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The storm 2

" ALL HANDS ON DECK!" came the frantic call of the bosun.

Snorri sat up with a jolt—and immediately wished she hadn't. Up until that moment, she and Nicko had been asleep in their cabin on the Mermaid, a cargo ship bound from the Port to the Trading Post across the sea. The two of them had opted to travel via cargo ship rather than by passenger ship, as it was less expensive, but the trade-off was less-than-suitable accommodations. This included the "cabin", which was nothing more than an empty, three-foot-high storage room on the top deck.

Ignoring the throbbing pain from the bump rapidly rising on her forehead, Snorri braced herself against the wall as the cabin rocked to and fro with the ship. Carefully she felt her way through the dark and shook Nicko awake. "Nicko. Nicko! There is a storm!"

"Wherrgh?" Nicko rolled over and yawned. "Mm, go back 'sleep," he mumbled blearily.

Another wave hit the ship, and the cabin bucked sharply. Snorri managed to hang on to a hook nailed in the wall, but Nicko was flung from his bedroll and into a nearby crate containing anvils. (The room he and Snorri called their cabin was used to store shipments of metalware.)

"Argh! Okay, okay, I'm awake," Nicko winced, rubbing the back of his head. "Gah, what a wake-up call."

"No time!" Snorri insisted. "Nicko, outside there is a storm!"

"Yeah, you're right," Nicko agreed, wide-awake now. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going out to help!" He wriggled over to the door and opened it. A strong gust of wind and rain blasted into the cabin, throwing the door wide open. Nicko hesitated.

"I will go with you," Snorri offered.

"Yes, of course," Nicko said gratefully, and the two of them crawled out onto the deck.

The Mermaid was, at that moment, the epitome of chaos. Like ants whose nest is being blasted with a hose, the sailors scurried frantically all over the ship, attempting to tie things down and avoid the spray at the same time. Horrified, Snorri watched as a man up in the crow's nest struggled to lower the mainsail, was caught in a sudden gale, and hurled into the air. Then a wet strand of white-blonde hair blew into her face, and when she peeled it off her face the man was gone. Snorri didn't want to think about his fate.

Another wave bucked the ship, and Nicko and Snorri were thrown to the ground. A passing sailor dressed in the naval jacket of a first mate nearly tripped over them, and stared down in shock as he realized that they were passengers. "Thou art foolish to trod the decks of our Mermaid whilst a tempest such as this unleashes its wrath!" he reprimanded as he hurriedly helped them up. "As the bosun of this fine ship, thou must kindly allow me to escort thee back to thy—"

An ominous CRA-A-A-ACK cut the bosun off, and both he and Nicko turned sharply in the direction of the noise. It didn't take long to find it. The windstorm was taking its toll on the mainmast, which was heavily splintered near the base and tilted at a dangerous angle.

Nicko and Snorri hot on his heels, the bosun scrambled over to inspect the damage. He shook his head frantically. "No, oh no! It cannot be true! The mast of our beloved Mermaid hath been damaged. It will fall ere long, and the Mermaid will sink! All will perish!"

"Not yet, they won't!" Nicko insisted firmly. "Mr. Bosun, how strong are you?"

The bosun gave him a quizzical look, in part for the dialect and in part for the question. "I have hefted a great number of weights in the course of my vocation. Why dost thou ask?"

"Good. I need you to brace yourself against the mast and support it for the next fifteen minutes." He turned to Snorri. "Go belowdecks and find the ship's blacksmith. Tell him to come up, and to bring his hammer and about twenty spikes with him, maybe twenty-five just to be safe. I'll be right back!" And with that, he dashed back to their cabin.

By this time Snorri, who had looked through the crates with Nicko that afternoon out of curiosity, had caught on. But knowing that there wasn't much time, she didn't bother to explain Nicko's plan to the bewildered bosun, and instead made a beeline for the trapdoor that led belowdecks. She dashed down the hallways, calling, "Blacksmith! Blacksmith, we need the blacksmith!"

Finally a muscular man sporting a sooty pair of cutoff pants and a shining bald head stepped out of one of the rooms. "I be the smith," he said. "For what use dost thou require my services?"

Snorri knew Old Speak well enough by now to understand what he was saying, so she said quickly, "Top deck. Mainmast is damaged, you are needed to fix. You bring hammer and twenty-five spikes. Hurry!" After some rethinking, she corrected herself and added, "Make haste!"

Like the bosun, the blacksmith also looked puzzled, but he did as he was told. Moments later he and Snorri were stumbling across the topsy-turvy deck to the mainmast, which a disgruntled bosun was holding upright with his back. Nicko beckoned them over.

"Oh, good, you're here," he said, relieved. Then he held up four strips of metal, each two feet long with five evenly spaced holes punched through them. Recognition dawned on the bosun and smith as Nicko held one of the metal strips up against and parallel to the mast. The blacksmith immediately grabbed a spike and began hammering it into the wood through one of the metal holes.

Five minutes later the twenty-third spike had been hammered through the last hole (three spikes had been lost to the elements), and the bosun slid down to collapse on the deck in relief. Nicko thanked the blacksmith, who turned to leave and soon disappeared in the heavy rain. A crewmember then came up to the bosun and announced that everything had been tied down, and nothing more could be done but to ride out the storm. The bosun nodded weakly, then turned to Nicko and Snorri and told them to go back to their cabin and try to get some rest. The two teens, soaked and exhausted, didn't argue.

The next morning, the Mermaid docked in Harbor Number Three. As Nicko and Snorri prepared to disembark from the ship, the bosun stopped them.

"Many thanks to thee, Nikolas Heap, for thy quick thinking in the midst of the pandemonium ensuing last night." He pressed something small into Nicko's hand. "This be the key to my humble net loft. If thou and thy dame ever need a place to lodge for a night, thou art welcome to use it anytime."

Nicko blushed, particularly at the mention of the word 'dame'. "Oh no, I can't—"

"Please, I insist," the bosun pressed. "Thou shalt accept it as a token of my gratitude, for preserving not only the mast—" he leaned forward conspiratorially, "—but my beloved career, as well."

"Take it, Nicko," Snorri said. "We do need a place to stay tonight."

The bosun's eyes lit up. He had not expected his offer to be needed so soon.

Nicko consented. "Alright. Thank you, Mr. Bosun."

"Thou art most welcome," he replied. "Farewell, and safe travels." And with a twinkle in his eye, the bosun was gone.

As they made their way through the bustling Harbor, Nicko walked with a spring in his step. The first half of their journey was over. What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, in fact. But neither Nicko nor Snorri could possibly know that.

(1307)