Write On Edge: Salt Water Challenge

Once again, the challenge gives us 300 words. This time, the topic is inspired by a quote from Isak Dinesen (Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke) “The cure for anything is salt water….sweat, tears or the sea.”






I offer the following response: The Penitent

The ship pitched and rolled on the dicey waters while the wind pelted the bark with an unrelenting, briny slush. The captain ordered the yard to be braced for the coming storm. Men scurried on deck to secure loose articles and up aloft to adjust the sails. The crew, long seasoned by the dangers of the sea, manned their posts with precision.

With three days remaining on the voyage, the Rose Eleanor ran light in the draft as there was scant cargo aboard. She instead was providing transport for returning Crusaders, licking their wounds after the fall of Acre. The captain had shuttled crusaders before and looked upon them with guarded suspicion. Most he had ferried were little more than mercenaries, willing to pick a fight. The choppy seas did nothing to settle mounting tensions..

One of the battle-scarred passengers stepped in quietly as a makeshift sailor, helping to hoist lines and furl sails, quickly earning the admiration of the entire crew.

“Thanks, Lad,” Captain Corrick said, “but you needn’t feel obligated. You paid your passage in full.”

The quiet man regarded his calloused hands pensively, “Demons will make work for idle hands. I have faced more than my share of them to give them cause to seek me out.”

Attempting humor, the captain said, “I think demons would think twice about making work for you.”

"Perhaps," the crusader chuckled softly as the boatswain trilled another command on his pipe. “I have had my fill of war in God’s name. Now I seek peace, but I fear I am ill-equipped.” He added somberly, "I shall fail Him as we did in Acre."

“He will note the effort,” the captain replied earnestly as he turned his gaze towards the horizon, broken with angry waves, “or we are all lost at sea.”