were in vain. From the corner of his eyes, he saw something fly past and turned just in time to see Geoff, an unfortunate victim of the wind's temper, being thrashed overboard. Swearing, he dashed after the fellow knight, hands grabbing the rope as it and Geoff went over the rail. The rope burned through his hands, aided by the weight of the knight, but he managed to catch it before Geoff hit the water, crying out in both pain and frustration at the feel of the slippery twine, digging into his palms.


"Hang on!" He called down to Geoff, giving the rope a tug, gritting his teeth... "Just hang on!"


Bracing his foot on the side of the ship's rail, he tugged, the rope slowly sliding back up the side, "Hang on!" He called again, his voice rising above the growl of thunder, "Almost there!"


CRACK...


The lightning hit with a smack of energy, crackling light slamming full force into the ship's body. The mast, devastated by the earlier assault splintered... split... and toppled and Eoin looked up, just in time to see the boom swinging towards him. The heavy wooden pole hit him in the jaw and Eoin dropped like a rag, oblivion claiming his vision as he blacked out.


~~


Several hours later


~~


Eyes opening, the first thing Cressida noticed was the soft wet sand beneath her head... The second things she noticed was the intense pain in her head and her left arm... The last thing she remembered was the ship, quite literally splitting in two and being sucked down into the dark, murky water with her only notion being she would surely be dead soon enough...


Incidentally, she was alive... how, she could not say. Upon inspecting of her surroundings, she found herself on the shoreline of a beach. Her vision was clouded, but she could see she was alone. Straightening upright, she felt panic rising in her chest, fear overwhelming her every line of thought.


"Help!" She screamed, her raw throat choking on the words as they squeaked out through dry, cracked lips, "Someone help!"

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

"Hang on," was all he heard as he hung off the side of the ship. All feeling was gone in her arm, no doubt dislocated, but the knight's call to hang on kept her grip tight on the rope. Pain filled the shoulder like a balloon being filled with water, each tug slowly pulling her closer and closer before everything changed. In an instant quicker than blink of an eye, lightning had struck the large wooden behemoth and all she knew was....she sliding towards the surface of thrashing water. It seemed as angry as an ill tempered child, thrashing it about with a spray of as vicious as the whipping tips of the waves.


Yet, her fall wasn't as pleasant as she had hoped. She had hit the side of vessel on her way down and like a pinball, she bounced off and into the water falling towards the world of darkness.


"You're a lady, and you should be a wife like a lady...."


A feminine voice rung through her head as she shot up from a laying position to a sitting position. Her skin was blistering hot, as if she had been sitting in the hot sun but the sky was dark, the sun had set at some point though she wasn't sure wet. She had been so shocked from the dream and stirring conscious, that she didn't even bother to breath. Yet when her body called for air, she forced herself into a deep breath which induced a coughing fit as rough as a chronic smoker with lung cancer. A bit of water and seaweed found itself coming from her mouth, before she reached a bare hand up to wipe it away.


She managed to shake her head, forcing the grogginess off before glancing to her side. A few metres away she saw a motionless body, and hoped it wasn't that wench of a Princess, but when she recognized the wear of the knight she immediately got to her feet and stumbled across the sand of the shore, even managing to fall and return to her feet a few times. How she had spotted the body in the darkness of the night with no light to help with her vision, she never knew, but she had eventually stumbled her way to her companion.


She thrust her fist on to his chest, and began to press down on it with enough to force to try and clear his lung and passage ways, or whatever would be blocking his breathing,"Eoin lad, wake' up. Ya' can't leave' me 'ere with that wench..." she uttered between struggled breaths of air, before placing more pressure on his chest again....


---------------


A fisherman had spot the princess, and noticed her pale skin. She had to be from the foreign country they were at war at the moment, and in fear of his family getting in trouble had run off and told an official. They in turn sent a patrol unit to go investigate, and one of the scouts recognized her as the Princess. So the group of men, two dressed in what you'd expect from a samurai warrior of Japan, swords on their sides, and the other two in the brown shinobi ware of popular culture rushed to meet her.


Two katana blades were drawn and pointed at her neck, while the two ninja had arrows aimed at her, she'd be in for a surprise once her vision cleared.


(Sorry the last bit of rough..i stumbled over me words)

 

[Elle Joyner]

With a shudder breath, Eoin choked the water from his lungs, rolling over to spit into the sand. His throat felt raw and scraped, his chest sore from the pounding. Somewhere along the way, before blacking out, he'd lost his armor in favor of survival, and his body ached in more places than not. Through water-logged ears he could barely hear the voice above him, and blinking blurred vision, he rolled onto his back to search for Geoff.


His eyes landed on the fellow knight, and as his vision cleared, he took in the figure next to him with an expression akin to shock. Gesturing to the bandages, wrapped tight round Geoff's torso, Eoin sat up on his elbows, shaking her head... His eyes narrowed, and his voice when he spoke, was rife with quiet fury.


He felt betrayed... dishonored... and he...she was about to know.


"...Care to explain, Sir Geoff?"


~~


She'd seen them coming and for a moment... a brief, shining moment, Cressida was certain her cries for help were being heeded. Then weapons were drawn and pointed in her direction and she knew she'd been wrong. Staying put, too frightened to move, even if she'd wanted to, she lifted her hands, shaking her head.


This wasn't her world. She knew gowns and galas, jewels and feasts. She knew how to flirt with just her eyes and sing the song of her Kingdom an octave higher than any of the other Ladies of court. She knew how to sew and arrange flowers and which fork was the first you used when eating. Weapons and violence, and shipwrecks... These were not things with which she was familiar, and she was terrified.


"...Please... I... Our ship, it went down in the storm! You must help me!"

 

[AkuTheWolfOkami]

"Explain? I just saved yer' life laddie!" cried the young woman staring with the gaze of a gorgon,a gaze that could turn anyone into stone. The unyielding man afore caused her to suck in the air between her teeth, and fold her exposed arms across her chest. Her breathing began to slow at the realization of her armor, well the lack there of.


The breathing became almost to a stand still as the truth of the situation came to her head. A moment's pass, and she looked down. Unlike her usual self, she didn't react with a joke, or even a spurt of anger. She cowered in herself. Eyes stuck on the sand below her filled with the shame of having deceived her companion. Water had begun to knock on the doors, a whole army of them- bright with the urgency to leave. She had done everything to stop their advance but....


One tricky little devil made its way from her eyes and down her left cheek sliding its self to her chin before leaping to its death. She had loss that battle, and decided to close her eyes tightly three more tears escaping in what seemed to be random directions and suffering the same fat as their first comrade.


"I'm sorry," she said softly, in a far more feminine tone than that she had ever let on before. Fear overcame her. He knew the truth, he'd definitely turn her in and they'd have her head no doubt for lying to the army. She let her right arm fall, able to grab a fist full of sand,"I'm sorry!" she yelled again jumping to her feet to run off, but stumbling to her stomach and struggling to get back to her feet.


------------------------------


One of the shinobi moved to tie the girl up with rope, and the other moved to knock her out (sorry on the power play just want to move "this part" ahead)


When she'd awake, she'd awake to room with everything a woman would need, well maybe not in her culture, but it was for them. There would be no binds tying her, there would be none of that. The room would have wooden floors, and thin walls. It would be what you'd expect for traditional japanese homes. On the table in the middle of the room would be bowls of rice, some sort of soup (made with fish) and a couple stalks of some strange vegetable (similar to corn). Next to this all would be a pair of wooden chop sticks.


It was clear that they did not fear her escaping, and that they meant no harm to her.