Heave!

As the gals make themselves comfy in our tiny ‘home’ for the next few weeks I come around to the front of Calatus. He tenses and stirs as I near him, his blinkered eyes denying him peripheral vision to see who it was approaching him.

In a deep, calm voice I say. “Easy, big fella.” I offer him my hand to smell. I am heartened as my presence settles him, at least a little, and he nuzzles his velvety nose into my palm. Keeping my hand at his nose I stroke his inky black neck with my other hand. “We’ll get through this together.”

Much like my noble steed who was built for war and open spaces I was tense with the same trepidation. I was a man of tilled earth and sweaty labor. The idea of weeks of being cramped in this wooden shell that very well may become a watery tomb with nothing to do went against everything a Ceres loving boy like me was raised to value. Also, the fact that once we struck out from shore we would become a tiny isolated world of our own where there would be a dozen strapping men to three women niggled at the back of my mind as well. I just prayed the Captain kept on a disciplined crew. Thinking back to the way they reacted to Kreer’s commands helps to put that later concern to ease. And if they did decide to try to take advantage of our situation, well…I preferred our chances with flesh and blood enemies over one of shadow and smoke.

Through the deck above us comes the sound of constant movement along with calls and barked orders, some in Latin and some in Greek, as the crew readied to set sail. After one last pat to Cat’s neck I return to our space to be with my chosen family during this momentous occasion. The three faces I see could have been more different. Cassie stood steadying herself by gripping a support beam with a big smile on her face as she looked upward, wishing she could be above deck for this moment. As I pass by she shoots me a wink then returns her attention to the action above. I grin back, happy to see her get the adventure she’d always craved. Rosa was already settled into the top hammock, laying on it sideways with her feet dangling over the side, and rocking with the motion of the ship as she quietly hummed to herself and gently stroked the stressed Danae who was presses tight to her side. Meanwhile Collywaddle was huddled below the bottom hammock with her eyes clenched tight as she hugged her knees to her chest.

I sway, having to catch myself on the wall, as the sudden sensation of being unmoored disorients me a moment. Just like that my connection with the great Italian peninsula is severed for the very first time in my short life. Wood roars and the heavy clunk of the ship tugging against its heavy iron anchor fills the belly of the Black Sacrifice. And belly seemed an apt description. The way the ship didn’t simply rock, like I expected, but rolled with the waves in a dizzying sort of figure eight motion while dipping forward and back along the other axis all while the ship groaned around us gave the impression of being inside of one of Neptune’s great sea beasts. This illusion is only reinforced by inhuman whirs and whistles of the telchine that seemed to pierce wood nearly as effectively as air along with the new sound of a staff or mallet hammering a heartbeat like rhythm against the hull.

“Heave! Heave! Heave!” Calls a deep voice between the beats as the crew hauls the heavy chain of the anchor from the water below, adding another racket to the cacophony around us.

Wanting to get off my feet and seeing that Colly needed me most I slide down the wall to sit beside her then put my arm around the big tense green ball of nerves that she was. With the excitement of the Kreer incident followed by the unexpected presence of Grub it was only now that we were free from dry land that the situation was hitting Colly full force. Given her near death experience back at the river I could hardly blame her if her courage was faltering. Had the noise been less I would have offered her some words of encouragement but as it was I pull her tight to my side and hold her close. Turning to me she buries her face in my side and clings to my tunic.

Little did I know that where I heard only chaos my Lady had found a beat and a rhythm among the sounds of rough working men and creaking timber. In tone more pure than a human throat could sing and a volume that none could match Rosa suddenly breaks into song!

“Wake the old oak and stretch the pine, drink the spray of Neptune’s wine!” Above deck half the voices go quiet as Rosa’s song catches their ears. “Come you sailors and straighten that spine, all together or it’s into the brine.”

Calling back in unison and in perfect time comes a trio of gutteral and gravelly voices as one. “HEAVE THE LINE! HEAVE THE LINE!”

“We leave the dusty roads of Rome, we choose the path through white capped foam!” The work song should have been at odds with Rosa’s elegant delivery yet somehow the silk with the grit only made it better. “The Hostia Nigra sets out to roam, through wind and waves then back to home.”

“HEAVE THE LINE! HEAVE THE LINE!” Half a dozen strong now the men sing, the sounds of their labor weaving into a unified chorus like their rough voices.

Cassie and I look at each other and then to Rosa who sat swinging in her hammock as she continued to sing her shanty back and forth with the crew above, sprinkling in lyrics that catered to this crew alone which seemed to spur the men to sing, and work, even harder.

At double speed the anchor is fully raised and with orders and calls now coming around and between the notes of the song, the music no impediment to the working of the ship, the sail is unfurled with an all-mighty SNAP as it catches the wind. With a great groan the whole ship lurches as we are thrust forward on a favorable gust. A cheer goes up from those not singing.

As the tune continues we hear cry out from far above. “Cap! Sounds like we’ve got ourselves a Nereid aboard! She’s bound to bring us luck!”

“Ha ha!” Nikias calls back. “You might be right there Grub! Now mind that riggin!”

“Yek Mog!”

The Black Sacrifice at full voice and with spirits high we set out into the great blue beyond. Thanks to Rosa’s voice and a well-chosen song the distrust and tensions of that little shove when we’d come aboard were all but forgotten.