Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Stormy Night

Theo had left the training room immediately after her conversation with Ava hoping for a night of quiet but of course, that is not what the gods had in store for her. After a few hours in her room, Navi burst through the door.

"Captain! We've got a storm," Navi yelled from the entrance to the quarters, a wild smile on her face when she ran back out.

Theo bolted up from her chair and ran out of the door. She booked it as fast as she could up the stairs and up to the helm. She slowed her pace as she reached the edge of the helm and stared in front of her. At first, the sky was pitch black, no moon or light in the sky; she could see nothing. Then she heard the distant sound of thunder and lightning illuminated her view. Dark storm clouds were visible in the split second the sky was lit up. Theo felt a gust of wind whip her hair around and she was thankful she didn't bring her hat out. Another crack of thunder brought a series of lightning strikes that gave Theo a better view of the monstrosity they were about the face.

"Fucking shit..." Theo said as she took a few steps backward. They had only about an hour before they were caught in whatever was lying ahead of them. She turned around and ran to the edge of the helm, yelling down below, "Batten down the hatches!"

Theo turned to Navi, who was grinning like she was mad, "Wipe that smile off your face! We could die."

"We won't," Navi challenged, notorious for her love of sailing through storms and Theo had no choice but to laugh at her confidence.

"Furl the sails!" Theo called to Navi as she backed up towards the stairs, "Leave only the jib and the fore topsails!"

"I know how to run a ship into a storm, Captain!" Navi reminded her and got to work calling out instructions to her sailors.

Theo hopped off the stairs with two steps left and ran towards the infirmary. She ran in without knocking and called out, "Storm!"

Most everyone had their roles on the ship, both before the storm and after. Theo's prestorm duty was to inform as many people as she could that there was a storm. There was a very easy and proven method she had adopted in her many years of being the one to alert people, running and yelling. She ran into the lower decks, into storage, into the kitchen, into the library, yelling storm the whole way through. She ran down each of the rows of cabins slamming on the doors and she passed them yelling out every few seconds.

"Storm! We've got a storm on our hands!" Theo yelled as she banged on Xyra's door a little harder than the others and moved on.

Once Theo had done a lap of the ship, she took a breather but only for a minute. She set off again on another round, this time to check things were being done promptly. Oceane was securing the cannons so they didn't have any loose ones rolling around and crushing people. Navi was making sure the sails were furled before the violent winds caught them. Tuni was rounding up all of the people unable to help to keep them safe. Xyra was making sure that all hatches were tarped up and secure. Everyone had a role, even Ava. Theo went to go check on her and she seemed to have a grasp on what was needed.

Ava, as the most recent acting cabin girl, had to go into all cabins to make sure windows were closed and doors were locked. Theo saw a figure at the end of the hallway, fumbling with a ring of keys as the ship began to get rockier.

"Red, everything good?" Theo called down the hallway.

"Aye!" Ava called back, "Where do I go when I'm done?!"

Leave it to Ava to have a question at a time like that, "Lower decks! Find Tuni!"

Theo went back to the helm once she had made sure everything was being done. She thanked her wits and her capable crew for making the preparations necessary beforehand. They had already preemptively secured the cargo, put away any large and loose items, and fixed any part of the ship that threatened to be a problem if a storm came their way. When Theo came back there were two ropes tied to the bottom of the ship's wheel. Navi was already standing with one of the ropes tied around her waist.