{"id":83,"date":"2009-11-27T12:30:38","date_gmt":"2009-11-27T17:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/?p=83"},"modified":"2010-02-11T21:31:59","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T04:31:59","slug":"chapter-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/2009\/11\/chapter-ten\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Ten"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 2009, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

Evermist: Chapter Ten<\/h1>\n

Elias gripped the railing tightly.\u00a0 With every swell of The Seaspray<\/em>, he felt his stomach churn and rumble.\u00a0 Any moment and he knew he’d lose what little food he’d been able to eat so far, and he’d only been on the ship two days.\u00a0 How would he feel after a week?\u00a0 A month?\u00a0 At least he wasn’t as bad as Fyet who spent most of his time in bed groaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe you talked me into this,\u201d he said, handing Millie the letter he\u2019d written to his mother, not his father.\u00a0 He thought that safer.\u00a0 It had as much as he dared ask about his father.\u00a0 He knew that his mother was no happier with his going to Evermist than he, and that his parents had fought about it more than once.\u00a0 Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to tell him more.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d she said as she stuffed it behind her belt.\u00a0 She was wearing a sky-blue dress and had her hair pulled around and draped down her left side, exposing the right side of her neck.\u00a0 He wanted nothing more than to bury his face there, pull her close again.\u00a0 But people were watching.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be careful?\u201d he asked.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI will,\u201d she nodded.\u00a0 \u201cIt will not come to her by my hand.\u00a0 I\u2019ll use one of the boys, the apprentices from the trade district \u2013 they\u2019re always looking for extra coppers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Before he could object, she was there, arms wrapped around him, body pressed close, whispering in his ear\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

He could still feel the weight of her pressed against him, even here on the ship.<\/p>\n

Narut appeared at his side, an easy smile on his lips.\u00a0 \u201cThinking of pretty girls?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know me too well,\u201d he answered, then the pitch of the ship sent his stomach spinning and he ever nearly lost its contents right there on the deck.<\/p>\n

“Take this,” Narut said, offering Elias something that looked like a root.\u00a0 Even the thought of eating was too much for him though, let alone some raw root, and he shook his head to refuse it.\u00a0 “Take it!\u00a0 It’ll help.\u00a0 Just chew, don’t swallow.”<\/p>\n

Elias took the root but made no attempt to eat it.\u00a0 It looked like any other plant root he’d ever seen before; brown, hard and not particularly appetizing.<\/p>\n

“What is it?” he asked instead.<\/p>\n

“Old family secret for sea sickness.\u00a0 You just keep a bit in your mouth, chew it but don’t swallow it.\u00a0 When it loses its flavor, spit it over the side and replace it with another chunk.\u00a0 Works wonders.”<\/p>\n

“How does anyone stand it?” Elias asked, breaking a bit of the root off and chewing it.\u00a0 He trusted Narut, but part of him wondered if it weren’t a prank of some sort while the other part prayed that it worked.\u00a0 He couldn’t take much more of this.\u00a0 If it worked, he’d share with Fyet and see if it would be enough to get the other man out of his bed.<\/p>\n

“Some don’t,” Narut replied.\u00a0 He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, smiling.\u00a0 “It’s good to be on the sea again.”<\/p>\n

“If you say so,” Elias grunted.\u00a0 Narut laughed.\u00a0 “It’s better out here on the front of the boat.\u00a0 When I’m inside, it seems worse.”<\/p>\n

“Bow.”<\/p>\n

“What?”<\/p>\n

“You said ‘front of the boat’ – it’s called the bow.\u00a0 The back is called the ‘stern’.\u00a0 Left and right are port and starboard.”\u00a0 Narut stomped his foot, “And this is the deck.”<\/p>\n

Elias followed the sound and looked down.\u00a0 That’s when he noticed Narut was barefoot, his pant legs folded up to his upper calf.\u00a0 He’d seen the crew working the deck barefoot and now Narut as well?\u00a0 Should he be barefoot too?<\/p>\n

Narut laughed lightly.\u00a0 “It’s easier to be barefoot on deck.\u00a0 Your feet grip better than any shoes, balance better with the rocking too, especially if you have to climb the riggings.”\u00a0 Narut pointed up and Elias followed the movement, taking in all the ropes weaving through the masts.<\/p>\n

“They climb those?”<\/p>\n

“Sometimes.”<\/p>\n

“But you aren’t going to, so why no boots?”<\/p>\n

Narut laughed again, almost sadly.\u00a0 “Reminds me of home.”<\/p>\n

That, Elias could understand.\u00a0 Standing in the front-bow, he reminded himself.\u00a0 Standing in the bow of the ship, chewing on the root that was bitter but actually beginning to help his stomach, Elias wouldn’t mind something to remind him of home.\u00a0 Suddenly, he thought of Millie in her sky-blue dress, smiling at him, tears in her eyes and his stomach seemed to settle all of it\u2019s own volition.<\/p>\n

Was Millie where \u2018home\u2019 was now?<\/p>\n

Tell your friends:<\/em>
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\u00a9 2009, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved Evermist: Chapter Ten Elias gripped the railing tightly.\u00a0 With every swell of The Seaspray, he felt his stomach churn and rumble.\u00a0 Any moment and he knew he’d lose what little food he’d been able to eat so far, and he’d only been on the ship two days.\u00a0 How […]<\/p>\n

Tell your friends:<\/em>
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