HSI: The Island

"Boys?" Mauve was taken aback by Gwydion's comments. "I suppose you are an expert on swamps and the like then?"

She casts her eyes over the shoreline assessing the situation. She wonders how the captain got this far in life by being a coward unless he was drunk or possessed or maybe even had a death wish. That was the problem with signing up for these things. You never knew who you were going to be thrown in with.

"Let's stop wasting time and get on with it," she says impatiently wondering if Gwydion had anything worth stealing.

"This wouldn't be my first expedition of an uncharted isle." Gwydion replies to Mauve's comment.

Berwyn keeps his eyes locked on Gonnar. The hate is etched into that stare. His gaze shifts over to Halor when the priest steps up and hefts a warhammer to his shoulder. Fafnir moves up beside the other two and the captain's features relax, worry replaces anger. He looks over the group of passengers standing together, then looks around at his men … sailors with barely a dagger between them. The crew all look back expectantly.

"Fine." He says in a low voice. Then, as if dismissing the last few minutes. The captain puts on the air of command and points to Lothar. "Lothar … you, Ulric and Rae will row this group ashore."

The Captain walks over to the Starboard railing and looks down to the sea below. "Be quick about it! We need to start digging this ship out of the sand and work on repairs. I don't plan to be stranded on this island for the rest of my life ... unlike Gwyndion, I have no interest in exploring an island that pops out of thin air."

Mauve thinks the captain is daft, indecisive, cowardly, and lacking in foresight. Sidling up next to him she asks, "Do you think the ship will be free anytime soon? I doubt you'd want to move her before she is repaired or she might sink. We will need to explore the island to find what we need and that won't happen today or even tomorrow. Is it your plan to cower below decks while we figure out how to fix the ship that you crashed into a sand bar?"

Being a quick-tempered sort of lass she often said what she thought, the consequences be damned. She didn't feel that this particular captain was worthy of respect and she wasn't intimidated by him either.

Fafnir let his handle fall to his sword and as Mauve began ripping into him. There was a certain breed of idiot who couldn't deal with criticism, especially from a woman, and he suspected the Captain was one of these.

The Captain's face contorts with rage at Mauve's comment. "You damn BITCH! Who do you think you are!" He screams, spittle spraying as if from a mad dog. His fist lashes out looking to drive into Mauve's face. He is quick, but she must have been expecting something and is quicker.

"What did you call me, you excuse for a captain?" she yells, her cheeks red with rage.

Mauve's uncanny ability to produce a knife at will literally comes in handy as she attempts to stab the captain with it.

Halor's grip around the haft of his hammer tightens. His expression is calm, his gaze wandering between captain and crew.

Halfway is a concept Mauve knows nothing about. It's all or nothing with her and such insults would never be tolerated let alone from a sorry excuse for a ship's captain.

She's quick. It's why she is a good thief and the captain doesn't see it coming, and he doesn't know what hits him as Mauve stabs the man in his left eyeball, ramming it in all the way to the back of his skull, feeling the clunk of the tip meeting bone. She has just enough time to slide the knife out before the coward's body registers that it's dead and it drops like a rock onto the deck.

She turns to whoever has witnessed the gory scene as she wipes her knife on the nearest sailor.

"Any questions?"

"I have one," Halor says, keeping his eyes on the crew, "Who's your new captain? Figure it out quick. I recommend someone with some amount of leadership skills and won't freeze when his ship and crew are in danger. We're taking the boat, but one of you can row us ashore if you want. We'll do what we can to help get this ship sail-worthy again. Try and figure your shit out by the time we return, huh?"

He let's that sink in a moment, then adds, "Who's going to shuttle us to land then? Don't all volunteer at once please."

"You know where I'm from, whoever kills the Captain gets to be the Captain. And then appoints her first mate..."

He adds, quietly as he can to Mauve: "...who does all the hard work."

"Captain Mauve has a good ring to it! You know she won't freeze: her veins are ice."

"Looks like you want to be in charge huh, Halor? But I like Fafnir's thinking better. I'll be your captain. I guess I earned it."

Mauve's a little dazed by the sudden turn of events but she comes to grips with it well enough and turns to Fafnir, poking him on the shoulder. "You just became my first mate!" Turning toward the rest of the crew she capitalizes on all the watchful eyes looking her way.

"Listen up! First order of business. Get this sorry-assed son of a bitch off the ship. We don't want to attract sharks so let's burn him and toss his ashes into the drink. Who's volunteering? Then we need a sailor to row my fine friends and myself ashore. You there, by the anchor!" she shouts. "Toss it in. We don't want the ship to float away when the tide comes in. We need to get wood and fix any leaks right away although I'll be damned if I know how."

"Wait," Fafnir stutters out, laughing at the miscommunication. "No you're supposed to pick on of the sailors who actually knows how to run a ship to be the first mate. You know, to do all the work. I would be terrible at this job, bwahaha!"

Mauve wipes the gore from her blade on the sailor's shirt and he stumbles back, almost toppling to the deck. He raises his hands in surrender. Others do the same. One tosses a blade to the deck and also raises his hands in surrender. It's not really a dagger, more of a working knife to clean fish.

All the sailors step back and huddle near the railing, their eyes to their feet, and hands raised ... except for Lothar. He raises his hands in surrender, but looks Mauve in the eyes then shifts his gaze to Fafnir. "I believe I'm the one next in line. I should warn you, this is not a pirate ship. The sailors before you run cargo. They are not murderers. If you're looking for a crew to help satisfy your bloodlust, you will quickly realize these men do not fit the bill. Berwyn was a coward and a bully, but he knew the seas. Take the boat if you wish. No one will stop you. No one else wishes to die today."

"Captain," Gonnar says, trying out the word with a smirk on his lips as he looks at the dead man, "You probably don't want to burn this man... on a wooden ship. The men can make a pyre on the shore. Or just feed him to the crabs."