Contemplations of a Druid III: Wrong Direction

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Silver Moon Cloud
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Joined: Fri May 19, 2017 5:30 am
Guild: Druids

Contemplations of a Druid III: Wrong Direction

Post by Silver Moon Cloud »

Silver lay on the sand of a beach. Her wings half sloshing around in the water as the waves came in and out. Shivering and soaking wet she gazed up into the now departing storm clouds. Finally, the sun was piecing through the storm. Gasping she attempted to calm her breathing and get her body to relax. Slowly the shivering began to lesson and she contemplated on what had just happened.

*A day earlier*

Silver Moon Cloud was off on another one of her voyages. On a commissioned small ship from the Household of the Sea she headed off into the horizon.

“How is the heading m’lady?” asked the Captain of the vessel. She had paid for his services many times and there has never been any person that the Captain has ever let come aboard and command his crew. Silver looked down at her compass pendant and the direction was true to her course.

“We are just perfect Captain.” She replied with a beaming smile on her face. The Captain smiled back at the Sprite as she sat perched on platform he had fashioned for her attached to the center mast to give Silver a good vantage point. He put his fingers to his hat and gave an exaggerated bow toward her. She smiled and laughed and returned the gesture.

The trip went on with no problem or complaint. That would be until the second day. Nodding hallway into sleep Silver was awakened by water touching her cheeks. Her hair was whipping around her body and she looked up to see some small rain clouds in the sky. Wiping the water from her face she stood up on her platform and tied her hair back behind her to keep the long curls out of her eyes. Grasping her pendant compass she made a check to be sure they were still on course.

Something was odd. Her gold compass seemed different. It lacked its usual bright shine and the crystal lens seemed to be corroding. She tapped it in the palm of her hand and noticed the needle still moved and then got her azimuth. They were about 20 degrees off. The rain began to pick up.

“Twenty degrees Starboard!” She shouted back to the Captain.

“Aye M’lady!" Replied the Captain now having to squint his eyes to see through the drops of rain. Silver glanced down at her compass again. It seemed to be on heading.
About an hour later the storm was knocking the ship around like a floating bottle. The Captain and crew worked diligently to keep the vessel on Silver’s course. Hanging onto a rope for support and her wings tucked in to prevent her from flying away Silver attempted to keep an eye on both the horizon and her compass. She noticed something in the horizon. She could have sworn she just seen land. This was impossible to her as they were at least another say away from the island. She pulled out her looking glass to get a look. It was worst then land. About ten sharp tall pillars of stone were towering out of the water not far off in the distance and they were heading straight for them.

“Captain!...Tur” was all she could shout when bolt of lightning struck the mast of the ship splattering the deck with splinters and shaking the vessel as the thunder vibrated every fiber of the ship. Most of the crew was thrown to the deck.

“What are we doing?” the Captain shouted. “Are those rocks?” he pressed her even more, “Silver where are we heading?”
Silver was beginning to become shaken. She grasped her compass to get another bearing. The needle was frozen and useless. She pondered what was happening to her, the crew, and her voyage. She couldn’t come up with an answer.

“Silveeeer!” the Captain’s voice snapped her back into the moment.

“My compass is not working!” she shouted back as she clung to a larch splintered piece of mast as it rocked in the ship. “I do not know where we are.”

The Captain looked down at the ships compass only to notice it was shattered when the lighting struck.

“Then call on nature Silveeer!” he shouted almost falling over steadying the wheel. “Let nature guide you!”

“He is right.” Silver thought. She could count on nature to guide her. She inwardly scolded herself for getting flustered and quickly regained her composure. She attempted to fly up to one of the remaining sails but her wings were too waterlogged to lift her. She just stayed in place and calmed her mind letting the sounds affect her none.
She called on the power of nature. She called to the earth, the wind, and the sea to guide her. She prayed to her Immortal Dagda.

Minutes passed and she felt a calming sensation in her chest and heard the clanging of chimes in her ears. It came from the east.

“That’s it!” she thought. “Ninety degrees starboard!” she shouted to the Captain. The Captain and the crew did what they could with the half disabled ship to keep it on its new heading. A few moments passed and lightning struck again. This time, it struck two crew members killing them. The storm increased its might. Silver reached for her compass but jumped her hand back as it singed her fingers.

“She’s getting us killed!” yelled one of the deck hands to the Captain.

“Yar we will die following her!” shouted another. Silver looked up to see the crew had abandoned their rigging and were crowing around the Captain. The Captain did not know what to do and was cornered by the crew.

“We be stopping this voyage C’tain!” Silver suddenly was struck with fear. The weight of the entire crews’ anger was unleased on her. She scrambled to get to her feat but felt herself yanked up into the air.

“Enough with yer!” shouted the deck hand right into her face ringing her ears as he held her in a white knuckled fist. He cocked his arm back and took two lunging steps and hurled her overboard into the sea.

Within minutes of her hitting the water she storm began to soften. She floated for hours until the current washed her onto the shore. She did not even move when she felt her body touch the sand.

****

Silver had her breathing under control. The sun was now fully exposed from behind the clouds and she felt its warmth. She still shook but out of sorrow and fear. She reached up to wipe away a few tears and then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

She rolled over to stand up and immediately shouted out in pain. Her right wing, still sore from her previous attack was once again swollen and stiff. She crashed onto her chest in an agonizing cry of pain. Slowly she rose up to her knees and then her feet. She stuttered as she took her first few steps and headed down the beach. The weight of her waterlogged right wing causing so much pain she had to cradle it in her arms.

She just walked on down the beach on an island she did not know. Her Spirit Ring lost in the sand where she landed now a treasure for an eager beach comber.

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