[img=http://i.imgur.com/9VukA5L.jpg]

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPsuOEH1fY]The Sailor's Song[/url]

[b]1130, coast of the Anchor Islands, Babel Bay[/b]

Six caravels sailed outwards, over great grey waves, veiled by an overcast skying.

“The innkeeper was the one who chased me out with the broom, I guess,” said Horus to Baddy, as the two tugged on the ropes of the Brilliante, raising the sails of the mast just a tad higher with each tug.

“It good she did. Otherwise you left on shore, and I not share pay.”

“Yeah, we missed the other contract, right?”

Baddy chuckled. “Much rather be in the dens, or in the belly of a human girl. But need pay now.”

“Thought you had a decent purse?”

“Spent it in the dens. They not call him Tamul the Wily for nothing. I thinks they cheat.”

“Weird how a gambler always calls foul play when he's losing, 'innit?”

Baddy stuck his tongue out and pulled down on his eyelid, giving a raspberry, before tugging on the rope again.

Horus whistled, and drifted into thought, grunting a bit as he did his own share of tugging. “Haven't had a tumble in, what, years?” he said as he spoke up again. “A real tumble, the kind you remember and like, not the kind you pay for and groan through.”

“I never bought tumbles I not like!” Baddy chuckled again. Horus rolled his eyes, and looked outward from the ship's port side.

The Brilliante was his ship, one of the Babel Navy's nine caravels. Or rather, six. The missing three were the reason they were sailing. Three crews, lead by a pirate who called himself Boneless Bog, mutinied against their captains, and stole literal boatloads of navy rations and merchant cargo, before sailing off to the Anchor Islands, and setting up their own home away from home. To Horus, it said something about how much nicer the Port had gotten since he was a kid when pirates were afraid to stay in Port after robbing the Navy.

The caravels that mutinied were the Ave Maria, Rhonda, and Lila. Horus couldn't decide whether the ship names each being girl names was a coincidence, or weird planning, but the ships were all formidable. The Anchor Islands were surrounded by reef and barnacles, making navigation treacherous, so these three formidable ships were about to get a lot harder to deal with.

“Alright Baddy,” said Horus, “stop pulling, get the men who aren't navigating manning every weapon. Once you're done that, get the flag signals-” The flash of lighting, and the whip of a thunderbolt interrupted Horus for a moment. “- get up to the crow's nest, get the flag signals up to the other ships, battle line formation, but loose. The reefs and rain will make things difficult.”

“Aye aye, captain!” Baddy cried, giving a lax, mocking salute before pouncing off to gather the crew and give the signals.

Horus went to the top deck to handle the navigation wheel. Sailors spilled out onto the deck, just drops of rain started to fall. By the time everyone who needed to be on the top deck was there, a storm had started in earnest, and Baddy was struggling to wave wet flags.

Horus expected them to groan, as they usually did during storms, and even before combat. One time, they'd begged him to turn the ship around just before a battle, because they thought that as long as they were present at the battle, what they did during it would be lost in the fog of war, literal or otherwise.

But this time, as Baddy came climbing down the rope ladder from the crow nest, catching water droplets on his long, pierced tongue, he started humming. And his humming grew into inaudible mumbling. The mumbling grew into song; an old children's song. Baddy started singing it with a bad voice, botching and stumbling on the words as he went about preparing the ballistae, before other men joined in.

The song spread like a disease, as for every man that started singing the childish tune, two more joined in. Only two sailor's seemed to know the song in full, but from those two, everyone else was able to sing the song better. 

The plague did not stop at the top deck. It made it way to second deck, the bottom deck, and even the poop deck.

Horus stared at his crew, signing loudly, like schoolchildren in a choir. They were very, very loud indeed, and it was doubtful the other ships hadn't heard. Hell, the pirates they were going after might have been able to hear them from this distance.

And suddenly, Horus' ears picked up a melody over the distance, travelling over the rain and crashing waves. It was the song his crew were singing, but it was coming from the crew of Reef.

The plague travelled to every ship in the line, until each and every sailor Navy sailor in the fleet seemed to be calling it out as part battle cry, part prayer, and part jovial, fatalistic anguish for their terrible situation.

A song of unicorns crashed against waves, and Horus couldn't help but join in as he saw the Anchor Islands, and the three treacherous ships come into view.

~ * ~

[b]1200, Forest Coast, International Waters[/b]

Rain pelted down on the crew of Brave Lucy, which rocked against the turbulent current the storm had created. The crew had just ferried a large log from a string of lifeboats tied together. Velvetpaws was directing them.

“Gentle, gentle! Not let fall!” he cried, waving his open palms at the drenched and angry sailors. Other men stood by, nails and hammers at the ready, and several ogres stood on the top deck and ladder-nets, to assist in bringing the tree trunk on board.

The mast of the caravel had snapped off completely in the thick of the storm, leaving nothing left but a stump. They'd managed to drop anchor near shore, and had spent the last few hours finding and chopping down a tree of just the correct size, then bringing it onto the boat to replace the mast. A few smaller trees would be needed, and cloth would need to be brought from the merchandise to be used as sails.

Fara exited the captain's cabin, where he'd been taking refuge from the storm. He pulled his hood over his face, and darted toward Velvetpaws. 

“My compatriot and I would like to know how quickly this misfortune might be undone,” he spoke loudly over the rain.

“It done when done!”

“Oh, come now, might you even be able to guess?”

“Done two hours, done three hours, what matter? Where you going?” Velvetpaws laughed, and continued to direct the crewmen. Fara shook his head, and turned around to leave. “I thinks I saw ship earlier,” the gnoll spoke again, which caused Fara to stop, “but maybe my eyes play tricks.”

“Pirates?”

“Pirates don't go here. Not merchant way.”

Fara didn't respond. He shielded his eyes from the rain, and stared up at mast being set into place. The men heaved, and shuffled to get it into balance for the men with the hammers and nails to do their work. Fara looked up into the dark grey sky, watching the clouds drop rain on them, and he swore he could see little rays of light, peeking out from underneath the grey blankets of clouds, from their blue-walled bedrooms in the sky.