The Weather Witch settled onto a broad reach, heeling over as the wind drove her on a steadily north easterly course. The sorcerous wind had faded, though whether that was because the spell had faded, or the source was blocked by the high walls of the fortress harbour was impossible to ascertain. It certainly felt good to be running clean under a clear sky and a warm breeze. Calliope wanted to get below and study the book further. Having used it, having gotten an inkling of the power it could convey, having formed a better understanding of what it really meant she was eager to delve deeper but now was not the time.

As a ruler she had learned that despite the fact that it seemed there were a million more important things to be attending to, sometimes you just had to stand somewhere and be seen. In this case she had to hold the wheel while Markus adjusted the rigging to best catch the wind. There was no real risk of pursuit. Between the chaos of the coup and the wrecked guardship in the main channel, it was unlikely anything larger than a fishing smack would be sail from Calaverde any time soon.

“Ah dinner is served I see,” she said as Markus arrived with a few handfuls of beef jerkey and a bottle of rum. She took a rope and secured the wheel so that the course wouldn’t deviate. It was going to be a brutal voyage where sleep would have to be taken in snatches when the winds were calm. Any change whatsoever would send both of them scrambling to adjust the sails. If a storm came up, they were doomed, if they got unlucky, they might drown under clear skies.

“You known last night I had roasted quail with currant sauce and the finest white wine and that was just the first course,” she laughed, taken a piece of cured meat and tearing it with her teeth.

“Well, easy come easy go I suppose,” she joked though it sounded a bit flat to her own ears.

“Our first problem is that we need a destination, it needs to be somewhere close and we need to find a crew.” She looked back over her shoulder although Calaverde had already vanished over the horizion.

“The quicker the better, before word about what happened gets out. Do you have any ideas?”


 
[@POOHEAD189]