I doubt that she can at this point!

The Storm!

As Drakon climbed up the ladder he just couldn't help wondering why he had chained the girl to his bed. He could have chained her anywhere, but nooo he had to have her in his cabin. She was way too feisty for her own good and because of that it would be a battle to tame her. He shrugged, then grinned as he thought about it. She was a huge challenge and he had never been one to back off from a challenge. With a bigger grin he began to think of the various delicious ways he was going to make her beg him to make love to her. He knew he needed a plan. This was certainly bound to alleviate the days of boredom on the seas!

As he stepped on deck, he glanced at the sky. Plans for the girl quickly disappeared. Drakon frowned as he watched the sky rapidly becoming dark. Ominous clouds rolled in as the wind picked up significantly. Looking over at Nikos who usually manned the helm he decided he would take over for awhile. Drakon relieved Nikos and gave him orders to get anything that wasn't nailed down to be taken to the cargo hold and secured. Within minutes Nikos organized the men to pass the supplies to each other and down below. The two crates of chickens were swiftly grabbed along with all the other supplies they had purloined recently and handed over to the men lined up ready to pass the goods to each other. In this manner all movable articles were out of harm's way withing minutes and placed in the cargo hold.

He looked up at the skies again, he had a bad feeling about the storm coming their way. They had left Crete far behind. The closest land for them would be any one of the many small islands that dotted the sea. The wind was rapidly gaining in velocity, which meant a major storm was upon them. Dragon bellowed for one of the men to climb up on the tall rigging, lash himself to the mast and watch for land.

Niko came around and shouted, “Everything is secured Captain, is there anything else?” A huge gust of wind nearly knocked the him overboard. Drakon wiped the rain out of his eyes and shouted,

“Tie me to my post and then tie yourself over to the mast. We'll take turns at the rudder! Are all the men safe?” At Nikos's nod he gave a sigh of relief. As he continued to steer them into the waves, Nikos tied him with a piece of rope attached to the hull before securing himself to the mast. Every few minutes a wave hit the ship causing it to shudder before righting itself. The wind blew fiercely! They took thirty minute shifts, it was a tremendous strain on the two men.

Meanwhile the men below hung onto whatever was not moving. Some were silent, others prayed to whatever gods they knew. Water spilled into the hold, until one of the men splashed his way up the ladder and closed the hatch. He grumbled, “The last man down the ladder was supposed to close the damn hatch!” Another wave hit the side of the ship sending him crashing into a man holding onto a water barrel. After a moment they righted themselves and found places to wait out the storm.

Airila still tied to the bed could only scream every time the ship heaved up and fell down with a crash. She had never been so afraid in her life. Having never been on a ship in a storm. Her throat was sore from all the screaming. Tears streamed down her cheeks, “Why doesn't someone come in here and untie me? I'm going to drown if the ship sinks, without even a chance to try and save myself! Again she screamed/croaked, “Damn that pirate, if I live through this I'm going to make him pay...I swear it!” Again she tried to get her hands to squeeze out of the cuffs, only to cause her sore skin to bruise more. Her right wrist had was some blood where she had pulled too hard.

Topside, things didn't look good at all. Finally Drakon heard the crewman up in the rigs cry out while waving his arm, “LAND!....LAND! I see a small a island port side...!” Drakon glanced at Nikos before pulling the rudder so it changed direction. Then he heard the crewman shout again, “LOOOOK OUT....ROCKS!” Too late he saw the rocks come into view once a wave had finished washing over them. It was too late to change course. Drakon once again bellowed,

“HEADS UP FOR COLLISION!” There was a loud roar as the hull scraped across the jagged rocks and came to an abrupt stop, causing everyone but Airlia to fall over. The winds and waves kept on sweeping across the ship, but it was now firmly stuck on the rocks.

As Drakon untied himself he shouted to Nikos, “Get the men off the ship and onto the island as fast as you can, I'll take care of the girl!” Nikos nodded his understanding as he ran for the hold shouting,

“ABANDON SHIP MEN....ABANDON SHIP!” There was some tumult but by and large the men were able to get themselves quickly on deck where upon they proceeded to deftly climb down the ropes on the land side of the ship. Soon there was a dozen bobbing heads in the waves heading to shore. Fortunately they were not too far from shore so no was was lost. Soon they lay wearily on the beach, dark blobs of humanity as they regained their strength.

Meanwhile, Drakon stood to the side as he let him men go before heading down towards his quarters hoping the girl had not passed out. It would be that much harder to haul a limp body up the ladder and off the slippery shuddering ship. He kicked the door open and strode inside, heart pounding. In the semi darkness he was able to discern the girl who look at him with wild eyes. Her body struggled as she cried out hoarsely, “Please...please get me out of here! I don't want to drown!”

In moments he was at her side disengaging the chain from the wall. He lifted her onto her feet and started dragging her out of the cabin stating, “We have to get off the ship....now!” She stumbled as he hauled her to the ladder. Planting his large hands on her butt he pushed her up rung by rung. Cold water splashed down with every wave. There was no time to make a scene so Airlia grunted softly as she climbed up as best she could, coughing with each downpour of seawater, her wrists ached but that didn't matter now.

Once they were on deck, Drakon again grabbed her by the arm as they both slid over the wet planks of the deck to the rail. With a quick glance to make sure there were no rocks below he lifted her up and threw her overboard. She screamed all the way down until she hit the cold water. Without a moment to loose he jumped in after her. He didn't want to loose her in the dark, not knowing if she could swim or not. Once in the choppy waters he moved his arms around til his fingers touched hair. He grabbed a fistful and pulled her to him. She didn't resist until he began to move.

Her arms flailed about as he started to swim to shore, keeping her head above the water as best he could. The waves were still high and washed over them as they got closer to shore. Finally he felt his feet touch sand and he heaved a sigh of relief. Drakon hauled the wet and heavy body of the girl onto the beach and fell on top of her breathing heavily before turned over onto his back. He heard her moan and knew she still lived.