Suspended in Time

Captain Jazzalyn makes her debut.

An endless expanse of grey stretched on for an eternity.  The mist from the sea and clouds in the sky blurred together and obliterated the horizon, laying a trance over the ocean that made the crew members aboard The Vendetta feel as if they were suspended in time aboard the vessel.  They had been at sea for weeks and every inch of their bodies was covered with a salty brine that dried out their eyeballs and cracked their skin.  All the ropes were covered in a thin bloodied film as the sails were raised or lowered and scabs oozed.  The men were begging to see land again, even a strange and foreign land as this was promised to be.  

Captain Jazzalyn rested her arms against the rough wooden railing of the ship's prow, her eyes cast down towards the waters, still for once.  Droplets trickled down her nose, not from sweat, but from the unceasing moisture in the air.  It clung to her, glueing her boots and bodice to her skin, chaffing her waist where her sword belt was fastened.  She ignored it all, deeply inhaling the water-laden air, basking in the silence that was so rare out on her ship.

Her ship.  Indeed, and gloriously, it was still her ship.  She still held fast to rank as captain, having never once relinquished it in these past seven years, though she had put down two mutinies and a sea monster to maintain it.  The men of her crew were the absolute best; well-trained, well-paid, and, most importantly, loyal to a fault.  They gave her, a woman, no trouble; in fact, they seemed to revere her as more-than-mortal, a walking legend amongst them.  It never failed to bring a smile to her face when she passed through the galley and set these old salts whispering like a lot of school girls.  

The ones who remained silent were the ones who knew the truth, one too horrible to tell.  The ones who had been there and seen her for what she was; a kidnapped island girl who had been ravished, bloodied, and mangled - a wounded animal that had escaped her bonds and her cell and hunted down the man who had exterminated her people: their former Captain.  The men had surrendered to her as a unit and had never looked back, and never doubted her judgement.  They knew she was ruthless.

Lost in her thoughts, she at first failed to notice the gradual rushing of water that meant a change of the tides, but, eventually, she lifted her gaze.  The mist before her looked much the same as it had for the past week, but slowly, vague forms began to take shape before her.  A sudden gale blew past her, setting a chill to her damp skin, and the mist began to clear, revealing a  rocky bay with a small, gravely beach.  She slapped her palms again the railing and gave a cheer, all pretense of dignity temporarily abandoned, before calling out, "Land ho!"

"Ho!" came the expected response as the drowsy crew tumbled out on to the top deck, tripping over one another to get a glimpse of the bay.  Upon its sight they broke into cheers of their own, the most hardy of them raising their taps to open casks of ale in celebration.  

"Enough."  One simple command, quietly executed, brought the men back to their senses.  "Bring me the charts so that we know where we are, before you give yourselves a reason to drink yourselves into oblivion."  With that she strode towards her quarters where the maps where kept, her navigator trailing in her wake.  

----

"It appears, Captain, that we are docked on an small chain of islands and reefs that marks the entrance to the bay of Ogla, known as a whole as Crescent Island due to its moon-like shape.  I believe us to be here, on the northern tip of the crescent, if you will, and the nearest mainland post is a small forging village by the name of Ado.  It is flanked to the north and east by a wild forest of ancient oaks, but to the south west there is a river that marks the northern boundary to the royal grounds to the city of Ogla itself.  If a stealthy approach is what you desire, Captain, that is the route I would recommend.  The most direct approach to the palace, of course, would be to sail around the reef and directly into the bay itself - that would take us to the docks of Ogla, only miles from the palace walls."